clothes shopping for faith

goodbye summer, hello autumn! for the last week it seems the mornings are way more chilly. ah, a sign of the colder months ahead. with that thought, i put my giftcards to good use at the stores below.

i cashed out my remaining points from spg and got a $25 gap card. i received in the mail, a 30% off coupon so i went shopping. purchase: warm jacket $68 – $20.4 (30% off) – $25 giftcard = $21 and some changes including taxes.

gap kids warmest jacket with belt

i received a $30 gymboree gift card and 20% off coupon and here’s what i got: a sweater and a short sleeve cardigan. total was $54.48 – $10.90 (20%) – $30 giftcard = $17.17 including taxes. i used the remaining of my visa giftcard for the balance.

gymboree striped sweater and short sleeve cardigan

this morning i purchased the BIG BUNDLE below for $14.99 – what a great price huh? we’d already used the $10 giftcard from papa john’s and got an extra large pizza with 3 meat toppings for $3.04 out of pocket. mmmm…

there was also a $10 giftcard from shoebuy.com. i went through bing.com to get 15% cashback. i bought: skecher’s cuddlebug boot for $31.45 – $3.15 member discount – $10 giftcard = $18.30 out of pocket. i just got an email from bing that my cashback amount is $4.24 so that took my total down to $14.06. not bad eh?

skecher’s cuddlebugs heart sparkle boot

th BIG BUNDLE!!

for $29.99, you get all these (worth almost $800):

Snapfish GC: 1 Poster
PopCap: Bejeweled 2
Siber Systems: Roboform Pro
Papa John’s: $10 Gift Card (First 2500 purchases)
TrendMicro: AntiVirus + AntiSpyware
Threadless: $5 Gift Certificate
Zagat: 3 months
Shoebuy: $10 Certificate
Hotels.com: $50 Certificate
CircuitCity: $10 off $100 Purchase Coupon
TripIt Pro: 6 Months
1800Flowers: $20 card
Gap: $20 off $100 Coupon
PlayFirst: DinerDash Game
Skype: 1 Month of Calling
Restaurant.com: $25 Certificate
GoDaddy: 1 Free Domain
SmugMug: $25 Off Account
Corel: Photo Album 7
Collectorz: Movie Collector
PETCO: $25 off $100 Coupon
Nordstrom: $20 Rebate off $100
WinZip: WinZip 12.1
FoxIt: PDF Creator
Mozy: Backup (50% off)
DropBox: 50GB – 3 months
Evernote: $25 Off Premium
23andMe: $50 Discount
Picnik Premium: $19.95 Account (6 months)
CyberLink: MediaShow 5
ImTOO: 3GP Video Converter
Lancome: Free Shipping + 4 Deluxe Samples

net proceeds go to the american cancer society. click here to buy! or go here to get a code for 50%, making it $14.99! awesome eh? what are you waiting for?

thanks to slickdeals!

jaelynn is 3!!

my big girl turned 3 years old earlier this month! we didn’t do a big celebration – just some sweets and pizza for the family. gosh, it’s been 3 years already – i remembered when she was just a baby and gave me drooling kisses…*sniff*

playing with the little gifts that mommy and daddy gave her

jaelynn and daddy

alex’s first giggles!

yesterday marked alex’s first official giggle! i was playing with him and telling him what a chunky monkey he is and all of a sudden, he giggled! it was a split second thing but there’s no mistaking it. he smiles a lot, but a giggle comes from the tummy!

he did it again today too! any day now, he’ll be giggling…LOL

here’s another difference between him and the girls: he sucks his fingers and thumb (more correctly, half his fist). then he drools all over his chin.

christmas shopping!

step2 train table

it’s not even halloween or thanksgiving yet but i jumped ahead and started shopping for christmas. i’m putting myself on a strict budget. when target was having a clearance sale on toys, i bought a few for christmas without spending alot. a few days ago, i won a huge lot of legos from ebay for $65 and some changes including shipping (the seller was wonderful and refunded me $5.48 back in shipping!). i also bought a step 2 train table from walmart for $47. jaelynn and faith love trains and recently got a chance to play with some legos and they love them.  we are trying to encourage more imaginative play and less tv so we are counting on these to provide exactly that.

we were at a consignment boutique the other day and they have a play kitchen on the floor. jaelynn played with that the whole time. everytime i asked if she was ready to leave, she’ll pushed me the other way and told me to go look at the pretty clothes…LOL i asked the shop owner how much the kicthen is since i didn’t see a price. she said she wasn’t ready to sell it because her granddaughter likes it too. when i finally got jaelynn out of the store, she was fuming mad at me. i had to explained a couple of times that the shop owner didn’t want to sell it. what a day!

glucose follow up

i was gestational during my pregnancy. a week ago i went in for a glucose follow up test to see if that is over or if i still have it. i was very anxious about the whole thing but needed to get it over with so i went in on saturday. it was a two hour test and i brought a book to read so i wouldn’t be thinking too much about the what if’s if i fail.

anyway, i got a call early monday morning and my first thought was i failed!!! i answered the call and the rep from my doctor’s office informed me that my test came back normal. my reply was “so i’m okay then??!” it was a great feeling and i’m glad i’m okay for now.

the book i took with me was “the frugal duchess” and it was a great read. i thought she was pretty witty and the way the book was set up, it felt like readin a novel instead of tips and advices on being frugal. hahahaha

where is the tooth fairy?

i couldn’t remember what happened the very first time faith lost one of her tooth.

a few days ago though, she lost one of her upper front tooth. james put the tooth in a ziploc bag because she said she wanted to put the tooth under her pillow for the tooth fairy.

one of the best things about kids at this age is that they still believe. i told james that i’m going to let her believe for as long as she wants. sooner or later, she’ll hear things and stop believing.

anyway, i said go ahead and put the tooth under your pillow and see what the tooth fairy gives you. she was very very excited.

the next morning, i was up feeding alex and faith walked in. she said, “guess what, mommy?” i asked, “what?” she told me that the tooth fairy didn’t come!!! the disappointment written all over her face broke my heart! james and i had forgot! alex was crying the night before and i was trying to feed and calm him. by the time i got him to sleep, i was bummed out so i went to bed. james must have forgot too.

i had to think fast! i told faith that the tooth fairy must have been very busy the night before because a lot of little boys and girls probably lost many teeth and she couldn’t get to hers in time. she was like, “really?” i said  yes. i told her to leave her her tooth under the pillow one more night and the tooth fairy will most likely get to hers. she was a little relieve with that so she said yes. she then asked me various questions, “how big is the tooth fairy?” “where does she live?” etc etc. i gave her some probable answers and she was satisfied.

i quickly went and told james he needs to put that on his phone for sometime at night so we won’t forget. lol

that night, she feel aleep earlier than usual so james went and took out her tooth and put $3 in the ziploc bag. the next morning, she came to our room as soon as she woke up and said, “close your eyes mommy!” i did and when i opened them, she showed me the baggy with the dollars. she exclaimed, “the tooth fairy came!!! she gave me $3!!” with a super bright smile. i love it and told her, “see?? she did came.”

she was very happy to say the least and i’m glad we remembered! *whew* the joys of being a parent….LOL