Monday was a big shopping day for us. Target had Sobe Waters 10 for $10, get a $5 gift card back. I had 4 BOGO free coupons, so I got all 10 for $6, with a $5 card back. I like these, and they are probably better than Dr. Pepper. Kellog's has a great refund out. The Fuel for School refund is on the Kellogg's home page. Register and it will come up and you can print it. All you have to do is purchase 10 products on the list, mail in the reciept, and get a $10 refund. Our total spent on Monday was about $24.00, but we will get $10 of that back from the refund. Plus it is all food we eat. School supplies were basically free at CVS this week. The pens were .99, get .99 Extra Bucks back, so that all evened out. Our next problem, we are running out of room in our pantry!

Ruthie's Sneaky Snack

Riley left her Oreos out on the table on Saturday. Guess who found and finished them. Looks like she enjoyed them.

Cow Appreciation Day!

Yesterday at Chick-fil-A was Cow Appreciation Day, and if you dressed as a cow from head to toe, you got any free combo. Of course we took advantage of the free food. For Andy to get dressed up as anything, much less a cow, is an amazing feat. He grudgingly put on his nose in the car as we were about to get out saying there would be no one in there over the age of 5 that looked as ridiculous as us, until we looked two cars over and saw another family taping their noses and ears on. They rang a cowbell as anyone dressed up entered, so we did not go unnoticed (as Andy had hoped), but we did blend right in with the rest of the crowd.

Monday's Shopping Trip

Probably my best day ever. We went to the CVS #1 first and bought our things, then met Becca at CVS #2 to help her. She's wanting to get in on these bargains, too. After work, and without the girls, we went to Walgreens and Target. I usually don't do all three stores in one day, but without the girls, I get it in, since it's so much easier. Total that we spent on Monday, $9.66. Total that we saved, $123.77. I told Andy it almost feels like stealing when our $25.00 Target purchases went down to $4.00 after coupons. Missing from the picture is a package of donuts for Riley's breakfast and a box of cereal that Dad wanted to try.

Rain!

It finally rained today! We have been needing and praying for rain for a long time now. The last time it rained was 3 weeks ago when we were out of town, and we missed out on any rain last week. Last month we had to refill part of our pool and water new grass after we dug up much of our yard during the septic system disaster, so the rain was such a blessing after a $90 water bill for June.

Riley heard the rain and wanted to wear her rain outfit. I had forgotten the raincoat that Andrea passed to Riley, but Riley remembered it and paired it with her new rain boots. She had the whole outfit ready to go out the door to Pepaw's house this morning.

Look what I know

Since Valentine's Day Riley has enjoyed making cards for people. She made a card on Friday for her friend, Mabry, and brought it over for me to check out. She surprised me by writing her own name. Since it was a card for Mabry, she wouldn't let me keep it, so I had to take a picture of it.

Pool Party!

Our pool is finally up and running. Andy was home for a few days two weeks ago, and being the wonderful husband he is, worked on the pool. It is vacuumed, chlorinated, not leaking and ready to go. This was our first time to get in as a family, and the girls loved it. Riley is much more comfortable in the water this year, and Andy was even teaching her how to kick and float. Ruthie just splashes, and loves the water hitting her, something Riley hated. She may be a water baby. It is so nice having this in the backyard where we can go cool down in the 100 degree heat.

Our Trip to the Beach

A few weeks ago, Andy had a football camp in Beaumont that we were all able to attend. Friday was a free day for us, so I did the unthinkable and took both girls to Moody Gardens and then the beach. Needless to say I was exhausted by the time we got home. Riley had been asking to see the beach for awhile, and since we wouldn't be that close again this summer, I wanted to take her. Trip was going okay until we got to the beach. Walking across the steaming hot sand while carrying all the bags, Ruthie and dragging a screaming Riley caused a pretty good commotion. We stayed for an hour, then I had to carry both girls and bags back up to the seawall. Covered in sand because we had no place to rinse off, we waited an hour for the ferry. Riley was so tired she didn't want to get back out and feed the seagulls. Although it was fun, I don't know if I will do this by myself again!

DEALS GALORE!

I am caught up on my deals post now. These are the last two for now, but I'm sure they'll be more. Okay, the picture with the Thermacare wraps was a total of $1.86, saving $37.20. The second was even better. Last Monday I visited CVS, Target, and Walgreens. We had some time to kill, otherwise I would not take both girls three places all in one day to 'bargain' shop, as Riley called it. We got everything for a total of $7.79, saving $76.04. I sure wish I had known how to do this a long time ago.

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