Wonderful, lazy summer days

I don't have a creative caption for this photo, but I just had to include it


Happy Birthday Rowan!


Rowan had his birthday yesterday. My "baby" is two years old! We didn't have a party for him (but don't tell him that when he's older and actually cares), but we did have a pretty fun day. First we went to a theater that has a free movie every week for kids. Then, we went bowling! We only played one game, because it took the kids 1 hour to bowl that one game. Plus Rowan thought it was hilarious to run across the lanes and bother other bowlers. I don't think the bowlers thought it was as funny as he did.

So, we came home and made these cookies to share with the neighbors.



They turned out pretty cute for having four grubby little hands helping me :) And don't tell my neighbors how many times Rowan licked the cookie dough (because I didn't tell them!). I guess I wasn't in the mood for birthday cakes this year, because I didn't make a cake for any of us. Poor Jason had nothing, Ellie had cake pops, my mom (and kids) made my birthday cake, and Rowan had cookies. The kids sure didn't complain; they will accept sugar in any shape or form.

Today was a pretty good day too, although it was more fun for me than the kids. We went to Old Navy this morning, because there was a great $5 sale on swimsuits, t-shirts, and shorts for the whole family. My lovely sister Tara was kind enough to send me a $50/100 coupon she scored at http://www.oldnavyweekly.com/ (they update coupons that you search for on that site at random times, so it is very difficult to get the good ones). And, I was lucky enough to win $50 in Gap giftcards through http://www.enjoytheriderewards.com/. Since Old Navy and Gap are owned by the same company, I was able to use my Gap giftcards at Old Navy. So, I had basically free $100 at Old Navy to spend! I bought: for Jason - swim shorts and 2 t-shirts; for me - 2 tankini tops and 1 bottom, 1 pair of shorts, 3 t-shirts, and one splurge on a full price zip-up sweater; for Ellie - one bathing suit, one bathing suit top, one sweater, one pair of pants, one long-sleeved shirt. Rowan didn't get anything, because I am well-stocked from Tara (well, Bryson) and neighbors. For those 16 items, originally priced at $258, I paid $6.39. CRAZY!!! Oh, and in addition, because I "spent" more than $50, I received a coupon for $20 off of $20 valid July 6-9. That coupon will be sent to Tara to thank her for the $50/100 coupon.

Then, for lunch we went to a stir-fry restaurant I had never been to before. It is a neat place, you go through a salad bar-type line and add everything into a bowl that you would like stir-fried together. You give it to the chef, and then your waiter brings it to you when it is cooked. Let me tell you, it was pretty crazy trying to fill my 3 bowls while keeping my kids from tripping up the other restaurant patrons. I must have apologized to the whole restaurant by the time we sat back down at our table :) The food was pretty good (well, I did pick it myself, didn't I?), but the kids didn't really eat theirs. It's okay, because I brought it home for me to eat later. Oh, and did I mention that I had a coupon for a free stir-fry from my birthday? Oh, and that when I arrived there I saw the sign that kids 4 and under eat free? Yes, our bill was only $2.09, to pay for the lemonades I ordered for the kids. CRAZY!!! I'm sure our waiter thought he was not going to get much from us because all our meals were free, but I paid $10, so his tip was pretty good :)

I guess all the crazy deal-shopping was tiring for the kids, because when we came home I sent them to their beds for a rest (after Ellie had a HUGE meltdown over something silly). After about 10 minutes, I realized that neither of them were making any noise. They both fell asleep! Neither of them nap anymore, so I was very (pleasantly) surprised. I even had to wake up Ellie so we could go to the splash park with our neighbors. We stayed there for almost 3 hours (!), shopped at Trader Joe's, ate dinner, then bathed and the kids went to bed. Ah, what a great day!