Working the Albertsons Deals!

Last night, I made a quick trip to Albertsons to take advantage of a promo sale they had going on. It sure was a good trip I made! Here are the details:

10 boxes cereal (those Cheerios are the big boxes)
4 chickens (approx 3.6lbs each)
1/2 gallon Breyers ice cream
3 steamer bags frozen peas (forgot to snag em back out of the freezer for the picture!)

Total out of pocket expense: $21.12
According to the receipts, I saved $65.79 - that's over 75% savings!
(from the ridiculously inflated full retail price at Albertsons... but still!)

I did this in 2 transactions:
First, I purchased the cereal & frozen peas to get the General Mills promo (purchase $25 of participating products & get $10 off your next purchase). I had a coupon for each item I purchased & used 3 doublers (so 3 of my $1 off coupons were doubled to $2 off!). That made the first purchase a total of $17.56 out of pocket.
Then I purchased the chickens & ice cream & used my $10 coupon. (I had another coupon & doubler for the ice cream, which was on sale - & the chickens were only 68 cents/lb!) It was cool to only pay 3.56 for 4 chickens & a half gallon of ice cream. :D

Chillin' on a Sunday Afternoon

David had a hard time going down for his nap on Sunday, so we let him run off some of his energy before trying again. He & Daddy had some adventures in the backyard & they captured a frog. It was fun watching David examine the frog up close. I love the curiosity of little kids. They find such wonder in the world around them. One of David's fascinations lately is with balloons. He exclaims, "balloon!" everytime we see one & points excitedly. Jamin gave in to his adorable demonstrations on Saturday afternoon & bought him a Halloween balloon when we were at Fred Meyer. He has had fun trailing it around with him while playing & bouncing the string around. I love how such a simple thing brings such joy to him! Just happy times with our little man :D

BiZi Farms

We enjoyed a beautiful Saturday afternoon at a local pumpkin patch, picking out our Jack-o-Lanterns. It was perfect Fall weather, with a slight breeze chilling the air, but the sunshine warming us. The hayride down to the patch was a little dusty, but that's because we were sitting directly behind the tractor. There were pumpkins everywhere! David had a blast wandering around the pumpkin patch trying to pick up the little ones. He did a lot of pointing & exclaiming, it was pretty funny! It was fun sorting through all the squash, trying to find the perfect shaped pumpkins for the designs we wanted to carve. The toughest part for Jamin & I was limiting the number of pumpkins we picked out... we came home with more than a few. For now, they're speckling our front porch with a festive orange. But in a few short weeks, we'll carve them up & have them glowing on Halloween night. David's pumpkin won't be carved though.. we have other plans. Thanks to his Grandma Jeri's collection, David has a little love affair with Mr. Potato Head & all his friends. So I couldn't resist when I saw a kit to turn a a pumpkin into Mr. Pumpkin Head with a Pirate costume! Ca-ute!!

After we loaded our pumpkins into the car, we headed back to wander in the corn maze till dark. It was a fun family day on Saturday!

Happy Fall!

Earlier this week, I took the opportunity to snap a few pictures of David. He's such a fun kid these days! He's talking more (we're working hard on please & thank you) & he's ever so curious about the world around him. It's so much fun being Mom to this awesome little guy!
I am loving this great Fall weather! It's been cooler, but we've still had some sunshine brightening our days. More rain is coming, and that's ok. As much as I love Summer, I really love the changing seasons. I love the hunkering down & making plans for the busy winter. It's when my crafting bug really gets biting, I've already had a few craft days with friends with several more planned. I'll have to take pictures of the scrapbook pages I've been working on & share them here! I'm so lucky to have a room where I can spread out my stuff & play while David is napping & then shut the door on my mess & keep little hands safe (& my projects safe from little hands). Jamin has been wonderfully patient with me on those days when I haul stuff down to the kitchen table & play. I do try to have a clean kitchen table a few days a week for him. ;)
Speaking of Jamin, we are VERY excited that his work schedule has changed & he'll have more quality time at home! YAY! He'll continue lead duties, but he's been assigned to another team, where his leadership skills will continue to shine. I have an awesome, hard-working husband & his managers know it. So with the new team, his schedule moves from 9:30-6 Mon-Fri to 4 ten hour shifts on Mon, Tues, Wed & Fri. The sweetest deal is that Monday is a holiday, & he also took Tuesday off... so his first week on the new schedule, he'll only work 2 days! We'll be fitting in a lot of fun family time this extended weekend, that's for sure!

Happy Birthday to you... you live in a Zoo

Last Friday, was David's buddy, Tyson's 2nd birthday. Ashley invited David & I along for a trip to the zoo. We were very happy when the boys were very patient & well-behaved for the fun, albeit long day. We were sad that Jamin had to work while David took his first trip to the zoo.. but I think we'll be going back soon! David & Tyson had the treat of watching the elephants get their morning bath. We saw all the elephants, including the little 1 yr old baby, who weighed in at over 1300 lbs that morning. We loved seeing the new cat exhibit, where there was only a pane of glass between us & the cheetahs. It was really neat to be so up close. The only sad part is that David & Tyson were both quite camera shy. Why don't they understand my scrapbooking duty? :) The fun day was ended with a trip on the zoo train & then a nice long nap for two busy little boys.

Camping

We took the opportunity as summer was closing, to take David on his first camping trip. We skipped the Labor day crowds & met up with my dad & his girlfriend, Lisa, the following weekend, just outside of Sweet Home, OR. It was a nice relaxing 3 day trip, with a few walks in the beautiful outdoors, cozy time around the fire (with s'mores of course! David loved those!), & time around the picnic table, playing games & catching up. It was a lot of fun hanging out with my dad & Lisa. They had a couple fun new toys for David to play with while we were there (& he's still having fun with the bowling set & truck) We took a few group shots, but I think all the good ones ended up on my dad's camera.David was way too curious about his new outdoor surroundings to get a nap in the first day, much to our chagrin. But he slept well that night, cuddled between Jamin & I in our sleeping bags. He enjoyed the tent quite a bit - I see a future fort-builder in him. ;) He also very quickly caught on to the little boy notion of always having a stick in his hands. It was pretty cute. We had a nice spacious camp site near a river & went on a few supervised wanderings with his daddy. I am very much looking forward to next summer when we can take a few more trips with David. Camping & hiking created many favorite childhood memories for me & I am sure Jamin as well. We are looking forward to help David cultivate his own appreciation of the great outdoors. (and a clean shower after 3 days of camping! hehe)

Waiting up for Daddy

Jamin had a late night last night, so David & I caught up on some reading.

Portland to Coast 2009

This past weekend was definitely an experience to remember! For the first time, I participated in the Mother of all Relays (seriously, that's what people call it), the Portland to Coast. It is the walking sister to the Hood to Coast run. We had a 12-woman team, Team Integrity, who covered 127 miles from Downtown Portland to Seaside, Oregon, in relay fashion.

From the Portland to Coast Official Homepage:

"Walking in the world's largest walk relay is truly an amazing and unforgettable experience. Teams traverse a wide array of terrain, from urban cityscape, through quaint farming communities, to the sandy beaches of the Pacific Ocean. Dare to defy your limits!
Cross the finish line, and feel empowered by the realization of how strong you are! Celebrate your finish, and return to your life with fresh perspectives, hope, and motivation for the future."

Our team split into 2 vans of 6 ladies to cover 24 legs of the race, with my friend, Ashley & I in the 2nd van. Of the 6 ladies in our van, only Bridget had done the relay before. We gathered in downtown Portland as a team to cheer on Pam, who started at 5am (so we left around 3am... I got about 2 hours of sleep that night) Our van headed up the road a ways to the checkpoint where the 6th gal in van 1 (Nancy) would pass off to the first gal in our van (April). Ashley & I had the last 2 legs in our van & we were crazy first-timers who decided to walk both of those legs together. Her first leg was 4.18 miles & we thought mine was 4.25, but we found out after we finished that it was 4.92... so that was over 9 miles to start the relay. We did all of our training walking together (with loaded strollers), so it was just natural to push through those miles together on the course. We walked right when it was getting dark & it also started to rain a little bit. By the time we were done, we were informed of our mileage & happy that we survived the first legs. It was supper time & we were very tired. Since it was raining, all 6 of us got cozy in the van to get in some shut-eye. It was just a few hours later that we were up (by 2am!) & ready at the checkpoint for the hand-off from Nancy.
It was fun cheering on our walker on the road as she kept up the pace & completed her leg. Some legs were more challenging than others.. like gravel trails with vans driving past (before the rain came to squelch the dust), , lots of hills, darkness, etc. We had a great team of supportive women!
For her second leg, Ashley was totally beat, but went on to do her tough walk of 7.29 miles. It was nearly all uneven gravel, hilly & vans were not permitted on the leg - so she didn't have the encouraging cheering on when she needed it. She is a tough chick! We were definitely tired before even starting our second legs, but pushed through it & did what we came to do - just finish the relay! I had the very last leg at 5.23 miles & it was so great seeing my team right before the finish line. We all walked across the finish line together & then took some team photos before checking out the vendors on the beach. It felt so good to just be done!! I think the toughest part was the little to no sleep we all got. We slept in our van (6 people & our junk - so no sprawling) while the other 6 ladies from the first van were doing their legs of the relay. Thursday & Friday night's sleep total for me was about 5 hours. I was diligent about stretching & moving around after sitting for a long while in the van & I think that helped a lot with recovery. Today, I'm feeling pretty good!
We (at least, Ashley & I) didn't go into this with a competitive mentality. It was a challenge to ourselves... we made a plan earlier this year to do it & so that motivated us to keep walking.. here we are on the other side & while we got a little sore, the feeling of our accomplishment is fantastic!!

p.s. The pic is right before I started the last leg. It was raining. I met up with Ashley several yards from the exchange point & she was soaked. By the time I started, it changed to a mist... gotta love the Northwest weather. I am so grateful it wasn't hot!

Leah's walking total: 14.33 miles
Ashley's walking total: 16.39 miles

My Little Literary Man

I think we have a reader on our hands. Well, David's not reading yet, but he certainly loves books! He has books in the car, books in his room, books in our room, books downstairs.. you get the idea. We read to him every day & I often find him flipping through his cardboard books & talking to himself. I'm sure it's just mimicking Mom & Dad, but that's how they learn, right? One of David's favorite activities for the longest time is to pull all the books off our bookshelf.. not so much fun. But, you pick your battles, you know? Here's David the other day with contraband (a paper book instead of a chunky cardboard book). I was tired of putting the books back for the seven thousandth time that day, so they lay scattered around the office while I tried to finish an email. (See why it's tough to get the blogging done?) I heard him chattering to himself so I turned around & he was fanning the pages & "reading" to himself. Precious. I could just eat him up, he's so adorable. So we sat & flipped through the book a little before finally putting them all back once again.

the Clark County Fair

I've lived here for over 7 years now & this is the first time I attended the Clark County Fair. I grew up going to the California State Fair.. so I know a county fair sure wouldn't live up to those lofty expectations. We DID have a lot of fun, though. David pet a lot of animals (thus washing his hands a lot - he was such a trooper!) & saw a lot of interesting people. Jeri went with us & we had a lot of fun checking out the animals & exhibits. We sat down just as the last Dock Dog was making his jump into the pool for the show. So we know to look for that schedule next time. It's a dog competition where Dogs jump across a pool to catch a flying frisbee or something & we see who jumps the furthest. We did catch a pig race though & our pig won! (go Red!) The experience was topped with a funnel cake! It was a day full of new creatures & fun memories. I'm looking forward to going back next year!