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It's not because I'm a fan of chess...it's because I'm a fan of Twilight!

Low grocery bills

I have been getting many questions about how I keep my grocery bill so low. I will tell you how I do it. This is for some people and it's not for others. For instance last week at Meijer I spent $54.63 and my savings was $49.93. I saved my self half! It is totally worth the time and effort for me.

First off, I usually do my shopping at Meijer. This is how my mom always shopped when I grew up too:) I wait for the sale paper for the week and browse through it to see what is on sale for the week. I base my menu planning off of what is on sale. I only do Menu planning for dinners. This way I won't buy extra stuff that I don't need, I only buy what I need for the week. When meat goes on sale, I stock up and freeze it. Then I refer to the Bargains to Bounty website. http://www.bargainstobounty.com/ This website matches all of the current deals with coupons out there (printable off of the Internet or from the Sunday paper etc.) This website does match ups for many other stores as well! That's how I do it.

And the nature center continues........

This morning around 11:30 Cabo was barking at the back door, which isn't unusual. He barks at everything even a piece of paper rolling across the grass. Anyway, he would NOT stop, so I went to look at what he was barking at. At fist I saw 3 and then there were 6. We haven't seen deer around for a few years. There have been tracks, but NEVER have we seen them out during the day AND so close to the houses!

Getting down!

Karli and Cameron decided to dance while Chris was downloading music. Cameron was not willing to put his cookie down though. My camera makes a strange clicking noise at the beginning sorry.

Ice Skating

Today we went ice skating! It was Cameron's first time on skates. He was scared of falling at first, but then warmed up to it. It's not easy to learn how to stand on them but he did very well. When Cameron was done skating Karli was not ready to go yet. It was like riding a bike for her. She held my hand for a few minutes and then was off on her own. She was a champ when she fell, she got right back up with no tears!

Cameron and Karli updates

Cameron is doing excellent with potty training. We have been working on it for about 6 months now. We are totally done with diapers. He keeps a dry pull-up on all day. We have had a few accidents with regular underwear, so for now we are sticking with the pull-ups since they seem to stay dry! He is so proud of himself, and he even now urinates standing up, thanks to Grandma Kathy for teaching him that! He can't wait to tell Mrs. Sharon that he will be able to go to school next year now that he goes on the potty (I warned her that he may tell her.)



Karli got her first report card last week and got an excellent report. We are so proud of how she has improved with her sensitivity and is excelling in everything she does. Her reading is amazing and now we can't believe her math skills (double digit addition and subtraction!). To celebrate we went bowling and yes she beat her Mother (I even had bumpers, how sad!) We also rented the movie "UP," which the family enjoyed.

5 year check up

Yesterday I took Karli for her 5 year check up. She is still in the 75% range for height and 50% range for weight. I'm not surprised because some of her 5 year pants are already floods. I refuse to put her in 6 yr old pants, the waist will never fit her. She got a good healthy check up from the Dr. He also couldn't believe that she is READING books now! I can't recall in the last month one time I read to her! There was a book in the room we were in that she read to me while we were waiting and the Dr. said they usually don't see that until 1st or 2nd grade. He said school should be easy for her....I hope so! I prepared her for 1 quick poke for her seasonal flu shot. Which she screamed for, but then I took her for a Slurpee and she said, "It was worth it, it wasn't so bad." I hadn't got her the H1N1 vaccine yet and I totally thought they were going to tell me what a bad mother I was for not vaccinating my kids for it. He actually didn't recommend it at this time because they aren't seeing any cases now. He said if they start to see cases again I can vaccinate them at that time. I was OK with that!