Fun with Candyland

Sometimes its just fun to have a lazy day and play some candyland...we often forget how precious these fleeting moments are with our children, and how one day it will all be gone in a flash...LITERALLY, a Superman, lightning bolt flying thru the air, gone in a FLASH........ SO let me ask u this............. Whens the last time you played Candyland with your kids??.... Oh......and let them win this time :-)...youll thank me later Its worth it :-)

Keeping it Real

You know those people who act like they have it all together, go to the right church, the right stores, dress perfect every.....single....day....blahhhh...well im hear to tell you, they dont have it perfect;) (sorry to burst your bubble, im abt to get real up in here...lol) The truth of the matter is, we alllll have our junk to deal with...some may have more than others...and believe me when i say,MY junk is rating up there in the high thousands;/....(as many if you already know)...but thats ok,,,were alll ok...the best part abt our "junk", is that we all have ea ither in this crazy, and sometimes, messed up life...There is still a BLESSING in the spilled milk on the floor, to teach ur children abt working together to clean it up...There are blessings in KNOWING a full pile of laundry will....be....waiting...on...you ....APPROX. 30min after you washed it all....lol;) What my point is, is this...no matter what your going thru or what im going thru, we have a God who loves us, we have ea other to lean on,,,and we have a good cup of coffee (or other beverage of your choice;),to get us thru..:-)...God never promised this life would be easy, but he DID promise he would get us thru the junk...one....day....at....a.....time Love you all

A New Perception

My God has a plan......He always has...a plan to bless, a plan to teach, a plan to wither the storm....a PLAN... I think we always assume His plan will be OUR plan eventually, but thats not always the certainty, or even the case..Our plan says we want and need it right NOW.... BUT....... Gods plan says we can have it at just the right time,,,not too soon,,,,not too late....just right on time...if we really knew that, and rraaallly listened to that, we might find we will be happier, in that moment of waiting, than we EVER couldve been just doing it on our own, without him :-) As much as i hate to admit it,,,PATIENCE really IS a virtue...hope you agree too

Introducing Molly Kate Lonas...6/22/11

TODAY-7 MOS OLD


1 DAY OLD

OK, OK.....I know, this is a looooonggggggggg time coming...;)....Well, I finally updated my blog to include, not ONLY a new title (THE LONAS 6), but to also include our sweetest, newest addition....Molly Kate....who just turned 7 mos old...my how time flies by...Its hard to believe 7 mos have already gone by and she's closer to being 1yr old, than newly born.........ugh, [cue tears].....

Anyway, she has been the BIGGEST blessing in the Lonas clan....The kids ADORE her and Jake is the most adoring...(And this comes from a kid who DID NOT want another sister, but is totally in love w/this little baby, kisses her ALL the time-even when she doesnt want it ;)..........Audrey is like a little extra momma, changing diapers when Im not looking and taking her on Saturday mornings (occasionally) so mama can sleep in..:)...I have been blessed w/GREAT kiddos..

Lastly, if you notice under her picture and caption, it says "our little turtle".....She has ALREADY been given a nickname by our family of "turtle" because not only was she my smallest baby (6lbs 12oz), but she is JUST NOW accumulating enough lucious baby fat around her body/neck to be dubbed an actual "LONAS" baby ;)....but she's a turtle, because she has the longest neck Ive ever SEEN on a baby!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! LOL....


Well, that was just an update, hopefully I'll be better about updating more!! God Bless you this week :)

FREE at Kroger, Ingles and Walmart this week!

I got ALL THIS FOR FREE at Walmart, Ingles and Kroger this week!!!
I EVEN got paid alittle to take the Easter candy out of Walmart last night ;)


---If you havent already, Easter candy is 75% off right now, which makes for some
GREAT deals, if you have coupons to use on top of it! Walmart was about the only
store that still had a great selection (and shhhh,,they even took my expired coupons)
(For those of you who dont know this, alittle inside secret,,Kroger will take your expired coupons for up to 2 mos, before the register will actually boot them out).I learned this recently :)----

Well anyway, I realized I havent written in awhile about my deal shopping because life has been alittle hectic trying to get ready for this baby #4 in the Lonas bunch!! Were so excited to be bringing ms Molly Kate into our fun, sometimes crazy family ;).....But today were talking about ..................... FREE GROCERIES!! WOO HOO!! You didnt think I'd forget to update my blog, now did you?? lol...Ive started something kinda new,,,I now have a $50 grocery budget per week,,Ive been buying for 2 week intervals recently and found it works great! Between my drugstore, grocery, and last minute deals, I stick to my budget of $100 for 2 wks....:)....

First stop was Ingles--I was visiting my grandma (GG) in Powell, and since Maryville doesnt have an Ingles, I decided to stop and get my deals I'd seen advertised...Walked out w/7 packs Rayovac batteries, 16 packets Weber seasoning and 2 boxes Raisin Bran (paid $1.14/box for these), but the batteries and seasoning were ALL FREE!! Who doesnt like free batteries?? Spent a total of $3 OOP

Next was Kroger--I must admit, its getting harder to coupon at K these days, with all this new policy on ecoupons and everything..I even had a couple paper coupons they wouldnt allow, cuz I had already had an ecoupon for them...geez...but, nontheless, still got 5 Crest tp FREE and only spent $72 OOP there...

And on to Walmart---Im slowing liking Wally-world again!! As far as i know, they are the ONLY store left that will give you overage on a coupon, meaning, if you have a $2coupon for a $1 item, you make $1 to put w/the rest of your order, and actually Walmarts new coupon policy actually has to PAY YOU BACK this amt, if you want, so you can, believe it or not, make an income shopping w/coupons AND get free stuff too! Who'da thought? I believe I did the best here, got (5) Nivea bodywash and several Easter candy items, which were all free and I believe I actually made a couple dollars on some of the candy, and few other grocery items...Spent $15 OOP

So my Grand total for 2 wks before coupons: $240.00

Total paid OOP: $ 90.00 !!!! I still have $10 left, I think Im going to Target now to get some more diapers ;)

The BLESSING of having a stockpile :)

Heres my current stockpile-Including 7-8 boxes of cereal,
9 boxes of spaghetti noodles, several cans of veggies
and enough beauty/healthcare items to last us a year!


I know I dont usually go around taking pics of my pantry, but I wanted to get down on a spiritual note, for a moment, and thank God for the blessing of a stockpile, as you see here.

I think its important, in times like these, to have enough groceries to last you at least 3 mos, and our family QUICKLY becoming a family of 6 soon, I wanted to have this simply for that reason....You never know what can happen to this ecomony or your family even, in the blink of an eye, so its always best to be prepared....

Im so grateful to God for allowing me stay home now--fulltime--and succeed w/my couponing to provide for our family (probably more than enough), and saving more than 50% on the groceries that I used to buy, and pay FULL PRICE FOR!!! never again! lol

So, for those of you who think couponing is "silly", "too time consuming", or even "hoarding" sometimes, just think of where our country might be in 5-10 yrs, I dont know about you, but the thought kinda scares me ;(.....Thank you for always reading my blog and I hope you can get a good stock going to....just in case of a "rainy" day :)