Great Deal on Games!

I've seen this deal listed on several blogs today and since we were headed to Toys R Us this morning I thought I would check it out for myself. I spent $30 out of pocket on the games pictured above and then got a $10 gift card back on the spot. I can now submit for a $14 rebate from Hasbro ($2/game- found on tear pad in the store). That will leave me paying $6 out of pocket (including tax) for the 7 games above. We are buying for several families in need this Christmas so I thought these would come in handy.

Half Price Uggs

I finally got a good pair of Ugg boots last year and it was money well spent. I LOVE my boots! They are so warm and comfy. The only problem is the price tag. I love the crocheted Uggs that are out and was considering buying a pair this year. I knew there had to be a way to get them cheaper than the $160 they were selling for at my local shoe store.

Here are a couple of sites where I found them half price. The Uggs Boots Outlet has these for $83

.

I think I might order this pair from the 2009 Ugg Outlet for $85.

Why You Should Run

It's been a while. I'm not the kind of blogger who blogs just to be blogging and aside from being ridiculously busy the past month and a half, I just haven't had many "blog-worthy" thoughts or moments. As I have been thinking about blogging I couldn't think of a better thing to challenge you with.

In just over 3 weeks there is a race here in Nashville that is in honor of a dear friend's son whose life was cut short by cancer. It is the Joe P Rally Run and I want to challenge every one of you to participate in this event. It is a 5K event so even if you are not a runner, you really have no excuse as to why you can't make it 3.1 miles either running or walking. Besides, what better do you have to be doing on Halloween morning? Sign up today and help us spread the word!

Here is all the info:

• What:5K run/walk in honor of Joseph Peabody, whom at the tender age of 4, died last August of a brain tumor. All proceeds for the race will be going to The Rally Foundation, for childhood cancer research.
• When: Saturday, October 31st, 2009.
• Registration begins at 6am, with the race starting at 7:30am.
• Where: Centennial Park, 2600 West End Ave., Nashville, TN, 37203.
• Pre-register online for $25.

**If you would rather make a donation, you can also do that here.

$0.24-$0.49 Huggies Wipes

I went to Walgreens to develop some film last night and noticed their Huggies wipes (which are normally $2.99) had a coupon in the small back to school flyer for $2.00 each pack. I bought 5 packs today when I went to get my pictures. This coupon automatically took $10.00 off my total. I also used 3 $.50/off coupons and 2 $.75/off coupons which left me paying $1.99 plus tax for 5 boxes of wipes. I found the flyer on the counter at the photo processing area.

Destined for Trials

On my way home from dropping my daughter off at school this morning I heard Joni Eareckson Tada talking about trials. It was a profound few minutes as she read from this passage:

"We sent Timothy, who is our brother and God's fellow worker in spreading the Gospel of Christ, to strengthen and encourage you in your faith, so that no one would be unsettled by these trials. You know quite well that we were destined for them."

Listen to what she said about this passage:

"Dear friend, we are destined for trials. In other words, life is supposed to be difficult, God wired it that way. Looking back, I don't think that's something the visitor to our Family Retreat believed. But he's not alone -- it's amazing how many people believe that life should be easy. They groan, feeling as though their difficulties are a unique kind of affliction that should not be. They focus so much on the problems and so little on the Lord, that they feel that affliction has somehow been especially visited upon them. But here's the thing...

Life is a series of problems to be solved. And, yes, solving problems is a painful process, but it is this whole process that gives our life meaning. I think it was Benjamin Franklin who said, "Those things that hurt, instruct." Isn't that the truth! And the psalmist said long before Benjamin Franklin in Psalm 119 that, "It was good for me to be afflicted so that I might learn your decrees." So today, friend, if you're thinking that your life is just one battle after the next, take the advice of an apostle: be strengthened, be encouraged in your faith. Don't be unsettled by your trials, because you know quite well you are destined for them and for good reason. Trials are not for our pleasure; they are for our profit. Once you and I can embrace this truth, we transcend it. Once we know that life is to be truly difficult then life is difficult no longer. God has not redeemed you and me to make us happy, or healthy, or free of trouble. God has redeemed you and me to become more like Jesus Christ... and this is why He destined trials for you, my friend. "

As I was later reading from Isaiah 25 I was reminded that there will be a day when we will no longer be destined for trials. In fact,

"He will destroy the shroud that enfolds all peoples, the sheet that covers all nations; he will swallow up death forever. The Sovereign Lord will wipe away the tears from all faces; he will remove the disgrace of his people from all the earth."

Awesome Kroger Deals!

I went to Kroger this afternoon to check out this week's "Mega Sale". I decided to only purchase items I had coupons (and e-coupons) for (other than a few things we needed). I ended up getting $200 worth of groceries for $36 and I got 2 catalinas totaling $5 off my next order. If you are a couponer this is a GREAT week to stock up at Kroger! Here is a picture of what I got. Most of these items have corresponding coupons on Cellfire and Shortcuts so make sure and load those on your card as well.

Here is a run down of what I got:

• 3 packages of Tyson fresh chicken. (using 3 $1/off coupons)
• 4 Sobe Life Water (2 B1G1 coupons)
• 4 packages of BC cookie mixes. (ecoupons and manuf)
• 1 box Cascadian farms granola bars. ($1/off manuf)
• 1 box Cascadian farms cereal. ($1/off manuf)
• 2 boxes of Life cereal. ($1/2 manuf)
• 1 box Rice Krispies (free from Vocal Point home mailer)
• 3 bags Nature Valley nut clusters.
• 2 cans Grands Biscuits ($1/2 manuf. and $1/2 ecoupon- FREE!)
• 2 cans Cresent rolls (same)
• 2 cans Cin.rolls (same)
• 2 Yoplait delight parfaits ($1.25 manuf)
• 2 boxes Gogurt (ecoupon and manuf)
• 3 Fiber One 4 count yogurts (ecoupon and manuf making it free)
• 3 boxes Nature Valley granola bars (used ecoupon and manuf. **You get a catalina for $1.50 off next order if you buy 3 and $3.50 off if you buy 5!)
• 2 boxes Aunt Jemima pancake mixes ($1.50/2 manuf)
• 5 boxes BC fruit snacks (5 $.40 off coupons, ecoupons and $3.50 catalina for purchasing 5!FREE!)
• 2 boxes Quaker oatmeal ($1/2 and coupons inside)
• 3 Warm Delights (used $.50/1 coupon and ecoupon to get these all FREE!)
• 2 Fiber 1 muffin mixes (ecoupon and manuf)
• 4 BC brownie mixes (*includes SUPREME)- (ecoupon and manuf)
• 1 box Check Mix bars (ecoupon and manuf)
• 1 box True Delights bars (ecoupon and manuf)

I purchased 50 items in one transaction and got the $5/off 5 times. I also used a recent $5/50 coupon that came in the mail. I noticed that some of my ecoupons and a couple of paper coupons didn't go through and I still saved over 80%! Check out lots of great matchups here. This sale normally runs for a couple of weeks so take some time to get your coupons together and load ecoupons before you run off to the store and you'll get some SWEET deals!

Dear Adeline

Dear Adeline,
As I looked in on your sleeping in your big bed tonight, my mind is flooded with so many memories. I remember when you first slept in your crib. Moving you from the bassinet in our room to your "big crib" seemed like such a huge move for a 6 week old. I remember checking on you all night to make sure you were OK. Of course you slept great and loved your new found freedom to roam all over your bed. I remember coming into your room one day and seeing you standing up in your crib. That was the first time you had ever pulled yourself up and it was such a huge step. I felt so proud of your strength.

Time passed so quickly and you had so many firsts- first steps, first birthdays, first play dates, first preschool, first nightmare- life was all so new. I remember when you moved to your "big bed" from your crib. You wanted to show everyone who came to our house that you were then sleeping on a big bed all by yourself. I just knew you'd fall off the side, but somehow you'd wiggle all over the place and still stay on top of the bed. I'd often hear your feet hit the ground by 6am and wonder where all your energy came from.

Tonight as I watch you sleeping I realize that you don't even know what to expect out of tomorrow. It's your very first day to be dropped off at kindergarten. I know you're going to love it because you have Traci as your teacher. How could it get any better than that? Still, I feel the emotion welling up in me just thinking about you not being home in the mornings to watch cartoons and play with "Sissy" while I run on the treadmill. I know there will be much less arguing for a few hours each day, but there will also be a lot less fun. You fill our world with fun. You make all of life a party. You really are a party waiting to happen...just as long as the party starts somewhere around 6:00am.

So, as you embark on this milestone tomorrow I want you to know how proud of you I am. I know you're scared of new things and often frightened by the unknown; but I also know how ready you are to learn to read and to experience "school". As we prayed and prayed for wisdom about your schooling your Daddy and I both know that you are right where you should be. We want you to know that we love you and will always be here to support you, whatever that means. Sleep good tonight, Sweetheart, and have a wonderful time at kindergarten. Just know that Selah and I will be so happy to see you after school each day. I love you!

Mommy

Free Movies!

Disney on a Budget

(*This is a post I started several months ago right after our first Disney trip. Since then we have made another trip to Disney and enjoyed it every bit as much. We LOVE the Magic Kingdom!)

We just recently returned from our first family vacation to Disney (November 2008). We had the TIME OF OUR LIVES with our girls and were so thankful for the getaway. It was a real challenge to us because Disney is really the kind of place where you could blow TONS of money! Since this was a spur of the moment trip we had to really do some quick planning to ensure that we didn't spend way too much money.

We found some really cheap tickets on Southwest and a fairly inexpensive hotel with a full breakfast, a suite, an indoor/outdoor pool and shuttle service to the parks. That definitely helped us out on the front end. For 4 round trip tickets we paid $670 and for 4 nights in the hotel we paid less than $500 with tax. We pretty much just sucked it up and paid full price for Disney tickets as it seems like cheap tickets really aren't to be found.

I read my friend Mandy's blog before we left and she had some great tips for saving money and making great memories. My favorite was the daily visit from Tinkerbell. My friend Angel had taken her family to Disney last year and she told me that she bought lots of cheap Disney merchandise before they left on their trip so that her kids had some special treats without having to pay top dollar. I was able to find some cute t-shirts for $4 at the Disney store and some fun other little things that were clearanced after Halloween. Thanks to Mandy's tip "Tinkerbell" visited my girls each night. If they slept well at night they woke up to a little surprise under their pillow from Tinkerbell. My kids never ONCE asked for anything the days we were at the park because they were so excited to see what Tinkerbell brought them. Total I spent $20 on all of that stuff.

Our second trip to Disney was in April of 2009. We couldn't resist the trip when a friend offered us her time share for a week and Orlando seemed to be the only place left with availability. We normally do a beach trip that time of year, but since it was a free place to stay we couldn't resist. Back to Disney we went!

This time we opted for the "Time-Share" spill at the condo to get some cheap park tickets. Thankfully our youngest had not yet turned 3 and was still free at all the parks. For 2 hours of our time we were able to purchase 3 tickets for 3 days at the parks. (You could choose from any of the major theme parks for 2 days and then pick a water park for the 3rd). This saved us over half on our Disney tickets, plus they paid us $50 cash to listen to their little "spill" about the place. If you're like us and you have no problem saying no to things like this then it is well worth your time. We used that $50 to go out for a nice dinner while we were in Orlando.

We took the advice of many of our friends who had told us to leave plenty of time to enjoy the hotel where you're staying. Because Orlando is saturated with hotels it's very easy to find an affordable and nice place to stay. Our resort had numerous pools, water slides, mini golf, nightly movies and all sorts of kids activities that were free to guests. Since we were there for a full week this time we decided to spend one day at a park followed by a day at the hotel. This turned out to be a great decision as we had time to rest in between days. Even after visiting Hollywood Studios and Typhoon Lagoon, our favorite park was still the Magic Kingdom. It's just so magical that it really is hard to beat.

We also chose not to do a meal plan at Disney. Our girls really aren't that big of eaters so that saved us a TON of money. Our first trip we just ate the breakfast bar at the hotel and then took fruit, granola bars and sandwiches in our bags for lunch so we didn't have to buy anything until dinner. The park actually has some really reasonably priced food. We found that we could all eat dinner for about $16/day. The girls would share a kids meal (which is GREAT! About $4 for Hamburger or chicken nuggets, two sides and a drink), I would get a kids meal and Jason would get a wrap or burger. It worked really well for us to do that and saved us a ton of money. I even took my coupons and planned a Publix shopping trip on our next trip and found that we were able to spend about $100 for the week on groceries and only have to eat out at the parks and the one night we used the $50 at a nice restaurant. This plan worked best for our family and saved us a lot of money that could have been spent on food.

If you choose to stay at a Disney hotel (Any of the budget hotels count as well), you get free transportation to Disney so you don't really need a rental car. It's nice too because that saves you the $12/day price of parking at the theme parks. We had saved up points from our Visa to cash in for a rental car for the week so that was free as well.

In total, we found that we were able to do Disney for $1,500 for our week trip in April. Here is how we did that:

• We paid our friend $250 for the condo.
• We flew into Jacksonville b/c my best friend lives there and the flight was significantly less at that time than flying to Orlando. It was only about a 2 hour drive so that was nice. We paid right at $500 for all 4 of us to fly round trip.
• Rental car: free with Capital One points. (We saved for a long time to get these by putting larger purchases on our card and paying it off to get the reward).
  
• Disney tickets and souvenirs: $400.
• Food for the week: Groceries and eating our: $200.
• Miscellaneous (gas for the car and other random stuff like parking, etc): $150
  

Here are some websites with lots of great tips that I found to be very helpful in planning our trip and saving money: Mouse Savers, The Mouse for Less, and make sure you check our the links here. These are just a few of the things that were helpful for us in planning our vacation. I hope they can be of help to you as well!

Nesting

It's hard to believe it's been almost a month since I've written any posts. Life got a little hectic for us preparing for Kindergarten. I've found myself in a "nesting" phase. I guess with the change of school starting I felt the need to get our life in order. Thankfully my closets and pantries are thanking me for that. Needless to say, I will do my best to start blogging again. In fact, I'm going to get to work on my Disney post. Hopefully I'll have it up soon.

It's Official

We are in pursuit of a mini-van...and I am very excited. This is what I would like to be driving soon:
Does this mean I have officially embraced middle adulthood? I guess so...

Do Not Fear

A friend shared this with me yesterday from Beth Moore's Esther study. It was so powerful that I just had to share it:

"Once we are in Christ, Satan has no authority to destroy us, so he settles for the next best thing: threatening to destroy us. Based on our histories and behaviors he deduces what we ourselves are most convinced would raze us. To the Devil, the irony is delicious: Our distrust of God tattles on us, telling our enemy exactly how to get to us. Many of us habitually rehearse, 'If _______ ever happens, then I'll just _______.' Our fears become like long bony index fingers pointing at our vulnerabilities. Once Satan sees what we believe would be the end of us, he threatens and torments us with it."

"Our natural human defense is to grovel before God and plead with Him not to let those things happen. Our conditional trust not only makes us an open target for enemy torment; it also positions us as negotiators and beggars before God instead of secure children who trust their lives to their faithful Father."

Great Deal at Old Navy!

We had a fun morning picking blueberries this morning and then we decided to run by Old Navy on the way home. They have their swimwear for the WHOLE family (including women's one pieces, men's swim shorts, and kids suits) for $5! They also have a ton of shorts and tees for $5. Our store was already pretty picked over at 11:30am, but I did manage to find several great swim suits for my kids for this year and next. I was also excited that their running shorts were also only $5! Here are the suits I got.



To make the deal even better, Old Navy Weekly still has 15% off coupons available! Just click on "Get their no-sweat style" in the bottom center to print this coupon. After the coupon you'll ONLY pay $4.25 per item!

(Thanks, Hip2Save!)

$7 at Publix

I made a quick trip to Publix today to snag some of the new sales. We needed a break from teh sun so we decided to just get out and run around for a bit. There are a lot of good deals this week, but these were some of my favorite. I got all of this today for only $7.99. I saved almost $60. For these and more coupon match-ups, check out this post.

Here are some of the deals I found:

• 3-Frozen Sara Lee Products are 50% off (the cheapest I found were the Key Lime pie at $3.39.) There were $1 off coupons in several recent inserts.
• Fruitables: I LOVE these new Apple & Eve juice boxes. They have a whole serving of fruits and veggies in each one. Publix carries these for $2.99. There was a manuf coupon for $1 off in the Publix Greenwise magazine and $1 off coupon in the Summer Savings booklet at Publix so I got these for $.99. Not bad for all those fruits and veggies!
• 8-French's mustard- B1G1 at $1.89. I had 8 coupons for $.50/off so I got all of these free plus a little overage. We've been out of mustard and I missed this as they were out of stock last time so I decided to stock up.
• 3-Kraft BBQ sauce B1G1 with $1 off coupons that made these free plus overage.
• 1- Ziplock sanwich bags. (We were just out of these) They are $1.99 and there were $1 off coupons in the summer savings booklet as well.
• 2-Lawry's marinades. These were B1G1, plus I used $1 off coupons and this Food Lion coupon to get them for $1.85 plus $2 off chicken.
• 1 whole Publix chicken (using the Food Lion coupon this was only a little over $1)
• 1- Post Trail Mix Crunch- free with this $2 off coupon.
• 2- Bottles of SunDown Vitamin D vitamins. ($2.99 bottle- Free with $6 off coupon in the Green Publix Advantage Buy flyer.)
• 1- Cascade Clean Rinse- free with at home mailer.

Minnie Cake

We had a fun weekend this weekend. My baby turned 3 so we had a fun little Minnie Mouse "tea party" (minus the tea). We played some fun games and the kids came dressed up as their favorite Disney characters. Little sis really wanted a Minnie Mouse cake so I attempted to make it myself. Here is how it turned out.
It was actually really fun to make it as it brought out the creative side of me. My husband was so impressed that it actually looked like Minnie that he pulled out the video camera to show it was really me making it! :)

True Joy

I've been enjoying a break from "formal" studies this year and enjoying digging into God's Word by reading it straight through. It's been both challenging and exciting as I feel like each day there are so many new Truths that God teaches me through His Word. As I was reading through Nehemiah several days ago, this particular passage really caught my attention. It contains a favorite verse of mine, but as I studied I realized I had never truly understood this verse in the context of the passage. This is the verse that I love:

Nehemiah 8:10 "Go and enjoy choice food and sweet drinks, and send some to those who have nothing prepared. This day is sacred to our Lord. Do not grieve, for the joy of the Lord is your strength."

I'm sure most of us are at least familiar with the end of that verse, "The joy of the Lord is my strength", but as I studied the purpose of this joy it became so exciting to me. God's people had "lost" the law. Upon finding it again, Ezra began to read it to His people. As he did, verse 8 tells us that "they read from the Book of the Law of God, making it clear and giving the meaning so that the people could understand what was being read." The people had been so moved by the Truth of God's Word that they were weeping uncontrollably. Finally Nehemiah exhorted the people to quit crying and get up and celebrate. The Truth was now clear to them. Shout for joy! God has given you strength through His Word. Enjoy great fellowship together through the common grace of Biblical exegesis.

I love verse 12 where it says that, "the people went away to eat and drink, to send portions of food and to celebrate with great joy, because they now understood the words that had been made known to them." The people were filled with joy because they were now finally able to understand the Law.

God's Word should make us joyful. Praise the Lord that we don't have a God who condemns us through His Word by showing us what miserable failures we are. Yes, His Word is a tutor, revealing our sin and showing us our inability to save ourselves, but the beautiful thing is that it is meant to lead us to our One True Savior who alone can redeem us from our pitiful state. That precious Truth contained in God's Word- among the many others- gives us reason to celebrate. Go and enjoy sweet fellowship around God's Word, for the joy of the Lord is your strength!

Cheap Weekend Getaway- St. Louis, MO

As I posted last week, we went to St. Louis for the weekend to meet my niece, Emma. We had the best time! St. Louis is a super fun city with plenty to do for an entire week, much of which is even free! You can't beat that!

We made the 5 hour drive over on Thursday and got there with plenty of time to eat dinner and see the St. Louis Cardinals play in their new downtown stadium. This was a great experience as it was the girls' first trip to a major league baseball game and the theater was just rebuilt in 1996. Tickets were as cheap as $5 if you order online for a week night game.

At the recommendation of a friend, we stayed in the Forest Park (Clayton) area which was just about 8 miles from downtown. Forest Park has some great hotels, restaurants, parks and is just about a mile from the St. Louis Galleria mall. We stayed at the Holiday Inn Crowne Plaza which turned out to be great as they had an indoor/outdoor pool, a free game room and newly renovated rooms with INCREDIBLE beds! I found some good prices for this area on Priceline as well.

The St. Louis zoo (also located in Forest Park) is probably the best zoo I've ever been to- even over San Diego. They had everything from Hippos and Rhinos to Monkeys and Snakes, a train, a special Build A Bear workshop with unique zoo animals and plenty of places to eat and play. The best part? The zoo is FREE (although parking is $11)! There was also a free Science Center in the same area.

The next day we ventured out to the Magic House. This was an INCREDIBLE children's museum to say the least. There was a 3 story slide, a full working "grocery store" where the kids could fill up the carts with pretend food and even check themselves out, a pizza parlor run by kids, a TV recording studio where the kids could pretend to be news anchors, a construction zone, a replica of the Judicial Branch of government to explore and lots more! This is a MUST SEE if you go to St. Louis with kids. The price of admission is $8.50, but there were buy 1 get 1 free coupons in the St. Louis Visitors guide found in our hotel lobby. (p.27)



After the museum we headed downtown to walk around the Arch and attempt to ride to the top. After going through security we got inside to find that the wait was over an hour so we visited the museum inside instead. After that we went to the Spaghetti Factory for dinner and back to our hotel for a late night swim.

There were plenty of things we didn't have time to do like Six Flags, the City Museum, Grant's Farm, The Loop and plenty more. We will definitely be planning a trip back to St. Louis in the future!

Adventure Report

It's been a while since I've done an update on my one word for the year- "adventure". Little did I know how the Lord would lead us this year. Not only have we consciously tried to make decisions that push us out into adventure, but we have also been pushed out in ways we never imagined. I told Jason the other night that I never dreamed of our adventure taking us down the path of considering homeschooling or adopting from China in 2009. It's been an exciting year so far to say the least!

So far we've had some fun adventures as we have spent a week at Disney with the kids and had several other fun little getaways. As I write this I am in a hotel room in St. Louis with the kiddos. We came on a little "adventure" weekend with my mom and niece to explore a new place. We had a great trip here other than the GPS trying to convince us to continue on a closed road. Last night we went out to eat downtown and to a Cardinals game. It was so much fun! (This is a picture from our seat.) (Adeline snapped this picture of the Arch as we drove in.)

We have also finally chosen an adoption agency. We have decided to go with Holt International as they have a China Child of Promise program that looks like it will allow us to adopt from China in a fraction of the time of the normal process. As we began praying through adoption we felt so called to China, but dreaded the thought of waiting 3-5 years. At this point we are prayerfully stepping out as we fill out the application to begin our paper pregnancy.

There are many other current adventures in our life that I'll share about soon. How is your "one word" going?

From the Back of the Pack

I went with my family to one of our favorite events on Saturday- the Tennessee Baptist Children's Home Run 4 Kids. It's such a fun race. This year each of the girls ran in their own race and my hubby ran the 5K. I was also planning on running the 5K, but after a bout with the stomach bug in our family last week I opted out...or so I thought.

I got up on race morning feeling fine so I put on my running shoes "just in case". I had told my mom not to bother coming to the race to keep the girls because I wouldn't be running. So, what was my next thought? I had the not so brilliant idea of running with a double umbrella stroller...a broken double umbrella stroller...that holds 50 pounds, not 80 pounds...up hills...over speed bumps. Crazy. Call me crazy.

It started of OK, but after about a minute and a half I saw the back of my husband's shirt and that was the end of that. I'm a pretty avid runner so I thought, how bad can this be? When I had numerous men patting me on the arm saying, "way to go mom. You can do it", I knew I had entered into a whole new category. I even had a nice man who helped me pull my children out of the ditch I so gracefully ran them into with the stroller that doesn't turn. Thankfully I ran into a friend who helped me push the stroller up the last 1/4 mile or I might still be pushing that crazy stroller.

By mile 2 I was fully encompassed with sweat and had already answered 1,440 questions from my 5 year old. We then passed the water stopped (manned by Jana) and my 5 year old was struck by the need to ask another hundred questions about why all these people were littering and throwing their cups on the ground. Needless to say, this is the last time I will run a race pushing 80 pounds in a stroller that doesn't even turn on the flat surface at the mall.

MOM Jeans

Check out this hip new style we all need.

*I hope you know I'm only joking.