The Balla Family

SHOPPING WITH COUPONS

2009-05-20T11:19:00.000-07:00

Okay so I went shopping this morning. I bought $330.66 worth of grocery's and only paid $150.39. This is how I did it, first I went to CVS I had $8 in Extra Bonus Rewards when I went in and this is what I bought 2 Dry Idea Deo 2 for 5 and you get $2 back as Extra Bonus I had 2 coupons for $2 off each item that made them .50 each, 2 Airwick FreshMate Kits for $5.99 had a coupon for $4 off each one and that made them $1.99 each, 2 colgate total toothpaste on sale for 2.99 and i had coupons for 1.00 off each making them 1.99 each, 2 pkgs of bic soleil 3count razor were 4.99 had coupons for 2.00 off each making them 1.99 each, 2 cans of edge shaving cream were 1.73 each and the coupon was for .75 off each making them .98 each. So at CVS my total trip savings was $57.60 and I only paid $6.93

Then I went to Kroger and bought 27 items and paid $34.20 and saved $35.20. I had bought everything on sale and had coupons for 14 items, total coupons were $14.69 and plus card savings was $20.51.

Went to Wal-Mart and bought $100.06 for 48 items and paid $68.89, I had 38 coupons for Wal-Mart.

And lastly, I went to Market Basket and bought 19 items and had 12 coupons for this transaction. I paid $40.37 and saved $56.30.

So I think today I did excellent in saving money for all the items I bought. Now since I have it all put away I think I will now take pics of my food storage and see what it all looks like now.

Coupons really do save you money!!!

Camping in the Spring

2009-05-04T18:01:00.000-07:00

So we went camping this weekend for the 4th time in our 5th Wheel, we went up to Sandy Creek in Jasper. We all had a great time the girls were ready for some fishing.

We have learned that Hannah is our Big Fisher Woman!!! She loves fishing, she was up at 6:45 both mornings ready to go fishing. She would start fishing at around 7:00 and fish all day, she was catching perch and then she caught her BIG FISH HER CATFISH!!!! You can tell she is loving it. After she caught this one she said she was going to go and catch the daddy of this one.

Emma likes to fish only when she is catching fish though. She would fish when Hannah was catching hoping to catch some too. Emma loves riding her bike and listening to her ipod more than fishing.

Gracie loves being outside just to play. But as far as fishing she will hold the fishing pole and look like she is fishing but she mostly gets them all tangled up. Gracie will tear a piece of worm off and put it on the hook for the other girls because they don't like to touch the worms! She loves riding her scooter and listening to her ipod too. She is always going in and out of the trailer.

And Brian did all of the cooking outside here he is cooking breakfast and taking fish off the hook for Hannah. So our eggs and bacon had a little fishy taste to it because she was catching them right and left. All in all we had a good weekend and also while we were there two of the girls had strep throat. Luckily no one was around us camping.

Christmas photo's of the girls

2008-12-21T17:15:00.000-08:00

This picture was taken before church this morning.

The Girl's 1st Snow!!!

2008-12-20T17:29:00.000-08:00

Loving all the snow on the house!
Gracie was upset because Emma threw snow in her hair!

Emma having a great time in the snow still wearing her pjs!

Hannah making a snow ball. She had been up since 5am!

Christmas Family Reunion on 12/14/08

2008-12-20T17:13:00.001-08:00

All the kids singing Christmas songs waiting for Santa!
Hannah sitting on Santa's lap getting her gift.

Gracie is so into Santa this year we had went to Brian's work party for the kids and she sat on Santa's lap twice. One time she walked over by herself and got up on his lap.

Emma always having a goodtime and the life of the party.

And you are never to old to sit on Santa's lap! This is my Granny Pryor getting her gift that Santa brought for her.

The Girl's Class Party's on Friday!

2008-12-20T16:55:00.001-08:00

Hannah's class party was pretty simple. They had finger food and then Mrs. Long opened her gifts.

Gracie loves to go to the partys because she gets to eat at all the partys.

Emma's class did alot they sang a song for the parents and got to do some decorations. They had breakfast food. When the party's were over the girls had the chose to stay at school until 12:00 or come home with us. Well Emma did not want to stay at school so she came home with us but Hannah wanted to stay and play.

My new purchase at Trade Days!

2008-12-06T13:04:00.000-08:00

Well we ( Brian, Gracie and I) went to Trade Day's yesterday and it was freezing cold so we did not get to look at everything. So my mom calls while she is there today and say's I have found what you have been looking for sooo I go back to Trade Day's again and this is what I bought. I am so loving it. The purpose of it is for the girls to have a place to put there school things on. It goes so well with the house.

All the Goodies I've made this month

2008-10-29T07:52:00.000-07:00

Homemade
Caramel Popcorn it is so GOOD!

This homemade Pumpkin Bread makes 3 loaves at one time and is super moist!

Homemade sugar cookies with shinny icing. The girls loved these!

Hannah and Emma hard at work!

2008-10-29T07:44:00.001-07:00

Homework is such hard work!

Random Pic's of Gracie

2008-10-29T07:37:00.000-07:00

Just taking picutres of Gracie, learning the settings on my new camera.

DADDY PLAYING WITH THE GIRLS

2008-10-28T13:53:00.000-07:00

ONE NIGHT WHEN BRIAN CAME HOME I GUESS THE GIRLS HAD MISSED PLAYING WITH HIM SO THEY DECIDED TO ATTACK HIM. SO HE ATTACKED THEM BACK THEY LAUGHED AND GIGGLED THE WHOLE TIME THEY WERE PLAYING. DADDY HAS BEEN WORKING 7 DAYS A WEEK AND 12 HOUR DAYS SINCE HURRICANE IKE HIT. SO WE ALL HAVE BEEN MISSING DADDY A LOT THESE DAYS. HE HAS BEEN SO TIRED THAT IT WAS GOOD FOR THEM TO HAVE SOME FUN TOGETHER.

PAPPY AND MIMI'S PLOW DAY

2008-10-28T13:35:00.000-07:00

ON THE SAME DAY AS THE GIRLS CHEER CLINIC PAPPY AND MIMI'S PLOW DAY WAS GOING ON. WHILE WE WERE ON OUR WAY TO THE SCHOOL HANNAH TOLD ME THAT SHE HAD WISHED SHE HAD WENT TO THE PLOW DAY INSTEAD OF THE CHEER CLINIC. SO I TOLD HER THAT AS SOON AS THEY WERE DONE WITH THE CLINIC THAT WE WOULD GO TO MIMI AND PAPPY'S. SHE TOLD ME THAT WHEN I COME TO PICK THEM UP FROM THE SCHOOL THAT I HAD BETTER BRING THEIR JEANS AND BOOT. THIS DAY IS HANNAH'S FAVORITE DAY, LAST YEAR EVERY STEP THAT PAPPY TOOK SHE TOOK. SHE WOULD NOT LEAVE HIS SIDE THE WHOLE DAY.

HANNAH AND EMMA'S CHEER CLINIC

2008-10-28T13:08:00.000-07:00

HANNAH AND EMMA HAD THEIR CHEER CLINIC ON OCTOBER 18TH. HANNAH HAD WENT TO THE CLINIC LAST YEAR AND HAD A BLAST, BUT THIS YEAR EMMA WANTED TO ALSO BE IN IT. THEY GOT TO LEARN A CHEER AND DANCE EACH. THEN AT THE END OF THE CLINIC THE PARENTS HAD A CHANCE TO WATCH WHAT THE GIRLS HAD LEARNED THEY ALL DID AN EXCELLENT JOB. THE DANCES THAT THEY HAD LEARNED WERE TO HALLOWEEN MUSIC BECAUSE ON HALLOWEEN NIGHT THEY GET TO CHEER DURING THE SECOND QUARTER OF THE GAME. THE GIRLS ALSO RECIEVED A TEE SHIRT,POM-POMS, A MEGAPHONE, AND A CERTIFICATE FOR ATTENED THE CLINIC.

Larry's Old Time Trade Days In Winne

2008-10-13T08:17:00.001-07:00

I found this little bench while Gracie was in a whinny mood so I thought that it would be a great TIME OUT! As I was paying for it I told her what it was going to be used for and all she could say is please no mama I'll be good. So when I got home I had decided to put it under our picture of Jesus so when they are in a time out they can think about what they have done and know's who is watching them all the time even though I might not.

These are little Ball jars that are salt and pepper shakers. Brian's Maw had a pair. He and I just loved the way they looked so I found a pair for only $2.oo for the set.

HANNAH'S SNACK DAY!

2008-10-13T07:48:00.000-07:00

Today is Hannah's snack day so she wanted me to make Halloween cookies. So if you do for one, everyone wants Halloween cookies for their class. So last night I started making cookie with icing and ended up with 5 &1/2 dozen cookies. It took me 2 hours to bake and ice cookies. (WHAT FUN! THE THINGS WE DO FOR OUR CHILDREN!)

LOOKING BACK AT PICTURE'S OF THE GIRL'S AT THE BEACH

2008-10-13T07:40:00.000-07:00

These pictures are of the girls on the steps of the beach cabin are the same pictures but different generation, when my sister's and I were little we also took pictures on these exact steps. These are probable the last memories of our girls at the same beach and beach cabin that my sister's and I went to every summer growing up. After Hurricane Ike the beach cabin that we have memories of is no longer there because of the storm surge

The girls new bedroom furniture!

2008-10-13T07:09:00.000-07:00

The girls room had damage from Hurricane Ike so we had to replace their bedroom furniture. They are so excited!

Emma is loving her new bed too!

Gracie striking a pose on her new bed!

EMMA LOST HER 1ST TOOTH ON OCTOBER 3, 2008

2008-10-04T15:41:00.001-07:00

EMMA HAS BEEN SO EXCITIED ABOUT LOSING HER 1ST TOOTH. SO LAST NIGHT IT WAS SO LOOSE SHE ASKED ME TO PULL IT. AFTER THE TOOTH CAME OUT SHE BLEED FOR A LITTLE BIT. SHE WAS MORE INTRESTED IN THE BLOOD SHE COULD SEE THAN HER TOOTH. I THINK SHE IS GOING TO BE THE DOCTOR IN THE FAMILY. SO THE TOOTHFAIRY CAME LAST NIGHT AND SHE LEFT HER $2.00, SO WHEN WE WENT TO WAL-MART THIS MORNING SHE HAD TO BUY CANDY WITH THE MONEY.

GRACIE'S 4TH BIRTHDAY!

2008-10-04T15:38:00.001-07:00

GRACIE WENT SHOPPING WITH AUNT JENNY AND NONNIE ON HER BIRTHDAY. AUNT JENNY BOUGHT HER THE OUTFIT THAT SHE IS WEARING, SHE LOVES IT SOOO MUCH.