Can you say SUGAR RUSH?

I just got a really great deal at Target! I've read about it on several blogs and took advantage if it myself today. The regular retail price for everything I bought would have been about $66 or so (plus tax). This week they were on sale (everything I got was on sale for a total of $59), then take off for manufacturer coupons, plus store coupons, plus money back (in the form of gift cards), my total was $11 (plus tax). Is that a deal, or what? Only 1/6 of the original price!

Now, I know this is all JUNK, but it will last a long time, and we can bring it along on our road trip. Here's a visual of what I got: (click to enlarge)This is 8 boxes of 8-ct. Rice Krispy Treats, 8 different kinds of Keebler cookies, 8 12-ct. boxes of Pop-Tarts, and I had an extra Keebler coupon so I got 2 bags of animal crackers.

Mandie, thank you for the coupons! I really do need to start getting my own. LOL!

Oh, and Jayla was with me for this experience, and usually is whenever I run errands (Wal-Mart, grocery store, etc.), so she is learning this coupon game right along with me.

Life lessons

Last Sunday we played at the park for a little while. Jayla was trying once again to cross the monkey bars all by herself. I think she's done it before but these were different, a little farther apart, and she has been trying for a while to master them! She finally did it!


After we left, she told me that she learned something today. She said "I learned that if you're ever scared of something, just do it and keep trying and practicing and you won't be scared anymore!" I was amazed at how such a simple thought can be so profound coming from a 6-year-old! Myles told her that we need to learn that too. She thought that was funny. :)

Funny sayings

Jacob is full of them these days. He's at that age where everything he says is funny, but he has no idea! Here are a few of them:

He loves to spit. The other day Jayla told on him, that he had spit on her. I just looked at him and he smiled really big and said, "No I didn't. Um, there was a boy, and he had a melon thing (watermelon), and those things inside (seeds), and he was spitting them. You know what I mean?" He had the hand gestures going and everything. I was actually laughing because it was so ridiculous. I controlled it though and simply told him not to lie and not to spit anymore. "Okay!" and that was it. I'm sure it will happen again, but he IS getting better about it! 

A few days ago I was showing the kids some pictures of a camp site where we will be staying on our vacation. We'll be staying at a church camp and will have a whole 10-bunk cabin to ourselves in the middle of the woods. It's going to be great! So I was showing them the pictures and telling them about it when Jacob, who could barely control his excitement, interrupted me and said "Can we go hunt some dinosaurs???" I started to laugh, but then said "Sure!" I mean, we may not find anything, but we can still have fun hunting them! :) 

One day recently he was hungry around 5 or 6 in the evening, and I was about to prepare supper anyway. I asked him what he wanted and he said, "Um, whatever you have!" I don't think he's ever told me that before. It was probably because I had just finished some ice cream. So I thought I'd tease him a little and I told him I was going to have a big salad....."Do you want a salad?" He replied, "No, I want pizza!" He had been asking for pizza ALL WEEK! I think he settled for a PB sandwich.

And one more for Jacob. They were all doing crafts earlier this week. They just had a lot of miscellaneous craft supplies and were being very creative. They had things like pipe cleaners, self-adhesive googly eyes, feathers, pom-poms and glue. A little while later, Jacob felt something on the back of his pants. He pulled it off and looked at me like he was mad that someone put it there and said "There was a EYE on my bottom!" What's even better though is that he did the exact same thing later that evening...another eye stuck on his bottom!

And one from Jonathan. He saw the picture I had posted of him on the side bar with the text "Our very own super hero!" He smiled sheepishly and said, "Oh, great, Mommy. You shouldn't have put that on there. Now everyone will expect me to save the world." I guess he's just OUR super hero. Sweet!

blog stuff

Okay, obviously I have been spending way too much time on the computer lately! I think I've finally settled on some colors for the blog that I will stick to for a while. In other words, I won't get bored with or repulsed by these for a while. I tried some brighter colors, but WOAH! I couldn't take it!

Check out the subscribe window on the right side bar. You can get my posts emailed to you now! I wanted to do that a year or so ago but didn't know how. It seems to be a new thing.

So you can enter your email address to subscribe and get an email each time I post, or if you want to subscribe using some type of reader, just click on the RSS icon on the address bar, or just click HERE!

Just FOUR fun :)

I rarely do these things, but I'm up late (again), so why not?

Here is a fun and quick way to stay in touch. Let's see how many of you answer these questions in the comments or on your own blog.

Four, Four, Four, Four...

A) Four places that I go to over and over: church, store, restaurants, YMCA

B) Four people who e-mail me (regularly): Sasha, Chrysinda, Mandie, Christy

C) Four of my favorite places to eat: CiCi's Pizza, Chili's, Panera
Bread, anywhere but home so I don't have to cook! LOL!

D) Four places I would rather be right now: Panera Bread (LOVE their
soups!), Chili's, New Jersey/beach(vacation coming up), HEAVEN

E) Four people I think will respond: Christy Z., Chrysinda, Sasha, Mrs. Troop??? 

F) Four TV shows I watch: Smallville....that's about it. I don't do
much TV. The computer on the other hand.....

I tackled it and won!

Now I'm sure not one to follow the crowd (those of you who know me well are probably laughing because you know how true this is!), which is why it has taken me this long to even consider all these different daily blog themes! I definitely have a lot of things around here that need tackling. There is no way I can even come close to getting them all done in one or even a month of Tuesdays. Maybe 100 Tuesdays. Maybe.

So for my first official Tackle it Tuesday, I am going to try really, really hard to catch up on our laundry! We don't have to be anywhere until 5:30 (Jayla's first ballet class!), so I should have enough time to wash everything if I keep it going. And I just need to make a point to get it all put away!

Here is a before picture of my "Wall of Wash". Ha! I just made that up. :)

And hours later, here is the after picture. I DID IT!!! :)

You can see in the first picture that I already had the laundry started. I washed all of my clothes yesterday and Myles' clothes were in the washer when I took the picture, which is why his basket was gone! For the left side, I washed a total of 5 loads today (2 for Jayla), plus I did a load of sheets. So that's 6 loads for today! And I still have a few things to put away, mainly Jonathan's and Jacob's clothes, which they can help with, but I actually have less to put away than I did this morning. Yea!!! :)

Blog memes - Frolicky Friday

Do you ever get so caught up in your everyday life that eventually you just sit back and think, "I haven't played with my kids today!" (or this week?) Come on, let's be honest! When was the last time you actually sat down with your child(ren) and did a puzzle or game together, or played with dolls or cars, especially during the school year?

That doesn't make you a bad mom (or dad). I'm sure we all interact with our children everyday, all the time.....out of necessity.

But playing with them is different. We need to play with our kids not only for their sake, but it's good for us too! It keeps us young and from being too serious. Best of all though, we build memories with our children and really get to know them in the process.

Imaginative play. Really, you just can't beat that. Imagine you're a pirate who just found a treasure chest full of gold, and for just a few minutes, you don't have any financial worries! Or build a tall, tall Lego tower and knock it to smithereens! Oh, the exhilaration! Or you can be a superhero and save the world in 10 minutes. It's such an awesome feeling when you really get into it!

So I am starting a new blog meme called Frolicky Friday! All you bloggers out there, come join me in this new Friday ritual!

To Join Frolicky Friday

Please add the following banner to your post and/or the link back to this blog http://everydaylifetogether.blogspot.com so that others can join in the frolicky fun!

To use the banner, simply copy and paste the following code into your post:

<a href="http://everydaylifetogether.blogspot.com/2008/09/blog-memes-frolicky-friday.html"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://i154.photobucket.com/albums/s262/cpinokc/cc4fbac3.jpg" alt="Frolicky Friday Meme" title="Frolicky Friday Meme" /></a><br />

Then just go play with your kids! Take pictures when you can, but focus on having fun with them. Then go post about it! Put a link in my comments so I can check out what you and your kids have been up to. Fun! Oh, and you don't have to wait until Friday to do this, just post about it on Friday....play with your children every chance you get! Time is too precious to waste.