How I saved $61 today

As I am SlowlY getting ready for our camping trip to the beach next week I have once again been procrastinating on pinterest under camping.  I have seen some cute ideas  for family pictures.  I am hoping to get the Christmas cards done early this year, hopefully.  I have seen some delicious recipes I want to try.  Games for the kids, lots of cool stuff.  Including a grow with me chair for babycakes.

I saw this chair and thought awesome, how have I not seen it before nor purchased it?



It is called a go with me chair.  Without sounding like an advertisement for their company, to which I have no affiliation with, here is a bit about it.

It has a 5 point harness that holds an itty bitty baby in.  A standing seat for I guess when they are antsy.  As you see a canopy cover, plus a drink/bottle holder and an eating tough :)  It is really a stretch across he front and with a dug out insert for finger foods.  Most to go chairs are hose able I would assume this one is too.  And it has darling pink poke-a-dots on a brown background which I have several different boys to match, because photo opps after all are important :0

The retail price is high.$90 but right now it is on sale for $80, still no free shipping till you reach $99.  Maybe I am out of touch with reality when it comes to the price of "soccer chairs" but to me that seems high.  I checked ebay and prices were a little bit better but not enough to make me order one.  I checked amazon and found one for 45% off, brown and pink too.  It also comes in blue and green.  That brought the price down to $55 and with $6 shipping it made it $61.

I put it in my cart after all it seemed like a great deal after staring at the higher prices for the last hour. Then I went to retail me not to try and find a code for free shipping.  I was unsuccessful.

Doing that it gave me time to think about this awesome chair and how much I really wanted it.  Do I want it for $100? NO!  Do I want it for $80 + shipping?  No.  Do I want it for $61 and it would be here in time for us to pack it with us to the beach and use for SO many other tings all summer and forward and as Gracie  would grow with it?  Not really.  That is still a lot.  I rationed it out to this.  I have a wonderful double jogging stroller.  My stroller just like the chair has a canopy, 5 point harness ( which neither girl has a problem getting out off, so I doubt the baby would in the chair would either and that might be more dangerous if the chair tipped over), the stroller has 4 cup holders and underneath storage, plus it is on wheels.  It does not have the snack area the chair has but I could wheel it up to the bench of a picnic table and it would work great.  I already have been gifted the stroller and even at $61 that is money I don't need to spend.

So I did not order this totally awesome chair.  The reviews were great, it seems nice and we always need "soccer chairs" but the price was a bit to high.  If i had seen this for my first kids I might have jumped on it but for my last baby I am a bit more reluctant.

Sometimes stopping to think and stepping away will give you the mind to realize you do not need it, you just want it.  And by doing so I saved $61 today.

Doing the Dishes

Oh my goodness with all these kids home the house is even messier than normal.  The fridge is always empty and they are still hungry.  And the dishes oh my are there a lot of dishes.  I am easily doing 2 large loads a day and some by hand.  At least I have the cutest helper.



Who could use a good washing too ;)





I might have complained about the cost of the dish washer but I am so thankful.  I couldn't imagine going back to washing 7 peoples dishes along with all the pots, pans, and bottles by hand anymore.

To Cute Not To Share

Two disclaimers before we get started.

• There are A LOT of pictures.  Cute cuddly babies and kittens pictures.  So dear it will make you want one.  If it is a baby you want I can not help but if it is a kitten I have two of the spotted ones left and they can be all yours!

•  No kitties were truly hurt in the taking of these pictures.  Scared probably but they are all fine.

Sunday early morning I was woke up at 4 am to very loud meowing.  Very quick help me somethings wrong meowing.  I walked over to the stairs and Wyatt was just going off meowing.  I looked down 1 more stair and there was a kitten.  Oh no what was wrong?  I thought the kitten must have fell out of the play pen and possibly getting hurt and she brought it up to me to take care of.  I picked up the little one loved it and then returned it to the playpen to stay safe and sound.  Still groggy I went back to bed.  Six the alarm goes off and I was glad to be awoke by it and not a meowing cat.  I went to the basement to go check on the kittens, make sure that little one was still doing good.  Upon opening the door I heard all these meows and the stairs were full of cats.  The kittens had all got out of the playpen and were climbing the stairs.  Ahhh!!!

They have just turned 1 month old.  We were keeping them in a large cardboard box until they started escaping. We got them another cardboard box with higher sides and thought that would be good but they still were escaping.  And we did not want them getting hurt falling off the sides.  At a yard sale we picked up an old  playpen for super cheap.  I thought it would be great for the kittens.  High sides lots of room, fine in the basement, something we could just through away afterwards, container for 1 more month for the kittens.  I was wrong.  It was nice that you could just open the basement door and see them since the sides were just nets.  I never expected that the kittens could climb the nets.

But yes not only could they climb the nets they can now climb the stairs!  I quickly got my son Evan, the natural pet lover.  We collected all the kittens and put them upstairs where I thought they would be contained but was wrong again.  Even though the room was baby gated at two doors the little kittens could fit through the baby gates, and did.  After collecting the kittens AGAIN we put up more and different baby gates in front of the other baby gates and that seemed to work.  But now I had 5 cats climbing around one room with my 4 kids.  Oh my.  We were chasing them through all sots of small spaces.



Good thing my kids are small.  But this was exhausting.  Plus every time we would get them off of something and hold them their razor sharp claws would latch on to our clothing.  The big boys have quite a few scratches on them.  Ugh.  What to do?  Grab a camera and start shooting.  Because even though they are a handful and a half they are so stinking cute!!!



The kids loved the kittens playing with them.



They would sit down and be covered it these little cuties.  That is until Faith climbed on the couch.



A kitty would unknowingly crawl over to her.





She would catch it. And start kissing the poor thing.





lots of love and then here mom I am done.



She would quickly discard the cat.  Or in the cats eyes it would run for its life.





Even though one would run away there were always more victims kittens for her to love.











Oh Faith....

When the kittens would no longer come to her she went to them.





Kittens are so much fun.

I am surprised she did not get hurt by their sharp claws.  I am surprised they did not even try clawing at her. She is still 13 months old and thinks they are just fun play toys.





Playful or not it was time for them to get a break from her.



Eventually the cuddled in a corner and went to sleep.  Very interrupted sleep as none of my kids would leave them truly alone.  What a crazy morning!  It was a church morning too.  That obviously went out the window.  How could I leave when there were kittens all over my home pretty uncontainable and certainly had to be supervised.

I called my husband frantic for help through this he brought me home a bunch more cardboard boxes which we lined the inside of the playpen to double the standard height of it.  He also got me a PINK cat carrier!  It is so pretty.  After this fun morning I am ready to give them away now.  It has been two days since the "kitty emergency" and all has been working out well for now.

Dentist woes

I hate going to the dentist.  Don't we all.  I rarely ever go.  I mean I put YEARS between my visits.  My last was 2009?  It was only because of an emergency.  I think it was before then actually.  My tooth broke.  I was eating a grilled cheese and my tooth broke.  So you know it was bad because the grilled cheese was not hard.  It just turned out to be my most expensive grilled cheese ;)  I did not have dental insurance and I went to our church and told them what happened.  Then they paid for EVERYTHING!  My bill was none and my tooth was fixed.  But it hurt so bad.  I was crying and miserable after they fixed it.  The last time I had experienced pain so bad, the worse pain I had ever had, topping the 4 births of my kids, was when I had my wisdom teeth extracted.  OUCH!!!!  SO many times over.  Never felt pain like that before and luckily since.

Bravely I went in for a cleaning a few weeks ago.  Knowing preventives maintenance is best but hoping they don't find anything wrong.  The good news is they said my teeth are beautiful.  The dentist and hygentist  were surprised how well they were considering it has been so long since a visit.  I was hopeful.  Hopefully wrong.  They found decay.  It is on the tooth next to the one I had rebuilt.  The crown wore it wrong, or did something, or this tooth was damaged because of it.  Basically if I did not have that stupid broken tooth I would not be in this spot for having another one fixed.  They are not sure how deep or extensive the damage is because they can not do an xray.    But they said something needs to be done right away.  Dreadfully approaching is Friday, my next appointment.  They are going in to "fix" it.  ugh.  I am dreading it.  I will pray hard about it.  I will also ask for all you prayers of peace and pain free for me, I am truly scared of getting dental work done.



Braver and better than me are my 3 boys.  They have all also had check ups in the last month.  And guess what...



No CAVITIES!  No nothing, they are doing good.  I am so happy for them, for me, for there teeth.  The dentist can be good, when he has good news.

Poor Evan

2 weeks ago he got hit in the thumb at baseball, the right thumb.  He was up at bat and that ball got him good.  My poor baby cried and was done for the night.  I can't blame him.  We had nothing there to put on it either.  Practices are high up in the mountains not even close to home.

His finger immediately turned colors and swollen up 3 times in size.  There was no doubt it was hurt bad but was it broken?  I had to drive by a hospital to get home it crossed my mind to just take him in.  But with a finger that swollen I did not think much could be done anyways.

We continued home I gave him ice and Tylenol.  It did not look good.  He went to bed and I thought we would reevaluate it in the morning.  When he woke it was still so discolored and looked bad.  Since it was morning we could go to the doctors rather than the hospital.

His dad took him in as soon as possible.  The doctor said wow but could not tell if it was broke or not.  He needed x-rays to do so but said really it makes no difference.  The treatment and healing would be the same.  There is just not much that can be done with that part of the thumb.  So he poked a hole in his fingernail to relieve the pressure.  I am so glad his dad took him, I could not handle that.  Then wrapped it in a plastic cast.


March 23, 2012

I felt horrible for him but he said the poking a hole in it did not hurt.  You never want to see your babies hurt.

He was up and running around in no time.  He even went back and played baseball 4 days later.  No hitting or catching just a lot of running.  But as the week went on so did his involvement in the game.  My little guys even got a home run a few days later.  By default, the players kept missing the ball as he just kept running the bases. He was doing better, his finger still looked bad but it should for a while.  We mostly kept wrapping it.

Then as the boys were practicing baseball in the back yard and I was inside spring cleaning I heard a great yell.  The again and it kept up.  Yes he re injured his thumb.  It got hit or bumped or something but it got hurt again.  I ran to that poor little boy running in circles screaming.  His finger was gross.  The color was bad and it was hanging funny.  Ugh.  Oh and of course it was not wrapped today.

He was able to straighten it out but the huge size of the knuckle and the whole finger was the size of mine.  It looked bad.  Worse than it was.



Luckily we were home and ice and Tylenol were immediately applied.  I questioned whether or not to take him to the hospital again.  But the doctors words stuck in my head what could they really do but give him pain medicine and wrap it.  Same thing I could do here.  But I left it up to Evan and he just wanted to rest.



I have no doubt it is broke.  I have watched it never look right for the weeks and now with another smash and the discolor and shape I am certain.  We will see how tomorrow goes.  If it is worse I will take him in.  At the least I will make sure it is wrapped.

3 new bottles

Yes not 1...
           not 2....
                 but 3!!!




Three brand new bottles I had just bought today.  Three brand new bottles I had put up high just not high enough.  Three bottles my troublesome twosome dumped out all over the floor and rug.



Luckily they had cuteness on there side and mama had magic eraser under the sink. I love that sponge works on everything. Well that and a bunch of baby wipes took care of this.





ugh...  why...  I wanted these!  





She was so interested in it to begin with.  If she would have waited I was going to paint her little toes and fingers while she slept.  But she or Smiley painted herself.  There is so much in her hair.  Top, front and back, in all 3 colors.  I wonder how many baths till it is out.


Well on the bright side... at least I got my toes done because it is flip flop weather!

Fastnaucht Day

Happy Fastnaucht Day!  To all my friends living in Dutch country and everywhere else.  What is Fastnaucht Day?  Don't worry if you never heard of it.  It is common out here but I never heard of it till I moved to Pennsylvania either.  Once I found out about it I thought how could I have gone over 20 years without it.

Lets go to wiki to explain it...

A Fasnacht, sometimes spelled Fastnacht or Faschnacht or Fosnot or Fosnaught, is a fatty doughnut treat served traditionally on Fastnacht Day (Shrove Tuesday), the day before Lent starts. Fasnachts were made as a way to empty the pantry of lard, sugar, fat, and butter, which were traditionally fasted from during Lent.^[1][2][3]

Basel, Switzerland conducts an annual fasnacht festival. The Pennsylvania Dutch territory surrounding Lancaster, Pennsylvania, celebrates the custom as well. Most chain supermarkets in the eastern Pennsylvania offer fasnachts, although WalMart offersPączki instead. The pączki is traditionally eaten in Poland on the Thursday prior to Fasnacht Day, although in Polish communities of the US, the tradition is more commonly celebrated on Fasnacht Day. Commonly pączki are round, rather than having straight sides, and they are filled with jelly, or sometimes creme filling.^[1][2][3]

In parts of Maryland, the treats are called Kinklings, and are only sold in bakeries on Shrove Tuesday. The German version is made from a yeast dough, deep fried, and coated or dusted in sugar or cinnamon sugar; they may be plain or filled with fruit jam. Pennsylvania Dutch fasnachts can often be potato doughnuts, and may be uncoated, powdered with table sugar, or dusted with confectioner's sugar.^[1][2] [3]

The term is synonymous with the Carnival season Fasnacht in southern Germany, Switzerland, Alsace and Austria. Although usually written "Fastnacht", there are many local spoken varieties: Fasnacht, Fassenacht, Fasnet etc.^[1][2][3]

The German word Fastnacht translates as Carnival in English.

That sums it up pretty good.  Some of you also celebrate fat Tuesday.  And today will make you fat.  Everywhere you turn around there are fastnauchts.  People hand them out to neighbors, friends, co workers you can't avoid these delicious treats.  I stopped at the market on my way home and picked up a dozen for my family.

First thing my boys yelled as they got home "Happy Fat Tuesday mom do you have any..." they were cut off mid sentence once they saw the yummy treats on the table.  They dove right in.  I got half powder sugar, and half table sugar.  Everyone like different ones and I had one of each.

Ah they were delicious.  And oh so fattening.  Each fastnaucht is around 500 calories.  WOW.  Even though I am pregnant that is a lot of extra calories.  So we headed to the gym.  Picture are never flattering when hold a doughnut.

I love to run so I though I would run it off.  

Well I ran and ran.  I ran 4 miles.  I did not run off the 1000 extra calories I had just inhaled but any is better than none.  

And did you see what those fastnauchts did to me?  All the sudden they made my belly big.  My bump is now here.  My bump might just be fastnauchts.  We will see in a day or two.

Well after gorging and running it time for rest.  Happy Fastnaucht Day!

Letting your friends babysit

Today a brave friend, her husband, daughter, daughter's friend, volunteered to watch my 4 for the afternoon in her house full of all the above mentioned plus her 2 boys and a handful of their friends there too.  Yes she had more than a hand full.  But the first for were really the ones going to watch my babies and my two big ones ran off with the older boys.

After the afternoon of shopping I came back and collected all of mine to their disappointment.  They wanted to stay and play.  It was sad I had to bribe them to come home with the doughnuts in my trunk.

Once home I went to change the babies and....



She put the diaper on backwards!  Bahaha.  It has been a long time since her 3 were babies and I guess you can forget.  You would think with all those helpers it would have been a different story but no.  It made me laugh.

The baby in the picture is not mine I took that off the web.  You would not have wanted to see a picture of my babies diaper before I changed it.

Childrens Identy Theft

I never thought that was anything to worry about.  As a matter of fact I never thought about it.  I often see the commercials on TV about protecting your identity and the programs they have to help.  Well those programs are just junk.  They can not guarantee your identity will not be stolen they will do the paperwork and leg work for you once it is.

On many blogs, and other social media outlets many people use pet names for their family members to protect them.  Some other have no pictures of there kids on facebook.  People do all different types of things to hide and protect their families identity.  I am not so private.  I have tons of pictures of my kids on my blog and facebook.  I give lots of information about them.  I rejoice in them and can't keep it in.  Maybe I should.

A few months ago one of my  kids started receiving publishers clearing house stuff.  He thought it was cool because his name was all over it.  And month after month they kept coming.  We laughed it off thinking haha what if he really one (does anyone ever really win those?)  What if it was thousands of week for life and they just named a 6 year old there winner.  He would be set.  But other pieces of junk mail kept coming.  Yesterday yet another pieces asking for money for a reputable charity.

I just threw it to the side thinking just another thing.  But my husband chimed in and said I wonder if someone might have stole his identity.  And then all the pieces started whirling through my mind.  Why is this only happening to 1 of my kids?  Why is a 6 year old receiving all these offers, continually.  He is to young to and has never entered his name on any soliciting list.  Any online game he plays is registered to me.  How could I ignore months of this and think nothing of it but as awe look honey you got mail.



We quickly looked at the credit reporting sites.  But found out you can not access a child's credit 13 and under online ever.  You can get YOUR child's credit 14 and older.  Now this does not mean you can not get your very minor child's credit.  Especially if you think there is reason to believe of misdoing.  You have to write to all three credit reporting agencies.  Two of them have online forms you can fill out and 1 you can only send a letter by mail.  They wont give you an answer at the site they email it to you or mail it to you.  So it takes a little time.

I started filling out forms and writing letters.  But my impatient self was still not at rest.  And I wondered if there might have been other ways to find out.  So I called our bank.  My son has a savings account and a CD.there so they have all his information, they know I am his mother, and they can tell me if someone has been accessing his account, and maybe be able to get me the credit report faster.

Well they too could not access his credit.  They had no reason to run his credit and identity theft does not permit the bank to access it.  But they said there has been nothing done to his accounts and as soon as someone would try they would stop it because of his age.  But they put a caution on it and said I am taking all the right steps.

Well the good news is I have heard back from 1 agency and they say there is nothing to alert them to theft.  Some how it seems as his name got on a junk mail list, maybe through a magazine?  He does get a LEGO one.  However this whole ordeal is making me step back and think.  Maybe I should not be so open.  I would hate to think of  someone ever ruining his dreams for him.  You need good credit to get through life.  For college, cars and a home, I can't imagine someone spoiling all of that for him.  Something scary did not happen but reminds you it is all to real and could.

Things I wish I had know years ago

One of the baby items I have never enjoyed are baby gates. I hate the way they look and mostly climbing over them. With those feelings the last thing I wanted to do was spend a lot of money on baby gates. I bought the ugly cheapo ones from wal mart and figured I would only use them for the brief time I had to. I did not understand yet ALL the "brief" times that were really install for me.

Eight years now into my baby adventure I went out and bought better, more expensive, walk through baby gates. I shopped around at a few different store and was surprised to see how few of them carried baby gates. I even looked at pet smart. I shopped online thinking I could find a good deal but in the end back to wal mart I went and bought two of these walk through gates and for surprisingly and thankfully $40 each.

Now I have one for the bathroom and one for the sun room, where the kids are most of the time. That gate will keep Smiley out of the kitchen and cut off his free roam of getting into everything!



With the four year break between Evan and Smiley I had forgot how much I hated gates around the house. But Smiley can be a pain. When he is done eating he's done and will not sit in his high chair any more. We are forced to take him out and then he will not let anyone else finish eating. He will climb all over them and throw there food. He loves to run to the laundry room and throw things away. He does so many thing that require him to be locked into one spot we have to use a baby gate very often.



Gregory just like Jay and I can hop over the gate but Evan is just not quite tall enough. I got to the point being pregnant I just can't lift him over anymore. Plus he always has to go over for some reason. It was time we got walk through gates.



The gates went up in a matter of minutes and seem pretty strong. Everyone but Smiley can walk through them. Boy does he hate that. No more lifting on my half. However now they are constantly going through them it is driving me nuts. But I think that phase will end when the newness wears off.



It is so convenient, still ugly, but if you have to have gates this is definitely the way to go. I wish someone would have told me this at the beginning.