Ok, I'm going to brag here a little. Not much has been happening lately here, but then I got some really exciting news that will make parents just gloat until forever! We found out that Olivia's drawing in art class is going to be printed on the front cover of a school textbook!! YIPEE Let me explain.....at the beginning of school 2 teachers decided they wanted to put a book together about the history of Springfield Township for a 3rd grade textbook (that is a taught course in 3rd grade). So each art class was doing a separate drawing for inside the book and the best one would get printed in it. I have held my breathe all year long and sorta had my doubts only b/c there was a little boy also in her class who had a pretty good gazebo drawing (they drew the new gazebo down by the lake). I finally got the final paper on it saying that her drawing is going to be the front cover!!! Now think about this.....First grade and her drawing will be permanently on a school textbook........forever!!! I am truly over the moon happy for her. The drawings are getting sent down to Canton,OH. to be professionally framed and displayed in the town hall in the fall, bet I will get my hands on that and it will proudly be displayed over our mantle!!! Olivia is going to go far in her drawing and i'm so excited she has had this opportunity to put herself out there and really show herself what she can do!!!! Below is the paper, but of course it wouldn't take a good picture, but it does say Olivia Nagle (cover of book)...........She crossed out her age of 6 and put 7, but 6 is when the drawing was finished.Logan has learned to reach on tip toes and he uses them frequently to his advantage.

We got to finally go home over Memorial Day and it was beautiful. How couldn't you ask for a better holiday weekend than being able to wear shorts and t-shirts and no coats!!

Anybody else surprised he stood still long enough for me to take the pic without it being blurred?? Look at those fat little legs!

I have no idea what this bush is, but it got really loaded this year with pink flowers and was gorgeous this week until a heavy rain beat it up.

One last note......I'm still couponing(ha ha Jimmy who thinks i'm insane) and getting lots of stuff for so much less and my mom and Nicole may have caught the bug too after getting gallons of ice tea for .50 each!

GO CAVS! The Cleveland Cavaliers are still hanging in there in the playoffs and well deserve to be there and beat Orlando!! Believe me I don't watch much b-ball but to watch LeBron James play is like magic.........I love this, (dare I say) kid, he's so young and SO EXTREMELY TALENTED!!! I remember when Rich wanted to go watch him in high school and I was like "whatever" you ain't got no Micheal Jordan here, he grew up in the hood! Well, guess what........I should have went in High School...................

Last Coupon Lecture

ok, last time, I promise (unless I get a REALLY awesome deal). I just wanted to show you what you can get with your money without spending it all in one place. My first trip to the store was the top pic. 2 Mega size diapers (these alone were $14.99 each, but I got $5 OYNO(on your next order), 10 pasta/rice sides, 5 BarBQue, 2 bags of fish, and 4 boxes of mac&Cheese. Now i went and got these in one trip b/c they were all offering a OYNO if you bought so many of each item. So I went armed with my reg.coupons and using $10 OYNO from last week. Anybody want to guess how much was spent?? (answer at the bottom) I also got $11.50 in OYNO for today!!

So my second trip today was with my $11.50 and reg. coupons. These did not offer any OYNO although I got a $3 for something and I can't figure it out, but I'll take it! This trip included 4 boxes of hefty storage zip bags, 1 velveeta pasta, 2 boxes of Spah.noodles, 1 coffee, 2 aluminium foil, 2 Kool-aid, 3 dial hand soap, 2 doz. eggs, 3 barbque's, 5 jars of ragu, wheat thins, and Ritz. Anybody guessing the price??

I just wanted everyone to see what you can do. I thought that trip was well worth the cutting and printing I did, let alone the strategy. also, I only try to use my coupons at stores that double them, i want more for my buck!! Don't forget the diapers add a huge expense but no way around that right now.

This is my shopper who helped by just looking cute!!

The total from pic #1 was 33.61 (basically I bought the diapers all else was free)

Pic #2.......$13.96........seriously good deals!!

Sometimes you just have to laugh. Logan has begun to use this banana as his phone and says "hello" on it. It's just funny cause then he'll laugh, just another part of him getting bigger by the day. He has also learned to walk backwards and finds this as the neatest thing since "real food" for him. I don't know why the pics turned out so badly on these, possibly cause they were in taken in the house in the evening.

It looks like the weather is going to get a lot better in the next couple of days. I'm so excited, first I am tired of still wearing fall clothes on the kids and second, we are headed to Pa. for the weekend. We haven't been back there since before Olivia's b-day, so that's been long enough. The kids are getting very antsy on wanting to be outside so hopefully the weather will just cooperate from here on in.............

Coupon Crazy

Like I have nothing else to day everyday I decided to take on couponing with a vengeance. I was really tired of hearing people getting items for free or almost. I started following this lady doing a online class about it and how to get organized and to really put your time to use for cutting them out. After following and finally understanding several websites, this is easy and very, very worth it. It can be work or it can be fun.

I have limited myself to grocery stores and especially the ones that double coupons. I don't do the drugstores, there is some really intense thinking and math to go on there and quit frankly I think I'm ADD with that, can't make myself concentrate to learn it, so why pressure myself. Although I will say if you don't have ADD over it, they are a wealth of savings. Too many have loyalty cards and there programs are all different and I don't have enough brain room left to store it all!! So that's been my project of lately and it's turning into a really awesome thing.

FYI: All you Giant Eagle shoppers (mother this is really for you and I want to know that you did this) this week if you buy Kraft BarBQue sauce 10/$10, and use your coupons they are free or for all you that didn't clip your coupons!!, you can print them out at Kraft.com, anyway, if you buy 4 get $2(printed out register coupon on your next order( OYNO). Buy 5 get $2.50 and 6 $3.00.........also Kraft Mac&Cheese (can also be printed out on Kraft.com) buy 4 get$1, 5 $1.50, 6 $2.00, they were on sale for $1 a box and may still be. These coupons will all print out at the register and for your next order (OYNO, there's some coupon lingo for ya).If you would like you could do two or more transactions and use those that same day............There you go, advice for the weekend and save yourself some money!!!

There is also a magazine that only Walmart sells called AllYou, you need this mag.!!

Off to my children.......Olivia is 7 going on 13, please anyone help, none of my "so called" friends every warned me about this and should have! LOL I think it's PMS and two of us in the same house are not working out, so she'll have to go! Just kidding, really! I hope to tame this monster over the summer, I obviously blame it on school and therefore can't wait for it to be over! Doesn't everybody blame bad habits on school! Love her to death, but can't wait until she has kids of her own and will love me more for seeing what I have dealt with. I mean really, I have a whole new meaning for my mother and now I know why she went back to work when she did!! LOL

Logan, well if he's not hiding stuff in other drawers, throwing magnets across the kitchen, falling off the couch, then he must be sleeping. I have found my spices in the drawers and other places, his cup in the computer desk, his long lost blanket in his sock drawer. Well at least he's putting stuff away, right? He tells me "no" all the time now and runs when you want to change his diaper or clothes and laughs about it. He has also learned to arch his back when you put him in the car seat taking much more time to get him clipped in. It's wonderful! Apparently me and Rich didn't learn with one child, we had another!!

Everyone have a great weekend and we will see you next week!!

Love It

You know it's a good day when you get showered with homemade gifts and you get treated like the queen of your castle that you are! Shouldn't every Sunday be Mother's Day? I think so. We had a good day, the weather wasn't really that great to plan any adventures and I was ok with that. Olivia gave me her gifts she made in school and everyone got me a Yankee candle (Beach Vacation), so I can always be reminded of our vacation. I didn't have to cook breakfast (Rich), feed the cats (Olivia) or bath the kids! All in all it was a fun day, Olivia got all dressed up in a dress, bow and dress shoes for the day! I love that Olivia is getting older and understands more now, yesterday was the first mother's day that she "really got it" and I loved it. Logan on the other hand was just the same(of course), catch me if you can mom!!My vacation candle and Olivia's hand made picture frame!

Ms.Thrifty

Well, I've gotten into wanting to get real thrifty again as summer approaches and I have a list of "must have" this summer, so I've gotta cut cost somewhere. I got into reading this website, Momslikeme.com (i don't know if it's only a Cleveland thing or not) and thought, wow these people aren't paying anything for the items they are buying and that could be me. Who doesn't like buying stuff and paying next to nothing for it! I get a "high" off of it and I'm sure Rich loves seeing the price that I end up paying.

So I got involved and started following this class a lady is putting on there and let me tell you, it's very involved, but I figure after awhile it's got to be like riding a bike, get on and go! So I have taken on this challenge and quite the challenge it is as there are so many sites out there and so many different ideas, it's almost crazy what you can do. My first task is getting organized and that includes a 3-ring binder, tabs, baseball card holders, scissors, and a calculator.......I hope to post my end result by Monday.

Mother's Day is coming and I won't get home this year for it, but we are making a homemade gift and I'm really excited about it. I won't tell too much as my mom does not have hers yet!

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY to you all and have a great weekend.


Need something fun for kids in the bathtub? Try mixing a TBLSP. of baby wash in with water in a foam soap dispenser and shake. You can also add a few drops of food coloring and it won't stain anything.....comes out like colored shaving creme!................PRICELESS.

Just Because..........

I finally got to pick some lilacs on Sunday. My house is smelling so good right now.Loves to take everything out of my cupboards and then he will make a attempt to put them back in, where he feels they should be. I have found many things in places where they don't belong, like his drink cup in my computer desk??? Anything else I haven't found yet?!

His looks remind me so much of my brothers.

Need something to do on a rainy day or just bored kids?? Try mixing 1C. of corn starch and 1/2C. of water together(you may need to add more water) and add a few drops of food coloring. Makes a liquid that turns to solid. When you pick it up it turns to liquid and then solid. It's a easy cleanup, very easy and the foodcoloring doesn't stain!! Olivia loved playing with it.