Money Saving Monday

I am becoming quite the little deal hunter...well, not so much me hunting as much as it's me piggybacking on other people's hunting. But, we even got a Sunday paper yesterday for the first time in nearly 5 years, just so I could clip myself some coupons.

Jason does very well for our family, however, I like a good deal as much as the next lass and so I'm trying to take advantage when I can. Many people consider "couponing" a hobby. I'm not sure I'm to that point--yet--but whatev.

So speaking of bargains, until recently we've never stopped at a Redbox to rent movies. a.) I didn't know they were only a dollar, b.) we have Netflix, and c.) you can get codes for free rentals. We rented a movie today for free. The boys (Easton) picked a Word World DVD outside of McDonald's. I turned to my handy dandy Blackberry and snagged this code for one free night: MCD808 (you can use it too!). Then I came home and signed up online and got another free code that I can use another day. And Centsible Mommy put up yet another code you can use today only for a free night: CR654D. Of course you have to have it back on time or you'll get charged for extra nights but you can bring them back to any Redbox...there's one at the McD's right across the big street from us. No sense in hogging the deals for myself, right? So, there. Perhaps enjoy a free movie tonight? The boy version of "My Best Friend's Wedding" (Made of Honor with Patrick Dempsey) is at Redbox...I might pick that one next time. Who doesn't love McDreamy, am I right?

Well, back to our weekend. Easton stayed in his punky mood most of Saturday. Partly I know he was tired, but he also must be in some sort of developmental transition because he's not been his "normal" super self for maybe a month or so. Sure, he's got moments of his usual self shining through. Many moments. But at the same time we have been spending much more time in time outs and lots more reminders of expected behavior and he exhausts me more than during his plateaus. He certainly goes in cycles and he's in one of his downswings right now. Challenging, to say the least.

Sunday was better...mostly because it wasn't me having to deal with him all day! Well, that's not true...in the morning Jason went to another church and I hung home with the boys:


Dalton had some game he was playing with this plastic egg:


Easton wanted in on it:






Running from Bubbs as fast as he can:




When Jason got home from church we had some lunch and then my mom showed up to watch the boys while Jason and I headed to the Broncos/Saints game. Did you notice how our boys are in their orange and blue? I told Jason that if we could have another kid that he/she could be a Saints fan, but that I was sorry...the boys were going to have to be Broncos fans. :)

On our way...I was feeling self-conscious about my height next to my husband once again...so he had to exaggerate it:


A little better:


While we were gone Easton was a little testy for my mom too. This is kind of a new thing and I'm both disappointed yet also glad that he is comfortable enough with her to act out. While Diddles napped, my mom and E made sidewalk paints. (How cool is that???) So they made the paint but she told Easton they'd have to wait to use it until Dalton got up. Apparently Easton went right upstairs and my mom could hear him heading to D's room. She told him not to go in but--feeling punkish--he went in, flipped on D's light and proceeded to poke him to try to wake him!!! Dalton surprisngly remained asleep and Easton had to miss out on making the fun treats with my mom they were going to make. Later when they were putting on shoes to go out to use the sidewalk paints Easton got in a hurry and opened the garage door to go outside when my mom had told him not too. So he had to wait inside for two minutes (Gramoo set a timer, Easton--and Moo--tells me). However Easton said it was for four minutes which I find somewhat amusing.

Here is their paints (I took the picture this morning)...I assume they were trying to spell Broncos and got carried away with the "r" and "o"s :)


Dalton got to make a fall placemat:


What a fun Gramoo! She's seriously the best! Thanks, Moo!

Jason and I had fun at the game. Especially me (the Broncos won). We left the house quite early and parked at Elitch's (for free with our pass) and then rode the Light Rail over one stop to Invesco. We checked out some of the tailgaters entertainment and then picked up our tix from Will Call. Oh my...understandably our cheap seats were sooooooo high. We were way over a "mile high" in that part of the stadium. Seriously, like only 2 or 3 rows were above us. No matter, though. I like having such a good view of the whole game. When you sit real close it's sort hard to see all the plays. There's a reason the announcers and cameras aren't on the first level, you know?

The Broncos barely won and we definitely got our money's worth as far as excitement and scoring. It came down to the last few seconds of the game. It was a fun time and there were way more Saints fans than we had expected to see. Way more.

My mom stayed for dinner and then we rushed to get our tired boys to bed. Easton is still needing to catch up on his sleep from spending the night at Gramoo's. Jason owed me a 34 minute massage (the Broncos scored 34 points to win) and then I went to bed.

Today we did our usual Krispy Kreme morning and continuing with my renewed love of bargains and deals the gal at Krispy Kreme didn't charge us for 3 of our doughnuts...they often give each person a glazed doughnut as a free "sample" so we only had to pay for the rest. That made me happy. And doughnuts make the boys happy:




After breakfast we went over to McDonald's to meet Connor and his mom Jen. They were the most recent victims of my cold-calling for preschool friends for Easton. Connor is way cute, well-dressed, well-mannered, and his mom is perfectly lovely as well. We had a nice time chatting while the boys played. And they played really well together. Dalton too. Well, when he wasn't busy trying to escape out the door or climbing on top of tables. I think D was just glad no one was beating up on him like our other new playmate. :)

When it was time to go I called to Easton to come put on his shoes. A mom at a nearby table looked at me very confusedly (is that a word?) and said, "Do YOU have an Easton?" and I was like, "Yep!" (because I think it's, like, the coolest name in the whole world). And she was like, "So do I! But it's a girl" and pointed to a toddler nearby. I've never met another Easton before. And actually, she's an Eastan. We knew a girl in Gymsters who's dad wanted to name her Easton but she was Ellie instead. This was our first personal encounter and we went into why we named our kids Easton/an. Clearly we like sort of different/unique names (that's what you get for being raised as "Jason" and "Kristin" in the 70s/80s). She said she stole it from a friend considering it for her son but changed up the spelling to make it more feminine. Still...it was very strange to see a girl with my son's name. I should've asked her middle name. Bet it wasn't Kai! :)

Finally we left and snagged our free Redbox and came home. Easton wanted to watch it and Dalton wanted to eat:


Before long it was time for quiet time. I've got E up there singing the blues now...okay, not really...but he is playing a harmonica. Must go move him to my room now.