Our other Fisher Price Boxes

Thought I would include out other Fisher Price pictures, the first one is Evan in a Jumperoo. Next is all of us in a Japnese parenting magazine, and finally Sara in a swing. Wow those cheeks on Sara she looks like a different kid. We have probably had a dozen pictures that have never mde it to a box or the product never made it to the shelf.

Marc and I have a funeral on Friday so I want to stop by the FP store and pick up a few Easter gifts for the kids.

Marc is out of town tonight and Sara is lying on the couch next to me saying "make Daddy come home". She has designated her left cheek as Daddy's cheek and her right cheek at Mommy's cheek. When I kiss her she always reminds me whose cheek is whoses.

Fisher Price Surprises

The kids model a few times a year for Fisher Price and they love it because they get to pick out a toy afterwards. I think its fun and they need to follow someone elses directions, we get a $50 gift card each time, and the "chance" to be on a box. The downside is we never know if or when the toy will come out and we don't know where the pictures will be used, ads, displays, boxes, or magazines.

Tonight we went to the mall and browsed in Barnes and Noble and I just happened to see a toy I thouoght Evan may have modeled and to my surprise he was on the box. Of course I was excited and Evan could have cared less. He didn't like that there was another boy in the picture, and then he wanted to know if he was on the Cars box too. I'll call the FP store tomorrow to see if they have it, we certainly have a pile of gift cards to purchase it with. Sara was on a swing box when she was a baby, unfortunatly I could never find the box and couldn't spend $150 plus on a box.

Today I renewed Saras modeling permit, so we are good for another year. Hopefully we will get some calls over the summer.

Summertime fun.... in March

We had 75+ degrees this entire weekend and its forecasted for the entire week. I must say I'm loving global warming if this is what it is. Living in the snowbelt of NY and having a snowless winter, a great lake that never froze, and no wearing shorts in March we are experiencing complete bliss. The only downsize is Evan has very bad seasonal allergies and he started taking Allegra already. We make sure to have him shower each night and I'm constantly washing his jackets. Now if the lawn would dry up it would be perfect.

The kids are so funny Sara will tell Evan "no get away", the other morning my mom asked Sara how she was and she responded "pretty good". Evan is full of imagination and talks and plays nonstop. The other day he asked Marc how come your old and mom isn't? Love him!

Marc has had the stomache flu all weekend, but at least we have been able to get out of the house. The kids and I did some shopping for spring clothes at Old Navy, Children's Place and Gymboree. I always thought Gymboree was expensive until I experienced the sale deals. I have found I can buy things on sale there cheaper than at a consignment sale. This weekend they had 30% off everything and had brought out boxes of past season clothes, I had a 20% coupon they combined and then earned $50 gymbucks to use on a later purchase (Gymbucks will take $50 off a $100 purchase) I haven't had great luck with Evans clothes there as he becomes pickier but can buy lots of adorable outfits for Sara.

The Mothertime Marketplace sale ended and I only had 11 items left over, there were probably 10 that weren't accepted for stains I missed, and another 5 or so that the kids had pulled out or I forgot. So overall we ended up making $490, and I forgot to bring the highchair that I can sell on Craigslist now and make more money. It feels really good to have it out of our basement.

March is marching by!

Its been awhile since I've had a moment to sit down and write. The weather has improved, its been a quick jump to spring in WNY. We really never had snow and now its March and my Daffodils are blooming.
We have had a fantastic month so far. Last week our sitter called early in the am and said her daughter who is school aged had the stomach flu and she couldn't watch the kids. So at the last minute I called in sick and took the kids to Rochester to the Strong Memorial of Play Museum. It is fantastic and the kids had a blast. The hour and twenty minute ride was so worth it. The kids were able to work in a kid sized Wegmans (Wegmans is based in Rochester, NY), play in the Bernstein bears village, drive an airplane, Visit Sesame street, be on TV with Elmo, and visit a butterfly garden. We played, ate pizza hut for lunch, played some more and made the drive home with both of them napping. We even stopped at Target for a new toy to celebrate our play day! We spent the babysitters pay on our day of fun. Thursday our sitter called again and I was able to have my mom watch for the afternoon. When I told Ev he said can we go back to Wegmans and play! I told him its an hour and a half to get there and he said that's okay we'll just stay for 5 minutes. If we purchase a membership to Explore and More, the Fisher Price museum we can go back to Strong for free next time. I think it'll be worth it.

We have one week of ice skating left and I don't think I have to worry about becoming a hockey Mom yet, a sigh of relief for now. Evan wants to take swimming and tennis lessons this summer and I think I'll have Sara do a gymnastics class. We finally made a decision and are sending Evan to our Church for preK. Our district cut 7 teachers in the high school this month, an entire middle school team, and 10 elementary teachers. The district and the directions it is taking is frightening. Luckily our department has a strong Finance Academy presence in the community and lot of community support and involvement. The other members of my department are very hard workers and very good marketers.


Easter break is 3 weeks away and we are driving to Charleston, SC. Evan will be fine but I'm sure Sara will be telling us fine. They are both excited to see Grandma and hit the beach. We bought groupons for Carriage rides, and a harbour tour, and hopefully will hit the beach in Mt. Pleasant. Evan is hoping we can stop at the Lego store in Charlotte. I'd love to do this but we'll be driving on Good Friday and I'm worried about traffic in Charlotte.
Speaking of Lego's he has come so far since the love affair with them began at Christmas time. He can put a 100+ piece together on his own. The downside is they are very expensive. I've been leaving them in my cart on Amazon and picking them up when the price drops. Before Christmas I picked up one for 19.99 and I see it in the stores for $75. Sara is completing 24 piece puzzles and dressing up each day

This weekend is the consignment sale at the fairgrounds. It is my 3rd year participating and hopefully the most profitable. I tagged my allotted 200 items and dropped them off on Tuesday. As of tonight I sold 119 items and all but 2 of the larger items. The sale ends on Sunday and I have to pick up any left over items and they will mail me a check for 55% of the total sold in two weeks. I could have increased it to 70% if I had volunteered 4 hours, but finding those 4 hours was impossible. I tagged almost $1,200 worth of items. I love this sale, its a lot of work organizing, pricing (they have an inventory system that prints tags, hanging all the clothes up, packaging the toys, but so worth it not to have a garage sale. This must be such a money maker for the 2 organizers.