Thursday, November 22, 2012

Thankful


Here are the things I've been thankful for all month long.  If you are friends with me on facebook you've seen it otherwise you probably haven't.  I like being able to see the everyday things I'm thankful for, I enjoyed having to think about things that I was thankful for each day.  Some days were hard to come up with things, while other days I had so many it was hard to choose just one to post online.

Day 1:I'm thankful for a heavy sleeping little boy that I can snuggle with in the middle of the night without waking him up.
Day 2: I'm thankful for sheep and their wonderful wool that allows me to knit amazing things.
Day 3: I'm thankful for family and fun times together.
Day 4: I'm thankful for the extra hour of sleep I got this morning. Though I still HATE daylight savings and want Indiana time zone back!
Day 5: I'm thankful for a wonderful hubby that I get to spend all of eternity with, not just this life!   
Day 6: Today I'm thankful for Dentists and their drugs so I don't feel the drilling and filling in my cracked tooth. 


Day 7: I'm thankful for blankets. Especially when little boys rip off their clothes for nap and refuse to be dressed again and mommy is too cheap to turn up the furnace for a nap.
Day 8: I'm thankful for yoga.
Day 9: I'm thankful for being able to work when I want to and be a stay-at-home mom normally! I get the best of both worlds!   
Day 10: I'm thankful for grocery stores, specifically cheap ones.
Day 11: I'm thankful for books.
Day 12: I'm thankful for friends.
Day 13: I'm thankful for technology, internet and blogging.
Day 14: Today I'm thankful for shopping and good people to tag along with me.
Day 15: I'm thankful for craftiness (painting, knitting, sewing; not wily, sly)
Day 16: Today I'm thankful for brains....and no I'm not a zombie...yet....
Day 17: I'm thankful for traditions, even if I don't always keep with them.
Day 18: I'm thankful to live in a great community and to have lived in other wonderful communities that we've had to move and leave behind.
Day 19: Today I'm thankful for the past. Sometimes I miss it, other times I'm glad it is behind me!
Day 20: I'm thankful for a toddler that takes naps. I especially thankful when he decides to take long naps, like today!
Day 21: Today I'm thankful for a house and home. It is so nice to have a safe comfortable place to come back to and own. Plus I can hang pictures without fear.            

Wednesday, November 21, 2012

Grandpa's Birthday

Monday was my grandpa's birthday.  We had a nice dinner with everyone at Penguin Point and then went over to their house for cake and ice cream. Pete got to play with the toys over there and freak out shag a bit.  Sometimes Pete is fine with him then other times he doesn't want the dog near him! It was a fun evening to hang out and celebrate a great grandpa, in both aspects.  Pete loved the cake and kept sneaking finger-fulls of frosting when no one was looking.  He looked really cold but really it was the very blue frosting turning him blue, not the temperature!
Grandpa Horn

Mom goofing off at the restaurant (and she gets on Uncle David about camera faces?)

The birthday cake

Shaggy being camera shy


Pete after eating the blue frosting from the cake

Monday, November 19, 2012

Free Stuff Snob?...with a freebie

  I love free stuff, it is one of my favorites.  Most of Pete's outdoor toys have been dumpster diving finds or someone getting rid of stuff and me snatching it up off of facebook.  I'm a cheapskate I'll gladly admit it, but at the same time I'm picky.  I won't be happy with just anything.  I guess I'm a free stuff snob.  One of my favorite things to be snobby about are cards, I can't always get the super cute cards because I kind of gag a bit on the price, unless they are customized then I can handle paying a bit more for them because they aren't the run of the mill big box store cards.
  What is even better then is when I can get something for free and be snobby about it.  Treat.com is one of the websites I use when I'm sending out birthday and random holiday cards (non-Christmas).  I've made quite a few cards from their website and have gotten crazy good deals or free cards from them! This is where I made Phil's Valentine from Pete and a Thanksgiving card for Grandma and Grandpa Welch. They also will mail them for you for the cost of the stamp!  I love it, my life is so much easier when I can order it online and once it is printed have it shipped directly to them instead of coming to me and then sending it out. Though I've done it that way as well.  You can also schedule cards to be sent out so you don't have to figure out how long it will take the postal service to get it across the country.  You make your card now and they send it out in time for the delivery date. 

 Now the moral of this story is that Treat.com is having a good deal for you my friends!  They are having two days of FREE cards.  You can make your free card today (Monday 11/19/12) or tomorrow  (Tuesday 11/20/12).  Just design your card and use the promo code: TREATBLOGR 


One of my favorite uses is to send kids cards from Santa about being on the nice or naughty list.  I sent one to grandma last year as a prank. A fun and early just because Christmas card could be fun as well or a Thanksgiving card for the family you can't make it to this year.  Anyway you end up with a free card to send to someone to enjoy and brighten your day without lightening your wallet!

Also feel free to share this post on facebook, twitter or +1 it on google.  Also I've added a subscribe via email box on the bottom of my blog and a google+  button on the upper left hand corner.  Anyone can use the promo code so share away, the more the merrier!

Hey also let me know if you use the code with a comment!

Friday, November 16, 2012

Shopping Trip with Grandmas

Mom and Pete post shopping trip
Wednesday was our annual trip with grandmas up to Darlington in Fort Wayne.  They sell a little bit of everything especially Christmas stuff like wrapping paper and bows, plus calendars, books, knick knancks, toys, gloves and coloring books.  But the catch is that everything in the store is $1.59 (except for the candy and calendars which are 2.99)  It is all the stuff that the school have for fundraisers so all the super expensive wrapping paper that the neighbor kids are trying to sell you is $1.59 instead of $5-10 bucks a roll!  I normally attack the books the most and get a ton for Pete because you can't be that price for board book for a toddler, especially Christmas ones.  I'm always on the look out for Christmas books for him because every year I go through and pull the box of Christmas books out and wrap them and starting December 1 he gets to unwrap one a day until Christmas Day.  He gets to practice his unwrapping skills and open something once a day which saves his real presents from "accidental" openings.  I love the tradition and am getting really close to having too many books.  (is that really possible though?)

Also on our trip we ran into Target for a good time wandering and shopping. Boy do I miss having one in town.   The dollar spot was disappointing though, hardly anything was a buck and now parts of it are up to $3!  Lame.  I got some good deals on some stuff namely a Big Bang Theory shirt for Phil for $2.98!  I love good deals.

We ate at Five Guys for lunch since there is now one in Fort Wayne.  I love this place they have the best burgers and fries and the price isn't too bad.  They have a ton of toppings, which are free and the fries and cut there and you know where the potatoes are grown because they write it on the white board above the sacks of potatoes.  Yum...I need to move on or I'll want another burger but don't have gas money to go up there!

Grandmas wanted to stop in at Macy's, but Pete was being grumpy because he decided to wake up for the day at 2.30 in the morning since he didn't want to take a nap the day before and fell asleep at 4.30.  We walked the mall and noticed how much stuff has changed since I'd been there last.  Eeks!  It was a great time and I bought lots of fun stuff.

Family Shot!
 You can tell from the pictures from later on in the evening that we all survived (including the bank account) and were still having fun.  Though I think I need to change the light bulb to get rid of that horrible yellow color!

Thursday, November 15, 2012

Neurologist Check up

On Tuesday Pete had his month post seizure check up with his Neurologist in Fort Wayne.  It took me longer to fill out the paper work than the appointment took which I guess would be a good thing!  The doctor said they didn't find anything on the MRI that was abnormal outside of the allowed range.  (everyone is a bit different so there is a range of "normal")  Pete was always within the range so it is declared normal!  The doctor checked to make sure he was still himself and not turning into devil boy, since a side effect of the medication is mood swings and grumpiness.  (it says so on the side of the bottle) Anything that is grumpy about the boy comes from being a 2 year old that doesn't always get his way and hears the word NO from mommy or daddy.  All is well but we are going to leave him on the medication for awhile longer and he has a checkup in April to see the neurologist again and suck some more money from us.

I just found this picture and had to show off our hard working boy.  Poor kid is already getting stuck doing chores at the house.

Sunday, November 11, 2012

Thank the Troops

    I love all of the stuff that our country does for Veteran's Day.  Cities have memorials and programs hosted by the schools and businesses offer good deals for Veteran's and send special things to those overseas still currently serving.  While we do have some veteran's in the family we don't have any immediate family currently serving except for my cousin's husband who is currently deployed.  While I don't have to face those challenges that he does every day or what she has to keeping the family grounded, organized and trying to explain to toddlers where daddy is everyday, I'm thankful for them.
   Well I found this cool thing from Shutterfly that they are doing this year for those serving.  They have 4 different cards (see above image) to choose from that you can write your own message and add a picture if you want and they will send them to the troops for you for FREE! I made one for our family to be sent using the facebook app.  It was nice because you could include a picture and put some time personalizing it or leave it fairly plain and used the text that they already had and just sign your name.  Here is the link to make your own card to be sent out. Also you can share your finished card on facebook and let others know as well!

Friday, November 9, 2012

Happy Halloween

This year for Halloween we did our normal Star Wars theme.  I update my Princess Leia costume and Phil went as a Jedi.  Pete did get to change it up and took over Phil's roll as Luke Skywalker this time.  He was in love with the light saber that he got to carry around with him!  Pete wasn't just any Luke Skywalker though, he was specifically the Luke from Dagobah carrying Yoda on his back! 
   It was super fun costume and was easy to make the bulk of it except for the Yoda on his back.  It was a bit tricky and took me awhile to work on earlier in the year since I knew what I wanted to do for Halloween pretty early this time around.  I took one of the kid leashes that looks like a dog backpack and ripped apart the dog and used it for a pattern to make yoda changing up the ears and the nose a bit.  The nose really was the hardest part because I couldn't get the shape quite right with the pattern I was using without messing up the head.  I went ahead and left a bit of a dog snout shape to it because it was easier and looked better than some of my other attempts at "fixing" it.  I then used the same straps from the dog back pack leash and just replaced it with the homemade Yoda.  It worked out well to have the leash on him so he could have some freedom and walk around while trick-or -treating without his hand going numb from having to hold mine the whole time. 
   This year we tried something new to us and went to the downtown trick-or-treating and costume contest.  The weather was decent and Pete entered into the costume contest.  He won 3rd place in the funniest category for his age group!  I'm super thrilled with it since I did put time and effort into it and he got a cool new pig flashlight for his prize!  I have some better pictures but not on this computer right now so I'll post some more later.

Pete and the Leaves


 Fall has been in full force for awhile now and I haven't updated the blog in awhile.  Pete has been in love with all of the piles of leaves that have landed in our yard and in my parents.  We made him a huge pile a bit ago and he would run through and jump at the very edge of it all.  It was great fun for the little boy, especially since they are dog poop free leaves! Finally he decided that he would pull out his power wheels and try driving through them, luckily for us the battery was about dead and the leaves overpowered it quickly.  If not then we never would have gotten him off of it for dinner!
Pete in the middle of a leaf pile
Trying to get a snack from Grandma
playing on the powerwheel