Look Mom!
Monkey see, monkey do
Raspberry for you
Secret smile
All of the talk on the coupon thread I post on has been about Kmart toy clearance. Since there is not a Kmart in my city, I tried to ignore all of the hype and not get too jealous. But I just could not take it anymore! So I drove the kids and I to 2 Kmarts today, one of them is an hour away, and then the other is a 1/2 hour further. Was it worth it? I think it was. We didn't really have anything else to do today, so why not? This is what I bought:
Doesn't it look good? 2 giant yellow squash, 1 giant zucchini, green onions, carrots, cilantro, a bowl of lettuce, and a cup of raspberries. Some of the squash got a little out of hand in the couple days I didn't get to the garden. They are huge! I guess I need to go check on them more often. I have a lot more onions and carrots to harvest!
Both Ellie and Rowan have some new accomplishments they would like to share.
Rowan:
We have visitors! Yesterday my dad, grandma, and aunt drove up from Iowa just for the day, and although it was short, we had a great time. Now our former neighbors are visiting and staying in our place for a couple days. It has been so much fun having all the kids together again. Don't they look like they are having fun? As you can tell by the pictures, Rowan just adores them.
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!
I know, our temperatures are nothing like those of you in AZ. But add in the fact that humidity is high, we have no air conditioner at all, and we live on the second floor of our building, our apartment is so miserably hot and sticky. Two weeks ago the high was 59 and today it hit 100. It never came close to 100 last year. Ugh.
So, we spent all of today out of the house. In the morning we went to a friend's house to watch her 3 kids. They are (almost) 4, 2, and 5 months, and my kids have a lot of fun with them. Unfortunately, they did not have air conditioning either, but their house was cooler than ours. Here was our schedule for today:
6:30-9:30 = wake up, eat breakfast, check Facebook, email, coupon thread, and a bazillion blogs. Listen to Ellie read a couple of her Hooked on Phonics kindergarden books. Eat a snack, draw some pictures. Put together a crockpot dinner.
9:30-12:30 = friend's house. Chase two 4-year-olds and two 2-year-olds around while carrying 5-month-old baby. Also make grilled cheese for everyone while holding 5-month-old baby.
12:30-1:30 = pick up a couple of things from Target, sloooowly because Target has air-conditioning. Call Nichole to ask if Warren wants a clearanced video game
1:30-2:30 = drive to the McDonalds on the other side of town because it has an indoor play area. Call mom to complain about the heat. Sit in the car (with the air-conditioner running) for 1/2 hour in the parking lot because Ellie fell asleep and she NEVER does that and she desperately needs it. Call Tara and ask her how long I should let Ellie sleep.
2:30-4:30 = play in kids' area, buy ice cream cones and eat them, wash up, play some more, buy double cheeseburger and fries to split three ways, play some more (because it is air-conditioned!)
4:30-5:30 = play in a nearby splash pad that thankfully is mostly shaded by trees at this time of day
5:30-7:00 = drive home, eat dinner from the crockpot, take a cold bath.
7:00 = Bedtime for the kids!
Tomorrow our day will be similiar, because it will still be hot, although the high is only 88. I hope this warm front moves out soon!
I feel like I have a little more freedom with trying new and different recipes, since it is just the kids and I eating here. Jason is great with my attempts to branch out and try new meals; he always eats at least some of what I make and never complains, but there is a lot less pressure to get it right when I know I can just whip up a couple of sandwiches or scrambled eggs if my cooking experiments turn into disasters, and my kids would never know. There is no one to witness my failures :)
I met up with a friend in Madison at Chuck E. Cheese, and I caught some smiles with the camera. 
Today was a pretty typical summer day for us in Madison. We woke up, web-cam chatted with Jason, went out to the garden to do a tiny bit of weeding (no friendly gardeners were at the compost this morning to listen to Ellie chat for 45 minutes straight like yesterday), came home and packed a lunch, and then biked to the zoo. Well, I biked, the kids rode in the bike trailer. Well, my electric bike biked, I pedaled a little, and the kids rode in the bike trailer. The zoo is pretty cool, because it is free and has a lot of fun animals. Well, entrance is free, but we MUST ride the carousel ($1 each) and feed the goats ($.75 each) each time we go.
They are looking a little more lively, right? Ooh, wait until they feed the goats; Ellie was begging to do that since we arrived at the zoo.
Hmm, Rowan is starting to smile a little, let's try eating lunch, maybe they just need a reboost of energy. Some turkey and ranch sandwiches, carrots, strawberries, and string cheese should help.
Now, the carousel. Nothing could be more fun than the carousel!!
See Rowan's death grip on the pole?
Seriously, they had a great time, even if it may not look like it. After the zoo, we came home and took a rest. Which meant Ellie watched a movie, Rowan scooted his cars and blocks across the floor, and I played on the computer. Then, it was pedicure time.
While Daddy is away, the girls will play.
(Don't worry, Rowan begged for and received a light coat of sparkly toes too)
And for the next two pictures, Ellie decided she wanted to be the photographer. So, here is a great picture of Rowan and me:
This one might be a good one if it wasn't so blurry:
Jason arrived safely in Cairo! He even said that he has arrived without jet lag, because he was able to sleep on the plane and then again soon after arriving in Egypt (he flew in at 7pm Cairo time). Thanks to a friend who lives in Cairo, but lived in Madison last year, Jason has a place to stay and was given a tour around his new neighborhood.
Now the countdown until his return begins :)
Ellie spent the entire wedding ceremony dancing with the big girls
Rowan had more fun exploring and climbing
And the promised picture of Ellie's birthday "cake." It was cake pops, roses, and candles arranged in a box. The cake balls are soooo good!!
Whew, Ellie's 4th birthday is over, and I am exhausted! If our camera had a memory card (ours is MIA), I would have done the day in pictures like Tara did for Easter.
The celebration started Thursday night,when we ate dinner at Red Robin for Jason and Ellie's birthdays. Jason and Ellie both had free meals, and then the staff came out with balloon-decorated ice cream sundaes to sing a LOUD, enthusiastic birthday song. Just what Jason was hoping for :) But Ellie grinned as she hid in her daddy's arm. I think we could have just done that for Ellie's birthday and she would have been perfectly happy, because she really loved it. Funny, not eating out for 4 months made it like a brand new experience for the kids.
Last night I stayed up past 1am cleaning and preparing food for Ellie's birthday party today. Instead of a birthday cake, I made cake balls and pops (cake balls on a stick). Those were fairly easy to make, but took a long time since each one had to be coated in chocolate. The other food we had was fruit salad, sandwiches, veggie tray with dip, hummus and pita bread, chips and salsa, cheese slices, kettle corn, and lemonade. Quite a spread!
Ellie woke up this morning to find the huge dollhouse that Jason put together for her. I bought it for her before Christmas (at an amazing price), so I've been impatiently waiting to give it to her. So far she loves it, we just have to find somewhere to put it in her room. At 10am we went downstairs for her party. We played a few games, ate some food, sang happy birthday, opened presents, and then just let the kids play. The weather was pretty good (upper 50s) until we tried to light the candles and then it started to be really windy. Isn't that how it always goes? :)
After the party we came in for a short rest time. No one slept, but the kids played in their beds for 1/2 hour while the parents refueled. Then, after Ellie tried out her new stamp set, I took the kids back outside to play for a while before Ellie's friend came over for a "play date." No, Ellie didn't hide her in the closet to stay forever :) Next we had a yummy meatloaf for dinner and finally, I took Ellie on the bus to get her free birthday Coldstone ice cream cone. Cotton candy with M&Ms, yum. We ate it outside on a bench and everyone who saw her smiled at her sticky blue mouth as she devoured her cone.
As soon as I can figure out how to get the few pictures and video off our camera, I will post them. In the meantime, there are some pictures on my facebook page.
- Rowan likes to say "Room" to Ellie when she's being naughty; he's telling her to go to her room for a time-out
- Ellie snuck out of the house one morning before anyone was awake to go to her friend's house. She climbed on a chair to unchain the door.
- Jason and I went to dinner last night at a new Asian restaurant and I had sweet sticky rice. I used to get it all the time when I was pregnant with Ellie, and this was the first time I've found it since then. It was soooo good!
- We have a huge garden plot all to ourselves this year. I hope we can keep up with it this summer!
- Ellie just asked me if China's sky was made of sand, since the kids at school always say that underneath the sandbox is China.
- Rowan burned his toes on our steam mop a week ago, and it was very painful for him. I think they are healing, but look horrible!
- Jason is probably going to Egypt for the summer to study Arabic and do research for his Ph.D. All summer. And the kids and I will stay in Madison.
- Tomorrow is Jason's birthday and Saturday is Ellie's! One night this week we will go to Red Robin for their free birthday burgers and Coldstone for free ice cream.
- I just started a new workout dvd called 30 Day Shred and my legs are killing me!
- Last night, while Jason and I were at dinner, Ellie found some medicine in our neighbor's bedroom, chewed it up, spit it out because it was yucky, then freaked out our neighbor by coming to her with a dyed-blue mouth asking for a drink of water. Poison control said she would be fine. We had a little talk with Ellie.
- We are coming to AZ in 3 weeks and we are so excited to see Jason's sister get married to a wonderful guy!
We did an Easter egg hunt today with some of our neighbors, and had a great time! Our neighborhood didn't have anything planned for the kids, and since we don't have a car to take us anywhere else, we had to plan our own egg hunt! So, I used emails, facebook, and door-to-door invitations to put together an egg hunt in our play area. Another dad and I hid the 180 plastic eggs around the yard, and then 12 kids had a blast finding them all. The 3 toddlers searched in the sandbox, and everyone else had a huge area to hunt through. The older kids found their 15 eggs quickly, so they helped the preschoolers find the rest of the scattered eggs. It was way more fun than having our own egg hunt in our house. 
Here's a bonus picture of Rowan, sleeping with one of his best buddies, a sock monkey he received from Aunt Nikki for Christmas. He calls it "Mono" which means monkey in Spanish. He always takes at least two animals with him to bed, and they rotate depending on who he wants, but Mono is always one of them. One of his "friends" closes the door and turns off the light at bedtime. Rowan and Ellie are different in so many ways, but it's neat to see Rowan going through the same stage of loving stuffed animals. 
Rowan received these blocks for Christmas, and the kids are just now really enjoying playing with them. Ellie builds the towers up, Rowan builds sprawling landscapes with them. And of course, like all good brothers and sisters, they fight over blocks.
Rowan's genius building style
The final product
I feel it is now safe to say that winter 2008/2009 is behind us. Sure, we may see an occasional snow or two, but for the most part the highs are above 40 degrees. We are still having to wear jackets, especially since it's been raining a lot, but we don't have to bundle up completely with gloves, hats, extra layers, etc. And we have also been blessed with a few warm days - no jackets required! It is unbelievably freeing to be able to run outside without stopping to bundle up. Now we have to start thinking about what to plant in our garden!
Another change coming soon - a sad one - is that 3 out of the 6 families in our building are moving this summer :( I don't know if anyone else truly knows how close the families in this building are, for I've never seen such true community anywhere else. But as always, the student life is very nomadic, and people are constantly coming and going. One of the moving families we are very close with, and we will dearly miss them. Ellie is losing 3 of her closest friends (how to break it to her?!?) and I will be missing my closest Madison friend. We can only hope that the 3 families who move in will have young children for Rowan and Ellie to play with, and kindred spirits for Jason and I to build friendships with (and swap date nights!).
It has been over 2 months that we've been using the public bus to travel around town, but the end is in sight. We are flying to AZ on May 19th for Jason's sister's wedding, and then driving home in my mom's car, which she so graciously offered us. It will be soooo good to have a car again. There are just some times when it is very difficult to get somewhere with the bus. I do expect that I will continue to use the bus often after we have a car again, because it is nice to not pay for gas!
About the family: We've all been sick lately, but things are starting to get better. The kids are pretty much well, with Jason and I lagging behind :) Rowan is starting to put 2 words together into sentences, like "more juice" or "mommy up." He is so funny, because he has a definite opinion about things and will do all he can to get his point across. Like if I am slow in getting up to play with him, he will come over to me, put both hands on my cheeks, and say emphatically "Mommy, choo choo." Then he'll grab my finger to pull me to his room. It's hard to deny such cuteness!
Ellie is just getting smarter and smarter. Every night after dinner, Jason hides an index card in the kitchen for Ellie to find. Ellie finds it, then reads the sentence on it to get her dessert. I think it's the highlight of her day, because Jason makes it so fun for her. An example of a sentence she reads would be "I want to go outside." She does pretty well reading it outloud herself, sounding out the words. Yesterday Rowan received a magazine in the mail (thanks Gram!) and Ellie volunteered to read it to him. So, they hopped up on the couch side by side. Ellie read the first page, "Cleo the clownfish." The word "cleo" she had to have some help with, but Jason and I were amazed when she read the rest no problem. I'm certain she's never even heard the word "clownfish" before! Today, Ellie was spinning in a circle pattern and I said "Come here, you dancing princess." She quickly corrected me and said, "I'm not a dancing princess, I'm the Earth orbiting the sun!"
But then it snowed today. Actually, it started off pouring this morning and switched to snowing in the afternoon. So now, once again, the sandbox is now a skating rink with toys frozen in it. It's like the movie The Day After Tomorrow, everything is frozen in the ground and covered with snow. At least we enjoyed the few days of warmth by playing outside with the neighbors.
Rowan's talking more and more every day, and it's fun to hear new things he says. Yesterday he dumped his applesauce all over his tray (his favorite thing to do) and I said to him "That is not nice" in a firm voice while wagging my finger at him. So he sticks up his chubby little finger and says "Not nice." Of course I couldn't hold back the laughter, which probably wasn't the best move. But he really is the sweetest boy. Although he enjoys swiping Ellie's toys sometimes, if I can get her to calm down long enough to ask him nicely to give it back, he'll hand it right over. Tonight he got into some Christmas candy and ran away laughing with it, but he gave it up willingly when I asked for it.
Ellie is loving school as usual and has been having more friends over to the house. She loves to ask if she can have a play date with a friend. She's so funny, because she loves the phrase "play date" and uses it all the time in different variations. Like "lunch date" if they stay for lunch or "outside date" if they play outside. She has grown quite close to one of the girls who lives in our building. In fact, I often hear them plotting something they want to keep secret from the adults. The little girl told me they were planning a "stay date," but Ellie shushed her and swore her to secrecy. I'm pretty sure their "stay date" entails one of them hiding in the closet of the other's room and staying there forever.
I'm not looking forward to this summer, when that little girl's family and the other family we are close to in this building both move on to different universities in other states. But, that means new families in the building for us to meet. I'm rooting for more families with preschoolers!
Okay, okay, I brought out the camera tonight to take some videos of the kids playing. Here they are:
I borrowed a neighbor's car tonight and went to the grocery store to do some deals. Want to see how I did?
This store that I went to doubles coupons up to and including $1. But, only 5 at a time and you have to have a minimum purchase of $25 (after sale prices, but before coupons). So, I did 3 separate transactions to maximize my coupon doubling power.
Transaction #1:
- 2 gallons of skim milk
- 2 bags of sharp cheddar cheese (8oz)
- 18 count large eggs
- Oreo cakesters 100 calorie packs (free with coupon)
- Cascade dishwasher rinse agent (free with coupon)
- 5 bags of chocolate peanut butter chex mix (YUM!) (5 doubled $1 coupons)
Total before all sale discounts: $28.47
Total after discounts but before coupons: $20.49
Total after all discounts and coupons: $3.90
Transaction #2:
Total before discounts: $45.98
Total after sale discounts but before coupons: $35.22
Total after all discounts and coupons: $12.33
Transaction #3:
- 4 cans tomato paste
- one can kidney beans
- 2 chubs ground turkey (free after coupon)
- 2 bags spinach
- 3 lbs bananas
- Frozen shrimp scampi (this alone was $8) (doubled $1 coupon)
- 5 more bags of chocolate peanut butter chex mix (I'm telling you, this stuff is good!) (3 doubled $1 coupons, one doubled $.60 coupon)
Total before discounts: $32.89
Total after discounts but before coupons: $20.55
Total after all discounts and coupons: $9.37
Picture of everything:
Grand total before discounts: $107.34
Total after discounts and coupons: $25.60 Savings of 76%!
(And yes, I bought 12 bags of chex mix. Did I mention how good they are? That should last me a month or two)
I hope this is the last post I write about swagbucks, because I don't want to be a pest (and I know most of you read this to hear about the kids). But I just have to say that today is Swagbucks birthday, and they are giving out a bunch of points today. If anyone wants to join, now is the time!
Swagbucks is a search engine that you can earn points (called swagbucks) while you search. As you collect points, you can redeem them for prizes. In the 2 months that I've been using it, I've earned $20 at amazon.com! You just use it as a normal search engine (like google). Here is the link to sign up: click here
Have fun, it's totally worth it!
Yesterday, Rowan started coughing, enough to have the humidifier going whenever he slept. He seemed to cough a lot last night, so I was a little worried to be bringing him with me today for my all-day childcare job. Little did I know, he would be the least of my problems...
Ellie started complaining that her stomach hurt after we arrived at the house of the boy I watch. I suggested she might be hungry or might need to use the bathroom. We remedied both of those situations, and she seemed fine. Until about 2 hours after eating her oatmeal, when it all came up on their rug. For those wondering, it looks pretty much the same coming out as going in :) (Are any of you ever going to eat oatmeal again?)
I thought that maybe this was a fluke and it was from all her running around, but it was not. When she threw up a couple hours after lunch, I called the mom and asked if she could plan on driving us home today instead of us taking the bus. She is wonderful, and came home an hour early and drove us home. Thank goodness, or Ellie would have been puking on the bus. As soon as she got out of the van, she knelt down on the sidewalk and threw up again. Luckily by now I have figured out it is about 2 hours after eating, so I was able to run into her room with a bowl just now and save a big mess.
The odd thing is, Ellie does not have a fever, but Rowan does (and is still miserably coughing). Wish us luck tomorrow!
Hmm, what did we do to celebrate Valentine's Day? Not too much! We were supposed to watch our neighbors' children for the afternoon, but unfortunately one of them was sick. So, we had pink heart-shaped pancakes for lunch (I didn't take pictures of them like Tara did). They were pretty good; I used a new recipe that calls for whipping the egg whites separately and folding them in to make them extra-fluffy. I'd say they were the fluffiest I've been able to get them using all whole-wheat flour.
In the afternoon, I braved using our car to drive to the grocery store, walked from there to Ace Hardware, and then picked up Pizza Hut on the way home. It was a major bargain day (what day isn't?). I had a $5 rewards card to use at Ace, so the bolt for Ellie's new bike, some shelving brackets, 2 halogen light bulbs, and ziploc bags totalled $2. At the grocery store, I spent $36.90 and saved $35.20 with coupons. 50% is pretty good! Then, I picked up our pizza at Pizza Hut (the first time in about 3 weeks we have had a meal I haven't cooked), used a $15 giftcard I received at Christmas, and spent $1.20.
After the kids went to bed, I made a chocolate fondue with strawberries, bananas, and angel food cake as dippers. Let's just say I ate too much. After we stuffed ourselves, Jason and I played U-dance. I convinced him to let me post this video I took of the screen (and a few seconds of his feet so you can kind of see the correlation between the screen and the steps). The green footprints on the screen is the left foot, the red is the right foot. Now you can see how easy it is to get lost on what steps come first, especially when it's super fast!
Okay, Jason won't let me put up videos of him dancing (even though he is much better than I am), so here are my humiliating examples of how to use U-Dance. It's fun and exercise at the same time!
Cotton Eye Joe:
Less than a month ago, I registered for Swagbucks. It is a site where you can earn points by using their search engine. I use it instead of google whenever I want to look something up. The points can be redeemed for different giftcards or prizes. After less than a month, I've earned enough points to redeem a $5 amazon.com giftcard! After you register, you can either keep going to swagbucks.com to search, or you can download their swagbucks toolbar, which puts a little search space on your internet browser. I downloaded the toolbar, and have not had any problems with it, in fact it makes earning points a lot easier.
If you are interested, you can use this link to sign up: click here
There are a lot of different websites that I try out to earn money or giftcards, and this one was easy enough that I wanted to share it with everyone. If anyone has any questions about it, you can comment and I'll comment back :)
We have some sad news. Our car bit the dust this weekend. We took it into the mechanic because it had been making a really loud clanging noise, and the transmission was acting up. After looking it over and test-driving it, the mechanic called back with the bad news. It would cost more to fix our car than it is worth (over $3000). Okay, so we were planning on just driving it until it quit completely, because that is what we pretty much did with our past cars. Nope, not possible, because apparently something unrelated to the transmission, the part that was making the loud clanging noise, is breaking off and when it breaks off completely, the car will come to an instant stop. No warning, no coasting, just a dead stop. Obviously, this would be dangerous in traffic, so we will not be driving our car.
In the meantime (not sure when/if we will buy another car), we are taking the bus. Every Monday and Wednesday I work all day watching a 3-year-old boy at his house. I take both kids with me on Mondays, and Jason watches Rowan on Wednesdays, so it's just Ellie and I then. On Tuesdays I bring the kids with me to work in a church nursery. We take the bus, which is not too difficult, it's just a bit of walking and a lot of waiting. The downside? This morning it was -4, feels like -15, when Ellie and I were waiting for the bus. That is cold! At least we can bundle up and not worry about car seats and bulky coats. Luckily the kids are great ON the bus, it's just the walking and waiting that they don't like. I've dragged two screaming kids down the street to catch the next bus, and it is not fun at all. In fact, it hurts my heart to think about Ellie remembering the days that she was dragged from bus stop to bus stop as a kid, always running. Thankfully we are figuring out the best routes now so we don't have to run; we can go at Ellie's pace. This morning, even though it was freezing, there were no tears and it was actually a good, fun experience.
We also just made an exciting purchase, an electric bike! Here is a link to it: http://www.walmart.com/catalog/product.do?product_id=8467095&findingMethod=rr We paid for it with a couple of walmart giftcards we had, so we only had to spend about $130 out of our bank account for it. We received it last night, put it together, and now I can't wait to try it out! It is a regular bike, and can be used as a regular bike. The difference is that when I am going uphill, or need an extra boost, I can turn the throttle and the battery-powered motor kicks in to help spin the tires. This means I can go much further than my weak legs can take me. Actually, I have ridden a bike once to the grocery store (about 1.5 miles away) and it was extremely difficult coming back for me because it's mainly up hill. Big hills. So, now I can hook up our burley trailer to the back of the bike, ride down to the grocery store, pile the groceries into the trailer, and ride back, hopefully easily. :)
Now our transformation to hippies is complete, wouldn't you say? Natural foods, check! Cloth diapers, check! Reusable grocery bags, check! Growing our own vegetables in an organic garden, check! Homeschooling (possibly) and co-op preschool, check! Bussing and biking instead of driving, check! Anything else we need to add to our list?
The kids came back from AZ with new obsessions. For Ellie, it is Fancy Nancy. Fancy Nancy is to 3-5 year olds what Hannah Montana is to older kids. She is all the rage right now. She is a girl who likes to be fancy and use fancy words. There are no Fancy Nancy movies (that I know of) but there are now plenty of books. Of course there are also dolls, accessories, and dress-up clothes. So, with all the dress-up clothes that Ellie received for Christmas, she is able to get really fancy.
Sorry to those who have been waiting for a blog post (all 2 of you). I have recently discovered Facebook, and I spend most of my free computer time there. Also, my computer time has dwindled, since I am working about 30 hours a week now in addition to the usual household tasks.
We had a good time in AZ, although we do wish our trip was longer. We calculated every hour to ensure that every grandparent received equal face time with the kids (seriously), but it didn't amount to as much as we wanted! However, we will be going back in both May and December of this year to attend Nikki and Nichole's weddings.
Later tonight I hope to put up some pictures and perhaps a video. Right now naptime is almost over and I have someone from Craigslist coming over to buy something!
Our car was fixed today!
It turns out it was an easy, cheap fix, just not one that Jason and I knew enough about to fix it ourselves. So after a week, we now have a car again. I spent this afternoon driving to Walgreens, Target, the bank, and the grocery store. It sure felt good. And now we can plan for our week-long trip to AZ in January. AZ here we come!
Just FYI, all the Christmas items at Walgreens and Target are 75% off. I bought a new 6 ft. prelit tree for $10 and a bunch of Christmas decorations for next year, plus Christmas cds and some clothes for Ellie. I spent about $30 and came home with a TON of stuff. So check out your local stores!
