Christmas Carolers

Ryan and I made these carolers today. Aren't they cute? You can find the instructions here.

New Moon

I've had four hours of sleep, but I don't care. Last night I went to a New Moon party and then went to see New Moon. It was worth not getting much sleep. It's not something I do at all, but was so glad that Jenni first got me hooked on the Twilight Saga and then dragged my butt to see the movie last night.

Jenni's party consisted of watching (well kinda) Twilight and making Team Jacob and Team Edward shirts, a Jacob tattoo hunt and a trivia game. Then we drove to the theater two hours before it started and were glad to sit in the perfect seats!

New Moon was WAY better than Twilight and I loved every minute of it. I loved how the audience was really into the movie to keep it quite and really watched. There was NO talking, just lots laughing and sighs and ohs at different parts. We laughed and just had a blast! Can't wait for June 30, 2010 when Eclipse comes out!!!

Vote for Timothy!

Vote for me in this contest!

Contest details

New website love

I have a new website I love and I wanted to share it with you guys. The site is called No Time for Flash Cards and it had some awesome crafts and awesome book lists for kids. I can see us spending some time at the library this week looking for these books.

There are other craft websites that I go to often like Enchanted Learning and DLTK's crafts for kids. For a few months now I have also been borrowing Pack o Fun magazine from the library and I also subscribe to Family Fun, though I will say that most of the crafts in these magazines are for older kids. Ryan likes to glue, so I often do a lot of the work and just let him glue.

I really love doing crafts with the kids, though Tim is still at the stage of putting EVERYTHING into his mouth. He also likes the glue stick and has kind of figured it all out. Winter is a big craft time in our house since we can't stay outside running around at the park for hours on end.

A big thanks to Sarah for asking about crafting sites on Facebook because it got me thinking about this post and a big thanks to Val for sharing No Time for Flash Cards with us!

Mommy Tip

When Ryan was first born, my mother gave me a tip that I use a lot. She said I shouldn't worry too much about keeping the house clean while he was little, but that maybe I could do one thing every day to keep things some-what nice. I've used that tip right up until now and it works wonderfully for me.

Growing up I hated how mom left all the chores until Saturday and I didn't want to do that to my kids. It makes for a boring Saturday, though in my mother's defense I will say we always had time for the beach every Saturday, unless it was raining.

Today, I cleaned the bathroom and washed all the laundry. The laundry is not all put away yet... that may be for tomorrow as well as sweeping the kitchen floor. I've found the one thing a day is nice. I still get the house clean, but I don't get worn out trying to do a marathon cleaning event nor to I ignore the kids for an entire day. A few minutes here and a few minutes there and my one thing is usually done.

Got any mommy tips for me? I'd be interested to hear them!

Updates

Jaxson is out of the hospital, at home and playing! I am so excited about this bit of news.

I got a free Dunkin Donuts breakfast on Friday. Told you Friday the 13th is my lucky day!

We're in Manchester having an awesome time with friends and, therefore, I do not have time to write.

Happy weekend to all!

Friday the 13th

I like Friday the 13th. I consider 13 my lucky number. Nothing bad will happen today...

Wikipedia has lots to say about Friday the 13th and the superstitions that surround this day. This About.com article was rather interesting to read about Friday the 13th and how that day might be considered hazardous to your health. There are tons more sites with lots more about Friday the 13th, but I won't list them all. They had lots to say and were all equally interesting.

Happy Friday the 13th. May it be a happy day for you!

**********

On a separate note, some of you have asked about Jaxson. I haven't had an update as of this early morning posting. I hope to know more later. Thanks for your thoughts and prayers for the little kiddo.

Jaxson

This little cutie is Jaxson. He's my friend, Merri's little boy. He needs your prayers. He's in the hospital with H1N1. He hasn't had a very good couple of weeks and I know poor Merri must be exhausted and worried and all of that stuff that goes along with having your BABY in the hospital. Last night, they removed his IV, but once they did, they had to put him right back on it. Apparently he's also on a respirator. It sounds scary. Please pray for little Jaxson and his family.

Thyroid

I can't believe I missed a NaBloPoMo post because I fell asleep at 8 p.m. Okay, I can believe it, simply because my thyroid is doing new things these days.

The latest update on that little butterfly-shaped gland of mine is that the radioactive iodine treatment I received four months ago is finally working! Adam and I were worried that I'd need a repeat dosage of RAI or that I'd need surgery. I'm so thankful that it appears I will need neither.

Right now I am tired a lot...again. I was taking meds to lessen the side effects of having hyperthyroidism and now I can't take anything for the start of my hypothyroidism until I get blood test results back next month. So, I'm back to going to bed with the kids until then and should really do my NaBloPoMo posts in the morning. It's clearly too early in the month to be missing posts!

Picky eaters update

In case you missed this post and the one before it, I should mention that my kids are picky eaters. They like hot dogs, chicken nuggets, anything you can dip and candy. That's about it. It's rather frustrating for someone who like variety in her food life to have to deal with two picky eaters.

I've tried lots of things with them over the months since I made those posts about how my kids were picky eaters and how I was going to try that list of things to see if I could get them to eat. Sometimes they were great and other times they were just plain awful.

While my parents were here, Ryan said all the food "stinks" and refused to eat a lot of things. If we sat him down and told him he had to have three bites, he'd gag and throw up. It was so frustrating. Eating at the table every night while they were here did not help him one ounce. He still ate his chicken nuggets and hot dogs the best and left the rest.

Since Halloween, Ryan has asked for candy A LOT. I tell him if he eats the tiny portions I give him... eats all of it, then I will give him ONE candy. It's like magic! The kid actually does eat! I mean, he isn't eating everything, but he's eating. He's trying. The other night he gobbled up his noodles so fast, I wasn't sure this was my kid. He's tried foods I thought he wasn't interested in and asked for more! It's all because of some candy in a jack-o-lantern like bucket sitting on a shelf in the basement loaded with candy.

I will say I have learned a few things over the past few months.

1. I cannot force another bite if the kid says he's full. It will result in him throwing up.
2. Carrots and celery dipped in ranch dressing is a great "side" to any of his meals. He gobbles them up and they are good for him.
3. Promised treats after a meal make him eat the meal.
4. His portions are WAY smaller than ours and that's okay.
5. Sometimes eating in front of the tv is a great reward, especially if it's with dad and a new movie.

Turkey

Ryan, my mom and I all worked together to create this fall turkey to decorate the house. Ryan loves projects and is really good at them. He likes seeing his finished work. This craft idea came from Pack o Fun which we get at the library most months. I like the different crafts they have in their magazine. Ryan was really happy with the finished product. Next on our project list are pilgrims to join the turkey.

I enjoy these times with Ryan doing crafts because I love listening to him problem solve and hearing what he thinks will work. He likes it because it's time with just him and mommy. We usually do these crafts during Tim's nap. I can't wait for Tim to be able to join us, but I know that's at least a half a year away. I can vividly remember doing crafts with my mother and grandmother during my childhood. My mum and I had a good laugh about some snowmen we once tried to make. It was a disaster, but we still have that memory. I hope Ryan (and eventually Tim) will look back on these projects and smile someday.

Favorite Fall Fotos

Well, this one doesn't look like Fall, but it was taken just last week when my parents were here. Tim in his car seat smiling for his Nana.

I like this one of Ryan next to this HUGE real pumpkin outside of Mike's Clam Shack.

Chicken Soup

We've all been fighting a cold here, so I thought I'd share my friend Kristin's recipe for a really yummy chicken soup. It's a twist on the old chicken noodle version and I love it because it gives me something else to choose from when I just don't feel like the old standard.

Kristin's Easy Chicken Soup

1-2 chicken breasts (literally just one or two from a package)
1/4 cup flour
32 oz chicken broth
15 oz Italian Diced Tomatoes (garlic, oregano, basil)
1-2 tablespoons olive oil.
Diced celery, carrots, onions and potatoes (I used one large of each)

Cut chicken into bite size pieces and coat with flour. Place Olive Oil in soup pot and brown chicken. Remove chicken and add celery, carrots and onions and cook till tender. Add chicken and potoatos and broth. Cook till potatoes are done.

Kristin serves this with homemade garlic bread and tops the soup with freshly grated parm.

Enjoy.

Tired

The sickies hit our house this week. We've all had some form of cold. After at day I work, I'm just beat. I will write more tomorrow.

Crochet

In an attempt to save money and have a cute sweater that no one else is likely to have, I started crocheting a sweater for myself.

Today, I had to rip it all out. I swear there is some unwritten rule that says you'll have to rip out an entire project at least once before it's done.

Frustrating...

Coupons

Another great way to save is with coupons. At work, we do a coupon swap. First, I get the coupons from my mother-in-law who gets the Sunday paper. She usually cuts out the ones she wants and then gives the rest to me. I take my turn and cut out the ones I will use and then pass them on to one of my co-workers who does the same thing. It's a great way to save. She brings in coupons for me too, usually for diapers.

You can also get coupons online for a large variety of things. A great site to check out is this one from Parenting.com. They have a list of about 1o different sites that have coupons. I will say, be careful, though. I was looking for Stride Rite shoes for Tim (he has super wide feet and we can't just buy Walmart brand ones) and it said "get 20% off plus free shipping" but there was no 20% off with that code, just free shipping.

Happy coupon shopping and clipping!

Giveaways

I have never been a big believer in giveaways, especially the ones where there is "no purchase necessary." I always enter and never win. Okay, so that's not quite true.

In high school, my mom bought gas for the car and I entered the ticket to win a free turkey. I won. They called and asked to speak to me. I'd filled out the form and I won a turkey.

Back in the spring, I entered a parenting.com toy giveaway. It was one of those enter every day to win one of our thirty prizes. I only entered on the days there were things I thought I'd like to win. Last week, a package showed up at the door of our friends' house. I'd won a ball collection for the kids. One soccer ball, one basketball and one football.

Today I signed up for a few more giveaways at parenting.com/giveaways. There are a host of different things to sign up for, toys, vacations and book, just to name a few. I'm hoping I'll win again!

Saving

Today is the official start of NaBloPoMo. I can do a month of posts. Yes I can!

I've been working at a local bank for about three months now. I really love it. What I think I love most is that I learn things from customers who come in and chat with us ladies. My favorite tip so far was from a lady who was making a deposit for a trip. She's saved up all her rebates, coin and any money saved from using coupons and was planning to take a trip.

The idea behind her plan is that any money you save you put into a savings account. I'll give you an example. This week, I did grocery shopping and saved $6 in coupons and another $6.28 with our Walmart employee discount. That $12.28 will be going into our savings account. My parents were also here for two weeks. I normally spend $70 in groceries each week so we put that same amount aside, too. It's not a huge amount of money, but it's better than not saving at all. Our savings account is starting to look nice. There wasn't a lot in it just two weeks ago.

There's my two cents...maybe it will help you save a few yourself.