Happy New Year: Take II

What a downer of a post my last New Years one was, eh? We actually did have a quite a nice New Year's Eve & New Year's Day. In face the whole week and a half leading up to them was pretty awesome, too.

We headed down to Ohio before Christmas and stayed there through Sat. spending Christmas's with my parent's and both my mom's & dad's side of the families. We were spoiled. Thank you.

But then.... only Marc and I came back up. We left the kiddos in Ohio with Grandma & Papa. For a whole week! And while I really missed them (come Tuesday and I was ready to head back down to hug them), we had a really nice time just being a couple again for a while.

Sunday we hit Qdoba for a Buy One Get One lunch. We hit the cheap theater for a movie, then did Buy One Get One bowling. Just the two of us! We ended the evening picking back up where we left LOST: Season Four. (Using coupons and not paying a sitter makes for a cheap date!)

Monday we unpacked and cleaned up the whirlwind house from traveling. We met other friends at Chili's for Fajita Night and headed back to their place for cards.

Tuesday, I had to work, but we met up with friends later in the evening to hang out a bit.

Wednesday, I still watched my other boys, who did amazing considering their buddies were missing. We ran a few errands in the evening before the big splurge... sharing a meal at Red Lobster. (We saved money on the all the grocery shopping we didn't do this week, right?)

New Year's Day was a mostly free day... we ran a few more errands and worked around the house during the day. Some friends came over for appetizers in the evening before we all headed out for the night. We attempted to go bowling after our fun earlier in the week. But apparently NYE is a huge bowling night and we needed reservations. We got Chinese for dinner before heading downtown for the Rosa Parks New Year's Eve Party... complete with lighted ball drop.

Yes, it was cold, and yes it was crowded, and loud, and filled with teens, but it was a lot of fun! I think the guess was 30,000 people were there. I tried to get some pictures, but they really don't do it justice.

New Year's Day we slept in. I then packed up and headed back down to Ohio to get the boys. Marc was headed to MN with a buddy to watch the Vikings & Giant's play. I really should write a separate post about the game because Marc has not stopped talking about how a.w.e.s.o.m.e it was.

Anyway, I got to Ohio just in time to hug the boys and we all loaded up and head to a New Years Party with family friends. The boys got the most adorable outfit/costumes as gifts and we just had a nice visit. I'll try to get some pictures posted... they are so cute!

Saturday was pretty lazy and I liked it that way. Sunday, I packed up in the morning and brought the boys home.... to no power in the house. It was so cold! I used the few hours left of daylight to unpack and get as much stuff ready for the next day as possible.

When we were left to just candlelight I decided to pack the boys up and take them somewhere warm for dinner, figuring if the power was still out when we got back, we would move all fridge/freezer food to the back deck and start calling friends to see where we can crash for the night.

However, just as we were getting into the car to head to dinner, the power came back on, praise God. We still ran out and grabbed a Little Ceaser pizza since I had already told the boys we were going, but we just brought it back to eat it while watching Funniest Home Videos. (Which by the way is where Andrew wants to go on vacation.)

So, we really were blessed to have a very nice Christmas vacation. One where we were able to unwind, not think too much, de-stress, relax, enjoy family, friends, and remember the True Reason for Christmas.

Eat my Words... Major Praise Alert!

I am sorry about the last post. I was in a crummy mood when I wrote it. Yesterday was one of those day when nothing seems to go right, plus everything that we tried to forget about over the holidays came crashing back to the surface like unemployment, bills, insurance issues, etc... y'know life.

Also our car battery was dead. We knew it was dying, but hadn't had a chance to replace it with all the holiday traveling. Well, yesterday, Marc went to change it out and accidentally dropped the wrench connecting the positive and negative "terminals" (I have no idea was those are called.) Major sparks flew and the car was officially dead. We were told we probably fried our computer. ($$$). Thankfully we have AAA and had it towed. One.More.Thing.

We had no idea what to expect as far as cost, but minimum would be $90 just to have the repair shop look at it and that's after dropping $90 for the new battery. Marc shuttled everyone around today (Andrew and myself to and from school & work respectively) and we stopped at the repair shop to check the damages.

As Marc went in, the boys and I prayed in the car again for a good report. Marc came back out, hopped the car, and drove over to us. Apparently, when the repair men went to assess the problem, the car started right up! They didn't charge us anything!! Oh thank you Lord.

I have to confess how I needed this miracle. And not just for the sake of not paying money. God is good in spite of myself.

Happy New Year

Well, I would like to say Good Riddance, 2009... bring on 2010. But today, only the 4th day into the year and it was one of those no good days already. Reality smacked us in the face and then spit on us for good measure.

So rather than get angry like Marc could have done or cried like I wanted to do, we packed a quick sandwiches to eat in the car and headed to Toys R Us with a purpose. We were blessed with a gift card from there, so we bought Monopoly and headed back home.

We all put our jammies on early, Marc popped popcorn, and we played/taught Andrew (AJ was there... but not much teaching was going on) Monopoly. We didn't even get near finished before the boys bedtime, but we packed up each person's money, property's & game piece in their own ziptop bag. We noted whose turn it was and where each player ended so we can resume another time.

I think Andrew enjoyed it, but truthfully, I think the game was more for Marc and I tonight. Lord, please shine your face upon us in 2010.

Merry Christmas to All!

Guest Photographer: Andrew

Last Friday, after picking up Andrew from Kindergarten, we went to the Gardens to see their Christmas trees from around the world. We then got the the train rooms! Andrew asked if he could take pictures.... he loved it and took something like 50 pictures. Below are a few.

Spike Sr and Spike Jrs.

Um... Daddy got a little carried away with the brush, hairdryer, and possible a little hairspray.

(That mark on the boys forehead is not a cult symbol, but merely an orange snowflake stamp they decided to place between the eyes. They thought is was hilarious.)

Cereal Score!!

I haven't posted any of my bargain shopping deals in a long time. And actually, I have been so busy lately, that I really haven't had the time to go full out coupon clipping/store hopping/deal matching too much. If we keep milk and bread in the house, lately, I call it a win.

Today, however, thanks to Meijer for a great sale with great coupons and a nice catalina coupon along with some sweet online Kelloggs & Kraft coupons, I got all you see below for......

$6.37!

Basically it broke down like this:

I bought:

• Meijer had specific Kelloggs cereal on sale for $2. But if you bought 5 you got a free gallon of milk. I bought 10, therefore my 2 gallons of milk were free.
• However on the Rice Krispies, I saw coupons on the boxes for free marshmellows when you purchase 2 boxes. I got 4, so I went back and picked up 2 free bags of marshmellows. (Andrew wanted mini and AJ wanted large).
• I also bought 4 Kraft Cheese on sale for $1.49 each.
• Then I bought $2.23 worth of on-sale salami.

Coupons I used:

• $5 of $25 Meijer Grocery Coupon from their website.
• Two $5 off 4 boxes of Kelloggs cereal internet coupons
• $4 off any 7 boxes of cereal printed from the Meijer Catalina a few weeks ago
• Two $1 off 2 blocks of Kraft cheese internet coupons.

My boys (Andrew especially) love Frosted Flakes for breakfast (and snack and dinner if I would let them). We also love rice krispy treats... and now we have those ingredients for a quick special treat. Plus... Cocoa Krispies are a secret treat of mine. I even had a bowl tonight as my 'dessert'. What a great deals to stock our pantry for little money, Praise God.

Oh Christmas Tree...

I did lights and garland, but the boys decorated the tree this year.

Daddy setting up the train for the first of m.a.n.y times.

They say it's my Birthday...

... but I've been so busy, I keep forgetting.

Today is my birthday and for the most part, it just another busy day but with a few special things thrown in.

The plan for today so far is to

1. Take Andrew to his school,
2. Take someone else's kid to a different school (another story for another post),
3. Go to work,
4. Hubby bringing my free Qdoba for lunch (I love Birthday freebie clubs) at work,
5. Picking up other kid from other school (which is pure craziness)
6. Come home long enough to pull the house together & feed kiddos before sitter comes.
7. Meet friends for a quick kid-less dinner out possibly ending with birthday club freebie coffee from Biggby.

I think it's going to blink by.

We already celebrated a bit. My parents came up this weekend and mom took me out Birthday/Christmas shopping. And we used another free birthday club deal and went with them to Mongolian BBQ on Sunday for lunch. Then yesterday evening, we cashed in on the sweet Old Navy Coupon I scored last week.

All in all, not a shabby way to celebrate 30-some years.

Just a little treat...