Ethan's Second 3D Movie (and first IMAX experience)

While Grandma Q. was visiting, we decided to check out a new local IMAX theater that was showing "The Polar Express" in 3D. Thankfully this theater offered kid-sized 3D glasses, so we didn't have to hold the adult-sized ones on Ethan's face throughout the entire movie (as we did when we saw Fly Me to the Moon). Ethan absolutely loved the movie! I was very impressed with the animation and special effects, though I have actually never read the book before and had been unfamiliar with the story. There were more scary parts than I had anticipated, and they startled Ethan a few times. He didn't seem put off for long by the scarier parts and was disappointed when it was time to leave the theater. I would definitely recommend the IMAX 3D experience!

The Adventures of Black Friday

In previous years Gail and I had ventured out of the house briefly in the afternoon of Black Friday to check out some of the great sales, but this year we decided to brave the super-early crowds to see what deals we could find. We arrived at Kohl's at 5:30am and were pleasantly surprised to find that it wasn't overly crowded, and there were plenty of employees available to help us find the specific deals from their sale ad that we were looking for. We both bought 7 inch digital photo frames which were a spectacular deal, and I bought several Christmas gifts for Ethan and for other relatives. We were amazed at how quickly we were able to get in and out of the store and were also pleasantly surprised at how friendly the other early bird customers were (especially after later hearing about the trampling death of a Wal-Mart employee somewhere on the west coast). At Kohl's I was trying to hold two enormous boxes containing Nerf guns for my cousin's boys, and a lady stopped her shopping to help me stack up the boxes so that they were manageable for me to carry to a register. Wal-Mart was jam-packed with customers, and another shopper took a break from finding all of the items on her list to help me locate a boy Cabbage Patch newborn doll (which we are saving to give Ethan just before Baby Q arrives so that he has a little baby boy to take care of too while mommy takes care of the new baby). Between the 2 of us searching the giant mountain of CP newborn dolls, we were able to locate one boy doll- yay! I think that I will be up for trying another wee-hours-of-the-morning Black Friday again next year, as this year's adventure turned out to be a great one!

Thanksgiving

We had a fabulous Thanksgiving and celebrated at my parent's house along with my Aunt Joanne and Uncle Leonard. It was great to visit with everyone, and I wish that I had taken some pictures!! We had a yummy traditional Thanksgiving dinner, great dessert, and finished our evening playing a new game that my mom had purchased, Uno Flash, and also Tripoley. Uno Flash was fun to learn and try out. It's basically a twist on the old-fashioned Uno game in that play does not go around the circle of players in a clockwise manner. Instead the game "board" determines who is going in what order. On your turn if you don't play a card within a certain amount of time, you get "buzzed" and have to draw additional cards. Kind of difficult to explain, but we enjoyed learning the new rules. Tripoley is always fun too (mix of poker and hearts). We had a great time today and are certainly SO thankful for the many blessings in our lives.

CVS Deals Galore on Thanksgiving Day

I really enjoy getting bargains, and I just couldn't pass up all of the great CVS deals on Thanksgiving Day. Gail was such a great sport and got up very early with me so that we could be waiting in the parking lot at our local CVS when it opened. So many people in our area have caught on to how easy it is to get free items at CVS that many are now tracking the sale items, and if you don't get there early, the store will likely be out of stock of many items. It was a good thing that we arrived at the CVS first as several other bargain hunters showed up shortly after we did, but we were able to snag all of the deals we were interested in before any items were out of stock. I spent a total of $1.09 out of pocket, but I increased my extra care buck total by something like $15 (I can't remember exactly). So, CVS essentially paid me $14 for the following items:
1 Aussie Mega shampoo, 1 Aussie Mega conditioner, 1 Shick Quattro Titanium razor, 1 Johnson's lotion, 3 Powerades, 2 Bic Soleil razors, 1 Covergirl foundation, 1 Covergirl pressed powder, 1 package Garnier Nutrisse cleansing cloths, 2 Philips universal remote controls, 2 L'Oreal lip glosses, 2 Crest Total toothpastes, and 2 king size Hershey's bars. Gotta love that!

Musical Moments Class at the YMCA

This Fall Ethan has participated in two classes, a gymnastics class through the local parks department and music through the YMCA. He has thoroughly enjoyed both classes and is extremely excited to attend them each week. Ethan's Grandma Q. visited us for a week over Thanksgiving, so she was able to join us for one of his gymnastics classes and one of his music classes. Dan was also off of work for most of the week, so Ethan was thrilled that both Grandma and Daddy were able to participate with him in our classes. The music class activities have varied each week along specific themes, and this week's theme was (appropriately) Thanksgiving. We sang songs about Thanksgiving and winter and learned arm/hand motions for some of them. For one song each child got to go up to a felt board and add an item to the Thanksgiving dinner we were singing about. The kids have also played with balloons, balls, teddy bears, scarves, toys, and a HUGE variety of instruments throughout the session (which lasted 8 weeks).

Ethan clapping along to one of the songs

Ethan added a casserole dish to the Thanksgiving dinner on the felt board

Grandma helped Ethan with the hand movements that went along with another song

The kids had some free time at the end of the class to explore different musical instruments. Ethan was playing with the rainsticks.

Recent Ethan Sayings and Doings

Ethan's constant running commentary of his thoughts just crack me up. He has become incredibly verbal in the last few weeks, and his expanding vocabulary astonishes us. Dan and I have heard him use many large words correctly and will ask each other, "Did you teach him that?" Usually we don't remember specifically teaching him particular words, but he is such a little sponge that he takes in and retains so much of what he hears. Some cute things that he's been saying and doing lately include:
- When eating his favorite foods he says, "It's tasty good!"
- I try to encourage positive behavior by telling Ethan "Good idea!" whenever he asks or decides to do something appropriate or constructive. He's taken to saying it emphatically as well: "Good i-DE-a!"
-Dan and I are big on nicknames, and they are constantly evolving. The nickname that has stuck is "pea" for sweetpea, but it recently has become "bitty pea" (don't ask me why, I really don't know!). Dan told Ethan the other day "Hi bitty pea", and without missing a beat he responded "Hi bitty Daddy!". Maybe you had to be there, but it made us laugh :)

-Ethan has been learning that people have first and last names and also that Mommy and Daddy have "other" names too. If you ask him what my name is, he'll say "Julie", but if you ask him what Dan's name is, he always says "Daddy Altizer"
-Ethan likes to remove his pillowcase when he's in his crib. A couple naptimes in a row we found him almost completely inside his pillowcase (like a sleeping bag) at the end of his naptime.
-I check my email frequently, and often Ethan plays in the office while I check things on the computer. Ethan has taken to asking us lately if he can "Go check email for a little bit". He doesn't have an email address yet, but probably won't be long! Dan and/or I must say the phrase "a little bit" often because Ethan has picked that up and tacks it on to lots of his comments "eat a little bit", "play with toys a little bit", etc.
-Ethan's imagination and imaginative play have really grown recently. He often pretends that things are something other than what they really are. He was eating holiday-theme shaped pretzels the other day, and all of a sudden he said "I made a dinosaur". Sure enough the remnant of one of his pretzels resembled a dinosaur, and he proceeded to create adventures for the dinosaur on his tray (the dinosaur walked around the tray, "slept" on top of his sippy cup, ate leaves off his tray). He also likes to pretend that toys are pieces of food (he brought me a frisbee and said "plate", a green ball and said "apple", and two round tinker toys with a square block in between and said "cheeseburger").

"Nesting" Like Crazy, and Yay for Craiglist!

As Baby Q's due date seems to be approaching very quickly, my "nesting urge" has kicked into high gear! We have been clearing unneeded furniture out of our bonus room to make way for a twin bed and dresser that we're going to get from my parents so that our bonus room can become the office/guest room. My parents are going to take the bedroom set that was in my room growing up from our current guest room, and that room will then become Ethan's "big boy" room. We'll leave the nursery the same awaiting the arrival of Baby Q.

A website that has been a HUGE help to us is craigslist.org. I was able to list (for free) and quickly find buyers for a La-Z-boy recliner, set of tray tables, papasan chair, and a coat rack. We need to sell a set of 2 coffee tables, but haven't had anyone contact us yet expressing interest in purchasing them. We also donated Dan's big blue couch to the Salvation Army as it is a well-built, solid piece of furniture, but the fabric had faded, and we no longer had any use for it. Moving that out of the "bonus room" over the garage created a lot of space that I have since been converting into a craft area for stamping/scrapbooking/etc. It's a relief to be making some progress toward getting Ethan's "big boy" room put together in preparation to transition him out of his crib. Thankfully Ethan has only "escaped" his crib once so far (on Nov. 2nd). He had been napping, and Dan heard a "thump" and then crying coming from upstairs. Dan found Ethan sprawled out on his back on the floor. We think that he must have fallen pretty hard and the whole experience really startled and scared him, so he hasn't tried to climb out again yet. It's just a matter of time though, so this is all the more reason to finish preparations for his big boy room.

12-22-08: MANY New Posts in the Works- Sorry for the Delay!

Our last month or so has been incredibly hectic, therefore I have not been very diligent at keeping our family's blog up-to-date. I am going to work on adding a TON of new entries that will hopefully be ready to post in the very near future. Please check back soon!

Disappointment about a Cancelled Order for a Fantastic Carseat Deal

All of you probably know that I am constantly on the hunt for bargains. Recently I came across several posts on money-saving blogs that I follow regarding the Britax Marathon graphite carseat (regularly priced at $279.99) being on sale at Target.com for $42.99 with free shipping. What a deal! Britax is a well-known and respected carseat manufacturer and has a great safety track record and reputation. I quickly jumped on the deal, and using our AAA membership discount (10%), was able to order one for $41 after tax. I was so excited that Baby Q would have a great carseat at such a rock bottom price. Of course oftentimes things that seem too good to be true are, and a couple days later Target cancelled a huge portion of the orders that were placed for this carseat due to a pricing error on their website. What was most frustrating though is that many people's orders were actually filled, and some people received multiple (I read online at least up to 4) carseats at this price. I guess since Target didn't catch the error right away, some lucky ducks actually got the deal before their order could be cancelled. Oh well- it was definitely worth a try! There was quite a fiasco and uproar online regarding the cancellation of some orders and fulfillment of others, so Target recently emailed everyone whose order was cancelled a code for a $25 e-gift certificate. I think that was a great gesture by Target to try to subdue angry customers, and now I have $25 to spend at Target that I didn't have before!

I High-Fived Gold Medal Winning Olympic Gymnasts!

My mom purchased tickets to see the Olympic Gymnastics Exhibition as soon as the tickets became available for a local venue. She was able to get 4th row seats (which she assumed meant 4th row up from the floor), but when we arrived at the venue, we discovered that our seats were actually located ON the floor, right next to several of the apparatuses (apparati? ;) Not sure of the plural form of apparatus! We were very excited to get such a close-up view of the routines from gold-medal winning gymnasts as we were literally just feet from the performers. Our seats were closest to two balance beams where we got to see routines performed by Shannon Miller (who won lots of gold medals in previous Olympic games), Shawn Johnson (gold medalist on beam this year), and Nastia Liukin (all-around gold medalist this year). The whole event had lots of special lighting effects along with live music; Due to a computer malfunction, it began about a half hour late. Apparently the computer that ran the whole lights/effects program repeatedly crashed just before the show, but they did manage to get it up and running! At the end of the show, a lot of the gymnasts ran along the stage high-five-ing audience members who were seated on the floor, and Mom and I both got to high-five Shawn Johnson and Nastia Liukin. They'll probably be the only Olympic gold medal winners we'll ever get the opportunity to "meet"!

Shawn Johnson

Nastia LiukinNastia and Shawn at the end of the showMen's bronze medal-winning team

The Hamm brothers did not get to compete this year due to injury, but performed in the show

Shannon Miller during warm-ups

Jordan Pruitt sang live several times right next to our seats. I'm sure there are some teeny-boppers out there that would have been thrilled to sit where we were. I hadn't heard much of her music before, but Mom and I both really enjoyed it. She has a song out now that is on the soundtrack of the movie High School Musical 3.

Interested in Earning Cash-Back on Internet Purchases Too?

I had heard about Ebates from multiple friends of mine, but had not yet signed up. I am planning to make several online purchases as Christmas approaches, so I read more about it and was excited to learn about the decent percentages of cashback you can receive if you visit the retailer's site you want to purchase from through Ebates' site. In making just one internet purchase (from Walmart.com), I earned a $10 Target gift card along with 4% cash back for the purchase amount. The Target gift card was a promotion for registering on Ebates at the time, and I guess this promotional amount varies from $5-10 depending on when you sign up. If you're interested, feel free to check it out! I know that I'll be utilizing it quite a bit this holiday season.
http://www.ebates.com/rf.do?referrerid=c6hJjeLl3RfEYlJODQ81Sw%3D%3D

On a sidenote, the purchase I made from Walmart.com was the first time I'd tried their Site to Store service. I was very glad to have an option where there were no shipping fees, and all I had to do was wait for an email indicating that the item had arrived at our local store, and then I stopped by to pick it up. I bought a 5-drawer wire shelving/basket unit for Ethan's "new" closet in what used to be our guest room, and due to its size and weight, the shipping cost would have been considerable had it been shipped directly to me. I will definitely use this convenient and cost-saving service again.

Our Puzzling Toddler

Ethan has recently become very interested in doing puzzles. I purchased 5 or 6 for him at a garage sale for 10-50 cents apiece, and they are in perfect condition. What a great find! He had several puzzles at home that were the kind that have single pieces (non-interlocking) that get placed into individual spots. These "new" puzzles are all with interlocking pieces and many do not have any sort of defined border. The first puzzle that he worked on independently and did well with was a Sesame Street one with 24 pieces. He has since successfully completed about 8 or 9 more difficult puzzles. It's amazing to see how quickly he can put them all together- by himself! His favorites now are his truck puzzle (construction vehicles), dinosaurs, Bob the Builder, and Sesame Street.

Being Paid to Shop is SO Much Fun!

Can I just tell you one more time how much I love CVS? This was a good week for Extra Care Buck deals, and after 3 transactions at the register, CVS "paid" me $3.50 for all of these items! 2 Listerine Agent Blue mouthwashes, 1 Crest Pro-Health toothpaste, 1 Garnier Fructis shampoo, 1 liter Smart Water, 2 St. Ives bath washes, and 1 L'Oreal Advanced Anti-Wrinkle Serum. I started out with $10 in ECBs and ended up with $14. My out of pocket cost for the 3 transactions total was about 50 cents. You just can't beat that!

Another of Ethan's Crafts from Church

Last week when I picked Ethan up from the childcare after our mom's group met at church, I found that he had made an interesting craft. Can you tell what it is? It is toothpaste in a ziploc baggie, and the kids got to squish it around (in the bag, thankfully!) with their hands to represent the parting of the waters of the Red Sea. Pretty cool, huh? The whole room in the nursery smelled minty fresh when I picked Ethan up. I have been impressed with the creative and clever ideas for crafts that Ethan's gotten to do in our church's childcare, and he just loves making them!

Sadly Another Basement Mishap- More Damaged Boards

When Dan arrived home from work this evening he went to the basement to re-stock Waggles' food. He discovered that water had been leaking through the floor from our kitchen sink, and the water had wicked along the beveled edges of our laminate affecting a large portion of the boards in the middle of our basement floor. Argh. This is after the freezer incident which also resulted in damaged boards. Dan took up a whole lot of floor boards in an effort to allow them to air dry, but sadly they did not regain their original shape, so we are going to have to order several more boxes of expensive laminate to repair the floor. Thankfully the color and style of laminate is still available to purchase or we'd be really be stuck! This was an expense we were not anticipating, but we're now making an effort to be more vigilant about checking the basement at least once a day to try to head off any other flooring disasters.

I've Been Tagged!

My friend and fellow blogger, Christa, has tagged me! Because I've been tagged, I am supposed to reveal seven random things about myself that others may not know. Let's see...

1) I've been in the audience of Oprah twice. Once for one of her bookclub shows and once for a holiday decorating show. For the bookclub show, we (the entire audience) got to preview the movie "Where the Heart is" at a downtown Chicago theater complete with complimentary soda and popcorn even though it was early in the morning. Natalie Portman and Ashley Judd were interviewed live in Oprah's studio too, so we got to see them in person. We received a Toni Morrison book for free (the next one on Oprah's read list). The other show we saw featured Chris Madden and her ideas for Christmas decorating/gift wrapping/gingerbread house making.

2) I am very much a night owl. I have always been prone to staying up very late and sleeping in. For some reason I get most motivated and can focus best when it's in the wee hours of the morning. I rarely went to bed before 1 or 2am in college.

3) My entire family was in a very serious car accident when I was 3 years old. A young newlywed couple who were college students lost control of their vehicle and hit our's. Sadly neither of them survived the accident. None of my family were wearing seatbelts, and we all suffered major injuries. I had a broken leg and my mom's head had hit and shattered the windshield (this was before shatter-proof glass), and glass shards cut my face in several places. We overwhelmed the emergency room, so a urologist had to do the stitches on my face. No wonder I have some scars...

4) I am a thrifty coupon addict and love saving money at CVS using their Extra Care Bucks and manufacturer coupons. I just started "CVSing" in May and, according to my receipts, I have saved around $2000.00 so far. Woo hoo!

5) I've participated in two missions trips through my university, one to El Salvador and the other to Nicaragua. I was the team photographer both trips and assisted both the construction and medical crews in extremely impoverished areas. We were on site for about 2 1/2 weeks for each trip. Talk about amazing, eye-opening experiences... We flew in a tiny (8 or 10-seater) plane to the remote region of Nicaragua where we served, and our landing strip was literally the main dirt road of the community. As we approached, people, chickens, pigs, cows, etc. scattered to get out of the plane's way!

6) For some reason I have a mental block when it comes to our garage door. For the life of me, I can never remember if I've rolled the garage door down or not. Every time I leave the house I question whether I remembered to push the button on the garage door opener. It drives Dan crazy, and sometimes I end up driving back around our block just to see if I remembered to close it.

7) Dan and I didn't have a name definitively selected for Ethan when he was born. Dan preferred the name "Noah", and I loved the name "Ethan". Just after he was born, the LDR nurse asked what his name was, and Dan and I just looked at each other for a moment. After witnessing the details of childbirth, Dan kindly offered to go with the name that I had selected, so that is how we decided upon "Ethan".

8) I have been skydiving... indoors that is. There are very few places in the U.S. where you can do this, but our family vacationed in one of the cities that has an indoor skydiving facility. It was a very interesting (and somewhat painful) experience because when you fall out of the windflow from this gigantic fan at the bottom of a silo-looking room, you get thrown against the wall. Thankfully the walls are lined with mats (like gymnastics or wrestling mats) to cushion the blow. It was a once-in-a-lifetime very fun adventure.

Ok, so when I was brainstorming what these 7 random tidbits about myself might be, I came up with 8 possibilities, and (because I can be incredibly indecisive) I went with 8 instead of narrowing them down to 7 ;)

I am also supposed to tag others to participate, so I am tagging a few friends who maintain their own blogs too:
Lori
Kim R.
Staci
Melinda
Please let me know if you decide to participate! :)

One of Ethan's Favorite Stuffed Animals, Louie

One of Ethan's favorite stuffed animals is one that my mom bought for him at Hallmark. His cheeks light up and he talks and moves when you hug him. Ethan likes to carry Louie around with him and to "help" him do various things.

Here Ethan is posing with Louie on our chair.

Giving Louie a big hug

Tonight Ethan wanted to "help" Louie play with his wire/bead maze toy. It was so cute to watch him sharing his toy with Louie and guiding Louie's hand (or paw should I say?) to move the beads.

Ethan's "Big Boy" Room is in the Works

The last couple of weekends we spent some time shopping for "big boy" furniture for Ethan. We decided to keep the nursery the same as it currently is for Baby Q and to convert our guest room (which is larger) into Ethan's bedroom. Currently my old bedroom set is in the guest room, but it is VERY feminine and not boy-appropriate, so my parents are going to use that set for their guest room. So, we've been shopping for a full bed, a dresser, and an armoire for Ethan's room. We found a pretty good deal at a local children's furniture store (the same one where we purchased our entire nursery set and glider). The pieces we purchased are floor models, so they weren't overly expensive, we don't have to wait for them to be shipped, and we can pick them up as soon as a few minor mars to the wood are repaired. I should have taken some photos of the set at the store, but didn't think to take my camera with me. To give you an idea of what his room will look like, the bed that we purchased is actually from a convertible crib (but comes with full-sized bed rails instead of the other crib parts). It is the bed pictured below:

The armoire and dresser that we bought are from a different manufacturer, but the finishes and style match almost perfectly, and the pieces go together better than if we had bought all of them from the same company. Weird, huh? They were in different places on the show floor, and we asked the staff to put the pieces next to one another. They looked great together! The armoire that we bought is below, but is in a darker finish than the one pictured:

This is the dresser that we bought, but the finish is lighter than in the picture. So, the finish of all three pieces is almost identical and somewhere in between what it looks like in the armoire and dresser photos.

Ethan is excited to move to a big boy room, so hopefully he will adjust well once we are able to pick up the furniture and truly assemble his new room!