Heads Up!

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?

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!

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

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?

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!

1. Leave a comment saying what you need (or just really want) to buy right now.
2. Become a follower of this blog and leave a separate comment (or let me know if you already follow).
3. Check out the blog, and leave a comment, of another commenter - then leave another comment here.
4. 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

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

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.