Mary's Moments

Wouldn't it be nice to win a little extra cash in time for school?? Common Sense with Money blog has given us a chance to enter her giveaway! Read the following and follow instructions in order to be entered in to win! Giveaway ends August 9th! Courtesty of Common Sense with Money ~ Thanks to the internet all of this information and deals are readily available to us and we can make it work to our advantage. However, sending your kids to school is still expensive and it could take a chunk of cash from your budget. In case you didn’t read it, make sure to check out my tips on Back to School Shopping for Less. To further help you on your back to school shopping I am happy to be able to give away a $100 Visa Gift Card sponsored by Hallmark. That’s right! you can take this card to the store of your choice and use it to buy those back to school items still on your list. What do you need to enter this giveaway? 1) Leave a comment on here sharing YOUR favorite back to school memory. It ...

Yesterday Daniel surprised me with a beautiful bouquet of red roses...just because!:) And after having stayed up late last night, this morning when I woke up, there was a pot of Starbuck's coffee made with a sweet note! And if you know how much Daniel detests coffee (he calls it poison:), then you'll understand how big of a deal this is:) Thanks hun!

So if you haven't heard already, TODAY is Cow Appreciation Day at Chick-fil-A! If you dress from head-to-toe as a cow, you will get an entire free meal! And since we're HUGE fans of Chickfila I thought why not dress everyone up (except Daniel) and head to Chickfila?? The kids were up bright and early, so we headed over there at 8 a.m. for breakfast. We were the first ones there with costumes on, so we got a huge applause when we entered the door and they were quick to take our pictures. And we got free breakfast (yum!) and a visit from the CFA cow! Christopher was super scared of the cow if he came anywhere near him, so I had to hold him anytime the cow was near....poor cow. So after a few hours of playing, we decided we'd head to a different Chickfila for lunch! (I know we're crazy, but I can't pass up a day of free Chickfila!!). The next store we went to, we were also the first ones there to dress in costume, so we were asked if they could take our pictures...

I hope all the Dad's out there had a great Father's Day! I'm thankful for the wonderful Dad's in my life who are super special grandfathers and for the wonderful husband I have who is #1 Dad to our three children (see the tie Katherine made in the picture:) and the best hubby too! Grandfathers Are Fathers Who Are Grand Grandfathers are fathers who are grand, Restoring the sense that our most precious things Are those that do not change much over time. No love of childhood is more sublime, Demanding little, giving on demand, Far more inclined than most to grant the wings Allowing us to reach enchanted lands. Though grandfathers must serve as second fathers, Helping out with young and restless hearts, Each has all the patience wisdom brings, Remembering our passions more than others, Soothing us with old and well-honed arts. Author Unknown

My kiddos!! Yes, my kiddos! Ok, I know that was cheesy, but it sure is fun saying I have a 2, 4, and 6 year old! And I do appreciate them:) I know it's been FOREVER since I've posted an update on the family so here we go! Katherine is on the home stretch of first grade and doing very well! She excels in Math and got the Math award this year in her class. She's also above level in reading and just loves to learn! It's amazing all the things she's learning and doing in first grade! She recently lost a top tooth and I just love her toothless grin! She's having so much fun riding her bike without training wheels and is always trying to learn some new trick to do on it. She's a very sweet and caring second "mother" to Christopher and even goes around the house calling him "Baby...". (Do I do that??:) Matthew doesn't quite let her baby him nearly as much. The wild flowers picture was taken literally right outside of our neighborh...

Wahoo...I don't know if I've ever been more excited about a coupon before! Lately, I've been following a lot of neat money-saving blogs to see if I could cut our grocery budget down from about $1,000 a month and I'm proud to say that I've done that this month and cut it down to $400...more than HALF! That's partially why I haven't posted blogs in a while because this definitely keeps me busy, but I guess is well worth it! I use to just clip a few coupons, head to the store, and be so excited when I'd save $15-20 in one trip. (If you're interested in knowing the money-saving blogs I follow, let me know and I'll forward them to you!) Anyways, OldNavyWeekly.com hides several coupons on there each week (usually reloads on Thursdays) and a big coupon on there is $75 off $100 purchase. I tried last week to get it and even stayed up til 2 a.m. trying, but no luck (I really enjoy the challenge:). Last night, I tried at 8 p.m. and found they reloaded...

The past few weeks have been kinda crazy since Katherine and I both came down with the flu. She missed a week of school and then LISD was out of school this past M-Wed. for teacher holiday, so she practically had a mini vacation! We are blessed that the boys didn't catch it! Fortunately, we were all feeling better by the time the teacher holiday rolled around so we were able to get out of the house...and boy was I ready to get out!! Since the weather was so nice, we decided to venture out to the Cameron Park Zoo in Waco. It was so fun and well worth the 1.5 hour drive out there. We were so lucky in our timing because we practically had the whole zoo to ourselves and the animals were all out and we got to see them up close and personal that day. This was definitely my favorite zoo that I've been to since it was very interactive for the kids and the animals were all close together so we didn't have to walk for miles before seeing the next animal. The tiger was the first anima...