Summers-a-coming...

And we're on the countdown...whoo-hoo...8 days left...though i will admit, I will MISS my class a lot! I love love 3rd grade and I had the best class! Kind to each other, readers, writers...just a great bunch! While I am happy to be staying at Peterson and going to 1st with my Coop, I will miss 3rd!
Been busy! Went to Tahoe last weekend with some girlfriends and it snowed! It was beautiful! But snow...in May?!

Got a new lens for my birthday-a 50 mm lens...LOVE it! It works so well in low light! Having fun playing with it!

Picked up a new book, Mamarazzi-full of adorable pics and good photo advice. If you are a mama that likes to take pictures, it's worth it!
Got to take pics for Running With the Angels, a 5K run in town to honor 2 families with teen boys who lost a parent way too early. (Cooper did the kid race...and was very proud of his first "runathon"-as he called it!)

It was wonderful to see so many coming out to support them. Our babysitter/2nd mother to Kendall, Miss Michelle, organized it!

She's incredible-such a caring and giving woman. I have been blessed to have her watch over Cooper and Kendall! It's such a hard thing to be a working mama, but she makes everything so much easier and I have never worried a minute about them when they are at her house.
Cannot believe my babies will be soon be in 3rd grade and 1st grade! What in the world?!? One of the best things I ever did was journal about my kiddos-pretty regularly until they were 2. I love looking back on those and remembering moments I thought I'd never forget (but did). Now I keep a family journal, but I have been very bad in updating.
Come back soon! I have some summer plans with my kiddos!

Lily Ilona

My sister Jenny had her baby on Saturday, May 7!

Sweet Lily was due on my birthday-yesterday-but decided to make her grand entrance 2 days early at 4:03 pm, weighing 7 lbs, 11 oz.

Both mama and baby are doing great! Joe and I decided at the last minute to go see her, and we took my mom (and Kendall) down. My mom had been planning to go down anyway on the train, but this was even better.

It was a super fast trip-got there around 1 AM and left the next day at 1 PM, but oh so worth it to see my little sis and her baby girl on Mother's Day!

Wow! Jenny is a natural. I am so excited for Jenny and Justin-they will be great parents! Thanks to my sweet Joe

for doing all the driving, and for having this idea in the first place-after all, we start and end with FAMILY.
HUGS to all you MOTHERS out there-Happy MOTHER'S Day!

How to get free stuff...or at least cheap stuff! :-)

OK, I know there are a ton of scams out there, but here are some I've tested and think are worth it!

1. Groupon-if you've not heard of Groupon, it's a "coupon" a day for food, attractions, clothing, spa services, almost anything in your area. They can email you the daily deal. For example, on Groupon, I have bought a Shutterfly photo book for $10 (worth $29) and dinner for two at a Greek place in Modesto (spent $10, worth $20). It was yummy! Joe and I are currently on the lookout for hotel deals for our anniversary getaway this summer. And if you refer people, you get money from Groupon which equals free deals. So NOT a scam. Click here: GROUPON.

2. Living Social: is pretty much the same as Groupon. I spent $9 for 2 movie theater tickets. A cheap date, huh? You can customize to your location OR even look around for deals to a place you are going on vacation! They even have family friendly versions. Click here: Living Social

3. GroopDealz: This is more of an artsy/creative deal site. Cute kids' hats, vinyl lettering for your house, art projects. I love this one. I bought 3 Art prints for $5. Check it out here: GROOPDEALZ

4. Mamapedia: another deal site, and is great for mamas. You can customize your location for deals on house cleaning, kids camps and classes, magazines, food, etc. I got a Family Fun mag subscription for FREE since when you sign up you get a $5 credit! Let me know if you want more info in comments (leave email address) and I will send you a link-again, you get credit if someone signs up from your link. :-)

5. Swagbucks-probably everyone has heard of this! Use it as a search engine and get points, which are then redeemable at many places. I've been stockpiling my amazon gift cards for a camera lens! Click on my link on the right hand side of the blog for more info! This is awesome!

6. Mypoints: this one rewards you with points for buying things online-you do that already, right? Also, they send you emails (warning) BUT you just click the link and get 5 points. I clean out my email mailbox every few days and with a few clicks, make 50-60 points. Redeem these for gift cards. I've redeemed gap, pottery barn, chilis, starbucks to name a few over the past few years I've been with my points. Again, I'd love to refer you, so please let me know and I'll email you the referring email.

Have I missed any? I will update if I think of more...let me know if you know if any, too!

Spring Break Adventure 2011

We have been wanting to go visit my Grandpa...age 91...for a long time in Tucson, AZ. We had planned to go a few months ago, but due to unforeseen car issues (mechanic telling is we needed $2000 of work done...the day we were leaving), we had to put it off until Spring Break. We had a BLAST! We started by heading to San Diego for a short visit. The kids hit Ocean Beach, their fav beach and promptly got burned.

Oops. The trip to Tucson took 6 hours, not including a stop to Cracker Barrel in Yuma. Joe decided he's not a fan of Southern cooking! Ha! Grandpa was so happy to see us! We hung around his complex the first day, saying hi to his friends, swimming and going out to eat at one of his favorite places, a cute 50's diner.
The next day we went to Tombstone, which Joe and I have been so anxious to take our kids were years. We love Tombstone!

It's an actual town still today-but so many cool things to check out. We saw a reenactment of the shootout at OK Corral, visited Boothill Graveyard,

ate lunch at Big Nose Kate's saloon,

and the boys toured the Birdcage Theater.

By the end of the day, we were all dusty and tired, the kids slurping down sarsaparilla and loaded down with guns! Cooper said it was his best day ever!
We also went to Saguaro National Park while we were in Tucson,

and then we headed back to San Diego for a quick overnight break before heading home. It was a great trip!
Food: Joe and I love watching those food shows on the food channel-Man Vs. Food and Diner's, Drive In's and Dives. So we hit up 3 places: The first was Phil's BBQ in Point Loma. SO delish! We had BBQ shredded pork sandwiches and tri-tip sandwiches. It was seriously the best BBQ I've had-and so cheap! The sandwiches are $6.95 and it's enough meat for 2 sandwiches. Spencer had the $6.95 ribs-that was plenty and included onion rings. I think we will be eating there every time we go. The lines are long-we got it to go and ate it at Jenny and Justin's.
In Tucson, we went to Mi Nidito's, a Mexican restaurant that Bill Clinton ate at in the 90's. Joe and I split The Presidential Platter, which is a sampling of the food he ordered. Yum, especially the tacos.

The last place was El Indio in Mission Beach (San Diego). YUMMY crispy tacos.

I think I am on the hunt for good crispy tacos back here at home. Anyone have any suggestions???
So that was our week-the kids were great in the 30 hours they were in the car! Having DVD players and DSI games helped...But we had a blast as a family and we weren't even sick of each other when we got home! That's a good sign, right? Can't wait to go again!

Catching up

(Looking for me??? Sign found on pole in Ocean Beach, so funny!)
Whew, never meant to be gone that long. I actually have a bunch of blog posts in my head to do-just need to do it! Did you miss me? :-)
Well...backtracking to March...Kendall, my mom, and I went down to San Diego for Girls Weekend and Jenny's baby shower. Her friend Laura threw a tea party themed shower and it was fun!

Jenny looked beautiful and happy to be setting up a nursery for her precious baby girl to be-Lily. We LOVE the name!
Then, a week later, my precious girl turned 3!?! What in the world? She celebrated with 2 parties-one a friend shower with 4 little girls, playing, arts and crafts and adorable ladybug cupcakes.

Her family party was held on her birthday-nacho bar and cake. She got her first big girl bike-which she wanted- and a big wheel, as well as cute clothes, swimsuits and princess accessories. Maddie got her a manicure set!

So that's it...for now...with pictures to come of our Spring Break Adventure...San Diego to Tucson!

Well, well, well...look who is back

Hello...sorry to be MIA for so long! BUT good news: my new baby-uh, I mean, new camera is here...and I will be updating more often! Sadly, I have not been able to play much with it this week, but I will. So bear with me and with these photos from my lil point and shoot (which I do love being able to carry in my purse). However, one prob-I need a new camera bag....any recommendations? I went to Target for a cheapie and the cheapie was $45-so if I am paying that amount, I want a good one! So, please let me know!

Basketball is now over-sad. Cooper LOVED it and we LOVED the coaches! They were so good to the kids! I seriously think Upward Bounds is THE best sports program! I am not a fan of organized sports for kids, but this is great! Focus on fun and learning-not competition! We never kept score, and our coaches goals were that every child on the team would get a basket (even if it meant lifting them to the basket). It was so great to see coaches helping the other team, handing the ball to kids, picking them up-I think every child had a great experience. i wish they would bring Upwards Soccer to town. We haven't been impressed with the local soccer league at all. The parents really bug me-too competitive! Anyway, that's my little commercial for Upwards!

We are working on being more organized and helping out at home-started the boys morning schedules. Spencer does fantastic if he has a list!

He does it, no problem. Will be adding an evening routine next. Evenings can be a little chaotic in our house some nights. I am reading Dr. Leman's book Have a New Kid by Friday, and I love what he says. I will share more when I finish-but his reality discipline ideas are the best. I saw him speak once and he was great!

Kendall had her "visitation day" at her new pre-school-a parent co-op that we love! She was so excited, and seriously, the 3rd child is so different-I think we could have dropped her off and she would have been fine without us! She sat by cousin Pana, played with Sami, and even got a hug from Cassius at the end of class. She can't wait to go back! Cannot believe MY baby will be in pre-school next fall!

Anyone still trying to stay organized??? I am still loving Ton's blog, but another fav of mine, The Simple Mom, is having her Project Simplify right now. Check it out. The first week was to go through your master closet. Well, I went through the kids clothes this weekend-pulling out the spring and summer stuff- but didn't make it to mine. Why is it so much more fun to go through kid clothing than mine? I printed out her suggestions, though, and will be working on that this week.
OK, so share your camera bags suggestions! Happy Monday!