FREE, FREE and more FREE stuff!!!

So I know I need to do more posts on my coupon skills, so here is a good one for everyone to try.

Go get some FREE stuff at Super Target this week.

Here is what I got for completely FREE this week. I have actually gone back a few times to stock up. Here is how you all can do it too....

Go HERE to print off as many as you would like Target coupons for the above products. Target updates there coupons weekly and they are normally good for at least a month. If they are putting out a coupon for a product, it will normally be going on sale sometime during that month and you just need to wait for the sale and then snag it for a great price.

For example...right now bananas are on sale for $.59 per/pound. The Target coupon is good for $.50 off 1 pound of bananas or more. So I bagged 3 bananas together, which was just over 1 pound and wound up paying only $.11 for them.

The little loaves of "Archer Farms artisan bread" are only $.99 right now. You can print a coupon for $1.00 off and get it for FREE with a one penny overage.

Skittles are in the check out lanes and are on sale for $.64. You can print a coupon for $1.00 off "Skittles Crazy Cores" and get them for FREE with $.36 overage.

I normally pick up just two of each FREE item and then buy something else with these items so they don't give you any hassle for the "overage" amount. FYI, they will NOT be giving you money back for these purchases. Technically, according to the coupon, you can only use one per/transaction of each like item. I have never been given any trouble for doing two. And it they do give you a hard time, just let them know to ring up each item separately if they want to play tough.

Go get your FREE stuff and let me know how it goes. Be careful, once you start getting stuff for FREE you just can't stop.

Birthday Bowling Day

My little Jackson just turned TWO!!!! We wanted to do something fun and different on his birthday so we went bowling!! You may be thinking that sounds a little crazy to be taking a 2 year old and a 4 year old bowling for the first time, but it was SO much fun. I highly recommend it. My girlfriends came too, there were actually 5 kids under the age of 4 and everyone had a blast. Check out the boys in their own little bowling shoes-how cute is that!!!

Jason is making a goofy face but that is the only shot I got of the two of them together. He even reached out and grabbed Jackson's hand, I didn't even tell him to do that. He is always watching out for "Crazy little Jack".

The bowling ally was great. They put up the "bumpers" for the kids so they wouldn't have any gutter-balls and then brought over ramps for them to give their balls some power behind them, so you are not waiting 5 minutes for the ball to go down.

Jack of coarse had to do it all on his own. The litest ball there was 6 pounds. His poor little arms be the end of ten rounds were so sore he couldn't lift the ball any longer. He tried so hard and in a straining voice said, "mama owe, help".

And here are the boys watching the balls go down the ramps. They were so proud of themselves and can't stop asking when they can go back.

Halloween came early...so cute!!!

Well, I started this blogging thing and then the boys got so sick and its been a few weeks. So here are a few updates on what is happening with the Kirkland Crew.

My boys LOVE to play dress-up. I may not have girls to dress in princess outfits but we have so many dress up clothes, it's just crazy!! You never know on any given day, what they will be. They love to coordinate outfits; whether its pirates, transformers, firemen, who knows what they will come up with. But they just got these new PJ's that are just too cute!!

Their new favorite thing to be is "Buzz and Woody". They each have a pair of each one and always have to decide who is going to be what. They cannot be the same character at the same time.

And then Jackson discovered Jason's old Halloween costume this week, Buzz Lightyear of coarse. And then had to dress up in the whole thing, even though it is still way too big for him. He was quite impressed with himself and staired in the mirror for quite sometime.

Guess how much...

So I went off on my weekly trip to the stores to see what I could find. I go after the boys have gone to bed so I can shop without children and look down every aisle. This is how I de-stress. Lets just say it was a pretty good night. My motto is to only buy things I will use or items I can get for free and donate them if I don't use them. DON'T BUY IT JUST BECAUSE YOU HAVE A COUPON!!! I do have to go to a few stores sometimes but it is worth it to me when I am saving so much money.

So, guess how much I spent on the following three pictures of items??? Total before coupons would have been $56.06.

Albertson's trip


Walgreens's trip


Super Target trip


Just stop guessing because you won't even come close. I only spent.......$5.07!!!!! That is a savings of of over 90%!! So here is a little insight into how I did it.

First stop was Albertson's. They are having some great anniversary sales right now. They have a lot of in-add coupons that you just need to have them scan to get the deals. The tags on the shelves do not advertise these specials, you need to pick up the add in the store.

• Multigrain Cheerios, $1.47 (with in-ad coupon and used .75 cent coupons.com coupons, and they doubled them to $1.00)=.47 cents per/box
• Jif Peanut-butter, $1.47 (with in-ad coupon and used $1.00 Target coupon from mailer)=$.47
• Smuckers Jelly, $.97 (with in-add coupon)
• Total for Albertson's trip was $2.94 with tax

Next was Walgreens. You would be amazed at what you kind find here for cheap. You just have to know how to shop them.

• Scotch Bubble mailer's $.39 each (used coupons from 7/26 RP)=FREE
• Mars candy is on sale $.49 each after in ad coupon (used $1/2 from 7/26 RP)=FREE
• Also got a free candy coupon from HERE. They are giving away coupons every Friday right now to the first 250,000 people.
• Starbucks Frappuccino drinks are on sale for $1.25. (use in ad coupon and $1.00 printable online)=$.25 each
• Total for this trip was $1.03 (I think they double scanned something, should have been a little higher)

And then there was Target. My favorite store of all and it was a good night at Target. The trick to Target is, you can use a manufactures coupon with a Target coupon to get things for free or very cheap. Here is the breakdown.

• Pop Tarts, $1.52 (used Target and manufacture coupons)=$.22 each
• Kashi cereal cups, $1.00 (used Target coupon from their website)=FREE
• Bumble Bee Tuna, $1.22 (used $1/1 coupon from 6/14 SS)=$.22 each
• Softsoap, $3.00 on clearance (used Target and manufacture coupons)=FREE
• Kotex, $2.70 (used Target and manufacture coupons)=FREE
• Beef Jerky packet, $7.67 (used FREE coupon from All You Magazine)=FREE
• Total for Target run was $1.10 with tax

I know some of this doesn't make sense, it's "coupon lingo", but just ask and I can tell you where to get these coupons. I hope you are inspired to go get some great deals. Have fun shopping and saving!!!

We have two fish at our house...

Not 2 new animals, just two kids who think they are fish! I signed the boys up for 4 weeks of swim lessons. A big commitment on my behalf but we really wanted them to become better swimmers. Jason has had a sort of "fear" of the water for awhile now and we were wanting him to gain some confidence. It is such a miracle....we can now saw he is a swimmer!!!! We are so proud of him. He loved his classes and found a great connection with his teacher and lost all of his fear. We found that his goggles were a real turning point for him. We have some great photos of the goggles-so funny!



And Jackson has never been afraid of the water since birth. He just needed some fine-tuning of his skills. He was in a parent-tot class with me but wouldn't let me assist him with anything. He wanted to do it all on his own. His favorite thing to do right now is "bobbing up and down". He holds on to the side of the pool, all by himself, and goes up and down in the water. He has no fear of the water and wants to be just like Jason.



Check out our website for some more great photos of swim lessons.

http://www.kirklands.me/

Happy Birthday America!!!

So again, we are going back a few weeks to keep you all updated on our summer events....

The 4th of July was so much fun!!! We made a weekend of it and went over to Cibola Vista Resort with the family and played in the pool and did some sun-bathing on Friday. The boys both went through 4 weeks of swim lessons and are now "little fish" in the water. They are wanting to be in the pool all the time. They love Cibola Vista and had fun swimming with their cousin Summer and the rest of the family.

On Saturday we had everyone over to our house for a BBQ, more swimming and fireworks. I was so proud of my "star brownies" I took a picture for you to enjoy! I don't know why I didn't get better photos of the family though-oops.

After all the fun and food at our house we were off to see fireworks. We all piled in the back of the mini-van (took out the seats) and enjoyed the show at Arrowhead Mall. We bought a ton of glow necklaces that were a hit. And of coarse, daddy introduced the boys to "sparklers". I think I was more scared than they were. They loved the show and didn't mind all the loud noise. Jackson was surprisingly scared at first but loved it by the end.



Jason loved the show and watched part of it through his new para scope, it was so cute!!!

We all had a wonderful weekend with family and are so blessed to live in America.....Happy Birthday America!!!

On a cute side note...here is a funny picture of Jackson wanting to be more like his daddy everyday. Please ignore his mis-matched pajamas, you can hardly even notice with that big head. You don't think that helmet makes his head look big, do you?

Lets go to the fire station...

So at the end of June my MOPS group (mothers of pre-schoolers) with church planned a field-trip to the fire station. I actually booked it at the station where Brian's cousin, Charles, is a fireman, very close to our house in West Wing. The boys were very excited. They just love going there and climbing on the fire trucks. We always get the VIP treatment with Charles and this day was extra special.

We got the whole tour of the station but of course the highlight was when they got to go see the trucks!! The firemen were out there telling them all about them but of course my one year could care less what they were saying, he just wanted to get on. He goes up to the fireman and looks up at him and says, "I get on"? And there went all the explaining about all the hard work those guys do every day and they just let the kids get on the trucks and climb around. Can you see how excited he is to be in the truck!!

They then sit all the kids down and talk to them about fire safety and what a fireman will look like in a fire all dressed up in his gear. They put on the full outfit with oxygen tank, mask and everything. The boys were not scared of this at all. Jackson was even part of the demonstration, he wanted to hand the fireman everything. I forget sometimes he is only one. He acts like he understands and knows what is going on.







And just when we thought the tour was almost over. Charles talked to the guys and they decided to bring out the ladder truck and set it up for us. This was a really big deal. They normally don't do this on tours because it takes so long to set up and they could get a call at anytime. All of the kids were completely amazed. The ladder goes up 115 feet in the air and it was quite amazing to see. My little Jackson was doing everything the fireman were doing while we were there and I was able to snap such a cute photo while they were setting up the truck.









Who knows, maybe Jackson will be a fireman someday? The whole day was just so much fun and one the kids can't stop talking about. Thanks for the great memories Charles and thank you for all you do everyday. Don't forget to check out http://www.kirklands.me/ for all of the photos.

Lets get caught up....Summer Cruise up West Coast

I am starting this blog a little later than I wanted and now have so much to catch you all up on. We have done so many fun things this summer so I will try and blog about a few of them and then do my best to keep you all informed about our daily adventures.

We booked a very unplanned cruise vacation last minute due to an amazing deal Brian came across. So our summer started off with a bang with a cruise up the West Coast. Our stops were San Francisco, Victoria Canada and Seattle. This was Brian and my 6th cruise, Jason's second and Jackson's first!!! We knew we were a little crazy taking our one year old on his first cruise but we had one amazing vacation. Brian's cousin Jared and his wife Lindsey (my best-friend) also went with us.

Some of the highlights were at our first stop in San Francisco. Our ship, before docking, had to travel under the Golden Gate Bridge. It cleared it by only 15 feet!!! It felt like a lot less when you are about to go under it and feel like we are going to crash into it. It was the boys first time to the city and Brian and I felt like we were back home (we lived here right after we got married for about 2.5 years) We did shopping at Pier 39, saw the sea lions (hundreds of them hang out on the dock) and walked and walked and walked everywhere we went. Jason legs hurt so bad the next day.

The boys each picked up some great new souvenirs and loved their day in the city. That night we also got to see the Golden Gate bridge all lit up when we went back under it. Jackson was too excited to sleep and was out on our patio to enjoy the view with us.

Our next stop was Victoria, Canada. This was a first for all of us. We wanted to do something fun here so we made a stop at Buchart Gardens. It is a very famous place in Canada. It is one of the most beautiful places I have ever been to. I could post hundrends of photos of this magical place but you will just have to go see them all on our website, http://www.kirklands.me. Here are some of my favorites from that day.

Brian and I were excited we got a good picture of us so we thought we would grab one of the whole family. Well, lets just say the boys were done looking at floweres and were done with pictures for the day. We love this photo below....Jason is on the ground refusing to to smile for another picture, Jasckson is making a run for it, I dont know what I am supposed to do with my children and Brian is right there with me. Thanks for snapping a wonderful photo of our family Jared!!!



The next few days were filled with getting to know the ship, taking in some shows, boys went golfing on board and also got "tattoos" (air-brushed that is), and Jason had an amazing time in the kids program.

Our next stop was Seatle. We were so excited because Brian's Dad and Grandma Gail live there. They showed us around the city and the weather was beautiful!! We went to the famous Pike Place Market and did some shopping. I was excited to get a coffee from the "first Starbucks" and we ate some amazing seafood for lunch. We even go to see the famous fish market where they throw fish at you...watch out!!! Why did I enjoy this so much??

We all had an amazing vacation together. The boys got to see so much, meet new people and make new friends. They are both loving the "cruising life" at such a young age and we are excited to take them to many more places. They were such great travelers, we were amazed. They loved the adventure!!! Be sure to check out our website for LOTS more photos of our trip, http://www.kirklands.me.

Happy Cruising.....don't you love their shirts, how perfect!!!