Screaming Deal

I just have to share/gloat . . .

I have mentioned Target in the past, right? Oh yes, I have. Anyway, I went there today with both kids to get some stuff for Weston's Star Wars birthday party that's coming up soon. Last time I was there they had a bunch of toys on sale, so I decided to swing through that aisle again. Totally worth it. Everything was now 75% off. I got Davin's birthday all wrapped up for $16.66. Regular price his presents would have cost $66.98. Go me. He did see them, but he'll forget by the end of March. Weston wasn't even an ounce jealous because he was so excited about his party and the stuff we got for it. One of Davin's birthday presents a Fisher Price Little People ride on toy . . . $9.18

Davin has been a major pill the last few days. He screamed most of the time we were at Target. I was embarrassed. My kids are usually exceptionally well behaved. Sigh. It could be that he never finished his antibiotic when he was throwing up and therefore he still has an ear infection. Possibly. I'm going to just wait it out though since we already have a doctor's appointment scheduled for early next week.

Since Davin has been a little cranky lately he has also been mostly waking up crying. I think. Our baby monitor is completely shot. I took the one in our room out because it mostly just shut off randomly and didn't work anyway. I ordered a new monitor off Amazon a few days ago. I was bummed because it said it wasn't going to be delivered until early February!!! However, it came today! I'm so excited to have a monitor that works. :) It was a really good deal too.

Weston is so excited for his birthday. He, of course, wants it to be today. Instead we are going to order a pizza for dinner and watch some of Dad's new Star Wars movies tonight. Should be fun. I also need to get crackin' on my Christmas thank you's. We don't have anything planned for this weekend though, so hopefully I will make some good progress.

Sweet's

The word sweet has so many different meanings these day. It is the equivalent of "awesome" or "cool." It also can describe a kind person or the way a food tastes. It can also be a noun. As in let's eat some sweets! Today the kids and I visited the Sweet's Gourmet Candies factory. The do free tours Mon-Thurs. It was so fun. I couldn't bring my purse or camera with me inside the tour, so no pictures, but let's just say it was a big hit with Weston. He kept saying "This is just too cool for me." :)

We got to sample the candies we saw being made. Like an unfinished jelly bean, a fresh orange stick, and some fresh taffy. After the tour they let you loose in the factory store. Well we had to try a few other things, of course. We got some caramel nut patties and Boston baked beans. The kids got free bags of their Valentine candy assortment.

All in all definitely a successful outing. When we were back in the car Weston said "It would be so fun to have a pass to there. Then we could go whenever we wanted." Sigh. I explained that we could go back sometime because it was free. Anyway, if you live nearby I highly recommend a tour of the Sweet's candy factory.

Life's a Dance Party

Good news! Davin hasn't thrown up since Saturday night. Today he seems all the way better, with the exception that he thinks he should still be allowed to watch movies non-stop. Oops.

I don't know that Ian is feeling much better from his cold and he had to go to work today regardless, so hopefully he will be back to normal soon too.

I am feeling pretty productive today. I finally got all the laundry done and put away. I tidied and vacuumed the house. Did the dishes. Cleaned the stove. Disinfected all the door handles and light switches. Swept the kitchen. Gathered up all the toys from under the couch and swept under there.

After all that I picked up Weston from school and we all went to the library to pick out some new books. I got us all fed lunch and then took my much deserved computer break while the kids "napped." I finally started working on my blog books! I have never done one, so I am going to do 2. One of all my blog posts from 2007 and 2008 and a separate book for 2009. The plan will be to do each year from now on. I am pretty excited, but am having a little bit of a hard time with the stupid software lagging. Sigh.

During my computer break I also updated my goodreads lists and joined paperbackswap.com. It's pretty cool. I went through my bookshelves and listed about 14 books that I had that I didn't particularly want to read again. Once you post 10 books you get 2 credits to start out with. I used both my credits and ordered a hardback copy of The Lovely Bones. I hope it's good. I also ordered a paperback of The Giver. It's one of my all-time faves.

I still wanted to get some more cleaning done, but alas my kiddos seem to think it's my job to entertain them this afternoon. Sometimes they drive me nuts and sometimes when that happens I do a little something to get all our minds off of being bored.

We have a dance party!
And sometimes we wear hats.

Our favorite dance party songs are:
"Single Ladies in Mayberry," (by Party Ben) "Buddy Holly," (by Weezer) "Jai Ho," (from Slumdog Millionaire) and "Great DJ" (by The Ting Tings).

Bonus! Having a dance party is about the
equivalent of a 20 minute Denise Austin workout video!

Our other fun indoor boredom buster is the new Playhut fire truck. The kids really like it, especially Weston. He always tries to get Davin to go in there with him. Last night he begged us to take this picture of him.

So, that's what we have been doing around here. I sure hope your weekend was more fun and involved less puking than ours did.

****Since so many of you are asking . . . I am using blurb.com to do my blog books. I can't say if it's the best option yet since I haven't actually done them, but so far my first book of posts are all uploaded. Membership and the book-making software are both free. The books range in price depending on how long they are. The first one I am doing is 284 pages so far, but that has each post on it's own page and they aren't that long, so I am going to try to consolidate it. I'm hoping that in the end the book will be closer to 200 pages and then it will cost about $35 in hardcover. There are other sites that will upload your blog posts to a book, so feel free to look around. I chose blurb.com based on my friend, Sharlyn's recommendation.

Sickies

I know it's been a few days since my last post, but Davin has been sick and now Ian is too. It was throw-up sick too. The worst kind. Poor Davin just couldn't hold ANYthing down. He's better today. No puking at all today. Hooray!

Ian just has an icky cold. Which actually worked out ok because he stayed home from church with Davin today. I had a lovely time at church without having to deal with Dav. :) Weston is so well behaved and easy. I even had time to snuggle my friend's 6 week old baby during Sacrament meeting. Sigh. So cute.

I am hoping that Weston and I stay healthy. We shall see.

Ode to Target

Why do I love Target?

It is the best store. It has everything (especially if you have a SuperTarget).
Cute clothes.
Tons of baby stuff.
Cute and not-lame-looking greeting cards for 99 cents.
The dollar spot. Need I say more?
The $1.50 popcorn/drink combo is a must. It keeps Davin busy and happy so I can browse to my heart's content. I go to Target pretty much every week while Weston is in school. Shall we say it's my guilty pleasure?

Since it is post-Christmas they have tons of stuff on Clearance.
As much as I love Target. I love their Clearance even better.
In the past I got a pair of all time favorite jeans on Target clearance for $7.00.
This week I got this adorable plum sweater for $6.25.
I also got a kelly green hoodie for $7.50.
You all know I love a good deal.
And because of that, I love Target.

THE END

OCD

Ok, so I have really been wanting to post, but it pains me to post things out of order. We forgot the CD of pics from Oregon in Oregon, so I haven't had the rest of the OMSI and grandparent pics to show you. I will just have to put them up when they come. Lo siento.

Anyway, we drove home from Oregon ALL day on the 30th. It had snowed in Oregon, so it was slow (like 40mph) going and took much longer than the drive there. BUT we made it home safe and sound and that's what counts. Right??? My seester Mel and her hubster Brad got to our house around midnight that night. We spent New Year's together! It was so fun. I loved having them with us. Let it be admitted that we barely stayed awake until midnight. We were all pretty exhausted from our travels, but we persevered. We played Bananagrams, Guesstures (in which Ian and I got our trash kicked), and watched some random shows. There was also lots of fried foods and sweets involved. It was awesome.

New Year's Day we got ourselves all ready and went to the bookstore to get our 2010 (twenty ten is the correct pronunciation I am told) calendar. Then we went to the new In N Out. No better way to start the new year than that.

yes I am aware that Davin looks drugged. thank you.

Today is life back to normal. I have to admit I kind of missed the routine of it all. I am weird like that. Weston was excited to go back to school and told me that school is more fun than home. Sad. I will have to work on that.

We are a few days into our (not committed to paper or even necessarily spoken aloud) New Year's Resolutions. Let's just say we are making use of our new Family Book of Mormon. We love all the pictures and definitions it has!

Weston had his first day of Sunbeams yesterday. He was so excited. He wore a new burgundy church shirt and tie and marched into the primary exuding confidence. I wish I had taken a picture. He cracks me up, but really I am just so proud of him for being such a brave, smart little kid. He didn't sing much and I could tell that he was getting antsy/bored/tired by the end, but he did great and seemed to have fun. I am also loving Primary! Just sitting and playing the piano is so fun. I get to observe my kids from a distance too.

I am finally making progress with the Christmas returns and exchanges. I only have 2 things left to take care of. Whew! Next step: thank you notes. They seem so daunting this year for some reason. I think I just need to get out the stuff and start writing. Maybe while the kids are asleep.

Finally I am feeling stuck in a rut with my winter meals.

Please please leave a good/easy/cheap dinner recipe for me!!!
I will love you forever.

Thanks! And Happy New Year!

Family in Oregon

As you already know we decided last minute to drive out to Oregon to visit the Bowles side of the family. The drive out there was uneventful and fast. We made it in 13 hours and with only 3 stops. Hallelujah for our new portable DVD player and minivan!

Everyone came over Saturday night for dinner and some Wii, but we were really exhausted after getting up at 3:30am and driving all day, so we turned in pretty early. Sunday we all went to church. It was nice to attend a normal ward with Sacrament meeting first. I also randomly ran into a girl from my home ward when I was young. She is married to a guy from Ian's home ward. Small world.

Anyway, Sunday dinner was wonderful. We had such a nice time playing and visiting.

Me and my sisterIL Aly.
Auntie Shannon and Ivy
Baby cousins playing
Davin loved all the animals. The big dog is Aly and Ryan's baby and the black cocker spaniel is Ian's parents' dog.
The whole Bowles clan. Merry Christmas!!!
Back: Emilee, Eli with baby Ivy, Ryan, Aly, Ian, Shannon with Davin
Front: Grandma Bowles, Denny, Jim, Weston