Three Times the Giggles

Heads Up!

2010-10-04T13:24:00.000-05:00

If this showed up in the blog roll on your site, then you have the wrong web address! Back in July I moved Three Times the Giggles over to self-hosted Wordpress. Please change the link on your blog roll and if you have my old button, swap that out for the new one (which can be found on the new site)!

http://threetimesthegiggles.com

Hope to see you over there!

Bugs Worked Out?

2010-07-22T11:49:00.000-05:00

I know some of you were having a hard time viewing our new blog over at threetimesthegiggles.com, but I think whatever the bug was has worked itself out. I suspect some of the new settings just hadn't made their way across all of the internet!

If you're still having problems I suggest trying a different browser to see if that helps, or making sure you're running the latest version of your browser. If you're still having problems you can subscribe to the new blog and get the posts in your e-mail for now, by going HERE.

Hope you're all able to join me at the new site! I think you'll find much simpler, cleaner and easier to navigate.

Oh, and if you had my blog in your blogroll, please change the address!

We've Moved!

2010-07-20T09:34:00.000-05:00

As of the afternoon of Monday, July 19th, Three Times the Giggles has taken up residence at threetimesthegiggles.com!

Please update your bookmark/favorite, as this blogspot address will no longer be updated!

I Heart Faces - Over My Head Challenge

2010-07-19T09:15:00.000-05:00

Have I mentioned just how much I love the I Heart Faces site? Seriously, so much fun! This week's challenge is "Over My Head" and each entry must have (of course) a human face and something, anything, over their head. It could be a hat, a balloon, a bird, etc. This assignment should bring out some creative shots, so I'd highly encourage you to scurry on over to their Mr. Linky and check out the other entries - after you admire my of course.

Happy Summer!

Who Wants to Win a Prize?

2010-07-19T09:04:00.000-05:00

I think I have pretty awesome readers. A good number of you take the time to comment on my silly ramblings or picture heavy posts and I received so much help last week regarding the sleep issues in this house! When I was approached last week about either offering a giveaway to my readers or keeping the prize for myself and just writing a review, the choice was an easy one.... of course I want to reward my readers!

The prize up for grabs? $40 to be spent at any of the 250+ CSN stores (you'll have to pay shipping costs)! Remodeling your bathroom? You could put the $40 towards a new vanity. Have a child's birthday coming up? You could use the $40 to buy a sweet new toy! Kids keep breaking your dishes? Buy new dishes! Seriously, the options are endless! Check out all of the specialty stores CSN has by clicking here.

Here's how you can win!

Leave a comment saying what you need (or just really want) to buy right now.
Become a follower of this blog and leave a separate comment (or let me know if you already follow).
Check out the blog, and leave a comment, of another commenter - then leave another comment here.
Share this giveaway on Facebook and leave another comment letting me know you did.

That's it! Four easy ways you can enter to win. Winner will be drawn on Thursday morning, so you have until then to leave your comments!

Saturday Savings

2010-07-17T08:00:00.002-05:00

Last week I never got around to doing any grocery shopping, which meant I was in trouble by the time the middle of this week rolled around. Some "staples" I just can't stock up on due to space limitations here, so I almost always have to shop once a week, but sometimes can stretch it a week and a half like I did this past week.

Wednesday evening I made a quick run to Price Chopper for some eggs, bananas, carrots and some of the snack type stuff they had on sale (crackers). Thursday morning the boys and I hit up Target for some cheap taco shells (thanks to a sale and a coupon you can print on the Ortega website right now) and grapes as well as a few other household things we needed. We also swung by Hen House for some free-range, locally raised chicken, local milk (nothing like "voting" for local food by spending your money on it!), granola bars, and something else but I'm blanking on what right now. Between those three mini-trips I spent about $35.

Yesterday I headed to HyVee where I was thrilled with the amount of stuff on sale! Even better is that most of this stuff will be on sale next week too (just pick up an extra coupon book at the customer service desk). Everything you see below came from HyVee and was $48.31.

The Loot:
Lemonade
Eggs - 2 dozen
Yoplait Simply Yogurt Go-Gurt - 2 boxes
Fuel Injector Cleaner (random, I know)
Iceberg lettuce
Earthgrains 100% Whole Wheat Bread - 2 loaves
Total Cereal - 2 boxes
HyVee Pudding - 2 boxes
HyVee Jello - 2 boxes
HyVee Tortillas
HyVee Hamburger Buns
Sparkling, Flavored Water - 2 bottles
HyVee Taco Seasoning - 2 packages
White Bread
HyVee Tortilla Chips
Sunbelt Granola - 1 box
Era Laundry Detergent
Yukon Gold Potatoes - 4.64 pounds
Blueberries - 1 pint
Broccoli bunch
Green Peppers - 2
Pink Lady Apples - 3 pounds
Vine Ripened Tomatoes - 1.45 pounds
Smart Chicken (all natural chicken) - 4 pounds

The Deals: So obviously a lot of the best deals this week are for store brand items. It's not often my cart is so full of store brand things! The tortillas were $1, the taco seasoning packets were .34 each, the tortilla chips were .78, the hamburger buns were .69 and the pudding and jello mixes were .25 each. Produce also had a lot of really nice bargains! Iceberg lettuce was .49, tomatoes were .98 a pound, green peppers were 2/$1, broccoli bunches were .99 each, the potatoes were .77 a pound and the blueberries were .88 after my coupon. The Total Cereal ended up being between .92 and .67 a box thanks to a coupon I had with me and a coupon that was on some of the boxes. The granola was $1.45 a box.

Some of my purchases (apples, eggs, Earthgrains bread to name a few) weren't rock-bottom prices, but they were low enough that I felt I could "splurge" a bit on them.

Total Before Sales, Tax and Coupons: $92.96
Total After Sales and Coupons: $45.69

I Need Help

2010-07-15T09:15:00.000-05:00

We have serious bed time issues here and we are just at a loss as to what to do. If you've had toddler bed time issues, I need your help! Here's a brief run down of the issues and what we've tried....

Bed time is at 7:30pm - most nights the boys don't actually fall asleep though until 9:30 or later. That's two hours of messing around!
The boys do still nap most days, but even on the days they don't nap they still mess around for a couple of hours.
They're waking up at 6 or 6:30 in the morning and often have crabby tendencies as a result.

What We've Tried

Super Nanny technique of just putting them back in their beds without talking. The boys thought that was hilarious.
Locking them in their room (we've reversed the door knob) and ignoring them. Works great until we hear crying and fighting.
Sitting the offender in an extra long Time Out (5-10 minutes depending on how many times they've been in TO that night already) in an attempt to let all the kids calm down completely.
Moving the offender to a different room to fall asleep and then move them back to their room after they're asleep. Problem here is those door knobs aren't reversed, so Nick and I will often end up in the hall holding the door shut until they just give up and lay down.
Giving them 10 minutes to just lie in their beds and talk before telling them it's time to be quiet.
Sitting on the floor in their room for 10-15 minutes until they're calm and quiet (then about 5 minutes later they're wild again).

Some of those attempts at controlling them have worked for a week or two and some have never worked. Last night a friend suggested giving them each a certain number of "passes" for coming out and asking for hugs, kisses, to be covered with a blanket or to use the bathroom. I may give that one a shot, even though I'm not convinced the boys are old enough to "get it".

Any other ideas? By 7:30pm my patience with the boys is done. Another 2 hours of shenanigans sends my stress level through the roof! Nick and I often alternate dealing with them, but boy would it be nice to just sit on the couch and talk or watch a movie without having to pause it every 3 minutes.

Fun Times

2010-07-14T09:36:00.000-05:00

The boys had a ball this past week, hanging out with Grandma and Pop Pop. We did all kinds of fun things (some of which I didn't take any pictures of *gasp!*) including a trip to the zoo and playing at the park...

Chase and Jackson. Such a shame my focus was on the dragon and not them! Darn! And yes, Chase is wearing his shirt backwards. Again. He's always so proud of himself for getting himself dressed that he hates it when I try to help him or "fix" whatever he did wrong.

Jackson and Pop Pop checking out the kangaroos.

Hope there isn't a squirrel living in that hole!

Chase flying across a bridge at the park! And yep, his shirt is backwards again... his shorts are also backwards, but that's harder to tell in the picture.

Jackson

Not so fast, Pop Pop!

(Don't worry, they weren't really going that fast - I just messed with my shutter speed to make it look like they were.)

In baby news, I'm now 10 weeks along and so ready to be out of the first trimester. The fatigue is killing me! My nausea had gotten better in the last week until some icky heat and humidity rolled in yesterday. Now I feel gross again if I spend too much time outside.

Too Much Fun

2010-07-13T08:54:00.000-05:00

Poor Chase. He had too much fun yesterday! Between a morning at the zoo and skipping naps to go swimming at Aunt Laura's, he was wiped out. It should be noted that when my children fall asleep in the car they NEVER can just be transferred to a bed. Never. They always wake up. Yesterday, Chase didn't budge and let me put him in a bed.

I Heart Faces - I Heart My Country

2010-07-12T16:56:00.000-05:00

This is a non-competition week over at I Heart Faces, but it's been a couple of weeks since I've been able to participate! Because it's a non-competition week I can enter more than one photo - Woohoo!

The theme this week is I Heart My Country. We get to feature favorite pictures from our home town or state! Growing up in Maine there is no shortage of beautiful places to photograph. Living in the mid-west now, I have seen some truly beautiful expanses of open space! Today I'm going to feature a favorite from each location (I bet you can guess which is Maine and which is Kansas).

You can join the fun and show off your favorite place by visiting I Heart Faces!

Ice Cream!

2010-07-12T09:46:00.000-05:00

The boys love the ice cream truck. Sadly, for them anyway, it rarely passes our house. Instead it turns 2 blocks down. The boys can hear it, and they can see it, but it almost never comes close enough to flag down. Here they are Thursday night watching the ice cream truck turn too far down our street...

Friday night Pop Pop took matters into his own hands by running down the street to flag down the ice cream truck. Great excitement followed!

Saturday Savings - Buying Grass Fed Beef

2010-07-10T09:10:00.000-05:00

Yesterday I took a blogging break. My parents are here visiting and I had a busy morning planned. Due to my parents being here I also haven't done any normal grocery shopping. However, I still have a fun deal to share with you all!

A few months ago, after watching the movie Food, Inc, Nick and I felt compelled to buy only grass fed, locally raised beef and hormone free chicken (we prefer free-range but that's been harder to find). I made myself a little spreadsheet of organic and all natural food prices at area stores in order to keep track of various prices and was shocked at how much this meat was going to cost us.

Every once in a while I would find some (at Hen House usually) for around $3.50 a pound and I would buy several pounds. I know the cheapest way to go is to buy part of a cow (whole, half, quarter), but we don't have a chest freezer so don't have the space for all of that beef.

A couple of weeks ago I started searching online for farms near Kansas City that raise and sell their own grass fed beef by the pound. I actually found quite a few! Most of the sites listed prices and the difference between the various farms was staggering. I finally found one farm though (North KC) that had fantastic prices! I contacted them early this week to confirm their prices and that they had meat on hand and arranged to pick up 14 pounds of beef on Thursday morning when I was up north at the airport anyway.

The price of ground beef is only $3.10 a pound and the rest of his meat prices are quite good too! I highly recommend checking out Long Livestock Company. Mike, the owner, was great to work with! He did warn me that business is picking up and I'll need to place orders further in advance probably next time because he's been selling out quickly. Hope this little tip is helpful to you and your family!

(Oh, and the tenderloin we grilled up last night was really good!)

Pizza on the Grill

2010-07-08T09:11:00.000-05:00

Seeing as I get asked quite frequently for my favorite, family-friendly recipes, allow me to share with you a brand new favorite.... Pizza on the grill!

Can I just tell you this was, by far, the best pizza I've ever made? I've made pizza in the oven for several years and it's just alright. I'd still rather order pizza, but the homemade is alright when we're being cheap. This pizza last night though I think I'd gladly make over ordering take-out pizza! The crust was a perfect, light-brown color and had just the right amount of crunch to it. The toppings were heated perfectly. I seriously am salivating right now and wishing there was some left over in the fridge!

Ok, so on to the how-to. Understand that this was my first time ever cooking pizza on the grill, so some of it was winging it and some of it was using bits of advice I received from various Facebook friends. The crust recipe came from The Pioneer Woman. (If you've never visited her site, prepare to be hooked. Did I mention she also gives away the coolest stuff?!) The pizza crust recipe can be found at the bottom of this page. She recommends letting the crust sit for at least 24 hours, but I didn't have that long so only let it sit 2 hours. It still tasted fantastic!

For the "sauce" I drained most of the water out of a large can of petite diced tomatoes and then dumped the tomatoes into a sauce pan. I added some seasonings (onion powder, garlic powder, basil, oregano, salt, pepper and sugar) and cooked it for about 30 minutes. Then I scooped the tomatoes (leaving as much liquid as I could in the pot) onto the crust and spread them out. Added some pizza cheese and some sliced, smoked sausage (the only topping type item I had in the house).

As you can see, I cooked it on my pizza pan, which has holes in the bottom. I think that helped with the crisp crust, although my crust has never been that crisp in the oven. Others have said they used a pizza stone, but I don't have one of those.

I had all four grill burners on and turned to low and I cooked the pizza for about 15 minutes. I used tongs to lift the edge of the crust every so often to see how the bottom was looking. This pizza was seriously perfection! I have the other half of the crust in my fridge for now and will move it to the freezer in a day or two, and I cannot wait to make it again!

Oh, and we also had the very first cucumber from my garden last night. Yum!

Lagging

2010-07-07T10:20:00.000-05:00

I noticed the other day that Tyler is once again lagging behind his brothers in the height department. This happens every few months and always Tyler catches up... eventually. He's never caught up in weight (he's 3-4 pounds lighter than Chase or Jackson), but he always catches up in height. Right now though, the difference is quite big! Check it out (that's Jackson with him)!

Meanwhile, as the boys grow up so do their destructive tendencies... Poor Mr. Penguin! He no longer has a head, wings or feet!

Our Weekend in Pictures and Video

2010-07-06T10:49:00.002-05:00

We had a fun filled 4th of July weekend and hope you did as well! Here's a run down of the fun we had, in pictures and one video!

Friday night we (wisely) decided to go see some fireworks. We were thinking the boys might need most of the weekend to recover from being up so late (we were right) and it was looking like rain on the 4th, when all the other displays would be happening (again, right). The boys had a ball waiting outside as it got darker and darker and then they Oooohed and Ahhhhhed every time one went off!

I was wishing I had a tripod while there. It was insanely difficult to hold perfectly still long enough to not have blurry fireworks. Most came out like the first picture below, but I did catch one decent one...

Sunday was cloudy all day, but we didn't let that stop us from taking the boys to swim at Aunt Laura's pool! They've been dying to try out their new Puddle Jumpers since they arrived last week. I tell you what, that was the best money spent all summer! The boys LOVED swimming and kept exclaiming "we don't need Mommy or Daddy!".

When Jackson got out and put on his towel, he looked like a little football player. Cracked us up!

Yesterday we took the boys bowling for the first time! They had a ball and we'll definitely take them back again sometime this summer.

Chase won, but not by much!

Hope your family had as much fun as we did this weekend!

Just One Baby This Time!

2010-07-05T13:09:00.001-05:00

We're only having one this time! I'll be honest though, I'm pretty sure Nick and I were both holding our breath when the ultrasound started this morning. Last time I could tell it was two right away (they found #3 90 seconds later), but this time I couldn't see anything except one little bean in there. Whew!

The tech knew we had triplets last time, so I think she was nervous with us. She is the one who labeled our U/S photo for us...

Now I'll just need to deal with waiting months on end for my next (and probably last) ultrasound. I was so spoiled last time! Everything looked good with the little one. He/She was measuring 2-3 days ahead of where I'm at, but they said they probably wouldn't change my due date because of their margin of error. Heart was beating quite fast at 182!

I'm so looking forward to having a "normal" pregnancy. I'm looking forward to seeing what it's like to have just one baby wiggling inside of me. I'm looking forward to nursing just one baby. I'm looking forward to rocking my baby to sleep (just once in a while of course!). I'm looking forward to not going through nearly as many diapers, and am even toying with going cloth this time. I'm looking forward to the convenience of an infant seat that can just pop out of the car. There's just so much I'm looking forward to!

Consignment Sale Giveaway Winner

2010-07-05T08:35:00.000-05:00

Good morning!

I just had the computer at Random.org pick our winner (the boys are too busy eating waffles to bother with drawing a name for me), and the winner is....

Emily @ Little Home!

Congratulations, Emily! Get in touch with me via e-mail at threetimesthegiggles (at) gmail (dot) com, by Wednesday night to claim your prize.

I'll be back this afternoon with that all-important ultrasound update!

Saturday Savings

2010-07-03T11:16:00.000-05:00

Happy 4th of July weekend everyone! I hope you have lots of family fun planned for the weekend. Yesterday was the last time for a while that I'll have to grocery shop with all three boys! Wooohoo! It's not that I dread it, it's just so much easier and faster without the constant buckling and unbuckling of the car seats and the fighting over who gets to ride where in the cart. Yesterday the four of us managed to score some nice deals! Everything you see below cost me just $35.42!

HyVee:
Eggo Waffles - 2 boxes
Miracle Whip
Kraft Light Mayo
Frosted Mini Wheats - 4 boxes
Ritz Crackerfuls - 2 boxes
HyVee Pickles
HyVee Hot Dog Buns
Grape Jelly
Red seedless grapes - 4 pounds
Cantaloupe

Price Chopper:
Breyers Ice Cream - 2 cartons
Hefty Plates - 2 packages of 50 each
Hillshire Farms Smoked Brats - 2 packages
Hillshire Farms Smoked Sausage - 2 packages
Oscar Meyer Premium Hot Dogs - 2 packages
Seedless Watermelon

The Deals: At HyVee I picked up lots of great deals and was even able to double up on the deals because I had bought two newspapers back at the beginning of June! The Mini-Wheats were $2 a box with my coupons (50% off), the Ritz Crackerfuls were $1 a box with my coupons (71% off), the Eggo Waffles were .30 a box with my coupon, the Miracle Whip and Mayo were .74 each after I stacked the HyVee coupon with my Manufacturers coupon and the cantaloupe was .99 (67% off).

I also used a slew of coupons at Price Chopper, and again I was able to double up on some deals thanks to having double the coupons! The Hefty Plates, which will come in handy when birthday time rolls around here next month, were .44 each after coupon (82% off), the Hillshire Farm Brats and Sausages were $1.50 each after my coupons (62% off), the Oscar Meyer Hot Dogs were .44 each after my coupon (86% off) and the Breyers Ice Cream were $1.44 each after using the coupon found in the flier at the store (71% off). The huge seedless watermelon was $2.94 and the boys (Nick included) can't wait to cut into that thing this weekend!

Total before Sales, Tax and Coupons: $91.61

Total after Sales and Coupons: $33.74 - 63% savings!

It just dawned on me that I haven't selected a winner yet for my Consignment Sale cash giveaway. My deepest apologies! In light of that, I'm going to extend entries until 9pm Sunday night and will announce the winner on Monday morning.

When People Find Out

2010-07-02T09:09:00.000-05:00

Yesterday was such a fun day! I loved finally sharing the exciting pregnancy news with you all on here and with our friends on Facebook. Only a handful of people knew about the pregnancy before yesterday big announcement, so the deluge of comments was fun!

I'm friends with a lot of Nick's co-workers, so we knew they would be finding out via the blog or Facebook as well. Nick has been out of the office a lot for various sports camps and his co-workers took full advantage of his absence yesterday. At about 2pm I received the following picture via e-mail....

That would be Nick's cubicle (or cubby as he likes to call it) encased in paper, balloons, dolls and diapers! Oh man, did I laugh when I saw that picture! Did I mention Nick works in an office full of women? And creative ones at that! I so wish I could have been there to see the look on his face when he first saw it. I got the next best thing though when a second e-mail was sent to me a couple of hours later...

So fun to see others as excited as we are!

When April Fools Jokes Come True

2010-07-01T08:59:00.000-05:00

On April 1, 2009 I played a little joke on you all. I told you I was pregnant. I had this whole elaborate story about taking the boys to Target to buy a test. Guess what? You should be careful what you joke around about....

Just over three weeks ago it dawned on me that I was "late". I figured it was only a couple of days but then was shocked to realize it was actually 6. Uh oh. After nap time I took the boys to Walgreen's to buy a test. I couldn't look the cashier in the eye!

I didn't bother waiting until the next morning to take the test as my wondering nerves couldn't handle the waiting anymore, and you know what? It was positive. Instantly.

Oh my. The last 3 weeks have been a roller coaster of fatigue, nausea and trying to wrap our minds around this. Nope, we weren't trying for this. How I answered the "more kids" question on Friday in my Q and A Answer post is how I would have answered it 4 weeks ago.

I'm 8 weeks along and I'm due February 10th.

We have an ultrasound scheduled for this coming Monday, the 5th, to make sure there's only one baby. If there's more than one I'm going to need a lot of nominations for Extreme Makeover Home Edition, because our house isn't big enough and we can't move due to our Re-Fi this spring!

I guess my "Summer of Change" ended up being more of a change than I was bargaining for! I'm excited though and, of course, am hoping for a girl.

An Evening of Family Fun

2010-06-30T09:53:00.000-05:00

Sunday evening Nick found someone to cover for him at work, so that we could have a fun family night out at the zoo! Normally the zoo closes by 5pm, but Sunday night was a special night just for members of the zoo! There was entertainment, food specials and freebies. The boys were so excited to go, especially when we started the night on the train....

Then we did something the boys had never done before.... we rode a boat! The 10 minute boat tour was full of cheesy jokes by the guide and we didn't see all that many animals, but the boys loved being on a boat.

After the boat ride we found a new-to-us place to eat our picnic dinner. There was no one else up there most of the time we were there and we had a nice view of the little lake. Nick said "doesn't this remind you of Maine?". Uh, not quite but it was pretty at least. Here's Chase offering me some of his cantaloupe.

During dinner, Nick helped himself to my camera. Wouldn't you know the one in-focus shot he got was of me? Lovely.

After dinner we headed to a part of Africa we actually hadn't visited before. The boys loved it! The animals were closer, so easier to see and it was nice and shady. The boys paused at one point for a heart-melting moment that I was just lucky enough to capture.

Then Jackson stomped in a big, muddy puddle even after Nick and I both told the boys not to step in it. He then proceeded to walk around the zoo like this, and complained that his legs were dirty.

After a couple of hours of fun, we joined the masses waiting for the tram back to the main gate. I'm pretty sure the boys would be happy if a trip to the zoo just meant rides on the train and tram....

Definitely a fun, family night!

Sprayground Fun!

2010-06-29T08:43:00.000-05:00

There's a popular thing here in Kansas City called the sprayground. They're awesome and they're free. Well, actually they're free (and numerous!) on the Missouri side of the state line. Kansas has a few, but the ones I know of are all within pool areas and you have to pay to get in. Score one for Missouri!

This past weekend we went to the grand opening of a new sprayground and the boys had a ball! We enjoyed some playtime, got soaked and then had a free lunch (hamburgers and hot dogs)! The boys are already asking when we can go back.

RIGHT after I snapped this shot, Tyler ran into all that water that was falling!

And one last shot (of Chase) that was actually taken the day before at a different sprayground. It just cracks me up too much not to share!

Kansas City readers! Don't forget to enter my giveaway just for you! Click HERE for that!

Consignment Shopping - A Giveaway!

2010-06-28T11:10:00.004-05:00

In light of my forgetfulness yesterday, entries will now be accepted until 9pm Sunday and the winner will be announced Monday morning!

It's no big secret that I love finding a great deal, and shopping for clothes and toys for the boys is no exception. Sure, I've scored some awesome deals at clearance events at places like Children's Place, Gymboree and Target, but there's another place I've found great deals on clothes AND toys! Consignment Sales!

Consignment sales are springing up all over the place now, so sometimes it's hard to know which one to shop and sell at. I'm here to recommend one that I absolutely love and I'm going to give one of you the chance to learn to love it too, by giving away $25 to spend at their sales next month!

TimesTwoKC is the best. Hands down. I've heard horror stories about every other sale in the Kansas City area. Everything from not getting paid, to having to dig through racks and racks of stuff at the end of the sale just to find your unsold items. Those things don't happen at TimesTwoKC.

Why TimesTwoKC?

High quality items are all you'll find at their sales!
Two convenient locations this year - Overland Park, KS and Independence, MO
Easy drop off and pick up of your items - everything that didn't sell is ready and waiting for you to just swing by and pick up, or you can have it donated and you'll receive a receipt for your taxes!
Cheap to consign! If you sign up before July 1st your consignor fee is only $5 (and includes two sales!).
You can sell your stuff in two sales, back to back!
Start your Back to School shopping there and then round it out at the stores if you need to.
You can volunteer and earn 75% on your stuff!
It's run by some of the nicest people you'll meet.

Bottom Line? Sign up to sell your stuff. It's just collecting dust in your basement and instead it could be making you some money, which you can then turn around to buy the stuff your kids need now. It's a beautiful system. The sales are less than a month away now, so it's time to get tagging those items! July 20-22 the sale will be in Overland Park and July 27-29 the sale will be in Independence. Double the places to buy and sell and both in convenient locations!

As mentioned above, if you sign up to consign in the next couple of days (you have to do it by the end of Wednesday) then your fee is only $5 (normally $10). Gotta love the chance to save more money!

Want to win $25 to the upcoming sales? $25 will go a long way at a consignment sale, and here's how you can win!

Do one, or all of the following,

leaving a separate comment for each item completed!

Leave a comment here mentioning whether or not you've ever consigned stuff or shopped a consignment sale.
Become a fan of TimesTwoKC on Facebook, or mention if you already are.
Become a follower of this blog, or mention if you already are.

Comments accepted until 10:00pm on Thursday, July 1st. Winner will be drawn randomly, either by my children or by random.org and announced on the blog Friday morning. Winner will have until Monday evening to claim their prize before an alternate winner is selected.

Saturday Savings

2010-06-26T09:21:00.000-05:00

It was a good day for deal hunting yesterday! Check out all the loot below that I only paid $44.37 for...

HyVee:
Eggs - 2 dozen
Apple Juice
Dole Crushed Pineapple
HyVee Cereal - 2 boxes
Little Debbie Snacks - 3 boxes
Saltine Crackers
Sugar
Sara Lee Bread - 5 loaves
Skippy Peanut Butter - 2 jars
Aluminum Foil
HyVee Shredded Cheese - 5
Dole Iceburg Salad - 2 bags
Dole Coleslaw mix - 1 bag
Cantaloupe

Price Chopper:
Sunkist Soda (not pictured)
Blue Bell Ice Cream - 2 pints
Blue Bunny Malt Cups - 3
Planter's Nut-rition Bars - 2 boxes
French's Honey Mustard Dip
Bar S Hot Dogs - 2 packages
Lunchables - 6
Green Grapes - 2.36 pounds

The Deals: HyVee was a fun place to shop with their $1 sale going on (ended yesterday)! The bread, apple juie, cereal, skippy pb, Little Debbie snacks and shredded cheese were all just $1 each (some had limits on how many you could buy). The salad and eggs were 2/$1!

Price Chopper also had some nice deals to go with my coupons. The French's Honey Mustard was only .50 with my coupon (73% off) and the Planters Nut-rition bars (which are really good by the way!) were $1.25 a box with my two coupons (61% off). The hot dogs were only .28 each after my coupon (81% off) and the Lunchables were $1 each (52% off). I picked a bunch of those up for our upcoming zoo trips! The Blue Bunny Malt Cups were free, thanks to the Price Chopper Kids Club!

Total Before Sales, Tax and Coupons: $92.97
Total After Sales and Coupons: $42.23 - 55% savings

Attention KC area readers! Check back on Tuesday for your chance to win a great prize!

Your Questions Answered

2010-06-25T10:25:00.000-05:00

Before we get to the questions and answers, I wanted to share with you all a little tidbit from my day yesterday. My friends on FB found it hilarious, and I'm pretty sure you'll think it's funny too.

Yesterday, while the boys were finishing lunch outside, the mailman went by and the boys stood up and started yelling "Bye, Daddy!" at the mailman. Talk about awkward! Thankfully I don't think the man could hear the boys. Oh, and to be clear the mailman looks nothing like Nick.

I'll scatter some random pictures from the park throughout this post today, because I've been lax in posting pics this week. (I've also been lax in keeping my 365 Blog caught up, so I'll be trying to do that later today too.)

What are some of the boys' favorite meals? This is a tough question to answer, because the boys will eat pretty much anything. I guess there are some foods they clear off their plates in record time though... For now I'll say favorite meals include the following: pancakes and fruit, eggs, pizza, macaroni and cheese, and last night's was a pretty big hit - grilled chicken, rice and cut up cucumbers and red pepper strips.

Do you have any tips for planning menus in advance? I'm probably not a good one to ask about this! Back before we had the boys I was great at planning out our meals every week. Now? Not so much. In fact, usually what happens is at about 4pm I think "hmmm... wonder what I should make for dinner". Here's the thing though, because I follow the stock-piling method of grocery shopping I almost always have a wide assortment of stuff in my house. I've become quite good at throwing meals together and kind of making it up as I go along (I think I must have inherited that from my mom). When I was meal planning (in the pre-kids days) I would go through the weekly sales fliers, look at what was already in my cupboard and plan based on those two things. My goal always was to buy as few "extras" (i.e. things not on sale) as I could each week.

Do you plan to have more children? This is a topic Nick and I have been debating for a while now. I'm firmly planted in the "yes, one more" camp and he is firmly planted in the "nope, we're done" camp. Only time will tell I guess!

Do you think you will ever go back to work? I think I probably will at some point. I miss working now! I miss the adult interaction and the gratification of finishing a task and being praised for it. (I don't get any work reviews on my cooking or care-taking skills!) What I'll go back to and when is the real question though. I'd love to go back to radio if I could but then I've also toyed with (ever since the boys were in the NICU) of going to nursing school and becoming a NICU nurse. We'll see I guess!

Do you plan to have the boys attend public school? If yes, what age? Kindergarten? Nick and I haven't spent a whole lot of time talking about this yet. We do know there are a ton of Christian school options around here. We also know it may not be something we can afford (unless I go back to work sooner), so when we bought our house we made sure it was in an adequate school district. It's not the best district in our area, but it's also not the worst. It would be nice if we could find something private we could afford, but we've still got 3 years to figure that out before the boys would go to Kindergarten (they miss the school cut off here so won't get to start until they're 6).

If you could take the boys anywhere in the world for a vacation for free, where would you go and why? Oh this is a no-brainer for me! Disney World! I have such fun memories of Disney World as a kid and I know the boys would find it so magical right now!

How would you react to finding out you were having triplets again? Honestly? I don't think it would phase me that much with the exception of two things - our home and car wouldn't be big enough and we can't really afford bigger of either! Multiples don't scare me now because I've been there, done that. I know how to schedule, I know how to handle three screaming kids, I know how to change diapers at the speed of lightning, etc. If I was having triplets again I think a call to Extreme Makeover Home Edition would be in order, don't you?

How many children did you imagine having when you were younger? Two, I think... I always wanted twins! Ha! When Nick and I got married we agreed we both wanted one or two of our own and then adopt another (so 2 or 3 total). Turns out having 3 at once changed my perspective because now I want 4 and I'm still open to adoption down the road.

Do you cook every meal for the boys? (You guys don't eat out much, right?) Correct, we hardly eat out. I would say we eat out on our own (just our family) 4 or 5 times a year. When family is here visiting we usually eat out a couple of times too. Now as far as cooking goes, yes I cook most of the meals. Sometimes I get lazy and pop a frozen pizza in the oven or something convenient like that. That's really for my own sanity though! And I'm not sure you could call pouring cereal or making a PB&J "cooking", but yes I make all the meals.

How do you keep up on the housework with 3 boys? I struggle with just 1! Nick is a HUGE piece of that puzzle. Without him I suspect this house would go downhill in a hurry. Every night before bed we make the boys pick up their toys. We've done that since they were about 15 or 16 months (it's just throwing things in baskets really). There are nights I don't feel like picking up the rest of the stuff (stray toys, vacuuming, dishes, etc), but Nick will remind me it'll only take a few minutes (20 or so) and if we don't do it the house will get worse and worse. He's right. Sometimes he's nice and lets me just sit on the couch while he does all the picking up. Yup, I married a keeper :)

How do you manage your stress level? I don't really feel like I have much stress. I think part of it must be because I'm a glass half full kind of person. When I sit and think about the future, I'm thinking about all the good stuff that could happen not the bad. The boys don't really stress me out. They make me mad sometimes and when that happens it's usually either just before nap time or just before Nick gets home, so it works out for me to get some space. Honestly, I think a lot of our lack of stress comes from a solid marriage and a solid handle on our finances. When we lived in Michigan we were paycheck to paycheck and I can remember being constantly stressed about money. I broke down a cried one day in a parking lot when we found out we needed $700 work done on one of our cars. Nick says we live on a tight budget now so that those breakdowns don't have to happen. And you know what? Between November and April of this year we had $6,000 in medical and major car repairs and I didn't have one breakdown. Not one.

Do you have any parenting books you recommend? This question stemmed largely from my story about taking the boys to the Post Office and how well behaved they were (until Chase's tantrum when we left). As far as discipline goes, we use the methods from 1-2-3 Magic: Effective Discipline for Children 2-12
The book says you can start at the age of 2, but I'll confess we actually started with the basics at more like 20 months. I was tired of the biting going on then and needed something to help curb it.

That being said, I think a lot of the success we've had with the boys comes from consistency, following through on threats all the time, and giving the boys some freedom in areas of their life. My theory is kids just want to do things by themselves. They want that feeling of satisfaction for completing something themselves. I let the boys pick their own clothes (most of the time), I let them pick what they want for breakfast and lunch, we let them walk on the sidewalk without holding our hands (but the moment they bolt for the street they have to hold our hand for the remainder of the time which was not popular), etc. The boys know there are certain things they have to do in public and they know I have expectations for them and we started with all of that very early on.

Don't question yourself too much and just find something that works with your kids! Your mom instinct usually won't fail you.

"Rub My Belly, Mommy"

2010-06-24T09:17:00.000-05:00

After reading an article in one of the many parenting magazines I get, I decided to try adding something new to our bedtime routine. The article was a short one that basically said if your kid is having a hard time falling asleep during the summer because it's still light out, to try rubbing their back or head for a few minutes to put them in a relaxed state.

As you all know from my post earlier this week, we are no strangers here to bed time issues. Even now that we make the boys fall asleep in separate rooms, they still can take 30-45 minutes to fall asleep and I suspect a lot of this is because it's still so light outside. This past week I decided to give this back rub idea a shot.

Every night I spend about 5 minutes sitting or laying next to each kiddo rubbing their back, belly or head and it is wonderful. Sometimes I'm not sure how much it's actually helping with the bed time routine, but I love that quiet, one on one time with my boys. See, I never got to rock my babies to sleep (which is probably best) so I feel like I missed out on that whole quiet, magical time of just staring at your relaxed, almost-asleep baby.

During this new ritual the boys just stare at me with their big, blue eyes (except for Jackson, who sometimes will squeeze his eyes shut so hard that his eyebrows wrinkle). Sometimes we whisper about the day, but usually we just sit in silence. It's so peaceful and I love it. I love the quiet time with my rapidly growing and increasingly rowdy boys.

I think the boys love it too because the first thing Jackson said last night when I came in to kiss him good-night was "Rub my belly, Mommy". Made my heart melt.

Don't forget to add your question(s) to my Burning Questions post from yesterday! I'll answer them all tomorrow and be sure to throw in some pictures - I know I've been light on pictures here this week.

Burning Questions?

2010-06-23T09:26:00.000-05:00

I seem to be in the midst of a dry spell creativity wise right now. I think the craziness of last week and this week are catching up with me. I promise to come up with something good for tomorrow, but for now how about we play another round of Burning Questions.

What do you want to know about us? The only questions off limits are what the boys' middle names are and what city we live in. Leave your questions on this post and I'll answer them later this week!

Congratulations, Chase!

2010-06-22T08:46:00.000-05:00

A few weeks ago Chase started waking up in the morning with a dry pull-up, so about two weeks ago we told him he could go to bed in roos (what they call underwear). Know what? He's woken up dry the majority of the mornings! There were a couple of times last week when he had a ton of water just before bed and woke up soaked in the morning, but other than that he's been good to go. We're so proud of our big boy and are hoping the other two follow suit soon!

Speaking of bedtime (sorta), we have some new sleeping arrangements. They're less than ideal, but it works for us. Bed time has been terrible here. We would put them down between 7:30 and 8 (usually closer to 7:30 if I was in charge) and they would proceed to party it up in their room for 2-3 hours! Nick and I were constantly ushering a child back to their room, holding the door shut, going in and telling them to lay down and be quiet, breaking up fights, etc. You get the picture. Lots of fun.

I asked a wise triplet mom I know (her boys are a couple of years older than mind) what she did. I knew her boys shared a room, so I wanted to know if this was just my boys being terrible or a 3-boys-sharing-a-room thing. Turns out it was a sharing a room thing. She shared a piece of advice that has changed our night time chaos dramatically...

We put them to bed in separate rooms. Just like at nap time, one sleeps in their room, one sleeps on the futon in the playroom and one sleeps in my bed. After they're all asleep we move them back to their beds. Now, instead of goofing off for 2-3 hours they only goof off for 30-45 minutes and sometimes it's shorter than that. Much better!

See, by 7:30 I am done with dealing with these boys. D-O-N-E. Adding 2-3 more hours of misbehaving was not making things better and after 4 months of room sharing they clearly weren't "learning" how to share a room at night. This set-up is not ideal, but it's an improvement. In a few months we'll let them try sharing a room again, but for now Nick and I can relax a little bit sooner at night.

Busy Days

2010-06-21T08:36:00.000-05:00

We had a busy end to the week last week. Thankfully, busy usually equals fun in this house!

Thursday morning we met up with another triplet family at the zoo. It was hot, but the zoo had all kinds of fans spraying water which kept the kiddos cool (and muddy).

And we, of course, rode the carousel. I'm pretty sure the carousel is the boys' favorite part of the zoo. You should see the way Tyler starts dance-walking when we get close enough to hear the music. Adorable!

Tyler

Chase

Jackson

Friday morning included dashing to the grocery store to buy what was on sale there as well as some picnic supplies for later that day. Then we headed to a new-to-us park to meet up with some moms from a mom's group I'm in. The boys had a ball at the new playground and giant sand pit and even more fun at the neighboring sprayground! After a full morning in the sun, we all came home and crashed for nap time. I slept for 2 hours and the boys for about 3.5!

After naptime we skyped with my mom, which is always a favorite.The boys weren't content to just sit in their chairs though... no, they needed to be just as close to the screen as possible.

Saturday morning we all headed to a nearby parade! It was hot, and the parade was long but the all in all the boys had fun.

Poor Nick was so confused by the time we got home though. Look at all those political stickers! Who is he supposed to vote for? There are too many options!

I Heart Faces - Celebrating Teens Entry

2010-06-21T07:56:00.000-05:00

The theme over at I Heart Faces is this week is all about teenagers! Now, I obviously don't have any teens living in my house but I had two pretty great teens visit us last month. I went back and forth on which photo to enter this week and finally landed on this one...

That's my 19 year old brother in law Isaac, with my boys. I don't think they make teenage boys better than Isaac - I've talked before on here about how he'll just chip in with clean up around here when he's visiting and he loves entertaining his nephews. He really is such a nice young man and someday will make a woman as lucky as I am with his brother.

Check out all the other great teen shots at I Heart Faces!

Who Needs Water?

2010-06-17T09:19:00.000-05:00

We've had a lot of rain here lately. As in 12+ inches so far this month! Needless to say, after the mess in our basement earlier this week (as a result of the rain), I'm anti-water. So much so I make my children play in an empty pool.

Thankfully, they don't seem to mind.

Silly Boys

2010-06-16T09:28:00.000-05:00

My boys say and do silly things, and I love 'em!

Chase: I love peanut butter and jelly, and I love church!

Jackson (whispering): Mommy, there's a bee in here and I want it out. (It was just a fly.)

Tyler (praying): ...and for the food, and the day and help me play in Daddy's yellow car.

Chase (when asked by a nurse how he was): Not good.

Journey to an Obsession

2010-06-15T06:00:00.004-05:00

I am obsessed with taking pictures. I haven't always been obsessed. I used to just love it and before that I liked it. I still remember the Christmas when I got my very first camera (a Vivitar I believe). Or when I was in high school and bought myself the new Kodak Advantix camera. It had that nifty kind of film you didn't have to wind through the back of your camera and I could take panoramic pictures with it! So cutting edge in the point and shoot world.

Shortly after I got married I remembered that my mom had an old-school SLR camera and I asked if I could borrow it. I didn't have a clue what I was doing though and quickly realized self-teaching when you have to buy film and can't see whether or not you have settings correct until after you develop said film was rather pricey. That was when I started really wanting a DSLR. That was probably 7 years ago.

When I first started desiring a DSLR they were big $$. Instead I stuck with my little digital point and shoot (I think it was a whopping 3.5 mega-pixels). The camera took decent pictures outside...

(Light house near where I grew up)

This picture actually landed me in the top three at a nature photography contest at church a couple of years ago!

I was even generally happy with outdoor, natural lighting shots of people. Inside shots was a whole different story though. Sure, I could do some minor tweaking with photo editing software, but not enough to not make me cringe when looking at the pictures.

My niece Abigail with my cousin Hannah

Nick with our niece Jazlyn

See what I mean? Terrible! I eventually taped a thin piece of cotton ball over the flash to help dull it a bit. That did seem to help somewhat, but I still was displeased. In this very early picture of the boys you can see how blown out their clothes are, and that was even with the flash dulled by the cotton ball and using some photo editing.

The boys' first Christmas my parents took pitty on my camera woes and bought me a new point and shoot. This time a Canon PowerShot and it took much better pictures. I didn't even need to use a cotton ball!

I can remember admiring the photographer displays at art shows. Whether I was with a friend or my sister, we always remarked how we wished we could travel the world and take pictures like that, and how cool it must be to be a professional photographer.

Last June I borrowed a Nikon DSLR from a friend. I just wanted to see if I really liked it as much as I thought I would and I figured showing Nick just how much better the pictures were would help him see how much I "needed" a new camera. I fell in love!

I couldn't believe the gorgeous colors that came through the pictures or the fact that I didn't have to do any editing to get the color balances correct! Wow! Sadly, Nick didn't see the necessity. So I gave the Nikon back and went back to making do with my point and shoot. For the next several months Nick had the pleasure of listening to me grumble about my crummy camera and how much I wanted a DSLR.

Finally this past Thanksgiving I cashed in a bunch of savings bonds I'd received as a child and bought a Nikon D3000. It's one of the lower end DSLR cameras out there, but it's mine and I love it. No, I'm obsessed with it. Nick is constantly making cracks about me bringing the camera with me everywhere I go, or making cracks when I haven't brought the camera somewhere.

I figure taking as many pictures as I can is how I'll learn. I've been self-teaching myself by reading various tutorials online and seeing what other photographers do. I'm proud to say I shoot exclusively in Manual mode and feel like I get decent results with that! I loathe using my flash and rarely do. I love that my DSLR allows me to take indoor pictures that rarely need flash.

What can I say? I just love taking pictures! I love taking pictures of the boys, I love taking pictures of nature and I love seeing pictures others have taken. It's a healthy obsession, right?

I Heart Faces Entry - Babies!

2010-06-14T08:34:00.000-05:00

This week the theme at I Heart Faces will definitely produce a ton of shots that will make you say "awwwww!". The theme? Babies! Below is my very favorite picture of the boys when they were babies. They were 4 months old when I snapped this with my point and shoot (obviously in the days before I invested in my DSLR) and one of these days I'm going to frame it.

Check out the other entries and join in the fun!

Blueberry Picking

2010-06-14T08:17:00.000-05:00

Friday morning, Nick and I decided to take the boys blueberry picking at a local berry farm. The boys had a ball! We gave each of them their own bucket to put their berries in and instructed them to only pick the blue ones, not the red or green berries. I have to say, when I was cleaning the berries and prepping them to go in the freezer, I really didn't find too many red or green berries. Well done boys!

Tyler

Chase (who turned out to love berry picking the most)

Jackson

After picking our berries we went into the little store there and bought some blueberry lemonade and a blueberry drop biscuit to share! Definitely a fun, family morning that we'll try to repeat again this summer!

Summer Savings

2010-06-12T09:10:00.000-05:00

It's been an odd week of shopping for me. I don't know why, but I felt the need to space it out this week and I'm not even done yet. Rather than dig everything out of cupboards and take a picture, or find all my receipts and make a list I've decided to focus instead on the awesome ways you can save money during the summer!

Summer Savings #1: Find a farmer's market! We have lots of little farmer's markets to choose from around here (within a 20 minute driving radius) and a very large city market about 20 minutes away. I've visited a couple of the smaller markets already this year and last Saturday we took the boys to the big city market. I love the bargains I find there! Last weekend we bought some gorgeous tomatoes and strawberries from a vendor who claims his foods are spray free (I know, anyone could say that but I choose to trust them). I also bought some lemons from a vendor. No, lemons aren't grown here and they had grocery store stickers on them, but these lemons were cheaper than what I find in the grocery store - 4/$1! So I bought a bunch and made homemade lemonade. Mmmm, mmmm good!

Summer Savings #2: Grow Your Own! Don't have a garden started yet or don't have the room in your yard to add one? Try sticking some plants in containers on your porch! My garden is doing fantastic this year. I can see the starts of lots of cucumbers, zucchini and cantaloupe and I've already harvested a lot of lettuce and spinach! It was awesome looking at the sale fliers this week and knowing I didn't need to buy a lot of the produce that was on sale because I already have the same stuff growing here and about to be ready to eat.

Summer Savings #3: Pick Your Own! Yesterday we took the boys blueberry picking! The boys had a ball and we got some locally grown blueberries for cheaper than we could buy berries in the store (that had probably traveled several hundred miles at least to get to us). Find a U-pick berry farm now and an apple picking orchard in the fall! http://www.localharvest.org/ is a great resource for finding farmer's markets and U-pick farms.

What are your favorite ways to save in the summer?

Friday Photos

2010-06-11T10:19:00.001-05:00

Today I was going to blog about the boys' laughter and how I enjoy hearing them crack each other up. Considering the last 5 minutes have been filled with whining, crying and fighting though I'm having a hard time focusing on my chosen topic. Instead I'll just share a couple of pictures from the park yesterday. Hopefully the boys will be in better moods soon!

Jackson

Tyler

Shameless Plug: Looking for something for Father's Day? Might I suggest the Just For Dad Combo from my Etsy Shop! Orders must be placed by tomorrow (Saturday) night!

Brave Monkeys

2010-06-10T09:29:00.000-05:00

This past winter we took the boys to one of the many McDonald's near our home. The PlayPlace was huge. Seriously, one of the biggest Nick and I had seen! At the time, it was covered in kids (mostly bigger) and the boys were a little intimidated by the height of some of the tubes and tunnels.

A couple of months later I took them back and Tyler got brave and followed some older kids to the top. He was having a ball until he got confused and couldn't figure out how to get down. I found a 7 or 8 year old girl and asked her if she'd go up and help Ty down, which she did.

About a month ago Nick took the boys back to that same PlayPlace and they were having a great time. Towards the end though Chase and Jackson got separated at the top and it freaked Chase out. He started to cry and Nick had to send an older kid up after him. Every time we've passed a McDonald's since then Chase has announced whether or not that is the location that he got stuck and sad at.

Yesterday we returned to the scene of the crime and Chase was ready. They all were actually...

That's Chase and Jackson at the top of one of the tower climbing things. This winter and early spring the boys couldn't climb up it because they were too short. Now they scale it without any problems.

Tyler

Towards the end of our play time the boys got rather silly on the slide. The picture doesn't do it justice though...

So I took a terrible quality video with my cell phone! You can hear them screaming all the way down. It was cracking me up!

Three Little Words

2010-06-09T08:59:00.000-05:00

Yesterday, three little words were uttered in my home, by one of my own children, that I didn't think I'd have to hear for another year or two.

That's not fair.

It was even said in context. I can't remember what Tyler was doing that Chase didn't feel was "fair", but I remember my jaw dropping and thinking "holy cow, how does that kid know what's "fair" and not yet?!".

My Grandma! - Video Clip of the Week

2010-06-08T10:05:00.000-05:00

Have I mentioned the boys' recent obsession here? The one with Blue's Clues? Not recent Blue's Clues though (if they even make it anymore), rather the episodes from the mid 90's. One episode involves Steve's grandma setting up a scavenger hunt for Steve and Blue. At the end of the hunt they find Steve's Grandma and that she has baked them a bunch of banana cookies.

Last week the boys kept taking turns running into the room and yelling "ta-da!" while another would run at him and yell "My Grandma!". Was cracking me up! They also took a short break to have banana cookies.

How Does Your Garden Grow?

2010-06-07T13:20:00.000-05:00

This is my third summer attempting a small veggie garden here at home. I followed the instructions found in the Square Foot Gardening book when making my raised bed and was ready to enjoy the bounty that would surely follow.

Year 1 produced virtually nothing. I think I got a few handfuls of green beans and that was it. The enemies that year were rabbits (who mowed down all my lettuce just as it was ready) and a mystery weed that shot up through my weed block and choked out the roots of my other plants.

Year 2 (last year) I built a cage to go over the garden to keep the critters away from my food and I added a bottom to the garden so that the mystery weed couldn't get in. Still not much to write home about in the way of food. Hmmmmm...

This spring I stood at my back door and looked at my garden, wondering what kept going wrong. Then I noticed how sunny the other corner of the yard was. I continued to watch that part of the yard periodically and suddenly realized it gets sun virtually all day whereas the other side only got sun about 4 hours a day! How did I miss this in year one?! I'm going to blame it on my infant triplets...

So this spring I loaded all the dirt into buckets, had Nick help me carry the box across the yard and I refilled it. Know what? It looks better now than it EVER has in early June!

There are a couple of squares where the seedlings didn't make it after transplanting, but all in all I'm thrilled! I've already harvested some spinach and lettuce, and I've spotted some zucchini and cucumbers starting. I also noticed these - little green beans!

I also have two tomato plants growing in pots on my deck and I planted 6 strawberry plants along the side of my house. The boys love running over to those to see if any berries are ready for picking yet. Speaking of berries, ever seen a Mulberry Bush? You know, like all around the mulberry bush, the monkey chased the weasel. No? Well, behold our Mulberry tree (much too big to be called a bush)!

This bad boy is COVERED in berries! The birds and squirrels get the stuff on the top half and I try to pick as many from the bottom as I can. A good number end up on the ground though...

For those that haven't ever had a mulberry before, I'd say they look like a blackberry but taste more like a blueberry. I'm plotting all kinds of things I can make with them this summer - muffins, jam, ice cream topping, etc.

Know what else is growing? My boys! I had fun taking pictures of them yesterday as they were goofing around. Here are my 3 favorite shots. (Jackson is in the backwards green shirt, Tyler is in yellow and Chase is in gray.)

I Heart Faces Challenge - Play

2010-06-07T11:13:00.000-05:00

I am loving these I Heart Faces challenges! Could you tell? I just love the challenge of finding a fun picture that fits the theme each week. Yesterday Chase put on quite the show for me in the pool, and I snapped this "play" photo of him!

He just loves going underwater! Crazy kid! He must have done this no less than 25 times yesterday afternoon. Amazing what 8 weeks of swimming lessons will do for the confidence of a 2.5 year old.

There are lots of other fun photos depicting "play" over at I Heart Faces! Check 'em out and join in the fun!

Most Requested Recipe

2010-06-04T09:58:00.000-05:00

Technically, my most requested recipe is my Whoopie Pie recipe. However, considering that's now how I make a little extra cash, I don't share the recipe. You can find random variations of it online, but you won't find my tweaked-over-the-years-to-perfection recipe! (Speaking of Whoopie Pies, I have a yummy Just For Dad combo in my Etsy Store just for Father's Day!)

Second to my Whoopie Pie recipe though, I often receive requests for my Chicken Enchiladas. Now, if you are into authentic Mexican food you may want to divert your eyes... This is hardly authentic and it's something I just kind of came up with based on what was in my pantry at the time, but boy does it taste good! Sadly, I didn't have the foresight to take a picture last time I made them, so you'll just have to imagine the cheesy goodness.

Helen's Chicken Enchiladas

Ingredients:

1 cup cooked, chopped chicken

2/3 brick of cream cheese

1 can of semi-drained diced tomatoes

1/2 packet of taco seasoning

1 can of drained corn or about 1 cup of frozen corn

Tortillas (I can usually fill 8)

Shredded cheddar cheese

1. Spray a 9x13 baking dish (or similar shape) with cooking spray.

2. In a large bowl (I use my kitchen aid), combine the cream cheese and taco seasoning. When combined, add the chicken, tomatoes and corn and mix.

3. Spread filling into tortillas and roll closed and place in the baking dish.

4. If you have any extra filling, feel free to just spread it on top!

5. Sprinkle with shredded cheese.

6. Bake at 350 for about 30 minutes.

This dish is also fantastic to make ahead and stick in the freezer. Just stop at step 4, cover tightly with plastic wrap and tin foil. Let it thaw in the fridge for a day, add cheese and bake! You may need to add a few minutes to cooking time, but because the chicken is already cooked all you need to watch for is the inside to be hot enough to eat.

I'm the guest blogger today over at Multiples and More, my favorite multiples related blog! Multiples and More republished my Marriage Enrichment post from this winter. You can check it out HERE!

Flawless. Almost.

2010-06-03T06:00:00.002-05:00

Yesterday I had to go to the Post Office. I hate going there and avoid it at all costs. Typically I use their lovely Click 'n Ship feature and just do it all from home, but my printer is out of ink so that wasn't an option. Darn pre-planning!

At 4pm I grudgingly looked at the clock, at my boxes and at the boys. Man, I wish we had one of those nifty automated parcel service things in our Post Office... or even one within 10 minutes of here. I mustered up some excitement and announced to the boys that we were going to the Post Office. They got excited and ran wildly around the house while saying they were looking for their sandals.

We arrived at the Post Office and I instructed the troops that they were to stand on the sidewalk while I got the boxes out of the car (check!), that they were to follow me into the building (check!) and that they were to stand in line with me and not touch anything (check!). We'd be in the PO for about 3 minutes when the mom in front of me turned around and said "well done, Mom!". I laughed and reminded her we'd only been in there for 3 minutes to which she replied "Well yeah, but well done even just getting them in here. I'd be a nervous wreck if I had even one loose toddler, let alone three!".

The boys did remarkably well not touching the large display of Toy Story 3 items, which says a lot considering how they mauled the Toy Story 3 display at Target just three days earlier. Considering we were in the PO for probably 15 minutes they did better than remarkably well, really.

I heard lots of "aww, they're so cute!" and "wow, they're so good!" kinds of comments, and I'll admit - my mom ego was gettin' pretty large.

Yeah, that's right! I'm Super Mom! Tackling the Post Office with three grabby toddlers doesn't scare me!

I paid for my shipping, told the boys we could go and it happened. Chase melted down. Want to know why? Because he wanted to open the door himself. (Please refer back to my post from Monday on how I feel about this...) GAAAAH!

I had to pick him up and carry him out to the car like a big, flailing sack of potatoes. Did I mention my arms hurt from my workout still? No? Cause they did. So his 33 or 35 pounds or whatever he weighs now of flailing dead weight was a treat.

He threw a fit the whole way home. See?

Ouch.

2010-06-02T09:16:00.000-05:00

Today I stepped up my weight-loss game and attended a fitness class. Last night we joined the gym/community center. I noticed there was a class offered this morning that sounded interesting, so I got up almost an hour early, braved the t-storm and headed out. Let's just say, I think I've officially identified my weak areas - my arms and my abs. Ouch.

How is it that I can have almost zero upper body strength when I'm constantly hoisting 30+ pound children? Seriously! Someone explain that to me. About 75% of today's class focused on arms. Know what size weights I used? 4 pound. Know what size weights the women on either side of me, who were at least twice my age, used? 8-10 pounds. The instructor asked me at one point if my weights were heavy enough and I assured her they were.

Know what else I have zippo of? Muscle in my abs. It was seriously embarrassing! I can do some crunches and I can do reverse crunches, but I could not for the life of me do these ab routines in the class. Sad, sad, sad. I should have expected it to be tough; after all before I had the boys I carried any extra weight all over my body, but now I carry all extra weight around my waist. Darn pregnancy!

Instead of using this as an excuse to not go back to class though, I'm going to use it to motivate me further. If I keep going back it will eventually get easier. It has to.

The good news? For those that haven't noticed my ticker or aren't yet a part of the Summer of Change group I started of Facebook, I lost 7 pounds my first week! Holy water weight, batman!

Weekend of Surprises

2010-06-01T09:33:00.000-05:00

This past weekend was a 4 day weekend for Nick, so we decided to take advantage and do some extra special stuff with the boys. We simply told the boys there would be a "surprise" (or two!) that day and watched their faces light up in anticipation.

Saturday night was the first surprise. After church let out we dashed to a part of town we don't often visit and found there were thousands of others heading the same direction. After making the bold decision to follow some cars that seemed to be taking a short cut (which they were), we ended up at the park just in time. In time for what, you ask? To see a bunch of hot air balloons lift off!

Chase

Jackson

Tyler

Nick and Jackson (a new favorite picture for sure!)

The boys were in awe of the balloons. We were so close (as you can tell in a couple of those pictures), and they loved cheering as each balloon lifted off and waving to the lucky people riding in the basket! They're still talking about the big balloons 3 days later.

After the balloons we went to surprise #2; ice cream at Chick Fil A! By the time we got to Chick Fil A we were already an hour past bed time and it was beginning to get dark so the boys knew this was extra special. They made huge messes with their cones (which is why there are no pictures), but they loved it. It should be noted that when Chase and Tyler walked out of Chick Fil A with Nick they remarked that it must be early in the morning because it was getting dark. That tells you how early they've been waking up lately! Ha!

Surprise #3 of the weekend came Sunday afternoon when we took the boys to a nearby sprayground (a playground that sprays water everywhere for my family bumpkins in Maine that don't have such things). They hadn't been to a sprayground before and were a little unsure. Well, to be fair, really only Tyler and Jackson were unsure for a while. Chase jumped right in and started having fun!

Surprise #4 was yesterday morning when we packed up and headed to Aunt Laura's to take advantage of the pools in her apartment complex. They had a ball (of course) and were super excited to see Aunt Laura's cat, Marbles. I don't think Marbles felt the same way towards the boys though, because she took off to hide under Laura's bed as soon as the boys ran into the apartment.

All in all? A super fun weekend that the boys won't forget for a long time!

I Heart Faces - Barefoot

2010-06-01T09:00:00.000-05:00

This is a non-competition week over at I Heart Faces, but I just knew I had to submit this picture anyway! Not to mention, all entries this week will also be promoting the awesome cause Soles 4 Souls. Read more about that below. For now, here's my entry for Barefoot Week!

Soles4Souls is a Nashville-based charity that collects shoes from the warehouses of footwear companies and the closets of people like you. The charity distributes these shoes free of charge to people in need, regardless of race, religion, class, or any other criteria. Since 2005, Soles4Souls has given away over 7 million pairs of new and gently worn shoes (currently donating one pair every 9 seconds.) The shoes have been distributed to people in over 125 countries, including Kenya, Thailand, Nepal and the United States. Soles4Souls has been featured in Runner's World, Ladies’ Home Journal, National Geographic’s Green Guide, and The New York Times. It has appeared on CBS, ABC, NBC, FOX, BBC, CNN and thousands of regional news outlets across North America. Soles4Souls is a 501(c)(3) recognized by the IRS and donating parties are eligible for tax advantages. Anyone can join our cause, and we need your help.

Independence Day

2010-05-31T09:43:00.000-05:00

What? Worried I have my holidays mixed up? Don't worry, I am fully aware today is Memorial Day and not Independence Day. Try telling that to my children though. They think every day is Independence Day. I'm beginning to regret encouraging so much independence in my children. I've been praised by our Parent Educator (from Parents As Teachers) in the past for how independent I encourage the boys to be, by letting them pick out their own clothes 95% of the time, potty training them so early on, letting them dress themselves even though it can take 5 times as long and stuff ends up on backwards, etc.

All of that toddler independence is well and good, but I think it's going to send me over the edge. No, seriously. If I have to hear one more time "no, I do it!" I'm going to scream. If I watch one more child throw an outright tantrum because I "helped" him do something I'm going to cry. Maybe if I scream and cry the boys will see how silly they are. Ha! I just reread that - that definitely won't happen. Instead, I suppose, I'll struggle along with the terrible 2's which are quickly approaching the __________ 3's. Why the blank space? Well it's yet to be seen if my children will fall into the rare "terrific 3's" or into the more common "terrible 3's". I'm praying all this independence stuff will result in the 3's being a breeze.

Hey, a mom can dream, right?

Chase

Happy Memorial Day and a huge thank you to all the men and women who have served our country and are serving right now!

Saturday Savings - What $20 Can Buy You

2010-05-29T07:00:00.000-05:00

Let it be known that I hate shopping at the very end of the month. I usually have hardly any money left in the budget by then! Thankfully, with a lot of planning I was able to buy enough to stuff to at the very least get us until Tuesday (the start of June), but likely enough to help get us all the way to next weekend. Everything you see below cost me $23.38. Some of that (almost $5) will come out of a different line item (charitable giving) because I was buying supplies to make a dinner for a family whose son just had surgery. Also, earlier this week the boys and I hit a farmer's market and picked up cucumbers, zucchini and strawberries for $7.

Aldi:
Tortillas
Shredded Cheese (12oz bag)
Canned Diced Tomatoes
Canned Corn
Taco Seasoning
Cream Cheese
Hot Dog Buns

HyVee:
Dozen Eggs
Cheetos - 2 bags
Dutch Country Bread
Ritz Munchables
Artisan Wheat Thins
Oscar Meyer Hot Dogs - 2
1% Milk - 1 gallon
Kraft Melt Downs Cheese
Seedless Watermelon

Price Chopper:
6 ears of corn
cucumbers - 2
Hunt's Ketchup
NorthStar Lotta Fruit Popsicles

The Deals: Let me start of by telling you how much I spent out of pocket at Price Chopper. $1.86. Sweet, huh? I had a $3 off my next shopping trip coupon from when I bought some Kellogg's Cereal a few weeks ago! The popsicles were a bit of a splurge for the boys (Tyler shopped with me and I let him pick a frozen treat out), but they were at least more than 50% off.

At HyVee I was able to buy some snack type items, which Nick has been asking for. Also got some hot dogs for .49 each and the watermelon for $3.49 - perfect items for Memorial Day weekend! The bread ("good bread" I call it) was only .99 and I paid .79 for the Kraft Cheese Melt Downs.

Aldi had the best prices for all of the ingredients I needed to make chicken enchiladas (my gift meal) and the cheapest hot dog buns at .79 a bag.

Total Before Sales, Tax and Coupons: $55.66
Total After Sales, Tax and Coupons: $22.22 - 60% savings

In Less Than 3 Months

2010-05-28T09:36:00.000-05:00

In less than 3 months my babies will be 3. I've thought about this a lot recently. What is it about the age of 3 that seems SO much more grown up and so much further away from being "babies" than age 2 did? Last year when the boys turned 2 I knew it was a big deal. I knew it meant we were out of the baby stage and that they'd be learning new skills. At the same time though, they still felt like just bigger babies to me.

Today I look at my boys and see just that - boys. They look nothing like babies or even toddlers to me. They look like little men. They don't have chubby arms and legs anymore. I'm constantly having to pull their pants up because their waists are thinning. They're officially little boys.

The boys talk like crazy, like identifying letters and numbers, telling me what aisle at the grocery store we're in, announcing who has matching shirts, cups or plates at the moment and so much more. They're going to start 1 day a week preschool this fall. 4 hours for them means 4 hours for me. I have a hunch sending the boys off to "school" will give me an anxiety attack and at the same time make me want to dance for joy.

Anyway, these are just random musings from a mom who feels like her babies are growing up to fast and is at a loss as to how to handle it. Hope you at least enjoyed the pictures I added! This last one is of the boys waving good-bye to Nick as he headed to work. This happens on a daily occurrence. When the weather is too cold, the boys wave from inside.

If You Show A Boy A Hose

2010-05-27T09:28:00.000-05:00

If you show a boy a hose, he'll probably want to play with it.

Then you'll have to show him how to hold it.

After he holds it, he'll want to learn how to spray it.

After he learns how to spray it he'll think it would be even more fun to spray his brothers (or mother!).

After spraying his brothers in the face, his father will have to take over and just spray all of the children.

The End.

There was a lot of interest in my Summer of Change, so I asked on our FB Fan Page yesterday if people would be interested in a FB Group where we could all talk and encourage each other as we work on our own Summer of Change goals. Be watching our Fan Page later this morning for the link to the newly created group!

Another Video Clip

2010-05-26T08:23:00.000-05:00

I guess this is just your lucky week; 2 video clips in 3 days! The boys are just being too cute and silly though to not share these right away.

Yesterday evening the boys were playing a little game on the deck. It was cracking me up and it's amazing someone didn't end up hurt and crying.

Oh, and what is it they're saying? "Brothers and Sisters." Earlier in the day they kept saying "I love my sister and I love my hair". Where do they come up with this stuff?! I think it's time to sit them down and have a little chat about the difference between a brother and sister.

Summer of Change

2010-05-25T08:25:00.000-05:00

Allow me to take a brief break from blogging about the boys to instead blog about myself.

I have a problem. My children will be 3 years old in just a hair over 3 months and I'm still packing the "baby weight". *sigh* Ok, maybe "packing" is the wrong term. I am currently 26 pounds lighter than I was when I went back to Weight Watchers 6 weeks after I had the boys. At one point this winter I was down 37 pounds though and was only 2 pounds away from my pre-baby weight. Leave it to me though to completely sabotage myself and gain 11 pounds back.

Yesterday morning, after 4 days of eating out and over indulging with the in-laws, I weighed myself. I hadn't remembered to check in on my weight in 2 weeks, so I'm not sure how much of the number of the scale was related to "water weight" or was the real deal. Either way, I knew it was time to crack down. I'm now 13 pounds away from my pre-baby weight and 18 pounds from my goal weight.

The Plan:

Right Now: I'm reviewing all of my Weight Watchers materials and I've gotten back into journaling. I also have been pouring over the materials at www.parents.com/babyweight. (Hello, free meal plans and workout routines!)
In the very near future: We will be getting a membership at a nearby gym. I'm looking forward to taking part in the classes they offer, as well as getting back into using weight machines. I miss that.
Later this summer: I'll be doing one of those month long boot camp programs. It will mean leaving my house shortly after 5am 3 days a week, but I'm going to suck it up and deal with it.

With a lot of hard work I should be at my goal weight by the boys' 3rd birthday. I've got 14 weeks and 18 pounds to lose - totally doable if I stay focused! I'm calling this my Summer of Change and you can expect to read about it here several times this summer. You'll also notice on the sidebar I've added a little weight/BMI tracker.

Time to hit the ground running and not look back.

I Heart Faces - Yellow Theme

2010-05-24T14:43:00.000-05:00

I found this week's theme at I Heart Faces to be a tough one. The theme is simply "yellow", but you also (as always) need to have a human face in the shot. Hmmmm.... I was beginning to think I was going to need to just pose the boys in front of our yellow car, but then I got lucky when I took the boys to a park this morning. Behold, Jackson in a yellow tunnel!

You can join the fun over at I Heart Faces or just browse through the hundreds of entries this week!

Spiritual Guidance From 2 Year Olds

2010-05-24T08:53:00.001-05:00

Saturday night the boys took their bed-time procrastination to new heights. After running through the usual suspects (needing to go potty, putting their books away, etc), they quoted scripture. Yup. Scripture. They totally took Nick and I by surprise by repeating their May Memory Verse from church over and over and over. We had no idea they even knew it!

Yesterday I whipped out the camera and asked them to do the verse for all of you. Left to right in the video is Tyler, Chase and Jackson. We had just finished dinner and Chase had a large spot of yogurt on his shorts and at the very end of the video you can hear Aunt Laura telling one of the boys not to touch her with his ketchup covered fingers.

Remember, you can watch this and other videos of the fam anytime on our YouTube Channel!

What Do You Grill?

2010-05-21T07:43:00.000-05:00

Nick and I officially became homeowners this week. Yes, we bought this house three years ago next month, but I don't think we were true homeowners until now. Know why? Because we didn't have a grill until now. Sure, we had this beast (seriously, beast) of a George Foreman Grill, but that doesn't really count. We couldn't just fire it up, cook our food and then be done with it. No, we had to then spend 20 minutes cleaning the darn thing any time we used it.

So this week we took some birthday money Nick received and the money I made during our garage sale and we bought a grill. Sweet!

Here's where you all come in... Considering Nick and I are novices at the grilling world, we don't have many ideas of what to grill. I know about burgers, dogs and chicken and I remember an episode of America's Test Kitchen a few years ago where they grilled pizza (I know I want to try that!), but what else is there? What do you and your family love to make on your grill?

A Walk, A Run and A Bloody Nose

2010-05-20T06:00:00.003-05:00

I think Jackson is going to be our accident prone kid. He seems to get injured more than the other two... There have been bloody noses, bloody lips, a cake pan on his head and trip to urgent care after smacking his head on our tile floor. The other night he was at it again.

After dinner Tuesday night we took the boys to a park to run off some energy before bed time. They had fun on the play equipment, as usual.

Tyler

Chase

Jackson (serving a time out for throwing rocks)

After all three boys requested trips to the porta potty (ew, ew, ew!), we decided to take a little walk on the path that wound through the woods behind the park. While starting that walk I took what I think is a pretty sweet shot...

There were these fluffy white balls all over the walk way and they just looked so cool! That would be Tyler in the background trying to hold his shorts up. Haha!

Towards the end of the walk the boys were running back and forth across a little bridge. There were some cute moments and then disaster and blood.

I managed to capture a massive collision in the background of this picture. You can even tell by the look on Nick's face that it was an ugly crash.

Poor Jackson. His head + Tyler's head is a bad combo. Jackson had a massive bloody nose. It was more blood than Nick and I had seen from one of the boys yet! Thankfully it didn't take him long to calm down.

It's All About The Shoes

2010-05-19T06:00:00.004-05:00

Shoes can make or break an outfit, whether you're male, female or a child. It's just one of those little facts of life. The other day the boys helped themselves to some of Aunt Laura's shoes (she has a serious shoe addiction). Chase was hoping the pink flats and then the pointy toed heels would help dress up his frosting smeared sweatshirt. Not sure it worked...

Party Zone Fun

2010-05-18T08:22:00.000-05:00

Sunday afternoon the boys attended a birthday party for one of their friends. They're always excited about a birthday party because they love the cake, balloons and wishing people "happy birthday" over and over. This party was a little different than the other parties they've attended. This one was at one of those wild, children's entertainment centers. I can still say we've never set foot in a Chuck E Cheese, but I imagine this place is pretty similar. You should have seen the looks on the boys' faces when we walked into this wild, noisy place!

They enjoyed trying to win prizes....

They enjoyed large cups of drink, which came back to bite us later.

They enjoyed cupcakes and ice cream! Tyler ate his ice cream so fast he got a brain freeze, which did not make him happy.

L-R: Tyler, Chase & Jackson

They rode in some flying bananas, which freaked Jackson out a bit.

They rode on a train. Tyler picked this car with a little girl in it already. He's going to be our ladies man I think.

The boys all piled into this tea cup with the birthday girl.

Then it was back to the train.

As you can tell from Chase's "thumbs up", they had an awesome time. That is, until the cups of drink caught up with us and Tyler had an accident. Laura and I aren't even sure where or when he had the accident. We just suddenly noticed he was walking funny and his pants were soaked. Whoops.

I Heart Faces Week 20 Challenge

2010-05-17T13:25:00.000-05:00

The challenge this week over at I Heart Faces is faces and flowers. There are lots of great shots to admire over at their blog, but here is my entry! It's Mr. Tyler as a flower.

More Funny Things My Kids Say

2010-05-17T11:23:00.000-05:00

Most of the recent funnies that I've remembered to record here are courtesy of Jackson and Chase. Rest assured, Tyler says funny things too - I just need to remember to write them down right away!

Jackson (after walking up to the weather radio and pushing the button, he said the following into the speaker): I want a Diet Coke with vanilla please. Nope, that's it.

Chase (after hearing some liquid slosh in his belly): Mommy, I have music in my belly!

Chase (while Skyping with Grandma): I can't fit in the computer too! I too big!

Any of the boys when wearing a striped, polo shirt: I'm Steve! (They're newly obsessed with Blue's Clues and Steve always wears a striped polo in that show.)

Chase, after fake coughing: Mommy, I need Vicks!

Jackson

Man, these kids make us laugh!

Saturday Savings

2010-05-15T09:57:00.001-05:00

You know you've come across a good deal when the cashier tries to tell you you can't walk out of the store without paying for 2 bottles of dressing, and then gives you a dirty look when a more experienced cashier says "yes, she can". Love it! More about that in a a minute. First, take a look at what $41.67 can buy you. (2 bottles of Ken's Dressing not pictured.)

(Note, the kitty was not purchased yesterday - Nick just thought it would be funny to have it in the picture)

Hen House:

Cottonelle Toilet Paper

Bananas - 1.77 lbs

HyVee:

Dannon Yogurt - 10 cups

Yoplait Go-Gurt - 2 boxes

Hidden Valley Salad Dressing

Whole Wheat Bread

Egg Noodles - 2 bags

Arm & Hammer Laundry Gel

Eat Smart Veggie Crisps

Dubuque All Beef Hot Dogs

Price Chopper:

1% Milk - 2 gallons

Tony's Crispy Crust Pizzas - 2

Kellogg's Cereals - 4 boxes

Peanut Butter

Miracle Whip

Carmel Bugles

Fruit Snacks - 2 boxes

Pineapple

Ken's Salad Dressing - 2 bottles

The Doubtful Cashier: Yesterday when I was shopping in Price Chopper I noticed they were a Cosentino's Price Chopper (which is having anniversary specials) and that Ken's Salad Dressings were on sale there. Darn! I hadn't yet added my coupons from last Sunday's paper to my organizer, so didn't have the 2 $1 off coupons with me. I made a mental note to make sure to bring those coupons with me next time I was near that Price Chopper, and that happened later that day. The dressings were on sale for .99 each. I had two coupons good for $1 off one bottle. I grabbed the two bottles I wanted and walked up to the check out. The cashier scanned both and then I proudly handed her my two coupons. Here's what happened....

Cashier: "You can't use two of the same coupons in one transaction."

Me: "Since when? I know some stores have an internet coupon rule like that, but I've never had problems before using more than one regular coupon at a time."

Cashier to other cashier: "She can't use more than one of these in a trip, right?"

Other cashier: "Did she buy two items?"

Cashier: "Yes."

Other cashier: "Then it's fine."

Cashier looks at her screen, then back at other cashier: "Even if it will make it free?"

Other cashier: "Yep."

Cashier shoots me a dirty look, then looks back at her screen. She enters the coupons, sighs loudly and hollers back to the other cashier "I don't know how to cash this out! Her total due is zero. This just doesn't seem right."

The other cashier told her just to enter that I gave her zero and it would be fine. When my cashier handed me my receipt she gave me a dirty look. You'd think I was stealing from her paycheck or something!

The Deals: You already heard about my free salad dressing, but here are the other deals I snagged at Price Chopper. I paid .38 for the two Tony's Pizzas, which are the perfect size for the boys to split for lunch. The Kellogg's cereals ranged between $1.75 and $1.15 with sales and coupons. I had some nice coupons ($1 off one or $1 off 2) that I got in a couple of boxes of cereal a month or two ago. When I bought cereal yesterday I noticed some of the boxes include more coupons, so I made sure to buy those. The fresh pineapple was $1.89 and the Miracle Whip and Bugles were clearance cart finds!

At HyVee I did some serious yogurt stocking up. The boys love yogurt, so it can be tough to keep it in the house for long! I paid .20 each for the Dannon cups thanks to a coupon and sale and I paid $1.50 for the boxes of go-gurt (which I now buy the "simply go-gurt" that contains none of that artificial flavoring or HFCS junk) which is 50% off. The Hidden Valley dressing was .77 and the Arm & Hammer Gel was $1.99 (75% off).

At Hen House I wasn't able to take advantage of all the deals I wanted to, due to their being out of stock of one of the sale items. I got a rain check for the 14oz box of Cheerios they have on sale and will go back next week with my coupons and snag 2 boxes for .68 each. I did pick up the Cottonelle for $4.88 though, which is a nice deal. And the bananas were .38 a pound.

It should also be noted that at Price Chopper I received a coupon for $3 off my next shopping trip because of all the boxes of cereal I bought. Sadly yesterday was the last day to earn those.

Total Before Sales, Tax and Coupons: $95.06

Total After Sales and Coupons: $39.56 - 58% off!

When A 2 Year Old Dresses Himself

2010-05-14T05:00:00.002-05:00

Parents are supposed to foster independence. Sometimes I think that toddler independence will be what kills me though. The constant "no, I do it!" drives me up the wall sometimes.

Chase's new favorite thing to do is getting himself dressed. We've let the boys pick out their clothes (95% of the time) for a few months now. Lately though that isn't enough. No, now they not only want to pick their clothes but they want to struggle for 15 minutes to put them on. Heaven forbid we try to help them too!

Yesterday, Chase proudly dressed himself. Here's what he looked like...

Just in case you didn't take the time to read my lovely photo captions, his shirt was on backwards, his underwear was on backwards (which you obviously can't see in this picture), his pants were unbuttoned and his shoes were on the wrong feet. Know how he topped it all off? Yep, he put his pull-over fleece on backwards too.

Tyler's coat was on backwards too. Know what this mom did? I took them to the McDonald's Play Place like that anyway! I'm sure the other moms wondered if I was even capable of driving considering I clearly couldn't dress my own children. That's ok though - my not even 3 year old boys can use the potty on their own and get dressed on their own, and for that I'm quite proud!

The Newest Member of the Family

2010-05-13T09:56:00.000-05:00

Yesterday the newest member of the family arrived at our home. Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you my birthday gift....

*sigh* Isn't it lovely? That is a Nikon 35mm lens! Woo! A couple of months ago I borrowed a 50mm lens from a photographer friend and I loved it, even though it wouldn't auto focus on my camera. The 35mm is the equivalent of the 50mm I borrowed, but it's made for my camera. So what's so special about this lens?

Special thing #1 - it will allow me to take much better flash-free pictures inside.

Special thing #2 - I can make the background in photos super blurry which makes the subject really pop. Example?

Thank you, Chase, for showing us all your belly. Anyway, as soon as the mailman arrived yesterday (very late I might add) I was at the door waiting for him to hand me the box from Amazon. Then I promptly shooed the boys outside for a little practice photo shoot! I managed to snap off about 80 pictures in the 10 minutes we were outside (a thunderstorm was rolling in, so we had to head inside). Here are a few of my favorites...

Tyler

Jackson

Tyler, Jackson & Chase

(it should be noted I posted this on FB last night and mentioned I was going to edit out the mud in Tyler's hair and scratches on Jackson's face and was met with protest - so there it all stays.)

Chase

Jackson & Tyler

It should be noted that I did not receive enough birthday money to pay for this lens. Instead I had to turn to SwagBucks. I've talked about SwagBucks here before, but in case you weren't paying attention let me tell you again.... SwagBucks is an amazingly easy way to earn free stuff. To help me buy this lens I cashed in SwagBucks for a $50 (yep, 5-0) gift card to Amazon.com and I used some PayPal cash ($20 to be exact) that I had earned through SwagBucks a month ago. That's $70 I was able to use towards my lens that I didn't have to actually pay for myself!

If you're not earning SwagBucks yet, sign up. You'll love it. (Click any of the "SwagBucks" words here or scroll all the way to the bottom of this page and click the banner.) In the last year or so I've cashed in enough SBs (SwagBucks) for $45 in cash, $20 in pre-paid Master Cards, a $10 Starbuck's Card and the $50 Amazon.com card. Not bad for a Stay At Home Mom, huh?

Life With Boys - Video Clip of the Week

2010-05-12T09:18:00.000-05:00

Life with three boys is, well, interesting to say the least. They're active. They seem to have a never ending supply of energy that I'm quite sure must be somehow supplied to them by sucking energy from me. I don't know how they do it, but it's the only explanation I can have for being so dead tired all the time.

Those of you who have boys, or at least one boy can likely begin to imagine what life is like here. Just imagine 3 of your wildest boy. For those of you who don't have boys you probably aren't quite sure what I'm talking about. Here, let me show you....

Note, this is only 32 seconds long because I don't want to frighten any moms who are currently expecting boys, have a boy(s) that is still a tiny baby who can do no wrong or are thinking of embarking on the motherhood journey.

I need a nap.

Therapy

2010-05-11T08:58:00.000-05:00

What is it about holding a baby or having a child snuggle up to you that is so therapeutic? Sunday afternoon the boys and I visited some friends who had their second child a couple of months ago. Holding that sweet little baby girl was such a stress reliever!

Yesterday, a couple of times, Tyler came up to me, crawled into my lap and just snuggled in. That very act made me sigh with relief and it was like all the moments of stress, annoyance and anger just disappeared. How does that work? I'm not entirely sure, but I hope my kids continue to want to climb into my lap and just sit and snuggle because it's an amazing thing.

I Heart Faces - Celebrating Mom Entry

2010-05-10T09:14:00.000-05:00

One more shot from my self timer photo shoot with the boys yesterday! Here I am with my monkeys. This is the first nice picture of them and me in a solid 2 years. Happy Mother's Day to me, right? :)

I just knew I had to make it my entry in this week's I Heart Faces Challenge.

They Let Me Take Their Pictures!

2010-05-10T09:09:00.000-05:00

Yesterday I received a fantastic Mother's Day gift. My boys actually cooperated long enough to let me take pictures of them and with them! I was thrilled! Nick was working (so really Mother's Day is like any other day for me) so I had to rely on the self timer on my camera to get shots with me in it, but it worked.

After dropping off a meal for some friends who had a baby recently, the boys and I decided to head to the arboretum that was sorta on the way home. The sun was coming out, the boys were dressed alike (which I hardly ever do) and I had my camera. I knew I just had to try to get some shots!

L-R: Jackson, Tyler & Chase

Ty and me

Chase and me

Jackson and me

I asked Chase and Tyler if they could put their arms around each other and this is what they did.... LOL!

Boys!

And now for a couple of random pics I managed to snap when the boys were running on the paths. I love taking pictures here! One of these days I'll head their solo so I can just take in the beauty.

Saturday Savings - A Day Late

2010-05-09T13:35:00.000-05:00

Yesterday's garage sale was a total bust. In the 6 hours I sat out front with my stuff only 4 people stopped and I made a whopping $3. Ouch! Good thing I did so well on Friday ($117)! I have no idea where people were yesterday; even the amount of traffic on our street was lighter than usual.

As I sat out front, Nick was brave and took the boys to their final swimming lesson and then to do my HyVee shopping! What a guy :) I didn't take a picture of what he bought at HyVee, but below is what I bought today at Hen House and Price Chopper. Everything below and what Nick bought at HyVee ran us $69.26.

HyVee:

Baking Powder

Baking Soda

HyVee Honey Wheat Pretzels

Bread - 2 loaves

Grape Jelly

Old Orchard Juices - 2 bottles

Quaker Granola Bars

Ronzoni Pasta - 3 boxes

Rold Gold Pretzels

1% Milk - 2 gallons

Diet Coke

Dasani Water

Organic Carrots - 2 bags (1 pound each)

Hen House:

McCormick's Grill Mates Seasonings - 2 bottles

KC Masterpiece BBQ Sauce - 3 bottles

AlphaBits Cereal

Honeycomb Cereal

Belfonte Yogurt - 6 cups

American Cheese Singles - 2 packages

Sargento Cheese Sticks - 1 package of 12

Grass Fed Natural Ground Sirlion (90% lean) - 3.10 pounds

Bananas - 3.10 pounds

Price Chopper:

Crystal Farms Shredded Cheese - 3 bags

Eggs - 4 dozen

Minute Maid OJ - 3 cartons

Palermo's Pizza - 1

Kellogg's Pop Tarts - 3 boxes

Vitamin Water

A Word About Meat: I'm shifting my organic/all natural focus to meat. Last week Nick and I sat down and watched the movie Food Inc. If you haven't seen it yet, please do! I still believe organic dairy and produce is important, but with my limited budget I have to pick and choose what to buy. Food Inc had some eye opening stuff about meat, so Nick and I agreed to just buy organic or locally raised natural meat. It may mean we don't have meat as often, but I think the sacrifice is worth it for us. That being said, last week Whole Food's One Day Sale item was boneless skinless chicken thighs for $1.99 a pound. I went and bought almost 5 pounds worth. Have you ever tried natural or organic chicken? I don't know why exactly, but it tastes so much different! The texture is different and the flavor is different. Even Nick notices the difference.

The Deals: Ok, on to the deals. Now Nick bought a couple of items at HyVee that were not on my list, but that was to be expected, and he wasn't able to find a couple of items on my list. At HyVee he did pick up the Organic Carrots for .79 a bag (53% off), the Ronzoni Healthy Harvest Pasta for $1.25 (29% off) and the Old Orchard Juice for .99 each (50% off).

At Hen House today I cleaned up on some freebies and near freebies! The McCormick's Grill Mates were .28 each after my two coupons and the KC Masterpiece BBQ sauces were all free thanks to 3 coupons I had (actually, they paid me .01 for each of them)! The Grande Tortilla chips were .49 after my coupon and the Belfonte yogurts were .29 each. The Honeycomb was on sale but not a super deal and the AlphaBits weren't on sale at all. The boys wanted some cereal though (and we're out *gasp*) so I sprung the extra cash for them. The All Natural Ground Sirlion (90% lean) was $3.49 a pound so I bought 3 pounds to have on hand.

The Price Chopper I visited today was a Cosentino's Price Chopper and all Cosentino's PCs are celebrating their anniversary this week, so they have some extra special deals! One of the deals is Crystal Farm's shredded cheese for .99 a bag (limit 3). Pair that with the .55 off coupon in today's paper and you can get some cheap cheese! (I bought a second paper for that coupon as well as a few other high value ones I knew I would use.) Eggs are on sale for .68 a dozen, with no limit so I bought what my fridge could hold (another 4 dozen on top of what I already had here at home). Minute Maid OJ is $1.68 a carton and I had a $1 off coupon I got in a box of cereal. The Pop Tarts were .99 a box with a limit of 3 and I used my $1.25 off 3 coupon on that. Finally I snagged the Palermo's Pizza for .49 with my $1 off coupon.

Total Before Sales, Tax and Coupons: $119.45

Total After Sales and Coupons: $64.07 - 47% savings

Too Busy Making Money

2010-05-08T07:32:00.000-05:00

Saturday Savings is being postponed again! I'm too busy making money at my garage sale to bother with grocery shopping. Yesterday I made $117 and today I'm hoping to add at least another $50 to that (I have a couple of "big ticket" items left still). I will either send Nick and the boys grocery shopping this morning or I'll do it tomorrow with the boys. Either way, expect to see Saturday Savings up by tomorrow afternoon!

More Than I Could Chew

2010-05-07T10:11:00.000-05:00

This mom bit off more than she could chew this week. Live and learn, right? Yesterday this blog was silent due to my seriously long to-do list. In fact, as I blog right now I'm sitting at my garage sale, waiting for people to come buy our stuff. Sadly, this is not as glamorous as I'd hoped it would be. Instead of sitting outside getting some sun and sipping a Diet Coke, I'm sitting in warm clothes, drinking a mocha and thinking about how cold I am. Brrrrr!

To brighten the mood I thought I'd share some random pictures from this week! Enjoy :)

L-R: Chase, Tyler & Jackson

Jackson looking at the flowers that always make me think of home.

New Sleeping Arrangements

2010-05-05T08:15:00.000-05:00

Last Sunday afternoon, I thought I was going to lose it. It was 1:30pm and I was trying to come to grips with the fact that my children were skipping their nap. Again. Last week on two days none of the boys napped. On three days last week only one child napped (they rotated who would nap). Know what that means? On only two days last week did all three of the boys nap. Ugh!

If the boys would crash early at bedtime as a result of not napping I may have been able to cope a bit better. Instead they would still take 45 minutes or so to fall asleep AND they were getting up at 6:30am. AHHHHH!

Monday afternoon I tried something. My Parents As Teachers parent educator suggested a couple of months ago that I split them up for naps. I tried it once and it didn't go so well, so didn't try again. Monday I decided it was worth a try. I told the boys we'd take turns sleeping in various spots, but Chase was still sad that he had to start the rotation in his own bed.

The new routine? One child sleeps on the futon in the playroom, which I thought was just asking for trouble with all of those books and giant stuffed animals within reach, but turns out isn't as bad as I thought.

One child sleeps in my bed, which of course is the coveted spot, and another child sleeps in his own bed. You know what? It's working!

Monday I had to close Chase's bedroom door because Tyler and he were chatting back and forth across the hall. But after I did that it only took 15 minutes for them all to quiet down and then they were asleep shortly after. The nap lengths? Between 2 and a half hours and almost 3 hours!

Yesterday I again had to close the bedroom door, this time because Jackson and Chase were chatting. It only took about 20 minutes for them to quiet down this time and I had 2 and a half hour naps again.

Sweet nap time! How I've missed you! Welcome back :)

Trouble and Fun

2010-05-04T09:13:00.000-05:00

I tell you what, I cannot take my eyes off these boys! It feels like every time I turn my back someone is coloring on the floor, biting a brother, being rough with a book, throwing toys or unraveling a roll of toilet paper.

Ahhh, there's the pantless culprit, Jackson. Of course his brothers thoroughly enjoyed playing in the mess when Jackson streaked through the kitchen dragging most of a roll of TP behind him.

Thankfully, the boys also know how to just play together and have a good time. Check out this awesome slide we found at a playground. Isn't it just perfect for triplets?!

(cell phone picture)

L-R: Chase, Jackson & Tyler

March for Babies Wrap Up

2010-05-03T09:36:00.000-05:00

This past Saturday was the Kansas City March for Babies. Last year team Three Cuties had 3 walkers (including myself) and we raised just over $1,000. This year our team had 14 walkers and we raised $2,231 as of this morning! If you kept meaning to give but never got around to it, you can still give at this link: http://www.marchforbabies.org/ransom3. The only reason I mention this is because last night I got an e-mail from one of my aunt's asking if she could still give!

Nick and I decided to make a bold move on Saturday. We left the Choo Choo in the van. We figured if we had to we could always run back and get it, but that life would be much easier without it. You know what? The boys did awesome! We arrived downtown at 8:30am for breakfast and we didn't head home until almost noon. They walked the majority of the time so were super tired by the time we got home for naps.

Jackson is wearing blue, Tyler is wearing yellow and Chase is wearing gray

Scones and quiche - the breakfast of champions.

Part of the team - closest I actually got to a team picture. Next year I'll be sure to get one of all of us!

Chase & Stephanie

My babies marching for other babies!

A HUGE Thank You to all of you who supported us and/or came out to walk! Because of you the March of Dimes is one step closer to giving all babies a healthy start to life!

Saturday Savings, On A Sunday

2010-05-02T10:29:00.000-05:00

Yesterday morning was the Kansas City March for Babies. It was an awesome time! More about that tomorrow though. For now I wanted to share with you all the deals I got yesterday afternoon on my weekly shopping trip! Sorry for the messy state of the table - I was in a hurry. Everything you see below cost me $60.60

HyVee:

Eggs - 3 cartons of 18

1% Milk - 3 gallons

Green Giant Frozen Veggies - 2 bags

Disposable foil pans

Bread - 2 loaves

Canned Pasta (ravioli) - 5

Canned Tomatoes

Evaporated Milk

Pure Vanilla Extract - 2 oz bottle

Kellogg's Smart Start Cereal - 2 boxes

Sonora Flour Tortillas

Small Steps TP - 4 pack

Small Steps Napkins - 250 pack

Snuggle Fabric Softener - 2 bottles

Cheddar Cheese - 2 blocks

Lettuce bunches - 2

Strawberries - 3 cartons @ 1 pound each

Chicken Leg Quarters - 6.5 pounds

UpBeat Milk Beverage

Price Chopper:

Kraft Shredded Cheese - 2 bags

Kraft Dressings - 2 bottles

Vitamin Water - 2 bottles (only 1 pictured)

Yoplait Yogurt - 8 cups

Bertolli Pasta Sauce

Red Grapes - 3.24 pounds

Mission Tortillas - 2 packs

The Deals: Oh the deals this week! We'll start with HyVee seeing as they had the most. I got the following items for free or almost free: UpBeat Milk (free with coupon), 1 loaf of bread (free with coupon), Small Steps TP (free with coupon and sale), Snuggle Fabric Softener only .67 each thanks to 2 high value coupons. Other great deals were the eggs for $1.48 for 18 eggs. At the rate we go through eggs I'm hoping the 3 cartons I bought will last us a couple of weeks. The strawberries were. 97 each (58% off), lettuce bunches were .99 each (41% off), the Smart Start cereals were $1.69 (I had two $1 off coupons), canned pastas were .80 each (32% off), the Small Steps napkins were .98 after sale and coupon (I never buy napkins unless it's a great deal - we just don't use them that often) and the Green Giant veggies were .60 each after sale and my two coupons (70% off). Did I mention that because my total was over $50 before my coupons that I had another 10% knocked off ($4.90 when all was said and done)?

Price Chopper also had a few good deals this week. They had some coupons in their fliers that were store coupons. It didn't say anywhere on the flier that it was limit one, so I risked it and grabbed two fliers at the store and cut out twice the coupons. It worked! I got bags of Kraft cheese for .99 each and salad dressings for .99 each! I may head back to PC today or tomorrow and grab a couple of more of each. I also had a high value coupon for the Yoplait Yogurt (it was $1 off 8 and I received it in the mail) which brought the yogurt cups down to .18 each. The Vitamin Water worked out to .50 each after sale and coupon and the flour tortillas were .99 each.

Total Before Sales, Tax and Coupons: $114.33

Total After Sales & Coupons: $57.06 - 50% off!

I Love My Kids

2010-04-30T05:00:00.002-05:00

Yesterday afternoon, at about 3:30pm, Tyler wandered out of his bedroom. He'd just woken up from his nap. Instead of sleepily wandering down the hall to say hello to me, he stood in the doorway to his room and broke into song. The tune of choice? I Like To Move It, Move It.

I tried to stifle the giggles as I looked down the hall to see what would happen next. After he ran through the chorus once, he dropped his blanket at the door and walked out to the living room. I stood in the kitchen and watched him dance around the room singing the chorus over and over. Eventually he stopped and came over to say hi to me.

I love my kids. Period.

(Picture taken with my cell phone on the Zoo Train. L-R: Jackson, me, Chase & Tyler)

Monkeys and Ice Cream

2010-04-29T09:07:00.000-05:00

Where do my children get all their energy from? Seriously! Wouldn't it stand to reason that because their bodies are about 1/4 of mine that they should have a smaller reserve of energy? I know I'll be 29 in a couple of days, but come on. I should be able to keep up a little bit better! Maybe they somehow transfer energy from me to them... hmmmmm...

Anyway, they put on quite the display at a park last week. Lots of running, jumping and climbing. Perhaps I should just stick with the "monkeys" nickname after all.

Silly Things They've Said

2010-04-28T08:01:00.000-05:00

The boys' are talking all. the. time. right now. Seriously. All the time. They're trying out new words and repeating everything. I've contemplated calling them The Parrots from now on instead of The Monkeys. Here are a few of the funny things they've said in the last week or so (at least the funny things I remembered to write down).

Jackson, while rubbing Pop Pop's head - "Fuzzy head! Fuzzy head!"

Jackson, to Nick when he put a towel around his waist - "Daddy, you look cute!"

Chase to Nick - "Mommy has a hard time parking now." (Little punk ratted me out!)

I said to Nick that I love it when Chase raises his eye brows, so Chase raised his eye brows several times for me.

Tyler - "Daddy lawning the mow!"

Any of the boys - "Mommy, I be a good boy and stay in bed." Said, of course, when the exact opposite had happened.

Crazy kids keep us laughing with their words and their actions!

Chase

Tyler

Jackson

I Love Zoo Pictures

2010-04-27T09:47:00.000-05:00

Last week, when my parents were here, we went to the zoo. I don't know what it is about pictures from the zoo, but I just love them! Here are a few of my favorites from the day.

Pop Pop, Tyler & Jackson

Hmmm... carrot stick in cheese sauce? I dunno about this Chase.

Oh Tyler, animal cracker in cheese sauce is worse!

Aunt Laura teaching Jackson how to flash the "peace" sign.

Jackson, Aunt Laura, Grandma, Chase & Tyler

It's our zoo tradition to take a picture with this elephant.

L-R: Chase, Jackson & Tyler

Couple of lovely little notes for you now....

1. I've finally caught up on our 365 Blog, so there are lots of cute pictures to view over there!

2. I bought the domain name www.threetimesthegiggles.com, so now you can just type that in to get to our blog! Until I get things figured out, you MUST type in the www or it won't work. You can also continue to use the original blog address. Fun times :)

I Heart Faces - Smiles Entry

2010-04-26T12:11:00.000-05:00

For the first time, I'm entering a photography contest over at I Heart Faces! Here's my entry for the "Smiles" theme.

My, How We've Grown

2010-04-26T09:13:00.000-05:00

This past weekend I made a decision. Over the next two weeks I'm going to do some serious decluttering in hopes of having a rather large yard sale soon. Saturday afternoon I tackled the boys' playroom. In 2 hours I managed to find a full bag of stuff to donate, a full bag of stuff to throw out and 4 full laundry baskets of stuff for the yard sale. Wow. The playroom definitely looks better now though!

At the very top of the closet in their playroom I came across something that nearly brought tears to my eyes. I found a preemie outfit. I couldn't get over how tiny it was! I'm quite certain it wouldn't have fit the doll I played with as a child, and yet when the boys came home in that outfit it was a bit baggy on them. Wow.

Simply taking a picture of the outfit on it's own really wouldn't show you just how small it is though. Taking a picture of it next to a pair of the boys' current PJs would though...

Know what else is a good visual reminder of how far the boys' have come? This picture of the boys when they were 3 weeks old followed by a picture of them from this morning - laying on the very same blanket they did 2.5 years ago.

I bet you can guess where this is going. Yup, it's my final plea for donations for this week's March for Babies. I think sometimes we (even myself!) forget just how tiny and fragile the boys were as preemies. That's easy to do considering how big they are now. We've come a long way in the last two and a half years! You know what though? Today another 1,500 babies will be born too early. Not all of them will be as lucky as my boys were. Some parents will have to say goodbye to children they just met and some will spend months in the NICU at the side of a baby who is on a health roller coaster.

If you haven't donated yet and you have $5, $10, $15 or more to spare, please donate. Babies are counting on you! Donate here.

Random side note - how do you like the extra large pictures? Too big? Just right?

We Finally Bought A Van

2010-04-23T08:44:00.001-05:00

Yesterday was a momentous day for our vehicles...

In the afternoon my beloved Neon hit 100,000 miles (I've had it for 8 years next month).

Then we traded in our old 1996 Jeep (the dealer only wanted to give us $1,000 for it but I told them we needed $2,000 or no deal).

Then we bought a new (to us) van! Woohoo!

That, my friends, is a bargain of a van. It's a 2008 Kia Sedona with just under 36,000 miles on it and the sticker price was just $12,980. I knew vans for that price could be found, thanks to a handy dandy spreadsheet I made while researching vans, but I also knew that price would be hard to come by. When I saw one listed for that online Tuesday afternoon we jumped on it.

I'm glad the years (2.5) of longing for a van are finally over. I'm glad the weeks (2.5) of van research are finally over. And I'm glad the months (6) of spending mass amounts of money on the Jeep are over!

The boys checking out the van at the dealership.

Yesterday I lowered my March for Babies goal to $500. Then I hit $500, so I raised it to $600. Today I checked and I am right at $600, so of course I feel the need to raise it to $700! Have you donated to help give babies a healthy start to life?

Park Pictures

2010-04-22T09:56:00.000-05:00

We're having a ball with the grandparents visiting! Monday night we took a picnic lunch to the park, where Tyler had lots of fun (and thrills) on the tire swing.

Chase on the merry go round. Kinda looks like he's not sure if he's going to be sick or if he's having fun...

Signing Time Medley - Video Clip of the Week

2010-04-21T13:02:00.000-05:00

Here's Mr. Chase entertaining us with a medley of Signing Time songs!

Winner & Food for Thought

2010-04-20T09:30:00.000-05:00

My best laid plans rarely seem to work out.... Anyone else like that? Example: instead of saving up big bucks this month and next for a van, we shelled out $1,400 yesterday for repairs the Neon needed. Ouch. Example number 2: I planned on ending the giveaway at 6pm yesterday so that I could write everyone's name on slips of paper and have the boys draw a winner last night. Instead we took a picnic dinner to the park and didn't get home until the boys' bed time. Whoops!

So I had to rely on good old Random.org to pick my winner.... (drumroll please)

Brossettelewis, who takes care of herself by bathing daily, is our big winner!

Shoot me an e-mail lady and I'll get you all hooked up :)

I find it appropriate that Brossettelewis won as I was going to refer to her blog this morning anyway! You see, she had twins who had TTTS (Twin to Twin Transfusion syndrome), which is a very dangerous condition. Obviously she has become a big supporter of the March of Dimes as well. Check out her recent March for Babies post HERE.

Here's something for you to think about...

Even if you weren't a preemie, you and your children have benefited from the March of Dimes.

The MOD first goal was to beat Polio, and it was successful.

The APGAR scoring system for infants became standard practice around the world thanks to Dr. Virginia Apgar's work with the March of Dimes.

The MOD funded the very first bone marrow transplant to correct a birth defect (1968)

MOD discovers that alcohol consumption during pregnancy causes birth defects (1973)

MOD funds first in utero treatment of a birth defect (1973)

MOD launched the national campaign urging women to take Folic Acid during pregnancy (1995)

MOD led the effort to have newborn screening (heel prick) for at least 21 of 29 life threatening, but treatable disorders.

Today I made the decision to lower my March for Babies goal. I thought for sure I could hit $1,000 but here we are a week and a half from the walk and I'm not even half way there. So now my goal is $500. I KNOW you all can get me that far at least! Team Three Cuties is rocking the donations this year - we're up to 13 walkers now and have raised $1,155 as a group. Woohoo!

Donate here, please.

A Big Cat, A Big Whoopie Pie and Improvements All Around

2010-04-19T09:13:00.000-05:00

That's probably an excessively long blog post title, but it's all I could come up with to describe the recent days here!

Friday night I successfully pulled off a surprise 30th birthday party for Nick. At the party the boys chased around a very large cat named Bubba. Tyler especially loved him. I think by the end of the night Bubba was not a fan of the boys.

For the birthday cake I decided to try something new... a GIANT Whoopie Pie! It came out beautifully and I'm willing to sell them to folks here in Kansas City (if I can figure out how to ship it I'll gladly sell it online).

In addition to a fun Friday night, we've seen some improvements this weekend in various areas of life. Here's the run down on those!

Potty Training: We've started having boys (namely Chase and Jackson) waking up dry in the mornings! The longest streak is 2 days (Chase), but most mornings one of them is dry. That gives us hope that potty training is almost complete. Woohoo!

Staying in Bed: We've seen vast improvements lately in this department. The boys still aren't perfect, but at least if they act up it's only for 10-15 minutes instead of 2 hours. I like to think this new found obedience is due to a nice mix of wearing-out activities during the day and bribery. The boys are collecting money for a mission project at church, and we've started telling them that if they're good boys and stay in bed they'll get more money to put in their Rice Bowl (the special bank they got from church). It's working pretty well!

Swimming Lessons: The boys have now completed 6 weeks of swim lessons and Nick and I are quite impressed with their new skills and bravery when it comes to water! Last week, during bath time, they kept putting their faces in the water. In class they've learned how to "walk" along the side of the pool with their hands, they've learned how to go completely under water, they've learned to use a kick board and this past weekend we saw them learning how to kick and move their arms. It's been a blast to watch! I can't wait to see how confident they are in the pool at my parent's hotel this week. Did I mention my parents are in town? Hooray for grandparent time!

Tyler (I think) trying out the kick board for the first time

Jackson under water - and Chase putting his ear in the water for some reason.

Quick Jackson! Wipe that water off your face!

Saturday Savings - A Pictureless Post

2010-04-17T09:08:00.000-05:00

No picture today, because when I got home with the groceries Jackson started melting down so I figured that wasn't the time to carefully lay out all my treasures on the table and snap a picture. Today you'll have to read the list of my finds :)

Aldi:
Baby Carrots - 2 bags @ 1 pound each
Sweet Potatoes - 3 pounds
Bread
Cheese Curls
Eggs - 2 dozen
Ice Cream Cones
Peanut Butter - 2 jars
Saltines
Tomatoes - 4 pack
Honey Mustard
Mustard
Cinnamon Graham Crackers
Butter - 2 boxes

HyVee:
Frosted Mini Wheats Minis - 2 boxes
Johnsonville Bratwurst - 2 packages
1% Milk - 2 gallons
Bananas - 4.75 pounds
Strawberries - 4 pounds
Pork Chops - 6 pounds

Price Chopper:
Beef Rump Roast - 3.11 pounds
Blue Bunny Ice Cream - 2 boxes
Potatoes - 5 pounds

The Deals: Aldi had some nice produce deals this week, with the bags of baby carrots ringing up at just .49 each and the 3 pound bag of sweet potatoes was only $1.59 (.53 a pound). If you're looking at buying little ice cream cones to have at home this summer too, Aldi is the place to pick them up! A box of 12 cones (cake cones or sugar cones) is only .89, versus $1.50 I saw at Price Chopper and HyVee.

At HyVee I snagged the Frosted Mini Wheats boxes for $1.50 each after sale and coupon. The bananas were .38 a pound and the flat of strawberries was $3.99 ($1 per pound). The packages of Johnsonville Brats were $2.50 after coupon and the Pork Chops were a great deal at $1.79 per pound (55% off).

Price Chopper has a good deal on Beef Rump Roast at $1.99 a pound (50% off) and an excellent deal on Blue Bunny Ice Cream for only $1.49 a box! (limit 2) The 5 pound bag of potatoes was only .99.

Price Before Sales, Tax and Coupons: $116.92
Price After Sales and Coupons: $61.37- 48% off

It should be noted that yesterday I only used 2 coupons in my trip and still managed to save 48% and get lots of great stuff! Don't let the fact that you don't have many coupons yet deter you from trying to save lots of money at the grocery store!

A Normal Life

2010-04-16T09:30:00.000-05:00

Way back when Nick and I were trying to get pregnant I would drive past parks full of little kids and their moms, or women pushing strollers down a sidewalk and be so envious. I wanted that life! I wanted to load my little baby into her (yep, my fantasies always involved having a little girl. Ha!) stroller and go for a walk with another mom friend. Then a couple of years later I'd be spending beautiful spring and summer days and evenings at the park with our active toddler, having picnic lunches and suppers. They'd be independent enough that I could just sit and watch her go down the slides over and over. Ahhhh, that was the life.

Then I found out we were having triplets and I thought I'd never enjoy those picture perfect dreams I had. Sure, I got to go for walks when the boys were babies but it always looked like a big production to others. In my dreams I wasn't counting on people stopping their cars in the street just to gawk or yell questions to me. I'm not saying I minded it all the time, but every once in a while a mom of multiples would love to just go for a walk with her kids and not be noticed.

When the boys got old enough to take to parks and were walking, I definitely did not get to just sit on a bench and watch. I was constantly chasing after kids, keeping them away from the high parts of the play ground equipment, moving them back inside the fenced in area or telling them to take the mulch out of their mouth. Now that we're pushing 3 (gah! I don't like admitting that!), I feel like I'm constantly in head counting mode when we're out in public.

Last night though, I had that glimpse at the "normal" life I was longing for years ago. We picked up a pizza and some drinks and headed to a new-to-us park for a picnic dinner. The boys all walked independently from the car to the picnic area and didn't have to be told to stay away from the road. They all picked the same table (instead of each picking a different one and having to be coaxed to sit at the same one) and sat down and immediately said grace. We all ate and they were saying adorable things that were making Nick and me laugh.

After dinner they played for over an hour at the playground. At one point Nick and I were sitting side-by-side on a bench just watching our kids play. I think that was a first! It was a wonderful moment and I was definitely storing that memory in my heart for a later time. The boys also enjoyed playing together on a little merry-go-round and playing with some other kids.

(Taken with my cell phone, the only camera I had with me.)

As I sat there watching my boys play together I thought of all those dreams I had for my life as a mom. A year ago I would have questioned if I'd ever have "normal" moments with my kids when they were young. I'm here to tell you though (especially you moms of infant multiples or those expecting multiples) that you will get your normal life! It may not be normal all the time, but if you look for them you'll see the normal moments sprinkled throughout.

Taking Care of Yourself - A Giveaway

2010-04-15T10:36:00.000-05:00

I am a big proponent of moms getting a little "me time" at least once a week. Whether that solitary time is at the grocery store, the library, a coffee shop or hanging out with friends, Me Time is a must. Sadly, Me Time in your own home can be hard to come by at times.

Last week I got a big box from the folks at MyBlogSpark and Yoplait. Inside the box were some items to help me get some Me Time here at home! Inside was a nifty little spa/pampering set and a couple of coupons to try the new Yoplait Greek Yogurt for free.

I've been curious about Greek Yogurt for a while now, but have never gotten around to trying it. I'll be honest, the price is a little high for my liking. I'm used to paying 10 to 15 cents a cup for yogurt so seeing cups selling for $1 or more each was a bit shocking. You know what though? After trying the Yoplait Greek Yogurt I'll definitely be splurging on this stuff once in a while!

I shared the first cup, honey vanilla flavor, with my sister (she'd never had it before either) and we both agreed that while the texture is a bit different (thicker and yet slightly grainy or dry feeling on your tongue) it's quite good. And for 12 grams of protein per cup we'll put up with the odd texture! A couple of days later I tried the strawberry flavor mixed with some low-fat granola for breakfast. Talk about a breakfast power house - 18 grams or protein and 7 grams of fiber in that bowl of yogurt and granola! My sister also mentioned she'd heard that Greek Yogurt is awesome on your face, as a mask.

Would you like to receive your own gift box from MyBlogSpark and Yoplait? Here's how:

Do one or all of the following to enter, leaving a separate entry for each

How do you currently take care of yourself?
Become a follower of this blog or tell me if you already are.
Visit the blog of another commenter, leave them a comment and then leave another here!

Contest ends Monday, the 19th at 6pm and the winner will be announced Tuesday morning. Winner will have 48 hours to contact me and claim their prize or an alternate will be picked. Coupon for free Yoplait is not valid in some states, including: CA, ID, LA, MN, NV, NJ, ND and TN. You're still welcome to win the spa gift pack though!

If you're curious about Greek Yogurt and want to give it a shot now, you can follow this link for a .30 off coupon!

Learn to Spit - Video Clip of the Week

2010-04-14T14:07:00.000-05:00

As promised, here's a quick little video from the last week! This one is of Nick trying to teach Jackson how to rinse his mouth and spit the water out after brushing teeth. As you can see, Jackson just swallows the water...

Any tips on how to get the boys to not swallow the water right away? All three of them do it!

Just Mulling

2010-04-14T05:00:00.003-05:00

I'm a thinker. And a planner. And a day-dreamer. I probably waste far more time than I should doing those things, but I can't seem to help it. My mind starts to wonder and I start to dream and plan for the future. Doesn't matter if the plan is as mundane as what kind of landscaping I'd like to do around the house in the next 5 years or researching minivans; I seem to be easily entertained by just thinking.

I've been doing a lot of thinking lately about the March for Babies. Usually I don't have a problem reaching my goal or at least coming close. This year I stretched a bit and tacked on an extra $200 from what I raised last year. I figured more readers, improving economy, no problem. I'm seriously struggling this year though! I'm still $200 away from what I raised 2 years ago and over $400 away from what I raised last year. Huh.

On the other hand, in the last couple of days Team Three Cuties has flourished. There are people signing up to walk with us that I don't know. They know others who have signed up to walk with us, but they don't know me or my boys (unless they stalk the blog and then they sorta "know" my boys). I'm blown away that our team now has 11 walkers. Seriously, I'm in awe.

How about we switch fund-raising goals here for a minute. March of Dimes asks each walker to raise or donate themselves a minimum of $25. $200 is better though (obviously). Nick hasn't gotten around to e-mailing folks or begging on his Facebook page, so he's currently at $0. What do you say we give him a little surprise and help get him to his $25 minimum at least? You can find Nick's donation page HERE.

Oh and don't worry - this isn't the only post you'll get today. The boys and I are out for some morning fun, but after I get the rascals down for a nap I'll get the newest Video Clip of the Week uploaded and posted. I'm positive it'll make you smile and maybe even laugh!

Random Bits

2010-04-13T09:46:00.000-05:00

When I asked Chase just now what I should blog about he told me "oatmeal and going to McDonald's". Hmmmm.... I don't recall doing either of those things recently. Instead I'll entertain you all with random bits of information.

I'm being featured today over at Multiples and More! Fun!

Three Times the Giggles now has a fan page on Facebook! Yes, I know I have too much time on my hands... I thought of doing it 6-8 months ago but thought it was silly. Then this week I saw some blogs I read started fan pages and so I caved to the peer pressure yesterday. You can become a fan by using the little "fan box" to the right, or by clicking here.

I added a new cookie to my Etsy Shop yesterday! Meet The C3 Cookie!

Just a little cookie I whipped up that contains chocolate chips, coconut and dried cranberries.

We're now a week into this one car family thing and so far it's not been too terrible. There have been a couple of afternoons it would have been nice to run an errand with the boys and then stop off at Sonic for a Happy Hour Diet Coke, but I've survived.

I'm finally almost done with the Couch to 5K running program. I was derailed for almost 3 months thanks to the exceptionally cold and snowy winter we had here, but I got right back into it just as soon as the paths were clear of snow. Today I started Week 9 - the final week!

On Thursday I'll have a giveaway for you all!

Last night I updated our 365 Blog, so there are lots of pictures there you can see!

That's all I've got. Oh and these cute pictures of the boys....

When The Children Are Annoying...

2010-04-12T11:19:00.000-05:00

Before I get into how obnoxious my kids were yesterday and how I dealt with them, I wanted to give you a March for Babies update! (Expect to see these a lot in the next 20 days.) Team Three Cuties is now up to 8 walkers! Wow! Two years ago it was just me (and the boys), last year I had my sister and a friend join me bringing us up to 3 walkers and this year we have 8! Woohoo! Even better, we're up to almost $600 raised as a team. My personal goal crept a little higher this weekend up to $335. I still have a long way to go though before I hit my goal of $1,000. Can you spare $5 or $10 to help give babies a healthy shot at life? Today alone 1,500 babies will be born too early! Donate HERE please!

Ok, on to the boys. They were something else yesterday. I knew it was going to be rough when I woke up at 6:39am to a face staring at me. I ordered the boys back to bed, but they didn't listen so well. The morning continued with fighting, biting, button pushing and time outs. I looked at the clock to see if it was almost nap time and was dismayed to see it was only 9:30. GAAAAH!

I finally ordered the boys all outside, where they continued to annoy the crud out of me and each other. I knew my attitude was terrible and growing worse by the minute but I wasn't sure what else to try to bring myself out of the funk and attempt to bring the boys out of their naughty streak.

After looking around my kitchen in desperation my eyes landed on the cabinet I keep my camera in. "Yes!" I thought, "I'll take pictures of the boys. That should cheer me up." After about 10 minutes of shooting (mostly Jackson) I was in a better mood even though the boys weren't.

Really, how could I stay annoyed with faces like these?

Chase, eating "sticky sandwich" (a fluffernutter - marshmallow fluff and peanut butter)

Multiples and More Question of the Week - How to Grocery Shop on a Budget

2010-04-11T08:20:00.000-05:00

When I saw today's question over at Multiples and More I just knew I had to take part today. The question? How to grocery shop on a budget.

If you aren't regular reader here at Three Times the Giggles you probably aren't familiar with my weekly Saturday Savings posts. If not, just check out my post from yesterday for a little sampling in what I can do with my grocery budget ($310 a month including all food, cleaning supplies, paper supplies and health and beauty products)! Here is a brief run down of my hottest grocery saving tips:

Be wary of club warehouses (Sam's Club, Costco, etc) Quite often you can get the items they sell there for less money just by carefully shopping the sales and using coupons at the local grocery stores. We only buy a few select items at Sam's Club once a month - Apple Juice (which the price has gone up on actually and it is now the same price as rock bottom sale prices at one of the nearby grocery stores), french toast sticks and either Goldfish or Animal Crackers. Watch the prices of the items you do buy - we used to always buy a 5 pound block of cheese once a month but their prices went up and up and up and it's no longer smart to buy cheese there.

Watch the fliers and buy only the rock bottom priced stuff Sure, you can just buy stuff that's on sale and do ok for yourself, but to really maximize that budget you need to buy when the price is rock bottom. Whether you keep track of the prices yourself (I have a spreadsheet where I track Organic stuff) or you subscribe to a web service (like The Grocery Game) you'll want to know when that box of Rice Krispies is at the lowest sale price you'll see for a while and when to pair it with the coupon you've been hanging on to. That's how you get big boxes of cereal for .90 each instead of the $3 or $4 they would charge you at full price. Free sites like Coupon Mom do publish the sale prices and coupon match ups for products. It's a good tool but be aware that they simply publish everything that's on sale that has a coupon, so you'll need to watch the numbers for yourself to see if it's a rock bottom price and the time to buy.
Stock Up! When you see an awesome price on something and there's no limit to how many you can buy, stock up! This weekend a store was selling Bird's Eye Frozen Veggies for only .66 a bag with no limit, so I snagged 10! Sure, I don't need 10 right now but now hopefully those 10 will last until the next great sale. If I had a deep freezer I'd of likely bought twice that.

Subscribe to the paper Here in Kansas City it'll cost you $2 to buy the Sunday paper in the store. If you subscribe on a deal though you can get it delivered right to your house (along with the Friday and Saturday papers too) for only $1. When they try to raise your price after the introductory rate runs out (usually a 6 months period), tell them you want the lower rate still and they'll usually extend it.

Stack, Stack, Stack If you have a store nearby that produces their own coupons then take advantage. If a coupon says "store coupon" then you can "stack it" with a manufacturer's coupon. Example: I was in Target this weekend with a Target coupon good for $1 off Windex and a manufacturer's coupon good for .55 off Windex. I used both coupons on one bottle of Windex and got it for .95!

Generic is not always cheapest So often I hear people say "just buy generic, it's cheaper" but the reality is you can usually buy the name brand for cheaper if you're shopping with coupons and rock bottom pricing! It's rare to see generic items in my Saturday Savings posts and that's because they often are not cheaper.

CVS Extra Care Bucks If you have a CVS nearby and you aren't taking advantage of their Extra Care Bucks you're missing out! By earning ECB's and then rolling them into your next purchase (where you hopefully are earning more ECB's) you can get stuff super cheap. My most exciting one was when I purchased $65 worth of stuff and paid just $8 out of pocket and earned another $10 in ECBs.

Those are just a few of my favorite tips. Hope they help you save some money!

Saturday Savings - Veggies and Cereal Anyone?

2010-04-10T09:01:00.000-05:00

Even though my shopping lists were relatively short yesterday, I managed to do some serious stocking up when it came to cereal and frozen veggies! The pile below ran me $67.15 but was worth more than twice that.

HyVee:

1% Milk - 3 gallons

Eggs - 2 dozen

Bread - 2 loaves

Deli Ham - 1 pound

Flat Out Wraps - 2 packages

Kellogg's Special K

Kellogg's Rice Krispies - 2 boxes

Kellogg's Crispix - 2 boxes

Braeburn Apples - 3.16 pounds

Chicken Breast - 3.6 pounds

Hen House:

American Beauty Pasta - 4 bags

Danimals Yogurt - 2 boxes

Birds Eye Frozen Veggies - 10 bags

Price Chopper:

Frozen Salmon - 6 fillets

Boneless Skinless Chicken Breast - 3.85 pounds

Post Alpha-Bits Cereal - 2 boxes

Orbits Gum

Black Berries - 2 containers @ 6oz each

Grapefruit - 3

Crayola Washable Poster Paints - 3 tubes

The Deals: I'm going to declare the biggest steal of the day being the frozen veggies at Hen House. Bags of frozen veggies that are normally $1.82 are currently marked down to .66 each (64% off) and there's no limit! I snagged 10 bags because I was pretty sure that was all I could fit in my freezer. Also at Hen House I got the pasta for .88 each and yogurt for .98 each.

HyVee has a great cereal stock up deal, especially if you have two coupons like I did! I scored 5 boxes of cereal for only .90 each (76% off)! I also picked up some split chicken breast for .88 a pound (62% off) and the Flat Out wraps were BOGO. If you haven't had those Flat Out wraps, now is the time to try them! They're low cal, but high fiber and make awesome wraps or even pizzas in the oven.

At Price Chopper I picked up some boneless skinless chicken breast for $1.19 a pound (64% off) and the salmon fillets were $1 each (33% off). The blackberries were a bit of a splurge considering I think even .99 is outrageous for a tiny container of blackberries (the boys easily polished one off at lunch yesterday and we had to keep them from grabbing the second), but considering the price is normally a whopping $3.99 I figured I'd take advantage and give the boys something a little different. I also picked up some Alpha-Bits for .99 a box (73% off). In the clearance cart I found the Crayola Washable Poster Paints for only .69 each!

Total Before Sales, Tax and Coupons: $133.96

Total After Sales and Coupons: $61.88 - 54% off

Living Like No One Else

2010-04-09T08:45:00.000-05:00

I love Dave Ramsey. He's opened my eyes to how much debt hurts your long-term financial future and he's opened my eyes to how quickly you can get out of debt with some determination.

When Nick and I got married we had about $1,000 in CC debt between us, which really isn't that bad considering how high the national average is per person. We also each had a car loan and each had a student loan. We did work hard to pay down the CC fast, but it never dawned on us to try to pay down the other loans early. That is, until I read Dave Ramsey's The Total Money Makeover: A Proven Plan for Financial Fitness After reading the book I was suddenly inspired to have us dump our remaining debt (just one car payment and 2 student loans at this point). It took me a while to get Nick convinced, but eventually it happened.

First we paid off the rest of the car (my Neon), then we started chipping away at the student loans. Mine was the smaller of the two, so we worked on mine first. We finally paid it all off last fall - 4 years early! Then we started working on Nick's student loan. We had some set backs along the way when various large car repairs came up, but last week Nick paid off the remainder of the loan using a big chunk of our tax refund. WOOHOO! We're (almost) Debt Free! Now all we have left is our mortgage (which we just refinanced to a lower interest rate, saving us $100 a month).

Last week we also were dealt another financial blow by the Jeep. We've been saying for months and months that we're going to get rid of it and finally buy a minivan, but it took longer to pay off the student loans than we had hoped. We spent $900 on that Jeep in February and when the check engine light came on again a couple of weeks ago and we were told it would be another $500-$800 to fix we said "enough!". Nick and I had a financial pow-wow and came up with a plan.

Dave Ramsey talks about living like no one else now so that you can really live like no one else later. The last thing a newly out of debt family wants to do is run to the nearest bank and take out a several thousand dollar loan for a car. So we're going to live like no one else. We've become a one car family. Yep. We've slapped a for sale sign on the Jeep (and have had 3 people look at it in the last 4 days) and are making due with just the Neon. Good thing we bought the narrowest car seats on the market and can fit all three in the back seat!

The grand plan? Sell the Jeep (it'll make a great car for someone, we just don't want to keep spending money on a car that is too small for us) and do some serious saving in the next 2 months. We have a target date of June 1st; by that day we want to have purchased a van either totally for cash or pretty darn close to it. If we have to borrow a thousand or two, it's not the end of the world. We'd be able to pay that down completely in a matter of a few months.

Who'd of guessed our new "family car" would be a tiny, yellow Dodge Neon? Not me! But I'm willing to live like no one else right now so that we can live like no one else later!

March for Babies update: Two friends have stepped forward and committed to walking with team Three Cuties, so we're back up to 6 walkers! Yay!! Now to just chip away at that lofty fund-raising goal I have...

Family Fun

2010-04-08T15:23:00.000-05:00

Last weekend Nick sort of had a 4 day weekend. I say sort of only because he did go to one of the Easter services on Saturday afternoon to help out and then he signed one of us up to help in the nursery Easter Sunday and I took that shift. Basically though, he was off from Friday-Monday. It was great having him around!

Monday morning some rain and storms passed through early and then it was supposed to clear off a bit. We took advantage of the impending sunshine and took the boys to the zoo! Even though I had my camera with me the whole time, I refrained from taking it out and snapping shots of every little thing. Towards the end of our time there, I did snap a few shots of the boys waiting for the Tram and then on the Tram.

Chase

Jackson

Tyler

The "Put the camera away, Mom" look

March for Babies update: Bad news! I've lost two of my walkers! Bummer! Any of my KC reader friends want to step up and walk in their place? On the brighter side, thanks for the donations that have been steadily coming in! We're at about 30% of my goal now. I figure if I can raise $30 a day between now and the walk I should be able to hit my goal. Can you give even $5? Remember, if each of my regular readers gives just $5 I'll blow my goal out of the water!