KK loves to walk around with a backpack on

KK has started the cutest little version of play. Everyday she has gotten big sissy's tinkerbell backpack and started walking around the house all day with it on. She would say things like, "O.k. Mommy, I am ready to go to school. Mommy, I have my backpack on, I am a big girl. Mommy, let's go bye, bye."

Big sister has actually been pretty tolerant which I have found to be surprising. She has been willing to share with her most of the time except for the day she decided to pack her backpack to go visit Grandma T. She put many of her Littlest Pet Shop toys in it and said KK couldn't have it. Of course this caused drama because KK couldn't understand why she suddenly couldn't have it.

I guess I know what I need to do. Go buy KK a backpack. I have actually been looking but it has been hard to find a small one and her current favorite color is green so I have been trying to find something with green in it......hmmm, perhaps on my next trip to San Jose as there are so many more stores to look through!

Grandma T sends dress up clothes

Aly and KK were pleasantly surprised when a package from the disney store arrived in the mail, courtesy of Grandma T! The package actually arrived over a week ago but I am slow to getting the pics up. Aly tore open the packages in absolute delight and KK was just as excited to try them on as Aly was. KK definitely loved the Tinkerbell costume and kept it on while playing with her toys. Aly opted for the Jasmine costume so she could feel like a princess. While the costumes are a bit big it will leave plenty of time for growing room and lots of days of dress up play.

A big thanks to Grandma T from her darling little granddaughters. Thanks for the surprise in the mail. They definitely love it!

Loving my treadmill

About a week and a half ago I was able to get a treadmill so I could work out from home. I never knew how much I would love it! In fact I love it so much I am using it 2-3 times a day burning from 550-825 calories a day. I am doing 1/2 hour sessions at a time. Typically one before the girls wake up, one after lunch, and one after hubby gets home. It is so great. I have already blown through all of the weightloss programs and am now settling for the aerobic programs. Most of my work out is a fast walk and/or slow jog. I am working my way up to be able to run the whole thirty minutes. It does inclines too. Most of my inclines during the program are between 8-10 with a max of 12.

I have an exercise bike too but I find the treadmill to be more motivating and more fun! I put my reality TV shows on and the half hour just flies by. It has only been a week and a half and I totally feel the muscles building in my legs. This is a good thing because last summer they were so flabby I wouldn't even wear shorts. Which is the first time in my whole life I have felt this way! So I look forward to toning up, loosing some weight, and looking good in my swimsuit this summer. Not to mention feeling better about myself and having a better energy level! As of yesterday I had even lost 3 pounds. Can't wait to step on the scale today!

The pilot episode of Super Nanny

I swear, last night at the dinner table looked just like an episode from Super Nanny. In fact it was so entertaining it could have been there pilot!

I have no one to blame but myself. Really! It is completely my fault. Last summer because I didn't want the children to eat late, I began letting them eat alone at their picnic table around 5 p.m. each night. This also meant that the main dinner was not prepared so I prepared them their own meal each night. Of course these meals were completely kid friendly and completely what they would want to eat.

We don't always see our mistakes while we are making them. Many times we see them after we are deep into the problem. Recently I have began re-implementing family dinners at the table and let's just say, neither of my children are happy about it.

Before dinner is even on the table Aly is crying, "I don't want to eat the rice mommy! I don't like it! Do I have to eat the rice mommy? I don't like the broccoli mommy. Do I have to eat it? I don't want dinner. WAA, WAA, WAA."

At this point we send her to a time out. Once we all gather at the table she is still trying to continue with arguing over what she has to eat for dinner. Our rule is you have to at least take one bite.

Next we place KK in her seat to eat dinner. She immediately starts crying, "I don't want dinner mommy, I don't want to eat it!" She gets down from her chair and starts climbing all over hubby and I. We won't stand for this so she continues screaming.

At this point both of them are either crying or whinning. It is intolerable but we know we must just barrel through it if we are going to make any headway. We know it may take two weeks but in time they will change as long as we are strong!

I will say though it made me want Super Nanny come to my house. However, I would prefer a different format. I think this is perfect--give hubby and I a two week vacation get away to Hawaii while Supper Nanny stays home with my girls and trains them. Yeah, she can fix the problems right? All the while I am sipping pina colada's by the beach, working on my tan. Then when the two weeks are up I get to come home to yet another vacation. My kids behave. HEE, HEE!

O.k. I know I must do the work, but a girl can dream can't she? BTW the picture is just a joke, of course I don't believe it!

What was I thinking????

I made a big mistake last night by letting KK go to bed at 7:00 p.m. I knew it at the time too. It was such a tough decision. Should I continue to let her walk around the house screaming and crying because she was so tired and try to keep her awake for one more hour? Or should I let her go to bed? For most children this could actually be a normal bedtime. Unfortunately, little Miss KK is not a great sleeper and we get between 9-10 hours a night out of her. Usually closer to 9.

Just as I suspected would happen she woke up at 4:20 a.m. bright and chipper ready for the day to begin. Who in their right mind gets up that early? That is just crazy!!! So there I was getting up with my two year old and I don't even drink coffee. I really think they should make a drink for those of us that just don't like that coffee taste! Soda is about the only thing but who wants carbination at that early hour.

And hubby wants more kids...no, I really think I am done!

Tips for saving money.

A few people lately have asked me for links to websites that help me save money so I have decided to write a post about it.

If you like online shopping at all a must know website is ebates. This website gives you from 1%-25% cash back from online purchases made. Plus they have online coupon codes you can click on as well to save even more money. I always make sure that once I have found a product I want to buy online, I go to ebates, check out first if they have a coupon code, then check out the percentage back for that merchant. You can save a good amount of money this way throughout the year. They will send you checks in $10 increments.

My next site that I use to find out good deals and free items is imommies. This is the site that I have found free magazine subscriptions, free groceries, and other free product offers. The best part is she really spells out what you need to do for the free groceries and gives you examples. She also provides a list with all of the UPC codes so that when you go to do your shopping you are confident the items are on the list.

Once I hear of the grocery promotions I like to go to mygrocerydeals to find out what items are on sale each week at my local grocery retailers. After you get into the site to look at the grocery store sales you can look at the left side for the coupon buttons and print out online coupons that you can use at your grocery store. I try to print out as many of the item that I can. Many sites only let you print out two but some sites you get lucky on and can print out more. You can use these online coupons at Safeway, walmart, target, and many other grocery chains. Just ask before you start shopping and they will let you know.

Often times the coupons from mygrocerydeals may not be enough so I check wowcoupons which has a list of many other printable coupon sites.

Antoher good blog to check out for current deals is couponing craze. She often takes pics of what she got and explains what she did to get them. She is lucky though, her local grocery store doubles coupons. None of mine do. I could only imagine how much I would save if I had a store that would do that.

If youlike to enter daily contest like the one I entered to win a whole case of larabars, then check out Laura Williams Muslings. I check her site daily and just enter some of the contest that I think I might like to win. Most of them are as easy as just putting a comment on the website and don't require anything more. That was how easy the Larabar contest was. (Now you are all my competition darn it! hee, hee)

The last website I like to use is mypoints. They send me about five mail adverstisements a day that I click on and earn points. Most of the time I don't read the advertisements. If ebates doesn't offer the online merchant then I use mypoints and earn points on what I shopped for. Each year through the points I earned I have had enough to earn at least one $50 dollar giftcard. This year I earned one and we will be using it for Rainforest Cafe! Yippe!

One last website I just remembered is vocalpoint. Once I signed up with them I have recieved so many valuable coupons and such. Just yesterday I got a $2.00 Welch's Grape Juice and a bunch of $1.00 off coupons as well. I have even gotten free razors in the mail, coupons for other free products, etc. This website has really paid off and it is free to join. I rarely get any email from them either. Most of what I get is free coupons or products in the mail.

Anyway, happy shopping, hope this helps some of you!

Our Little Artist Aly

I have to say, our little Aly is so talented. I can't believe how well she draws for a four year old. Of course I am biased but take a look. She also made a giraffe but Daddy took that to work and I didn't get a chance to scan it in first. I think I will ask him to bring it back as I just have to share it with you all. I think she gets her drawing talent from her Uncle Jim--hubby's brother. He is very talented as well and his three children all have the same gift.

Please give Aly some encouragement and post a comment telling her how much you like her pictures. I will read all of them to her. Remember you can click on comment and make an anonymous comment if you don't want to make your real name public.

Another opportunity for free groceries

Safeway is doing yet another promotion where you can have the opportunity to get free groceries. Check out the post at imommies.

I still had my $10 catalina grocery coupon from the previous promotion and I made sure that I had coupons for all of the products purchased. These coupons either came from online or from my dear MIL who saves the Sunday coupons for me. My best coupons were for .50 cents off of Rice a Roni and Pasta Roni which made the cost be .50 cents a box. So with all of my coupons and the $10 catalina grocery coupon my total came to $7.00. I paid the 7 dollars and got a $20 coupon back. So essentially they paid me to take my groceries home!
Check out what I got:


2 boxes of Fruity Cherrios
2 bags of BC cookie mix
5 boxes of Rice a Roni
10 boxes of Pasta Roni
6 boxes of Fruit by the Foot

Can't wait to go back and get some other items on the list!

Look what I won from fitnessformommies

Wow, I was so shocked when I actually won something from the internet. I entered a Larabar contest through fitnessformommies and was so happy to find out that I won. The funny thing is that I thought I had just won one box with like six bars in it.

I was so surprised when I found out I had actually won a case with 9 different boxes in nine different flavors containing sixteen bars per box. I checked it out and this retails for $169.00. What a win! Hubby and I have been eating them and really like them. The added bonus is they are made with all natural ingredients and no added sugar.

Now only if I could win the lottery. Did you know the lottery is currently at 80 million?

Free Groceries!!!!

Thanks to imommies I learned about a grocery promotion that was happening at Safeway from January 31-February 12th. I was so excited and definately took advantage of this deal. Check out what I got!

O.k. so here is how it worked. When you bought 5 Sarah Lee items you were given a coupon for $10 off your next purchase. So here is what I did. I bought 5 Hillshire Farms sausages which came to a total of $12.50. They then gave me a $10 coupon. I took that $10 coupon and bought 5 packs of lunchmeat with it. They then printed me out another coupon which I bought another 5 packs of lunchmeat. They gave me another $10 coupon which I used to buy three packs of hotdogs and two packs of buns. They gave me another $10 coupon which I have saved and will use on the new free groceries coupon. All in all I technically spent $2.50 on all of these groceries!

BTW if you are interested in a free bag of Veggie Crisps click here.

I went to the site, printed out the coupon, and brought a bag home for the girls. They were gone in half of an hour.