Pillow Pets unite the world!

After posting my mini-tutorial on 'how to' wash a Pillow Pet, I sent an e-mail to the company alerting them that I had done so and if they were so kind, so send some freebies or discounts my way. And wa-la! they did! So my gain is also your gain too!

According to their very nice PR person, she sent me a coupon code for $5 off of the following Pillow Pets (after the sale price of $19.99; regular price I think is $24.99 online).

Here are your discount instructions:

If you use the promo code BLOGGER online at www.mypillowpets.com,  it should allow an extra $5 off the following large Pillow Pets (in addition to the sale price of $19.99):

1. Ms. Lady Bug: http://mypillowpets.com/shop/ms-ladybug/
2. Magical Unicorn: http://mypillowpets.com/shop/magical-unicorn/
3. Comfy Panda: http://mypillowpets.com/shop/comfy-panda/
4. Playful Penguin: http://mypillowpets.com/shop/playful-penguin/
5. Buzzing Bumble Bee: http://mypillowpets.com/shop/buzzy-bumble-bee/
6. Squeaky Dolphin: http://mypillowpets.com/shop/squeaky-dolphin/
7. Silly Monkey: http://mypillowpets.com/shop/silly-monkey/
8. Snuggly Puppy: http://mypillowpets.com/shop/snuggly-puppy/

 This will be active till 4/15/11 only. Enjoy!!! Will help out the Easter Bunny in his shopping ways. :)

Dieting

Ehh.... 'better way of eating' life, if what we have been doing in the household since the end of January. We promised to each other (Martin and I) that we would start eating better Jan.1. And well, that came and gone, and we didn't... and we just ignored it. Since the end of January, we've been eating good and counting calories and writing everything down. It was hard at first, but it's gotten a lot easier and we give ourselves a break on our day off today (Wednesdays). Now Martin is a rockstar when it comes to dieting and eating better.. because he really DOES it. He will go and run five miles and eat ONLY *** calories a day and LOOSE a ton of weight, whereas, I do diet and I write everything down, but I can't limit myself to not consuming treats. And I've come to a list of diet-friendly treats which was 'low' in calories, etc. but haven't lost jack. But I'm happier. Feel better and am getting more energy. I feel it and it makes me happy.

Why this pertains to this blog is because, I really try to not focus on myself feeling fat or overweight or that it is an issue so the girls don't inherent that from me and have more issues than I do later in life.

And for the record, it's REALLY hard to eat better when you have toddlers that request "donuts" and "juice," on a hourly basis. For the record, Ava considers 'donuts' anything that is bread-like and sweet.

I think from now on I will just prepare their food and eat their scraps. Could that be made into a fab diet? Book deal? Don't forget who you heard it from first! :)

'Kids Eat Free' series

I'm all about free stuff and a free meal. Likely, parents don't often get to eat free (unless it's their birthday- thank you Red Robin!!!!), but kids do!

Thank you to Money Saving Mom and Chili's, kids eat free at Chili's on Feb. 8, 15, 21 and 22 with the purchase of any adult entree. Make sure though that you call ahead to your local Chili's to see if they are participating!

Here's a great resource I just found that was posted by Bay Area Moms:

Kids East Free: East Bay Restaurants by Red Tricycle S.F. 

Do you have any other places where kids eat free?

Gotta have a variety!

Ava has now been sans Pull-Ups as of Wednesday and is doing great!!!!! Upon pick-up Tuesday night, Paola, our lovely day care provider, informed me that Ava had been wearing 'big girl underwear' all day without any accidents. So Wednesday was the day! The first two days weren't the funniest, and I *almost* put her back in the diapers/Pull-Ups, but I didn't.

Wednesday was the worst of it. Seriously. We were running around shopping for Christmas presents and our last stop was Costco. She peed right on the toy isle. Nice. I was embarassed and husband was d-o-n-e. It was only her first day, poor little girl. So we continue running the girl to the store potty, changing her clothes in the parking lot, and sitting in dirty restrooms waiting for her to go 'pee-pee in tha pottay!'

One word of advice for those that are training.... given up on training for a while... or are going to start soon. GET A VARIETY OF CANDY!!!! M&M's will work for a while, lollipops will work but will make a messy baby! Reese's are the fave right now, but weren't doing it on Saturday. So my advice to all you mommies and daddies-- get a variety of candy! Skittles, M&M's, Whoopers, Reese's, Tootsie rolls, etc. because your child will get bored with the same old sticker/M&M dance. Trust me. :)

Ava did and I accommodated her resisting and now she's having less accidents by day. WOO HOO! Let's keep this going little girl and hopefully Miss Emma will be a piece of cake.

Holiday cards already?!

Who else is thinking about holiday cards?? I am! I love receiving holiday cards and I love sending them out! I get all excited about the response that I will receive from my family and friends about the girls' cute picture I've enclosed. It's also an extra special feeling when you go to a person's home and see your holiday card on their fridge or mantel. Does anyone else feel this way?

My favorite holiday cards are the ones with pictures on them. In the past I have only ordered regular 3x5 pictures and put them inside a regular Christmas card. But this year I'm going to try and do something new. Life before kids, I can remember I ordered a bunch of photos and my husband and I with a cute little holiday border from Shutterfly. It worked and even my in-laws have that photo framed somewhere in their house!

There are many places to order your holiday cards, and in the past I've used Shutterfly, as I said before. With the options that Shutterfly offers, you can put a couple of different pictures on one card rather just one photo. And this is what I plan to do this year! Since from one of my previous posts about 'the picture perfect photo,' my children will not sit together and look in the same direction and smile.

If you are now thinking about your holiday photos (since Thanksgiving is JUST a week away!), I have given you the best gift yet-- a couple of links to Shutterfly's Web site for Christmas cards (for my fave, click here); holiday photos cards (for my fave, click here); a link for calendars (I like desk calendars); Hanukkah cards (my fave); and wall art (my fave). (Note: click on each highlighted group of text/wording to go to their Web site.)

And if you have never uploaded photos to Shutterfly, click here to get started! When you open a free account, you get 50 free photos just for signing up and other fabulous free services. I love that I can order photos at home before work and then pick them up on the same day at Target, Walgreens or CVS.

Well I better get started, as I hope to get my cards out before Dec. 2. What do you think about this example, 'Naughty or Nice?'

Treats

Happy fall everyone!!!

I had huge plans to decorate our balcony and porch for the neighbors' kids and our kids, but didn't get around to it. Hopefully soon! Loving this cooler weather as opposed to the three digit weather the Bay Area was blessed with last week!

Potty training has been going very well for Ava. She gets treats and that's her incentive to keep going! So we offer her M&Ms everytime she goes. Last week when picking Ava up from day care, I was informed that she receives 2 M&Ms for pee and 5 M&Ms for the other. "Yikes!" I thought, I better step up my game if I'm going to get this girl trained! :)

Well, as you know, Emma joins in on the party in the bathroom when we go 'pee pee in tha pottay.' Well she also joins in on the M&Ms after-party too! And Ava now insists that as soon as she receives her 'treats' that Emma gets her 'treat' too. Even starting at the ripe age of two, Ava has her sister's back.

What love!

(Photo courtesy of Leah-- so great to have seen you at the park! Thank you for this Kodak moment that you captured!)