Posted on

Free Date Night

If you don’t know about it already Bing rewards you for searching using their site. (sign up using my link and I get 500 points) You can earn up to 30 points a day for online searching and 10 points a day for mobile searching for a total of 40 a day, plus they have bonus points and double point days and such, so points add up pretty quickly. Every 450 points I redeem a $5 Groupon credit. There’s other things on there, like Xbox credits and Amazon gift cards, but groupon is my favorite.

So, last month, I had $20 in Groupon credit sitting in my account. I like to spend it on restaurant discounts and then me and my husband go out to dinner or lunch for “free”. WooHoo. So, Groupon e-mails me a discount, if I spend $30 and purchase a groupon through their mobile app (which is already on my phone) I get $10 off. The math is pretty easy, $10 off a $30 groupon = $20, which is the amount of my current Groupon Credits.

I go search Groupon for anything $30 to $40 and see if there’s anything interesting. For $30 I can get a groupon for $60 at the Tennessee Riverboat Company. Not bad, Dinner cruises are $25 to $30 a person so I go ahead and get it. Now, I have a free $60 to spend at the Tennessee Riverboat Company. Of course, we pick the Mystery Cruise because it sounds like fun.

So, the mystery was pretty much what I expected, not that entertaining but still fun, and I think they just threw all the names in a hat and pulled out out and that was our murderer for the night.

Plus you get a 2 hr cruise down the river on a little riverboat. – to put little in context, I’ve been aboard some of the larger old Ohio riverboats like the Delta Queen when it was still operating as a riverboat. I think one paddle-wheel is bigger than the boat we were on for our cruise. Anyways, little riverboat, it was a very nice 2hr ride. It rained the first 20 minutes, but we were inside eating – and the food was DELICIOUS! – so it didn’t matter. After dinner we went up on the deck and the weather was perfect. Saw some really pretty houses – we’re house hunting currently so it was fun to see some of the large houses on the river.

It was fun to do something different for a change (we left the kids with my MIL) and get some time to ourselves. Not sure I would actually pay $60 for the dinner cruise but if you like being out on the water, it’s lots of fun and the food is good.

Posted on

Busy Busy Summer

So, my plans for the summer? They revolved around hanging out at the water park with the kids, teaching the girls to swim, working out more at the gym, and having some free time to get some stuff done around the house or just hang out with the kids. Oh, and hopefully some playdates with friends.

At this point in my summer I feel like I’m trying to accomplish all of that plus a whole bunch of unplanned work. Don’t get me wrong, work means I’m getting paid, which means I’m saving more money for that new, larger house that I want (or I think I want, I’m not sure I want to CLEAN a larger house), but I’m trying to do all of that plus all the summer stuff I had planned.

And if my summer wasn’t busy enough already, my oldest is participating in a pagent in a few weeks and I still haven’t cut out the dress I’m going to make her for it. I did actually bring the pattern, fabric, and pins up to the counter today so I can cut them so I’m optimistic that it’ll get cut out sometime this week. And I’m taking an extra music class.

So, last week: Monday was a filling at the dentist (exciting, I know) and running errands that just couldn’t wait any longer, Tuesday was music lessons and a meal exchange with friends, Wednesday was a playdate with a friend and VBS, Thursday was the water park and I took a meal to a friend who just had a baby, Friday was the mall and VBS, Saturday was projects around the house and other projects, Sunday was church and more projects(I try really hard not to work on Sunday but there’s wasn’t an option this week), Monday playdate with a friend and delivering a baby meal, Tuesday errands and music lessons,…you get the idea

It’s to the point where if we aren’t going anywhere for the day my 1yr old expresses his boredom sometime around 10am., and the girls are out of things to do by noon. Talk about a crazy busy summer! It’s almost 9:00 and I’m just now thinking about putting the kids in bed. Maybe I’ll take a shower and then get some more work done before I go to bed…or maybe I’ll put the kids in bed then just watch something on Netflix because I’m tired.

Posted on

Coppertone Clearly Sheer Sunscreen

With summer here my weekly blog post is turning into a bi-weekly blog post. We’ve been spending so much time at the pool that I just haven’t had time. Speaking of pools, thanks to bzzagent for another great Bzz Campaign! And this one was just in time for summer! I received a free bottle of Coppertone Clearly Sheer SPF 30 Lotion for Sunny Days and two mini bottles of  Coppertone Clearly Sheer SPF 50 Sunscreen Spray for beach or pool.

With it being summer me and the kids have fully tested both formulas. (the baby even tried a small taste-test and decided that sunscreen is not good for eating…)

My 5yr old and 3yr old love spraying on their sunscreen, so when we’re at the pool there’s no lack of sunscreen on their skin.

The top features that I love:

1. Non-oily formula – I don’t usually bother with makeup when I’m at the pool so I haven’t actually tried putting on my makeup over the sunscreen, but I’ve put plenty of sunscreen on my face and after application it’s almost like I put my usual face lotion on my face. My face isn’t sticky or greasy feeling, it just feels normal.

2. Light scent – I love that the Coppertone Clearly Sheer Sunscreen has very little sunscreen smell. There’s just something I don’t enjoy about sweaty little kids that smell like a whole bottle of sunscreen, so very little sunscreen smell is sure nice for the drive home from the pool.

3. Doesn’t irritate my skin – back to my face, some sunscreens cause my face to breakout (breakouts are pretty rare for me so I’m never happy when this happens) I’ve been using Coppertone clearly sheer all summer without any breakout problems. Plus, I don’t feel like I’m wearing it even after lathering on a pretty heavy coat!

I’m really liking this new Coppertone Clearly Sheer Sunscreen line and if you’re looking for a light-feeling non-oily sunscreen that actually works, this is a great sunscreen!

Posted on

Summertime!

Ah, summertime, when we spend most of our time outdoors (or at least try to). So far, we’re all sporting pretty decent tans, and no burns yet.

We’re going to the water park tomorrow so we’ll see how long our “no burn” summer lasts. The kids love sunscreen so I’m sure that if they run around looking like their usual ghosts they’ll be fine, it’s just me making sure I have enough on that’s the problem.

Our summer music classes start today and I’m excited! Everyone but the baby gets a class! And I can’t wait to tell my teacher about my band experience on Sunday – no worries, it was lots of fun. My music is one of the things I’ve refused to give up, some days it’s hard working it around the kids, but it’s always totally worth it!

Working on Father’s day gifts today too, this morning it was handprints – it went well, no major messes, this afternoon we’ll do footprints – wish me luck, I think I need to go out and pick up a few newspapers before doing this. I’ll post pictures next week after all the gifts have been given, I wouldn’t want to spoil any surprises.

And…the baby recently decided that morning naps are optional. That’s exciting, I guess I can do all my errands in the morning – oh, wait, the stores don’t open till 10… Oh well, we’ll figure it out. It’s getting hot enough these days all our outside time may have to be in the morning anyways.

Posted on

Summertime!

So, it’s summertime, and I deliberately did not sign my kids up for any summertime activities. Well, I take that back, I deliberately TRIED not to sign my kids up for any summertime activities before summer began. We’re not doing any dance camps, no dance lessons, no parent’s day out programs, etc. So, I think I’m doing pretty good so far.

I did plan out our reading logs for the summer. (we’ve already turn our first one in). My 5yr old finally took off on some independent reading – think “learn to read” books stages 1 and 2 – at the end of the school year and I don’t want to re-teach that the beginning of next year, so she’s participating in every reading activity in sight. It’s a good thing, she’s motivated by prizes, so filling up her sheet and turning it in for something appeals to her. I picked up her library reading sheet yesterday (which was the first day I could get it) and about a dozen books for her to read as well. She was all set to fill up her entire reading log – she has to read 30 hours – in one day. I explained to her that we can’t turn our sheets in for a month, and that we have plenty of time to read the books we have and check out some more to read. So, she only read 2 books to me this morning, and I’m sure she’ll try to read as many as possible at bedtime (it’s her new “stay out of bed” trick). There’s a few more reading logs we can’t sign up for until June (pizza hut does one) so we’ll be busy all summer with our reading! And the best part, she’s actually asking to read!

I just discovered yesterday that the Disney Store has activities every day of the week starting in June. I guess we’ll be going to their summer kick-off the beginning of June and be visiting the store many times this summer. They have story time every Tuesday, and I’m not sure what else planned for the summer, I think a craft time one day, and I’m sure plenty of other activities to keep two little girls happy.

We have season tickets to our local water park – which opened this past weekend, horray! My kids love the park and we plan to have some really nice tans by the end of summer!

And to top it off, I’m doing something I always said I would never do, my 5 yr old is entering a beauty pagent this year. I was just notified yesterday that she’s a “state finalist” so I should soon be receiving my envelope with all my schedule info and such.

Yes, I’m doing a terrific job of doing nothing this summer!  Not really, but at least it’s all fun stuff! And my summer is just starting 🙂 Surely I can fit in a vacation or two, a couple of Birthday parties, and maybe a shopping trip!

Posted on

Mom’s Night Out

Does your kitchen ever look like this? I know mine has on many, many occasions! I like to bake, my kids like to bake, and then I get to clean up the mess! This picture is from one of my favorite scenes in Mom’s Night Out.

Looking for something to do for your Mom for Mother’s Day? Take her to the theater to see Mom’s Night Out! I got to see a pre-release showing of this a while back and it’s awesome! It’s the best comedy I’ve seen in a really long time! Hilarious, and heartwarming at the same time.

Unfortunately, I have something every night this week for my oldest’s ballet performance this weekend (I’m not sure who thought that having the ballet performance the day before Mother’s Day was a good idea…) so I won’t get to see it on Opening Day – May 8th. But I’m working on plans to see it with friends next week.

Mom’s Night Out is family friendly, so if you can’t find a babysitter, bring the kids. It’s funny, and it’s a movie that everyone (even Dad’s ) with kids will enjoy.

Posted on

Good2Grow Juice

Thanks to BzzAgent I (“I” being “the kids” since the kids actually drank them all and didn’t share with me) got to try a whole 6 pack of Good2Grow juice for free. They also threw in 3 extra bottle caps, which the kids just loved. Plus, there were coupons for a free refill pack with any individual bottle purchase, so I let each of the kids choose their own bottle at the store, then we shared the rest of our coupons with friends.

Want a chance for your own free juices? Click Here to enter their birthday party giveaway!

Good2Grow has an apple juice and a fruit and vegy juice. My kids loved both of them! The kids are picky about their fruit and vegy juice – they won’t drink V8 because it’s a little gritty – so I’m really happy to see them drink the Good2Grow juices. The juices are 100% juice so I know the kids aren’t getting a ton of sugar.

Plus, the tops are spill proof so if they sneak the juice off to their room I don’t have to worry about it spilling.

I just can’t give these to my 10 month old, the lid pops right off every time he throws it from his highchair – to be fair, I haven’t found a cup yet that fares well when he throws it, so he’s currently only allowed water when he’s eating.

Also, since Kroger sells them, and Kroger is my preferred grocery store, they’re super convenient for me to pick up for a picnic, party, or just a snack!

Posted on

Motherhood

With Mother’s Day right around the corner, it’s a time when I start thinking about motherhood. I usually start by reviewing how different my life would have been without a husband and kids. It would be a lot different, I would work a full time job (not that I don’t now, but I would be getting paid for everything that I do), wear dangly earrings (I can’t right now because the baby thinks they’re toys), and have a much smaller house (really, I think my house is just for toy storage anyways, so I don’t get a lot of space for my stuff these days).

Of course, with any musings about motherhood and being a wife, I always end up back at Proverbs 31. I’ve heard this chapter taught so many different ways, and used to say so many different things, but I still have my favorite verses.

Verse 11 – “The heart of her husband trusts in her, and he will have no lack of gain.” – I love this verse, the verse before this in the ESV version says “an excellent wife…”. I grew up with the KJV version which starts with “A virtuous woman…”. But, I prefer the ESV, because I understand what “excellent” means, “virtuous” is just not used commonly enough anymore for me to connect to it.

Anyways, back to verse 11. We’re discussing an excellent wife and how her husband trusts her. I think of all the things I do for my husband, pay bills, answer his phone, reply to e-mails, little projects he wants done, etc. and I realize that most of thetime, he just asks me to do something and never checks in to see if I actually did it, he just assumes it’s going to get done in time. Basically, he trusts me.

Verse 16 – “She considers a field and buys it; with the fruit of her hands she plants a vineyard.” – So, I’m not planting a vineyard anytime soon, but I would say that I’m pretty good at not overspending our budget and managing our finances. I think of Proverbs as poetry, so I very rarely take what I hear literally – as in, this verse does not mean that I need to go buy a field and plant a vineyard to be an excellent wife. I think it means that I take good care of what I have and take advantage of opportunities to provide for my family. (provide not being necessarily working a job but also saving money, spending wisely, and using what I have to create more)

Verse 17 – “She dresses herself with strength and makes her arms strong. – This verse totally, definitely, means that I have to go to the gym several times a week! Just kidding, but I do enjoy a good workout, it’s very stress-relieving.

Strength can be seen in many different ways. I’ve heard plenty of people say “she’s the strongest woman I ever knew” when referring to a favorite aunt, grandmother, or mother and they’re not talking about physical strength. It’s more about the inner strength it takes to be an excellent wife, mother, and woman.

Verse 23 – Her husband is known in the gates when he sits among the elders of the land” – This would indicate that the husband is not home all the time helping his wife, he is free to pursue business deals, hobbies within reason, and he trusts his wife (back to verse 11) with managing everything not exclusively his areas of knowledge or interest. This also ties into verse 31 – “Give her of the fruit of her hands, and let her works praise her in the gates” – obviously it’s not just the husband who’s known in the gates (“the gates” being a circle of people, sphere of influence, etc. – I don’t know of anyone who thinks it’s profitable to actually sit at a gate these days).

And my favorite verse, verse 26 – “She opens her mouth with wisdom, and the teaching of kindness is on her tongue” – I always think of this section in Caddie Woodlawn when her mother has a talk with her about the different expectations that she has for her daughter compared to her sons. Basically, what she says is, it’s women who bring gentleness, refinement, and common sense to this world and without women this would would be a very rough and uncivilized place to live.

Posted on

Easter

I love Easter! It’s probably my favorite holiday after Christmas. Sometimes, I wish it was a month long celebration like Christmas always turns out to be. Really, I think it should be, there’s so many fun things you could do for this holiday!

First of all, we’re celebrating Jesus rising from the dead. So, it’s a celebration! The kids love it too, on Palm Sunday they get to wave palm branches (which is probably their most favorite sunday school activity), and then on Easter they get to go with us and see our service – which is more fun than usual because there’s lots of kids in there and it is a Sunday of celebration. If I could just find a decent recipe for a resurrection cake I’d be all set…

Next, there’s lunch, and I make some of my favorite foods! Corn pudding, sweet potato casserole, glazed ham, green beans, rolls, salad, desserts, and anything else that sounds yummy.

And after the meal there’s the egg hunt. I like to put candy and small toys in the eggs. I have some special candy hidden away from the kids this year that they don’t get to see until they open their eggs!

And, best of all, it’s spring! so it’s a nice warm (or at least warmish) holiday. It’s the beginning of the growing season and I have a whole spring and summer to look forward too. What better way to celebrate new life and growth than by celebrating resurrection and life!