An invitation to you

Wanna go crazy with me? Cuz that's where I'm headed these next few weeks. I am sure you are experiencing some craziness in your household too, but here is how my week is going:

All week I have front porch duty from 7:40-8:00, definitely a thankless job!
Monday: I gathered, stuffed, and signed 196 student folders...all day! I had to make a doctor's appointment with a new doctor and fax paperwork back....oops, I haven't done that yet. I rushed home so my husband could go to work early and did my wifely and motherly duties at home.

Tuesday: The incident I posted about yesterday. Met my family at Central Office to have my son's speech evaluated...again. He did great! He has 90% accuracy which seems pretty high to me. Had lunch with the family. On the way back to work, my husband called me to tell me to stop so he could come get the parking pass out of my van since we were trading vehicles that night... I had a sitter going to the house after work so I could help give a baby shower at work. If Stephen was going to have the new van...he'd have the car seats too and I needed to take Lauren to dance. The OLD van, which is the one I'd have, had Stephen's heavy video equipment in the back. We finally decided to leave his equipment in my classroom since he is filming at school Friday anyway. Problem solved. Went to the shower...home...dance class...passed out. Until Caleb woke us up at around 1:00 with a dirty pull-up. Then when we drifted off to sleep, Caleb woke us up again with a bloody foot from the scab he peeled off.

Today: I had to give a long test to 3 students. One was absent...dentist appointment. Now I have to schedule a make-up. Grr. Rush to register kids for VBS. Lauren's class full. Late for a 10:15 meeting because I was on the phone with church. Ran to the meeting, no one there. Meeting postponed til 1:30. Meanwhile....email the sitter for Friday with directions to the house...mail birthday cards...try to figure out who'll watch the dog when we're out of town...coupon blog....make a much needed hair appointment...find someone to take my front porch duty on Friday because I can't leave the house until the sitter gets there on Friday at 7:30!

Tomorrow: What I know so far is tomorrow looks good. Maybe I can get some cleaning and packing done since I am going to be at a different school next year.

Friday: Prepare for sitter. Rush to school for a meeting at 8:00. Be home by 10:30 to relieve sitter while Stephen films the talent show at my school. Feed the kids and take them back to school with me so they can watch the talent show.

Saturday: hair appointment, yea!

I keep reminding myself, one day at a time!

You don't do this, do you?

This is my last week of front porch duty at the school where I teach. Front porch duty is such a pain and it's upsetting when parents CHOOSE to ignore you or not follow the rules we have in place for the safety of their children. This morning I witnessed something I haven't seen in the 6 years I've been at this campus. A parent pulled up in the street in front of the school (not the circular drive) and didn't even park along the curb. She left her car running...in the street...and left her 2 year old child in the back while she took her 2nd grader in. I was the one holding the STOP sign in the circle and I thought surely she was just crossing her 2nd grader and then she'd walk right back out to the car. I was wrong. She walked into the school. Then I thought maybe she is just walking him to the doors. Wrong again. She was gone for several minutes and I definitely lost focus of my job to direct the cars and cross the people safely across the crosswalk. A parent that I know rather well came to the crosswalk and I mentioned the child left in the car. She took her phone out of her pocket, called the police, and handed me the phone. At least 5 minutes had gone by. I told the dispatch officer what I knew and gave the phone back to the owner and asked her to go get the license plate of the car.

All this time, the parent was still in the school. Can you imagine? We have had a car accident right in the very spot where the car was sitting. The parent finally went back to the car and I could tell by her body language that she was telling the parent on the phone with the police and the other traffic director that she had done nothing wrong. When my duty was over, I walked over to them to support the other traffic person, the parent on the phone had left. We waited forever for the police to arrive. The child had unbuckled himself. I told the mother that I have a 4 year old, 3 year old, and 1 year old and I know how hard it is to unbuckle them and haul them all into a building but child safety comes first and it was very dangerous to leave her child in the car for even a minute. I don't even leave my kids in the van in the driveway. If I've left something inside and can't go without it, I turn the van off and take them all inside with me.

The woman was upset because...get this... she was supposed to be following her 2nd grader's busses on a field trip to Waco. She was upset because they were going to leave without her. I'm not sure that she understood that we were more worried about her child than she was.

I don't know about you but if I see someone putting their child in harm's way, like not buckling them up, I call the police every time. The children can't speak for themselves.

I was late to work this morning

Yesterday our neighbors came to play with my kids. They are 7 and 9 years old and do really well with all 3 of my kids but I'm not ready to leave Abby with such young children so I sat outside and watched them play. They were having such a great time that I let them stay up way past their bedtime. I was also secretly hoping that it would wear Caleb out so much that he'd actually sleep past his normal 6:15 am.

Well, he DID sleep until 6:40. Then he brought his pillow into my bed and sweetly told me it was not for me to lay on. Then Stephen brought Abby into bed with us and she crawled across Caleb to get to me and just stopped right across him. Now, these kids can be really sweet and loving to each other A LOT, but my heart just melted. Caleb loved thiat his baby sister was snuggling with him. He patted her on the back and smiled. When she sat up on his stomach, he put his hands on her cheeks and gave her the most loving kiss. I just wanted to savor the moment so I stayed in bed and didn't get up until the sibling love was ready to move on. I am so ready for another baby!

I have an addiction!

Hello! My name is Stephanie and I'm a money saving addict!
Yes, I've been neglecting my family blog in order to keep up with my new money savings blog. I have really gotten into the whole coupon 'thang' too. Last night I sat in bed with my newly printed coupons from coupons.com and Target and as I cut them out, I paired them so that I could be armed when I go into Target and Kroger this afternoon. I have been amazed at the tricks I've learned from the other savings blogs and I am ready to go try them out for myself. For example, Ritz crackers are $2.50. I have a $1 Target coupon AND a $1 coupon I printed myself. So...I am going to pay .50 for a box of Ritz. Cool, huh? Triscuit costs $2.04. I have a Target coupon $1 off of 2. Then I printed 2 $1 coupons (because I am buying 2 boxes) so I should be paying$1.08 for 3 boxes. AND Hershey Bliss Candy is .99 but I have a coupon for $1.00. Who doesn't like free chocolate?

I promise the newness will wear off soon and I'll be back to posting pictures of all the fun we're having now that we can swim.

Lauren's Dance Recital

Saturday night was Lauren's first dance recital. It was really cute to see all the little girls try to complete a routine they have been working on since September.

She really seems to be following along.

But this is what she did at least 10 times. I'll count when I get the video. She kept blowing kisses to her teachers.

Lauren and her best friend Katie. Don't they look like they've been doing this for years?

What a cute little pose. I want to know if the other girls are right and Lauren is wrong or if Lauren is right and the others are wrong.

Time to celebrate with her pal.

Lauren's first roses!

I did it

I asked some friends and family if they thought I should keep the "savings" posts here or start a separate blog and I had a pretty good response that I should start a separate blog.

So I did.

It's Aggieland Mommy Saves Money.

I've already removed the savings links section here and put it on my new blog. Thanks for your input!

More Freebies

Go here to get your free samples. You might get an error message the first time you try because there seems to be high traffic on this site. Just keep trying! Go to the right hand side and click on "English."

I really want you to tell me....

Lately I've been devoting a LOT of time to finding coupons, great deals, and freebies. I have added the links I've found to the column on the right but I am getting no feedback from my readers. Maybe that's because I have no readers, I don't know.

I've been considering taking all my savings info and starting a "frugal" blog so that this blog can remain as it started out to be...updates about my family.

So I want to hear from you. Why do you visit my blog? What will keep you coming back?

Please check out my friend's blog: Aggieland Bargain Mom.

Oink Oink!

What's all the hype about? Thousands died of the regular flu. Right?

That's what a mommy of 3 Kindergarteners said to me this morning as she went to teach at the high school.

Are you kidding me? Now, I am not panicked or freaked out YET, but here is what I know so far:

1) a 23 month old little boy from Mexico City died at Texas Children's Hospital in Houston. He was visiting family in Brownsville, TX, a border town.

2) there is a confirmed case at McLean Middle School in Fort Worth and the school district of 80,000 students and who knows how many on staff closed schools until May 11.

3) my friend who is a diagnostician in Carrolton-Farmers Branch near Dallas had to take her 5 year old to be tested because there are 3 possible cases at his pre-school in Lewisville.

4)the state of Texas has shut down all UIL activities until May 11.

5)other districts in the Dallas/Fort Worth area have closings too such as Cleburne, Irving, and Oak Cliff and Richardson. This is according to channel 5 in D/FW.

6)many other school districts have cancelled any field trips. Think about it, if your child's grade level is going to the zoo, how many other schools might be visiting too?

7)you don't start to show symptoms for days after you have come in contact with the virus

Just thinking about Aggieland: There are over 45,000 students at Texas A&M and many of them went out of town last weekend. Many are from DFW, Houston, and border towns such as Brownsville. How do we know that they did not come into contact with the virus and have brought it back with them and they are sitting in classrooms with hundreds of other students....grabbing doorknobs, pushing buttons on the coke or snack machines that others will touch after them? How many Aggies volunteer with the children in the public schools here in town? How many of them substitute at our public schools? Lots!

We are all connected!

According to an article on foxnews.com:

-This is a new strain of the flu, which means there is no available vaccine to prevent it.

-When a new strain of flu starts infecting people, and when it acquires the ability to pass from person to person, it can spark a pandemic. The last pandemic was in 1968 and killed about a million people. Think about how people travel today and how much more we interact with people.

Lauren's first dance recital is this Saturday and I have been thinking of all the family members who will be travelling from out of town to watch this special event. I would not be upset at all if it was cancelled.

Who wants to take that chance? Not me. Like I said, I'm not freaking out yet. If that were the case, I wouldn't be at school and I wouldn't have let Stephen take the kids to Wal-Mart this morning to get more Pull-Ups (I made him take Clorox wipes for the shopping cart and he is buying sanitizer). I reminded him to wash the kids' hands the minute they walk in the door too.

We should all be careful and become "germ-a-phobes" until this passes.

FREE Breakfast Sandwich at Sonic

Go here to register for your coupon for a free CroisSonic.

FREE stuff

I found a new site today, Being Frugal is Fabulous. She said that tomorrow you can get Baskin-Robbins ice cream for .31 a scoop. For those of you in Aggieland, there is a Baskin Robbins next to the new Target.

Also, this link has links to sign up for free stuff. I just signed up for a free sample of Dove deodorant. I have used the same deodorant for 19 years but I'm willing to give it a try since it's free.

Wal-Mart has a free samples page here. Right now they are offering free Gain laundry detergent and samples of Good Nights pants.

Update on my coupon organization. I bought a little file folder and sorted all my coupons. I have a spreadsheet where I have over 300 items listed and I've been tracking prices at Wal-Mart, HEB, Kroger, CVS, Walgreens, and Sam's. The list is going to take a LONG time to complete. I wish a friend out here in Aggieland could hit one of the stores for me. Anyway, each time I get a coupon, I write it down next to the item on the spreadsheet. It helps me know what I need to buy when planning my meals. For example, I have a lot of Pillsbury coupons. I plan on buying crescent rolls with a coupon and making Taco Ring. There is another coupon for Pillsbury pizza dough. I will add homemade pizza to my menu plan. Otherwise, I'll wait until an item goes on sale and then use the coupon on top of the sale.

I really wish I had time to go to CVS and Walgreens. I plan on taking advantage of all the "free" deals there this summer when I am not working.

Saving Money

I have added several links to my link list on the right. Please let me know if you find this info helpful!

Make Your Wife Feel Like A Queen on Mother's Day

Ladies, this is obviously a post made for your significant others. It's just a little something to help out the men and if you want to add to it, by all means, please do!

So men, if you want to treat your wife like a queen on Mother's Day or her birthday, here are just a few things we like:

1) Surprise her with breakfast in bed, don't forget the flowers (even if we say we don't want flowers) and the tiara. Let us know we are special today (and every day). Don't forget to TELL her Happy Mother's Day or Happy Birthday, even if you said it at midnight.
2) Don't let your wife lift a finger cleaning, remember, she is the queen today.
3) If your wife works outside of the home, do everything you can to make sure she comes home to a clean house. Make it look like the housekeeper just left and if you have to, get a housekeeper to come. Make sure the laundry is done and PLEASE, pick up all of your clothes off the floor!
4) Make us light up when we get home. Even if you have to take off of work early, have a few inexpensive decorations to greet us as we come in such as balloons and a sign that says, "Happy ________, we love you." Remember to ask how her day has been so far.
5) Make sure your children know it Mother's Day or her birthday so they can make it a special day too. If possible, help the kids call her at work and tell her Happy Birthday.
6) Besides lavishing us with presents from you, make sure the kids have something special for their mom too. Even if we say we don't want anything, we DO! A gift certificate to a spa would be nice or a shopping spree at her favorite store. Take the kids to a pottery place and let them design something she'll cherish forever. Be creative! And WRAP THEM! Leave them out so she knows you didn't forget about her. Let her wonder all day long what she is getting.
7) Take her somewhere special, hire a sitter if you can and invite a few of her friends to meet you there. Do NOT wear jeans and YOUR favorite shirt, wear nice pants and her favorite shirt on you.
8) Make sure you have a cake. Try to pick something special that tells her how much you love her and appreciate her.
9) Wrap your arms around her and tell her how much you love her. Tell her things you used to say before the kids came like she means the world to you.
10) At the end of the day, ask her if her day was special. Maybe she needs a break from the kids, draw a bath with candles and tell her you have bedtime covered.

Reminders:
Two weeks ahead: Hire a sitter and invite some of her friends to join you for dinner. Call a housekeeper.

One week ahead: order cake and flowers.

The 3 Little Stinkers

Once upon a time.....
Don't you ever feel like writing a book about your adventures with your children? I think that's why some of us blog. Did you know we can actually print a book from our blog?

A few nights ago, my kids formed their own circle, with Abby, and started playing Ring Around the Rosy. I'll post pics later. I was worried that they might yank Abby down but she learned very quickly how to play and she laughed and laughed. I stood in awe! These are the moments that wash away all the struggles we have with our children. They played over and over and over.

I had some more fun last night with my 3 Little Stinkers. Abby has been learning to climb and has only managed to climb up on Caleb's bed. I am training Lauren and Caleb to close Caleb's door when no one is in there so that Abby doesn't get hurt. So last night, after dinner, I was busy doing something in the living room with Lauren and when I went to check on Abby, I saw this precious little smiling face sitting in her daddy's chair at the dining room table, pretending to be working on his laptop. She saw me and must have known she wasn't supposed to be there because she immediately stood up and tried to climb on the table. She just about lost her footing right as I was picking her up.

I called Stephen to tell him how cute it was and that he'd better push in his chair or else! Then I saw Caleb at the top of the stairs already in his jammies. I told him he needed to tee-tee in the potty first and he said he already did. Knowing that I had left the bowl and penis protector in the sink, I was worried. When I got upstairs, I saw that Caleb had put the potty chair together all by himself and yes he did potty before putting on his jammies!

Again I called Stephen. When I hung up the phone I started looking for Abby. I found her ON CALEB'S BED, playing with his cars like she just knew what she was doing. Wish I had the camera.

They're so cute that sometimes I let them stay up after their bedtime just so I can watch them play together. Caleb will be lost next year when Lauren starts Kindergarten.

Change of Direction

It seems like my posts have taken a turn in their content lately. I've become obsessed with saving money and just in time. We bought a new van Saturday night which means another car payment. We traded in our 2 seater truck which was a gift so we had no payments on that. We kept our Honda Odyssey (yes, we have 2 vans) and it has 5 payments left so I'm back to pinching pennies, TIGHTLY!

I finally bought a coupon organizer and sat down yesterday with the Sunday paper to sort them and update my grocery price list. I am now comparing prices at CVS, Walgreens, Kroger, HEB, and Wal-Mart. I hope to start using the coupons at our next grocery store run.

I just found a few more coupon blogs called A Thrifty Mom, Bargain Briana and 918 Coupon Queen. And TARGET has web coupons, who knew? I've already added the links to my list of money saving links. I don't know if any of my readers are using these links or not but they sure help me take my links with me when I'm at home or work.


To view all of my posts on saving money, click here.
HAPPY SAVING!