Earning His Keep

We're working hard on teaching Drew to earn his keep and pick up after himself. He's already "mastered" helping with the laundry - just loading and unloading the washer and dryer. He's also helping with emptying the dishwasher.

One thing that's a little slower in teaching him - how to pick up after himself. In the morning and evening, our kitchen floor is often covered in hot wheels... this is nothing compared to how it normally looks.


As I was trying to cook dinner, and asked Drew to clean up -- this is a very slow process. He picks up each individual car, spins the wheels and then puts it into the case.

So he was working on putting his cars away, and moments after this shot was taken, he dumped over all the cars he'd just put into the case. UGH boys!

Daddy's Biggest Fan

Monday night was one of Daddy's softball nights (he plays ball on Monday and Wednesdays - separate leagues), and in a rare occurrence the game was early enough we could cheer him on. Of course the two pictures I took of Daddy showed more of the fence than of him. So you get to see how Drew passed the time.

He happily played with his cars across the bleachers, walked across the bleachers, and made goo-goo eyes at one of the girlfriends of Daddy's teammates. A couple of times he'd cheer on his Daddy, or if it was another player up to bat - he's shout "Go Manny". Oh, it didn't matter what team they were with.

Unfortunately we didn't win - lost it in the final inning. But Drew had a fantastic time! And of course ate up all the attention he was getting.

We're Gonna Win Twins, We're Gonna Score...

Drew is probably as excited as anyone that the Twins are now the AL Central Champs. As you can see he continued cheering well into his bath following last night's 12 inning win against the Tigers. What an intense game!

Well we all were cheering last night, however starting tonight there's a new battle brewing in our house. That's because Mommy's Twins are going to be playing Daddy's Yankees - yes Daddy has two teams he supports (for the record, Mommy does to - the D-Backs).

The difference is, in games where it matters, Mommy has the better record - picture it D-backs/Yankee's World Series, circa 2001!

Drew happily watched last night's game with us. Of course everyone who came up to bat was "Manny" - as in Manny Ramirez of the Dodgers.

Needless to say there will be a lot of baseball on at our house for the next few weeks (as if that's anything new between April and November), but now it's getting interesting that both of Dave's teams are in the playoff's and one of mine.

Go Twins!

Oh and for good measure another random shot of Drew from last night.

Not By the Spit on My Chinny-Chin-Chin

Oh, the things Drew will do to avoid eating dinner if it's not a jelly sandwich, pizza or chicken and french fries.


No, he's not grown a goatee, rather that's what happens when you blow bubbles for about 10 minutes consecutively in an effort to avoid eating your veggies and meat.

While we're making headway on Drew's eating habits, it's a long battle. He's now moved to eating PB&J's and grilled cheese, but won't touch any other sort of meat or fruits and vegetables. Of course if he doesn't eat what we serve him, that's it. No snacks and no dinner substitutes.

In Transition

What's different about this room?

For starters, the crib is MIA. That's right, we've officially removed the crib. Since Drew's 2 year well visit last month, Drew's slept on the crib mattress on the floor (if you recall he'd developed a bad habit of sleeping in our bed - and he became phobic about his crib). Despite following Dr.'s orders we kept the crib assembled. One because I was hoping Dave would take it down, and two, I haven't had a chance to do it myself.

Well after weeks of waiting for Dave to make the move, I had to take things into my own hands. The crib which has called this room home since I was about 14 weeks pregnant, was disassembled, by me (if you want anything done, you've gotta do it yourself, right?).

So until we find a big boy bed for Drew, he'll continue to sleep on the floor on his crib mattress. At the moment he's not complaining too much - and I'm being picky about the furniture that will call this room home next (I want a trundle bed that matches all the current furniture in this room).

In the process of taking down Drew's crib, I had a purging experience. All the "baby" toys were put away for storage in the attic/garage. I went through the toys in the front room and Drew's toy box, and came out with this:

Believe it or not that blue tote is filled to the brim with rattles, teething rings, and other baby toys. Do I have my house back? Not by a long shot, but at least it doesn't look like Toys R Us completely threw up in our house.

So while I'm happy to have things thinned out around here, I'm sad to see the end of yet another phase. My baby boys is now a big boy. *Sigh*

Free!

Who says you can't find anything for free anymore?


That's just a small sampling of some of the things I've collected over the past week or two - not shown are things I've already put away or used, and figured I'd spare you the open packages of tampons, pads, paper towels etc.

This batch of goodies includes: 2 sets of cards, flushable wipes, 2 sets of shampoos and conditioners, Fiber One bar, Kashi Cereal, Honey Nut Cheerios, Fiber One Cereal, 2 sealed packages of feminine products, and a cereal bar. Since this photo, I've received 2 Weight Watchers Magazines, Parent's Magazines and so much more!

How can I do this you ask?

I have a list of resources my cyber friend turned me onto (and yes we've met in real life too). With her Saturday Savings weekly post she showed me how you can find the good deals. To check out her weekly tricks tune in here every Saturday morning.

Here are some of the websites/blogs I frequent for deals, coupons and freebies.
Frugal Freebies and Deals
Shop4Freebies
Money Saving Mom
Thrifty and Chic Mom
Freebies 4 Mom
Saving with Shellie

Another way to score something for nothing - a website search engine called Swagbucks. You use it in place of Google, or Yahoo, and you earn points just for doing a regular search. You can redeem the points for things like airline miles, gift cards, apparel and much more. To get started just scroll to the bottom of my blog, create your own SwagBucks Account, and start searching!

What can be easier than getting free stuff for searching the net?

Backyard Bombings

Oh boys will be boys. The action continued on Saturday with boys weekend, with some water balloon action. Or as they've now come to call it - throwing bombs.


It was quite hot this weekend and the boys were looking for any way to stay cool. Cure for the heat: a pool full of water balloons. As I mentioned yesterday, Dave was trying to fill these while Drew was napping, so that when he woke up they could have some "backyard bombings".


As all men are, Drew is excited by the size as well.... of the balloon he's holding that is. Poor little (or should I say big) balloon didn't have a chance. It was thrown to the ground moments later.


I just loved this last picture of Drew. Looks like the boys had a lot of fun. How can I tell? Um, the balloon carcasses are still littering our backyard. Apparently they had too much fun to clean up!