The Hubby & I

Our 3 year daughter took this picture. She did a pretty good job.

Birthday Freebies (updated 3/15)

Ok, I will keep adding to this, as there is still another week until my birthday, so be sure to check back.

Free mini-pizza w/ breadsticks purchase at Godfather's Pizza (local one)

Free stir-fry meal from BD's Mongolian Grill

Free One-Scoop Sundae from Culver's

$5 off purchase of entree & pepsi at Ponderosa

Free Gourmet Burger at Red Robin

Free Surprise (dessert to buffet, they tell you at restaurant) at Famous Dave's (sorry, don't care for surprises, I want to know what I am getting, I will pass)

Free Creation from Cold Stone Creamery & $3 off coupon for b-day cake

Free Mile High Pie Slice from Champps with any purchase

Free dessert w/ entree purchase from Chili's

Free swirl shake w/ Roastburger purchase from Arby's

Free dessert from Fazoli's (no purchase necessary)

BOGO Blizzards from DQ

Free 160z. beverage from Orange Julius

$10 off $10+ from Timberlodge Steakhouse

Free drink from Caribou on birthday ONLY

Free entree up to $7.50 from Noodles & Co.

Free dessert @ Buca di Beppo w/ entree purchase

Free Birthday Parties Digital Magazine from Betty Crocker

Dessert Shooter from Applebee's (although don't really need this coupon to get this)

10% off entire purchase in-stores @ Harry & David

15% off from Crabtree & Evelyn

5 full size Lancome lipsticks with $35 purchase

Free Aveda PerFume essence or Body product up to $25 (no purchase necessary) AWESOME!

Free dessert w. entree purchase @ TGI Fridays

20% off ENTIRE regular price purchase @ Michael's

Free cookie dough w/ pizza purchase from Papa Murphy's

$5 off any purchase from Pizza Ranch

BOGO Entree from Qdoba

Coupon from Old Country Buffet (won't know what it is until I print, but I don't plan to use)

Free Fountain Drink & Donut from Kwik Trip

$5 off $20 from O'Charley's

25 pts & Free Blu-Ray (choose from 5, pay $2.95 s/h) from Disney Movie Rewards

Various special discounted items from Alice.com

$1 off any order from Wendy's

____________________________________________________________

So, which ones will I use for use or maybe?

For Sure *used already

Culver's

Godfather's

Timeberlodge

Aveda

*Betty Crocker (downloaded it, has some good ideas & has a cake in there I may make for Isabel's birthday)

Caribou

Pizza Ranch

*DQ

*BD's Mongolian

*Disney Rewards (used the points, but not free BR since I don't have a player)

* Orange Julius

Kwik Trip

Wendy's

Maybe (but mostly likely not)

Fazoli's

Michael's

Harry & David

Cold Stone Creamery

Noodles & Co.

Qdoba

As you can see, there are a lot out there and I am sure there will be more in my email over the next week. And I will only use a small percentage of them (mainly because a lot of these are not local for me and I would need to combine with a trip to the Cities or Rochester). So, if you are interested in getting some of these, just google the location and look for a birthday club or email sign up and you will be set to go. Make sure you do this at least a month in advance or you might not get into their system fast enough.

There is just not enough time & money in my life to be able to take advantage of all of these, only a very small portion.

MNO: Tubing @ Buck Hill

Snow Bird?

My Daughter's Hair

My daughter desperately needed a haircut, but paying for one was not at the top of my budget. It was getting too long and becoming more & more snarly. This was her third haircut and I decided to try doing it myself and I think I did a decent job. She just has a very basic, straight cut. I ended up taking about 2 1/2 inches off.

I made some more bows for her hair. I really liked how these turned out. I wanted to make the red & white one so she could wear it to preschool for her Valentine's party. They were simple to make, although I made the red & white one first and have the bottom flower flipped, which I did on purpose because I liked how the ribbon & lace on that one looked better flipped. I got the idea from Craft eNVy.

Cross Country Skiing

Today I went cross country skiing for the first time. It was a blast. I went with my friend Carrie. It was her birthday yesterday, so I planned a little birthday fun for her and we went skiing during the afternoon and this evening we met up with our friend Cindy and went to Applebee's for drinks and appetizers. I had a great time CCXing and hope to go at least one more time this winter. Andy would like to go some time with me too, so maybe after my in-laws are back from their vacation we can have them babysit while we go.

Korker Bows & Puffy Bow

Here are some new bows I made for Isabel. I made a big puffy bow which she loves and 2 sets of korker bows (one with pink accents and one with yellow accents). I actually made 2 sets of the pink accent korker bows so that I can give one set to one of her friends who has a birthday coming up soon. I think Isabel likes that I make her bows. I know she loves choosing out what to put in her hair and will say "I look so pretty" when she has one in she really likes.

Celebrity Look-a-Like

Or we have this one with 8 completely different people.



Third times the charm?



Ok - just for giggles, let's try the picture on the same day but a different angle.

http://www.myheritage.com/collage

Ha! That's funny, 4 completely different people and now I have dudes in my picture.

Guess I just look like myself. There was not one person that appeared in more than one collage.

Naples City Beach

(The Hubby at) Imaginarium and Manatee Park

At Lover's Bay State Park in Florida

We are having a good time so far. This might be the only hot, sunny day. But as long as it's not cold snow I will take it.

New Hair Color

Not sure how well you can see the dark purple streak in the front. There are two in the back as well. Maybe some natural sunlight pictures in Florida will show it better. Anyways, my friend Caitlin who is a professional colorist was willing to play kitchen beautician for me and color my hair & I LOVE IT!. She did an all over color of medium blond then went back and put in the purple streaks and hand painted in blond highlights all over with bigger chunks framing the face.

I always wanted to do some kind of fun color in my hair but never had the guts. This year I decided that if there is something I want to do and it is financially feasible, I am going to do it. Life is too short to not try things and live your life.

Making Bows

I made the light pink ones last night and then made the dark pink & blue-striped bows tonight. I made these for Isabel & 3 of her friends. I just thought Isabel needed some new bows and thought I would make bows for her friends whose moms borrowed me some things during my pregnancy and/or for Henry.

Isabel is going to love that she has a bunch of new bows made by mommy. I have not made her any in a while. I am going to make her some korker bows next, but I need to go buy a dowel and some think grosgrain ribbon.

Snowshoeing 2010

Today we went snowshoeing at River Bend Nature Center. It is much more work to snow shoe with a 16-pound baby strapped to your chest that without. But we did have fun!

Even More Homemade Gifts (To Come)

I need to take pictures of them yet, but Andy received some new pajama pants that his mom made and Isabel got a new jumper that his mom made her. And Henry got a new hat from Andy's great grandma. And I also need to see if I took pictures of the homemade gifts Isabel gave to her godparents (beeswax rolled candles & fire starters in a homemade gift bag.) Oh! And she made a homemade coaster & candle holder out of plaster of paris for grandma M. And together we made hot cocoa mix & soup mix for grandparents. And I gave gifts of crabapple jam, apple butter, & pear sauce to different people. I also made Henry a fleece tie pillow that coordinates with the blanket I made him as a "birth" day present.

Hopefully, I did not forget to mention any of the homemade gifts we received or made for others. We appreciate all the gifts we have gotten this holiday season, but the ones that people put time & effort into are always special to us.

More Homemade Gifts

This hat & scarf was made by Isabel's great grandma.

I made this princess hat & wand for Isabel for Christmas. She loves them. I did made a couple more to give to some friends' daughter who wanted to make them as well, but couldn't get over that night.
These are some stationary sets that Isabel & I made for her teachers at preschool that include a notebook, pen holder & flower pen and homemade cards.

Homemade Gifts

This is a collection of gifts I made for the kids that include: mittens for Isabel & Henry, mittens for dolly (obviously, dolly belongs to Isabel), pillow & blanket for dolly, leg warmers for Isabel.

Crocheted boy dolly lovey for Henry from my mom.
Chef's hat & oven mitt for Isabel made by my mom.
These are some crocheted wrist cuffs my mom made for me. She first made the single one, but wasn't sure she liked it when she added the single stitch around the edge, so ripped that out and started on a new set. I did like the initial one w/o the edge, so I now have a matching set and a single wrist cuff. This will be a nice accessory for someone who is allergic to nickel and can't wear many bracelets to wear.
My mom made this roll-up tool pouch for Andy. She made this custom because he wanted it a certain style with specific features. Kudos to her for reusing items for the canvas & denim material.

Happy New Year & Merry Christmas

Andy does a better job of getting a decent picture of my dad. Every time I take a picture of him I get his eyes closed. Seriously, EVERY TIME! Andy took all these photos of him.

Kudos to my mom for the creative idea on reusing an old football jersey to make a remote control holder & pillow.

Christmas 2009

Here is our tree this year.

Here is the manager scene. Isabel apparently thought that Mary & Joseph had a tea party when Jesus was born.

Product Testing

Recently I joined a product testing & sampling program and I have had the opportunity to test out several products that are already on the market and give my opinion of them. I got full size samples of these products & discount coupons for future purchases. No additional compensation was received. Here are my thoughts on the recent products I have evaluated.

Wet Ones Anti-Bacterial Wipes: I honestly would not have bought these prior to getting them to sample since they cost more than baby wipes. But due to the fact that I have a newborn and it's flu season, it was the perfect time to try these. I am very comforted by the fact that I have a travel size pack of these in my purse for when we go places and I want to sanitize the area or us. I have used them on us, for other people, on shopping carts and on an activity toy at the clinic. I like to use them on my daughter after she plays at Playland at McD's. It just eases my mind to know they are anti-bacterial & I have to use in places with lots of germs & viruses are spread.

Ghiradelli Peanut Butter Chocolate Squares: LOVED these! But, it's chocolate, so what's not to love. I ate some of these and I also gave some to my daughter in her St. Nick stocking. She enjoyed them as well and immediately ate them. I thought the chocolate & peanut butter filling were very creamy and balanced amounts and tasted like they were of high quality ingredients.

Alouette Spreadable Cheese: I got the garlic & herb cheese spread. I loved it. I ate these on water crackers because I didn't want it to compete with any flavors that would be in crackers, which I think was a wise move. I am next going to try spreading a thin layer of it inside grilled cheese sandwiches. I think it will make them more special & flavorful. I definitely would recommend this. My only complaint it that I had to go to 3 grocery stores to find it and they only had this one flavor.

Sensodyne Toothpaste: Up until this pregnancy I never had a tooth sensitivity issue. So, this was another product with perfect timing. I am still testing this product out, but so far I am impressed. My sensitivity seems to have decreased, which is enjoyable because who wants to experience sensitivity when you are trying to enjoy something sweet. I am more likely to purchase this product in the future just because I have tried it and know it works. The flavor is a gentle mint flavor and it leaves my mouth feeling clean all day.

** I have been very pleased that I enjoyed all these products. There is something satisfying about trying a new product and enjoying it. I would recommend any of the above products.