Triplet’s 11th Birthday

December is Birthday Month in our House as well as Christmas

Our two oldest living at home turned 18 & 19 this month, along with the triplets having their 11th birthday today.  They were 3 1/2 years old when I first met Dave. It’s been a joy getting to watch them grow up.

We don’t have them today on their birthday (one of the negatives of divorce, but if not for divorce Dave and the kids wouldn’t even be in my life… so I can’t say it is all bad! )  So we celebrated with them on Wednesday.

We took them to a Japanese restaurant.  We tried one for the first time (for the kids) for Dave’s birthday in October, but it was disappointing. We wanted them to see the kind of display you normally get at a nice Japanese restaurant.  We went to Genji’s in Reynoldsburg Ohio because we knew it wouldn’t disappoint. We were right!  Excellant food, excellant service, excellant show.

I didn’t take my good camera with me, but I got a few pictures from my camera phone while I was there.

They used their chopsticks with “training wheels” as they were told.

They are all good eaters (not like my boys) and enjoyed the food.  Alex got steak and looked over at us and said… “This is AWESOME!”

Zach was loving the food – they got the kids plates (since they were still 10 when we went on Wednesday they were still legal! lol)  He just got his new glasses this last weekend… looks great doesn’t he?

The kids had a great time.  Of course they had the birthday celebration at the restaurant. They came out banging a drum and singing. They brought them a pineapple all decorated. Fun!

We then headed to the Aeropostal store so they could use their gift cards. They are finally big enough to fit into their clothes and they are thrilled!

Once we got home, we gave them their joint birthday gift.

A new laptop. Having triplets it can be interesting when they all three come home with the same projects due at the same time. They all want to use the computer at one time.  So this laptop will help to eliminate that stress. There will be a computer in the house that they can all be on one at the same time if necessary.

Happy Birthday kids… love ya!

 

Review – The Gift Elephant! – You won’t ever have to forget a gift again!

Gifts! Gifts! Gifts!!….How do you keep track of all of them….what you bought? What you received?
We are always buying them, receiving them…but did you remember to send that Thank you card?
Here is a FREE service that can HELP YOU!! It can help to save your sanity at gift time.

Do you ever forget what you got someone last year….for let’s say Christmas? Do you worry when you are out shopping that maybe you bought Uncle Bob a tie last year…or was it a sweater. Or what size is sister Suzie wear again? Or….did I remember to send a Thank you note to Grandma for that great vase she sent me for my birthday?
We have so many occasions that we buy family and friends gifts for. But do you have a system for remembering what you gave, who gave you what or if you sent a Thank you note to that person?

Now you can have all that memory stored for you in this Free site called Gift Elephant (because elephants have great memories..remember?)

Here is the link to sign up for Gift Elephant

Here is a link on how it works but it is simple.
1) Sign up
2) Add gifts you have both given and received
3) Add contacts
4) You can keep track and organize your Thank you notes
5) You can also create and send real post cards from the site (that isn’t free)

So check it out!! Yeah…anything that helps us organize is a plus to me. Especially something that many people don’t even think about organizing….BUT something that we always do and is needed. Gifts!!
I think this seems to be a great system. How many times do we get out to a store and forget what we have given someone before. You can access it from your smart phone and find out right there on the spot.

Swag at BlogHer

Swag

I have had several people ask me questions lately about the “swag” we received at the Blogher conference and the opportunities I have had being a blogger and what that means.
I have to admit that it has been a lot of fun meeting new people and companies and that most bloggers I have dealt with are more than happy to help you in any way they can.
The MomSelect Swag Suite at the Blogher conference was a very popular place to be. Maria Bailey (founder of MomSelect and Co founder of MomTV )and BSM Media were in charge of that and they had a line out the door. They had some trouble getting some of their products delivered on time…so when the response was so huge..they had to shut the doors for a few hours to restock and get things organized before they could open back up.
Here is a list of the things they had for the bloggers (for those of you who have asked what kinds of things we received.) By the way…I am not trying to brag in any way here..I am trying to thank those involved for all they did for us and the companies for all the samples and products they handed out to us.
These were things that were available. They had them spread around the room and started us out with the Land’s End Backpack to use as a goodies bag. I did not pick up everything because not everything was appropriate to my family.

AdoraPet DVDs – Triplets will love to watch it.
Beaute de Maman Samples
Build-a-Bear Workshop Bears -So cute!
CharcoCaps
Cultural Care Au Pair Memory Card Game
Cystex
Disney T-shirts/hand sanitizer
Easy Mac Cups
Enfamil Gift Bags
ItzaBitza DVD Game
Kindermusik Gift Bags
Lands’ End Backpacks – Wonderful…to give to one of my boys to use.
Latitude Tools – Great level, can’t wait to try it.
Moving Picture Books
My Princess Party To Go- Princess favors
No-Slip Grippies Tights
Paci-Plushies
Precious Moments Baby Clothes
Seventh Generation Organic Tampons
SoftLips I threw in my purse…nice
Wisk

It was fun to get all these things…but I would have loved to have just visited with Maria and others I have not been able to meet at Mom TV and Mom Select.

I have also had the opportunity to work with Walmart in a promotion to remodel one of my teens bedrooms. You can follow the progress of that and there will be a chance to win a make over yourself at the end of that.

I was asked to attend a P&G Bounty Experience today at COSI (Center of Science and Industry) in Columbus. I will be posting on that later in the week.

I have had many other opportunities lately and hope to have even more in days to come.
As a Mom blogger I will let you know that I look forward to working with more companies and other bloggers. I will be honest about what I tell you about and if I should promote something…it is because I like the company or product. They may offer to sponsor me or give me a product to review…but if it is not something that would be beneficial to my readers..I don’t really care what they offer me…I won’t be a part of it.
I will also post about contest or do a post because of a contest (as part of this one is) but again…if I don’t believe that it is something I should post about or don’t feel good about it..I won’t do it.
But I am more than Happy to blog and thank others for the opportunities they are giving me or the products they have introduced me to.
Thanks!

Sorting Toys

Sorting Toys – One Toy In….One Toy Out

With all the new toys coming to invade your house (from you, Grandparents, gift exchanges at school etc…) can your house handle them? Do you have the extra room for them to have a place to go? Will you be trying to figure out where to put all the new ones?
Try the “One toy in…One toy out” rule. For each new toy that comes into your house, find one toy that can be donated (or thrown away if its broken) to go out.
This can be done with or without the kids. You know your children. If they are ones who are going to pitch a fit and say they they can’t possibly get rid of ANY of their things…then it is better to do it while they are not home. Don’t pick out their favorites that they still play with. Find those ones that are underneath a pile that they haven’t seen in months (or years) and get rid of those. Chances are they will never miss them. My children never complained or missed a thing that I got rid of over the years. HONEST!!
If you have children who have a heart for helping other children, then it may be good to involve them in the process. (Although it is probably the kids who have the difficulty giving up their things who really should be learning that other kids can really use the toys more than they can.) They will realize they are helping other children and will enjoy it. The triplets are good about this. I usually go through without them, but when they realize what I am giving away they talk about how much the other kids will enjoy using it.
Don’t continue to pile on more toys just because YOU have an attachment to them. Kids can only use and play with so many things. Less is so much more in this area.