stuff

wow, it has been quite a while since I posted. I thought I would start out by sharing some fun goodies that I have found along the way. Hopefully more postings of our life will be coming soon! but until then, this is what you get.

Wow! Check out these freebies you can snag at Whole Foods: unfortunately the coupons are only available in the following states: Alabama, Georgia, Tennessee, North Carolina and South Carolina. But, those of you from there ENJOY!!

• Go here to print a coupon to snag a FREE Rotisserie Chicken (NO other purchase required)!

• Go here to print a coupon to snag a FREE Fiesta Flower Bouquet ($5.99 value) or if you don't want the bouquet, then you can use the coupon to get $5 off ANY bouquet of your choice!

both coupons are valid thru September 15th.

EOS is giving out 50,000 sweet mint smooth sphere lip balms! To snag yours, hurry on over here and fill out your mailing info. Allow 4-6 weeks for delivery.

Amazon is currently offering up a cool deal! Just go on over here and order the Big Kahuna Reef Game for FREE! Plus, after ordering you'll get $5 worth of FREE MP3 downloads credited to your account! Pretty Sweet, huh?

Go here to print a coupon to get $1 off ANY large combo meal at Jack in the Box! This coupon is valid thru 8/30/09.

Staples is once again offering up a FREE PC Tune up in-stores! The FREE Tune up includes thorough PC cleaning (deleting Internet cookies and temporary Internet files), clean up dust and dirt buildup, disk defragmentation and disk clean up. This is Regularly priced at $29.99 and is available FREE of charge thru 9/19!

Starbucks has a great new Reward Card Member Benefit! They are now offering up a FREE drink on your Birthday and it can be ANY drink you like! All you need to do is go on over here and either sign in or create a new Starbucks.com account. Once you've done this, just add your mailing address and date of birth to your Rewards Card member profile, and opt in to receive mail from them.

Hurry! Join the Chicken Wave Chick-fil-A fan club, and if you are one of the first 250,000 people to register you'll win a FREE Chick-fil-A chicken Sandwich! Yummy! You will also be entered to win a $50 Chick-fil-A gift card!

Meteor showers tonight

hey, tonight is suppose to be the awesome meteor showers: here are a few things I found upon my research: hope we all get to see some :)
Perseids August 12-13 Frequency:		This shower produces about 60 meteors per hour, and its performance is farily consistant from year to year.

In the kitchen

I have been experimenting with a lot of new things to eat this summer. I thought, hey, let's try TOFU! it is suppose to be good for you, it is suppose to taste like whatever you cook it with, it is suppose to... I thought I would try something fairly easy, something that could easily mask the look/taste of the tofu. I tried Sweet and sour crockpot Tofu. First, you coat it with cornstarch and lightly cook it in the skillet to let it have a more crunchy kind of texture.
Then you place it in the crockpot with all of your fresh veggies and the sweet and sour sauce. Easy peasy right?! right. One thing about crockpot cooking, is that you have several hours to salivate over the yummy concoction that is cooking and think about how good it is going to be.
The verdict.....
well, as you can see there is not a picture of the finished product. Um, it was, well, hmmm, how do I say this without offending all the TOFU lovers out there? Ok, I will just say it ... AWFUL. It was BAD, TERRIBLE, yeah, so much so that I feel I will not ever experiment with tofu again. Oh well, at least the lettuce wraps I created tasted pretty good :)

Free food

Jack in the Box is offering up 2 FREE Tacos tomorrow, 8/4. Take this coupon to get your freebie!


also don't forget it is free ARBY WEDNESDAYS:

August 5th- Free Regular Roast Beef with soft drink purchase

August 12th- Free Roast Chicken Club with soft drink purchase

August 19th- Free FruiTea with sandwich purchase

August 26th- Free Roast Beef 'n Cheddar with soft drink purchase

Only great minds can read this

fi yuo cna raed tihs, yuo hvae a sgtrane mnid too

Cna yuo raed tihs? Olny 55 plepoe out of 100 can.

i cdnuolt blveiee taht I cluod aulaclty uesdnatnrd waht I was rdanieg. The phaonmneal pweor of the hmuan mnid, aoccdrnig to a rscheearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it dseno't mtaetr in waht oerdr the ltteres in a wrod are, the olny iproamtnt tihng is t aht the frsit and lsat ltteer be in the rghit pclae. The rset can be a taotl mses and you can sitll raed it whotuit a pboerlm. Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe. Azanmig huh? yaeh and I awlyas tghuhot slpeling was ipmorantt!

Boomerang Express

G'day Mate!
Last week we have all been at VBS (Vacation Bible School). The program was called the boomerang express, which had an "Australian" theme. I REALLY enjoyed going, it has been a REALLY long time since I was last at a VBS (I think I enjoyed it just as much as the kiddos, if not more) I was in charge (with a few other people) of a large group of 2nd graders. The first day we started off with 15-- several of the kids brought friends along with them and they have all come back :) The biggest class we had was 21. gotta tell you, it is a lot of kids to keep track of and learn names!
I think there are several reasons why I enjoyed it so 1) They are in 2nd grade. 2)It was a group of really sweet kids. 3)They listened 4) They did what was asked of them 5) They listened. Oh, yeah, did I mention that they did what I asked without asking why? and that they listened? yeah, I gotta say, I like 2nd graders!
Sam had a GREAT time going to VBS. He came home with all sorts of crafts and things. Each day when I asked what he learned it was his typical answer: GOD/JESUS. (yes, he learned early on that this is what you say when asked about church) I also asked if he learned any new, fun songs. Everyday he responded, No. As I probed further he shared that he did not sing, he danced. I asked one of his teachers about it and she affirmed his answer. Apparently Sam really enjoyed the motions to all of the songs and was quite good at learning them. So, being the crazy mom lady that I am, I snuck a video camera in there and was able to see him "dance" it was so absolutely adorable. if I could remember how to download it to the computer I would, still working on that.
pretty much Molly was indifferent, but did manage to cling on to me with a death grip and scream each morning when I dropped her off. I am so happy to say that by Friday though she was more used to the routine and didn't cling for as long :)
sam was able to be in class with his friend Jessica. (ahhh, life is always good when Jessica is around :) ) Jessica's big brother Josh was able to really attend. Yeah, do you know how hard it is to get a 9 y/o (well, he was great actually) a 2 1/2 yr old, a 3 yr old and a 1 year old to sit still for a quick picture? yeah, well... here is the best there is

we also had a fun cut out deal at the church. My brilliant idea was to have Sam, Molly and I in it. And here ya go....It was a fun-filled week and the kids were usually tired by the time we got home. Poor Molly just couldn't hold out any longer. I changed her diaper and went to wash my hands... what is that like 30 seconds? this is what I found when I came back.


It was fun and now I really want to go to Australia for our next vacation ha!!

Free Blockbuster movies

Free Blockbuster Express Code

These are similar to Red Box Movie Rentals

Click HERE to find out if there is a kiosk near you and use code CKVPX9A7 (valid 7/20 – 7/27) for 1 FREE rental.

Here are also (2) Rent 1 Get 1 Free codes:

CKVPX987 (valid 7/27 – 8/10)

CKVPX9C7 (valid 8/10 – 8/24)

1 year photo

mmm, couldn't you just eat her up?!

save some dough day

HERE is a coupon for free portrait package from picture people coupon expires the 25th.

Score a coupon for a FREE serving of 15-Layer Lasagne from Spaghetti Warehouse, valid ONLY on Lasagne Day, July 29th (I didn't even know there was such a thing)! Just go on over here and become a fan of Spaghetti Warehouse on Facebook, then they'll send you an e-coupon!

Express has a new high value coupon available: Save $30 off your $75 purchase or save $15 off your $30 purchase! This coupon is only valid through July 19th, so hurry make use of it!

Sonic has a new coupon available that will make for .99 cent Sonic Chillers! Sonic Chillers are normally priced at $2.49, so this is over 50% off the regular cost! If you've never had a Sonic Chiller, there basically Limeade drinks mixed with soft serve ice cream!

Interested in snagging a .99 Sonic Chiller?!
Just go on over here and enter your email address. Soon after, they'll email you with a link to the coupon.

Jack in the Box is offering up a yummy birthday freebie! Just go on over here and print a coupon for a FREE dessert on your Birthday... yum! Please note a valid I.D. is required.

Rainforest Cafe coupon. Save $10 on your next food or beverage purchase of $25 or more! This coupon is valid through 7/31



Snag a FREE sample of Huggies Goodnites Underpants

rain, rain, we are greatful for the rain

Baby, it has been HOT outside! we were also blessed with a little bit of rain a couple of weeks ago. This meant no outside playing, which leads to a little bit of boredom. Leave it to Sam to find his own entertainment when cooped up in the house:
1) find salt shaker on kitchen island and well, shake of course!
2) transform to your alter ego, "SPIDERSAM MAN"
3) make many, many phone calls to friends/daddy/grandparents etc
4) refuse to wear clothes and run around in your big boy underwear
5)and last, but not least.... hang on your mom's leg whenever she moves from one spot to another.gotta say though, I am not so sure that #5 was a rainy day deal only as Sam has been VERY attached (literally) to me lately. He has wanted to cuddle with me, sit on my lap, and of course hang on me. He usually wants Kirk to put him to bed, but now it is me. It is really sweet, I love the fact that he is going through a "mommy phase" though I have to admit, I do enjoy when kirk gets home and plays hide and seek with the kids-- gives me a little time to get things done without someone hanging on me.

memory test

Hey, if you have a little time on your hands and want to see how well your memory is, try THIS little test. It seems so simple, yet unfortunately I found it a little difficult. I would advise doing this at a time when your 3 year old is able to find a project to do by himself and your 1 year old is not fussing to be held... need I say more?

ok, now, after you do that one, try THIS one. This is really cool in the fact that it is the memory game with a 'twist'. By 'twist' I mean MUSIC!! so, turn your speakers on and have fun!

Free mocha Mondays/free ARBY Wednesdays

Does your McDonalds have a McCafe? Every Monday, through August 3rd from 7 am- 7 pm you can stop by your local McCafe and get a FREE sample of iced or hot Mocha...for more details click HERE(click on "Free Mocha Mondays" in the bottom middle). There is a limit of one sample sized 8 oz Hot Mocha or 7 oz Iced Mocha per person per visit! That is a nice sized sample if you ask me!

Also, don't forget about the ARBY"S freebie on Wed

wed free arby sandwich

check out what they are giving away at ARBYS today


and YES I am not an idiot, I did realize that the header was from last AUG.. But haven't been able to get the kiddos to be good enough to get a cute 4th of July picture yet. Hopefully I will be able to before 2010! :)

Problem solved?!

As I said before, we had to get Molly a new crib due to a recent recall. Since we had to use the voucher on another crib, we decided to go for a converter crib this time. I really like it and the look, though there are a few things that I did not realize prior to buying. 1.) when you do not have railing in the back, you have nothing to tie the bumper pad to. 2.) when you have a 'footboard' for the front of the crib, you have no ability to lower the railing. 3.) when you can not lower the railing, it is difficult to change the sheet etc., oh well, it won't be long before it becomes a day bed then a big bed.

PROBLEM:
in just about a week I realized the new shiny crib (soon to be foot board) was being destroyed.

SOLUTION:wrap a spare sheet around the area of desire. (I know, tacky huh?!) but
CHECK IT OUT:
she couldn't even wait 2 minutes before she went to work on the railing... yes, I am so glad I found a solution.

guess I should have known this would happen when Kirk took down the previous crib... this is damage done by both Sam and Molly:apparently the plastic guard they had on it didn't cover the right area!!!

Sorry for the lack of posts lately, will download some pictures later and share our fun-filled?! summer so far. :)

Free Magazine Subscription

hey guys, here is a link to get a FREE 2 year magazine subscription to PARENTS magazine. There are NO STRINGS attached and it is a legit company. You will NEVER receive a bill or have to cancel! They ask for nothing but your address (well, and an email, but I left that blank so I guess it is not required) They say to allow 6-10 weeks for your first issue to arrive.

wed free arbys

TODAY get your FREE Roast Chicken Club with any soft drink purchase at Arby's! NO coupon is needed!

Free events this summer

national Parks are offering free weekends this summer: June 20-21, July 18-19 and August 15-16

It's wednesday...

Do you know what that means? FREE STUFF at ARBYS: today be sure to get your Free FruiTea with sandwich purchase
If you would like to see what is coming up in the future go here to my previous post


Also, don't forget that tonight (June 3rd) is National FREE FLOAT night at Sonic! Just go to any Sonic Drive In (EVERY Sonic is participating) between 8 p.m.-close and get a FREE 10 oz. Root Beer Float! Yummy!


This Friday, June 5th, is National Donut Day and to celebrate, both Krispy Kreme and Dunkin Donuts are giving away free donuts to each of their customers. As the KK press release says, you don’t have to do anything in order to get a free donut. However, DD is only giving away a donut with the purchase of any drink.

cool deals

half price books
has a super deal this summer for kids 12 and under. Just by reading 15 min a day each child can receive a $3 gift card per week.

HAPPY FIRST BIRTHDAY MOLLY

Wow, It is truly hard to believe that Molly made her appearance into this earth 1 whole year ago. This year has literally FLOWN by!! Don't get me wrong, there were many, many, many days that seemed to drag on forever (and I thought I might actually go insane) but now that Molly actually smiles and giggles periodically (and the all day long scream marathons are over) I look back and wonder where did the year go? It sure seems like yesterday that I was sending out THIS post.
We had yet another low key birthday. We had a simple butterfly theme (butterfly pasta spaghetti, caterpillar food (salad) etc) Molly enjoyed dinner (as usual)
and her presents (or maybe that was Sam~ he 'helped' her open all the gifts) Then, it was time to BRING ON the CAKE... Since Molly devours any and all kinds of food I anticipated her to be the MESSY cake eating child. I had it all prepared, cloth on tile floor, wet wash cloths close at hand etc. She (pleasantly) surprised me, she wasn't messy at all. She LOVED the icing on the butterfly

Happy First Birthday my sweet Butterfly Princess

Free movie night

Today’s free code is FM63H7. Use it at any Redbox location to get a free 1 night movie rental. Code expires at midnight tonight (6/1/09).

We've been on the go go go

Wow, the past 2 weeks have flown by, here are just a couple of the high lights:
Kirk and I celebrated 6 years of wedded bliss
We had the recognition ceremony for my Senior Acteens. They got CROWNED this year.
Molly learned how to "kiss"Sam, Molly, Hanna, Aubree, Faye and I went to the zoo
we have been invaded by bugs. I find them EVERYWHEREKirk and I got to go to a baseball game. It was a LOT of fun!
I 'got' to go to work all night Sat.