OUT

I spend a lot of time doing homework. Usually it doesn't turn out like I want...peace and quiet so I don't make any mistakes! So David usually entertains Hayden so I can get some stuff done. I have a make shift schedule...wake up around 8 and braille for an hour, then usually hang out with Hayden. Once Hayden takes a nap, I braille or study for two hours. After that we usually play or try to get out of the house. Once Hayden is in bed I braille or study for another two or three hours. I try not to do much homework when Hayden is awake but sometimes it doesn't work that way. We have a strict policy of little TV time for Hayden. Hayden gets up early around six. David usually gets up around then so Hayden wakes up early to watch TV. He knows once we are up and around he has to turn it off. David and I are always looking for stuff to do with Hayden. I get bored doing the same puzzle or playing the same game every day. We bought Hayden a pool last summer but we never set it up. When we were cleaning the garage we found it. We set it up and a slip in slide. He had a blast!! Hayden didn't know how to do the slip and slide. David and I took turns showing Hayden how to do it. We all had fun. We invited the neighbor kids over. Hayden enjoyed that. He misses playing with kids, since he is not in school. Hayden was so worn out from playing that he took a nap for almost 4 hours!! I think this will help us "get out" of the house without costing us anything. I can sit and read or braille while Hayden is playing. Hopefully next week I can grab the camera to take a few pictures.

Couponing

So last week I went to CVS and Walgreens. I did really good at both. I didn't take pictures of my CVS deals but everything was FREE. I bought Schick Razor cartridges (free), 3 boxes of Bayer Aspirin (free), 1 box of Advil PM (free), 2 shampoos (1.00 a piece), and 1 box of Zyrtec (made $2.00).



Lotion $2.00 for all of them, everything else free.



Laundry soap 1.20 a piece razors $0.79 or $0.89, everything else free




Another view so I spent around 11 bucks for $90.00 or more worth of stuff!!

Reading

So as y'all know I have been working on reading with Hayden. On a good week I will teach him 3-4 days and spend 30-45 minutes on different lessons. Hayden absolutely loves it. We work on different skills like counting, patterns, writing numbers, one to one correspondence (which is counting objects), sorting, matching, shape classification learning letters sounds, writing his name, letters, reading words, singing songs, reading nursery rhymes, and matching first letters to pictures. I think the thing Hayden enjoys the most is feeling excited when he learns something new. During reading he works on a few words and then I find books that have the new words in them. It took us some time for him to understand how print and books work. It wasn't like I woke up and said, Yes I need to teach Hayden how to read. It is a long process. Just because a kid knows all of the letters in the alphabet doesn't mean that they are ready to read. When Hayden turned two we really hit it hard. When we read books to Hayden we pointed to the words, went over story structure and sequence and of course asked him LOTS of questions. All of this helps him now. I know every parent thinks their kid is smart or athletic. We all want our kids to succeed. I see things in Hayden that I see in my 5 and 6 year olds. I see him making connections and putting different things that he learned together. The trickiest part when teaching kids how to read is concept of print. He doesn't really understand that you can't "make" up the story. You have to read whats there. I did this lesson just like I would do in the classroom. We learned our new word...the, we looked at all of the pictures, we went and found and pointed to the on each page, then he read. It will be this way until he becomes a fluent reader. When kids start reading we want them to be successful so we give them the tools to do that. When Hayden knows about 30-35 sight words and can look at the pictures for clues he won't need to do all of that. When you watch this video it was his second time reading the book. This is really ALL him. I didn't coach him or really help him.



I am SO PROUD OF HIM!!! David and I value education a lot so he is headed in the right direction!

Father's Day

Okay, I have a few posts I need to write so I will write them tonight!

Today is Father's Day. Hayden was very excited about this. I told him we had a surprise for Daddy. Hayden tried really hard not to tell David what it was. It didn't help that David was encouraging him to spill the beans.

David is a great father. Parenting always has its ups and downs. David is probably one of the most patient person I know. He is always taking to Hayden telling him how to do things or how things works. When you have a kid Hayden's age you know they ask WHY a lot...Hayden is no exception. David almost always has answer, while I am done with answering. David loves to teach Hayden about animals. They love to read books or look at pictures on the internet. I think David enjoys having a boy around, which means that they can wrestle and play outside. David is the bath giver which means they have some funny conversations. When we leave town Hayden misses his Dad. I think parenting has taught David and me a lot but the one thing we both can agree on is to love unconditionally.

So today at church at the end of service they usually play a video clip or a Youtube video. I came home and wanted to see if I could find this. So enjoy....I was cracking up laughing!!! So FUNNY!!

First Movie

Okay so I am a week behind on my posting. But, hey when I took my braille test it paid off because I got an A!! When I graduated from Tech I was 4 tenths away from graduating with honors so I figured I would give it a chance this go around. I want a stinking sash!! Now back to the post...

Last week, we took Hayden to the movies. There is a blog that I read that told me about this deal...You can go see 10 movies (one a week) in the summer for 5 bucks a person!! It was a great deal. I figured if we had to leave it wouldn't be a waste for $.50 a movie, great entertainment that is INSIDE! They don't show any new releases, so they are old but I am definitely not complaining. Hayden's never been to the movies so he wouldn't know. He did so well. David came with us which helped a lot. The place was packed. I stood in line for popcorn for 20 minutes. We "brought" lots of snacks which Hayden loved. We stuffed our faces the whole time. We saw Rio. It was supposed to be The Wizard of Oz, but for some reason didn't show it. David didn't think The Wizard of Oz was going to be a good fit for Hayden. I don't really remember the movie but David did. He said it freaked him out when he was little. He kept on talking about the flying monkeys and the witch. So we really talked to Hayden and "prepared" him. I was relieved when they didn't show it. He sat through the whole thing. When there was like 10 minutes left he said he was ready to leave. He didn't ask a lot of questions which I thought he would. My favorite thing about this was, he was able to get the jokes and funny things. When he would he started cracking up laughing....it was TOO CUTE!!

Here is him doing a review of letters. We do this as a warm up every time.

Couponing

Okay here are my deals from last week. I actually saved the receipts so I could see what I spent and what I saved!!

Candy bars-$.69 on sale for $.50 (*If you bought 2 candy bars they would give you $1.00 Extra Care Bucks....these print on your receipt and can used on just about anything)

So...they were FREE!!

Pantene-$4.99 on sale for 2 for &6.97 (Used a $3.00 off of 2 coupon then got back $2.00 in Extra Care Bucks)

So...they were $.99 a piece!! (Good buy not many shampoos are less then a buck)

Bic Razors-$7.80 on sale for $6.99 (Used a $3.00 off coupon then got back $3.00 in Extra Care Bucks)

So...$.99!! (I already bought the razor at some point so needed the refiles which rarely ever go on sale so great find)

Makeup-$16.98 (not on sale but at CVS they have a little machine that prints out coupons and it printed a coupon for spend $10.00 on makeup get $6.00 in ECB's and then the store had a sale spend $10.00 on makeup get $3.00 in ECB's. YOU CAN USE BOTH. I also had 2 $2.00 off of makeup coupons so here is what it looked like

($16.98-$10.00 in ECB's - $4.00 coupons = $2.98 (they had cheaper makeup but I bought what I would use)

Mouthwash-$4.99 on sale for $3.99 (Used a $1.00 off of 1 coupon then got back $1.00 in Extra Care Bucks)

So...$1.99 a piece...not a GREAT deal but Hayden has been asking for mouthwash!!

Toothbrush-$2.99 on sale for $1.99 (Used a $1.50 off of 2 coupon then got back $1.00 in Extra Care Bucks)

So...$.24 a piece

Preparation H wipes-$3.99 (didn't need these...guess I will donate but bought because I made $2.00; Used a $2.00 off coupon then got back $3.99 in Extra Care Bucks)

So...MADE $2.00

Total cost for all was $49.32 but I PAID $8.43!!!

Great week

So this week was even better week. Usually when I use coupons I get from the Sunday paper I have to wait and hold on to for great deals. This week was a great week to start couponing because you could use the coupons on a lot of deals going on this week.




Walmart and Randall's

I did some price matching to get some great deals.

ALL on sale for $2.99 used a $1.00 off

So $1.99

**If I did the math right it cost $.06 a load!!

Fruit Snack can't remember the price and coupon used $1.00

Toothpaste-$.97 used $1.00 off coupon

So...made $.03

Toilet Paper $1.00 after coupons and sale

Pineapple-$.99 SALE then used $1.25 off of 2

So...$.75 for 2 pineapples. I LOVED THIS DEAL!!!

Cleaner-$.50

Gel-Made $.50...I use the crap out of this stuff at school. I make get baggies and put tracing cards under them and then the kids can trace the letters or numbers. I need to try this with Hayden. He would love it because he is not about using a pencil and paper. If you are going to try this use HEAVY DUTY Ziploc baggies because IT will leak!!




Walgreens

Not a Huge fan of them because I can't use my coupons that print out on the same things so it always cost a lot more out of pocket.

Cleaner- $.15

Chex Mix-$.55 a bag

Skittles-$.89 for two.These were the big bags the ones they sell at the movies.

Razors-$.99

Toothbrushes-Made $2.00




CVS

Ban deodorant-$3.70 on sale for 2.99 (Used a $.50 off coupon then got back $2.00 in Extra Care Bucks)

So...$.50

Excedrin-$.99 (got back $.99 in Extra Care Bucks)

So...FREE!!

Fruit Cup $3.19 (Buy one Get one Free and used a $.50 off coupon used 2 coupons)

So...$2.19 for both

Toothbrush-$6.89 on sale for $6.00 (Used a $3.00 off coupon then got back $3.00 in Extra Care Bucks)

So...FREE!!

Toothpaste $3.25 on sale for $2.79 (Used a $.75 off coupon then got back $2.00 in Extra Care Bucks)

So...$.08 for both

Milk-$4.00 on sale for $3.19 (got back $1.00 in Extra Care Bucks)

So...$2.19

Mouthwash-$6.00 on sale for $4.50 (Used a $2.00 off coupon then got back $2.50 in Extra Care Bucks)

So...FREE!!

Shampoo- $7.50 on sale for $5.00 (Used a 2, $2.00 off one coupon then got back $3.00 in Extra Care Bucks)

So...$1.50

In my e-mail I received spend $20.00 and receive $5.00 off so I spent only $1.46...uh YES $1.46 for ALL of that!!


Okay so I don't think next time I am going to break it down. It took WAY to long. Hayden woke up from his nap and I didn't even start on homework!!

Lies, Lies, Lies

Okay, so yes I did say I have a lot of post to write but if you've been looking you can see that it's NOT HERE. One word to describe it BRAILLE! I started school a week ago. Since Friday, I have been brailling my eyes out. When my professor said I would be brailling 2 to 3 hours a day I thought she was crazy! Yeah, I am the one that's crazy. I have been seriously brailing like it's my full time job about 30 hours. Praise God that David has been home. He has been a life saver. It is hard to learn a new language when you have 3 year old playing 50 questions. I see now why this is the feeder class. We have already had 3 people drop the class. There are about 25 teachers in the state of Texas going out for this certification. This seems to be a high need field. I am okay for people quitting the program. I was able to receive another grant from SFA because people dropped out (this is the one I wanted at first but, didn't get). It will pay for ALL of my classes (18 hours towards my Masters)!!

If you are wondering if I am ready to quit, no not yet. I do get frustrated because you can only have three mistakes in the entire page. When you make more then than that you need to re-braille the page. I get aggravated with that. I am getting better and feeling confident. I think last week was the toughest week. I have a feeling it won't get any easier but the good news is I CAN make it!

So since I've been home what have I been doing with all that time (besides brailling)? I started to teach Hayden how to read. Yes, I know at 3 is that really necessary. Yes, for him. He is the kid that will pick up a book and tell you the story through the pictures. When that doesn't work he asks you for help or he will say what does C-A-T spell. He loves books, letters, and reading. I have been slacking off. We didn't do anything today or yesterday. He said today before I left for class, "Mom can you teach me again"? Uh YES!! How can you say no to that. I am not saying he will be a fluent reader by the end of summer. I know he knows a lot of the sounds so we will be working on sight words. I brought home all of my school stuff because I am switching schools, so he has been out in the garage playing with everything. He loves the magnetic letter the most.

The next couple of post will be about my couponing and stock piles I have going and Hayden's first trip to the movies.

So I have a video to upload of Hayden and I doing a warm up on the letters sounds, but youtube is uploading slow...so tomorrow!!

Crazy Busy

Yes!! It has been a CRAZY busy week. I can't remember the last time I have felt so overwhelmed. I am glad the work week is behind me and I can OFFICIALLY begin SUMMER BREAK. I have several post brewing and I will have plenty of time to sit down and write. I am going to start where I left off. (I try to capture many things that we do so I can remember the memories). On Friday, Hayden and I left to go to Aunt Ann's. We went and did some errand running and on Saturday David joyed us! It seems like David only joins us when he has days off. We went to the country (It's where my aunt and uncle have property). We had a BBQ and took Hayden swimming. Hayden enjoyed hanging out with the guys. He wasn't inside long...only to eat lunch! OH MY...I see David and I in Hayden. Hayden absolutely loved swimming, which is me. He has David's mind, so smart, clever, and entertaining. He cried when we had to leave (after almost 4 hours of constant swimming). He was jumping in, putting his head underwater, and kicking. I am pretty sure if we were fussing about his floats he would have taken them off. He is very BRAVE...there isn't much he is afraid of. He slept the whole way home. We moved him 5 times and didn't wake up once. On Sunday we went shopping, my favorite. He got some light up shoes which he loves...it is so hard to find light up shoes for WIDE feet. On Monday, Hayden went swimming again and David and I went to the gun range. It is official I can't shoot a target. Many I have terrible aim and I didn't like all the loudness. I enjoyed it when I was the only one. We had a great time. Came back very tired but so worth it. Hayden now thinks he can ride his bike by himself, since we let him at Aunt Ann's. I tried to explain that is was safe because of the gate and there wasn't a street but he isn't buying it!