Its awesome when...

your 2 year-old comes running into the living room, wearing nothing but a shirt, saying "Mommy, I peed in the potty!"

The Perfect Costume

I found the perfect costume for Carter's first Halloween... nevermind that we have a perfectly good purple monster costume that that Allison wore last year and would fit him just fine this year. But I saw this one at Babies R Us the other day and we have to have it. Its $30, and I would never pay that, but I think it'll be pretty easy to make. What do you think?

Too cute, and too perfect, right? I think it'll be pretty easy to make my own... Black sweats & long sleeve onesie (good thing those are available at Halloween), little bit of red, white and black vinyl or something...

On another note, when discussing Halloween, Allison told me she would like to dress up as a princess this year (surprise, surprise!). When pressed, she informed me that Cinderella was her princess of choice. That sounds less easy. Good think we'll probably be living with the super-costume-sewing Grandma... she'll be great help. =)

Super Savings Saturday

Wanna guess how much I got all this for?

$1.82.

No joke. I've been wanting Lucky Charms since they were part of the Albertson's promo that ended on Wednesday, but I always throw away the coupons for sugary cereal thinking that 1) we get SO much cereal on WIC and 2) I'll never use them since we're not big sugary cereal people. And on that note, I'm wrong. I mean who doesn't like Lucky Charms? I'll tell you who... my brother-in-law to be, David... but he's the only person I've EVER met that doesn't.

Anyway, how'd I get it all so cheap?

• used 5 coupons for a free glade 2 oz candle to get all the candles free
• used a $1 off Archer Farms bread Target coupon to get the bread for free
• customer service price matched the Lucky Charms to $1.68 (Macey's advertised price) and I used a $1 off Target coupon plus a $1 off 2 manufacturers coupon to get them for $0.18 a box.

Of the $1.82 I spent, $1.10 was tax.

I also went back to Target later and got them to mark down two about-to-pass-their-best-buy-date whole chickens to half price for me. I combined that mark down with a $1 Gold N Plump chicken on each one I bought to get two whole chickens for $3.12, including tax. Which reminds me... I need to roast those today. I really do hate dealing with bone in chicken, but I'm willing to deal with whole chickens. I just roast them in the oven, let them cool until I can handle them and pull all the meat off, toss it into ziptop bags and freeze or refridgerate for later use.

What do you think he thought?

So if it weren't for the HUGE picture of the little girl kissing the baby boy on my header above, you might not know that I have a son just based on how much I write about my daughter only. But, surprise surprise, I have a son... and I do love him and spend time with him. I promise.

I actually really love having a boy. Anyway, thats not the point... the point is this post is about Carter!

Carter tried rice cereal for the first time today. What do you think he thought?

Anyone care to offer captions for these for me? =)

To Train, or Not to Train...

Allison is 2. She's really good at it too. I hear most 2 year olds are pretty good at being 2. However, in spite of being 2 and a little young for it still, Allison seems to be showing so many signs of potty-training readiness. In fact, she has even had several successful trips to the potty in the last few weeks.

This thrills me, sort of. I would love to have only one kid in diapers, and I would love to not have to buy diapers for 2 kids. Granted, my 2 kids are wearing the same size diaper (size 3... Allison is a petite little thing, Carter is a chubby-tubby), but still. Anyway, the part that doesn't thrill me, is the part that she seems ready to potty train... and I'm the one who had to train her.

So today, I decided I would try potty training. I had lots of yummy drinks for her, I had peanut butter Ritz Bits to make her thirsty, I have M&Ms and Orange Slices candy for rewards, I had "big girl" underwear and plastic pants... I was ready. But I really don't think today was my day.

She had 2 accidents in 25 minutes. One of them just minutes after I had her sit on the potty. And it was while I was nursing Carter. And she just didn't seem to care much about being wet. And every time I suggested anything about the potty she'd scream and start to throw a tantrum and tell me "no potty." Put it all together and I decided that maybe she's not actually ready yet. I do realize that accidents happen, but it seems highly discouraging today. So I gave up about 2 hours into it.

You wanna know what she did right before naptime? She tells me "go potty first" and runs to the bath room. I help her out of her clothes (she's wearing a onesie and a diaper... I'd given up, remember) and her gets up onto her Dora potty seat and pees. Seriously? I tried for 2 hours this morning only to have 2 accidents and then you do this?

Apparently Allison is actually ready to potty-train, but only on her own terms.

Back in the Couponing Saddle

I coupon, which if you've read my blog for more than a few months or been to my house and see the coupon stash, you know. Its pretty great. It saves lots of money and gives lots of wiggle room in our budget. But sometimes I don't want to. Sometimes it seems like its too much work for too little result, especially here in Utah County where tons of people coupon and the best deals are generally gone the first day of a sale, which can be so frustrating. I've felt pretty off lately. But tonight I got excited about how much I can save all over again.

I went to Albertsons to use my double coupons. My neighbor gave me hers (thanks, Julie!) so I had 6 sets of doublers to use (18 doublers total). Here is how I did:

• 8 Boxes Post Selects Cereal
• 4 pints Bryers Ice Cream
• 4 bottles Juicy Juice
• 4 pouches Bumblebee Tuna
• 4 packs Kraft String Cheese
• 2 "Family-sized" boxes Wheat Thins
• 1 box Ritz Crackers
• 1 box peanut butter Ritz Bits
• 2 tubs Philidelphia Cream Cheese
• 2 packs M&Ms (no coupon... potty training treats)
• 1 bag Orange Slices Candy (no coupon...potty training treats, but on clearance)
• 1 3-pack Wrigley's Gum
• 1 loaf Earth Grains bread
• 1 box Hefty One-Zip freezer bags
• 2 Liter bottle A&W Rootbeer (no coupon... potty training drink)
• 2.5 pounds 85% lean ground beef
• A "mega pack" of Albertson's brand training pants (not pictured)

Total spent out of pocket: $17.61, including tax!

Total Saved using sales & coupons: $137.07... thats an 88% savings!

I did this in 7 transactions using 18 doublers. I used $20 in catalina coupons ($15 earned last week and $5 earned in my first transaction today) and still have $6 in catalinas to use on my next shopping trip. It took 2 hours... but not bad "earnings" for 2 hours work, eh?

Oh, and here's the best part... I'm submitting my first transaction for a $20 rebate from Kraft. So technically, once I get that rebate, everything I bought today was free!

Fairy Princess

I got these pictures on Sunday afternoon. I didn't think fairy princesses were real, but I think I caught the evidence. Call the Weekly World News... I promise that these photos have not been altered!

You'll notice she's not looking at the camera... this breed of fairy princess you have to catch on memory card unawares... if she sees you trying to take a picture she immediately charges the camera and demands to "see pictures." =)