Christmas Redux and a Couponing Trip

You may remember that I mentioned wanting to do Christmas over again, since we were so sick during the week of Christmas.  Well, I finally dressed up our little elf and pretended it was December 25 again.


Hey. Who you calling little?



We invited some friends over for a "pretend Christmas dinner," and we made turkey, stuffing, and the works.

Michael and Sophie played together in their Christmas gear.

I wonder if, twenty years from now, we will remember that this wasn't actually on Christmas day, or even in the month of December...

Michael is about two months older than Sophie, and its fun to watch where he is in the developmental stages, because I know Sophie is right behind him.

He's such a funny little guy - he's got a big personality already!

They watch each other so intently when they are together, and I swear Sophie learns stuff from him.

She was in such a fun mood today - she laughed for the first time, and she had lots of "awake and playing" time during our "Christmas Re-do."

Look ma, I'm walking!
Of course, lots of playing will usually lead to....

...being totally zonked out at 6 pm.  Sweet baby.  Playtime is exhausting.
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In other fun news, I had my second official couponing trip today.

I think I did pretty well.  Here are the stats:

Before sales and coupons: $142.77
After sales and coupons, I paid: $37.88!

I got:
10 Healthy Orchard juices = FREE
4 Ziploc Container sets = $0.46 each
2 Seventh Generation Dish Liquid = FREE
4 boxes Finish Dishwasher Tabs = $0.49 each
4 Oral Pulsar toothbrushes = $3.00 each (These are normally like seven bucks. And we needed new ones since we got sick.)
10 cans Campbells Chunky soup = $0.56 each
2 jars Prego sauce = $2.89 each (These weren't on sale but they were part of the "meal deal")
HT Fettuccine, Garlic Texas Toast, Parmesan Cheese, and 2-liter Pepsi = FREE (the rest of the "meal deal")

Not half bad!  I think some of my coupons might not have rung up completely right, because I think my total "out of pocket" should have been closer to $25, but I'm not going to complain.  I'm still getting the hang of the couponing, and I can't yet do the instant math at the register to make sure everything's ringing up exactly right.  But I'm getting there!

Merry Second Christmas In January, everyone!