Box Tops Award Prize

This month I had received notification from Kaitlyn's school that they were having a Box Tops contest. All students who brought in even one Box Top would get a munchkin on this particular day. Then if they brought in 100 Box Tops they'd get a gift certificate to the book fair the end of March and 200 Box Tops would win them some other prizes and the student who brought in the most would get a choice of a $20 gift certificate to any in town store. So we gathered up all of our Box Tops which family and friends have been saving for us and that we've collected over the past year or so and sent them in with Kaitlyn. She brought in a total of 580 Box Tops. She just got her munchkin that day and we didn't hear anything else. Then last Friday I got a phone call asking me what gift certificate she would like because she had brought in the most Box Tops. She wasn't home, but I figured she'd get the most use out of a Walmart gift certificate.

So that day Kaitlyn came home from school with all sorts of goodies. Along with the Walmart gift certificate she also won the gift certificate for the book fair, a school t-shirt, and a Smencil. She also had her name announced to the school as the student who brought in the most Box Tops. She was so excited.

Now ever since then she has been asking on a daily basis if she could go to Walmart. We kept putting her off. She kept talking about how she was going to buy stuff for all of her siblings too with the gift certificate. I kept reminding her that she didn't have to do that, but she had it all figured out, she was spending $4 of it on Alyssa and $3 each on Natalie and CJ and the rest of the $20 was for her.

So today we finally went to Walmart. She was super excited. I again reminded her that she didn't have to get anything for her siblings and told her pick for herself first and we would figure out if there was anything left to get anyone else anything. We walked back and forth up and down the toy aisle of Walmart and seemed to be there forever. Finally Kaitlyn had a puzzle and a book with Tinkerbell paper dolls in it for a total of $7.50 and she said that was it she was done the rest were for her siblings. So CJ got two matchbox cars, Natalie got a book of search a words, and for Alyssa she bought her some pacifiers so she stops sucking on my finger, lol. We were under the $20 limit. Before we left though knowing that CJ was on his first adventure out in underwear I asked him if he had to go potty. He said yes so Joe brought him to the bathroom. So the girls and I were browsing around the girls section and Kaitlyn decided she wanted to add some $2.50 hair things to her stuff. So with that we left. Kaitlyn still has some $.89 left on her gift card so she did some good shopping and everyone left happy. I thought it was very nice of Kaitlyn to share her gift card with her siblings though. She definitely did not have to do that.

The paper dolls ended up being a good purchase too as it entertained the girls for about two hours this afternoon while Joe, CJ, Alyssa, and I took a nap.

Week In Review: October 25 - October 31, 2009

Here is this weeks Week In Review for October 25 - October 31, 2009

Sunday: Slept in for a change. Got up and did a few things around the house. Looked up some recipes. Found a recipe for an apple cake I thought I'd give a try. Then tried to figure out how I wanted to make CJ's cake. I found a cake pan from Wilton that was perfect, but it was discontinued. So I called around trying to find someone who had it, but no one had it. I found it on ebay, but worried it wouldn't get here in time. So I e-mailed to ask if it could be rushed to me. Joe went to work. I started working on my apple cake. Fed the kids lunch. Put CJ down for a nap. Finished up my cake. Got a reply from the person with the cake pan on ebay that if I bought it today I could get it on time. So I did Buy it Now and purchased the cake pan. Now fingers crossed that I get it. I washed dishes. Joe came home from work. I started some laundry and cleaned up my kitchen floor. Joe cooked dinner. We ate. Natalie had to work on some homework that she hadn't completed. That turned into a very long project. So I put Kaitlyn and CJ to bed and had her finish up her work. She finally finished and I sent her to bed. I continued with the laundry and watched TV with Joe. I took a shower and went to bed.

Monday: Got woken up by Kaitlyn telling me Natalie didn't feel good. She had a headache and said her stomach hurt. I sent her to get something to eat. She was still moping around. I took her temperature which was normal. Gave her some Tylenol and told her if she stays home from school she stays in her room and sent her there. I thought she'd come back out a little while later bored and ready to go to school. She didn't. Joe went in there though and she was sitting on her bed reading. He asked her if she was feeling better she said she did so he told her to get ready for school. So the kids went off to school as normal. Joe brought them in. I got CJ dressed. When Joe came home we went over our friend's house. They had a couch that Joe wanted me to look at and to measure and see if it would fit in our apartment. So we went there. Looks like we might get the couch. After that we went to Walmart to pick up a few things that I needed. Then we stopped at the pharmacy and came home. Fed CJ lunch and put him down for a nap. I called the bank to deal with a problem with my account. The person I've been working with is no longer there though and no one seems to know what's been going on. So that was frustrating. I think I got it under control though. I had something to eat and then watched TV with Joe. I went to pick the girls up from school. Came home and Joe left for work. I helped the girls with their homework. Washed the dishes. Cooked dinner. Fed the kids. Sent the girls to finish cleaning their rooms. Then sent them to take a shower. Got CJ ready for bed and put them to bed. Then sent the girls to bed. I stayed up watching TV until Joe came home from work. Then I went to bed.

Tuesday: Got up and discovered the girls were still in bed. So I had to wake them up. Then hey were arguing and giving me trouble with getting ready. I hate starting the morning off that way. Got them ready and got dressed and brought them to school. Then I went to the bank. I had to fill out some paperwork there. Took care of that and came home. Cleaned the kitchen. Did some things on the computer. Gave CJ lunch and put him down for a nap and then I had something to eat. Then I went over to the new Box Top coordinator's house to help her prepare the box tops to be shipped out and show her what to do. Brought her to the post office to ship and pay for it with the PTA money. Then came home. Made cookie dough. Went to pick the girls up from school. Came home and got them started on homework. Joe left for work. I got dinner going and finished making my cookies too. Fed the kids and ate something myself. Had the girls clean their room. Got them ready for bed and sent them to bed. Then I decorated the cookies and washed dishes. Made some mashed potatoes for Joe. He came home and ate his dinner. I finished cleaning up the kitchen and went to take a shower and then went to bed.

Wednesday: Got up and got dressed. Got the kids dressed and Joe out the door. We brought Joe to work. Then came home and the kids finished getting ready. I put CJ's halloween costume on him for the playgroup halloween party. We left for school. The girls helped me carry the cookies down to playgroup and then went off to class. CJ and I had a good time at playgroup. He made the craft and played with some playdough. We trick or treated around the school and had snack and sang some songs and did some dancing and then left. Came home and put him down for a nap. I relaxed. Had some lunch. Went to pick the girls up from school after CJ got up from his nap. Came home and started homework. Went back out to get Joe from work and do some grocery shopping. Got gas. Came home in the pouring rain. Put the groceries away. Started dinner. Realized we forgot to return a movie. Sent Joe out to do that. He came home. We ate dinner. CJ got cheese all over his white shirt. I threw it in the wash. Had the girls finish cleaning their rooms. Sent them all to bed. Watched TV with Joe. Finished that load of laundry. CJ's shirt didn't come clean. Now I need bleach. Let it soak in some detergent for now. Watched some more TV. Went to bed.

Thursday: Got up and did our normal morning routine. Joe went to work. I got the kids dressed and out the door. We walked to school. Then CJ and I came back home. I did some menu planning for CJ's birthday party. Fed CJ lunch and put him down for a nap. When Joe got home from work we got CJ up from his nap and went to Walmart to get CJ's birthday presents and some stuff for his party. By the time we finished there we didn't have much time to do anything else so we went to the school to pick the girls up. Got them and went to Iparty for party favors for the goody bags and a few other things we couldn't find at Walmart. I found napkins there that I liked better than ones I got at Walmart. So we went back to Walmart to return those napkins and to show Natalie some plates that she might want to buy for CJ for part of his birthday present. Got a plate and a few other things we realized we forgot the first time and went to the grocery store to get the rest of the stuff we couldn't get at Walmart. Then we went to Subway to get dinner and home to eat. We ate dinner. The kids did their homework. I washed dishes. Then I gave CJ a bath. Got him all ready for bed. Put all the kids to bed. Cleaned out CJ's toy box in preparation for the gifts he'll receive this weekend. Cleaned up the living room a bit. Worked on the pin the mouth on the ghost game for CJ's birthday party. Got that and the mouths all made. Went and took a shower and then went to bed.

Friday: Got up and got the kids ready to go. Left for school bright and early in the morning. Started popping popcorn. We got through that pretty quick. Came home and started counting all the money we had from other PTA events. Got a phone call from school that a classes popcorn order was missing. I know we filled the order, but I don't know what happened so it needed to be reimbursed. So that adjusted my counting. Put CJ down for a nap. Got the deposit ready and went to the bank. Came home and had lunch. Watched some TV with Joe. Cleaned up the living room. Picked the girls up from school. Cleaned the kitchen. Joe went to work. I wasn't feeling good so I laid down on the couch. Then I got up and cooked dinner. Cleaned up the kitchen a little. Fed the kids. Joe came home from work and we carved pumpkins. I cleaned the bathroom. Baked a cake. Washed dishes. Made jello. Washed laundry. Went to bed.

Saturday: Got up early still feeling lousy. No rest for the weary though. I had a lot of work to do. I cleaned up the kitchen. Joe vacuumed the living room for me. I made the frosting for the cake. Decorated the cake. Had leftover frosting so I made some cupcakes. Joe took the kids out to do a few things. I mopped the floor. Wrapped presents. They came home. I went and took a shower. Got dressed. Frosted cupcakes. Finished getting ready for CJ's party. Guests arrived. We had a nice party for him. He got lots of nice stuff. Everyone, but our friends left. We were going trick or treating together. So we ordered some pizza. Ate dinner. Got the kids back in costume. Took pictures and trick or treated in the rain. Came home soaked with not a whole lot of candy. Our friends went home. We went through the kids candy. Let them each have a piece. Got them ready for bed and sent them to bed. Cleaned up some party stuff a little, but mostly just crashed.

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Week In Review: March 8 - March 14, 2009

Here is this weeks Week In Review for March 8 - March 14, 2009

Sunday: I hope everyone remembered to set their clocks ahead. I couldn't believe how quickly the day flew by. Must be the time change. I got all the size 4, 5, 6 and 6x clothes out of the house and over to my friend. Did some laundry too. I really need to get in gear and packing more. Our moving date is coming up on us quickly.

Monday: I feel like I didn't get a lot accomplished today, but I guess I did. I posted a bunch of stuff on ebay. I also freecycled some stuff. That became a huge pain in the butt. People who were supposed to come didn't. One was kind enough to e-mail that she wouldn't make it because of the weather. Not that the weather was all that bad. All the stuff finally went though. Then we had a reading around the campfire event at the school for Kaitlyn. That was fun. They gave us dinner including s'mores. Then we got to read with our kids. First we learned how to ask more questions about the stories they are reading. Then we did this thing where she had to repeat back what I was saying. She had fun and we read lots of good books together. Then she got to come home with two free books.

Tuesday: I wasn't feeling good today. Very achy. Coming down with a cold. I brought the girls to school and sent a note home for one of the parents. Still haven't heard back about our Avon fundraiser. Then I made some phone calls. I washed dishes and cleaned out a closet in my kitchen. Getting rid of lots of stuff which is good. I had a WIC appointment so I went to that. Then to the store to pick up a prescription of mine and some more Pediasure for CJ. Then I went back to the school to look through the closet for our Bingo cards for Friday. Didn't find it though. So I came back home. When I picked the girls up Natalie's teacher asked me about the pizza party for tomorrow. Problem is we had discussed doing it next Wednesday. He forgot we had said that. But I told him I could still do it tomorrow. So I had to come home and order pizza for tomorrow afternoon. I cleaned out some more stuff and Freecycled more stuff. I cooked dinner. Got the kids bathed and in bed. Then I called my dad. And you can read about how well that went here. Then I baked brownies for Natalie's class pizza party tomorrow.

Wednesday: Playgroup day! We had a nice time at playgroup. CJ mostly stayed by my side as usual, but he did venture off a little to explore towards the end of playtime. Then we had snack, a story, and goodbye song and we left. I checked for fundraiser money in the PTA mailbox. Of course it wasn't there. I hate that people tell me they are going to do something and then don't do it. We are running out of time. So I came home and put CJ down for his nap. I had to wake him up at noon to go back to the school for the pizza party for Natalie's class. Got the pizza to her class and the brownies. All well received and came home to feed CJ lunch. He ate, I ate and I tried to clean up, but that never works when he's awake. I got the girls from school and they came home and did their homework. Joe came home from work shortly after that and the person who's buying his car came over to give the rest of the money. We still have the car because he didn't get it registered or insured yet and there wasn't time. I cleaned out a cabinet in my kitchen and washed dishes and the stove. Then we went out to grab something to eat. We took advantage of the coupons we had for free ice cream and went to Friendly's after we ate. We didn't end up getting home until 8:30. We sent the kids right to bed and Joe and I watched the movie Transporter 3. It was pretty good. After that was over it was getting late and we should have been going to bed, but we played some video games instead. Then my phone rang (at 11:30 at night). It was not good news. It was our new landlord from TN calling to tell us that he had decided to rent the house to someone else. I knew I should have gotten something signed before we left. So now Joe and I are in a complete panic of what do we do? His car is sold. He gave notice at his job. We told our landlord we're moving. And it's 11:30 at night and we can't call anyone to try to fix this. Needless to say neither one of us got any sleep.

Thursday: Got up completely exhausted. The girls didn't get up with their alarm and then they proceeded to goof off for the rest of the morning getting themselves into more and more hot water. I got them to school on time though. I tried to contact more people about paying for their fundraiser. Joe spoke to a friend about an apartment for rent in her building. It probably won't be ready until June at the earliest. There's no one at work for Joe to take his two weeks notice out. Things couldn't possibly be any worse. I need to clean because someone is supposed to come look at the apartment today. We spoke to our landlord after they came to look and they were okay with letting us stay. The ad had only run for a few days and no one else had looked at it. Then we brought the rest of the Avon stuff from the fundraiser to her house and to Walmart to pick up Connect Four for the Box Tops class winner in February.

Friday: We got up late today. I have a cold and couldn't talk really this morning. The girls over slept. So they were late for school today. After dropping them off we ran to Dunkin Donuts for something to eat and then met my PTA vice president back at the school to laminate Bingo cards. We got 200 cards laminated. Then we went back to my house to cut them all out. We didn't finish until almost 12:30. We offered to pick up two of my VP's kids from school because she had to bring the other one to the eye doctor. We told her we would just keep them until Bingo and we'd feed them and bring them to Bingo. So the kids had fun playing with their friends and then we had fun at Bingo night. Everyone had won at least one prize. We had a decent turn out. Only ended up losing $69 total which is good since we budgeted to lose $200. When we got home I called my mom to talk about getting together this weekend. We ended up deciding to allow my parents to take the girls all day Saturday and bring them home Sunday.

Saturday: We went out to breakfast. We started out at Denny's, but we didn't see a waitress for a good fifteen minutes at all. But yet people who came in after us were getting waited on. When the waitress decided to grace us with her presence she wasn't very apologetic. So we got up and left. As we were storming out the waitress was talking to the manager who tried to get us to stay. We said there's no way. We headed to Friendly's and we were in and out of there. We came home and cleaned up a little. The girls packed for their stay with my parents. My parents came a little earlier than I had told them to. CJ had fallen asleep on the floor. My dad was LOUD. CJ woke up and was cranky. So he didn't want anyone but me which of course upset my mom. They took the girls though and I put CJ down for a nap. Someone was supposed to come look at the apartment, but they were a no show. Joe went to work and that just left me and CJ. He had a good time walking around and exploring. We had dinner and he fell asleep on the floor watching TV. It's amazing what he can do when his sister's aren't around bugging him.

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Week In Review: February 22 - February 28

Here is this weeks Week In Review for February 22 through February 28, 2009.

Sunday: Everyone slept in except me. So I had almost two hours of peace and quiet. We still had to unpack the car, but because of the sleet Joe didn't want to go out there. I got tired of waiting and wanted my slippers though so I finally went out there to get the stuff and Joe followed. We brought everything up and I began unpacking and sorting all of the laundry. Got a load going and discovered I was going to need more fabric softener. So we went to Walmart to pick that up. Then we went to Walgreens to get some prints of our vacation pictures for the girls to show at school. Then back home for dinner and so I could continue working on that laundry. The kids showered and went to bed and Joe and I watched some of our DVR recordings for the week. I also chose the winner for my 200th post giveaway so if you haven't seen that yet and are wondering if it's you click here.

Monday: First day back to school. The girls were not into it this morning. I think they had a good day though. They shared about our trip last week. I cleaned up and finally finished all of the vacation laundry. CJ's therapist came over. She was very impressed with seeing him walk. She was choked up about the news of us moving to TN. She's happy for us, but I think is going to miss us. After I picked the girls up from school I made copies of the reminder sheet to get those Avon fundraisers in. Got everything in the mailboxes and hopefully they will be sent home this week.

Tuesday: Girls were up late this morning. So I had to get after them. They made it to school on time though. I counted Box Tops. Then I wrote up a little reminder to send in those Box Tops by Friday. We already have 1500 Box Tops for the month of February! I put CJ down for a nap and then took a nice leisurely shower. All day I felt like I was forgetting something. I guess not though. It was one of those rare days I actually didn't have something on my calendar. I picked the girls up from school and I had a great note from Kaitlyn's reading teacher. She read a Level 7 book today with 100% accuracy! She was so proud of herself. I'm proud of her too. They did homework, I made dinner, they got ready for bed, and I got to relax the rest of the night.

Wednesday: Playgroup day. We got a late start again though. I hope we get back into the swing of things soon. CJ took a few steps at playgroup. I started telling people about our upcoming move. So far everyone has been very supportive. I just hope they really mean what they say. It's been a hard choice to flake out on these commitments that I've made. I picked the girls up from school. As I was pulling out of the parking spot someone came and double parked. Grrr, I hate when they do that. I got the kids home and doing their homework.

Thursday: Today I met with the principal of the school to ask him about the testing of Kaitlyn. The speech therapist has tested Kaitlyn. She did find some phonemic awareness trouble with her, but nothing that would require her to see her on a regular basis. It doesn't seem that the testing of her memory has been done yet. I also informed him of us moving in a month. He's happy for us and thinks the girls will do great in TN. He's going to miss us and all we do for the school, but he understands. I also discussed some PTA stuff with him. Then I came home and practiced making some balloon animals. I picked the girls up from school. After they did their homework I started getting ready to Clown Around. The girls and I (as Sparkles) went to a carnival at the school for the after school program. Afterwords I went to get some Subway for dinner for me and Joe. It's always interesting to see people's reactions when you walk into a business dressed as a clown.

Friday: We took the hour long drive to Cranial Tech for the very last time today. CJ graduated from his Doc Band! We are so excited to no longer need to make that trip. After picking the girls up from school I counted Box Tops. I have to get them mailed out. Natalie's class won this months competition! She's so excited. Kaitlyn brought home her spelling test. I posted it on my blog because there's something very interesting about it. See if you can find it. Kaitlyn was complaining of a tummy ache again. We thought maybe she was just hungry and we wanted to go out to celebrate CJ's "graduation". So we chanced it. First we had to stop at Staples to fax something for Joe's brother. Darn thing cost $3 to fax, but at least it stopped the harassment. We never hear from his brother, but when he needs something he's calling five times a day, no joke. He even resorted to calling MY cell phone. Then we went to Friendly's where we got terrible service. It took over half an hour to get our food. Kaitlyn did end up getting sick while we were there too. So we took our ice cream to go once we tracked down our waitress. I had some issues with the bill of course too. I was going to go to Walmart, but Kaitlyn was miserable so we came home. Just going to have to get that box for the Box Tops Saturday instead. I hope Kaitlyn isn't coming down with something.

Saturday: CJ was up way too early. Not sure what was up with that. So it was an early start to the day. I went to Walmart before the girls even got up and got my box for Box Tops. Then I stopped at Dunkin Donuts for some munchkins. Brought those home and the girls ate them. CJ went down for a nap and Joe and I tried to do the same, but the girls wouldn't allow it and CJ only slept for an hour. So we gave him lunch and then went out to mail my Box Tops and the prize to my 200th post winner. I sent in over 3000 box tops. Another $300 plus for our school which makes over $1300 earned for the year! We stocked up on CJ's pediasure while at the store. Also picked up a few other things and then went to Walmart to find Kaitlyn a jewelery box because hers broke. We had to go to a few different stores for that. We ended up eating out at Applebees because things took longer than expected. We had a nice dinner there. CJ keeps playing with his head. We think looking for his helmet that he doesn't have to wear anymore. That's the highlights of our week though.

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Week In Review: February 1 - February 7, 2009

Here is this weeks Week In Review for February 1 through February 7, 2009.

Sunday: Laundry day again. I went through some of the girl's clothes in their drawers finally to get rid of what doesn't fit. I put together 40 goody bags for our Box Top winners at school. I got a phone call from my brother. He was obviously drinking. And he told me he was in a bar with his 18 month old daughter. That's always nice to hear. He was completely plastered. And that's pretty much the only time he seems to call me is when he's drunk. He'll never change. CJ is 15 months today.

Monday: Brought the girls to school and handed out the goody bags to the classes who had won them November and December. Both teachers were apparently unaware they had won. Hmmm, I guess I'm not making it very clear who the winner is. Gave CJ a bath and got him ready to go down to Cranial Tech for his helmet. We were told he's got 4 more weeks left. That translates to 2 more visits. I can't wait to not have to make that 1 hour drive one way every other week. Then we went grocery shopping, to the bank, and picked the girls up from school. Back home for me to prepare for my PTA meeting. Wrote up my agenda and notes and then typed out this months Box Tops collection notice with prize. Made a bunch of copies at school. Had our PTA meeting. We sadly had a very poor turnout. Not a single teacher came. I hate when that happens. But I can say I love our new Vice Principal. He's young and has so many fresh new ideas. Seems to be such a great fit. And it's so nice to have someone who's willing to try some new stuff to get parent involvement. I chit chatted afterwards with the only parent who came who was not an officer and one of my officers for a little while. A nice little break from the kids. Came home to a very happy baby who was so excited to see me, awwwww!

Tuesday: CJ was up early. I took the opportunity to get some e-mailing done and phone calls. Called to confirm our McDonald's night for Wednesday and we are all set. Called the school to try and talk to the principal about Kaitlyn, but he was busy preparing for early dismissal due to inclement weather. So the girls were out at 1:20. They came home and began working on their homework. And they spent the rest of the afternoon driving me crazy. Perhaps suffering from a little cabin fever.

Wednesday: Playgroup day! And the snow did not cancel it this week. So after bringing the girls to school I brought CJ down stairs to playgroup. There was a birthday this week for one of the little boys so we had chocolate cake. After playgroup I went up to the office to try and pin down the principal, but he was out again. So I left a message for him to call me. We came home and CJ went down for his nap. I finally heard from the principal late afternoon and scheduled a meeting with him for Thursday morning. We had our McTeachers night from 5-8 at McDonalds. We had an awesome turn out and made $417.37. Not bad considering that was 15% of the profits. That's about what we made last year as well when we actually earned 20% of the profits.

Thursday: Brought the girls to school like usual. Did some budgeting to make sure we will have funds for our upcoming trip in a week and a half. Wrote a letter to the principal in regards to Kaitlyn's reading. I went and met with the principal. I feel confident that we are moving forward to solve her problems. After my meeting with the principal I had to go downstairs in the school to have an FRC Advisory board meeting. That meeting was short and sweet. We were very happy to learn that the governors proposed budget does not have any further cuts for public education or the FRC's. So this was discussed at length. The meeting ended and I went to pick Joe up at work. I picked the girls up from school and Natalie had a huge attitude. Not fun when it came time to go over her homework. Thankfully her bad mood did not last all night long.

Friday: We received our tax refund today. So I spent the morning paying off a bunch of bills including my credit card. I called the insurance company to add our new vehicle to the policy and we are going to pay the rest of our down payment. We went to Walmart to get a few things. Then we came back home to clean up. CJ's therapist came over. She's going on vacation for two weeks so I am hoping we have lots to report to her when she comes back. We picked the girls up from school, went to the post office to mail out Box Tops, and then went and picked up my new car. I am very happy to have the second vehicle again.

Saturday: We went to Dunkin Donuts for breakfast. Then to Walmart where we got the kids a few things. Next we had to check out the sale at Once Upon a Child. They were offering fill a bag for $20. Problem is the bag wasn't big enough to fit one item in. Luckily they were still offering their 10 items for $10 sale. So all three kids got something. Then we went to Stride Rite where CJ got new sneakers (he was the only one who needed them). We came home to get a coupon for Build A Bear and have something to eat. I had taken my wallet out of my purse to look up something. We left with no money. We didn't realize it until we needed money of course. We had built our bears at Build A Bear (four bears in all), picked out clothes, waited in line to name our bears, waited in line to pay, and then realized we had no money. And the majority of the time CJ was screaming his head off. He did not like the stuffing machines at Build A Bear. So we had to go all the way home (with CJ still screaming) to find my wallet. Thankfully we found it. Then we drove all the way back there with CJ still screaming. We got and paid for all of our bears and went to the store for something for dinner. CJ finally calmed down and was actually a happy little guy. I don't know how he didn't just pass out after basically two hours plus of screaming. We picked up two movies out of the Redbox (Swing Vote and Space Buddies). We came home and had dinner. And then we had a movie night. I have a giveaway going on right now so be sure to check that out here.

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Week In Review: January 25 - January 31 2009

Here is this weeks Week In Review.

Sunday: Laundry day again. I baked some cookies with the girls too. They enjoyed that and the cookies came out pretty good. Another quiet low key day for the most part. Just looking forward to a hopefully quiet low key week.

Monday: I went to the grocery store today. Then to the bank. Our landlord came up after 7 to work on the toilet again and still did not fix it. This is becoming just slightly frustrating. And because of my experiences at the grocery store and with my landlord it prompted me to write this post.

Tuesday: We bought me a new used car. It's a 2003 Dodge Caravan. We'll probably pick it up next week when we are able to give the rest of our down payment. We took the kids out to dinner at TGI Fridays to "award" Natalie (as she puts it) for a job well done at her concert last week. And our landlord did not come up to fix the toilet like he was supposed to. So we now have a toilet that's leaking way more than it ever did before and no end in site to this.

Wednesday: A snow day! The kids are happy. No playgroup this week. My landlord finally came up to fix the toilet. I had to call him when things had gone from bad to worse to get him up here. It got to the point where shutting off the water going to the toilet still didn't work and water was spraying all over the place. I think it is finally fixed though. I got so frustrated with it all though that I actually took a video of the very bad leak just in case he didn't fix it and I had to call a plumber and take the cost out of my rent. Proof that he wasn't fixing the problem.

Thursday: There was a delayed opening for school. The girls didn't go in until 10:25. I then had to deposit a check in the bank. So CJ didn't get to go down for his nap until an hour late. I then had to wake him up early to go get Joe from work. We came home and his therapist was here. So we had his therapy. His therapist is impressed with him. He's doing great. I picked the girls up from school and spoke to Kaitlyn's teacher about her reading. Very discouraged there :(.

Friday: Joe had a doctor's appointment this morning. His cholesterol is up so he's now on meds for that. It wasn't too bad, but he won't change his diet. I went to the school to pick up the Box Tops for this months competition. I counted them and Kaitlyn's class won. I have enough of my own Box Tops to make it a tie between Natalie and Kaitlyn's class, but Natalie wants to hang onto them to hopefully help her class win February's competition. So Kaitlyn and her class will all get a certificate for a free kids cone to Friendly's. Our school is well on it's way to earning over $1000 just from Box Tops this year!

Saturday: We went out to Denny's for breakfast. Then after being totally filled by our Grand Slam breakfasts we went to Walmart to shop for prizes for November and December's Box Tops winners. Boy am I behind on my Box Top prize distribution. I'm putting together gift bags for the classes who won those two months. Took a nap and had pizza for dinner, yum!

So that's the week of January 25 - January 31, 2009 in review. Not too much going on. There was good and bad. My toilet is finally fixed at least and I'm getting a new car. It will be nice to have more than one car again! Be sure to check next weeks Week In Review because we have a busy week planned.

Check out other Week In Review posts.

Alls Quiet in Blog Land

Well, at least on the blogs I read everyday. Been a quiet day. I'm bored. I should be doing laundry, but I'm not really motivated to do it. Another hour until my Mets game comes on. I really hate those late afternoon games on the weekend. I just went to a tag sale that my friend was having to raise money for Autism Speaks. She'll be participating in the Walk Now for Autism next weekend so I was trying to help her out. Got some stuff for the girls which took forever. Well, I should say Natalie took forever picking something out for herself.

So now I'm just killing some time. Does anyone collect Box Tops for their school? I'm the Box Tops coordinator at our school. Okay, yes I do it all. PTA president, Girl Scout leader, Box Tops coordinator, and looks like next year I'll be doing PTA treasurer too as we have no volunteers for that. Anyways, I'm trying to wrap up our Box Top collection. We've been doing a Box Tops 500 race. Each class has their own race car which races to 500 Box Tops. The winning class gets an ice cream party. I told them that whichever class wins the most would get a special prize at the end of the year never once disclosing what this prize would be. And you know what? I still don't know what that prize will be. Problem is I don't have one winning class. We've had 4 different classes win so far this year. So I'm doing one final push to the finish. They have until June 13th to get their box tops in to me. One of the classes that had already won was in the lead, but now another class has come out of no where with over 200 Box Tops. This class hasn't won at all this year. Ahhhhh, they are making this so difficult for me. I just want one clear winner here not a five way tie. Oh well, I'll figure something out I'm sure.

We got our Girl Scout cookie incentives last night. I wasn't aware that our troop had earned $75 to use at the Girl Scout store. That will come in very handy with the end of the year approaching and Try Its to buy for each of the girls. Natalie gets $35 in camp credits which can also be used at the Girl Scout store. We don't do camping so she can get her Junior uniform with that gift certificate.

Well, I guess that's about it. School's out for the summer on June 17th. Kaitlyn has her Kindergarten Ceremony on June 13th. Next Friday is our schools end of the year BBQ. Lots of fun stuff coming up. I hope you're all prepared to see tons of pictures.