Short Stories and Getting Into The Spirit

Nick and I never know what's going to come out of the mouths of these boys. Case in point would be two short stories from this morning that I'd like to share with you.

Kiss:
Like most parents, we kiss boo-boos and owies away. Doesn't matter how minor the owie is, if they offer a finger, hand, face, etc and ask us to kiss it we kiss it. All that changed this morning though.

Tyler was messing around in his chair at the table and must have banged his bottom on something. Next thing we know he's turned around, pointed at his rear end and said to Nick "kiss it". Nick refused, so Tyler turned to me and repeated the scene. I cracked up and told him he was on his own on that one.

Milk:
Not 10 minutes after the "kiss it" incident, Tyler was at it again. I was sitting at the table cooling down from my run (I did Week 4, Day 1 today by the way and it was COLD!) when Tyler climbed up in the chair behind me, which wasn't that out of the ordinary. What was out of the ordinary though was that he was being so quiet and he wasn't touching me.

I turned around to see what the monkey was up to and saw him holding a milk cup over my head... upside down! The little bugger had poured the rest of his milk on my hair and back! Good thing I hadn't taken a shower yet.

Getting Into The Spirit:
We're getting into the Christmas Spirit here and it's quite exciting! Christmas is going to be awesome this year. The boys are so excited about everything - lights, trees, music, etc! Let's just hope they're excited about Santa when they see him for the first time later this week... Anyway, this year I talked Nick into decorating the outside of our house a bit. I just knew the boys would love it!

 

 

The boys definitely love the lights!

We really got into the Christmas mood on Thanksgiving night, when we all ventured to The Country Club Plaza in Kansas City for the big lighting ceremony! Nick and I have been to The Plaza to see the lights after they've been turned on but have never been for the ceremony, but the boys (and my sister!) have never seen the lights there period. We knew it would be fun!

(Here's a postcard of The Plaza all lit up!)

 

After the switch was flipped on, some fireworks were set off. The boys had never seen fireworks before! Chase was quite concerned (you can see in one of the pictures how big his eyes were) and we were worried he was going to cry at first but then he got into it. Now every time it's dark the boys ask for "loud pops". I told them they'll have to wait 8 months to see more!

(Sorry for the picture quality on these! I'd only had the camera about 24 hours and hadn't figured out how to take night time pictures yet!)

 

 

Aunt Laura and Tyler

Nick, Chase and Jackson

Tomorrow I'll show you some of the pictures from our attempted Christmas Card photo shoot...

Black Friday Fun

I'm home from shopping already and found some smokin' deals! I made out like a bandit at Toys R Us and Target. I'd give you a run down on what I got, but I don't want to spoil the surprise for my family! My sister and I met up at a slightly chaotic Toys R Us at 5am. A couple of the gifts I bought there were almost gone! I snagged the second to last on those items. Whew!

At Target my sister and I combed the aisles looking for a particular gift. I spotted a woman with two of the desired item in her cart, so I asked where she found them. She directed us to an aisle end-cap... there were only two left! I must confess, I was speed walking when I spotted them because I didn't want someone else to snatch them first. I almost felt the victory required a high-five, but restrained myself. Ahhhh, the fun of Black Friday!

Did you shop this morning? Any awesome deals you're pumped about?

Here's one I can share with you - Sam's Club is offering 100 photo cards for only $15 this weekend! You'll have to be a Sam's Club member to take advantage though. Nick and I will be trying to get a cute Christmas Card picture today in order to take advantage of that price!

Video Clip of the Week - Happy Thanksgiving!

Before we get to the video, I want to send a HUGE thank you to my readers, blog friends and their readers for a fantastic Cans For Comments last week! Wow! Several bloggers are continuing still (some through tomorrow and some through the end of the month). Please visit their blogs (listed below) and comment!

Three Times the Giggles had 65 comments, which means I'll donate 65 canned goods/non-perishable items to local food pantries (I bought about half of them last week when I grocery shopped - I'll buy the rest this week hopefully and post a picture of the pile)! Not only that, but my friend Stephanie committed to matching my donation.

Total # of canned goods being donated as of yesterday (remember, some are still collecting!) is 301! WHOA! Well done guys! (And that number doesn't even include the total from one participating blog as I wasn't sure how many comments she had!)

To continue to make a difference, visit these two blogs and leave some comments! We'll definitely do this again soon!

The Mommy Diaries (running CFC through tomorrow night!)

Pyjammy's Blog (running through the end of the month)

Happy Birthday to Me!

Before my family and close friends think I've finally snapped - yes, I know my birthday is actually in May and that it is now late November. That fact didn't stop me from buying myself a birthday gift though! Check out what's currently traveling across this great country to my home...

*sigh* Isn't it beautiful? That, my friends, is a Nikon D3000. Yes, I finally have joined the DSLR world! Yipee!!! The camera is coming just in the nick of time too; my point and shoot is rapidly deteriorating and the boys are supposed to see Santa for the first time next week - I must have a working camera for that!

So why am I calling this a birthday gift and why have I suddenly been able to fulfill my dream of owning a DSLR? Two words for you: Savings Bonds. When I was a child I would get a Savings Bond each year from my grandparents. I'd look at them and think "man, these things are never going to mature!". Throughout the years I have occassionally checked online to see how much they were worth and when I checked last week I noticed they had all matured enough for me to cash them in and get a camera!

Thanks Grandma and Grandpa for the sweet birthday gift! :)

Are you readers ready for an overload of cute pictures? Prepare yourself now, because pretty soon the picture-fest will begin!

Christmas On A Budget

If you participated (or are still participating!) in Cans For Comments last week, please either leave a comment here or e-mail me (threetimesthegiggles@gmail.com) your tally of comments/cans! I want to post an updated total tomorrow or Wednesday and include links of all the blogs that participated (or are still running it!) in Cans For Comments!

 

Last year I did some super savvy Black Friday shopping. I had never been shopping in the morning on Black Friday before and found it rather entertaining and exhilarating! Last year I managed to get gifts (and good ones at that I must say!) for 15 people (some "people" were couples) for under $230. Yeah, you read that number correctly. Now, I will say this - last year we did not buy gifts for the boys. We figured they still were pretty young and wouldn't notice (let alone care) if some of the dozens of gifts they got were not from us.

This year the boys will be visited by Santa and will also have gifts from us under the tree. Does this mean our budget will balloon out of control? No Sir! If anything, we may actually come in under our budget from last year! Allow me to share my "secrets" with you.

Tip #1: Buy used! Honestly, I think that kids under the age of 6 or 7 at the very least do not notice or care if their gift is in the original packaging. If anything they like it better when it's not in the box because the toy can then be played with immediately. (Parents, isn't it so obnoxious to have an excited kid breathing down your neck while you're trying to un-twist the 30 twist ties holding their doll or Little People into the box?!)

This fall I have snagged 3 great gifts for the boys at a consignment sale and also through a local triplet mom (she was selling stuff her trio had outgrown). Check out these gems! (Please ignore the loveliness that can be found in our basement and garage!)

This is a Fisher-Price (I think) trike that can be transformed somehow to a bike! Thankfully the user manual is taped to it. I picked this up for $10 at a consignment sale.

 

This is a Little People castle complete with a huge bag of accessories and parts! I scored this for only $8 at the same consignment sale I picked the bike up at.

A couple of big, pop-up play tents I snagged from a fellow triplet mom. She actually threw them in as a "bonus" when I bought what you see below...

This giant tunnel thing, plus the above tents, was only $25! I looked these things up online and they all would retail for over $100. They're all in fantastic condition and if they already survived one set of triplets I have hope these will last longer than 2 weeks (which is how long the one we bought from Target lasted).

I can not wait to give these to the boys! They're going to have a blast with all of them.

Tip #2: Plan, plan, plan your shopping. Did you know that most retailers now release their Black Friday ad early? I've been looking at BF ads for well over a week now and new ads are constantly being added. You can view BF ads here: http://www.blackfriday.info

Wanna know how much of a dork I am? I have a spreadsheet this year. I've made a list of stocking stuffer ideas for the boys, a list of people we're buying gifts for and then a list of gift ideas I've found in BF ads (I include in that list where the item is on sale and for how much). This list will make my Black Friday morning an enjoyable one! I'll have my top choices mapped out and then have back ups just in case the item I want is sold out by the time I get there (which happened a couple of times last year). With any luck I'll once again take care of 95% of my shopping in just 3 hours and come home under budget again!

Nick and I have always been budget conscious when it comes to spending, especially at Christmas time. Even when we were DINKs (Double Income No Kids) we didn't spend a lot. This year our entire congregation will be encouraged to spend less money on Christmas and instead give more money away. Did you know that the amount of money American's spend on Christmas could provide clean drinking water for the entire world? Sick huh?

With that in mind, I invite you to watch this little video clip and consider what your family, group of friends or church could do this Christmas. (My mom's group is all pitching in $5 each to adopt a family in need in our community this Christmas! $5 each isn't a lot, but multiply that by 48 and it's substantial!) For more about the Advent Conspiracy click HERE.

Saturday Savings - An Awesome Week!

I did some serious running around yesterday, but it paid off in a big way... especially when it came to collecting canned goods for Cans For Comments! You guys are rocking the comments this week, so I decided to start buying non-perishables now so as to ease the blow a bit (plus there were some sweet deals). Check out what I bought yesterday for $44.58!

And these 25 cans (pictured on the right hand side of the table) are going into my Cans For Comments stash!

Aldi:
Hot Dog Buns - 3 bags
Roaster Pan
2% Milk - 2 gallons
Sweet Potatoes - 3 pounds
Gala Apples - 3 pounds
Bananas - 2.8 pounds

Target:
Pepperidge Farm Stuffing
Potatoes - 10 pounds
Swanson Broth - 4 cans
Del Monte Canned Veggies - 8 cans
Campbell's Cream Soups - 4 cans
Dial 14 bar package of soap - Not Pictured Above! 

HyVee:
I Can't Believe It's Not Butter Baking Sticks - 1 package
Green Giant Steamers Veggies - 2 bags
Ocean Spray Cranberries
Ocean Spray Cranberry Sauce
Nature's Pride Whole Wheat Bread

Hen House: 
Libby Canned Veggies - 4 cans
Celestial Seasonings Tea - 1 box
New York Brand Texas Toast - 2 boxes
Bird's Eye Steamfresh Veggies - 1 bag

Price Chopper:
Kraft Ranch Dressing - 2 bottles
Best Choice Canned Veggies - 6 cans
Wheat Thins - 1 box
Best Choice Cream Cheese - 3 boxes
Scouring Pads - Twin Pack

The Deals: So let me give you a quick run down of why on earth I would visit so many stores. I had to go to the bank and it was the only time I could do it in the next week without having to drag the boys with me. Because of that errand I was going to be on the side of town with the "good" Aldi, Hen House and Super Target. Considering I'll need 50+ non-perishable items for Cans For Comments and there were good deals on canned veggies scattered at several stores, I thought I better take advantage. Plus, all the stores I visited are all along the same road, so the gas spent is minimal.

Speaking of canned goods - I managed to only pay $6.86 for all 25 cans that's 72% off the $24.80 total they would have cost had I not shopped with coupons and sale prices! The 4 cans of Libby's were only .28 total at Hen House, the Del Monte Vegetables at Target worked out to .20 each (I stacked a $1/6 Target coupon with a $1/8 Manufacturers Coupon), the Swanson's Broth was .43 each, the Campbell's cooking soups were .39 each and the Best Choice canned veggies were .37 each.

Other, non canned goods deals, included: Hot Dog Buns for .20 each (clearance at Aldi!), sweet potatoes for .30 a pound at Aldi, Texas Toast for .68 each (79% off) at Hen House, Kraft Dressing for .99 at Price Chopper (thank you clearance cart!), Wheat Thins for .67 (81% off) and cream cheese for .47 each (68% off). Deals at HyVee included, fresh cranberries for .99 a bag, canned cranberry sauce for .79, Nature's Pride 100% Whole Wheat Bread for .99, I Can't Believe It's Not Butter Baking Sticks for .67 (76% off) and Green Giant Veggie Steamers for .60 each (70% off).


Total Before Sales, Tax and Coupons: $101.43
Total After Sales and Coupons: $41.03 - 60% off!!

It's been a FANTASTIC Cans for Comments week here! Today is the last day (until midnight tonight) that your comments (both on old and new posts) will count towards our can total. Next week I'll give a final tally of all the food we raised here as well as on the other blogs taking part this week (that list can be found HERE - please visit and comment on those blogs too!).

As of this morning, Three Times the Giggles has had 60 comments left this week!

3 Hours of "Fun"

Yesterday between the hours of 10:30 and 1:30 was, um, "fun". For the last week the boys have had nasty colds. Last Friday night in fact I ended up taking Tyler to our doctor's walk in clinic because he had runny nose, bad cough and had just spiked a fever of 102.5. Turned out he had an ear infection in one of his ears. Whew! Dodged the H1N1 bullet there! (They've only had dose one of that shot, so aren't fully protected yet.)

Fast forward to Wednesday and Jackson and Chase are still miserable, aren't sleeping well because of the coughing at night and now are increasingly irritable. It was then that I decided they might have ear infections too (my kids don't often run fevers when they have one, so sometimes it's hard to tell). So I called the doctor's office and set an appointment for the next morning (and was also able to move Tyler's weight check and ear infection follow up appointment to that day to save myself an extra trip).

Usually Nick is able to meet me for these appointments, even the last minute ones, but yesterday he had meetings all day and just couldn't pull himself away. We got to the office on time, the boys were SO well behaved. No one protested getting on the scale (sometimes they do), they climbed in and out of the Choo Choo when I asked them too, they didn't turn the computer off in the exam room (yep, they've done that before) and then they didn't protest when I told them they couldn't have their lollipops until we got to the car. They all calmly walked from the Choo Choo into the lobby bathroom, all used the potty AND didn't go crazy touching everything in the bathroom.

Oh and before I continue - the health part? Tyler's ear infection was not better, in fact he now had one in both ears, so he's on a different antibiotic now. Chase had ear infections in both ears as well and Jackson had one in only one ear. The really excellent news of the day though? Tyler is gaining weight again! WOO! He gained a pound and a half in the last 6 weeks and is now up to the 25th percentile instead of hovering between the 10th and 15th. The doctor is very pleased with his progress.

Ok, so after such a successful solo trip to the doctor I marched out of that place with my head high. I loaded the boys into the car, gave them all their lollipops and went to the back of the car to open the hatch so I could put the Choo Choo in. Here's where things went south.

The hatch refused to open! All the jiggling, locking and unlocking and kicking in the world would not open the hatch. I finally had to release two very sticky  boys from their car seats and have them sit in the front (which resulted in very sticky controls, doors and steering wheel) while I removed two car seats, folded down half of the back seat and shoved the Choo Choo into the back that way. Awesome. Then I put the car seats back, wrangled my sticky boys back into their seats (during which they added stickiness to my leather coat) and headed for Target.

By the time we reached Target (to get their prescriptions) it was 12:15. 45 minutes past lunch and now 15 minutes past when they usually go down for a nap. After dropping off stuff at the pharmacy I wheeled our very full cart (of kids, not food) to the "cafe" and ordered some not-so-great chicken tenders to share.

Finally, 3 hours, a broken Jeep and $100 later (yep, that's how much antibiotic for 5 days for 3 kids runs ya) we were home and finally going down for nap time.

I sat at the table and down a Diet Coke and life was good again.

So sorry for the lack of pictures lately. I think my camera is dying a slow death. Don't worry though - I'm working on a remedy! 

Cans for Comments is up to 52 comments! Tomorrow is the last day - let's finish strong! Don't forget to visit the other blogs that are participating too - comment there and help folks all over the country! 

Cans for Comments Time!

This post will remain on top for much of the week in order to encourage participation in Cans for Comments and so you can see the growing number of blogs taking part this week! To see the newest post, please scroll down.

With Thanksgiving quickly approaching (is it really next week?!) I thought now would be an appropriate time to do a Cans for Comments week. Allow me to "break down" Cans for Comments for my new readers!

• For each comment left on my blog between today and midnight on Saturday (even comments on old posts count), I will donate 1 non-perishable item to a local food pantry.

Boy, that was complicated, huh? When I last did this (all the way back in January) I had 39 items to drop off.

I'm willing to bet you all can blow that number out of the water this time around. It'll be great to deliver so much food at a time when food pantries are especially in need, because of trying to put together Thanksgiving and Christmas food baskets for folks.

I would love to have lots of other bloggers jump on board with this! If you think you can spare the cash to buy some canned goods please join us! As a bonus, you'll see the number of comments jump on your blog over the next week. Just by doing what you already love (blogging and reading other blogs) you can make an impact at food banks around the country!

As of last night, the following blogging friends had pledged to join in the Cans for Comments fun:

Brenda at Briseno Family Adventures

Renee at Sweet and Sour Sutton
Kris at The Dudley Gang

Please visit their blogs and leave a comment! If you've decided to jump on the Cans for Comments bandwagon, grab a button for your blog and then leave a link in the Mr. Linky below so that others can visit your blog. (A little tip: Set up a "Cans for Comments" folder in your e-mail and each time you get a comment e-mailed to you, file it in that folder. Then at the end of the week you'll be able to quickly see how many comments you had!)

<a href="http://threetimesthegiggles.blogspot.com/"><img src="http://i217.photobucket.com/albums/cc92/discjockeyhelen/Blog%20Images/CansforComments.jpg"/></a>

Don't have a blog but want to take part? Take a page from my friend Stephanie! She is pledging to match my donation at the end of the week!

Slacker

Ladies and Gentlemen, I have an announcement. I am a slacker. Not a slacker in the ways you might suspect, but a slacker when it comes to my personal health. Remember a few weeks ago when I said I was going to start running again? Yeah... I did great for the first week but then took the last 8 days off. Whoops! I did at least drag my sleepy behind out of bed this morning and start running again, so that felt good.

Not only am I slacker when it comes to exercise, but I'm a slacker when it comes to my diet too. Maybe slacker is the wrong term... distracted puppy might be more accurate. My morning starts with excited determination to stay on track eating wise. I start running along and suddenly see a squirrel (fruit snacks with the boys) and then I get back on course running after my health, then I see a stick (cookies or any other sugary, evil thing)! Oh dear, I spent an awful lot of time with that stick.... So by now I'm just walking after my health when I suddenly spot a tennis ball (cheese and crackers anyone?). Well now I'm just a sluggish puppy so I think I'll curl up in the living room and rest and start fresh tomorrow. Now what was it I was chasing?

It's really no wonder I've been at essentially the same weight for a year. The above is what often happens in my home. It's like I don't care enough about myself. I think it's time to start packing my lunch again for myself like I did when I was working. Lunch is tough here. By the time I get the boys down for their nap I'm drained and the last thing I want to do is make myself lunch so I end up grazing on squirrels, sticks and tennis balls. The one silver lining to this crazy, distracted cloud? When I finally do lose these last 10-15 pounds I should be good to go with maintaining my weight. Ha!

Ok, and just for your general amusement, here is a picture of Farmer Ty from this morning (thanks Meme and Papa for the cool overalls!)

We're up to 34 comments so far this week! Only 3 more days to comment; keep 'em coming!

Twinkle, Twinkle - Video Clip of the Week

Have I mentioned lately that my boys (Chase especially) love to sing? Well let me mention it again - my boys love to sing! Here's a video I snagged of them a couple of weeks ago, singing along to a Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star video clip on one of their Baby Einstein DVDs. Well, two of them are singing anyway... bet you all can tell which one Jackson is seeing as he's got a blanket hanging out of his mouth.

You guys are totally ROCKING this Cans for Comments week! We're up to 26 comments already and that's after only 2 days. I knew you guys would blow my number from last time out of the water (39)! Be sure to check out the others participating too (by clicking on both the links in my CFC post and clicking the Mr. Linky links) and comment away on their blogs to help boost their numbers!

Fight For Preemies

Did you know November is Prematurity Awareness Month? In fact, today is Prematurity Awareness Day! Today, bloggers all over the world, will band together to Fight For Preemies. There's still time to join us, by clicking the button below!

I'll confess, before I became a mom of preemies hearing that someone was a preemie didn't phase me much. I think the first time I ever heard the term was shortly after I met my friend Mariah (and we met in the 3rd grade). She was a micro preemie and I knew that meant she was early and had some medical problems but I didn't know what exactly that entailed. In fact, I don't think I truly understood what "preemie" meant until I found out I was pregnant with triplets and was told repeatedly that they would likely be preemies and spend time in a NICU.

A mom in a high-risk pregnancy could really freak herself out reading all the info out there about preemies and the possibilities. I tried not to read too much until I was past 30 weeks. I figured by then the possible problems my boys could have would be minimal. You know what though? Moms today don't have nearly as much to worry about as moms 10, 15 and 20+ years ago did! We are blessed to have so much medical research on our side now!

Sure my boys were preemies (born at 33 weeks and 3 days) but they never needed breathing assistance in the NICU, didn't come home with any heart monitors and in a matter of months were catching up to the 50th percentile in weight. When looking at my boys it's hard to believe they were born a month and a half early or that they ranged in weight from just 3 pounds 11 ounces to only 4 pounds 7 ounces.

Not all preemies are so lucky though. Just check out my friend Kara's story about her triplets' birth. Triplet number 1 (Lorne) was delivered at 23 weeks and the doctors prevented his brothers from exiting for another 3 weeks! 3 weeks people! I did not even know that was possible until I met Kara at a triplet mom dinner. Know what else I didn't know was possible? For a baby born prior to 24 weeks to not only survive, but thrive. Just check out Lorne's story here.

It's because of my own boys, because of boys like Kara's and because of the countless preemies that do not have the chance to grow up that I am fighting for preemies. It's because of them that I participate in the March for Babies every year. Just this past weekend I received my save the date card for the 2010 march and I'd like to ask my Kansas City friends to consider saving the date and marching with us (consider it my birthday gift!). The date for 2010 is May 1st (yep, my b-day) which is a Saturday! Last year team Three Cuties had 4 walkers and we raised just over $1,000. Imagine if we could double both of those numbers for 2010! Need more convincing? Check out the pictures of all the fun we had last year by click here.

ETA at 9:45am CST: Speaking of Kara, you must read her Prematurity Awareness Post for today! She breaks down what exactly bringing home a preemie can mean. It's not just letting your kid(s) gain weight and then bringing them home.... it can be SO much more than that. Click HERE for that post.

Don't forget! Every comment left this week results in one non-perishable item being donated to a local food bank! If you want to take part in Cans for Comments this week on your blog, there's still time to join in! Just click HERE for more info.

Saturday Savings

What a day of shopping! Thanks to some great deals at HyVee (one of which was a Friday the 13th sale) I did some massive stocking up. I guess I was due for a great stock up week though considering I spent less than $30 last week. Later today I'll swing by my favorite Aldi for super cheap milk and bananas. Everything you see below cost me $72.15

HyVee:

Roberts OJ - 2 half gallons

Deli Turkey - 1 pound

Rubbermaid Storage Containers - 4 pack

Midwest Country Fair Sugar - 4 pound bag

Crisco Canola Oil

Chocolate Chex

Corn Chex

Hungry Jack Pancake Mix - 2 boxes

HyVee Chunk Pineapple - 3 cans

Pillsbury Frosting - 2 cans

Pillsbury Cake Mix - 1 box

Pillsbury Brownie Mix - 2 boxes

HyVee Rice Krispies

Smuckers Jam and Jelly - 2 jars

Nestle Tollhouse Morsels - 1 bag

HyVee Dental Floss - 2

Jennie O Whole Turkey - 11.65 pounds

HyVee Shredded Cheese - 5 bags

Bartlett Pears - 2.89 pounds

DiLusso Salads - 2

Hormel Boneless Whole Ham - 6.18 pounds

Price Chopper:

Land O Lakes Spreadable Butter

McCormicks Ground Cinnamon

Schubert Frozen Yeast Rolls

Marshmallow Fluff - 2 jars

Armour Sliced Pepperoni

Oranges - 4 pounds

The Deals: At HyVee I made out like a bandit, buying $118 worth of stuff for only $55! As part of their Friday the 13th sale they had shredded cheese for $1 a bag (47% off) and Dilusso Salads were BOGO at $3.99 each (67% off). Other awesome deals included buying 10 products from a certain page in their flier and saving an extra $5. When combining that coupon with a bunch of other coupons I had I got the following: Smucker's Jams and Jellies for $1.50 each (54% off), Pillsbury Frosting for .50 each (72% off), Pillsbury Brownie Mix for .50 each (79% off) and Pillsbury Cake mix for .39 each (72% off). While at HyVee I also snagged the 4 pack of Rubbermaid Storage for $1.08. They also have a nice coupon in their flier right now for buy one whole Hormel Ham and get a Jennie O Whole Turkey for free! I spent $18.48 on the ham and got the turkey ($14.74) for free saving me 55% over all between the two.

Price Chopper didn't offer a lot in the way of exciting deals this week, but they did have a few that are note worthy. Through today only, Best Choice Flour is on sale for .99 per 5 pound bag and the best part - there's no limit! Usually when a store has .99 flour they limit it to 1 or 2 per customer. I snagged 4 and wish I had room for more, but I just don't. Still, 20 pounds of flour should last me a while. Also at PC, Navel Oranges in a 4 pound bag are $1.99 (50% off) and the Land O'Lakes Spreadable Butter is $1.29 with coupon (68% off).

I did buy 3 items at full price, which hurt my overall percentage off but I'm still thrilled with the bargains I found! Normally I don't buy so many baking mixes (or premade frosting) but when they're only .50 each or less then I'll gladly pick some up to have on hand when I'm under a time crunch and need to take a treat somewhere!

Total Before Sales, Tax and Coupons: $143.40

Total After Sales and Coupons: $68.65 - 53% savings

Honesty

I'll be honest with you all. I have received a fair number of blog awards in my time. I always appreciate the gesture but rarely have the time to follow through with the "rule" of passing them on. Usually the boys give me so much material that I just never find the time to give away blog awards - especially considering some of these awards require linking to 10-20 other blogs! All that being said, it's been a slow week here and yesterday I was given a blog award and I actually have time to follow through and give it to others!

Don't ask me what "Honest Scrap" means, because I'm not entirely sure myself. Big thanks to Ethan, Zach and Emma's Mom for passing it on to me though (and someone else passed this same award to me a week or two ago... thank you too!)! You can check out her cuties HERE and while you're at it, scroll down and check out the picture she posted on Wednesday - too sweet! 

Alright, onto the award... Here are the rules.

1. Thank the person who gave you the award and link to their blog.

2. Share 10 honest things about yourself.

3. Present this award to 7 other whose blogs you find brilliant in design or content.

4. Tell those 7 people they have been awarded.

Hmmmm.... 10 honest things? About me? Not my kids?

1. I'm a night owl at heart, but feel like when Nick goes to bed at 10:30 that I need to follow. Plus there's that whole not getting to sleep in thing anymore... I guess it's best I go to bed when I do!

2. My dream job (since about the age of 15) has been to own and operate a radio station. I love radio! I love DJing, I love writing copy, I love working production; I just love it all! Unfortunately to own a station you need big bucks, and that is definitely something I don't have.

3. This past summer when I started really pursuing my dream of owning a DSLR camera I thought I wanted a Canon. I was convinced that's what I wanted. I had held one in a store and liked the feel. My point and shoot is a Canon, so I figured that would give me a slight edge in figuring out the DSLR. Then this summer (twice) I borrowed a Nikon. I now officially want a Nikon. My mom bought a Canon and I've played with it a few times, but I think I like the feel and pictures from the Nikon better! I'm sure all my Nikon loving friends are happy to hear this.

4. I miss the ocean. It's hard to transition from seeing the ocean from your bedroom window, to seeing it only once every couple of years.

5. I love Christmas and Christmas music! I've been secretly glad when the boys have turned on the radio we gave them to play with and the station is on one of those stations that starts playing Christmas music waaaaay to early. I guess I'm a closest listener. Ha!

6. Speaking of Christmas music - in the last few years the Carpenter's version of There's No Place Like Home For the Holidays makes me tear up. Maybe it's because we haven't been "home" for Thanksgiving or Christmas in several years. This year is going to be awesome though - home is coming to me! My parents are flying in from Maine and my brother and his family are driving up from Texas and my sister, of course, will be staying in town! 6 kids, age 5 and under on Christmas morning is going to be so fun!

7. I never had a bikini worthy body or anything, but I absolutely hate what my triplet pregnancy did to my stomach. It's nasty. Seriously. I can not emphasize that enough. Makes me long for a tummy tuck and I never thought I would ever say I wanted any type of cosmetic surgery.

8. I love my new KitchenAid. How did I survive before I received it?!

9. I'm starting to feel like I need to cut back on Diet Coke but at the same time feel like I "need" that source of caffeine. I know in comparison to a lot of DC addicts I don't drink that much (1-2 cans a day usually), but it still feels like too much.

10. My guilty pleasure in life is sitting down with a Karen Kingsbury book. I wish she wrote them faster because I finish them in about 48 hours and then have to wait months for the next one to come out!

Alrighty, I'm passing this award on to the following blogs:

• Sweet and Sour Sutton - She's new to the blog world, but posts some amazing recipes!
• Tales From the Higby Gang - I'm so glad she's back to blogging regularly!
• The Great Umbrella Heist - Very honest mom who is raising identical triplet girls!
• Briseno Family Adventures - Her recent get-away with her husband has me insanely jealous!
• The Life & Times of The McTriplets - For an amazing read, read "The Reader's Digest Version". Seriously. Do it.
• Cake Wrecks - I know this award won't be passed on there, but seriously funny stuff to read!
• Money Saving Mom - Again, an award that won't be passed on, but if you haven't visited this blog you need to!

To my award receivers - I totally understand if you don't want to or don't have the time to pass this on! Just enjoy basking in the glow of your award :)

Tantrums and Break Throughs

Tantrums: *sigh* I'm not a fan of these. At all. About 3 weeks ago Chase stepped up the tantruming (yes, I've turned "tantrum" into a verb) in a big way. Any little thing (and I mean little) would set him off and he'd go into a epic tantrum. He spent a lot of time in time out for about 2 weeks (maybe a little less) and now he's back to "regular" tantrum throwing. He now averages one a day instead of one an hour. Much more tolerable!

This week Tyler has started in his 2 week period of doom as I've now named it. Lovely! His tantrum on Tuesday morning resulted in him almost being hit by a car (thankfully I grabbed him just as the big Escalade slammed on the brakes). Yesterday he tantrumed the whole way out of church. This morning I lay in bed for 40 minutes listening to Nick deal with Tyler's tantrums (nice of me, huh? I figure I deal with 75% of the tantrums so I'm entitled). As a result of these lovely tantrums we are foregoing story time this morning. I don't need another fit being thrown in the library or in the parking lot. It's like I'm under house arrest until my kid learns to control himself! Gah!

I'll say this though - I am so thankful that the boys are being considerate enough to do these 2 week periods of doom 1 at a time! I think 2 (or 3) at a time would be more than I could handle. We'll see if in a couple of weeks Jackson starts in... Maybe he won't though - I realized this morning Jackson never throws tantrums! He'll cry if he gets upset (hurt or has something taken away) but never kicks, screams and throws a general fit. My easy going guy :)

Break Through: Speaking of Jackson, we had a break through yesterday!

For the last 2+ months Jackson has been scared to go in the bouncy house. He would walk around it, but never go in. It all started when about a week after their birthday he (and his brothers) were in it with Nick and the bouncy house become disconnected from the blower and it began to collapse on them.

Yesterday I set the bouncy house up and after 15 or 20 minutes Jackson actually got in! He was hesitant at first, but then he really warmed up to it and had a ball. Yay!!

 

Look at that concentration on Tyler's face!

Random Fun from the past week:

 

Tyler in Blue, Jackson in Yellow and Chase in Orange

 

Chase climbing up to give Jackson a hug after he woke up from his nap

Tyler climbing up to give Jackson a hug too.

Everybody now - Awwwwww!

Big thanks to those of you who clicked the button on my post yesterday! I'm in a much more acceptable place in the Best Baby Blog standings now - Went from number 171 to number 35!

Kisses, Hugs and Pushes - Video Clip of the Week

Last Sunday morning the boys were so cute I could hardly stand it! I was in the kitchen when I suddenly heard "more kiss!" followed by a lot of giggling coming from the living room. I grabbed the video camera, stuck it around the corner and caught this little gem...

Jackson is in the brown shirt, Tyler in white and Chase in stripes

If you love my blog, do me a little favor and click the button below for the Top Baby Blogs! It's a little sad being number 171 and with one little "click" you could push Three Times the Giggles closer to the top!