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.

Valentine's

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We had a fun weekend being home and being lazy. The weather was winter like for a change even though we only had a few inches of snow. It was nice to enjoy staying home. Evan and I made bird feeders for Valentine gifts for his teachers and babysitter. They were so easy to make we found them on this blog. We made them and they firmed up pretty quickly after putting them in the garage to chill. I flipped them over on a cookie rack and let them dry overnight. Evan was very proud to give them to his teachers today.

The teachers must have filled the valentine bags with all the students goodies while they played in the gym. We opened it when I came home for lunch and Evan told me all of my friends must love me. He is so sweet. Sara was anxious to dig into the treats! Evan was good and shared with her. He discovered he loves rice krispie treats. Its funny because they made theses in the fall at school and Evan refused to try them. I bought them premade in CARS packages last year because he insisted he would try them and he refused. So tonight he was in tears that I didn't have any cereal to make any. I guess I'll run out tomorrow and pick some up and it'll be our valentine treat!

Each day Sara tells us Grandma back. She misses Marc's mom, so sweet. We are contemplating making the 16 hour drive to Charleston over Easter we haven't driven down since we were dating. I was thinking if we drive 7-8 hours the first day and then stay at a hotel with a pool it may make it bearable. The flights are outrageous, it would cost us almost 2k to fly and then we would have to rent a car for the week. I need to break down an purchase a new car so I'd rather have a few miserable days of travel and put the money towards a new car. I'm not quite sure what I want but I hate car shopping and have been procrastinating it. It was bad enough without kids but shopping with kids/or while they are with a sitter does not sound fun.

Sara has her valentine party on Wednesday so it'll be fun to see her reaction. I bought them each two new books, Sara has a new puzzle, and Evan some Kung Fu Panda action figures he has been wanting. My mom gave him a Lego set today with 143 pieces. He sat at the table for 20 minutes attempting it before he asked for help. He is doing really well with them and is so patient. My mom has been knitting Sara some mittens and its been a winter long project due to everything going on with her and my Dad well she finally finished them and Sara was very happy and proud to wear them. So sweet!

And another week flies by!

These weeks are flying by... 18 more weeks until summer vacation. Another week of school until Februrary break. We had a busy week, Monday Marc's mom flew home to SC and I went to school with Evan, and went back to work for the afternoon. Tuesday was Evans birthday and our tour of the local Catholic school for possible preK, Wednesday was ice skating, Thursday was Evans 4 year appointment, and last night we were exhausted.

Evan was 32 pounds fully clothed and 39 inches. He was in the 16% for weight and 25% for height. He doesn't look that short next to his peers. The ped told us to keep up the whole milk for him she said it was nice to see a kid that wasn't a weight concern. I don't think Evan will ever need to worry, Marc and my Father in law are built the same way.


Sara is talking up a storm. The other night she took a bath without Evan and sat and made soup for a long time. She was happy pouring from one container to another, stirring it, cooking it, and tasting it. It is so much fun to watch her imagination grow. She has entered princess stage and we watch Cinderella and Snow White on a normal basis. The downside is the kids fight over who watches on the TV and who watches on a small portable dvd player I bought aka the baby tv.


I think the screen on my laptop is going, I've had it start turning colors and turn black now twice. The replacements seem to be never ending. We have replaced our washer, stove, and microwave this year. Our microwave would start on its own and we would find it running. Yesterday there was water in the basement under the freezer the door appeared to be shut so I turned the temp down and it seems to be working but I'm sure thats next. Of course our 13 year fridge that I would like to replace is still going strong.


We actually had a dusting of snow last night. This is such an unusual winter, although I'm not missing a typical Buffalo winter. I would have loved to use up our snowdays. I've never taught a year without getting at least one. A few years ago Buffalo had a freak storm in October and due to the power outages we had a week off. Some schools give unused days back and add them to Easter or Memorial day but I know this will never happen with our current Superintendant. Wishful thinking though.

Today I think I'll attempt a new soup recipe. I bought a new soup cookbook at Sam's last week and want to try something new. It feels like since we have had kids we eat the same things over and over. A biggy occured last night Sara drank an entire cup of strawberry milk . This morning I asked her if she wanted juice or milk and she said milk. She has avoided milk except for a few sips when she is desparate for a drink since she stopped the bottle. She eats lots of cheese, will have drinkable yogurt, and will eat yogurt if I put sprinkles on it.


Sara loves to put money in her piggy bank. Last week at Evans party she was reaching in my Father in Laws pockets looking for coins. She brings the bathroom stool into the kitchen to search the counters for coins. Marc usually empties his pockets when he comes home. I even caught her taking money out of a coin roller maching in our bedroom and putting it in her piggy bank. She turned the laundry backet upside down so she could climb it to reach our dresser. Sara is going to be my problem solver! I guess we won't have to stress the importance of saving to her!

My Baby is 4!!!!

Each year it shocks me first that I have children after such a long road and second that the year has passed so quickly. Evan has grown up so much this year. He is such a little companion. We have such fun with him.

My mother in law came from SC to spend the week with us. It ended up working out really well my mom had some health issues and my MIL was able to watch the kids 2 days and volunteer at preschool with Sara. We had a huge party 29 people for Evans birthday. He had a blast and the kids played really well together. He did a great job thanking each person for his gifts and not showing any disappointment or telling them if it was a duplicate. We have talked about his numerous times since Christmas.

Evan has a ton of Cars toys, Legos and Duplos. He took the instruction book out for the Legos and put a few cars together himself. Evan was very proud of himself. I volunteered at his school on Monday to celebrate his birthday. During story time I heard him whisper Mom and he whispered I Love You. This kid melts my heart over and over again! I had his parent teacher conference, he exceeds all his classmates academically and is average in his coloring, writing, and rule following. His rule and procedures include not running in the classroom. The classrooms are huge and the kids often are reminded not to run. I guess if thats the worst he does I can be a really proud Mom. When I was there we did an activity where the kids had to match magnetic letters to a letter written on a heart. The majority of the kids struggled with this and couldn't recognize/name the letters. The activity was set up so two students could do it at once. Evan quickly did his and then other set and then took the sets apart to make his name. He was asked to color in a heart and wanted nothing to do with it, after a bit of prodding he did it as quickly as possible. Its funny that he is interested in letters and numbers but nothing crafty.

We still love puzzles Evan gave his Grandma some 24 piece puzzles and she struggled. His favorite puzzle is a 155 piece puzzle and he has done it more times than I can count. We have been working on a few 300 piece Charlie Brown puzzles together.

Evan is my pickier eater out of the two kids, he will eat chicken, turkey, roast beef or stew meat (cooked in the crock pot), hotdogs (not his fav), macaroni and cheese, chicken noodle soup, Fluff and pbutter sandwiches, ravioli, he will also eat brocolli, corn, peas, and squash(only if I bread it and fry it), sweet potatoe fries, rice, and mashed potatoes and gravy, he will eat most fruits. Evan still isn't crazy about milk. I can usually get him to drink 8 ounces each day and 1-2 drinkable yogurts. He won't eat cheese except on pizza. Of course he'll eat most snacks except fruit snacks. Whoo that is a list, but it feels like I'm making him the same stuff all the time. I'm estatic when he tries something new. He doesn't even cave to peer pressure during snack time at school. He'll go hungry if he thinks he doesn't like it. Hopefully we outgrow the pickiness, but our good friend have even pickier children so I guess it could be worse.

Tonight both kids fell asleep by 8:30, this hasn't happened in a long time. I feel like I'm on vacation for an hour or two :-) We started ice skating lessons last week and Evan cried for most of the lesson. Our neighborhood is hockey crazy with 40+ little boys that have a constant hockey tournament going on. A few neighbors have ice rinks when the winters permit. We've only had 24 inches this year, the only thing I'm missing is a snowday. So this week he promised he wouldn't cry. I watched him fight it a few times, and he made it about 25 minutes before he cried. He finally told his teacher his skates hurt his feet. He did much better getting himself up off the ice and skating across the rink and back with a walker. He let go of the walker and played a game. Hopefully we will improve. Secretly I want him to learn but not fall in love. Hockey is very expensive, the learn to skate program has cost us over $175, we had to buy used skates, a new helmet, another pair of used skates the first ones were awful, and the cost of the program. They also have a snackbar there so last week it was a bag of M&M's and this week a bag of popcorn. Six more weeks to go. Last week as we took off his skates he was crying and he told us he hates hockey he just wants to play Tennis. He loves to watch Charlie Brown and Snoopy plays Tennis!

I've rambled on and on but its been way to long since I posted. Next post will be a Sara update. One quick Sara not she tells me Snow White is Dumb (she heard my Mom slip and call some TV shows dumb) and she makes us pretend to put Cinderellas slipper on her foot, sometimes its a shoe, sock or just pretend.