Friday, January 7, 2011

happy birthday john bear


today is an incredibly special day in my family's life. today, two years ago, my nephew john was born. besides the obvious, you may wonder why it is so special. you see, this boy wasn't supposed to make it this long. he has surpassed so many odds. he is OUR miracle boy. and i love him more than words can be expressed.

you see, john has menkes disease. menkes is caused by a defective gene that regulates the metabolism of copper. most babies are not diagnosed at birth because there are no signs. somehow, we received some signs. my sister and my mom were diligent in getting an answer and while it was not the answer we wanted, he has received copper infections almost all his life. and he is walking, blowing kisses and loves his new baby sister.

and we love him. so much. and he has touched the lives of so many people. his smile lights up the room. his laugh is adorable. and he is and always will be my inspiration. he is a fighter. i always say he got that from his jones side : )


Thursday, January 6, 2011

thursday shopping success

I thought I would start with my shopping trip today. Guess how much all of this cost me?

$20.19!
This includes:
8 boxes of cereal
Swiss Miss Hot Chocolate
Activia Yogurt
Breathe Right Strips
Sundown Vitamins

My bill before coupons and store savings was $70.55. I then saved $25.84 in store savings and $24.52 with coupons.

Here are the big ticket items I was able to receive:
  • Special K Cereal was on sale for $2.99 and with the purchase of 4 boxes, the store offered $4 off. This would total: $12.oo-$4.00 = $8.00. I also had two b1g1 coupons. My store took for $2.99 for each coupon. My out of pocket for 4 boxes of special k was $0.50.
  • Kashi Cereal was also on sale for $2.99 and with the purchase of 4 boxes, the store again offered $4 off. With this purchase I had 4 coupons: $3 off 1 and then 3 $1 off 1. This made my out of pocket expense just $0.50
  • Breathe Right strips were $5.79 and I had a catalina for a FREE pack!
  • Swiss Miss on sale for $1.48 and I had a $2 off coupon (coupons.com)...BETTER than Free!
  • 2 vitamin waters for $1 each and I had a $0.75 and $1.00 coupon (catalina)
  • Sundown Vitamins were on sale b1g1 and they had a coupon attached to the bottle for $1 off. Received these for $4.44 (originally $10.88).
  • Quaker Oatmeal for $1.99 and I had an internet coupon for $1.00 off
  • Activia was on sale for $2.00 and I had an internet coupon fro $1.00
  • Everything else was either on sale or no coupons used!
Pfew...that was a lot of information, so I hope that I didn't overwhelm anyone. I am pretty happy with this purchase as we eat a LOT of cereal in our house. I hope this helps someone and if you have any questions, let me know : )

Wednesday, January 5, 2011

new year

it's a new year and it's time for a mini face lift for this blog. nothing fancy, just updated some pictures and my goal is to post much more frequently....life with 2 two year olds changes so fast. I am also going to start using this blog to post deals that I have found. I have started to get really into couponing and want to share the wealth.

Alex and Keegan are thriving and doing everything in their power to drive me crazy =) They really are amazing little things. Will post soon, nap time is about over and I need to get dinner in the crockpot!