Saturday, January 26, 2013

Snow Days

Allie & Hunter having a snowball fight
We had about 2 inches of snow
 
4 deer hanging out in our backyard

Lex loved sledding in the snow

 

Love my snow babies

Hunter & Lex sledding

Alexis' 1st time to play in the snow :-)

 

My Birthday--29 Forever

Mommy's birthday cookie cake

Beautiful orchid from Clint & the kiddies

my birthday present to myself (Grace Adele)

We played dress up on my birthday

Cuties

I got a new hair style...
 
I had a great birthday, we celebrated for almost a week! Clint & I went out to a kid free dinner at Plaza Azteca and then to see a movie the weekend before my birthday. Then the actual weekend of my birthday I went to lunch at Maggiano's with my Mom & Dad followed by shopping at Short Pump Town Center with my Mom. We shopped til we dropped, almost 4 hours!

Thursday, January 17, 2013

Birthday Freebies

Who knew that just having a birthday could get you so many great freebies?! My birthday is coming up in just a few days and I have already been raking in the freebies! First off, I registered a Starbucks gift card on their website and when doing so joined the free birthday club. They gave me a FREE tall coffee of my choice--valued at almost $5. I redeemed it last week (you can do so up to two weeks before your birthday).
FREE birthday coffee
 
Next up, on my actual birthday, this Sunday, I will be heading to my favorite sub shop-Jersey Mike's for a FREE sub of my choice + drink. To receive this you must join their email club and they email you a coupon to be used only on your birthday (you must show your id). I will also be stopping by another great sub shop, Firehouse Subs for my FREE sub. To redeem a birthday sub you simply show your id and receive a FREE regular sized sub of your choice. I will be saving this for my lunch on Monday.
No birthday is complete without ice cream! And what is better than FREE ice cream?! Heading to Baskin Robbins with my birthday club coupon for a free scoop of ice cream this weekend too. To receive this you must go to their website www.baskinrobbins.com and join the birthday club (located at the bottom left corner of the page). They will email you a coupon that you must print and bring with you.
Reese's Peanut Butter Ice Cream
 
 
There are many other wonderful restaurants that offer birthday freebies! To find out more information go to this website: www.birthdayfreebies.com and register (it is free).

Sunday, January 6, 2013

Disney Planning

We're going back to the most magical place in the World---you guessed it---DISNEY WORLD! We just booked our vacation for 2013 and now we are in the official planning phase. We are staying on property this time at Coronado Springs Resort which is one of the "Moderate" level resorts. Disney has 3 levels of properties, "Value" which are the least expensive, "Moderate" and "Deluxe" which include all of the monorail resorts. One day I hope to be able to stay at the Polynesian or Contemporary Resorts on the monorail, but at $500+ per night I dont think that is going to happen anytime soon. There is a great promo going on now for anyone looking to book a Disney vacation this coming spring--save up to 30% off your resort + discounted theme park tickets. We were able to save 25% off for a total savings of $700!
https://disneyworld.disney.go.com/resorts/coronado-springs-resort/

We are driving to Orlando again this year, however, we learned from our mistakes last year and we are going to drive thru the night vs the day. This way the children will hopefully sleep most of the way because it will be dark and they will be tired. I am still debating if we should drive straight on the way back home or stop half way at get a hotel.

We will be spending 7 nights in Orlando and 5 days at Disney World! We are going to go to Epcot this year, we skipped it last year because the kids were younger and we are going to Magic Kingdom 3 days! And 1 day will be spent at Hollywood Studios. We are opting to skip Animal Kingdom again this year simply because I have heard it is not that exciting. We are going to spend 1 whole day at the resort pool which I hear is amazing, complete with a water slide and splash pool. I am debating going to Sea World. I think that the kids would love it but Sea World is crazy expensive--it would cost over $200 for our family to spend 1 day there plus it is a 30 minute drive from our hotel.

I have made ADR's (advanced dining reservations) at the following restaurants: breakfast at the Kona Cafe at the Polynesian Resort, dinner at Ohana at the Polynesian Resort, dinner Via Napoli at Epcot and dinner buffet at Chef Mickey.

Still have not told the kids we are going to DISNEY WORLD! I am planning to have a surprise Disney themed breakfast in a few months to break the big news to the kids!

Thursday, January 3, 2013

Christmas Fun!

A Christmas Dance Party

Christmas Eve

Christmas Morning--Santa Has Been Here!

Allie's goodies from Santa

Waiting to see what Santa brought

Hunter got his long awaited CASTLE!

Alexis got her 1st Build A Bear

Alexis checking out her new baby doll

Allie and her Fur Real walking dog
Alexis checking out her Disney Princesses Castle from Santa

Santa also brought the kids a sled and soccer goal

Poppy got a new Coach wallet!

Merry Christmas!
 
 

Wednesday, January 2, 2013

New Year's Organizing Revolution

I am participating in a New Year's Organizing Revolution. Each week there is a different space in the house that is chosen to be organized. This is the first week of the challenge and the space is the OFFICE. I do not have an official 'office' space but I do use a small corner of our master bedroom for my work space. I have a small writing desk, file cabinet and bookshelf. I hope to one day have a formal office/craft space. But for now this will have to do.

The "Before" picture
 *the white shelf was added after but I forgot to take a prior picture*

The "After" picture--cleaned off the desk of all of the papers

"After"

It is amazing what a nice, neat space this can be once it is dusted, cleared off and organized. I simply filed a lot of random papers that I had sitting on the desk, dusted, removed some pictures, candles, trash, etc. Then I had Clint hang the white shelf that is from Hobby Lobby. The shelf really adds some character to the space. The picture on the right of the desk is from Barnes & Noble. It adds a little flair :-)