That was very, very time consuming!

I spent a few hours trying to get the after bath pictures of Jayde just right and into black and white. I was able to get to black and white and cut out some of my purple shirt but as far as the entire shirt being out of picture....nope it wasn't going to happen. The other one... I was totally lost, I could not cut out the bright white pillow. Determined to get those into 8x10's Sam spent about 3 hrs. yesterday and was able to achieve all I failed at. (I love you honey!)

Walgreens was offering a free 8x10 (actually they put out 2 free codes) so I printed one of each for FREE, have you noticed I love FREE? The best part...even better than the "free"...when we went to Walgreens to pick them up they told me they were professional prints and asked for the copyright. I was very flatterd and told them I appreciate the compliment but I took them with my own camera. I'm sharing these again because she is so darn scrumptious!

A lot of little things DO COUNT

As you have probably noticed, I like to go about and collect up all the bargains I can find and then hang onto them till either we need it or till I have somebody to donate it to. Well Jennifer and I have collected up a good stash and we are donating to the 2 families currently being helped out by the Bridge of Hope Organization of Butler County, Ohio. Jennifer is one of the Board members.

The mission of Bridge of Hope is to end and prevent homelessness for women with children with assistance of trained mentoring groups within church congregations. The single mother acheives permanent housing and financial self-sufficiency through employment and threfore aquires stability in the family household and improved self-esteem. The mother feels a great sence of accomplishment with all these things and BOH helps with SOME of the bills, transportation and teaches how to operate on a BUDGET. These are just some of the wonderful things that BOH does. If you would like more info please feel free to ask me. Their local phone number is (513) 330-4278. If you would like to leave a donation of supplies/food or whatever their address is: 115 North 6th Street, Hamilton, OH 45011

Thank you very much for your time. And I pray that you have a wonderful Holiday and a terrific 2009!

Little Miss. Santa Claus

Jayde looks so cute and warm in her little

Santa outfit while walking with mommy.

Who Knew 75¢ is a TON of FUN!!!

We went to see Santa last week at the mall and after lunch Blake wanted to ride this car. It was the cheapest purchase with the most excitement of the day. Jayde was giggling and laughing too.

SMILE or Not?

Blake obviously did not want to co-operate, therefore, making my face wrinkly and odd looking. Sam and Jayde did amazingly well. I could just crop us out but then it wouldn't be funny looking.

A Little Inside Fun

I just loved these pictures of Jayde, so precious and calming. I think I need an 8x10 of each, side by side. I need to figure out how to block out my purple shirt first.

Blake enjoys me reading to him and I love the snuggle time I get.

Just like his daddy

Immediately after we checked out our condo, Blake wasted no time getting that annoying tv on. Jennifer said that's what his dad does as soon as they get home from anyplace. So why not? Fortunately, we had one in each bedroom also so the adults didn't have to be stuck with kid shows. Just for the record, the guy is MY husband, Blakes grampa, Jennifers dad.

Fun in the SUN

Blake points out a big cruise ship...maybe next vacation?

We thought he was nuts till he said he's making a sand angel

I'd love to take him fishing, if I knew of an active fishing spot.

Total fun in the sun

Seth, Joel and Blake having a good time digging a hole.

Even Jayde enjoyed playing in the sand.

This is Cori with Jayde, this is a special one because nearly 13 years ago Jennifer, Jayde's mom, was posing with Cori this size in a pool also in Florida.

"Good-bye vacation"

Jayde gets her hands on some food (CULTURE)?

Here are some pictures of our little darling, tasting a variety of food, she was getting a lesson on food "culture". I used the word "culture" for Nicole, she enjoys different food cultures so I thought I'd use it. Jayde was not too crazy about any of it, but she did take a few taste of each one at her own will. So at least she gave it a good try. :-)

While waiting for dinner, Jayde keeps happy

Crab Anyone?

Poor Jennifer was forced to make a heart-breaking decison, she just couldn't tell Blake "NO" but instead purposely left it behind. We all agreed it was the best decision of the morning. He never asked for the crab leg till he was home and showing daddy the pictures. She said "it would have stunk up all our luggage and besides we have a picture so daddy can still see it"

Our Thanksgiving trip to Tampa

This is Blake saying "cheeeeeese!" :-)

We took our daughter and grandchildren on a vacation. (This is her holding the baby). We flew into Tampa and drove to Ruskin, Florida. That's where we spent our Thanksgiving week. We stayed in a condo with a good view of the beach, water and marina. Our son-in-law, Jim, was unfortunately unable to get off work to join us, however, he was fortunate enough to take us to the airport and stay with us till security. (Thanks Jim you save us a lot of $$$ for me not having to park my car.) Sam was already there (airport) since he is contracting work there, so we didn't have a big fat parking fee. We were gone for 9 days. Most days were great, those were the days we did little driving and spent a lot of time out on the beach, in the pool, playground and hot tub.

This is everyone but me heading for the

luggage carrousel in Tampa.

ALL of our luggage minus the stroller.

We are waiting for our rental van to show

up.

JAYDE'S FIRST BIRTHDAY

Happy Birthday to our special little grand daughter, Jayde who turned 1 October 28. Here she is:

NO WAY? YES WAY!!

This is from my CVS stop. Read the sign, it cost me $1.00 for all this. Yes, this is true! Before you start "no waying" me, let me say something. I did not hand the cashier $1.00. No, I handed him a lot of coupons well, actually only 6. READ ON:

When I asked the manager for the Loreal product they had for $11.99 and giving you $11.99 Extra Care Bucks back, he regrettable informed me they were totally OUT. This is the best part... so the manager said he would give me something else for free, and HE chose something valued at 16.99. I asked if I could take this instead, (same price, $16.99) and he happily said yes, get what you want. He rang me up and took off the $16.99 as a "coupon". So with my ECB I got BACK and the overage on some items and the other coupons, I made out better than a bandit.

You can do this too, Andrea at Mommy Snacks.net and Sherry atSaving Sherry will gladly tell you EXACTLY how to do this. More stuff for the pantry at church. The candy will be added to some Christmas gifts, If it wasn't for the $4.00 candy it ALL would have been free.

My husband came home from work and asked me what I bought that I didn't need today. I told him it only cost me a buck for all this. He was amazed. I don't think he was too concerned about the buck being gone anymore. LOL

P.S. I didn't even have to ask the manager for a substitute, he offered. I accepted.

Shopping bargains

I bought all this yesterday at Walgreen's. I used coupons, and sale prices combined. My favorite deal in this picture was that both coffee mates were just 25cents EACH. I really wish you would check out Saving Sherry she tells you exactly how to do this!

I am getting no payback from her for informing you all. I am getting enjoyment and having fun watching the cashier say "ha?" (when they tell me my total).

For those that don't want to click on the picture, I paid $14.76 but w/o coupons and sales it would have cost $24.49. I am starting a stock pile for the pantry our church has.

Lilah, the REDnosed DOG?

A lot late, but I wanted to show you all what kinda condition we found Lilah in when we arrived home from Miami. Apparently, she had been trying unsuccessfully to pry her cage door open at night. She is used to her cage, she sleeps in there every night for the last almost 5 years but guess she really wanted out badly, and failed. Poor Girl!

a Puppy, Superman and Anakin?

Halloween!

It was busy evening here on Friday. I first made a big crock pot of vegetable beef stew and Jennifer and the kids had dinner with me before Trick-Or-Treat. Then we went over to help the kids I watch get ready, we were both busy painting their faces green and spraying hair black of course I had to first hot roll it and put make-up on Cori, after all witches need BLACK hair and defined eyes and lips! We all had a great time doing it. Then I drove Jennifers car back to my house because she always ends at my house. Here is a picture. L-R we have Blake: Superman, Joel: Anakin Skywalker, Cori: Elephaba from Wicked, Jayde: the little puppy dog and last but not least is Seth: Master Yoda