Austin's Piano Recital

Austin had his first piano recital on Sunday. He's such a performer and thrives on being in front of people. Not nervous or shy a bit. He played Heart and Soul first and then Ode To Joy. I didn't get the second song because I was filming on my picture camera and it only takes short videos. I was planning on taking a video of the first stopping it and then the second. When I tried to take the second song it stalled and had to finish saving. Arrgghh!!! He started taking lessons in January, but has been teaching himself to play songs. Heart and Soul is one of them. I love that he taught himself to play Amazing Grace and figured it out on both the white keys and black keys. He really loves playing!

Hannah is 9 months old!

Hannah is 9 months old today. My friend Adria took these of her Saturday at a get together. I love them! She did such a great job.

Easter Pics

Here's some pics from Barry's Aunt's on Easter. The kids had a great time hunting eggs. Austin now has a new way to smile:

Jacob sporting his new hat. I couldn't resist it:
Kendal blowing bubbles:
Hmm, no, not Hannah. Barry's Aunt gave me a ton of digital pics of the kids from past holidays! That's Kendal on her first Easter:
And there's sweet little Hannah:

My Boys

When Barry was little he had some lederhosen from his aunt and uncle that lived in Germany. His mom has a picture of him in one when he was 2, so she had the idea of having the boys taking their picture in them. They turned out pretty cute. Austin wasn't too thrilled to be wearing "Germany clothes," but he sure does look like he was enjoying it. I think these could only have been better if we could have gotten Barry in there matching them. Yikes!

Where's his tooth?

So, this afternoon we were all playing outside and Austin freaked out because he accidently pulled his own tooth out and couldn't find it. I don't think he expected there to be blood involved either. Austin was standing in the driveway when he lost it, so imagine looking for something the size of a pebble amongst little pebbles. Barry found it after about 10 minutes. Austin calmed down once I told him all the cool things he could do with food and spit now that he has a window in his teeth. Somehow, he knows about the Tooth Fairy. Actually, Kendal brought it up...

My Publix Trip

Here's my recent trip to Publix. That's Austin giving me a high-5, Kendal hiding (maybe I'm embarrassing her), and Hannah thinking I'm crazy. My total was $75.94 and I saved $93.19!!! I was able to stock up on some items and picked up some rainchecked items from last week. I know that most of that savings is because Publix is higher to begin with, but I would be spending at least $100 at Target buying store brand and never stocking up.

More pics/stories of the kids for those family members who read and think I'm crazy for taking pics of food!

Back In The Swing Of Things

I have been SOOO behind on clipping coupons and getting them organized, so I haven't been frugal shopping the past few weeks. After throwing down around $100 at Target for groceries a couple times I was motivated to get back in the game. Here's how I did:

CVS

I spent $5.08 on the items to the left with $9.99 ECBs. Not bad.

Publix

My Grand Total was $26.89 with a Savings of $49.63!!! I was very excited to find that $5 off $30 coupon in the Wed. paper that comes in the mail. I also got some rainchecks for the deals they were out of.

CVS (again)

Bounty 8 roll and some Crest Pro Health toothpaste for a Total of $1.69 and left with $3.49 ECBs earned in that trip and I still have $2.99 ECBs from the earlier trip.

Which leads me to the topic of paper towels. Not all paper towels are created equal. I really love Bounty. I've tried others, they just don't do it for me. I know the Strategic Shopping Lady from church says to NEVER buy paper towels, but I just can't quit them. I've cut back, though, by using the cloth napkins we received as wedding presents and have yet to use. My mother in law bought me some recently, also. (Thank You, Kathy!) But I have this thing against sponges and dish rags. They just scream germs to me, and Bounty is tough enough to use when you need to hand wash dishes. Select-a-size basic white is my preference. I also am blessed with a glass kitchen table which gets Windexed and Bountied at least 3 times a day. I'm just not ready to part from it. I tried using newspaper once to clean the table off with; that lasted one day, not for lack of efficiency, just mainly convenience. As for Windex, I saw that Glass Plus is BOGO this week at Publix. We'll see if it measures up.

What are some thing that are just not worth being frugal over for you?