I'm a very proud step-momma

Last night was our school's annual academic awards banquet. 2/3 of our eligible kids were invited. (The banquet is only for 6-12 grades, making Alex and Simon ineligible...hence the 2/3)

Normally the banquet is uneventful or exciting. 1.) You eat, normally very little of a lot of things. By the time the underclass men get into the line all the older kids and their families have scarfed everything down. 2.) Names of students are called. The kids go up and get a pin or little metal. 3.) Scholarship winners are announced and awards given out to the Senior class. Nothing too exciting.

Well last night Laney was chosen to receive the Matt Wright Memorial award. This is awarded to an 8th grade athlete who shows strength in sports as well as in the class room. There were 2 boys and 2 girls chosen. This was very exciting. Laney has chose not to continue playing sports in High School, but we were very excited and surprised to see her win the award. Laney also received a metal for being on the A/B honor for the first 3 marking periods.

Taylor was recognized for being on the all A honor roll for the first 3 marking periods. There was only 1 other recipient from her class who received this award. Taylor has her mind set on keeping up the all A's and would like to see about taking some advanced classes online. She is such a whiz kid.

We are so proud of both of them. Simon wanted to get in on the picture action, so he grabbed a metal and cheesed it up for the camera too!

This is what happens when you leave the camera home alone

Actually Joey had the camera to take pictures of Taylor and her prom date, Alex. I thought he actually did a pretty good job, and of course Taylor looked very pretty. Alex....eh, not so much. :) Just kidding, he's a good kid.
Here's a shot of the couple they went with. Both of these girls I have to say are only freshmen. I hope they realize how lucky they are to be able to go to prom. My parents would not even let me think about it until I was a Junior and at the allowed age by our school's 'rules'.
Taylor said she had a great time. Her boyfriend and his brother had a few friends over for a bonfire. She was home by her curfew time, and even called to say she was on her way. She handled the evening very well....as far as we know. It was prom ya'know.

Now that it's bird season you will probably see several pictures of birds here and there. I just love watching them and snapping some shots. The bird on the left here appeared to be a cardinal that was more of a gray color. I don't know if that makes it female or what the deal it. It was neat to see though.
And my current favorite bird....my finches. A beautiful yellow and vibrant red one. I really need to do some research. I believe the bright yellow is a male, and the red I'm not sure. Guess I'll have to do some Googling.

Let the Spring Business begin!

Last night was Taylor's 1st track meet. Which means my first spring athletic trip also. Our HS kids ran against 1 other school, but there were 4 schools total at the meet. Our team was the largest, which is huge since last year there were only 6 girls on the team. Both the boys and girls' teams won! Taylor did a great job. Got her first meet jitters out.

Look at that stride!

Taylor is the one towards the back of the pack clear to the left. Her time in the 100m was 14.1, which we think is better than her fastest time last year. Our top girl sprinter was only .3 away from the State Meet qualifying time. Everyone is looking forward to a great season.

Alex had his first soccer practice tonight. His first game is Saturday at 9 am. Taylor has an invitational meet that we have to leave for at 8:30, plus prom is Saturday night. Her mom is taking her to get her hair done after the meet. So it's going to be a busy weekend.

Sunday Shopping

You can have this button too! Just copy and paste over there. Come back every Sunday and link up to share your savings, with our without coupons...hey, it doesn't even have to be groceries, maybe you just got a good deal on some jeans, I don't care! I'm just a newbie to the coupon game, so don't be intimidated. We all want to see what savings there are out there! Plus I'm new the the whole Mr. Linky thing, hopefully I can get a few loyal followers! We'll just see how it goes.

So here it is. My day out. I never thought I'd be so happy about getting to go grocery shopping. But when you are saving this much money, it's a blast!!

I had my new coupon organizer with me today, and got a few weird looks. Plus the lady behind me I'm sure thought 'Oh, great' when she saw the cashier start going through my coupons, but I accomplished 1/2 of my goal this week. I saved $63.39 at Meijer all together this week! That passed my goal of $50! My total was still $27.88 over the desired goal of $100. But we are getting closer. {I hope you all don't mind me sharing this with you. I feel it helps me better manage my money if I'm setting goals for the world to see, and then sharing with you how I do.}

So here's what we got this week. And wait, who's that little boy in the background. Could it be Alex? Who thought I was a dork for doing the coupon thing? And what is that he is holding in his hands??

Why it's this sign: Holy Savings, Batman! That's a lot of money!! (The $170 is CVS and Meijer together. Some items shown where purchsed with WIC which I haven't added to any totals since those are items I don't pay for--there are up sides to not making alot of money) CVS more than paid for itself today. My receipts show savings of $4 and $76! They had Buy1Get1's all over the place, then with my coupons it was marvelous! I paid $42.15 and received $122.15 worth of stuff! I still have $4 in ECB left over to use next time too! If you don't have a CVS Extra Care card yet, you really should get one.

My favorite deals of the day at CVS are as follows:
Did you notice the 6 cans of Glade air freshner? Here's a closer shot of them
CVS paid me $2.28 today to take these home. They are on sale for $.99 with your card, and I had a coupon for B1G1. The coupon stated that the max credit I could get for the free one(s) was $1.75, so that's what she entered as the coupon amount. Yeah for getting paid to shop. Alex claimed we will never need to buy air freshner again!

2nd great deal was Natural Dentist mouthwash. It was on sale at my CVS for $6.99 per bottle, but when you purchase it you receive $4 EB towards your next purchase, plus I had a $2 off coupon, and a rebate by mail form to receive $10 when I purchase 2. So lets do the math...I bought 2 and paid $13.98-$4 (2 bottles means 2 coupons)-$4 EB-$10 I will receive w/rebate=$-4.02 is what I will get paid for using these 2 bottles of mouthwash.

Oh, last but most certainly not least today is a special birthday today. Taylor is now 15! I can't believe it. 1 more year and she can drive. I remember vividly when I turned 15 and the excitement of only 1 more year before the license came. I remember feeling so mature and grown up, but now I look at Taylor and think she is still a kid. It's funny how your perspective on things can change.
Happy Birthday, Taylor!

Homecoming 2009

**I couldn't get my photo editor to open so please forgive the red eyes.**

Derrick Teller and Taylor
Freshman Reps
Homecoming 2009

Taylor with her handsome dad, wonderful step-mom, and baby brother. Simon was to awe struck, he couldn't stand to look at her. It was like he wasn't sure who she was.

Big Al and his beautiful big sister

Taylor was honestly by far the prettiest girl at homecoming tonight. Simon stopped in his tracks when he first saw her and just stared. He kept saying that his "Sissy beauiful".

Friday Fill-in and basketball shots of Taylor

#111

And...here we go!

1. It seems like _winter will never end____.

2. _Put your dirty dishes in the sink and rise them off____ when you're done, please?

3. If I thought you _had planned something special____ I'd _care that tomorrow is Valentine's Day___!

4. _Mountain Dew____ is what I think of most when I think of you.

5. To me, Valentine's Day means _making kids happy and feel special because I've thought of them____.

6. _Coffee___ gives me strength.

7. And as for the weekend, tonight I'm looking forward to _homecoming and seeing Taylor all dressed up for court____, tomorrow my plans include _maybe taking my 2 favorite guys to a movie____ and Sunday, I want to _go out to eat for Valentine's Day and go shopping____!


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The thing that stinks the most about going to a small school is our sport teams never seem to do that great. Taylor is on the varsity girls basketball team. There are 8 girls total from the HS that wanted to play basketball this year. So instead of playing JV where she could be more competive and actually win a few games her and her friends are playing against true varsity girls.

Taylor is the one girl that always is hustling, it doesn't matter if they are down by 30 points she's running up and down and doing her best. She is a true freshman and needs more playing time but we're proud of her.

Here Taylor is with the Freshman Prince nominee. The girls got to put makeup on the boys.

Here are a few pictures from last night's game.