A Reason to Be Excited about Grocery Shopping

Do you coupon? I’ve been trying to use coupons off and on for the past 6 months. And holy cow is it a lot of work. I have been able to find some pretty decent deals, which has been exciting. I have only used what coupons I can find online. We don’t have a newspaper subscription, but I fully intend on buying one once we settle down permanently for a little while. I also find it difficult to try to figure out who has the best deals on what, and I don’t like running around to 4 different stores to get the biggest amount of savings. Sometimes I feel like it’s such a hassle! I usually just check out Target’s coupons for the week, see what other coupons are available online, print out the ones I will use, and make my weekly trip to Target and WinCo.

So, anyway… I’ve been trying to save our family some money, especially since we aren’t making any to begin with. I’m sure with time I’ll learn to realize what a good deal looks like and I’ll start saving even more money.

Why am I telling you all of this? Because I made this pretty sweet grocery list/coupon organizer. From this tutorial.

And I’m super excited about it.

Please ignore my ugly sewing on the bottom. I was having some issues…

See look, it has pockets for my coupons, a zippered pouch for a calculator, cash, or whatever else, a spot for my pen, and I can stick my grocery list right inside it too. Everything I need to grocery shop is all in one place!

What has my life come to? I get excited over organizing my coupons and grocery list. I think I need to get out more…

Our Sunday Battle Plan

As of recently I come home from church each Sunday and I admit it, I wonder why I even go in the first place. Don’t worry, no one call my bishop or relief society president. I’m not going inactive. I’m just suffering from Sundays at church with a pre-nursery toddler.

Every Sunday we spend 3 hours in a wrestling match with Hailey. Or at least it feels that way. Yes, I am exaggerating a little bit… but in my defense, Kyle and I come home after church exhausted and crash as soon as we get the chance. I am grateful that we only have one Hailey. A couple in our ward has twin boys just days older than Hailey. They hang out in the foyer all during sacrament meeting, they don’t even try to sit in the chapel. And I don’t blame them.

Toddlers are so busy! Seriously. I feel bad for Hailey having to hang out with us during church. That’s so boring, for her! My mission these past few weeks has been finding ways to make our church going experience a better one, for all of us.

A few weeks ago I ran across a tutorial online to make this super cute bag.

I love it. There are spots for Hailey’s crayons on the front, and inside I keep a notebook that I made, just for Hailey.   

She can color in it and load it up with all the stickers her little heart desires.

And then today I finished making these fun ABC cards.

They are double sided and have pictures and words that correspond with each letter. I printed them out and then had them hard laminated so they’re super durable and can hold up to Hailey’s teeth (She’s been biting everything recently! Including me…) I had a hole drilled in the top corner and bound them together with a metal ring so Hailey can flip through them.

This idea wasn’t totally my own. One Sunday we were sharing a bench with another family in our ward. The woman sitting next to us asked if she could hold Hailey. I of course said yes, I’ll take any opportunity for a small break. Of course Hailey was so good for her. I couldn’t believe it. She must have super mom powers that I have yet to gain (and really, really want.) She also had some small laminated cards hooked together on a ring that she was flipping through and looking at with Hailey. Hailey loved it. And I thought, why haven’t I ever thought of that before!? Oh yeah… those super mom powers… Anyway, after that Sunday I was determined to make my own flip cards for Hailey. And I finally finished them. Tomorrow is the big day that we get to test them out. Wish us luck!

Oh yeah… interested in making your own church ABC cards? Want to know what words I used for each letter?

A- armor of God

B- blessing

C- church

D- Dad

E- eternity

F- family

G- grandparents

H- Holy Ghost

I- inspiration

J- Jesus Christ

K- kindness

L- liahona

M- Mom

N- nature

O- obey

P- prophet

Q- quiet

R- resurrection

S- sacrament

T- temple

U- unselfish

V- vision

W- word of wisdom

X- exaltation

Y- you

Z- zion

Play-doh

Last week I posted about my winter woes. And about my lack of ways to entertain Hailey without driving myself crazy.

Here’s a classic activity we did this week.



Play-doh! The homemade kind. For if (when) it gets eaten.



Want to play too?

You will need:
1 cup flour
1/4 cup salt
2 tablespoons cream of tartar
1 cup water
2 teaspoons food coloring
1 tablespoon oil

Mix all the ingredients together in a sauce pan. Cook for 3-5 minutes over medium heat, stirring until a ball forms. Remove from the pan and knead for 2-3 minutes. Store in an air tight container or plastic bags.

And voila! Play-doh.



Don’t limit yourself to just the play-doh. The container is fun to play with too.

Toddler Backpack and a Husband Who Sews

Earlier this week I told Kyle that I wanted to make a bag for Hailey to take to the library to put her books in. I get tired of stuffing them in my purse.

Here's the result:

front

side

back

I think it's pretty awesome.

Oh, and did I mention that Kyle made it, not me?

Oh yeah, and he made it without a pattern? Seriously. Kyle amazes me, all the time, with the things he comes up with.

I'm looking forward to our library trip this week. Hailey is going in style.

Painting with Pudding

Lately I have been feeling a little blah. It's cold, snowy and dark outside. Hailey and I are cooped up inside most days, with a lack of variability in our day to day activities. And I'm suffering from a lack of motivation to get things done.

At least this is what it feels like to me.

We do some fun things, like going grocery shopping (insert here: a very unenthusiastic "yah".) Fridays are good days, well, mornings. That is our library day... and recently we've been trying to drag it out as long as we can, like by going to three story times in a row. Anyway... there aren't a lot of different things that I have come up with to do with Hailey.

I feel like Hailey is in a little bit of a limbo stage. She's starting to move out of baby-ness and becoming more toddler-like. She no longer sleeps all day, or is immobile. She's constantly on-the-go, with one or two naps a day. She understands a lot of what I say, and is super curious about everything around her- she's constantly getting into something. There's a whole lot more that we can do together now, than we could do before. We read books and she interacts with me and enthusiastically lets me know that there is a banana on the current page. She tells me when she is hungry or wants a drink. She points out that her doll is a baby, and roars when she sees her dinosaur. This kid is now super interactive. Great! But she doesn't understand coloring, she's not old enough to help me point out shapes and letters, her interest in cooking is solely eating, not in helping with the food preparation... There are so many fun things I want to do with Hailey, but she's just not there yet.

Don't get me wrong. I love the stage she's in. I love how much fun I have chasing her around the house, speed reading books with her (I say this because actual reading doesn't happen, turning pages does), and pretending to eat her food that she so generously offers me.

But sometimes, err... a lot of the time, I wish there was more we could do together. So, recently I've been searching for fun and crafty things I can do with Hailey. And there's not really a whole lot, besides what we already do.

Except for painting with pudding. Which we tried out this afternoon.

Wait. Wasn't it painting with pudding? Painting, eating... what's the difference? There isn't any with Hailey. Really, should I be so surprised? No. I don't think so.

A mess was made. 

A really BIG mess.

 A bath was required. 

Followed by lots and lots of clean up in the kitchen. Was it worth it? Most definitely. Will we do it again? You betcha.

Do I wish Hailey was older? Sometimes- for selfish, I'm sick of being bored, reasons. Do I really want her to be older? No way! Not when we can have this much fun, making this big of a mess, with chocolate- and get away with it.

I'll keep my Hailey as she is, thank you very much. Now winter, that's another story.