Publix Shopping trip 7/28/10

Spent $86.02 and Saved $109.43. It was the most I have spent in awhile, but I am stocking up for school.
6 bxs of pop tarts
5 bxs of cereal
1 cs of juice boxes
4pints of Ben & Jerry's ice cream
1 bag of dog food
4 bags Totinos pizza rolls
2 Tonys pizza
4cans Old Orchard frozen juice
2 V8 Diet Splash
4 bottles of Soft Soap
1 Hunts ketchup
3 bxs of Carnation Instant Breakfast
1 2Liter of Coke Zero
2 Yoplait GoCurt
2bxs Betty Crocker Brownie mix
2 Box Cascadian Farms Granola Bars
2 Boxes Nature Valley Granola Bars
2 bgs of Shredded cheese
1 box Old El Paso Dinner kit
1 box Kraft Velvetta shells and cheese
1 can Del Monte diced tomatoes
1 can pinto beans
1 carton eggs
5lbs bananas

Just another sign.

This morning as I was getting ready for work, Carter came in and asked me to start buy him boxers. I asked why and he said that he was getting to old to be wearing the "tighty whites" under roos that he has and that many of the boys at summer camp wear boxers. I didn't want to laugh in his face, so I had to just do a mental laugh and agree that I would buy him some boxers. I just can't believe my baby is old enough to wear boxers, I still remember changing his diapers. Just another sign of him growing up.

Night and Day

Here lately I have really been noticing the differences between Carter and Cooper, they are such opposites. Carter, as we all know it, is the athlete of the family. If it includes a ball he will play it. Cooper on the other hand does not like anything that requires him to get hot and sweaty. If swimming is a sport then that is his niche. He has started to express interest in baseball and told daddy that he wanted him to coach. So we are going to sign him for tball in the spring. It will be after he turns 4, so I think he will be ready. Carter just finished baseball and is now asking to play flag football in the fall. C'mon, not only do I need a break, but my checkbook as well.
Cooper, we have begun to notice, is going to be more of our academic scholar (we hope). He can run laps around Carter when he was that age. The teachers at his school are always telling us that Cooper is the first one to remember the weekly Bible verse. And the stuff that he can remember, songs and lines from movies, just amazes us. Cooper is also very observant than Carter. While we were in Chattanooga, a young African American girl stepped on the elevator with us and Cooper looked up at her and said "you have a black face", thankfully she laughed and agreed. Once she got off, I told Cooper that there was nothing wrong with what he said, but that God made us all different. Later that evening, he was watching TV and called me into the room to change the channel because he was watching a "black show" and wanted cartoons. Carter has never mentioned anything about friends being black or white. We are on crossing boundaries with Cooper that we never even got close to with Carter. So our fingers are crossed for an athletic scholarship as well as an academic.

The first of many

Last night we had our first sleepover...and survived. Carter asked his friend Ben from his ball team and Cooper asked for cousin Parker. We swam, played the wii, ate pizza and chocolate chip cookies and watched movies. They all slept in their sleeping bags and finally around 10:30 all was quiet. We thought they would sleep late, what fools we were. At 6am, the fun started again. They played every sport imaginable downstairs while Scooby was cranked upstairs. I made cinnamon rolls for them and a strong pot of coffee for me. At 11am, they hit the pool and ate the last bit of pizza and sent them on their merry way. I think everyone enjoyed themselves, with no injuries and/or casualties. After our guests left, we decided to see Despicable Me...Hilarious. I think I left harder than the boys. The dinner menu was chosen by the boys...wings and now the dear daddy has made chocolate milk shakes for everyone. Now I am about to defeat my son in a game of Wii baseball and/or tennis. I need to do something to burn off all those curly fries. Baseball has not been missed so far. Its been a great Saturday and hope to follow it up with an even greater Sunday.

Settled down.

We finally made it back home from Chattanooga. Tuesday night I got a phone call at 9pm saying that I was needed back at work. I went into a frenzy getting everything ready and at 4am Wednesday morning I was up, showering and getting ready to hit the road back to Tuscaloosa. The boys were wonderful. I thought they would have gone back to sleep, but they hung in there. We got in town at 8:45, took Cooper to school and Aunt Rite kept Carter. Cooper and I managed to squeeze in a quick trip to Publix and when I say quick it was 30min. or less! It was a good trip, spent $63 and saved $69 and that was without any Register Rewards or $5 off $20.
By last night around 7, we were walking zombies! Today was a much better day and back to the normal routine. Carter went to summer camp and got to go to the movies and Cooper went to school and terrorized everyone. I got to do my favorite thing...School Supply Shopping. I absolute love it. We are all looking forward to this weekend, swimming at the pool, movie night and the boys agreed on Wings. Now I am off to catch up on laundry and try to unpack some suitcases. I did manage to post some pics of our Chattanooga trip.

We Are That Family

Secluded can be good!

After staying in Cullman with friends and away from the team, we learned a good lesson. You spend so much time with the team, that it is good to get away. We didn't have to worry about what everyone else is doing, or all the whens and wheres. All we had to worry about was our itinerary. We ended up doing the same thing here in Chattanooga for the World Series, our little family of four and 3 other families ended up staying at another hotel, one that has a living room, 2 bedrooms and a fully loaded kitchen. We are splitting the room with the Wright's and having a blast. Every night we have grilled out or cooked something, or just making sandwiches. Since we are having to stay in a hotel for so long, we are saving money by cooking our own meals vs. having to eat out every time. Tonight one of the other families surprised us with steaks, potatoes and salad. Of course we hit the pool while everything was cooking. It was one of the most relaxing nights so far. We have had a great day of ball and now our ball team is in the final eight, very exciting. A little sad because the dear daddy has to go home tomorrow, but not till after our games, so we are getting ready for hopefully two more games tomorrow.

Horrible thoughts!

The Northport Americans lost their first ballgame yesterday and it was ugly! And yes, I was that mom that was having secret happy thoughts of almost going home. We had to play our 2nd game last night at 6 and the first two innings almost granted me my wish. But our ballteam came awake and blew that other team out. In the end, I was happy for Carter and to see his excitement. He made some really good plays, tagged a runner out at home and made the 3rd out. He ran into the dugout and looked straight for me with the biggest smile, he was so proud. We play again today at 1, if we lose we go home. We got back to the hotel last night around 9, the dear daddy took the boys down to the pool while I did laundry and put some frozen pizzas into the oven. That was when the excitement began. Apparently a piece of sausage fell from a pizza onto the bottom of the oven next to the burner. Smoke filled the oven and started coming out. I couldn't open the oven to get the sausage out without the room filling with smoke. I just knew that we were going to set off the smoke alarm and sprinkler system and have to evacuate the entire hotel. I ended up just turning off the oven and playing the waiting game. Eventually the smoke cleared out and pizzas got done...an hour later. I was able to checkout the hotel gym yesterday, pretty impressive. Each treadmill, bike and elliptical had their own tv. I ran 3 miles while watching Teen Mothers on MTV, the sadness. Hoping to do the same some time today. Cooper is hanging in there with all this ball chaos, as long as he gets the hit the pool he is a happy camper. Will have more excitement again today!

Play Ball....again!

It's Day Two of the world series, well at least for me and Cooper. It's more like Day 5 for the rest of the teams. We played yesterday morning and blew them out at 28-7 and then headed out to get some lunch because we had to be back at the ballpark to play another game at 6. That game was more of an intense game. The other team led the entire game, their coaches were protesting every call the officials made. The dear hubby was working the dug out and screwed up the line up and two of our players batted out of order. It wouldn't have been pretty for him if we didn't end up winning that game. With that said we came back in the 5th and went up 25-20 and held them in the 6th to 25-23. By the skin of our teeth, we pulled it out. We were going to come back to the hotel and let the boys swim, however that plan was scratched when they fell asleep on the 10min drive from the ballpark to the hotel. We were all exhausted. I also managed to loose Cooper yesterday. That ballpark is pure chaos. There are alot of fields and lot of teams and we are packed in there like sardines. It's like being on the streets of New Orleans during Mardi Gras. I panicked, couldn't breath. Another dad took off with me, he went in one direction and went the other. I felt like the idiot only after I realized that he was sitting next to our dugout eating m&m's off the ground. I had tears in my eyes and he thought he was in trouble for eating the m&m's. I actually could have care less what he was eating, just thankful he was there. On a much lighter note, Carter ate an entire piece of Tuna roll at lunch. No gagging or vomiting, he said he liked it but never asked for another piece. But I was proud that he tried it. We are now getting ready to play another game today at 11:30. If we win that game, we are done for the day and hitting the streets of Chattanooga. If we lose that game, play another at 4:30. It is now double elimination...but we are going to be here till the end. Go AMERICANS!!

Chattanooga!

Cooper and I made it to Chattanooga last night, a 3 hour drive and no stops. Pretty impressive with a 3 year old in the car. But you give that boy a plate of chicken fingers and an endless supply of Scooby Doo and you can do just about anything. It was a straight shot and very easy. We got here just in time for some hamburgers and hotdogs, hot off the grill. Cooper couldn't eat fast enough before he crashed the pool and relaxing in the jacuzzi. We are up early and hit the hotel breakfast buffet, highly impressed. They have all sorts of things from cereal, oatmeal and bagels to big breakfast like eggs, sausages and homefries (yum!). And not to mention the fresh hot coffee. Carter is dressed and ready for ball, he plays one game this morning at 10 and the 2nd at 6. I am hoping to maybe go to the aquarium in between games. I did hear that they have a Moonpie factory, peanut butter moonpies...need I say more?

Testing, trying to learn how to post to the blog via cellphone while I am in Chattanooga.

To Do List complete

I started my evening with a huge to do list and slowly it was complete and much sooner than expected. Cooper and I had a very successful grocery trip to Publix. This was probably the first time in months that I actually had to pay more than I saved, spent $73 and saved $66, items below:
3 Bic razor
4 Eggo Pancakes
1 Slim Fast shakes
1 Finish Dishwasher detergent
2 Rold Gold Pretzels
1 Lance Crackers
3 Hershey's chocolate syrup
2 Juicy Juice
3 Pillsbury cinnamon rolls
1 Orville Popcorn
1 Multigrain cherrios
1 Arnold Wheat Bread
1 12pk Coke Zero

Non-sale items but needed
Publix Beef Patties, 16ct.
2pks Ground Turkey @ $2.99/lb.
Publix Shredded Cheese
2 Kraft cheese singles (but had q for $1 off when you bought the hamburger patties)
Publix Lite Syrup
Enchilada sauce
Chopped Green Chiles
Cream of Mushroom
Dog food

Considering how much I spent for what I got, did pretty good. I did use a $5/$25 from Rite Aid.
So after the Publix trip, I got Coop satisfied with a Scooby Doo marathon and I set out to mow the yard. If you don't know me, when I stress I clean. Well I had already cleaned Tuesday night so mowing was the next best thing. And it is a great workout! Checked that off my list, got showered and cleaned up and start the next thing on my list, packing. I grabbed enough outfits for the Coop and I to last a week and any other goodies we may need. Uncle Dane brought over my sweet niece to babysit around 6. At 8 they were in the bed and I was on the couch! To Do list Done! Carter won his ballgame last night 22-7, he caught a pop up and got 2 others out. Hit a line drive and a great bunt. They are actually getting ready to play again this morning at 10am. Dear daddy will be sending me some scores and updates. Coop and I plan on being on the road by 3, fingers crossed.

Quiet house

Yesterday after getting Cooper from school and of course went to the pool. It was a short trip because he decided that not listening to mommy and calling her bluff was worth it. I gave him the lecture before even getting out of the car that if he didn't listen to me, we would leave. We were there maybe 15mins before, he eyed someone's water gun, I told him to leave it alone and he decided to chunk it in the middle of the pool where he sought safety since I didn't have on my swim suit. After yelling 4 times to get out of the pool and return the water gun, we left kicking and screaming. I am sure (and hoping) that we were not the first to leave like that.
After we settled in for the night, it was very peaceful. I turned off the tv and was able to read for a good 2 1/2 hours, even finished my book. Which is a little sad because now I have nothing to read till the library notifies me that 1 of the 2 holds I have requested are ready.
Today after work, I plan a workout and a grocery trip. I am suppose to babysit my niece Mollie tonight and some how pack for Cooper and I to leave for Chattanooga. Speaking of Chattanooga, they are having so much fun! Last night was the opening ceremony and was in a parade. All the kids got to trade pins from their ball team. Deron said that Carter was shy at first, but eventually got out there. He is so much like his daddy! If Cooper was there, no telling what that kid would come back with. I am sure of one thing, everyone is going to know Cooper Cameron by the end of this world series! Of course they crashed the hotel pool once they got back. I think it was after 10 before they got in bed, but they are an hour ahead of us. They don't play till 5 today Chattanooga time, so they went to the IMAX and saw the Hubble. I think I am irritating the sweet hubby, I keep texting/calling him every hour on the hour to see what they are doing, been doing or going to be doing. Just feel a little left out, but will be there soon. Last vacation of the summer.

Play Ball!

So daddy and Carter are on the road to Chattanooga for his World Series. Cooper and I will be joining them after I get off of work Friday. I just didn't want to take off that long since it could possibly be a week..or more. I hate that I am going to miss the opening ceremony, but I will see pics.

Last night was a crazy one, once they left for their LAST ball practice, I started getting Carter's bag packed, as well as all the food. I know this sounds crazy, but I like to clean my house before I leave town so that when I come home I can crash. With that said, I cleaned like a mad woman. When we don't travel together as a family, I worry. So I printed off directions to every possible location that daddy might have to go, the hotel, the team hotel and of course the ballpark.

Cooper and I are going to enjoy have a few days to ourselves. I may take him to the pool after school since he goes crazy every time we drive past it. I plan on working out this afternoon before getting him and then get my grocery list together. Even though we are not going to be here for almost a week, I just can't pass up the opportunity to get frozen pancakes for less than $.60. Plus with this Chattanooga trip, I really hit my grocery stash hard. But I would rather do that than have to pay to go out to eat every night. If it is a good trip, I will post my results and maybe even a pic.

Still in the water

Ever have those days or even months that you feel like your in a pool and someone just keeps pushing your head under water. Everytime I come up for air because some stress has been lifted up, I get pushed right back under. We found that we have a horrible leak, but the good news is that it is not in the main part of the house. The previous owners thought they were doing a good thing by installing shelving in the storage room in the garage. But when they installed them, they drilled holes into pipes. When those screws rusted out, the leak began. Another bit of good news is that we do not have any structural damage, just have to replace plaster, sheetrock and paint.

This week, we leave for Carter's world series in Chattanooga, i.e hotel and other travel expenses. Deron just found out that he has to have two new front tires. We always manage, but getting tired of scrapping and just getting by.

So enough venting, I am getting my horrible haircut fixed today at 2:30. So excited. I have got to start packing tonight. I am going to try and wake up early in the morning and run before coming into work since I don't have to take any little ones to school. It is going to be a great night, just have to remember to breath!

Baseball momma...

I have noticed a pattern, instead of making daily or weekly posts, I make monthly posts. Things have been so crazy and the source is Carter's baseball. We were last in Cullman for state tournament and actually had a wonderful time. Instead of staying in a hotel with the team, we were able to stay with friends. I actually had to remind myself that we were there for baseball and not on vacation. We stayed in a gorgeous house on 4 acres with a pool. Out of 12 teams in the tournament, we finished 3rd. I was very proud of our boys, but they were exhausted. And Cooper is hanging in there. We have had a week off from ball and have really enjoyed it, but now we are ready for Chattanooga. We leave for Chattanooga Wednesday for the World Series, how exciting for the kids! We have never taken Cooper to Chattanooga, so we are looking forward to all the fun things there.