Memorial Day

We headed to Somerset for Memorial Day weekend. We arrived Thursday afternoon and stayed with Kevin's parents until Saturday morning, then moved to my parents' condo until Monday. We must have had a blast because I apparently didn't have time to take many pictures. Here are a few:
Warner petting Cameron. We realized he is definitely allergic to dogs this trip. We've suspected it for a while - after petting them he generally gets a bad face rash and his eyes sometimes even swell nearly shut. But that doesn't keep him from playing with them. I'm convinced once he can speak in sentences he'll be begging for a dog. Warner petting Cameron again. You can't tell in this picture, but Cameron has a spot on her shoulder that was shaved and has stitches - the vet took a biopsy of a growth she has but it was thankfully just a fatty deposit (those fatty deposits happen to the best of us I suppose). Anyway, Warner would point to the stitches and say "ouch", then find any other "ouches" on other people or his on his knees.Eating blueberries at the condo while watching Mickey Mouse in the morning. This kid loves blueberries more than anyone I know. And eating them from the container while watching TV was just bliss for this little boy.

We also took Warner on a brief boat ride. He loved it at first, he laughed and smiled but quickly got bored. I think if he would have gotten in the lake he would have liked it better. And Warner LOVED the golf cart at the condo. Well, really the whole Woodson Bend setup: between the playground, pool, golf cart, and other outdoor playing he was in heaven. This should be a fun summer at the lake.

Kevin and I also got to play golf - I got in 27 holes and Kevin got in quite a bit more, and some new wedges to boot, so I think it's safe to say he enjoyed the weekend as well. We'll be back again next week with MaNell, Emme, Aunt Debbie, and my Mom so I'll try to take more pictures then.

Texas

Warner and I finally made the trip to visit my parents in Texas. Since Kevin doesn't have enough vacation days to travel like Warner and I do (ha) and my grandparents wanted to visit my parents, we decided to make the trip together. Although if felt as if we drove across the entire continental US (Kevin has since reminded me it was only four states) we survived the 14+ hour drive. Thanks to our newly installed DVD player and lots of attention from my grandparents, Warner was a very good traveler.We split up the drive both ways with a hotel stay overnight. Warner loved the luggage carts. Once we arrived Warner was spoiled by Grammie and Grandpa. My mom has a whole room for Warner at her house and it even came stocked with toys. He was in heaven. Here are a few pictures from our trip:Playing in Grammie's sink. Who would have known this would be so fun? More water fun: the fountain. Warner would have us lift him up so he could play in the top part of the fountain. Between the sink and this he was quite entertained.We went to Fort Worth to the stockyards one afternoon to see their "live cattle drive". It was actually pretty neat - they drive the cows right down the middle of the street.Warner got to see the cows and the horses. He liked petting the horses until they started making noises, and then he wasn't so sure.With Grammie at the stockyards.Playing the piano with Grandpa. I pray Warner has inherited my Dad's musical abilities!
Doing some work at Grandpa's office. We went to my Dad's work to visit and meet his coworkers one evening. Of course Warner decided to fill his diaper as soon as we got there, so he's probably known at Parago as the stinky kid.Taking a ride in Grammie and Grandpa's new convertible. Wow did he think this was fun. He laughed the entire time we drove.Wearing Grammie's sunglasses (upside down of course) in the car. What a cool guy.
I believe Warner has my parents right where he wants them.

Coupons

Since I stay home now, I feel part of my job is to run our household more efficiently. This mostly means trying to save money. A friend of mine introduced me to couponing last summer and I have been hooked ever since.

I buy multiple newspapers each Sunday and print coupons online. I have a huge three-ring binder that holds all of my neatly clipped and organized coupons in plastic photo holders (there are even dividers - frozen foods, personal care items, etc.). Sunday night I scour my favorite blogs that match weekly store sales with coupons and then make my grocery list for the week based on that. I hope to get better at tracking just how much I spend and save each month, but I know we're close to $350-400 each month for groceries, which includes diapers.

Today I went three different places for sales - Kroger, Meijer, and CVS. Since we're leaving for Dallas tomorrow we didn't really need anything immediately - so, I just stocked up on the good sale items. I got:

- 6 boxes of Kellogg's cereal for $1 each.
- Four packages of frozen Voila! meals - $2 each.
- Four bottles of Kraft BBQ sauce - free.
- Four boxes of Quaker chewy granola bars - $1.50 each.
- Two bottles of Listerine total care - $1.79 each.
- Four packages of Kleenex - $1 each. (Not a great deal but we needed them)

So, I spent a total of $27.58 for all of this. The regular price for these items is roughly $69, so I saved 41.42, or 60%. I have been amazed at the weeks where I'll get items for free (like the BBQ sauce) or nearly free - I have a bin in the basement full of Lysol cleaning supplies that I paid .25-.50 for.

However, all of this couponing and shopping at multiple stores is quite time consuming. I'd say I spend 5+ hours each week clipping, organizing, researching sales, and shopping. So is it worth it? I'm not sure. And I do feel sort of funny in the grocery store carrying around my binder of coupons. We had a speaker at MOPS who teaches couponing classes and coined the phrase: "if she's shopping with a binder, don't get behind her". Very true. It takes me forever to get through a store.

But for now, I feel like I'm helping our family ... and sometimes getting away with something. Free food. Who would have known?

Grammie

Since my parents now live nearly 1000 miles away, it often feels like we never see them. Thankfully we both have Mac's and we video chat fairly often in addition to talking on the phone. Warner has just begun to like video chatting, and recognizes my mom's face on the computer screen when we talk to her.
This morning I was telling Warner that we were going to see Grammie soon (we're going to Dallas later this week for our first visit to Texas), and asked him if he wanted to see Grammie. He looked at me, said "Grammie?" (well, his version of Grammie which really sounds nothing like Grammie) then took my hand to have me follow him. He walked straight to the computer and pointed at it. I told him it was too early to video chat, but he kept pointing to the screen, so I pulled up a picture of my mom. He immediately smiled and started waving to the screen, saying "hi" (which comes out "hi-eee"). Apparently, he thinks my mom lives in the computer. I'm sure he'll be happy to see the real thing later this week.