One of the bonuses of staying at the lodge was a free Shutterfly photobook to commemorate the experience! After a few trials and tribulations it turned out pretty well (long story short, I couldn’t use the Great Wolf Lodge themed pages if I wanted to do a Custom Path book (what I usually use), so I had to use their VERY limited Simple Path solution). You can flip through it here!
Click here to view this photo book larger
So, as you may or may not know/remember, we’ve gone through a multitude of dining table sets over the years. (I started the process by wanting a counter-height table…we got one but returned it because it scratched too easily, we ordered a different one and the wrong base came in TWICE…) Our most recent table was from Sam’s Club which we got on clearance for half price because it had a scratch…and I knew at the time it would just be a temporary table until we found THE table.
Well, I found THE table.
I’m always on the lookout at Costco since their prices are really really good…and this month it was in the circular for warehouse only. I was drooling because it seemed perfect—center table legs, butterfly leaf, nine pieces, and leather-cushioned chairs!!—but it didn’t list a price.
So we were headed there today and I hoped it was a great price…AND IT WAS!! PLUS there was a manufacturer’s in-store rebate which made it even better. But they would only hold it until the end of business. And they only had three in stock with none showing as on order. Our friend with the trailer didn’t answer his phone. U-Haul was cheap but we didn’t have our ball/hitch and they didn’t have any. But we bought it anyway thinking we’d figure out something. Luckily our friend got back to us on the way home (plus his daughter could babysit)…but that still meant another 2-hour round trip (man do I hate being an hour away from Costco).
And of course it rained cats and dogs on the way home…but I have my table!!!
Stay tuned for pics.
We decided to get the kids Daddy Dolls and this morning was the deployment, so-to-speak. I thought Owen would be THRILLED…but as you can see, he was LESS than thrilled…even asking for another surprise.
However, he eventually did like it…
And even co-opted Katie’s doll…
Throughout the day, he kept going back to his doll, saying he was “going to go get his surprise.” 🙂
Katie, of course, chewed daddy’s face—since everything goes in her mouth (I didn’t get a good picture of it), but she did play with it later in the day.
So about a month ago I got an email from Amazon Associates and long story short, North Carolina residents are no longer able to participate. Well, crap. I didn’t make a TON of money, but I got maybe $20-40 every quarter so it was a nice chunk of change (I added it up and since I started in 2009 I’ve made about $750). So I begrudgingly went to change my address (to let them know) and…hmmm…my address was actually still listed as Michigan so I obviously didn’t change it when we moved back here. But I looked at my sales records and noticed that I had very few sales from after they announced that NC was a goner. Hmmm. I wasn’t exactly sure how that could be possible—I mean, I’ve been getting a steady amount of orders every quarter—and suddenly NC is disqualified and my orders drop to zero? Even though I had a Michigan address listed and nothing should have changed? I guess it was possible, but for me it was too close to be coincidental.
So I sent them a detailed email and of course got a standard issue response that didn’t help me at all. I ended up calling them and having to talk to an Amazon Associates Specialist. Technically since we’re military and have a Michigan “home of record” address, I can remain in the program—but he assured me nothing should have changed and they don’t correlate my regular purchasing account/shipping address (North Carolina) with the other address on file (Michigan) so he wasn’t exactly sure why my orders dropped way off when the new NC rules came into effect. BUT! He was able to tell me that seven of the eight recent orders placed through my link were flagged as personal…though of course he couldn’t give me specifics as to how they determine who/what should be flagged…but hinted that friends and family really weren’t supposed to use the links because I’m not supposed to use it as a “discount program” (“we want new customers”). Now, while I can understand that to an extent…I am still bringing them BUSINESS they likely wouldn’t otherwise get. I mean, for one, I do get random people visiting my blog that could be shopping and for two, my parents are NOT internet shoppers like I am—so by repeatedly telling them to SHOP AT AMAZON I have increased Amazon’s business. But they don’t see it that way, apparently. They see it as ME getting a discount, even though I’m in no way buying the stuff myself. And of course you can’t argue with them because they can’t tell you how or why they decide to flag people. Apparently it’s kinda like Fight Club.
So…there are likely ways around it but they may or may not work well (depending on if Amazon correlates the shipping addresses with previous flagged orders)…but if you want to try, don’t use my static link to order. Just come here to the blog and use the Amazon search box on the right side column (it may move around as I redesign, but it will always be there somewhere). Or you can always search my store (Shop on the main menu bar) to shop for things I’ve recommended. Of course, if you don’t want to deal with it at all, I understand and don’t worry about it…
Owen tried BBQ chicken the other night. Holy cow. He liked the chicken but didn’t like the sauce, so we rinsed off a bite and he ate it! So TWO bites!
So we ate a quick lunch at Costco today after shopping—Owen had pizza, but Tom and I shared a chicken bake and he tried a piece of the chicken from it! And said he liked it!
Of course I don’t expect him to make a full meal out of it anytime soon…but baby steps.
A big thank you to Daniel Tiger’s Neigjborhood that has an episode where they try new foods. I can never remember the jingle so I make something up and Owen always corrects me by singing it himself!
Here’s the full song (not the best quality since it’s not direct from the show):
So Owen and I went in the pool when Katie went down for her morning nap. I worked with him on sticking his nose under to blow bubbles…which he eventually did. I really tried to get him to stick his whole face under—even tried getting him to plug his nose to do so—but he was having NONE of it. Okay, fine, I was content with what we had achieved.
Fast forward to Katie going to bed for the night and all three of us get in the pool. I had gotten a new waterproof camera so I wanted to test it out.
I told him to stick his face under—and you can see he barely got his chin and the very tip of his nose.
So then I told him to show daddy what he learned with me today—and imagine my surprise when we witnessed this:
WHAT?! He went under JUST like that! Like he’d been doing it all summer or something. The stinker!
Testing the stop-action setting with splashing!
And Photoshopped to adjust the colors (though it washes out the rest of the picture—I’m sure it could be done better, but I’m NOT a Photoshop wiz):
Photoshop version:
Katie got her first ride in a race car cart at Lowes today. She loved sitting in the cart next to her brother!
We happened to be there during a kids building project. Owen lasted a little longer than last time, but he’s still a little young.
So back in February, a friend of ours posted about this really cool family portrait he had commissioned by KateWhitmoreArt on Etsy. Everyone RAVED over it and said they would love one…including me. And then a few months later, I finally said YES, I’M DOING IT! But it was going to be a pre-deployment surprise for Tom.
I worked with her for about six weeks before we had a final product—sending ideas, evaluating sketches, changing details, etc.—and I managed to keep it a secret up until the very end, when I needed his input on something (though, honestly, I could have decided on my own—but you know how I am about surprises and the final reveal would only be a day or so away anyway).
And I have to say that for someone who doesn’t get choked up too easily…I think Tom was actually a bit choked up. 🙂
In it, you will notice all the small details of our family that I gave her to make it perfect…
It turned out more perfect than I could have imagined. But, it did take a bit to get there. Here’s the first draft, when she was trying a Christmas theme (I told her we loved Christmas):
She sent it with this:
I thought it was a little too ‘out there’, possibly. I thought it would be cute to have you guys in the tree, surrounded by your ornaments and lights! I just felt it might be a little fun—the ornaments would have either icons/colors for your interests, the USMC, Cars, things like that, and something a little more unique than a standard portrait. Something you can’t get a photo of, you know? If you don’t feel this one, though, just let me know and I can take another crack at it!
So, while I did really like her unique take on us INSIDE a Christmas tree (I had told her we LOVED Christmas) I just wasn’t loving it enough…so I gave her the suggestion of a park or the ocean and sent a few more pics, after which she came up with this:
My thoughts were more YAY! but it wasn’t QUITE there yet. She said she didn’t do a slide (as I had suggested) because the spacing/sizing didn’t work out right. So to me it didn’t look like we were really at a park but more just having a picnic—which we haven’t really ever done. And I wasn’t sure about the kite as he’s never flown a kite so that’s just not him. I thought I might be over-thinking it but my online sounding board assured me I wasn’t…and that the artist DEFINITELY wanted clients to be happy. So I asked her to put Owen in his power wheels police car, have me taking a picture with my iPhone, have our actual sippy cup/Tervis tumblers on the table instead of a pitcher of lemonade, and change the picnic basket to the diaper bag (a long story, but it took trying/buying/returning about 15 bags before I settled on that one, so it’s kind of a running joke).
She was fine with all the changes and then sent this, which was IT.
Then came the color version and it was almost perfect. Bonus points if you can see what the last missing detail was.
Highlight this text to see what it was: The white S on Tom’s shirt.
So overall I’m absolutely and completely THRILLED. I’ve already ordered artwork for our walls (I had bought a Groupon ages ago unsure of what I would use it for…and I’m glad I saved it for this) and I’ll just say that I’m sure this will turn into Christmas presents… 🙂
We headed to DC this weekend for another Patio Party (the last one was in 2008) with the TiVo peeps. The two main events were—obviously—a viewing of the new Star Trek movie and a party on a patio. 🙂
Tom cleaning off the patio:
Me at my first Coke Freestyle machine:
The best seats EVER at a movie theater—electric reclining leather seats (no flash on my self-taken photo because a lady two rows behind us threw a hissy fit that people were using their flashes…before the lights even dimmed and WAY before the movie was even close to starting):
Our group that saw the non-3D version of the movie:
One of our good friends, Andrew:
My obligatory self-portrait pose (taken specifically for Andrew because he gives me grief about taking those pictures):
A recreation of a 2008 Patio Party photo:
And that’s about all the photos. We take a lot less pics now for whatever reason…
The only bad thing about the weekend was that my drink of choice for the evening—vodka and Monster [energy drink]—apparently reacts completely different with my body than it used to and I did not get one wink of sleep Saturday night. 😐 This was NOT the best time or place to have to realize this…away from home with a 6-hour drive ahead of us and nighttime plans once we do get home.
Once we got on the road and grabbed a quick hot breakfast at Panera, it was off to Ikea for a quick visit to pick up Owen’s present (he always gets a present when we come back).
So overall it was a good—though short—weekend!
We went to Wilmington today. Owen helped us load some material in the car…
Then enjoyed sitting next to his sister at Costco!
Then ate an ice cream sandwich in the car after lunch and Trader Joes… You can’t see it very well but his face was covered in chocolate.
Then immediately fell asleep.
(Katie was sleeping, too, but I can’t get a good photo even from the passenger seat.)
I swear Owen has eagle eyes. We were waiting for Tom when he says “Mom! Look! An owl!”
Huh? Owl?
See it?
By Jove, there was. It’s fake, but still.
We weren’t really planning on getting a big playset, but once I saw Owen playing on his little Step 2 playset and saw that he had really outgrown it…I looked on the local Yard Sales board and found exactly what we wanted, emailed the lady, and made plans to go look at it (it was 45 minutes away). I was excited because most of these types of sets are SUPER expensive and have too many things that Owen wouldn’t really use, but this one was actually quite reasonable and had things Owen would like (towers, ladders, a rock wall, and a tunnel!). We looked at it, Owen played on it and loved it, so we left a deposit last weekend and made plans to get it this weekend (Tom was in the field all last week).
I thought the process would take ALL day, possibly requiring two trips (and since it was 45m one way, two trips would have been dreadful)—even with our friend’s big trailer—because Tom had no one able to help him. But thankfully at the last minute I managed to get a friend’s husband to help (the ones buying our old playset!) and then one of our best friends was also able to help…and he also offered his big truck (which ended up being critical) and the whole thing was done in like two hours, not counting drive time! They had it apart and loaded on the trailer and truck in under an hour (the lady texted me to tell me and we were both amazed) and I think it took about the same to unload and put it together. YAY!
“Mom! The number one!”
“Mom! Look! It’s the letter A!”
Testing out the bench.
He had to run and get some cars…
Are you done screwing the slide in so I can use it?
Wheeee!
Tunnel!!
Uncle Tom! (A great picture that I’m ticked ended up blurry! I had an in-focus one but you couldn’t see Owen’s face.)
The workers!
Katie’s first swing!
Also, as a bonus, we didn’t have to use any money from the savings account for the cost of the thing (which was not inconsequential). We had our stash of Craigslist/LejeuneYardSales cash from a few recent sales for the deposit last weekend, then I sold a bunch of stuff this week to finish out the rest of the payment. YAY!
Katie napping on the way to Wilmington:
And on the way home:
“Mama! Look! Sun holes!”
Well, yes, I guess they are. 🙂
I have been looking on and off for YEARS to find the Christmas outfit (see here)…and I finally found it today at our new Once Upon A Child!
When Papa and Grannie were here in February, they went shopping—and apparently my dad was adamant about finding something for Owen. This was his choice. I love it!
Technically it’s a toy for Maggie…but of course it’s really for Owen. Or at least that’s what HE thinks! 🙂
As you know, we no longer have an official guest room now that Katie is taking up the third bedroom. So, when we have overnight guests, they get the upstairs living room pullout sofa. It’s a queen—and we now have a topper—but otherwise, that’s all the sleeping space unless you wanted a plain ol’ couch. But, we rarely need more room than that. BUT, we kinda wanted to be prepared anyway.
So in the meantime, the peanut gallery (you know who you are!) has let us know that the downstairs couch was just a bit too—shall we say—plush (or comfortable!) and was a bit hard to get out of…
And then every now and again when we sat down or moved around, we’d hear something creaking. Or snapping. Or groaning. Or ripping. And then we started thinking about just how long we’ve had the couch and chair set…and came to realize it’s about eight years old! EIGHT! HOLY WAH! It certainly doesn’t seem like that long. The set is still good/comfy but is obviously breaking down…and we feel like we want to sell it as a set while it still has life.
SOOOOO…considering all of the above things, we decided that selling the set would allow us to actually scale back the furniture we currently have (by only replacing the couch and NOT the chair since we have the big leather chair that’s really out-of-place in the playroom). We thought it could be cheap—but should be comfortable since we use that couch on a daily basis. But not anything of great quality since we still have a lot of baby and kid messy stages to go through.
We bookmarked some on Amazon but I refused to buy something like that without testing seating comfort. Sam’s Club had a similar one but refused to take it down for us to try (they told us to just return it if we didn’t like it—REALLY?!). Costco was hit or miss…and again, I would hesitate ordering without testing it and they never have the same one in the stores as they do online (and if we found one in the store, how the hell would we get it home?).
And then we broke down and went to our favorite (dangerous) furniture store…and the same guy who we bought ALL of our past furniture from was still there—and remembered us! And 30 minutes and $1100 later we have a new leather sleeper couch. (It’s amazing how a moderately inexpensive $799 couch jumps up to $1100 after 5 year warranty, taxes, and delivery are added on.) But it’s a nicer quality couch than we planned on (plus it’s leather) that will last longer than we planned on. And we’ve used the warranty before on a different piece of furniture so for that extra $100 it was worth it. It should actually last quite a long time—it’s better quality than the stuff we’re replacing…so the high quality new couch should easily last that long or longer.
Owen liked this couch:
Waiting for us to do the paperwork:
Watching them bring in the couch:
REALLY enjoying the new couch:
The bonus is that the couch is a bit smaller—plus we moved Owen’s drawing table to the playroom—so the room feels quite a bit bigger. Owen AND Katie were having a blast in all the open space…but I wonder when Owen will realize his once-in-awhile eat-in-front-of-the-TV table and chairs are gone…
So now, we have room for more guests! Come on down!!
He got SO excited when he saw this in Target!
He was SOOO cute in this hat and we would have bought it for him, except…he didn’t want to keep it on, it was a bit too small (a child’s XL!), and it was $10. So a picture will have to do!
With the help of my stepsister Kathryn who went to her local (Atlanta) IKEA to pick up the shelf for me…and then hauled it to Myrtle Beach where I then picked it up at my parent’s condo…and then Tom putting it together…we now have a revamped playroom!
When I showed it to Owen for the first time, his eyes got really wide as he said “HOLY MACKEREL!” 🙂
Then I told him everything had its own basket.
Me: Cars go here.
Owen: Yeah!
Me: Trains go here.
Owen: Yeah!
Me: Animals go here.
Owen: YEAH!
Me: Puzzles are here.
Owen: YEAH!
🙂
Since the weather has been unseasonably cool and we didn’t exactly plan for that, Gramma Jean bought herself a new hoodie…and got one for Owen, too!
He was UNBELIEVABLY excited about it and was tearing around like a mad man. He HAD to have the hood up—and he told gramma she had to have hers up as well.
When we were in Florida last month I discovered the Kirkland brand margaritas at Costco—holy cow were they good. I wondered why we hadn’t seen them at our Costco… Oh yeah, that’s right, you can only get liquor and liquor-based drinks at ABC stores…which Costco is not. So, I checked South Carolina (since I’d be heading there to visit my mom and David in about a month) and by golly, they carried it. Hot damn! I told my friends that I’d probably buy about 10 of them…and I’m not sure they believed me.
Fast forward a month, and…
Homemade pesto (from the freezer) + Campari tomatoes + fresh mozzarella (from Costco) + pre-made pizza crusts (also from Costco) = YUMMMM!!
Before:
After:
His new soccer (technically lacrosse) net that I got for free from Amazon Vine!
The excitement lasted through unboxing it, putting it together, and then 10 whole minutes of play. 🙂
Tom had to go to Raleigh to see one of his marines who was in the hospital, so we decided to make a day of it and take Owen with us (leaving Katie at home with Grannie and Papa). We thought it would be a special treat for Owen…which it was, after the tantrums stopped. He knew he was going with us—we reaffirmed it time after time—but it didn’t stop him from asking 74 times and whining for unknown reasons (like when Papa simply tried to talk to him).
Anyway.
He was a trooper on the car ride (and even enjoyed sharing our chocolate shake).
He was a trooper at the hospital. He was a trooper at Costco. Then he fell asleep in the 15 minute drive to Trader Joes…
…so he was a bit cranky when we woke him up…and he demanded he take his B with him out of the car (which we rarely allow).
Then it was off to the park.
And amazingly, he actually went down the slides—and liked it! (He used to go on the slides in Troy, but for some reason he stopped liking them when we moved away.)
So tonight Tom and I went out again, leaving the kids (Owen) behind. He was just getting ready to get in his bath so I went up to tell him.
Me: Owen, daddy and I are going to the store.
Owen: [Looking down.] I’ll be crying.
Poor kid. But so cute because of the way he said it…like he was resigned to the fact he’d be crying but wasn’t actually that upset about it.
But as it turned out, Lin said he did pretty good. Phew.
Four more days to go.
