Christmas Jammies are Hilarious...And So is this Video

I will admit...I haven't blogged in a long time. I guess I decided to take a little sabbatical. But there is something that has pulled me out of my sabbatical because I absolutely have to share this.

This family is awesome! I want to go and get #XMAS Jammies for my family now, too. (You watch, there is going to be a spike in Christmas jammy sales!)

Enjoy and Merry Christmas!

Posted by Leslie

Holding On...For Sentimental Reasons

I opened my fridge to get my daughter some orange juice this morning and realized we have a 10-year old bottle of water!  

How do I know that it is 10 years old? We brought it back from our honeymoon in Tahiti 10 years ago, that's how! 

We brought it home, along with a bottle of Cristal that we picked up at the duty-free shops in Tahiti, as a reminder of our fabulous honeymoon and how we wanted to go back someday. Our original plan was at our five year anniversary, but with a 3 and almost 1 year old at that time, it just wasn't feasible. So we pushed it off to our 10 year anniversary. Needless to say, that didn't happen either. 

So the bottle still sits there. The funny thing is, my husband is kind of a cleaning freak and likes to throw things out. The fact that he has left it there for 10 years is astounding. 

Are we sentimental? 

Absolutely! 

Perhaps a little crazy? 

Most definitely!

But it bring a smile to my face every time I look at it. And that is certainly a great thing.

Someday, we will go back to Tahiti and brig back another water bottle to give it some company. And let's face it, that is much more economical than a black pearl!!!

What item(s) have you held on to that most would see as a toss away but you hold on to as a treasure?

Wordless Wednesday: My Peaceful Place

Posted by Leslie 

OC Fair Fun

We did it.  We finally took our kids to the Orange County Fair.  As a kid, we went to the county fair every year because I was one of those awesome 4-H kids that raised pigs ;)  Each August we spent at least 7 days being at the fair taking care of our pigs.  But that ended in 7th grade.  So, other than the second date the hubby and I went on to the Del Mar Fair eons ago, I haven't really been since. 

Boy was there a lot to see and do at the OC Fair.  We went on a Sunday, so parking was not a good situation.  All the lots were closed by the time we got there around 1:45pm, so we spent about 35 minutes just trying to find parking.  If you are planning to go to the OC Fair, get there early or go during the week.

Once in, the kids were amazed with all the rides and food.  Our first stop was to the ticket booth to buy 100 tickets. It sounds like a lot, but we blew through those in about 45 minutes!  In the kid area, rides were 5-7 tickets each.  When we got to the carnival area and the rides our kids really wanted to go on, they were between 7-14 tickets/ride.  All the tickets were loaded onto a bar-coded fun card that made it easy to keep track of the tickets.  You paid for games with tickets as well, so it was nice to give the kids the option of rides or games, too. 

As we walked around, the kids noticed other people carrying the Despicable Me 2 minion stuffed toys and it became my son's mission to win one.  Luckily, after checking out all the games and weighing my odds, I was able to win one (pictured above) for my son on the first try!  Phew! Somehow, I was able to convince the kids that they would share the minion, too.  Kevin, our purple minion, took a picture with the kids at Hot Dog on a Stick and even enjoyed some cotton candy.

We stopped by the livestock exhibit, too, seeing over-6-foot-tall cows, as well as the goats, pigs, bunnies and sheep. (It brought me back to my 4-H days, I'm not going to lie.) There was even a cool art exhibit we stumbled upon when exiting out of the restroom.

And the food...I am surprised there aren't cardiologists just waiting outside the gates for people to keel over.  You can get just about anything deep fried....including oreos, twinkies, and frog legs.  They also had bacon cotton candy and chocolate cotton candy.  Actually, you could get pretty much anything wrapped in bacon or fried at the fair.  We were very unadventurous and stuck to corn dogs, icees, and cotton candy this trip, but the brisket, the chicken and gravy, and nachos are definitely going to get some attention from me next time around! Perhaps, on a week day!

The kids had a great time, my son loving the Wild Rivers log ride the most and my daughter opting for the Crazy Coaster as her favorite.  The Crazy Coaster was my favorite, too!  All in all, the OC Fair is definitely a fun family outing.

***And if you can, get your kids to wear close toed shoes.  Several of the rides the kids wanted to go on required close toed shoes and they were wearing flip flops.

The OC Fair is open now through August 11.  If you are planning to go, I highly recommend you checking out the quick guide Tiny Oranges posted a couple of weeks ago. 

Posted by Leslie

Royal Baby's Name: An Homage to Seinfeld

William and Kate just announced that their baby boy's name is George Alexander Louis.

Hmm...Here it is written another way:

                       GEORGE (Costanza)

(Jason) ALEXANDER

        (Julia) LOUIS (-Dreyfus)

I'm sure these names are just family names that they want to pass down.  But wouldn't they be even cooler parents if they were just paying homage to Seinfeld characters and the actors who played them?!?  

I think so!

Posted by Leslie

Image from USmagazine.com

 

Wordless Wednesday: Fort-making Fun!

Posted by Leslie

Wordless Wednesday: My Little "Ponch"

Move Over Pys, Harlem Shake is the New Favorite in This House

Gangman Style by Pys has been a staple in our house for what seems like forever. But now, thanks to the Harlem Shake by Baauer, it seems like a song (video and meme) has finally knocked Pys off of his pedestal in our house.  (Harlem Shake is the #1 single sold on iTunes right now.)

Here are just a couple of kid-friendly versions of the Harlem Shake craze:

Here's how to actually do the Harlem Shake dance move:

Have fun trying to get the beat of the song out of your head...it's been playing in mine for the past 36 hours.

Posted by Leslie

My Son's 7-year Anniversary of His First Haircut

My son gets his hair cut every 4-5 weeks.  As he was getting his hair cut today, I started thinking back to his first haircut. 

I realized three things:

1.  He has had about 84 haircuts in his lifetime
2.  All of his haircuts have been at Cool Cuts for Kids
3.  His first haircut was the day before his daddy's birthday, and today is the day before his daddy's birthday!

I know it is silly to even mention something like this, but I thought it was a fun coincidence.  And a great way to wish my husband a Happy Birthday, a day early!

Posted by Leslie

Wordless Wednesday: My Little Couponer in Training

Friday Funny: My Budding Musician/Composer and his New Instrument

Here is my son's latest composition (an original score) that will hopefully make you laugh into your weekend...

You may also be mortified, but if you watch it a few more times, it actually starts to seem pretty funny.

Happy Friday!

Wordless Wednesday: My 5-Year Old's Idea of Hanging Ornaments

This 5-year Old Girl's Birthday - a Timeline

6:15 a.m. - Awake and excited to tell the world it is her birthday.  (She normally doesn't wake up until 7a.m.  Lucky us!)

9:15 a.m. - Toe-tapping her way around the soccer ball at her last soccer practice.

9:30 a.m. - Her darling teammates sang Happy Birthday to her before the start of their last game of the season. (So sweet!)

11:15 a.m. - Tailgating and ready to go to her first USC game.  Her brother was kind enough to let her borrow his foam fingers. (By the way, when she found out there was a USC football game on her actual birthday, it was HER idea to go.  She is certainly her daddy's little girl!)

11:30 a.m. - First family outing (and picture) at a USC football game!

12:15 p.m. - At our seats that were too good for either of the kids to appreciate. 

12:30 p.m. - Got what she came for: the pom poms.  A kind woman sitting in the row in front of us gave Lauren both of her pom poms. 

1:40 p.m. - She tried to take a nap in her seat but said the band and the people were too noisy...go figure!

7:30 p.m. - After eating dinner at the restaurant of her choice, CPK, she had a big Vons cake waiting for her. (I know there are fabulous bakeries out there, but Vons really does make a good cake, too!)

7:31 p.m. - Blowing out the candles.  It took a few tries.  Five, to be exact.

8:35 p.m. - Catching flies on her way home from an exhausting but unforgettable day!

Posted by Leslie

Wordless Wednesday: Circus Afro

My daughter was thrilled to get this Circus Afro along with her Madagascar 3 Blu-ray/DV combo pack. I was thrilled when she put it on...too cute (and funny)!

"Halloween is Coming Tonight"

Happy Halloween!

We've been boo-ed...Have you?

Much to my surprise this weekend, I found an adorable pumpkin full of goodies on our doorstep. There was a note that said that we've been boo-ed.  I've done this at school where the teachers would do it for classrooms, but I've never done it with our neighbors. It is so much fun. 

I love the idea of not knowing what friendly neighbor chose you. Our Halloween tote was filled with a yummy pumpkin cupcake kit, some festive decorations and reflectors for Halloween night. You only have 2 days to return the fun, so I quickly ran to the store to find some spooky treats to return the favor to another family. I put together two totes filled with Halloween socks, crafts, glitter glue, pencils, erasers, and candy, of course! Early Sunday morning, I crept up the walk of 2 families I had in mind. The first was an easy drop, but the next a big black cat was on the porch. I was too nervous to leave a basket full of candy on the porch since the cat didn't move when I went up to the door. I ran back to the car and picked another neighbor around the corner. I sure hope the first house didn't see me! I'll have to put together something special for those kids when they come trick or treating:) 
Join in on the neighborly fun, you still have a few days left until Halloween! 

Boo to you too!

Here are some links for the Boo-ed printables...

http://tomkatstudio.blogspot.com/2010/09/halloween-free-printable-boo-sign.html

http://swtboutique.blogspot.com/2012/09/being-booed.html

http://itswrittenonthewalls.blogspot.com/2011/10/8-versions-youve-been-booed-fun-treats.html

Posted by Liz

Halloween is for Treating AND Tricking

Last year, under the guidance of Jimmy Kimmel, I decided to play a little Halloween trick on my kids.  Watching my daughter's facial expression change still cracks me up!

Do you have any harmless and funny tricks you play on your kids for Halloween?

Tinkerbell and the Secret of the Wings Craft Event + Save $5 on the Movie Combo Pack

In preparation for Disney releasing Tinkerbell and the Secret of the Wings, this past Saturday, Joann Fabric had a fairy-making craft event. (Thanks, The Suburban Mom, for letting us know about the event!)

Even though we arrived 30 minutes into the event, we were the first ones there.  From the description online, I couldn't really tell how big the fairies we were going to be.  Once we got there and saw pipe cleaners, I realized the fairies were going to be pretty small, life-sized if you will.

The nice girl, Becky, who was running the craft warned us when we got there that she had yet to make one because they were kind of tricky.  (Oh boy!)  She was only able to use white Elmer's glue because she was no where near an outlet.  When I asked if we could use Glue Dots, she said they didn't carry glue dots in their store...WHAT!?!?!  A craft store without Glue Dots???  Somebody has got to get on that! 

After about 45 minutes and tons of glue stuck to my fingers, she ended up with this little fairy.   It was a fun (and free!) event for my daughter and I to attend together.  It also gave me confidence in my creativity and resourcefulness, as we had to stray from the original directions from the Joann Fabrics corporate office. 

Coincidentally, Tinkerbell and the Secret of the Wings came out today on DVD and Blu-ray, And Disney Movie Rewards members can claim a $5 off combo pack coupon. 

Posted by Leslie

Image from Disney.com

Wordless Wednesday: My New Favorite Friend, John

It's the little things in life (in this case a no-slam toilet seat) that can make you happy!

Happy Hump Day!

The Things You Can Pick Up From the Real Houseswives of New Jersey

While I feel like I just wasted 1 hour of my life watching this last episode of Real Housewives of New Jersey, I feel like I gained at least one gem from the show: my new favorite saying, "Go scratch!"

Classic!

Image from Bravotv.com