Friday, October 31, 2008

My wish List--the KINDLE

My Wish List has only one thing on it right now. It is very expensive and will probably stay on it for a few more years. That is when I am hoping the price will go down. It is a KINDLE!! Oooohhh, just writing it down makes me drool. Amazon.com sells them for $359.00!! Oprah has a code out through November 1 for $50.00 off OPRAHWINFREY but that still doesn't get the price manageable for me ($309.00), even if it ships free. Well and that deal ends tomorrow. Maybe they will have a code out someday for $259.00! O, and you still have to pay to download books. But you do save trees and the downloaded book will be discounted a tad.

The kindle, allows you store up tp 200 books on it. You can read it anywhere, download a book you want from anywhere and have it in 2 minutes. If I am on a plane or on vacation the room this saves would be amazing. (I always go with at least 3 books) It lets you check the dictionary if you don't know a word when reading!, I could go on and on. I want this thing.

So do you guys have things on your "wish" list? What are they?

Thursday, October 30, 2008

Camera Freaks

Okay all you camera freaks. Do you know that the last few weeks there have been some amazing deals on memory cards for your camera? Today I finally broke down and got one at Newegg.com
I got the 2GB as I heard the 4GB runs a tad slow. BUT GET THIS Right now they have free shipping, a tad bit slower then paying for shipping. I am in no hurry for this as most likely it will be a stocking stuffer, so I can wait. Here is what I bought! $5.99 for a memory card with no extra shipping. Beautiful!

I just may go back and get some more! you can also use these in your Wii, if you have one.

Tuesday, October 28, 2008

Our Surprise weekend

So Friday we told the kids we wee going on a long drive to look at leaves. I had packed bags and put them in the van without them seeing. They saw me pack the cooler but they thought it was for the lunch we were going to have along the way. So we drove and drove and drove. Ethan kept asking "have we gone far yet?" He was done riding. Really the kids were so good. They actually were really good. We stopped in Port Kalama for lunch at a cute little park. At this point Alicia thought we were looking for a good hiking trail. She was ready to "stretch her legs." We kept telling her that she would get lots of "moving" in. About this point Ethan decided to let us know frequently that he wanted to go home. :) We were laughing at him as we knew once he saw the place he would change his tune. The kids saw the Great Wolf Lodge as we passed by it on I5. They still had no clue. We drove into the parking lot and still no clue. Ethan started to get it but Alicia was clueless. Once Ben told them we were here for the night Ethan was very happy. Alicia though was unsure. She let us know she had no swimsuit. We let her know one was packed but she was still not looking too happy. It took her awhile.
So one child loves surprises and one would rather be in on the surprise. Good to know.

It was a fun weekend but not like the first time we went. They did have a scavanger trick-or-treat Dr Seuss quest. That was cute. We did not sleep well, any of us, so we were really tired the next day. We did not stay nearly as long as I would have liked to -considering the price. But it was fun. I was a lot colder this trip. I am not sure if the water temperature was lower but it sure felt like it. It isn't fun to be wet and cold. I think they need to turn the heat up!

Ethan has gotten more brave since the last time we went. He even went into the wave pool for awhile this time. Last time he would not even let us hold him out in it. This time we had a great time just laying on a tube together. He is a brave little boy.

I still highly recommend that you all try this place out at least once. I think once the kids get a bit older it could be a real blast. Ethan is not at tall enough for the big slides and Alicia is scared of them. Since one of us has to be with the kids we didn't get to go down these as much as I would have liked. But once Ethan can go we can take him with us! WOOHOO!

Sunday, October 19, 2008

I love weekends

I love weekends when Ben is home and we get to do things as a family. More time together, more fun! I cleaned my house Thursday and Friday decorating with my fall decorations. It was great getting my house clean for Friday night small group as we were going to have friends over Saturday monrning. So Saturday we got up and my kids were so excited that the Dempsters were coming over. They have two kids the same ages as our kids so they can each have fun. We had lunch and some leftover dessert from our small group. Then we all took naps! Well the kids and I did. I don't get those very often so it was a great treat. Then I got up and started to get all dolled up for Ben's work party that evening. We went to Caruso's in Keizer. It is a very nice Italian restaurant. I haven't been to a place with their kind of ambiance in a long time so it was a great evening. Ben works with really great people so it was a fun evening. Even better that I can get dinner and dessert and not have to pay for it! Today we went to church and now we are waiting for our schools family fun night at the pool. This is a very important event to my kids. It is a great time for our schools families to get together and fellowship. With the school going through some MAJOR changes this year it is important that we are involved and support the school. The sad thing is that we may not make it to another event that was going on tonight. Some friends from Idaho are in Salem and we were supposed to go over and see them with our other firends! I am really bummed about that but I will get to see them in January.

Next weekend we are suprising our kids with a special weekend. But you will all have to check back to see what we are doing with them. We just plan on getting up Saturday and telling the kids we are going on a drive to look at fall leaves. Should be a great surprise.

Tuesday, October 14, 2008

Columbus Day

Every year for the last 4-6 years my mom, who has Columbus Day off, comes up to Salem and we go shopping. It is a kind of birthday present to me. There have been years we have had to take the kids, years where I called Ben and asked him to take the kids away from us after trying to shop with them, years with babysitters, etc. Yesterday I dropped the kids of at school and had a babysitter scheduled for the afternoon with Ethan. We went up to the outlet mall and shopped. Last year we had the BEST food at a little shop callled New York Burrito. So all year we have been waiting to go back. Finally after shopping a few hours we went to eat and found they had recently left! We were very sad. But we had a great day shopping. It is nice to spend time with just my mom, one-on-one. We talk and talk and when the day is over we look forward to next year.

Monday, October 13, 2008

4 codes out for swagbucks

Well for a short amount of time today they had 4 codes out that totaled 11 points. They have all expired, except one, now. Hope one of you swaggers got in on some of them. I got all 11 swags! There is only one swag code left right now and it is only worth 1 point. But 1 point is better then 0.

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Wednesday, October 8, 2008

Crockpot contest

This is not one I am doing but a contest that a favorite blog of mine is doing. See the names of all the blogs I like on the right hand side? Well go to her site and you will see she has a contest today for a new crockpot. Now I did think about not telling you all so I had a better chance of winning but . . . I do love you all and think you should win too. Good Luck to all, but I so want that crockpot. :)

And if you do not win here is a great site to buy a new crockpot. They even have a $5.00 rebate going right now! I just bought a new one last week!

Saturday, October 4, 2008

Secrets

So today my old friend from college had a wedding shower! I am so happy to see her find a great man. So Ben drove me into Salem with the kids dropped me off and took the kids to the mall to shop for my birthday. :) For the last few days they have been thinking of things and then whispering quite loudly to daddy their ideas. I was not sure how they would be able to buy something today and then keep it a secret for another week. So after the shower they picked me up and we were on our way home and I said "you got a Orange Julius! No fair." And Ethan responds with, "but at leat you got candy for your birthday!" :) So no they could not make it a week. When we got home they showed me my present. :) Chocolate covered gummy bears. My favorite!

Ben had really wanted to get me a crock pot, mine broke two weeks ago, but I ordered one this week. So I just mentioned this morning not to buy one of those. He was not happy. He had thought he had finally thought of the great gift. O, well. I much rather get candy for my birthday!

Friday, October 3, 2008

Pizza

We do not have small group tonight so we are off to a small pizza place here in town. :) YUMMY. Just wish Paddingtons was here. I love their pizza.

Wednesday, October 1, 2008

The kids have no school for the next two days. I have told them tomorrow is sleep in day! But they are early birds so they will ignore me. :) I have a few things planned. I found a really cool countdown chain on the DIS site that we will make for our Disney trip, and I think we will go swimming one day. Next week they have the annual EZ Orchards field trip! I love this day as much as they do! I love to bring home apple cider adn apple cider doughnuts! WOOHOO Love October!