Price Comparison Sheet

It took me awhile to figure out how to publish this into the blog, but here it is. The long awaited list!!! Just click on the link below.

Price Comparison Sheet

God Mezger

About 2 weeks ago Bailey got a red balloon while leaving HEB. As I was putting Bailey in her car seat the red balloon detached itself from the string and began floating away. We watched it fly away as Bailey cried some of the biggest tears to this day. She had been holding the bottom part of the string so tightly so that it didn't fly away, therefore, she didn't understand what had happened. As I was explaining that it was gone, I finally came up with the fact that it had floated away to God. At the time all she could do was cry. For the past two weeks we have talked about the red balloon and God. Well, this past week when we were walking out of HEB with a new white balloon she told me that she could now share the red balloon with God Mezger since she had another balloon now. She was apparently not sharing it until that point. Also, just to make sure I heard right I ask what God's last name was: "Mezger". Oh, and she then informed me that God Mezger lives in the sky. So now at the dinner table we thank God Mezger for the food. Sometimes she even looks to the sky and talks to him about the red balloon.

Here is a very happy Bailey at home with the new balloon.

On a side note: This was a day that Bailey dressed herself: Grey Woody shirt (the other shirt involved in the clothing strike), pink skirt, pink converse, and red Elmo socks- nice.

Mezger Look-alike Meter

We did this for fun with Bailey when she was about this age.

McKinzie Family Reunion

Way back in 1900, my great-grandparents Daniel Franklin and Margaret Alice got married and over the course of 40 years had 10 children. My Nana was child #8 born in 1922. All my life on the 2nd full weekend of August, my Nana's siblings and their families have gathered in Aledo for a family reunion. We were fortunate enough to make it up this year so that everyone could meet Blake.

My Nana getting to hold Blake for the first time since Easter

Bailey with her Gigi

My cousin Maryann getting to meet and hold Blake

On Saturday we eat, visit, and play games. On Sunday we have a church service and eat. This is a picture from the Sunday church service with my dad holding Blake who fell asleep on his shoulder. I would guess that there were 75 people there.

Everyone who makes it on Sunday always pauses from eating for a group picture.

Front row: Aunt Kathy, Nana, Blake, my dad Mark

Middle Row: Tori, Andrew, me, my mom Brenda, and Bailey

Back Row: Luke, Uncle Walter who jumped in the picture at the last minute, I am not even sure how I am related to him, Uncle Phil

The 4 Generations

Clothing Strike

Someone (I am not naming names) has gone on a clothing strike and only wants to wear her Woody and Buzz shirts. She would wear them everyday if she could.

Can't Keep Up With My Kids

Basecamp for Blake is his activity mat, but that doesn't last very long anymore. If I leave the room, I am always surprised to see where his rolling has taken him and to see how far he has rolled.

This Was Uncharted Territory- Under the Coffee Table

However, He Usually Gets Himself Stuck in a Corner

This morning Bailey told me she wanted something to drink. I told her to go get her cup that was on the kitchen table, but I found my little monkey trying to open the refridgerator because she wanted some orange juice. Man, I need to dust off the old rock climbing gear and take her climbing.

Not only that, but she is so fast on her bike! We took her to Townlake and she can keep up with my fastest jogging pace.

A Price Comparison Playdate

Have you ever wondered whether it's cheaper to buy your groceries at Walmart or HEB? Are you thinking about getting a Costco membership? Or do you have a Costco membership, but are wondering whether it's worth it? How much a year can a Costco membership save you?

I was thinking about these things, and so was my friend Katie, so we decided to take a morning and compare the prices of about 25 items at HEB, Walmart, and Costco. It was kinda crazy with 4 kids (2 of hers and 2 of mine) overlapping Blake's morning naptime and lunch, but we did it! Katie made these cute little sheets (seen in the picture below) and we turned into a game of sorts- which store was cheaper. Here's what we found-

* There is really no difference between Walmart and HEB when shopping for food staples (eggs, cheese, coffee creamer, bread, bananas, pasta noodles, flour) in the store's brand of groceries- HEB-Hill Country Fare, HEB brand OR Walmart- Great Value. Literally, most things were just cents different. The only 2 things that did really stick out is that a gallon of 2% milk is 60 cents cheaper at Walmart and a 5 lb bag of rice is half as expensive at HEB.

*HEB was cheaper for paper towels, toilet paper, and laundry detergent by 10 cents/unit to up to 50 cents/unit.

*Walmart's Great Value doesn't have quite the selection that HEB's Hill Country Fare. I specifically noticed it on the cereal aisle.

* I have no idea which store is cheaper when it comes to brand names because I only looked at 5 items. 3 were the exact same price and the 2 that were different were Kellogg's Frosted Mini-Wheats were 54 cents cheaper at HEB and Mott's Applesauce was 30 cents cheaper at Walmart.

*Costco is the cheapest place to buy milk, eggs, cheese, romaine lettuce, onions, brand name cereal, Nutrigrain bars, Huggies diapers, Huggies wipes. Basically, if you are going in there to buy a specific item that you regularly buy somewhere else, then yes it is cheaper. For example, if you LOVE Kraft's Mac'n'Chz and that's the brand you are going to buy no matter what, then go to Costco to get it. However, if you usually buy Hill Country Fare's Mac'n'Chz, then going to Costco won't save you any money because they only offer Kraft and it would be cheaper to buy HCF's Mac'n'Chz than the Kraft's bulk Mac'n'Chz.

*We were surprised to find out that Costco's brand (Kirkland's) frozen chicken breasts were 20 cents/lb. more expensive than HEBs. So don't be fooled that everything there is cheaper by buying in bulk.

Obviously, we could save money by renewing our membership to Costco, but we are still trying to add up how much it would save us in a year. On just the stuff Katie and I researched, we determined that we could save $90 a year* minus the $50 membership. *This number is specific to us because I get a 10% discount at HEB. So is $40 worth another trip to the store, and can I actually remember to bring our checkbook when I do go? We are still thinking on it and might need to do some more research.

If anyone wants to see the price sheets, I am going to be typing it into an excel sheet and would be happy to save you the trouble of doing this yourself and just email it to you. Just leave me a comment with your email address.