Christmas Shopping with Ebates

It's that time of year! Christmas-shopping time! I know a few people who have already finished their Christmas shopping, wow! But like most of the world, I am just starting. I LOVE to buy Christmas presents and I know that puts me in the minority. I know a lot of people dread it, dread the stress of it and dread the spending money portion of it. Not me! This is the first year that we will spend Christmas morning at home with our little family and I CANNOT WAIT to see the kids open their presents :)

 

 

One thing that may make the gift-giving season a little easier, on your wallet at least, is by utlizing Ebates. You can sign up for FREE (score!) and then do your online shopping just as you normally would. Except, now, you can get cash back on your online purchases! 

 

 

What's that you say, you have Amazon Prime?! Great! You can use Ebates and Amazon Prime together!

 

What's that you say, you have special store credit cards that give you reward points already?! Great, you can use those cards and Ebates together!

 

 

Planning a trip for the holidays? You can Ebates in conjunction with Expedia, Groupon Getaways, Booking, Orbitz, Priceline, Travelocity, and over 100 different hotel websites! Some sites are up to 10% CASH BACK!

 

 

The cash back money accumulates and they just send you a quarterly check. How easy is that!

 

If you haven't checked it out, DO it! You are losing out on free cash back on money you are already planning on spending! Check out Ebates today!

 

When you sign up and make a $25 purchase, Ebates will give you $10 cash back just for using the site for the first time! Who doesn't want a little extra cash right!?

 

Happy Christmas Shopping!

 

 

I am an affiliate of Ebates, all opinions expressed are my own.

Thanksgiving Day

Happy Thanksgiving!

 

 

Hope that you all enjoy a wonderful day, eat lots of yummy food, and make fun family memories. Safe Travels to those who brave the roads and airports. And I hope we all take time to be thankful for all that we have.

 

We have a BIG weekend planned for our family so stay tuned next week :)

 

 

From my family to yours, Happy Thanksgiving!

Age of Adaline - Movie Review

 

 

So by now you must know that my girl crush is Blake Lively. I just adore her style, grace, and pretty much all she does. I recently got to see Age of Adaline. I have been wanting to see it for a while now. I thought I had an idea as to what the movie was about - but I was about 50% wrong.

The Age of Adaline is about a woman who has stopped aging. She was in a car accident and electrocuted- which stopped the aging process. Adaline then has to face life as those she loves, her daughter included, begin to age and grow older. She changes her identity every 10 years and relocates to start a new life. She never, ever falls in love.

 

Until.....she meets a certain man. Later, we find out a strange connection she has with this man and the truth comes out.

 

Will she find true love? Check out the movie and find out! :)

 

 

The Weekend Before Thanksgiving

The weekend before Thanksgiving..... In our house that is the last weekend before the fun and craziness of the Holidays set in. We do our very best to not decorate or plan too much regarding Christmas, prior to celebrating Thanksgiving. One holiday at a time, people :).

 

The kids found a TON of leaves on a walk over the weekend. Now that Chloe is nearing two and a half, she is turning into a little kid and it has been so much fun to see her experience new and exciting things. The kids LOVED playing in these leaves. We only got them to leave because we were actually headed to a nearby playground, which didn't seem to matter much to them once they started crunching those leaves :)

 

Those Pigtails though...

We call this the Red Park. We had it all to ourselves and didn't mind one bit.

 On Saturday, we got a visit from my dad and stepmom. They hadn't been to our house in a while, so it was fun to show off a few of our recent projects.

 

These kids Can't get enough of reading books.

We found an event where someone's backyard had been completely redone and was all about trains. With my 2 Thomas the Train loving kiddos, we couldn't pass it up!

It was AMAZING. This couple made their backyard into a train-lovers paradise!

Luke was LOVING IT!

Luke and one of his favorites, James.

Bepa and Chloe.

 

It was the neatest thing. They passed our hot apple cider, cookies, and even had a scavenger hunt for the kids. Here is Luke with his prize for completing the scavenger hunt.

The pictures do not do it justice. If you are in the Central Valley around Easter, you must check this out!

 

And after a short work week, it's Thanksgiving time! We have a super busy, fun, and family-filled weekend ahead, including getting our Christmas tree up!

Last Weekend and a Family Visit

This past weekend was so much fun! We got to see family and friends and enjoyed every minute of it. I also bought the first Christmas Present.....pretty early for us, but it was on sale so why not!

 

Friday started off like this-STICKERS. This girl loves them. They went from her face, to my face, to her face again. I bought a Finding Dory sticker pack a while back for under $2 and she just can't get enough.

 

We also had a another Movie Night on Friday. We watched Zootopia. I don't think the kids really got it- the sloths at the DMV were EPIC!- but they still enjoyed watching it. Of course we had to have popcorn too!

 

Saturday, we spent some time with Aaron's family. His sister and her family drove in from Tahoe and we celebrated our niece's 8th birthday and attempted to take some nice family photos. Here is Chloe all dressed up! Aaron took the pictures, so fingers crossed we got at least one good photo of all of us. With 6 adults and 5 kids- 4 of which are under the age of 5- it was a little tricky :)

Happy Birthday Naomi!

Then it was time to play!

Action shot!

 

Chloe has taken to being a 'big cousin' very well. She loves baby Caelum and was even pushing him in the swing.

 

Naomi got a Ukelele for her birthday and this is a sweet photo of her showing Chloe how to strum it.

This guy! Can't believe he will be 1 next month!

 

We also got to see some friends this weekend. Chloe had already gone to sleep, but the other 3 were still going stong. Fruit snacks and a graham cracker anyone?

Trains, Trains and More Trains...

We finished out the weekend with some football, of course. Our team ALLLMOST won- it was down to the last second. Oh well. Hope you had a great holiday weekend. THANK YOU to all those who serve and their families.

Firefighter for a Day

Over the weekend I had the privilege to participate in the Firefighter for a Day program. This is an annual event where members of the public can participate in activities that mirror what firefighters face on a daily basis and have the chance learn more about the fire service and our local department. I was super excited to participate but also a little scared. Accident-prone is putting it nicely, so I made sure to be extra, extra, extra cautious.

 

After getting some details about the fire department, it was time to gear up. We had to wear full PPE (personal protective equipment) the entire time. This meant boots, drops (pants), jacket, hood (only while fire was present), helmet, gloves and SCBA (breathing apparatus that we used for 2 of the 3 stations). I am not sure how much all of the gear weighs, but MAN it was heavy.

 

 

There was a group of about 12 people participating, along with 4 firefighters per station and the Explorer team.  

 

We were broken up into groups and started our rotations. Our first rotation was a Live Fire Attack. We literally put out a fire during this rotation. We had to wear our SCBA and mask the entire time.  Our group was split in half so that one team could put out the fire while the other watched and vice versa. My group watched first.

 

It was a crazy experience to have a fire burning just a few feet away and not attempt to run away :). Our Battalion Chief leader taught us all about different ways to vent and described different things happening to the fire while the other group put it out. While we watched, my breathing apparatus became disconnected. I didn't panic but it did freak me out. The Battalion Chief heard it happen right away and came to rescue. Then, it was our turn to put out the fire. I was put on the nozzle for interior attack- which means that I operated the hose and water flow to put the fire out from inside the building. The hose was SO HEAVY when it was charged with water, it was hard to carry and maneuver. It was thrilling to be about 4-5 feet from a fire and put it out. I was basically walking on the clouds the rest of the weekend :)

 

After lunch and a tour of a fire station that was over 100 years old, it was time to move to our second rotation. Our group went to the Confined Space Event. Doesn't sound appealing, does it? We had to crawl through a maze in the pitch black basement. Plywood was laid on top of buckets and you had to army crawl, in your gear AND push the SCBA bottle, through the maze. I ALLLMOOOSST freaked out at one point because you can't tell where you are in the maze and how much more you have to go. It was EXHAUSTING!

 

Our third rotation was Car Extrication. We got to all participate in cutting the roof off of a car. The tools are so heavy. I could barely pick up the spreader, or Jaws of Life as we know it.

 

 

Here is our group surrounded by the firefighters who assisted with the car extrication.

 

What an amazing experience. I thought I had a good idea as to what firefighters go through in their jobs. Nope. Not one darn clue! They are literally Super Heroes. I enjoyed this day so much and am so thankful for the opportunity to participate!



Go VOTE!

It is Election Day!

 

 Finally.

 

Make your voice heard and get out and vote.

 

People fought for this right so that you don't have to.

 

Educate yourself.

 

Know the candidates.

 

Know what they stand for.

 

Choose the direction you want this country to go.

 

GET.

 

OUT.

 

AND.

 

VOTE.

 

 

What a weekend!

This past weekend was a whirlwind! The most important thing I learned is that Toy Cars should NOT be put in the toilet. Of course, I already knew that but my sweet little boy didn't think he should tell anyone that his car fell in the toilet while it was flushing- that happens to all of us right?! lol- and well, it was just a mess. Thank goodness my husband is one in a million and fixed it himself. That could have been A TON of drama. Phew.

 

We had a movie night on Friday and of course we HAD to have popcorn!

 

These sweet kiddos. In their PJs, ready for the movie. Luke chose mismatched socks and put his jammy pants on inside out- silly boy.

Saturday, I participated in Firefighter for a Day with our local Fire Department. More on that tomorrow :)

 

Sunday was mostly about relaxing. We watched some football, got some groceries, saw our BBFs for a little bit and of course played with trains. We have a little Axl on our hands- tell me you watch The Middle?! This kid prefers to wear nothing more than undies at home- just like AXL.

Overall, it was a nice and relaxing weekend. One of the last low-key weekends of the year, so we soaked it in. What did you do over the weekend? I hope you got to enjoy that extra hour of sleep because our kids sure didn't get the memo:)

Chloe's Unicorn Costume - A How-To

For Halloween this year, Chloe was a unicorn. I thought about a costume for her for days and days. I just didn't know what she could dress up as. I love being able to add a personal touch to things, so it had to be something I could either make or customize. My DYI skills lean more towards the rookie side, so it also had to be EASY. She has a few My Little Pony's, so I thought a unicorn would be fun and something she would actually like to wear- although I was a little worried about her keeping the hood up all night.

Here is what you need:

A zipped hoodie sweatshirt

A few sheets of felt in different colors- I used 2 sheets for each color and 1 for the horn

A headband

Safety pins

Hot glue gun and glue

Styrofoam horn

  

The felt sheets came in a 9 x 12 inch size, so I cut it like this. I didn't measure anything, just eyeballed it:) I cut about 1 inch down the long side (this would become part of the tail) and then cut every inch or so across to make pieces of the mane.

To make the mane, take one strip of felt and pinch it in the middle.

Once you pinch the middle, fold one side up so it crosses over itself. This is where you will put the safety pin. Once I cut all of my strips, I took one of each color(so 3 total) and pinned it to the inside of the sweatshirt.

This is how it looked on the outside.

 

This is how it looked on the inside.

 

 

For the horn, I hot glued a sparkly sheet of white felt around the styrofoam. I also cut thin strips to spiral around it. Finally, I hot glued it to the top of a headband. (I glued felt on the underside of the headband to the botton of the horn as well to help keep it secure)

The finished product. I have to be honest, I seriously doubted my crafting/DIY skills but I LOVE LOVE LOVE how this turned out! And we got comments all night about how cute her unicorn costume was! I just might leave the mane and tail on for her to keep wearing with the sweatshirt! OH- I did end up taping the headband to the hood of the sweatshirt so it wouldn't move :)

 

Side view

From the back. So CUTE! Baby girl wore it all night!

For more crafty/DYI posts, see here, here, here, and here.

ClovisFest 2016

Over the weekend, we attended one of the fun events in our hometown. ClovisFest is an annual event that includes a street fair with vendors, food booths, music and rides and a hot air balloon lift off early each morning. Last year was our first year going and the kids loved watching the big balloons inflate and lift off. This year, my sister and her family and my mom joined in the fun!

 

Here are the big kids, all between 4 and 2 years old.

These two, they are going to get married some day :)

 

This year, there were about 9 balloons. It is so neat to watch them inflate and then wave goodbye and cheer as they float away.

 

You can see that the spectators are right in the action!

My favorite girl and me

Almost done!

The crew doing what they do best :)

Lift Off!

My Peeps.

 

 

After all the balloons had taken off, we went to the street fair.

Of course, we HAD to stop at the Greyhound Adoption booth.

I Love this picture!

And OF COURSE we checked out the Pink Fire Truck!

It was a very fun morning and the weather was great too! It had rained the day before, but nothing by sunshine on Saturday. We love attending this annual event and can't wait to watch the balloons again next year :)