Monday, November 3, 2014

Deals of the week. LOTS of free shipping going on!

BEFORE you even begin shopping, if you don't already use it, you must sign up for Ebates. It's free and it simply gives you money back into your pocket with no tricks or gimmicks. Right now, you get a FREE $10 gift card the first time you shop through ebates {you shop at your normal stores--Target, Walmart, Macys, etc, and it simply tracks your order and gives you a percentage back in the form of a check}.


Now, this week is the best week for deals, but specifically TODAY ONLY because the majority of stores are offering FREE SHIPPING with NO MINIMUM PURCHASE!

Designer Boots, boots, and MORE boots! + FREE SHIPPING WITH CODE: FREESHIP {pick standard shipping first}
LINK


$19 Elf on the Shelf with free shipping and extra 10% off with code: MERRY10
LINK


Stupid, ridiculous, amazing Kohl's promo codes


Listen carefully, because you can save BIG here: You can stack all these!
Promo codes: VETSDAY saves $10 off $25
Promo code: MENBNT10 {$10 off 30 for mens big and tall}
Promo code: FREEMVC {free shipping, no minimum order for card holders}
Promo code: PIES30 {30% off on top of all that, for card holders}

YOU CAN USE ALL 4 OF THOSE CODES ON 1 ORDER! I purchased $120 of Men's stuff for my family, and spent only $12 with taxes and shipping! 

You don't have to buy mens stuff, you can buy something on sale for $25, and get $10 off and then 30% savings on top of that.

Better yet, get $10 Kohl's cash back once you spend 50, and sing up to the yes2you program and get $5 for every 100 spent.

They are basically throwing money back into your pocket. Man, I love me some Kohls!


$12.79, free shipping, popular scarf. {Most places are selling these for $26 with shipping}
LINK


40% OFF UGGS

LINK
Target: FREE SHIPPING, NO MINIMUM ORDER!

 $12.99 peacoats!
LINK


50% off train stations
LINK

Saturday, November 1, 2014

How Thomas and the Witch Stole Halloween 2014


Halloween 2014.

There are two ways we can approach this topic. We can talk about 1} How it was a complete fail or 2} How it was the greatest night ever. Bizarre how the two are complete opposites, but both could be used to describe last night. All based on perspective.

It goes without saying that weather can be an interesting thing. How one minute {week actually} it's 65, sunny, and you're running around in short sleeve shirts on, and the next {on Halloween of course} it's blowing rain/snow and you start going numb within 5 minutes of being outside. You find yourself asking, "Why out of all the days in the year, does it have to be completely awful out when it's the one time you actually have to be outside." Well, you don't have to, but you know... you have to.

Regardless, weather is just a funny little {insert bad word}.

So here we are a bumble bee, a penguin, a Thomas the Tank Engine, and a beautiful sweet witch {originally Percy the train.... that's a story for another day} ready to tackle on Halloween 2014.


The kids had 2 shirts on and a sweatshirt under their costumes and two pairs of paints, as well as a winter hat under their "cute" costume hats. Mom and dad also double layered, and I even whipped out the furry animal print ear muffs {I know}.  Scarves on, and our big boy pants were ready to roll.

We met with our friends, snapped a few pictures outside {more like one each because in no time my camera was getting poured on}, grabbed the wagons, an arm full of blankets, and rolled out.

The first house basically gave the kids handfuls of candy knowing we would be one of the very few to be out trick-or-treating, and the kids were pumped up. We made it to about 4 houses down the first street before the rain really started hitting hard. And  by rain I mean... some weird mixture of snow, rain, and blowing wind. Torture.

We turned the corner onto the street where we would eventually run into our house, and the penguin man gave up. "Guys, I can't do this." It was like a scene out of a depressing movie, where our hair is wet, we can't feel our hands, and we are laughing because.... you know, how could you not.

So we made an executive decision to make a pit stop at our house. Five houses in, and we already had to stop. I grabbed more blankets, gloves for myself and the kids, and a few beverages for the men— because if they aren't going to be warm, at least they will be happy. We continued on down a couple streets, and the kids were running to the doors.

All I kept hearing was "This is so fun!"
And "Look I found another house with lights on"
"Trick or treat! Happy Halloween"

"Mom this is the greatest Halloween ever!"

Smiles. I smiled, and I kept nudging Andrew and my friend..."Look how happy they are!"

And in turn it made us happy. Sure, the weather wasn't the greatest, and yes, we didn't get to go to many houses, but we were all together, the kids got to experience this one time a year tradition, and all that matters at the end of the day is perspective. We ended the night at our friends eating good food, enjoying great drinks, and in good company.

Sugar highs, full bellies, and big smiles means that option number 2 wins for Halloween 2014.

It was the greatest Halloween ever!

Until next year.

Thursday, October 30, 2014

Real life

We had family pictures tonight, and although it is worth an entire post {and more}, I will just leave you hanging with this blooper that will definitely not be making the Christmas card, but will most definitely be making the cut for the photo album.

Why?

Because it's real life.

Me: "No one is listening to me...."
Andrew: "How do you want me to sit?!"
Graham: "Where is the sucker I've been promised for an hour?"
Elliana: "God, can you make it rain or something...I need out"


 

Wednesday, October 29, 2014

Learning cartridges that teach vocabulary and reading while having fun at the same time

***The VTech products mentioned below were provided for review, however, all opinions stated are that of my own.

Last month, I shared our experience with the new VTech innotab. It's still strange and a whole new territory for me to be discussing learning tablets because I feel like I should still be talking about her first steps, and baby food, and learning how to walk, and everything else that you get wrapped up in when you become a new mom. It makes me wonder if one minute I'll go to sleep and my baby will be little, and the next, we will be sending out college applications. 
But before college, we have VTech Innotab.

I had the opportunity to test out two of their learning cartridges, Learn to Write with Cody & Cora learning cartridge and Go! Go! Smart Wheels® Busy Day in Alphabet Town learning cartridge. Both of which came at the perfect time, as my biggest is practicing writing her letters, and my little one is learning the alphabet. Might I mention again how wonderful it is that I have something that is beneficial to children of different ages, and something that they can learn how to share and teach one another? 
Really, it's pretty great.


So the Learn to Write with Cody and Cora learning cartridge has 11 different activities and games for the kids as they go on an adventure with Cody and Cora discovering how to not only write the words, but spell them too. Some of the activities include a memory game, a handwriting practice, matching, mirror drawing, and a fun maze for them to go through. 



As for the Go!Go! Smart Wheels Busy Day in Alphabet Town,  Graham is obsessed with and begs for on the daily. It doesn't help that is utterly obsessed with cars. He goes on the adventure of matching letters in the mechanic's shop, rescue's kittens from trees by finding the correct letters, builds roads while practicing the correct writing of the letters, and even has fun with taking pictures! 

One of the things that the kids {and mom over here} love the most is that the cartridges both come with an e-book for a little extra practice in reading. 

My son, who will be 2 in December, definitely needed my guidance while navigating through the games, but was able to catch on pretty quickly. My daughter, who just turned 4, is able to work through the games on her own, but it never hurts for me to sit right there with her so that we could talk about the things that she is learning. 

They're both fun, challenging for the kids, and have great picture and sound quality.  

For all the latest updates, be sure to check out VTech on twitter and facebook!


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