4th Annual Bell Overnight

Last Friday, we had the Purdue Bells over for a cookout and an overnight.....yes, all in our home. We had 13 guests combined with our 7 and that equals 20 pillows!! What a great time we had eating out and playing in the neighbor's yards (with permission, of course)! We played a super awesome game of capture the flag in the Tolbert, Beimfohr, and Baker backyards that was out of this world! Here are some of the pictures from our time together....and these are some of the very reasons I LOVE my job!

OK....So Here I Am

So, tonight I went to Meijer and I did pretty well! I was able to use all my coupons too! I spent $75.76 and I walked out with $24.00 in catalinas to be used on my next order. I saved $108.88 and when you consider that I will spend my $24 in the next two weeks, I really only paid $51.76!! Not bad for this list of goodies:

24 Smart Choice Meal Entrees (.38 each)
4 Suave Hand Lotions 3 oz. (FREE)
4 Skippy Peanut Butters (18 oz.) and 2 Meijer Grape Jams (18 oz.) ($2.18 for all)
Bananas $2.70
8 Cans of Black Beans (.37 each)
3 2 lb. pkgs. chicken strips ($11.37)
3 milks ($5.70)
2 Yoplait Delights 4 pk. ($1.80)
10 24 oz. Hunts Ketchup ($7.50)
6 Chi Chi's Salsa (.35 each)
4 Yoplait 4 pk. yogurts (.59 each)
4 Chunky Soups (.19 each)
2 Hidden Valley Dressings (FREE)
4 100% Juicy Juices 64 oz. (.59 each)

I think this is everything......

But, I had even more fun today canning applesauce with my best friend. She has an apple tree and we spent the day cutting, cooking, and canning!! What fun, and as always, we made memories that will never be forgotten!

The cart of apples after being picked from the tree!! That's a lot of apples!!



Mmmm....simmering apples smell so good!



The fun part.....running the apples through the applesauce maker....



Waterbath station set up outside.....



13 quarts today....



....and we'll see how many more we get on Wednesday!!



Fun times!!

Meijer Bound

Tomorrow I'm headed to Meijer and here is my pile of coupons that I plan to use. I will let you know how I do!!

Evan and His Car

OK, so I have finally "made" some time to post something for you to look at! Now that I am four weeks into the school year, I feel like I have some idea of what I am doing. I have actually been able to clean the house this week, as well as keep things picked up, reorganize the basement pantry (put away all the yummy canned food from the garden), and I have kept up with the kid's schoolwork, and made all the Dr. appointments!!

Purdue Bells is going well too, as that always takes a big chunk of time at the beginning of the first semester. Speaking of Purdue Bells, they performed their first full group show this morning and they did a fantastic job!

Sean stayed with the kids and did a little yard work. He found a special toy that we had for the girls and Evan has fallen in love with it. He cried when I brought him in for lunch....which is strange. He usually comes running when you say "lunch", "drink", or "food"! I snapped a few pictures so you could see how big he is getting.







So, keep checking back to see more fun photos and stories!!

It's All Settling Down

I have been so busy, I have not tended to my blog like I should!! We are getting ready to go eat at The Olive Garden, but I will be sure to post something new when we get home! I was going to upload a picture from my phone, but it won't let me!! Stay tuned!!

The iPhone Update

Let me preface this by saying that I am typing all this out on my new phone. Needless to say, this post will not be very long! I apologize for not keeping up with my blog, but it has been extremely busy with getting all the kids in school and getting the Bells moved to our new rehearsal space. I think things will be slowing down just a bit for awhile, so.... Hopefully I will get a chance to update more often. But the next chore, is to look over our addition plans and get some estimates. I guess you could say that project was put on the back burner for a few weeks. I will keep you posted as we make decisions on this very exciting possibility. Good night, all!