Super Shoppers Savings!

This weekend Shoppers Food Warehouse is offering double coupons up to $1.00. I haven't shared a shopping success story in a while and I thought you'd be interested to see what I got! Forgive the blurry picture--I took it with a phone camera so I could hurry up and get this posted.

The total cost for all the items on the table was $31.87!!!!!

Here is a complete list:

• 6 boxes Kellogg's cereal
• 2 boxes Wheat Thins
• 1 box Triscuits
• 1 box Ritz Bitz sandwiches
• 1 pkg. Ritz Toasted Chips
• 1 box Premium Saltines
• 1 Worsteshire Sauce
• 10 pkgs. Kool-Aid
• 2 Hershey's 100 calorie cookie bars
• 2 Easy Macs
• 4 Velveeta Shells & Cheese Singles
• 1 Velveeta Shells & Cheese Original
• 3 pkgs. Jello
• 2 Kraft Singles 16 ct.
• 3 Kraft salad dressings
• 1 A-1 sauce
• 3 Deer Park Sparkling Water liters
• 2 Crystal Light drink mixes
• 4 Mentos gum
• 2 bricks Philadelphia cream cheese
• 2 pkgs. Oscar Mayer hot dogs
• 2 Country Crock spreads
• 2 Yo-Plait Yo-Plus 4 pks
• 2 4-packs Charmin toilet paper
• 1 pkg Solo cups (50 ct.)
• 1 Pledge Duster refill
• 1 Skintimate Shave gel
• 1 Mr. Clean Cleanser
• 1 Dawn dish soap
• 1 Cascade rinse agent
• 2 O Cello sponges
• 2 pair Playtex disposable gloves

This was a 76% savings off the sale prices for these items. I only bought things that were on sale and things that I had a dollar-off coupon (or an occasional 75 cents coupon) for to get the most bang for my buck. For instance, the Kellogg's cereal was on sale 2/$5, which isn't a bad price at all anymore. BUT I had $1 coupons for them which, when doubled, meant I got the boxes for 50 cents each. Several of the items were completely free after doubling the coupons. The Mentos gum actually MADE me some money because they were priced at $1.50, but with my doubled coupon, I saved $2. Many of the items will go back with Jarrett Monday when he heads back to North Carolina. It's fun to be able to stock our pantry and his for such a small amount of money! I'm trying to get him to see how valuable taking the time to do this could be for him, too. :)

Memorial Day wknd part 1

Thought I'd share some pictures of our weekend so far since it's hard to find time to update once school gets back in swing. I don't know who has spring fever more--me or the kids! :)

Friday was the State Championship track meet at Morgan State University in Baltimore. Alyson competed in the triple jump and all 4 of us drove up to watch. It was a hot, humid day and pretty hard on the athletes. One of the girls running the 2-mile collapsed near the finish line from deyhdration. Alyson had a solid performance-not a PR, but close to the distance she's been jumping lately. She ended up finishing 10th overall. She wasn't thrilled with the result, but we are all really proud of her--we kept reminding her that 3 months ago she had never triple jumped and here she was at the State Meet! Pretty awesome!


Saturday morning we got up and went to the state veteran's cemetery to place American flags. We joined Nick's boy scout troop and many other boy and girl scouts to place flags on the graves of over 19 thousand service men and women from Maryland. It's the second year that we've done this and I believe it'll be a tradition for us from now on. It's incredible how much meaning there is in Memorial Day when you are surrounded by so many who served.

This afternoon we are going to a combination 40th birthday/farewell party for a friend who is deploying to Afghanistan next week. He's leaving behind his wife and two young daughters. Please keep him in your prayers as you think of it.

And speaking of serving, last week one of our dearest friends retired after 20 years in the Army. He and Dave first met waaaayyyy back in PLDC, before he was even married and when we only had Jarrett! We connected again in Germany and began a lifelong friendship with them that has meant more to me than I can say. Louis was a Ranger and deployed many times, including two year-long (actually one was 15 mo.) tours in Iraq and the second time as a company commander. He is the kind of leader who cares deeply for his soldiers and the Army will truly miss him. Patty is the quintessential Army wife--supporting her husband, managing her household and her family (while homeschooling!), caring for families, and giving everything she could for the soldiers. She even sat up nights with injured soldiers who were sent back to the hospital in Germany so they wouldn't be alone.
Thank you for your service, Louis and Patty. And thank you for your friendship.

One last thing I would like to say is thank you to Jeremy Monroe, Lcpl, Marine Corps. Jeremy gave his life in service to our country in October of 2006. He just turned 20 years old. Jeremy is the grandson of my dad's cousin. He left behind a family who loved him and a country who owes him and them a debt of gratitude.

Teepee

*whoops! forgot the picture.........

In a strong push for votes in the Brother of the Year award, Nick built this teepee for Joshua yesterday. He got the limbs from the woods, lashed them together, tied on the poncho liners, and staked it down. They designed and decorated the flag together, the pole of which Nick lashed to the teepee poles.

A fun way to start out the weekend! :)

Life Lessons with Cookies

Joshua and I recently came across a darling book that I just have to share. It's called COOKIES, Bite Size Life Lessons, and is written by Amy Krouse Rosenthal. It's a short book, full of little character traits and feelings, taught in relation to everyone's favorite treat. It covers things like compassion, patience, envy, loyalty, respect, and many others with just a sentence or two each, but fully conveying the meaning. Here's an example:

On the left it says: GREEDY means taking all the cookies for myself. hee hee hee yum yum yum
On the right it says: GENEROUS means offering some to others. Please take one. You too. Anyone else want a cookie?

The illustrations, by Jane Dyer, are absolutely gorgeous. The characters demonstrating each page's word are beautiful little children of all races and life-like animals, personified with little clothes and accessories and walking on their hind legs. It's all done in water color and is just adorable.

The book, as simple as it is, really is a springboard for more discussion. Joshua and I had a long talk about pessimism and optimism, relating to a current situation going on here, because he learned what those words mean through this book.

This book has made it to my "favorite children's book" shelf and if you have had a baby recently, or are expecting one any time soon, you can expect to receive a copy of it! It's definitely a gem worth checking out! (get my library reference???)

Air Show

Friday the boys and I went on a field trip to the Joint Services Open House Air Show at Andrews Airforce Base. We had a great time exploring all the aircraft and watching the airshow-especially the Thunderbirds. We also found a hangar that was all set up with various Army units-Joshua got his own real dogtags, held replicas of weapons used by the 101st (he was proud to tell the Captain there that his dad was in the 101st), played "tag" with one of the explosive ordinance-detonating robots. Nick and Dave went through the virtual-reality Army experience. I have a feeling Nick will be hearing from some recruiters in the not-so-distant future.....

And here are the requisit Airshow pictures:

After loading into this plane Dave, Nick and I felt like going home and watching Band of Brothers!Joshua tried out as many different positions in various aircraft, vehicles as he could

Getting ready for the Airshow. The Thunderbirds and all the other acts put on a great show--next time we'll remember ear plugs! :)
FYI, for those of you who live in the area: Wed. of this week you can see the Blue Angels if you look up. I believe they'll be over the Severn River--it's part of the Naval Academy commissioning week. They'll be practicing on Tuesday so you may get to see them then, too! Last year we were walking into Home Depot in Annapolis and they flew right over our heads!

Alyson's Big Week

Wow--she has had quite a week!
****I forgot to add that she was also in the paper this week for being on the straight-A honor roll again****
Earlier this week she won a drawing at the Navy Exchange--a beautiful 24-karat white gold ring with 11 sapphires, valued at over $300!

Yesterday was the Regional Track Meet and Alyson qualified for the state championship in the triple jump! She wasn't even sure she made the finals--the event ran late and she thought the finals were on Saturday. The team was packing up to get on the bus, when her jumping coach came running over and said, "Alyson made the finals!" She had to take off her sweats and change back into her spikes and hustle down to the field. The rest of her team came down to watch her, too. She had a new PR by about 2 1/2 feet! She was in the top 4 of 19 girls and will compete in the State Championships next week at Morgan State University. Hooray for Alyson!

Here is what the school's website said this morning:

Day 1:
The Girls Outdoor Track Team is currently in 3rd place behind Chesapeake and Leonardtown. The Boys track team is currently in 9th place. The 4A East Regional meet is being held at Chesapeake H.S.

A few highlights:
4A East Regional Champions are:
Hillary Lee winning the 3200m run. She ran 11:34.22FAT.
The girl’s 4x200m winning relay. They ran 1:46.40FAT.

Other points scored:
Haley Paskalides placed 2nd in the pole vault, jumping 9’0”.
Alyson Gercken placed 4th in the triple jump, jumping 33’11”. (It was actually 33' 11 3/4")
Joshua Hirakawa placed 5th in the high jump, jumping 5’6”.
Richard Pineda placed 6th in the 3200m run, running 10:17.42FAT.

Those who made it to the finals (being held Saturday May 16):
100m dash: LaRia Rogers, Lamar Rogers
100/110HH: Karie Holian, Joshua Hirakawa
200m dash: LaRel Rogers, LaRia Rogers, Lamar Rogers

Qualifiers for the 2009 State Outdoor Championship: (THUS FAR)
3200m run: Hillary Lee
Triple Jump: Alyson Gercken
Pole Vault: Haley Paskalides
The girls 4x200m Relay

Mother's Day

Here are some photos from our delightful Mother's Day:

The kids brought me breakfast in bed, complete with the newspaper, flowers, cards, and gifts (a beautiful new Vera Bradley bag and some body lotion).

After church, while I relaxed, they all packed up a terrific picnic lunch and we drove down to the family housing side of the Naval Academy. It was a beautiful day and we enjoyed our lunch (including a beautiful and delicious strawberry cake w/ cream cheese icing that Alyson made) before heading off on a little walk along the seawall of the Bay. We ate next to a big field and after our walk Dave and Nick played catch and Alyson, Joshua, and I played frisbee and zoomball. It was a great afternoon. The only thing that would have made it better would have been if Jarrett was up here, but he sent me an adorable card and a CD I've been wanting for a long time!

Hope all the rest of you moms were treated as well as I was.....

Cute Kid Alert

Here are a couple recent pictures of Joshua, because he's so cute. And because Jarrett asked. :)