Tag: Monte

August 3, 2013

Tax Free Holiday & Back to School

This weekend is the infamous “Tax Free Holiday” in Iowa. It is Friday and Saturday. It always falls perfectly with back to school shopping.

This is a great opportunity to save money on purchasing clothes, shoes, and some various school supplies.

It’s a bummer that not all school supplies are covered, BUT most stores have some awesome sales that make it worth getting ALL of your shopping done in one shot.

For a complete list of Tax Free Holiday items check it out here.

Monte is starting a 2-year old program this Fall and I am SUPER excited for him! It is every Friday for a few hours. It will be great for him to meet and interact with other kids. It will also be a great opprtunity for him to hear the word “no” from another authority figure besides myself and Travis.

Anyways, since that is starting in less then a month we were given a very short supply list which include things such as: watercolor paints, glue, kleenex, 3-ring binder, etc. Nothing too fancy.

I thought it was a good idea to take advantage of today’s Tax Free Holiday so I headed to Super Target to get these items and some other neccesities for the house.

I headed straight for the school supply section and man was it chaotic! I could barely get in and out of the aisles and most of the displays and aisles looked something like this …

I felt bad for the poor Target employee who was in charge of straightening and putting things back into their proper spots. You could tell he was getting easily annoyed when he would place something back, then turn around to find it all out of place again 🙁

When I was in school, I loved the beginning of the new year. I loved picking out new folders, pens, binders, crayons, etc. It was always so much fun to get new things and also to organize and sort things to get ready or the new year. (Remember I love to sort and organize!)

One cool thing I came across must evidentally be a new “trend” this year.

These tin boxes, that had Crayola displayed across them …

Displayed right above the tins were about 20 different boxes of titled crayons

They had Mermaid Shimmer which had a small amount of glitter in the color, Pink Princess which were pastel, girly colors and Dinosaur Roar. I even saw a pirate themed pack. They were all a pack of 8 crayons, so you could choose several packs of different varieties and keep them in your Crayola tin. I’m a bit jealous we didn’t have anything like that when I went to school!

Did you take advantage of the Tax Free Holiday?

August 1, 2013

Clowns at the Carousel

One fun attraction in the Des Moines area is The Heritage Carousel at Union Park. This is one item on Monte and I’s 2013 Summer Bucketlist. It looks like this Sunday may be a good day to get it crossed off!

Clowns At The Carousel

This Sunday, August 4th 4:00 p.m. until 7:00 p.m.

There will be balloons, carousel rides, inflatable rides, face paintings, entertainment, food and so much more! This is all free to the public!

History of the Carousel
The Heritage Carousel is an organization which is operated under the Des Moines Carousel Foundation, a non-profit organization. Volunteers, part-time director and other assistance are the people who keep the carousel up to date and funtioning from Memorial Day weekend until the end of September.

If you look closely at the carousel, the wood work and painting represent certain history and places in Des Moines.

J.C. ‘Buz’ Brenton was the master mind behind this great idea. He also helped gather private funds to purchase the carousel and assisted in choosing a spot for the carousel to be placed.

Union Park was the chosen place! This would be a place where families could gather and children could have fun at an affordable price.

To this day you can rent the carousel for various occasions such as weddings, birthdays, and other various get togethers.

Today, you can ride the carousel 50 cents a ride.

Union Park

If you are going to check out the carousel, Union Park also offers a bunch of attractions. They have the infamous rocket slide!

A wading pool, shelters, and other playgrounds are available also.

You can make a day out of visiting Union Park and The Heritage Carousel!

All this information can be found at Clowns At The Carousel and The Heritage Carousel of Des Moines

Have you ever been to The Heritage Carousel or Union Park before?

August 1, 2013

Routines & Schedules

I’m a girl of routine, schedules and organization! If I do not have a routine, my life is haywire! It is good to stray away from schedules and routines from time to time. At the beginning of July, Travis, my dad and I took a much needed vacation to Chicago and Milwaukee. It was a lot of fun!

When we returned, we just could ~~not~~ get back into the groove of things. Many things came up including work schedules, life events, etc. I am a person if I do not have a routine of eating, exercising, going to bed at a decent time and so on, I am not very pleasant to be around and feel like crap 24/7 (ask the hubby and mi padre).

BUT, it is now August 1st and I am determined to get back into a routine! Including blogging 🙂

One thing Travis and I invested in to help with our “routine” was a Keurig!

We LOVE how easy and quick it is to make coffee in the morning. For awhile, I was getting into the habit of going to Starbucks, Dunkn Donuts or Smokey Row for my coffee because it was easy and tasted better then any coffee that I could make. When I did that, I ended up buying myself a scone (what is a coffee shop coffee without a bakery item?) The calories started adding up and it was putting a dent in our budget. Now, the Keurig tastes just like any cup of coffee, I would pick up elsewhere. We also don’t HAVE to buy the k-cups (which are nice) we can use any ground coffee with the machine, because we have the my K-Cup. Overall, I give this product a BIG thumbs up!

Mr. Monte has surely felt the effects of not being on a set routine! He got used to staying up late, doing whatever, whenever and not eating the best. Now that we are trying to get back into that routine we are also dealing with more teeth popping up! My poor little guy was miserable yesterday. He barely ate anything and was fussy!

After some coaxing, I put frozen (thawed a bit) Chobani blueberry yogurt on a frozen teething ring. Not only did he realize “oh this is yummy” but he also realized that the frozen teething ring felt good on his mouth!

What are some of your tricks and tips with kiddos teething?