Avery at One

It is just so hard to believe but on Saturday, Avery Marie Perillo turned one! All I can say is WOW, this year has flown by and been full of so many new adventures for us as a family of four, I will say I wouldn't trade the craziness for anything in the world, I love my life and my family more than words could ever express. As usual I am struggling just to keep my head above water so I am on the iPad so I am writing this post with no pictures but I promise to add some later.

Avery,
It is so hard for me to believe that it has already been a year since you came into our family but at the same time I just can't imagine our family without you. You are a funny little girl, you have some of the funniest facial expressions and your little personality shines right through them. Much like your Mommy you wear your emotions on your sleeve. You smile and laugh when you are happy but oh boy when you are mad you let everyone know! You are a great eater and sleeper. You love to feed yourself but we can't put a plate of food in front of you because you will try to shove it all in your mouth at once and choke yourself, we give you one or two bites at a time and that's it. You adore your big sister and she adores you, Jolie makes you laugh a lot! You and Jolie love playing together and that just makes my Mommy heart sore. You love board books and blocks, you stick everything and anything in your mouth if your paci isn't in your mouth. We let you have your paci more than we should because I am always afraid I will miss you getting into something and you will choke. You have become a great sleeper in the last several months, you still get a bottle before bed but then I put you in your crib with classical music on and you go right to bed, you normally sleep from about 8pm to 6:30am, occasionally you wake up in the night but not often. You are a big girl, tall and all, you wear size 24 month clothes with a few 18 months mixed in, you wear a size 4 diaper, and a size 4.5W shoe. Your Daddy and I love you to pieces and feel so blessed to be your parents!!!! We love you baby girl. Happy First Birthday!

Love,
Mommy

Totally overdue

I am totally overdue for about 15 different post but all the activities of the holidays have gotten in the way of my blogging. I have been working harder than ever, we have had family portraits, parties to go to, we have bought and wrapped gifts. It has just been busy. Plus we have two children that need us a lot. I promise to do some big catch up post soon but until then we hope you are enjoying the season!

Black Friday

So yesterday (Black Friday) marked the busiest shopping day of the year....actually I think it really started Thanksgiving Day since so many of the stores openned sometime last night, what is that by the way anyways?? I am just not sure a holiday that is all about thanks and giving should be cluttered with crazy amounts of shopping and the brawls that in sue. Rich and I watched the news yesterday morning to hear some of the craziest stories of pepper spray, fights, traffic jams and just thought it can't be worth it to save $100 on a TV.

I thought for a short time that a little Black Friday shopping would be fun, I mean after all I was up, the kids were sleeping, and Walmart started their sale at 10 pm. Walmart is two minutes from our house so I left here about 9:45 pm. I arrived to a packed parking lot but I proceeded in the store. When I walked in there were police officers taking people out in handcuffs, apparently there was a fight shortly before my arrival, this was the first major sign this was a horrible idea. I walked around, there were no carts so I would have to carry anything I purchased, not the end of the world but another sign I should be running home. I proceeded to look around, watching people literally jumping in to grab items off pallets as the Walmart employees unwrapped them at their assigned sale time, it was a zoo. I had grabbed a few things for the girls but nothing amazing or must have and thought it was time to check out. Headed for the checkout I suddenly realize the checkouts literLly stretch from the front of the store to the back. I put down my things go home and vow to Rich I will never do this again.

So I went to my Mom's house with Avery around 10am to sort through the gifts we had already bought and figure out what else we might need. We decided about 12:30 pm tp venture to Babies R Us which I have to admit was easy and we found a few things for Avery for her Birthday and Christmas. We then went to Target which again wasn't bad. I did the bulk of my shopping there and found some great things including all the little cootie games for $3.99 each, games like Ants in the Pants, Don't Spill the Beans, and Don't Break the Ice....Jolie will love those I'm sure. We then did a quick run through BJ's for a few additions. So other than maybe two more things for Avery I am done, I managed to get some great deals on Black Friday but spared myself the late night crazies. All and all I am thrilled with my purchases and I am ready to ring in the holiday season and we will have a busy one with Avery's Birthday, work, Holiday get togethers, and just holiday times. Happy start to the Holiday Season!!!!!

Giving Thanks

On the eve of Thanksgiving 2011 is it and ponder all I am grateful for and realize how truly blessed I am. I am of course most grateful for my family....my husband and children are truly amazing and I feel blessed to call them my family. My wonderful husband does so much for me and the girls it is amazing, he is truly the best around. My two precious daughters are amazing and beautiful and light my heart on fire with the sweet smiles and giggles. My parents are my rock,they are there without question whenever I need them and I couldn't be more grateful.

I truly wish all of you are as blessed as I feel now in your lives. I thank God for my family, my home, the food we are able to eat, the love we share, the jobs that make nice things possible and all God has blessed me with.

Now it is off to hang with little Avery and then baking cookies and pies for tomorrow.

Happy Thanksgiving to you all as well as your families.

Party Prep

So I am totally in 1st Birthday Party mode....I have been slowly buying and preparing but now it is go time.  I have sent out the invites, I think they are super cute!  I put one below for you to see.  The theme is milk and cookies so I have spent the last month or so gather coupons to buy all my baking items and saving baby food jars and quart size milk bottles to use at the party.  The color scheme is red, orange and white.  I didn't want to do red and green because I want her birthday to be separate from Christmas but let me say that would have been much easier!!  But I have all my craft supplies and I got started on making favors tonight, I created new labels for the baby food jars using brown bag grocery bags, a red ink pad, a stamp, and spray adhesive.  I know it sounds odd but trust me when I say it is so cute!!!  I will update along the way with pictures of everything but here is a start to the party with the invitation.

And for giggles here are a few outtakes from the Christmas Card Photo Shoot we held today....I assure you we didn't use any of these but they sure are kind of funny to look at and laugh at and it reminds me of how difficult it is to get 2 adults and 2 children to all look at the camera, smile, look happy and cheerful!!

Christmas Cards

So I can't believe it is already time for Christmas cards. I have to admit the year has flown by. But I have even impressed myself and today we took our family Christmas card pictures and I have already placed the order and they will be here in 7 days or less. I have to admit this is one of the first years I will be completely done with cards before December 1st. I will say I was motivated by a sale at www.vistaprint.com/snowy and I was able to get 40 cards printed with photos on the front and a color printed message on the back for under $25. The cards are really pretty and the photos came out pretty good considering one of our subjects is not quite 11 months old and isn't very good at sitting still. Once the cards arrive I will post a preview even though most people that read this will be getting one in the mail around the first week in December. By the way I love Vista Print, I have been using them for years for birthday invitations for the kids. They seem to always be having a sale right when I need them. I got Avery's birthday invitations from there for under $10 because they had a sale and I had a credit from Avery's baptismal invitations because they arrived past their scheduled arrival day even though it was fine because I had plenty of time but hey I will always take a credit!

Grocery Trip

So as I have mentioned a time or two on the blog I am super into saving money and couponing and I have been working really hard on saving money on our food budget.  I just feel as though the price of food has gotten out of control so I am doing my part to keep our budget in line.  So I went this morning to our local Publix armed with 32 different coupons, a list, no children (thank you Rich!!!), and the mind set that I was going to do GREAT!!!

I have to say I did quite well, so here is a recap of what I bought and what I saved, I will try to link up a few coupons that are still on line for printing as well if it will help anyone else.

Tampa Tribune $1.00
St. Pete Times $0.75
(there are great coupons this week so that was a must, will get extras from my Mom and Grandma so that I have the multiples I might need)

(2) Goya Spanish Rice $1.99 used 2 $0.55 off coupons from http://www.coupons.com/ use zip code 33634.
Total $2.88 for two.

(2) Lays Kettle Chips at 2 for $5.00 on sale

(1) Act Mouth Wash used 1 $1.00 off coupon for the SS a few weeks back.

(4) Green Giant Can Corn, BOGO at $1.25 for 2.
Total $2.50 for 4 cans ($0.63 each).

(2) Swanson's Chicken Broth BOGO at $2.69 for 2 used $1.00/2 coupon.
Total $1.69 for 2 ($0.845)

(2) Canada Dry Ginger Ale BOGO at $1.89 for 2 used $0.50/2 coupon from http://www.target.com/.
Total $1.39 for 2 ($0.695 each)

(1) Ziplock Gallon Bags at $2.15
(1) Ziplock Quart Bags at $2.15
       used $1.50/2 from www.recyclebank.com reward.
       used $1.00/2 from the Yellow Publix Flyer (you can find it at the front of your store with the weekly ad).
Total $1.80 for 2 ($0.90 each) GREAT DEAL!!!

(2) Zehyperhills Sparkling Water at $0.99 each.  Used BOGO coupon from newspaper about a month ago
Total $0.99 for 2 ($0.495)

(1) Garnier Hairspray at $3.49.  Used $1.00 off from RP (not sure which week).
Total $2.49.

(4) Sprout Organic Baby Food at $0.99 each
        used BOGO Coupon from Publix Yellow Flyer
        used Buy 3 get 1 Free Coupon from http://www.coupons.com/, not there any longer, hope you printed!
Total $1.98 for 4 ($0.495 each) GREAT DEAL!!!

(1) 2 Pack GE Halogen Light Bulbs at $4.79.  Used $1.50/1 from http://www.target.com/ (remember this only works if your store takes Target Coupons as a Competitor)
Total $3.29.

(2) Kraft Mayo  BOGO at $4.49 for 2.  Used 2 peelies on jars for $0.35/1.
Total $3.79 for 2 ($1.895 each).

(15) Beechnut Baby Food Jars at $0.57 each.  Used $1.85/15 from http://www.beechnut.com/.
Total $6.70 for 15 ($0.447 each)

(2) Publix Singles Cheese at 2/$5.00.  Used 2 $1.00/1 Any Brand Cheese from http://www.coupons.com/.
Total $3.00 for 2 ($1.50 each)

(1) Mission Tortilla at $2.69.  Used $1/1 that I found on the printable coupon section of www.thekrazycouponlady.com.
Total $1.69.

2 Large Green Peppers at $1.49/lb for a total of $1.97

(2) Bags of Baby Carrots at 4/$5.00 for a total of $2.50

(1) 5lb Bag of Idaho Potatoes at 2/$5.00 for a total of $2.50

(2) Country Crock Butter BOGO at $2.15 for 2.  Used 2, $0.40/1
Total $1.35 for 2 ($0.675 each)

(2) TGIF for 1 BOGO at $3.69 for 2.
Used:
2, $1/1 that I printed on-line somewhere.
1. $1/1 from Publix Yellow Flyer
Total $0.69 for 2 ($0.345 each)

(3) Ore Ida Fries at $2.79 each.
Used:
Buy 2 get 1 free from Publix Yellow Flyer
$1/1 from the Veteran's Day Salute On-line, find the link at www.iheartpublix.com, it only let me print 1, otherwise I would have used 3 of them!!!
Total $4.58 for 3 ($1.53 each)

(6) Green Giant Steamers BOGO at $2.79 each.
Used:
2, $0.75/3 from http://www.target.com/
Total $6.87 for 6 ($1.15 each)  This is a GREAT deal for close to fresh veggies that taste good and cook fast!

(2) Zatarain Frozen Entrees BOGO at $2.99
$1/2 coupon from on-line somewhere, I forget! :(
Total $1.99 for 2 ($0.98 each)

(2) Pillsbury Cookie Dough at 3/$6.00
$1/2 coupon from http://www.coupons.com/
Total $3.00 ($1.50 each)

(1) Sargento Shredded Cheese at $3.99.
$0.55/1 from $1/1 from the Veteran's Day Salute On-line, find the link at www.iheartpublix.com

And that's it so in case you weren't keeping track....that is a total of $149.75 in groceries for $74.45 out of pocket, plus I used a coupon for a FREE $10.00 gift card for spending $50.00 at Publix coupon so I have $10 left to use next week to help me then as well!!!  That is a total savings of 49.7%!!!!  That was a GREAT trip to Publix and I have one more stop to make at Target for the week for a Free Loaf of Bread (coupon came in the mail) and Baby Formula (of course I have a coupon for that too!!!)

Happy Saving, hope this helps!!!