Geniuses

Dinosaurs. Trains. PBS. I'm speechless. It's the perfect show! Why didn't anyone think of this before?! PBS has created a daily 30 minute happy place for 2-6 year old boys throughout the world. You should've seen Cade's face when he saw the commercial for it. Whoa. That's all I have to say. :) Check out the promo:

Not a Baby Anymore

Kevin finally moved out of his 20's and into his 30's yesterday! Happy birthday Kev!

Isn't he handsome?
In honor of turning the big 3-0 I emailed family and friends to get words they thought described Kevin. I got such a great response! I chose 30, made cupcake toppers, and stuck them in 30 cupcakes. It was fun discovering how people thought of Kevin. He is loved.

I'm Outta Here

Me: Wait! I want to get a picture of you on your first day of school.

Him: Well, get your camera and take it 'cause I'm outta here.

(I love playing around with actions in Photoshop. This is the Seventies action from The Pioneer Woman. I chose it because, well, he was born in the 70's and he'll be hitting the big 3-0 here in about two days.)

Winner #2

Cathryn and her family live on a military base and she shops at the commissary which provides excellent shopping deals. She emailed me and graciously asked me to redo the drawing to give the card to another person who can use it. So I drew again and the winner of the gift card is Jessie! How fun, a fellow sewing friend and neighbor. That's what is fun about doing a giveaway on my family blog...I know mostly everyone who entered!

Winner!

The winner of the gift card giveaway is #1 - Cathryn! I'm so surprised! #1 never wins. :)Congrats Cathryn!

Overheard

On the way home from school today, Cade and Myla had this conversation in the back seat:

Myla: You are people and can have ladybugs. Gavin is just a baby.

Cade: (quite forcefully) Gavin is people too, Myla!

I couldn't stop laughing.

Great Deals and a Giveaway!!

I am so excited about this post! Thanks to General Mills, PepsiCo and MyBlogSpark, I received a $30 gift card to spend at a Kroger store to see how much I could save during their Mega Savings Event sale. (In AZ we have Fry's, but elsewhere it might be Fred Meyer, Smith's, Ralphs, etc.). Basically, during the sale you buy 10 participating brands, use your Shopper Card and you instantly save $5. Sounds good, right?
Yesterday I got the gift card in the mail, sat down and made my shopping list. I got online to find some printable coupons from the Valpak website as well to make my savings stretch even more. Wanna know what I got for $27.49? Take a peek:

2 packages of Yoplait yogurt

2 Betty Crocker brownie mixes

2 2 liters of Pepsi brand soda

2 Pillsbury Grand biscuits

2 Pillsbury sweet rolls

2 Progresso soup

2 Green Giant canned peas

2 Green Giant canned corn

1 Betty Crocker scalloped potatoes

1 Green Giant frozen steamed veggies

1 Quaker Life cereal

1 Tostitos corn chips

1 Tostitos cheese dip

2 Gatorade Propel water

2 Sobe Life Water
1 Sobe drink (my fave, fave, favorite Cranberry Grapefruit Elixir)

1 Betty Crocker Transformers fruit snacks

1 Nature Valley Granola bars

1 Fiber One bars

4 lbs peaches (at $0.67/lb!)

1 loaf of Fry's bread

That is 32 total items sold. My total savings, including coupons and VIP card savings is $52.39, or 65%. Here's the proof:

The great thing is that General Mills and PepsiCo, through MyBlogSpark, are providing a $30 gift card to a Kroger grocery store for you to win on this blog! Anyone can enter. This is going to be a pretty fast giveaway because we want you to be able to take advantage of the Mega Savings event, which lasts through September 2nd. So, how can you win? Leave me a comment, any comment! That's all. If you need a little commentarial inspiration (I just made that word up :)) tell me one of your money-saving tips. You have until Tuesday, August 25th at 10:00pm (AZ time) to enter! I will use random.org to choose a winner and will post the winner Tuesday night. I can't wait to see who will win!

Crafty McCraftersons

One of my favorite things about picking the kids up from preschool is watching how excited they get when they show me what they created in class that day. Painting, cutting, glueing, coloring, yarn, etc. etc. They love it! And I love it. Except, what do I do with it all? What do you guys do with it? I need some suggestions. I usually keep it around for a couple of weeks, hanging on the fridge or perched on their dresser. But then, after picking it up for the umpteenth time and taping or glueing it back together (spurred on by the inconsolable tears of the preschooler), I (sshhhh, don't tell) throw it away. I mean, it piles up and piles up. And I have enough of my own piles to shuffle around. :) But then the mom guilt kicks in. Kevin's mom still mails things she finds that Kevin made 25 years ago and I love that she does that. It's so sweet. We just don't have the room to save everything they make. So I need some suggestions. I've scoured blogville trying to discover what other moms out there do, hoping from some inspiration. What do you do with the things your kids make?

My Favorite Moment

The days are hectic now. So fun, but hectic. We no longer have the luxury of staying in our PJs, sleeping in, watching TV, or even just playing. All four of us need to be up, dressed, fed, hair done, book bags gathered and out the door by 8:00am. I run my errands, and then a couple of hours later pick the kids up, get lunch made and eaten, try to pick up the house, get naps (if I'm lucky). By that time it's time to get dinner made and eaten, baths taken, prayers said and go to bed. This is a new thing for us. We are still working on a routine. I think we are getting it down, but I'll admit that sometimes we get a little frazzled. And this is only preschool! I wonder how things will be in a couple of years when they are all in school. It's a new phase in our lives and we do love it. It's fun to watch the kids learn and grow and get so excited about the new things they are doing. Anyway, the busyness of our day makes me appreciate the sweet, quiet moments a little more. This is one of them: getting Gavin up from his nap.

I love how he sleeps with his bum up in the air.
And how he always smiles when he first sees me.

He thinks its great fun to play peek-a-boo between the crib slats.

Love that face!

He always gives me a tight hug and pats my back with his little hands when I get him out of the crib. It's my moment with him, however small it may be. It doesn't last long before he wants to be let down to go see what the big kids are up to. And it's not often that he'll let me snuggle him throughout the day. So I look forward to these special little moments.

"I'm a Big Boy"

Today was Cade's first day of school. He is attending what is called MELP (Mesa Early Learning Program) that is basically a pre-kindergarten class. He goes 4 days a week and it is at the school where he will go to kindergarten. So this morning we woke up (way too early thanks to the late night/early morning thunderstorms which brought the scared kids into our bedroom) and got ready for school.

Cade insisted that he do his own hair. (Please, please, please ignore the dirty mirror!) He declared, "I'm a big boy."

He dressed in his favorite dinosaur shirt and his new Transformers light-up sneakers, grabbed his new Transformers school bag I made for him last night and headed out. He took his beloved blankey but left it in the car...willingly. Yes, he is a big boy!

The story behind the school bag is that I made Myla a couple of dresses over the summer and Cade was a little miffed that I hadn't made anything for him yet. I don't blame him! So we went to the fabric store and he chose whatever fabric he wanted. Of course it was the Transformers fabric. Now what to make him? We finally came up with the school bag and he was so excited. I was so bummed because after I had assembled it and sewn it up, I turned it right side out and the fabric was upside down. So all the Transformers are looking down. Oh well. I figured if Cade complained about it I would make another one. But he didn't. As he's holding it on his shoulder, when he looks down the Transformers seem right side up. :)

In front of the school.

This is in front of his classroom door. This is where it got hard, for Cade and for Mom. He was so excited and ready to go...until it was time to go in. He clung to me a little, I got a little teary-eyed (but tried to hide it) and then his teacher came and helped him to the circle. One of his teachers is actually an old friend of mine from junior high! When we went to meet the teachers she said, "You're Christie Webb!" and I said, "You're Cece Nava!" I was surprised we recognized each other. It's been 16 years since junior high. So it was fun to tell Cade that one of his teachers was an old friend of mine.

When I picked Cade up he was excited to tell Myla and me what he did that day. He played with dinosaurs, spelled some small words for his teachers and ate ice cream. Sounds like a good day to me!

Myla is a Preschooler!

Our little girl is growing up! Today was her first day of preschool. She has been waiting for this day forever (in a 3 year old's mind). She hated being left behind when I'd drop Cade off at school. Her day has finally come. Here she is walking to the car, with bookbag on her shoulder and a huge smile on her face.

Here she is wearing her new, first-day-of school dress I made:
This is one of Myla's preschool teachers (she has two teachers, on of them happens to be Aunt Jamie):

(They are some spots open for a couple of more children to join the class. Click on the button below for information.)
This is what Myla made today in class. She got to glue, color and cut!

Cade starts his Pre-K class in a couple of days. He is so excited to start school again!

On a selfish note, I'm a little bummed that the kids are starting school. We get so excited for these milestones, and we should because it is exciting. They get to learn and make new friends and grow and make decisions for themselves and progress, which is what life is all about. But it also means they are growing up and we will never have these moments again with them. Sometimes I wish I could tell them to slow down, stop growing, stay little for a little longer! But I can't. And it's okay, because the way their eyes light up when they try something new and succeed makes my heart so happy that it makes up for it. And watching their determined little faces when something doesn't go right but they keep trying anyway makes me so excited to find out what they will accomplish in life because they are so determined.

Unstoppable

Ever since Gavin started walking, around his first birthday, he's been unstoppable. This makes church, grocery shopping, swimming pools, and any place with stairs a rather, shall we say, miserable experience for Kevin and I. He doesn't want to be held, he wants to walk! He wants to be like the big kids. But it's part of toddlerhood and we do enjoy watching him go, go, go. He's good entertainment. :) He's a ball of energy and at the end of the day konks out fast. Last night I went in to check on him while he was sleeping and he had the little angelic smile on his face. It was all I could do to stop myself from swooping him up and cuddling him.

Here he comes!

I love his little mischievous looks.

This is the side of him I usually see. :)

Summer is drawing to a close...

even though it is still at least 110 degrees every day! The kids are starting school next week, so we are trying to fit in some last minute summer fun. Today we went swimming at Desert Oasis with some of our good friends the Buchanans and the Mannings! It was fun to catch up with our friends and enjoy the pool. By the time we were done the kids' eyes were blood-shot from the chlorine (despite their use of "water glasses" as they like to call them) and everyone had a great time!

Apron Fest '09

Our good friend, The Apronista, is hosting Apron Fest '09 and I am participating!
Want to win this sweet Little Cupcake apron (size 3-6) for your little girl (or boy, who am I to say?)? Go to the Secret Stitch Club blog to enter. Want to win even more aprons? Check out The Apronista for a complete listing of apron giveaways!

PS Jill is giving away a retro-looking That 70's Apron half apron. So cute! Just leave a comment on the Secret Stitch Club blog.