Playing in the leaves

Just some fun fall pictures. Enjoy!

Couponing Revisited

Okay, I'll admit it. I am now addicted to couponing. This afternoon I almost called a babysitter to sit with my kids while I went grocery shopping before all the good stuff was gone. Today was my best shopping trip ever!

Here is a list of what I got:

10 boxes of cereal (the boys just love Cocoa Puffs)

9 cans of Progresso soup

2 Cottenelle flushable wipe refills

1 Lipton soup mix

1 box of Kleenex

4 Progresso broths

4 Yoplait Yo-plus 4-packs

3 Danimal 4-packs

2 Healthy Choice frozen entrees

6 Betty Crocker boxed potatoes (au gratin, you know)

4 cans of frosting

Bananas

2 lbs. of baby carrots and

1 gallon of milk

Grand total = $20.24

Yes, it was awesome! I did have a $10 gift certificate from a newspaper subscription special, but everything else was coupons and specials. I'm going back on Friday to get more Kleenex. I'll get 30 boxes for about $10 and then $15 of free groceries. Whoot - whoot!

The Flu

Isn't it convenient that they come out with the swine flu vaccine after most of America has already had it? We had our turn last week. George started it on Sunday night. Phin followed during my primary presidency meeting on Tuesday morning and Spencer chimed in on Thursday afternoon. I basically had a mild case all week long and I'm still fighting the runny nose and coughing even now, a week later. I wished I could be like the boys and just sleep for three days straight. Wait isn't that the dream of every adult at some point. Heck, you don't even have to be sick to wish for that one.

This was how our week looked:

In this next one George is trying to smile. Even when he's sick he's cute!

We are all well now. Adam was very blessed and escaped unscathed. He was a trooper helping with the boys every night and making sure I got plenty of rest. He even went in late one day to make sure I could sleep in. I love that man!

Halloween

Oh the fun of Halloween! Whoever invented a holiday where people give you free candy is okay in my book. The boys made out like bandits at the trunk-or-treat. There must have been four wards there. We walked around getting candy for nearly 40 minutes. It was HUGE!!

George was a cowboy (thank you, my boy, for choosing a cheap and easy costume). Phin wanted to be a frog (like last year) and then Tigger (another costume we have on hand) but finally decided on a pirate. Again, with a two dollar sword from Goodwill and party favors from a recent birthday party, the pirate was a snap. I should mention that Phin is crying in the picture because I lashed his saber to his side and he wanted to carry it. Which really means I ended up carrying it all night.

Spencer was the duck (like every previous sibling). He was still getting over the flu, hence the binkie and the sad look on his face. Poor kid.

Travels

I just downloaded all the pictures from my camera, so here is a long blog that is mostly pictures. This first batch of pictures is when we climbed Badger Mountain in August. The boys were troopers, walking the whole way up (about 1.5 miles). They call it a mountain, but it's more of a hill that sits on the west side of Richland. From the top you can see all of the Tri-cities and on a clear day you can see where the three rivers intersect as well as the Cascades far in the distance. They boys ran down, and I ran with them since Adam had the baby on his back. It was great fun and we'll probably make it a summer tradition. Note to self: bring toilet paper next time. (Ever notice how your kids have to go #2 at the most inconvenient times?)

Next we went to the fair - meaning me and the boys. Yes, I was a brave mama and took all three boys to the county fair by myself. Thank you to all the nice people on the bus (yes, we took the bus) and at the fair grounds who helped us out. The boys were excited to ride the bus, especially Phin. We looked at the animals, petted the bunnies, ate cotton candy and pizza, watched a lady do tricks with a lasso, got freebies at the commercial barn, got our free cowboy hats and almost rode the ponies (a fight broke out right before they were to get in line, so we had to get back in the stroller -- so sad.) I actually saw another lady there pushing a double stroller with an infant on her back. It was like seeing a mirror image and we stopped and gave each other pats on the back for being such good moms to take our kids to the fair alone. A bus ride home made it easy to get them to leave all of the excitement. I was pooped but we had a blast. Will I do it again? We'll see.

Next it was off to Seattle for the weekend. Our friends KC and Jessica put us up for the weekend, got us a sweet deal on some City Passes, treated us to German Pancakes and "Special Drink" on Saturday morning and enlightened us with their talks on Sunday. Jessica and her two kids, Julia and Scott also came with us on the first day. We had a blast. The first stop was the Science Center (after a delay at the ferry where we checked out the Naval Museum). We spent the entire afternoon there (after a jaunt through Pike's Market). The kids loved it and George still tells me he wants to go back to Seattle so that we can go to the Science Center. He even drew a couple of pictures for me to show me what fun it would be to go to the Science Center again.

The next day we went to the aquarium where Phin got to see the octopus that he had been looking forward to for the whole trip. He was fascinated with them before we went, and who can blame him. An animal the size of a small horse being able to fit through a hole the size of a quarter. Amazing!!! And check out this way cool video. Anyway, the boys loved the aquarium as well and wanted to sit forever in the dome watching the sharks and sting rays and fish.

We also went to the Experience Music Project where the boys got to play the drums, mix music and watch videos on a two story screen. Just a word of warning, this is more for older kids. Ours thought it was okay, but really wanted to go to the Science Center again.

Of course we had to go to the Space Needle. It was a good day and you could see probably 30 miles in every direction. Again, not that cool for kids (they can't really figure out how to use those telescope things, although they insist on you holding them up so they can "pretend" to use it) but a must when you visit Seattle. Don't worry, Phin was never in any danger of falling off the top, it just looks like it.

This was on the monorail on our way home after three days of fun. Isn't having a good time exhausting?

For the Labor Day weekend we went to Boise to see Adam's family. We were able to get the whole family together for a trip to the zoo on Labor Day. We always have a great time there (especially with Mom and Dad feeding us so well.)

To finish things off, this past weekend we made our way to the Country Mercantile for the Fall Festival. It was COLD but fun. They had a corn maze, huge hay bale pyramids, a carousel, bouncy houses, and the best salsa in the world (at least that comes from a store). They also had these very talented teens who played the xylophones. Incredible! They didn't even have music. They had all the pieces memorized.

Okay, so now you are up to date on the Gaul family and our travel. Things should be pretty quiet here, travel-wise, for the next little while. Snow in the passes makes driving next to impossible. That's okay, we don't mind being locked into our little heaven here in Richland where we are experiencing all four seasons, NOT shoveling snow and loving the fall colors.

More Love and Logic

The last time I wrote about love and logic, I was completely against it. But a friend commented that she knows people who swear by it, it just takes practice. Knowing that this friend would never steer me wrong, I decided to try it again.

And, miracle of miracles -- IT WORKED! Most of the time...

For example, I hauled all three children to the copy and binding store to get our family calendar bound. We had been practicing the "Uh-oh" song at home and it had started to stop Phin in his tracks. But would it work outside the house? I told the boys they could walk around, but that they couldn't run; running is for outside. Phin, of course, began to run around the displays of paper. "Uh-oh," I sang. And he stopped! I walked toward him saying, "So sad, looks like you need to come and sit with mommy for a little bit." And he stayed put! He didn't run off, throwing a mischevious grin over his shoulder. He came with me calmly, sat by my feet for a few minutes and then, when let go, walked. We had to practice not running about three times in the 20 minutes we were there, but I left there relaxed, calm and not at all frustrated with this little boy who had been running me ragged.

Another example: George was playing outside in the dirt when I called him in for dinner. "No, I want to keep playing," he told me. "Okay," I said, "But dinner time is now. Do you want to keep playing or eat dinner."

"Keep playing," he said.

So we ate without him. He came strolling in as we were cleaning up and told me he was hungry and wanted to eat.

"Oh, George. I'm so sorry," I said. "Dinner is over."

"But I'm hungry," he cried, not believing that I would actually refuse him food.

"I know, I'm sorry."

He cried and whined, but then realized that I was serious and that he had chosen to play instead. The real kicker came when Grandmom and Poppop showed up that night with ice cream.

"Only kids who ate dinner get to have ice cream," Grandmom said. And so poor George watched while we all ate ice cream without him.

It sounds cruel, but George has not missed dinner since. And he eats what we are having, knowing that there will not be another option.

We have also used love and logic in helping them to clean up their toys. "Pick up the toys you would like to keep," we say. And after 10 minutes, I pick up any toys left out and they go into my room. I thought this was backfiring on me one week, because they were not picking up any of their toys. They would simply move onto the next box of toys that they hadn't played with in a while, when the other toys disappeared into my room. After about three days they each had one Matchbox car left to play with. Everything else was in my room. What was I going to do with all these toys. I didn't think I could make them earn them all back. The I had a stroke of genius.

I set up a "toy store" in the boys room, labeling each of the toys with a "price". One chore for this toy, two chores for that toy. I gave the boys chores on pieces of paper and had them shop. Any toy that they didn't buy went to Goodwill or was donated to the nursery at church. It cut down on the toys, got the ones I had out of my room and made the boys work for the ones they wanted to keep. It was great. I think I'll do it at least twice a year.

So, it works ... most of the time. I still have questions (like how do I give a consequence to one boy that affects the whole family?) and we still have our hard days (did I mention we got kicked out of the library recently?) but all in all it makes parenting a lot more fun and less stressful. I'm not so exhausted at the end of the day. That's not to say that by the time the weekend comes I'm not ready for a little me time. Adam knows that Friday dinner is bound to be difficult (it's hard to practice everyday and not kind of slack toward the end of the week, right?) But he handles it like a champ and I love him for it. So we will keep practicing, singing "Uh-oh", and giving away chores like candy. The greatest thing is, I haven't had to clean the toilet myself for weeks!

Couponing

There is a woman in our ward who can buy $200 worth of groceries for $30, I swear. She does it all by couponing. When Adam heard about the miracle of clipping coupons and told me about it, I was all for giving it a try. So I went out and bought my binder with my plastic baseball card sleeves to hold my coupons and sharpened my scissors. I got two Sunday newspapers and printed more coupons online. I clipped and organized for at least three days. I made my list and hit the supermarket.

The first deal was the Kraft deal. If you bought $25 worth of qualifying Kraft products you would get $5 off your next purchase and a $20 check in the mail. So the groceries were FREE. However, I found that a lot of the "qualifying" items were things that we didn't need. But I had to buy $25 worth, so I loaded up on the grated mozzarella cheese - after all you can always freeze it.

The second deal was to buy 10 Kellogg's items and get a $10 rebate check. So I loaded up on the cereal and the Pop Tarts and the Yogos (really just candy disguised as a nutritious yogurt covered fruit snack).

The final deal was if you bought four "qualifying" General Mills items, you would get a free gallon of milk on your next visit. So I piled in the General Mills items. So, with my cart full of sugar cereals, crackers and mozzarella cheese, I made my way to the check out. I had a coupon for nearly everything in my basket and I was confident that I was going to be able to whip out two $20 bills and pay for it all. Then I was going to get all that money back and free milk.

Then there was the coupons themselves. 55 cents off TWO. $1 off SIX. 60 cents off ONE 15 oz. box. I had to read and reread all of them. Did my purchase match, was it the right size, the right brand? Oh the detail! I nearly started hyperventilating before I even made it to the checkout.

And here were the other problems. I was so worried about getting $25 of Kraft stuff that I way over bought. I mean, were they counting the regular price, the sale price or the price I actually paid with my coupon? I didn't know, so I just piled in the qualifying purchases, hoping it would hit $25. I did okay on the Kelloggs, but you needed an "original store receipt" to claim both your Kraft and Kellogg rebates! Oh, no, they only would give me one, what was I going to do? So I had to go back and have the store manager print me a "report receipt" from the computer. As for the free milk, I was so confused with buying the Kelloggs cereals and other products, trying to make sure that I had ten, that I only bought 3 qualifying GM cereals and thus lost out on the milk deal. I walked out of there in a daze, my head spinning.

Basically, I came home, having spent our entire weeks grocery budget on cereal, crackers, macaroni and cheese and shredded mozzarella. The store receipt said I saved over $100. But I felt like a total looser and that I had wasted my time and my family's money. I still had to go to a different store the next day and buy meat, bread, eggs and MILK because there was no way I was paying the other supermarket's inflated prices.

The lesson I take away from this - clip and stock up if it's a good deal, but don't count on getting the food you actually need this week from coupons. I'm going back to my old grocery store where everything is on sale compared to the "coupon friendly" supermarket. I spend less and I get what I need for my family. There's so many other things that cause stress in my life, I don't need to add grocery shopping.