Rainy Day Fun

We were stuck in the house on Friday because of the rain, and we ended up throwing a birthday party for Lizzy and Doggy (Marius’ and Christophe’s favorite stuffed animals). It was a great rainy day activity!

We got the idea when Marius was playing on the computer and making a calendar on this great kids website called Starfall. He was adding December birthdays to his calendar – Christophe’s and Grandpa’s birthday. Then he said, “Today is Lizzy’s birthday!” So we went with it. And that’s how the party planning got started. We couldn’t leave Christophe out, so we included his Doggy and made it a combined party. Our to-do-list:

1. Make a cake out of play-doh (and real cookies for us).

2. Make birthday cards.

3. Wrap presents.

4. Get the pinata ready.

And the fun began with lunch. We ate frozen CPK pizza. Followed by some singing and dancing to kids music. Then hitting the pinata, which was a pillowcase filled with a few pieces of candy and tied with a rope. We hung the rope over the fan in the family room and the kids hit it with a soft bat. Even Jacques had fun hitting the pinata with the rolling pin.

Then we lit the candles on our play-doh cake and sang “Happy Birthday” to the animals. The boys “helped” them blow out the candles.

Then Doggy and Lizzy got to read their cards and open their presents.

What a fun morning! I sure do like rainy days…

My Funny Four Year Old

Marius has been coming up with some funny stuff lately, so I thought I would share some of the best ones.

My oldest son loves food. (He takes after his Daddy.) We went to a party the other day and afterwards I asked Christophe what his favorite part was. He replied “the bounce house.” When I asked Marius, his answer was “the rice crispy treats and ice cream.” After Christophe’s birthday party, I, again, asked both of the boys what their favorite part was. Christophe said “playing on the playground.” Marius said “the cupcakes and the pinata.” After each soccer game, I asked Marius was he liked best. His reply was always “the snack.” Poor kid… only four and he is already consumed with food!

Marius is getting into reading longer stories. I always ask him what he thinks will happen next. He always replies, “Well, let’s find out!”

Marius was talking about Christophe one day. He said, “He’s a junkie.” I said, “What?” Marius said, “A junkie movie.” I laughed. I always say that the kids are “TV junkies”, but Marius got the phrase mixed up.

We were at Bed, Bath and Beyond recently. I was using some coupons. They were having problems using the coupon with their register and the total kept coming up wrong. We talked it over and I waited for them to correct it. While we were waiting, Marius pulled me aside and said with a real serious voice, “Mommy, are you in trouble?”

Marius is the king of manipulation already. No idea where he gets that from. lol. I gave the boys one cookie each the other day and Marius said, “If you’re four, you get two cookies.”

I always say to Marius, “No means no, so stop asking.” The other day, Marius said, “Mom, when I say no, no means no.” What a little mimic!

The boys have started this bedtime ritual, while they climb into our bed and tell us about their day. The problem is that they never want to leave and go to their own beds when it’s time to go to sleep. Marius has some great arguments. “I want to sleep in your bed. It’s sooo big. There is penty of room in here for us. But Mom, it’s fun to have friends in the bed.” I like the last line the best… could you see him using that one as a teenager? lol.

He loves to play dress up. Recently I came in his room to find him dressed up as Peter Pan. He put this costume together himself. Check it out!

Coupon Class

So far, I’ve taught two classes to 45 people total. It has been amazing! I’ve gotten a great response and lots of positive comments from people that have taken the class. I have one last class schedule for this Wednesday, December 9 from 7-9:30 PM, so here is one last plug for my coupon class!

Check at this picture. I got all the stuff from Walgreens for FREE and I actually made $2 in Register Rewards (which is like cash that I can use at Walgreens). Pretty impressive, huh? I will teach you how to combine coupons, sales, rebates, and rewards to get things for free and make money. You will leave the class with a wealth of information and a big packet with all the info I share during the class. The cost is $15 (all donated to Sandals Church building fund). This a bargain, because you will easily make this money back during your first shopping trip with coupons! Feel free to bring a friend… the class is open to anyone! Just leave a comment if you would like to sign up for the class.

Thanksgiving Celebration

I hope you aren’t getting tired of seeing my photos, because I have a few more to share! After Olly returned from England, we had a belated family Thanksgiving dinner (with ham instead of turkey). We celebrated little C’s birthday at the same time.

Here is our Christmas card photo!

The older cousins love playing together!

My bro and his family!

Jacques love love loves his grandma!

Enjoying dinner!

Christophe actually got to blow out candles this time!

Me and my honey!

Happy Birthday, Christophe!

My sweet boy Christophe turned three today. Christophe is strong-willed, spunky, and determined. He will be the class clown in school, no doubt. He is creative, athletic, and so much fun. He follows his older brother around, and can often be found asleep in bed with Marius at night. He loves animals, and is kind and gentle to babies, especially Jacques. He is a compassionate soul. He melts my heart, when he tells me, “Mommy, you’re my best friend. I liked to pick flowers for you.” He is only one of my three boys that people say look like me, probably because of his cute, curly light brown hair. He loves music and dances around whenever the Wiggles are playing. He thinks he’s a rock star with his guitar in hand. He is opinionated, and has one shirt (he calls it his Wiggles shirt) that he wants to wear everyday. He can pull the best grumpy, mad face you’ve ever seen. He likes to get his way, and cries as if his life is ending whenever he gets in trouble. He has a goofy expression on his face whenever he takes a photo. I love this boy with all my heart…

Happy Third Birthday, Christophe!!

See, here’s that goofy expression I was talking about! Isn’t he hilarious?

Disneyland / Festival of Trees

Here are some photos from our day at Disneyland.

Riding on the Storybook boat.

Riding on the train.

Jacques plays the piano in Toon Town.

Playing on playground in Toon Town

Using our 3D glasses at the Bug show in California Adventure.

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Here are some photos from the Festival of Trees at the Convention Center in Riverside.

 

Jacques is with my Mom and my Uncle Bill, who is visiting from New York.

Meeting Santa.

The boys get their face and hand painted.

Okay, that’s it! I think I’m caught up with photos, for now.

Christophe’s Birthday Party

Here some pictures from Christophe’s third birthday party.

The boys load up in Grandpa’s car for a ride.

Me, my Mom, and my sis-in-law, Amy

My birthday boy

Pizza for lunch

A hug for Aunt Amy

It was too windy to light the candles, so Christophe did a pretend blow out!

Somebody enjoyed his cupcake!

I found the boys like this in Marius’ bed later that night. They were so tired they couldn’t ever muster the energy to play!

Marius’ final soccer game

Marius finished AYSO soccer last week. The season went better than expected. Marius ended up enjoying himself, especially the treats that he got at the end of the game each week. He discovered Twinkies… yum! He finally scored a goal after a lot of work and help from one of the coaches. I am relieved to be done… it will nice to have our Saturday mornings free again! Not sure if I will sign up to be team mom next time. That was a bit of work! Here are some photos from our final game.

Keeping the little ones busy with snacks and toys during the game!

Catching Up

I know it’s been awhile since I’ve posted. Life just seems to have a way of passing me by as I struggle to keep up with it! Let’s see… what have we been up to? We took a family trip to Sea World on Veteran’s Day. That was fun. I will post some photos below. Olly is in London this week visiting his family, so I am flying solo with my three boys. It has been a busy and productive week.

I taught my first coupon class. It was a small group, but everything went smoothly… well, almost! Mid presentation, my oldest son interrupted to tell me that Christophe threw up. I ended up stepping out to clean up vomit. There is never a dull moment when you’re a mom! But the good news is that I was able to teach 13 women how to use coupons to lower their monthly expenses and I earned $205 to give to the Sandals Church Building fund. That’s exciting! My next class on December 3 has over 40 women signed up. I’ve added a third date on December 9 from 7-9:30 PM, so if you are interested, just let me know! There is still plenty of room in that class. I will show a slideshow with tons of valuable information about couponing, as well as some of the best websites for deals and free online coupons. You will leave with a handout that gives you all the websites and information that I go over during the class.

Christophe will be turning three next week, so we had a little weekday party for him at the park with a few friends. I think I have finally come up with the perfect birthday solution – a low-key, stress-free party! It’s only taken me over four years and enough stress to put me into an early grave to figure this out… But better late than never, right? I cut my guest list way down. I picked up some pizza from Costco, along with a few other snacks. I made some cupcakes, and threw juice boxes and waters in an ice chest. When we arrived at the park, I threw a couple tableclothes down and set up the food. The kids played on the playset and had a blast. We had a “Cars” themed party, so my Dad brought one of his cute collector cars and took all the kids for a ride. Because the car is so small, he was able to ride it up to the park on the sidewalk and load the kids in right there. All the kids loved that! We hit a Cars pinata filled with candy and some great little puzzles, stickers, and pens that I got in the post-Halloween clearance at Target. The party was easy and inexpensive, and my kids had a great time. Because the kids were occupied with the playground, the moms were able to relax and talk. Not to mention, there was literally no clean up for me. My kind of party! What a great way to elimate the stress in my life that comes along with throwing these elaborate, expensive, and time consuming parties.

We went to Disneyland yesterday, and had a perfect day. The weather was gorgeous. The Christmas decorations put me in a festive mood, and I can feel my excitement building as Christmas approaches. I love going on Small World at Christmas time. I think that must be my boys’ favorite ride. That, and the Pirates of Caribbean, which they insist we go on every time! It was busy, but we didn’t wait too long for any of the rides. We also went to California Adventure and saw a couple shows. I am really working on trying to “stay in the moment” and enjoy my kids. I did just that yesterday – enjoyed every moment with my three precious boys.

Today, we went to the Festival of the Trees at the Riverside Convention Center. There were many beautiful elaborate trees decorated with various themes. There was tons of the stuff for the kids to do – they got to decorate (and eat) cookies, make a reindeer ornament, play some games, make little angels, and look at a bunch of medical stuff – skeltons, casts, x-rays, etc. It was all free since we went before 12:00. My Uncle Bill is in town from New York, so he joined us for the morning. We hit Simple Simons for lunch. It was another great day! Even though we are missing Olly, we are keeping busy and the time is flying by.

Tomorrow, we will be spending Thanksgiving at my Mom’s house. It is so much nicer when I am not the one cooking! While everyone I know is frantically cooking, baking, and cleaning their houses, I was able to relax and hang out with my kids tonight. I am truly thankful for all that God has blessed me with – wonderful husband who works so hard to provide for his family, three adorable and healthy boys that keep me entertained most of the time, a family who love and support me in so many ways, a multitude of wonderful Godly friends that care about me and encourage me, and an amazing church where I am able to grow in my knowledge and understanding of Christ. In the past, I might have said that I was thankful for my house or all my nice things, but God has been showing me over the past year how unimportant and insignificant these material things are. I am striving to care less about the things of this world, and to be grateful for the things that are truly a blessing.

So,  on that note…. HAPPY THANKSGIVING! And as you know, that means it is time for the Christmas season to begin (or I guess if you work in retail, you’ve probably been hearing Christmas tunes since Halloween was over.) So, Christmas decorations… here we come. I thought I would start by making my blog festive, since that’s a lot less work than dragging out the old Christmas tree, ornaments, decorations, and lights.

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I am very far behind on posting my photos, so I am going to start with some Sea World photos. I will try to get caught up with my other recent photos in the next few days. Enjoy!

 

Another Pitch

Still not sold on my coupon class? Well, here are a couple of my latest deals to sell you on the idea of using coupons.

All this – 2 packs of Pull Ups, 3 packs of diapers, a pack of pantiliners, 2 boxes of light bulbs, 6 Dove deodrants, and a tube of Vaseline Sheer Infusion lotion. After coupons, sales, and rebates, I paid $14 out of pocket at Rite Aid. But I will also be getting a voucher for a free pack of diapers valued at $11, so it’s like I paid $3 for all this stuff. I saved $87. Impressed, yet?

If not, here’s an even more amazing deal from Walgreens on Saturday…

2 packs of m&m’s, a snickers bar, 3 Lubriderm lotions, 3 Almay foundations, 4 Almay lipglosses, 2 Almay mascaras, 1 Almay blush, and 2 Maybelline eyeshadows. Guess how much? $0 out of pocket and I actually received $20 Register Rewards (like cash to use) for my next visit to Walgreens. It’s like they gave me all this stuff for free and paid me an additional $20. I’m not kidding.

I purchased a bunch of items that are called “money makers”. I will explain in detail how this works during my coupon class. But I’ll give you an example so you understand that there really is no catch here! If you purchase 3 Lubriderm lotions at Walgreens, you get a Register Reward for $8. The lotions cost $4 each. But I had a manufacturer coupon for $2 off each lotion and a Walgreens’ coupon for $1 off each lotion. So I ended up paying $1 for each lotion = $3 total out of pocket. But I got back an $8 RR, so I made $5. Crazy, huh?

If you want to learn how to make money using coupons, sign up for my class. Click here for all the details. The cost is $15 and all proceeds go to the Sandals Church Building Fund.