Coloring Easter Eggs

The kids love to color Easter eggs each year.  (for now)  When they get older I'm sure they will complain about doing this but I will still have them do it and take pictures.  LOL  Travis was in rare form yesterday which is why the only pictures of him without a funny/crazy face are the ones where he isn't looking at the camera.  ;)  We did have one egg end up on the floor.....courtesy of Brody.....he was so sad but we made it all better when we peeled the egg and Travis gave it a new home in his tummy.  Here are the pictures.....remember Travis was being a pain.  ;)

Today is World Autism Awareness Day........

Everyone knows someone with autism these days.  Today is "world autisim awareness day" and they would love it if people would wear blue today for awareness---kind of like breast cancer supporters wearing pink I guess.  :)

Most of you know that Brody has been going to special ed preschool in the county for his speech delay.  We decided a few months back to see if maybe he was on the spectrum in some way to prepare him for kindergarten next year.  He really needs kindergarten for the social aspect and being around a lot of kids---he doesn't really need the learning part because he is already reading, spelling, doing math etc.  Brody isn't a super social guy in big groups---he may talk to one person but won't say much to them---he may just answer a few questions with one word answers.

It was explained to us by the doctor there is range of autism/ the spectrum (in reference to the most commonly used autism "test").  0-69 are normally functioning kids and 70-165 are autistic kids.  Brody tested at a 70----literally hanging on the cusp of the spectrum.  The doctor explained that since he is very high functioning and very smart that a lot of this is wrapped up in his refusal to potty train.  So if he ever decides to use the potty regularly on his own etc he would likely fall of the spectrum so to speak.  Time will tell on that one and trust me I would love it if he fell off the spectrum into the "normally functioning kids" category because that would mean I'm not changing poopy pull-ups/undies anymore!!!

Please support autism awareness because you never know who may have it.........

(sigh)

Brody's birthday has been on my "to blog" list for months.  I used to be so good about blogging but lately I've had issues with forgetting about the blog!  Tomorrow is a new month and I hope to blog multiple times a week in April if not every day!  Here are some pictures from Brody's 5th birthday party!  (Minecraft was our theme clearly)

He was THRILLED with his cake!

All of the guests got foam swords that I painstakingly printed Minecraft on in white puffy paint---later I found random letters all over the house because the paint had come off.  Oh well.

I just found a picture of the swords  :)

Travis was beating the kids up---thankfully the swords are super soft

Craft time!

MAKE A WISH!

What do you do with all of the Christmas cards you receive?

Ok I know that Christmas was MONTHS AGO but I just recently did my post Christmas card project.  Hindsight is always 20/20 right?  I kind of wish that I had made a photo album of old cards from friends and family so we could look back at them years from now.  Well I never did that then and I don't want to start now so I am sticking with the project I have been doing the last 6+ years.  (but I do have a copy of every card we have sent in the last 11 years with kids and I will be doing something with those as a keepsake memory)

I got a bunch of clear magnetic frames and put them on the door of my fridge in a Tetris like pattern and fill them with cut up pictures from the Christmas cards of friends and family.  So I get to enjoy those little faces all year long.   :)

During.......

After!  These guys will greet me every time I get into the freezer until early 2016!

Organization is key.......

A few years ago I mounted this white board in the mud room so we had another places for the various appointments and sports schedules to go.  We go through the mud room ALL DAY LONG so it was the perfect place for these reminders.

Right now the schedule isn't too bad but in a few weeks it will be INSANE!  Two kids and four sports.  Travis will be playing baseball for his 8th season and hockey for his 8th season as well.  Brody is still doing gymnastics once a week and this season will be trying t-ball for the first time.  Yes I'm sure I will need to be in two places at once a lot but thankfully Travis is old enough for me to drop off early if there are other parents/players around.  I always give Travis' coaches a heads up that I may not be there a lot because I am shuttling Brody somewhere and clearly Brody isn't at the "drop off" age yet for sports.  :)

How do you keep on top of these things?  Visual reminders?  Reminders on your smart phone?

p.s.  I will take another picture of the board when all 4 sports are in full swing.  LOL

Valentines for Brody's class

This is the 3rd year in a row that I have made these cute crayon hearts for Brody's class.  They are beyond easy to make---you just need the heart shaped pan (mine is silicone which makes it super easy to get the crayons out), your oven, paper for the card part and crayons!  That's it!

Tip:  the easiest way to get the paper off of the crayons is to soak them in water.  The paper will just slide off.  I will tell you that Crayola crayons are the easiest ones to get the paper off.  Other brands are a little tougher.  I then break them up and throw them into the pan and pop the pan into the over at 250 degrees for about 15-20 minutes.  Let them cool in the pan and then pop them out!  Voila!

Brody's teacher wanted the kids to cut out their friends names and then put those on the valentines......so that was his job

Finished product!

2015 Oscars....so far

I have almost closed out the 10 "major" categories.  I only have one movie left......"Two Days, One Night".  There are some seriously great movies in these 10 categories.  I loved Whiplash, The Theory of Everything, Still Alice (sad but a very good movie) and Boyhood (I loved the fact that it was filmed over 12 years with all of the same actors).  There are also a few that I wasn't a fan of too......like Mr. Turner, The Grand Budapest Hotel and Inherent Vice.

The hardest categories to find online etc are "animated short film", "documentary short, and "live action short film".  I read in ET last week these will all be available online starting the week of the 17th---I won't get them all watched (because you have to pay for them and the time) but I will try!  :)

I need to see Interstellar to close out another 4 categories.

How many Oscar movies have you seen?

Brody gets to go to Busch Gardens for FREE again this year!

Brody at the park last year riding the "Lil Clydesdales"  

If you have a kid between the ages of 3 and 5 you should get this free preschool pass!  You can find the link HERE .  We got it last year for Brody and it was so easy.  You just fill out the info online and print out your pass!  TOTALLY FREE!  The only catch?  You must redeem your voucher for the pass by the end of May with proof of age at the park.  We went at the end of spring break last year to do this.  It's kind of annoying you can't just mail in a copy of their birth certificate or something but that is the only stipulation with this.

To make it even better......last year in Feb or March I found a Groupon for Busch Gardens tickets!  I paid $32 for each adult and $30 for Travis.  So when we went to validate Brody's pass I paid a total of $92 that day (normally it's $75 for everyone over 10 years old and $65 for kids 3-9).   Let's do that math for a second......the normal price for our family of 4 last year would have been $280 (Travis turned 10 in June so I got him a child's ticket for our April trip).......I paid $92 for our family of four.  That's almost a $188 savings!  What a deal!  You  know I will be trolling Groupon this year for that same deal again!  (and yes we probably spent at least $100 at the park in food and beer but who's counting right?  LOL)

Finally a place for all our winter accessories!

Not sure why the picture is so green but you get the idea.  lol

My friend Julie did this the other day in her house and it reminded me to do the same!  You can buy a over the door shoe holder at Target, Bed Bath and Beyond etc and fill it up with hats, gloves, scarves etc!  She has 6 people in her family so each person got a row......we have 4 so everyone has at least one row and others needed a little more space.  lol  I used to have everything jammed in a basket in the mud room but that led to things all over the floor when someone grabbed their hat etc.  The over the door shoe holder at Target is around $8 but is not clear plastic---the one I got is from Bed Bath and Beyond and it was $15 but ended up being $12 after the 20% off coupon---I wanted the clear one so the few dollars were worth it to me.

The suggestion was made on Julie's post to turn it into a summer catch all for sunglasses, goggles, sunscreen etc.  Not sure if I will do that or not since our swim bag "catches" most of that stuff.  lol  If I don't do the summer suggestion this entire thing will just move upstairs to the back of Brody's closet door since his closet is super huge.  ;)

Super Doubles week at Harris Teeter!!!

With the kids being home Wed/Thurs for snow I just now got around to going to Harris Teeter!  This week (through next Tuesday) they are doubling all coupons up to $2----so a $2 is now $4 and so on.  I will let my pictures speak for themselves.......the total bill after tax for EVERYTHING in the 2 pictures below was just $20!

The items in the top picture were all purchased with coupons from www.coupons.com.  The 2 boxes of instant breakfast were FREE!  (normally priced at $5.89 a box!)   Remember you can print each coupon on that site twice!

The items in the bottom picture were all purchased using coupons from the Sunday newspaper.  The L'Oreal conditioner was FREE!  (normally priced at $4.99)