Merry Christmas!

More than 3 hours

That's how long it took to put together Raina's new toy kitchen last night. Jackson stayed up with me, handing me pieces as I was ready for them. It's now covered in wrapping paper next to the tree. She thinks it is Barry's present.

Since it took so long last night, I didn't start on any wrapping. As soon as the kids are asleep, that's my job for the night. Could be a late one!

Turkey Dinner

I bought a turkey when they were on sale around Thanksgiving, and decided to make it for supper tonight. I asked Barry if he would help with the stuffing, and somehow he ended up making most of the meal! I peeled and mashed the potatoes and opened the can of cranberries, he did everything else. Thanks, Barry! It all tasted great.

Holiday Baking

We (my mom and sisters and I) did our annual holiday baking today. In the end we had the following delectable delights:Rocky Road Fudge Bars, Haystacks, Marble Bars, Almond Bark Pretzels, Gingerbread Men and Sugar Cookies (lovingly decorated by the kids), Cranberry White Chip Cookies, Oreo Bon Bons, Pretzel Treats and Fudge Puddles. Any plans for losing weight will have to wait until after the New Year.

Bedtime

Getting kids to bed/sleep can be so frustrating sometimes. Just when one kid is settled down and almost asleep, one of the other kids will do something to wake them up again. And on and on and on until they're FINALLY all asleep. I had hoped to do some things around the house tonight after the kids were in bed, but now I'm too tired and I think I'll just go to bed on time and try to get up early instead.

Weekend Update

First of all, Happy Birthday to my sister Melisa--hope you had a great day!
Our leisurely Saturday mornings are over for a few months as Jackson is playing basketball at his school. They practice Thursday evenings and have "games" on Saturday from 9-10 a.m. We all went to watch on Saturday morning, and the younger two kids did surprisingly well. Raina didn't get too restless, and Remy seemed to enjoy watching all the bouncing balls.
It snowed through much of Saturday, so by today the kids were ready to play in the snow. They had great fun, and probably would have stayed out much longer had I let them.

Goodwill

I bundled up the kids this morning (one bank sign said it was only 7 degrees!) to go to Goodwill. Every Thursday kids' clothes are 50% off. I found two pairs of shoes for Remy for $2.99 each,

a pair of navy Mary Janes for Raina for $3.99,

two shirts for Remy that were $1.50 each,
a brand new sleeper for Remy for $2.00,

and a brand new pink polka dot summer dress for Raina for $2.00.
I also bought about 10 things to list on eBay. One was a new pink bunting with Winnie the Pooh on it--very soft and cozy. Raina was carrying it around calling it Olivia.

Pajama Day

We had a pajama day today. It's so nice sometimes to not go anywhere on a day. I did some laundry and eBay photos/listing this morning while the kids were playing. After lunch we watched Ratatouille. We ate cheese tortellini and leftover pie/ice cream for supper. A relaxing day!

Kid Pics

Just a few pictures for tonight.

Cheetos and Marshmallows

That's what Raina wanted for breakfast this morning. I gave her toast and juice instead.

This Week's Freebies

We opened a new bank account yesterday, and all new members get a stuffed "pony" (according to Raina). We also got our first checks free, free online bill pay and free debit cards. I got a postcard in the mail that I'd get $50 for opening a new account, so that's what we did.


Walgreens had L'Oreal shampoo/conditioner on sale for buy 1, get 1 free. I also had a buy one, get one free coupon so both bottles were free!


Every so often I sign up for free samples online, so yesterday in the mail I got some Post-It samples: lined stickies, pop-up post-its, flags and tabs.


I got Huggies and Dove coupons. I also got my Reader's Digest and Lake Superior magazines, which were both gifts.

Raina got her monthly book from the Imagination Library (www.imaginationlibrary.com).

Popcorn and Chili

It was Barry's birthday yesterday, so he wanted me to make popcorn during the football game today, and make chili for supper.
I don't usually buy microwave popcorn--we make our own microwave popcorn. Here's how you can make some: put 1/4 cup popcorn kernals into a brown paper lunch bag, roll over and tape shut. Microwave for 2-3 minutes, or until popping slows to 2-3 seconds between popping. Put your popcorn in a big bowl, add melted butter and salt, and you're all set!
On to the chili. There are probably as many ways to make chili as there are people making it, but here's what I generally put in my chili:
Browned hamburger, sometimes cooked with onion
Light red kidney beans
Black beans
Chili beans
RoTel tomatoes
Diced or stewed tomatoes
Tomato sauce
Corn
Garlic powder
Chili powder
Cayenne pepper
Salt
The amount of each ingredient depends on exactly what I have in the house. I put it all in the crockpot on low for 5-6 hours, then it's ready to eat!
Barry has a couple of additional "secret ingredients" that he adds to his chili. I am not, however, allowed to disclose them.

Strange Observation

I had two people pay me through PayPal the other day, and they both had the same last name: Richardson. One from Ontario, Canada, and one from Iowa. What are the chances of that?

Halloween Photos

Halloween Fun

We didn't go trick or treating last night, but the kids did dress up last Saturday for the Coborn's festivities. Jackson was Twins player Johan Santana, Raina was a fairy princess and Remy was a lion.
Last night we ate monster fingers, monster toes, eyeballs, and English mummies. The kids thought it was great fun!
Then we (well, Barry) carved pumpkins. We ended up with Sparky the puppy, Remy baseball, and Juan Pumpkin Montoya.

Snacks

I have this bad habit of snacking at night when the kids are all asleep. I think part of it is I can get a snack without having to get anyone else one, and without sharing with anyone! Here are my top 10 favorite things to snack on, in no particular order:
1. Cinnamon toast
2. Cereal, especially Cheerios with bananas on top
3. Hot chocolate
4. Cottage cheese with pineapple
5. Chocolate in any form
6. Trail mix
7. Tea
8. PBJ
9. Ice cream
10. Crackers and cheese

Things I got for under $1.00 . . .

. . . at Walgreens:
Halls cough drops (only $0.64, on sale and with coupon)
Three 2 packs of baby food ($0.50 each, also on sale/coupon)
Softsoap lavendar & camomile hand soap ($0.64 with sale/coupon)
Garnier Fructis shampoo (was $6.99, but will be free after rebate, plus I had $1.00 coupon so I'll actually make $1.00 on this!)
Colgate Advance Total toothpaste (was $2.99, will be free after rebate, plus I had a $0.75 coupon to make $0.75 on this)

I bought some other things and spent $28.55, but will have over $15.00 in rebates coming back.

Have you tried shopping at Walgreens yet?

Toaster Strudel

Target has grocery coupons on their website, and a couple weeks ago they had one for 75 cents off Toaster Strudel:I also found 50 cents off coupons in the Sunday paper.

My Target sells the Toaster Strudel for $1.67. After using both coupons, each box was only 42 cents. Not bad! My favorite flavor, by the way, is cherry.

Library Fines

You've heard the saying penny wise, pound foolish? Well that's how I felt today when I realized I forgot to renew our library books online last Friday, so over the past week I've accrued $25.00 in library fines! I called the library to ask for leniency and was transferred to the man in charge of collections. He was nice enough to grant me a one time courtesy and took the fees down to about $15.00. Now there's a note in my account, though, so I can never ask for a one-time courtesy again. Don't worry, I don't plan on needing it! He was nice about it, and said I wouldn't believe how many fines he's had to pay the library over time. I think I'll just have to consider the $15 payment a donation to the library.

Walgreens

I went to Walgreens today and got some pretty good deals.

Herbal Essences shampoo/conditioner was on sale for 3/$20. Not a great deal, but I had a coupon to buy 2, get 1 free. So then the shampoo/conditioner was 3/$13.33, or about $4.44 per bottle. Walgreens also has something called Register Rewards, so after I paid I got a receipt for $10.00 off my next shopping trip. This is almost like paying 3/$3.33 for the shampoo/conditioner, or $1.11 each.



Next I found an Aquafresh Dr. Seuss toothbrush. The weekly Walgreens ad had the toothbrushes on sale for $0.99. I also had a coupon for $0.75 off, so the toothbrush was only $0.24.



Finally, I bought some Trident Splash gum that was on sale for $0.59 each. I had a coupon to buy 1 get 1 free, and they took $1.09 off (the regular price) for the free one, so I got two packs of gum for $0.09.



I paid first with my Walgreens giftcard that had $6.59 on it from last month's rebates (more on these in another post). After that, I only had to pay $8.62 for a bottle of shampoo, 2 bottles of conditioner, a toothbrush and 2 packs of gum--AND I got $10.00 back for next time!

A Trip to the Pumpkin Patch

The kids and I went with my mom to a local Pumpkin Patch today. They also had a petting zoo, pumpkin painting and produce for sale. Remy got scared by a goat, but quickly recovered. Raina insisted on being the one to pull the wagon through the pumpkin patch. She's a very determined little girl! The weather was great, so when we got home we played outside in the leaves.

Soup's On

Cold air has arrived in Minnesota! We eat soup almost once a week through the chilly fall and winter, and tonight we had black bean soup and cornbread. Nothing like a bowl of soup to warm you up from the inside! Here's the recipe:

2 cans black beans, undrained
1 cup chicken broth
1 small onion, diced
1 tsp. bottled minced garlic (I was going to just add some garlic powder, but I forgot)
1 jar (16 oz.) thick and chunky salsa
4 tsp. lime juice
2 tsp. ground cumin

Place 1 can beans with liquid and chicken broth in blender or food processor; cover. Blend until smooth. Coat large saucepan with cooking spray (I used veg. oil). Heat over medium-high heat. Add onion and garlic; cook for 4-5 minutes or until onion is tender.

Add blended bean mixture, remaining beans and liquid, salsa, lime juice and cumin. Bring to boil. Reduce heat to low and cover.

Cook, stirring occasionally, for 25-30 minutes. Serve topped with sour cream if desired.

The recipe is from Very Best Baby magazine, I think from when Jackson was a baby. They have many more recipes at verybestbaby.com/recipes.

On the Move

Remy is officially crawling now. The search for all small toys and objects has now begun. So far he's found Raina's snack, a plant, a pencil, the remote a couple times, and he made a beeline for Jackson's pile of cars when he saw them. I think we'll be picking up more often throughout the day now!

Princessing

Raina coined a new word today. I asked her to sit down for supper, and she said, "But mom, I'm princessing!" She had on a dress and sunglasses and was twirling in a circle, or 'princessing'.

First Post!

I'll start this blog out with a simple, kid-friendly recipe.:

Cheeseburger Pie

1 lb. hamburger
1-6 oz. can tomato paste
1-8 oz. can tomato sauce
1/2 tsp. Italian seasoning
1 1/2 tubes crescent rolls
1-2 cups pizza cheese

Brown hamburger; add Italian seasoning, tomato paste and sauce. Great 9 x 13 pan. Layer crescent rolls. Bake in oven at 350 degrees for 5 minutes. Add hamburger mixture and top with cheese. Bake for 30 minutes.

We had this tonight with salads and the extra 1/2 can of crescent rolls.