Twinkle Twinkle Little Star

My mom took this video of Cody while they were here visiting this weekend.  Our budding musician. I just had to share!

Happy Halloween!

ROARRRRRR!!!

Hope you had a nice Halloween!

Pumpkin Patch & Farm Visit

A couple weekends ago, we headed over to Eveland Family Farm in Andover, Minnesota for a visit to their pumpkin patch and farm.  We had taken Cody to this place in 2008 when he was a wee 7 months old!  We had a beautiful day for a visit and enjoyed the few hours that we got to explore the farm.  It is only $2 per person to get in and provided some family fun.

The first thing that we did is checked out the animals on the farm.  It is a real, working farm and they have different types of farm animals to visit.  We saw goats, sheep, horses, chickens and baby chicks, roosters, donkeys, and pigs.  I think Cody's favorite was the chickens as they flailed around wildly (don't worry, they still had their heads on) so were fun to watch.

After checking out the animals, we got in line to go on the hayride.  They took us around the farm to see the cows and different areas of the farm.  We were pretty squished in and I may or may not have stole Cody from Gordon's lap so he could sit by me.  (Sorry honey!)  We didn't get any pictures from this as it was packed and no real photo opportunities.

Upon departing the hayride, we did the little corn maze they had, I think Cody really enjoyed that.  He just kept wanting to go all the different directions.  After "solving" the maze, we got to explore a pumpkin patch with hundreds of little, mini pumpkins. Cody had an absolute ball straddling all of the pumpkins that he possibly could.  This was a great place for some photo ops, as you can see below.

Next, it was on to the tractors which may have been Cody's favorite thing to see at the farm.  He LOVES tractors and was absolutely enthralled with one that looked just like Papa's tractor up north with the big cab and all.  He couldn't ride this one though!  :)  We got a bunch of great shots on a different tractor they had decked out.  I love his expression in the 3rd photo down (click to expand if you'd like) - I think he might be a bit proud!

Afterwards, we went and picked out a few big pumpkins to decorate and take home, as it was almost lunchtime by then.  We paid way too much for them but I guess it's part of the experience.  :)  This will be the first year that we carve pumpkins, so I'm looking forward to seeing what Cody thinks of the pumpkin "guts" and the experience that goes along with all that.

We are looking forward to Halloween in a couple of weeks.  I got Cody's Halloween costume at a garage sale this summer (shhhh, don't tell) and I think he's really going to get a kick out of trick-or-treating this year.  We did go to a few houses last year, but it was pretty chilly and he didn't know what candy was at that point.  Oh, he knows what it is now!  :)

Happy Fall!

p.s. Here is a picture of Cody from 2 years ago at the same place...he's changed a bit, right?!

We're Still Here!

Wow...how did it get to be over a month that I last posted?!  I really am going to try making blogging a priority again soon!  I miss it!

Stay tuned!

PaperbackSwap.com

Since I know that if you're reading this blog, you must like to read, so I wanted to share one of my favorite websites with you!

Do you have any used books lying around? Ones you've already enjoyed, but you're never going to read again? I did, and I finally found a great way to share them with other people!  It's called PaperbackSwap.com and it's really fun.

Let me tell you how it works -- because it is so easy! I listed 10 books on the site and I got 2 free book credits to get started. So you can order 2 books right away - free of charge -- and have them mailed directly to you! No strings attached. No gimmicks. No spam mail. Nothing. You just have to love reading books.

When another member selects one of my books that I have listed, I mail it to them. Yes, I pay for the postage. But then I get another book credit and I can select a book that I want. So another Club Member returns the favor and mails me one of his or her books free of charge. For every book I mail out, I get another book in return - a true shared system!  As long as the book you are requesting is "worth" the postage cost that you spend to send out one of your books, it's a win-win!

When someone requests one of your books, all you have to do is print two pieces of regular paper from your printer which includes the mailing address and the recommended postage. Apply the postage, and drop it in the mail. I am familiar with printing postage at home, so it's really easy to do.

I will admit that it's not ideal if you are only requesting new releases, as those have LONG waiting lists and you'll likely be waiting years to get it.  But if you're looking for an older book or something not as mainstream, this may just work well for you!

I strongly encourage you to check this out. If you do sign up, please use the following link:

http://www.paperbackswap.com/index.php?r_by=annette0876@gmail.com

If you use the link above to join, I'll get a free book when you post your first ten books (and you'll still get free books for posting them!)

Let me know if you try it out!

Great Target Shopping Trip Today!

Oh...I am many months behind in this blog, and I have so much to report on!  But, this is currently on my radar and on my desk, so I'm going to blog about this so I can file it away :-)

Our little guy has a late summer cold!  :(  I took him to the doctor today, and I just have to throw in that that we talk about the doctor and eye doctor a lot around home, and so we practiced saying "Hello Dr. Simon!!" and when she walked in the room, Cody obediently said "Hello Dr. Mi-Mon!!!"  It was soooo cute & I was so proud.  But anyway.  Thankfully, Cody doesn't have strep or an ear infection...it is just a plain old cold virus and we will have to wait it out.  Today was supposed to be my mommy "me" day as I had already scheduled the day off work, and was (shhhh, don't tell...) supposed to send Cody to daycare so I could work on projects around the house, but as often happens with little ones, your plans don't always pan out.

At any rate, since Cody didn't have any major illness going on, I decided to schlep him to Target for our weekly run.  It seems like we often go there on my day off during the week...I guess I could think of more educational field trips, but as we shop, we are constantly talking about what we see and hear in the store, so it's gotta be better than sitting in front of the TV or something.

Anyway, I just wanted to brag about some of my great finds today.  The total that my credit card took on is not that impressive at just a hair over $110, but the receipt does indicate that I saved $90.47!  WAHOO!  I will take it.  There were a couple of bigger ticket items included in this receipt with plenty of little items thrown in there.

I am crying JUST a bit right now as I had this entire blog post written, and when I went to publish it, over half of it disappeared.  :(  So, I am re-writing it but I am NOT happy about it.

Some of my best finds today:

• Schick Quattro Razors - $5.49 each - Bought 2 - used 2-$2 Target coupons and 2-$2 Mftg coupons, and received a $5 Target gift card = ($2.02) Money-Maker!
• Crayola Washable Markers - $1.50
• Skintimate Shave Gel - $2.24 - Used $1 Target coupon and $0.75 mftg coupon - 49¢ (I thought these were marked $1.97 so not as good of a deal as I thought)
• Q-Tips (375 ct) - on sale for $2.10 - used $1 Target coupon and $0.30 mftg coupon - 80¢
• Gold N Plump Boneless Chicken Breast - on sale for $3.49 - used 75¢ mftg or $1.00 mftg coupons - $2.49-$2.74 each (I stocked up!  We go through a lot of chicken. Also love it that all the packages had the 75¢ coupons -- which I already had -- so I will save the coupons on the packages I bought today for next time.
• Everready AA Batteries 48 Pack (yes...48!) - $6.00 - no coupon needed!
• Hillshire Farm Lunchmeat - $2.79 - used $3.00/2 peelie mftg coupon - $1.29 each (awesome price; I should have probably bought more as we go through a lot of lunchmeat)
• Van de Kamp Fish Sticks - $4.29 - used mftg coupon for free frozen vegetables worth $1.77
• Green Giant Broccoli Coleslaw Mix (I have never tried but always wanted to) - quick-sale price of $1.25 - used $1.00 Target coupon - 25¢
• Wishbone Salad Dressing - on sale for $1.50 - used 75¢ Target coupon and free bag of salad mftg coupon - $1.50 for bag of salad plus 2 bottles of dressing
• Campbell's Select Harvest Microwavable Soup - on sale for $1.50 - used $1.00 mftg coupon and 50¢ Target coupon - FREE (I had enough coupons to get 3!)
• Mission Tortillas - on sale for $2.00 - used 75¢ mgtg coupon - $1.25
• Mini-Croissants (bag) - $2.99 - used $1.00 Target coupon - $1.99
• Strawberries - $2.29 - used $1.00 Target coupon - $1.29
• Del Monte Fruit Cups - $1.82 - used $1.00 Target coupon - 82¢ each [I would probably come out ahead if I bought the bigger cans, but these are just so darn handy and convenient since they are pre-portioned]
• Nestle Ready-to-Bake Cookies - on sale for $1.99 - used $1.00 mftg coupon - 99¢ for an afternoon activity & treat
• Simply Juice - $2.99 - used $1.00 Target coupon - $1.99 (I'm addicted to the Orange w/Mango variety!)
• Coffee-Mate Creamer - $1.79 - used 75¢ coupon - $1.04
• Crystal Farms Shredded Cheese - on sale for $2.04 - used $1.00 mftg coupon - $1.04 
• Skippy Peanut Butter (creamy all the way, of course) - on sale for $1.79 - used $0.75/2 mftg coupon and $1.50/2 Target coupon - 67¢ each 

I always check my receipt when I get home.  I couldn't tell you what we had for dinner last night, but I could tell you the price I paid for something last week.  Priorities, I tell you.  There were a couple of wacky things on my receipt, but I think I still came out ahead (cashier error, etc).  I had to call Target the other week because there were a few glaring mistakes on my receipt...and they were so kind to send a $3.00/off anything coupon for my trouble.  Of course that was used up in about 2 days time :-)

Anyway, I hope I may have inspired you to cut some coupons and look at the sales flyers a little closer next time.  I'm quite confident you can score some good deals too.  I know I spend entirely too much time on this stuff, but I figure there are worst hobbies to have, right?  

The O Family Comes to Visit!

A month or two ago, the O family came to visit us!  Chad was helping us with our basement in the bathroom (and yes, I know progress photos are definitely in order!) and his wife and two boys were able to tag along.  They made a couple of visits this summer, and we had a good time with them!  They have a baby boy, Cayden, who was about 8 months at the time, and another little boy, Colton, who was about 7 years old.  Cody didn't think much of the baby (no offense to Cayden, of course...I thought he was adorable!), but Cody and Colton had an awesome time together!!  It's hard to believe that a 2 year old and a 7 year old could play together, but they actually did.  They had a great time playing video games, playing outside on the trikes and with the lawnmowers, and chasing each other around the house!  :)

We also made a trip to the Mall of America, which is always fun.  We got a couple of photo ops with some of the Nickelodeon characters on our visit with the O family!

Thanks for visiting us, O family!  It's our turn to come your way next!

Colton teaching Cody about the Wii

Playing doctor / handyman

Surgery!  (With a screwdriver!)

Auntie Jo

Here's an oldie but a goodie!  I had it saved in my draft posts, so I figured I may as well post it!

Over Memorial Day weekend, we had Uncle Al and Aunt Joann over for a meal.  I don't think Cody had a good time with his auntie at ALL!  What do you think?

It's been way too long since we've seen Aunt Joann and Uncle Al, so hopefully we can get together with them again soon.

Good Earth Review & Giveaway!

I was recently provided the opportunity to try one of the new Good Earth dry dinner kits, thanks to a generous offer from Good Earth & MyBlogSpark.  Not only did they provide a Good Earth Mediterranean Chicken dry dinner kit, but they also sent two sets of bamboo flatware, two bamboo dishes, a bamboo utility board and a 100% recyclable grocery tote!

We received the package awhile ago, but we finally had a chance to try it tonight.  It was very simple to do and both my hubby and I participated in the preparation of the dinner.  My hubby prepared the chicken and got it cooking, and then I took over with the sauce and making the pasta.  It was very easy to do and probably took about 20 minutes total (if that).

While our 2-year-old didn't care too much for the dish, we thought it was pretty good.  The chicken turned out really tender and moist.  It was a good meal, but we thought it could use a bit more seasoning. Maybe some salt & pepper or a bit of garlic would do this dish good.  It also has lots of healthy things like whole grain pasta and whole wheat flour, which admittedly aren't things we usually eat, so that may be part of it too.  It was a well-rounded dish that paired nicely with a salad and bread.

(Here's a picture of the dinner cooking!  Can you see the steam?  Yummy.)

The good news is that Good Earth & MyBlogSpark also gave me another Good Earth gift pack to give away to my loyal readers!  :)  This gift pack (pictured below) includes the dinner kit, flatware, dishes, cutting board & reusable bag   All you have to do is comment on this post with your name, e-mail address and what your favorite kind of pasta dish is!  Comments will be taken until 8:00 pm on Tuesday, August 10 when a random winner will be chosen.  One entry per person, please!  :)

Good luck!

Blog Posts Are Coming Soon!

I have several ideas for blog posts, some are even saved in draft-mode with photos (!) attached.  Hopefully I will get around to writing them soon.  We have actually been quite busy over the last few weeks.  I hope my blog followers haven't given up on me yet!  Stay tuned!

This One is a Framer!!

I double-triple heart this photo oh-so-much!!

Hope to get back into blogging soon....for now, this will have to tide my loyal readers (ha) over!

Up North

A couple weekends ago, we ventured up north to visit my parents. We had not been "up north" since Thanksgiving! Oops. It was just difficult to get up there during the winter, since we never knew what the weather would bring. It worked out for us to take an extra day off so we could make it a 3 day weekend. We went up on Friday morning and came back Sunday evening. We had a nice, relaxing visit. We didn't do too much but Cody LOVED being at Grandma and Grandpa's house. So much to see & do for little boys!

He was SO grumpy the whole time, can't you tell?! 

  (If you haven't realized, this couldn't be further from the truth!)

One of the highlights of the trip was taking a ride on Grandpa's new toy, an Arctic Cat Prowler!  I'm not really sure of all the benefits of this contraption, but it basically looks like a glorified-four-wheeler to me!  (Sorry!)  Grandpa, Gordon and Cody went on two different rides, each of which were pretty lengthy and adventuresome.  Cody loved the ride and from what I understand, stayed perfectly still on Gordon's lap.    

We had pretty good weather during our visit, but the bugs.  Oh, the bugs.  I seriously do not remember them being that bad before.  I could barely stand to be outside.  Mosquitos, sandflies, and bullflies - OH MY!  We tried taking a walk one night (a walk on the ROAD!  Cody thought that was so neat.) but we didn't get too far - the sandflies and mosquitos were eating us alive!!

Gordon and I had a little break one night and drove into town to see "Shrek 3".  We weren't impressed.  Neither of us liked it and it really wasn't very funny.  Did any of you see it?  We were considering bringing Cody, but we were really glad we didn't.  It was kind of a dark movie!

My mom and I even did a little bit garage saling on Saturday morning!  Thanks to the guys for baby-sitting.  We didn't find much, but I did get a Doctor Kit for Cody and he has really been enjoying it.  He really "gets" it.  He's also learned the name of his eye doctor...Dr. P!  Hopefully we can impress her the next time we go in.

We were able to visit with Great G'ma Anderson, so that was nice.  I didn't get any pictures this time, but hopefully when we go up next time, we can take some.

Here's a couple of other random photos for the weekend.  We had a good, relaxing time.  We'll be going up again soon!

Wildlife

This spring, we've been enjoying watching a bit of wildlife out our windows. We have noticed that a family of fox (foxes?) has made their home under a pile of lumber in the farmer's pasture directly behind our house. We saw two fox this winter galavanting through the snow....and this spring, what do we see but what appears to be the same two fox and....BABIES!! Gordon claims he saw 4-5 babies! Here's a picture Gordon snapped the other night. (Click to enlarge) Aren't they cute?

We feel so fortunate to live in an area where we can see a bit of wildlife right out of our windows. It is really the best of both worlds...in only a matter of seconds, we can drive through wooded areas and farmland...and in a matter of minutes, can be in the middle of shopping and restaurants.

We're blessed.

eBay

Did you know that I've been a seller on eBay since 1999? Isn't that crazy - over 10 years!!! I still love it, but for some reason...the last couple of years...I haven't been selling much. Gee, I wonder why :)

I did manage to get a few items listed tonight. I think you should peruse my wares! If you bid on and win something, and I know you, I'll give you free shipping! Wahoooo!

I have bins-upon-bins of stuff to sell, but what I'm lacking is time and motivation. Still, if I can sell a few things here and there, it gives me some fun money and there's nothing wrong with that!

Choo-Choo Ride

What a great Memorial Day weekend! We immensely enjoyed our 3-day weekend and I have lots to blog about, but I wanted to get this post up tonight while it's fresh in my mind.

After breakfast on Sunday morning, we headed to the Elk River train station to catch the Northstar Commuter Rail down to Target Field. We rode down which takes about 45-50 minutes, were there for 20 minutes, and then got right back on the train and headed home. It was something fun & different to do. Cody LOVED the train!!! He sat SOOOO good too, especially on the way down. We were pretty proud of him!

As you can see in the photo below, we have become one of THOSE parents....we got a leash ...err, harness, for Cody :O This was Gordon's idea but it may be helpful if/when we got to Disney and State Fair. I don't want to use it a lot ~ someone made a mean comment to us about it :( I tried not to let it ruin my day but I kept thinking about it. Oh well. We just want him to be safe & stick close to us. We just call it his backpack and he really likes it. One of the shows Cody sometimes watches has a backpack as a recurring theme/thing, so we say it's like Dora's backpack and he really thought it was cool then.

Anyway....back to the train....

One of the workers for the train offered to take the picture of all of us - wasn't that nice?

And....they also let Cody sit in the engineer's seat!!!! Isn't that sweet??? :) They suggested it and I don't think Cody knew what to think but at least we got a photo! Heh. I'm sure Grandpa Hart will get a kick out of this post as he enjoys trains.

Our final destination was Target Field, the new home of the Minnesota Twins. We're planning on going to a baseball game in a couple weeks, and I am so excited about it! Watch for us...we'll be in the second row from the top. Oy! Tickets are really hard to find.

Cody was pretty tired out on/after the train...I think it was lulling him to sleep! I must say that it was a really smooth ride and very relaxing.

Finally, here is a little video I took on our way home. I know that I am biased, but it was too cute not to share. I swear that he said "See you tomorrow!" after saying bye to to the trains outside. What do you think? At any rate, I hope you enjoy.

Anonymous

Sometimes I wish this blog wasn't so public.  I have many things that I feel like I need to "get out of my system" today, but I know this isn't the place to do so.  Actually, just writing these statements down helps a little.  

Our Little Piggy

This was just too cute not to share!  He was having an absolute BALL at daycare yesterday.  Thanks Cari for the awesome photo!  It completely made my day :)

Wrapping Up Another Week...

I'm writing this blog from somewhere I've never blogged from before...outside on our patio!  It's a beautiful night, albeit a tad buggy, but inside our house is so hot tonight, so I decided to go outside and attempt to blog outside.  Kind of different!  I'm watching all the birds in the yard and flying overhead, listening to the neighbors scoop up rock from their driveway and put it around their house, watching the neighbor on his riding lawnmower, and witnessing a plane flying overhead as I type this!  What a nice variety of sounds and sights!  When we bought this house, I was kind of hesitant because I could hear the highway and I wanted somewhere farther away from the freeway, but I very rarely notice the road noise now...mostly in the mornings or on rainy days when the pavement is wet...but it's definitely not something that is an issue.

Anyway, its been a good week.  Work was long, tedious and boring, but I worked less than 3 days this week, so I really can't complain.  I was fortunate to be able to take a long weekend, starting today and I don't have to return to work until Tuesday.  Hooray!  I am so grateful for my flexible schedule & realize I am so blessed because of it.

Not too much has been going on.  Our big excitement this week is finding a woodtick on Cody on Monday night.  It was "attached" to his little back, and Gordon freaked out...just a bit.  We pulled it straight out and appeared to get all of it....but we saved the tick just in case...scrapbook item??  Just kidding.  He just had a little bite mark but seemed to be just fine and now I can't even see where it was on his back.  Stupid ticks!  I hate those creepy crawly things.... Of course, once you find one, you keep thinking they are crawling all over you.  They are outside so much at daycare (which I *love* - outside time is so important!), and she can't strip every kid down after they come in from outside, so it's to be expected.  Welcome to Spring in Minnesota!  :)

Before we went to Dairy Queen the other day, we stopped by the local carpet/flooring store and got some carpet and vinyl flooring samples to take home.  Last night, we all went down into the basement (Cody LOVES that he can go down there now and explore....He knows the word 'basement' very well now too!) and did comparing and contrasting with the samples.  I am happy to report that we chose a carpet and vinyl....the most expensive options, OF COURSE!!!  (Is there any other way to do it? - says the woman that picked the $5/tile for the ceiling)  I think it'll look great and I can't wait to get the carpet in.  I think it'll really seem finished after that.

I am not exactly sure what the next step in the basement project is, but our plumber is coming down in a couple weeks to install the shower and toilet.  I think we do the flooring before that happens, but I'm actually not sure - ask the project manager (Gordon)!  We have been trying to find a vanity and are not having the best of luck.  We looked at several stores and finally chose one we liked....only to find out it was out-of-stock and they were unable to order it for us!  GRR!  So mad that they still had the display out.  We really wanted to get a darker wood vanity, but there is just not many options to choose from, so we'll see.

So, the basement project is coming along.  Hopefully I'll have some more progress photos to show you soon.

I was able to do some garage saling this morning on my day off, and I found a few treasures, but nothing worthy of a photo.  Here's what I can remember:

• Tonka dump truck (smaller; plastic & metal) - 50¢
• Tonka Chomper (just like the one here) - $2.00 (will be taking the batteries out soon, auggh!)
• Motorcycle & 4-wheeler toys for daycare - $2.00
• Beach/swim hat for Cody - 50¢
• Nine West purse for me - $1.00
• A few shirts for Cody - 25-50¢ (cute truck/machinery/snowplow designs)
• Play vacuum (Cody's is on the fritz; this boy loves to vacuum & gets GIDDY whenever we take ours out) - $1.00

I think that's actually it!  It's funny because I always think I'm missing out on Wed/Thur/Fri garage sales when I'm at work...but often I don't find much during the week if I am able to go.  The grass is always greener?  It actually seems like I get better junque on Saturdays!  Maybe it's just the location I'm shopping in, I dunno.  It's a bit annoying going saling around where we live, because it's ALL baby/kid stuff...which is all good since I have a kid...but honestly prefer looking at the "misc" stuff.

Well, it's getting dark out here and I don't think I'd better be typing away in the dark with my neighbors looking at me like a crazy woman.  (Although when you can see the neighbors TV from across the pond/swamp, and you can tell what he is watching on it, now that is just crazy!)  

I hope you all (all 8 of you that read this! Har.) have a great and wonderful weekend.

Nummy!

Since I thought I had taken meat out for supper, but actually hadn't (woops!), we decided to go to Dairy Queen for supper last night.  Cody ate almost his entire hamburger (oh Lord, help us when this boy is a teenager!) and his meal came with a free ice cream cone.

His new word is "Nummy!" and we must have heard it at least 30 times, at least one after every lick.  It was one of my favorite moments ever!

What a fun treat for a gorgeous spring day!