Wednesday, May 25, 2011
Saturday, May 21, 2011
Things I do to save sanity and money
So Friday was a dinner swap. I have one Monday night as well. My Monday night is an established, once-a month, 10 family very well run swap that I've been doing regularily for, oh, maybe 6 months now? Anyways, I like the idea of only cooking once a month, so I'm trying to get a second group going. Right now 5 families (not necessarily the same families) swap every other month. We meet on a 1st or 3rd Friday and bring our kids over as soon as we're done doing our morning errands. This time for my chicken parmesan (see my post about 40 pounds of chicken) I got a meatloaf, a swiss chicken, a beef stroganoff and enchiladas in return. Not too shabby, eh? I also like the idea of when I see my ingredients on sale, I can stock up and use them to make the same meal and trade with someone who got different stuff on sale.
This morning Carter and his friend were invited to a classmate's birthday party at Chuck E. Cheese. I'm not personally a fan of Chuck E Cheese. He and his crack-like inducing games sound like a nightmarish way to spend 2 hours. Esp at 9:30 in the morning. Luckily it was a drop-off party. Let me explain this concept to my friends who still just have toddlers or preschoolers at home. Around Age 6, some of the birthday parties your child will be invited to will a) not require you to stay and b) be with people you don't really know that well, so 1) you don't know if you have enough in common to stay and chat them up without it being awkward 2) they could be axemurderers, but do have a child the same age as yours and somehow your child knows theirs. Anyways, you are allowed to "drop off" your child and go do whatever you need to do for a few hours while your kid gets all jacked up on sugar and excitement by another parent. It means, in exchange for a birthday present, your child gets to have a ton of fun and you get 1-2 glorious hours by yourself. When Carter had his party, I allowed drop off because I know what an incredible gift this is to other parents. I have to be at the party anyways, it's my kid, I may as well bless someone else with this gift...
Anyways, so I left Henri and Valerie with a half-awake Paul before he could figure out exactly what was going on. Besides, he owed me since he'd be playing games from noon on until all hours of the evening. I dropped the boys off, introduced them and myself and thanked the mom for allowing this glorious time to myself. I then headed across the parking lot to the Jubilee Heart & Home Thrift Store . I'd never been there before. I liked that they were open at 9:30 on a Saturday morning, they had lots of volunteers helping and organizing (which was good, because the sizes were sort of right, there were a lot of things out of place in the clothing), they also had nice stuff at REALLY good prices. Pretty much all I had time to check out was the women's clothing. I tried on probably 70 pieces. Being on the Eastside, it had nice stuff, though I'm learning that rich ladies are skinny ladies. A lot of the great stuff was size Small. But no matter, I found a few gems.
Item one was a lovely brown Buxton laptop bag about $60-$80 new for a steal at $8 with a small scuff on the back.
Item two was a Nine West purch with brown crock in good shape with the little keychain attached. I would guess it would be $55 new I got it for $4. I like it because it's a little larger than my everyday Coach bag I carry.
I got these tops for $4 each...
Cute black lace top with liner. I promise to wear black under it when I actually leave the house in it.
cute, comfy assemetrical pink shirt...
Stretchy Brown top with tie-back-Banana Republic brand, my own skirt...
Cute & comfy summer skirt-J Crew with my own blouse...
Entire outfits from the store... $8 & $10 total for top and skirt... the first top is a cute sweater tank with rose detail.
Cute top with my cami...
I also got two other unnoteworthy tops. so it was successful. Fun, summer clothes!
This morning Carter and his friend were invited to a classmate's birthday party at Chuck E. Cheese. I'm not personally a fan of Chuck E Cheese. He and his crack-like inducing games sound like a nightmarish way to spend 2 hours. Esp at 9:30 in the morning. Luckily it was a drop-off party. Let me explain this concept to my friends who still just have toddlers or preschoolers at home. Around Age 6, some of the birthday parties your child will be invited to will a) not require you to stay and b) be with people you don't really know that well, so 1) you don't know if you have enough in common to stay and chat them up without it being awkward 2) they could be axemurderers, but do have a child the same age as yours and somehow your child knows theirs. Anyways, you are allowed to "drop off" your child and go do whatever you need to do for a few hours while your kid gets all jacked up on sugar and excitement by another parent. It means, in exchange for a birthday present, your child gets to have a ton of fun and you get 1-2 glorious hours by yourself. When Carter had his party, I allowed drop off because I know what an incredible gift this is to other parents. I have to be at the party anyways, it's my kid, I may as well bless someone else with this gift...
Anyways, so I left Henri and Valerie with a half-awake Paul before he could figure out exactly what was going on. Besides, he owed me since he'd be playing games from noon on until all hours of the evening. I dropped the boys off, introduced them and myself and thanked the mom for allowing this glorious time to myself. I then headed across the parking lot to the Jubilee Heart & Home Thrift Store . I'd never been there before. I liked that they were open at 9:30 on a Saturday morning, they had lots of volunteers helping and organizing (which was good, because the sizes were sort of right, there were a lot of things out of place in the clothing), they also had nice stuff at REALLY good prices. Pretty much all I had time to check out was the women's clothing. I tried on probably 70 pieces. Being on the Eastside, it had nice stuff, though I'm learning that rich ladies are skinny ladies. A lot of the great stuff was size Small. But no matter, I found a few gems.
Item one was a lovely brown Buxton laptop bag about $60-$80 new for a steal at $8 with a small scuff on the back.
Item two was a Nine West purch with brown crock in good shape with the little keychain attached. I would guess it would be $55 new I got it for $4. I like it because it's a little larger than my everyday Coach bag I carry.
I got these tops for $4 each...
Cute black lace top with liner. I promise to wear black under it when I actually leave the house in it.
cute, comfy assemetrical pink shirt...
Stretchy Brown top with tie-back-Banana Republic brand, my own skirt...
Entire outfits from the store... $8 & $10 total for top and skirt... the first top is a cute sweater tank with rose detail.
This one I love the bottom line of the skirt!
Cute top with my cami...
I also got two other unnoteworthy tops. so it was successful. Fun, summer clothes!
Friday, May 20, 2011
MOPs end of year tea
My Thursday MOPs has a ladie's tea and testimony time at the end of the year. Our table leader thought it would be fun if we had hats for our tea :) I got my hot glue gun, silk flowers and an old cap of Paul's and got to work...
Wednesday, May 18, 2011
Goin' on a Bear Hunt...
Before I tell you about the bear hunt, I'll update about our health. We all got better on the antibiotics. Then yesterday I got stuffy again and without going into too much detail, let's say my infection is not gone. I called the doctor this morning and she's called in some stronger antibiotics for me. The babies seem fine, though. Valerie has a followup to be sure her infection is gone on Friday.
Monday swimming was cancelled from a "brown out" Tuesday we went to gym class like normal and today was bible study, Costco trip and then I came home to the phone calls.
There was a bear at Carter's school! It was featured on the local news. They went on partial lockdown and then decided not to let students walk home and gave parents to option of bussing (if you did not call) or picking up by car (if you call). I figured Carter would love riding the bus, so I set up camp with the babies in the front yard and we waited. And waited. Carter's teacher called 1/2 hour after end of school asking if I was picking him up. I said we were waiting for the bus. I guess Carter couldn't describe which side of the school he lived on (one bus went north, one went south) so they were trying to figure out which bus to put him on.
He showed up the last off with the playground teacher, all smiles.
Us waiting...
Carter coming off the bus...
Here's his tale...
Oh, and can't forget. Paul came home one day this week with this lovely mark on his head. Apparently they were screwing around at work (some balancing game?) and he fell. He walked in the door and I said, "um, no offense, but what the hell happened to you?
\
Monday swimming was cancelled from a "brown out" Tuesday we went to gym class like normal and today was bible study, Costco trip and then I came home to the phone calls.
There was a bear at Carter's school! It was featured on the local news. They went on partial lockdown and then decided not to let students walk home and gave parents to option of bussing (if you did not call) or picking up by car (if you call). I figured Carter would love riding the bus, so I set up camp with the babies in the front yard and we waited. And waited. Carter's teacher called 1/2 hour after end of school asking if I was picking him up. I said we were waiting for the bus. I guess Carter couldn't describe which side of the school he lived on (one bus went north, one went south) so they were trying to figure out which bus to put him on.
He showed up the last off with the playground teacher, all smiles.
Us waiting...
Carter coming off the bus...
Here's his tale...
Oh, and can't forget. Paul came home one day this week with this lovely mark on his head. Apparently they were screwing around at work (some balancing game?) and he fell. He walked in the door and I said, "um, no offense, but what the hell happened to you?
Saturday, May 14, 2011
This week
So Tuesday at 9:30 appt, the babies got their diagnosis of ear infections, I got mine of sinus infection at 4:30 appointment, which I had all 3 kids at where we waited for an hour and I got my tetnus shot and the kids were angels. We'd stopped at Trader Joes for snacks on the way, and between the snacks and a few rounds of making funny faces, we made it through the wait.
That evening, I still go to the finance committee meeting because I also have a cleaner to drop off as well as I need to pay the church's bills since we were too sick to go to church Sunday when I usually pay them, and I had cookies & rolls for the Mary Magdeline dinner Saturday (no, I did not bake any of them, I got them at Costco. Normally, yes, I would bake them all, but I'm sick, so I cut myself some slack and got them at Costco)
Wednesday I was still feeling pretty miserable, though definitely better with antibiotics, so the only thing we really did was left the house to deliver a meal to Bridget from bible study who just moved and was having to clean out her old house that day, so she was glad to have a 15 minute meal (French potatoes, which I am also making for Tami who just had a baby and I'll get those to her next Wed. Also made a batch of Cranberry chicken for Melissa who had a baby as well & bring it to MOPs).
My dad came over to diagnose my fritzy dishwasher. Found a circuit board with a burn mark in it, so ordered the $100 part online. It arrived Friday about 10 minutes after he did to install it so I'm back in business with my dishes! My sweet mom did the dishes by hand from Wed nights' dinner & helped me give the kids a bath since it had been a few days since I'd felt well enough to give them one.
So that night, we watch Extreme Couponing as Amber from Coupon Connections NW is on. She came to speak to my Evergreen MOPs group a few months ago and is friends with Angelique from CHCC MOPs group, so I talked Paul into watching. Her babysitter turned out to be someone he knew from the curling club!
Thursday we walked Carter to school, then I ran into Amanda from MOPs on my way to the library and grocery store, so I got her a cup of coffe and had a few minutes of adult chit chat, esp when I also ran into Dani from the curling club and talked about Extreme Couponing from the night before. Picked up my library holds (Breakfast at Sally's & Having a Mary Spirit) and headed back home.
Henri and I decided to wash the car, so I hoisted Valerie in the Ergo on my back and had Henri stay on the garage steps while I pulled the car out of the garage on to the driveway. We wash the car as best we can and I need to pull it back in but have nightmares of backing over a child, so I put Henri in the backseat (not buckled, we are going about 10 feet into the garage). We hit a baby swing with the rearview mirror (we have a small garage with storage and two cars parked in it) so I quickly get out (with the engine running) to move it aside so I can finish pulling in. Go to get back in the car and Henri has locked all the doors. I take a deep breath and give him 60 seconds to open the doors before I decide to call the police. Luckily I talked him into opening them in about 50. This boy is going to be the death of me, I swear!
We go and walk to pick up Carter.
Friday, Paul drops Carter off at school so I can be early for our CHCC MOPs spa day. I got a massage, tried on some makeup, got to put out my creative memories stuff and also bought a little something for Valerie (when it arrives I'll put up a picture, don't you worry). My arms are full of: girl stuff for Melissa, boy stuff for Keri, Meal for Melissa, my CM stuff, kids' diaper bag and my purse.
We get home, my dad does the dishwasher thing, I do my workout. I'm now trying Jillian Michael's Ripped in 30 since I can do the 3rd workout on 30 day shred and still need to lose 9 pounds. I did week 1 last week and this since I was sick in between and will start Week 2 next week. Then walk to the pharmacy to get Paul more Vitamin D (he's on 50,000 units twice a week for 8 weeks, then 5,000 for 4 weeks, then a retest) and then to pickup Carter at school.
We get home and Henri and I play with two ladybugs we find on the tree out front until they give up on us and fly away, then Jackie and her girls from down the street stop by after getting their mail and hang out with us in the backyard for 10-15 minutes. Then I put Valerie in the backyard and Henri and I mow, edge weed eat the front yard (he's got his own plastic version of my tools). We head back inside to start dinner, when Amber from CHCC shows up to pick up some stuff from my garage, then I finish up dinner while she's there and Paul comes home and we watch Grey's Anatomy after bedtime before I fall asleep.
The little kids are both waking up at 4:30 for some warm milk then going back to sleep, so I'm still in that tired mom fog,but it's not as bad as it's been in the past.
Saturday Paul is curling, so I take Henri to gym to make up the class we missed while we were at the doctor Tuesday (Carter watches Valerie) then we drop off some shorts I found in Henri's drawer that were practically new at the consignment shop and to McClendon's Hardware for some grabbers. Carter's decided that "litter is lame" and we decide to get some grabbers to pick up trash from the routes to and from school. So if you see us picking up trash with our grabbers, we're not due community service, we just are tired of seeing trash everywhere. Carter asks things like, "who leaves trash everywhere?" " Why would someone think it is ok to throw trash out on the side of the road?" The tree hugger in my LOVEs hearing this, so I pretty much must support his desire to have a cleaner world.
After we head home to switch Carter's carseat which was in Paul's car when he drove off this morning for Jackie's that we borrowed, we head south to my grandparent's place. After a picnic outside, we go back to their place to play for a little bit and Valerie takes a nap while grandma AND grandpa hold her. After about an almost 4 hour visit, we head back home, grab some corndogs to eat in the car, Toys R Us giftcards from the boys' birthdays/Christmas and head to Toys R Us for a few things for the kids as well as some birthday gifts we have coming up.
Then we headed into Downtown Seattle to my very talented cousin Jeremy's Art Walk that he's part of at the old Rainier Beer brewery which has been turned into lofts. So fun. The kids had fun too because the brewery is very confusing, so to make sure everyone hit every studio, the artists' gave out a map and if you had it signed/stamped at each place you could turn it in for a chance to win one of three pieces of art. Take a treasure hunt like that (follow map & clues to possibly get a treasure) with the fact that the elevator required a code on a keypad to get where you were going and we got to see the kids' funnest cousin and you had a fun evening outing we all enjoyed. Jeremy got a kick out of us showing up (we didn't let him, know, I saw it on my grandma's facebook on her computer when I was over there) but me by myself with Carter and Henri on my back and Valerie on my front. See a sampling of his art here. Oh, and just as we were about to leave Henri of course grabbed a PIECE of someone's sculpture. Thank goodness it was a work in process not put together fully and a bystander luckily caught him. The artist was kind and joked he was a little disappointed about not having an "unintentional sale" of his artwork that night. Seriously, not a day goes by when Henri does not try to give me a heart attack, hence my devotion to Jillian and getting back in shape.
Now we are home, Paul is home and we're all worn out. I'm working in the nursery at church tomorrow, which should be pretty easy since everyone is at the church retreat this weekend.
That evening, I still go to the finance committee meeting because I also have a cleaner to drop off as well as I need to pay the church's bills since we were too sick to go to church Sunday when I usually pay them, and I had cookies & rolls for the Mary Magdeline dinner Saturday (no, I did not bake any of them, I got them at Costco. Normally, yes, I would bake them all, but I'm sick, so I cut myself some slack and got them at Costco)
Wednesday I was still feeling pretty miserable, though definitely better with antibiotics, so the only thing we really did was left the house to deliver a meal to Bridget from bible study who just moved and was having to clean out her old house that day, so she was glad to have a 15 minute meal (French potatoes, which I am also making for Tami who just had a baby and I'll get those to her next Wed. Also made a batch of Cranberry chicken for Melissa who had a baby as well & bring it to MOPs).
My dad came over to diagnose my fritzy dishwasher. Found a circuit board with a burn mark in it, so ordered the $100 part online. It arrived Friday about 10 minutes after he did to install it so I'm back in business with my dishes! My sweet mom did the dishes by hand from Wed nights' dinner & helped me give the kids a bath since it had been a few days since I'd felt well enough to give them one.
So that night, we watch Extreme Couponing as Amber from Coupon Connections NW is on. She came to speak to my Evergreen MOPs group a few months ago and is friends with Angelique from CHCC MOPs group, so I talked Paul into watching. Her babysitter turned out to be someone he knew from the curling club!
Thursday we walked Carter to school, then I ran into Amanda from MOPs on my way to the library and grocery store, so I got her a cup of coffe and had a few minutes of adult chit chat, esp when I also ran into Dani from the curling club and talked about Extreme Couponing from the night before. Picked up my library holds (Breakfast at Sally's & Having a Mary Spirit) and headed back home.
Henri and I decided to wash the car, so I hoisted Valerie in the Ergo on my back and had Henri stay on the garage steps while I pulled the car out of the garage on to the driveway. We wash the car as best we can and I need to pull it back in but have nightmares of backing over a child, so I put Henri in the backseat (not buckled, we are going about 10 feet into the garage). We hit a baby swing with the rearview mirror (we have a small garage with storage and two cars parked in it) so I quickly get out (with the engine running) to move it aside so I can finish pulling in. Go to get back in the car and Henri has locked all the doors. I take a deep breath and give him 60 seconds to open the doors before I decide to call the police. Luckily I talked him into opening them in about 50. This boy is going to be the death of me, I swear!
We go and walk to pick up Carter.
Friday, Paul drops Carter off at school so I can be early for our CHCC MOPs spa day. I got a massage, tried on some makeup, got to put out my creative memories stuff and also bought a little something for Valerie (when it arrives I'll put up a picture, don't you worry). My arms are full of: girl stuff for Melissa, boy stuff for Keri, Meal for Melissa, my CM stuff, kids' diaper bag and my purse.
We get home, my dad does the dishwasher thing, I do my workout. I'm now trying Jillian Michael's Ripped in 30 since I can do the 3rd workout on 30 day shred and still need to lose 9 pounds. I did week 1 last week and this since I was sick in between and will start Week 2 next week. Then walk to the pharmacy to get Paul more Vitamin D (he's on 50,000 units twice a week for 8 weeks, then 5,000 for 4 weeks, then a retest) and then to pickup Carter at school.
We get home and Henri and I play with two ladybugs we find on the tree out front until they give up on us and fly away, then Jackie and her girls from down the street stop by after getting their mail and hang out with us in the backyard for 10-15 minutes. Then I put Valerie in the backyard and Henri and I mow, edge weed eat the front yard (he's got his own plastic version of my tools). We head back inside to start dinner, when Amber from CHCC shows up to pick up some stuff from my garage, then I finish up dinner while she's there and Paul comes home and we watch Grey's Anatomy after bedtime before I fall asleep.
The little kids are both waking up at 4:30 for some warm milk then going back to sleep, so I'm still in that tired mom fog,but it's not as bad as it's been in the past.
Saturday Paul is curling, so I take Henri to gym to make up the class we missed while we were at the doctor Tuesday (Carter watches Valerie) then we drop off some shorts I found in Henri's drawer that were practically new at the consignment shop and to McClendon's Hardware for some grabbers. Carter's decided that "litter is lame" and we decide to get some grabbers to pick up trash from the routes to and from school. So if you see us picking up trash with our grabbers, we're not due community service, we just are tired of seeing trash everywhere. Carter asks things like, "who leaves trash everywhere?" " Why would someone think it is ok to throw trash out on the side of the road?" The tree hugger in my LOVEs hearing this, so I pretty much must support his desire to have a cleaner world.
After we head home to switch Carter's carseat which was in Paul's car when he drove off this morning for Jackie's that we borrowed, we head south to my grandparent's place. After a picnic outside, we go back to their place to play for a little bit and Valerie takes a nap while grandma AND grandpa hold her. After about an almost 4 hour visit, we head back home, grab some corndogs to eat in the car, Toys R Us giftcards from the boys' birthdays/Christmas and head to Toys R Us for a few things for the kids as well as some birthday gifts we have coming up.
Then we headed into Downtown Seattle to my very talented cousin Jeremy's Art Walk that he's part of at the old Rainier Beer brewery which has been turned into lofts. So fun. The kids had fun too because the brewery is very confusing, so to make sure everyone hit every studio, the artists' gave out a map and if you had it signed/stamped at each place you could turn it in for a chance to win one of three pieces of art. Take a treasure hunt like that (follow map & clues to possibly get a treasure) with the fact that the elevator required a code on a keypad to get where you were going and we got to see the kids' funnest cousin and you had a fun evening outing we all enjoyed. Jeremy got a kick out of us showing up (we didn't let him, know, I saw it on my grandma's facebook on her computer when I was over there) but me by myself with Carter and Henri on my back and Valerie on my front. See a sampling of his art here. Oh, and just as we were about to leave Henri of course grabbed a PIECE of someone's sculpture. Thank goodness it was a work in process not put together fully and a bystander luckily caught him. The artist was kind and joked he was a little disappointed about not having an "unintentional sale" of his artwork that night. Seriously, not a day goes by when Henri does not try to give me a heart attack, hence my devotion to Jillian and getting back in shape.
Now we are home, Paul is home and we're all worn out. I'm working in the nursery at church tomorrow, which should be pretty easy since everyone is at the church retreat this weekend.
Wednesday, May 11, 2011
What happens when all the babies are sick
Everyone wants on momma's lap...
of course Valerie, who was whining as much as Henri for some mommy love stops to laugh for Carter and the camera-stinker!
Tuesday, May 10, 2011
Fun videos of the little ones, update on health
Ear infections for Henri & Valerie... didn't bother picking up the prescriptions since I'm guessing I'll get one for a sinus infection at my appt this afternoon. Good news is I'm not going crazy that Henri's growing (I think I need to move him from 24 m to 2T-finally!) he's 27 pounds now! (He's 2 1/2 the end of this month)
Valerie always takes off her socks and loves to push on the tray when she eats.
Somehow they all fit in the playtent
Valerie always takes off her socks and loves to push on the tray when she eats.
Henri likes to ride around on his ride-on toy (see movie)
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