Keeping up with the Heimsoth's: April 2010

Wednesday, April 28, 2010

CSN Stores Gift Certificate Giveaway!!

I was recently contacted by CSN stores to host a gift certificate giveaway.

CSN stores has over 200 + stores online to shop from and some of their items have free shipping so I would recommend when shopping at their stores you look for the FREE SHIPPING written under the item. Here are some of the wonderful products that they sell Toddler Beds, Toys and Cookware.

I would highly recommended you to go over to the CSN Stores main web site and check them out for yourself.

David would love the Toy Story bed

and Jaclyn would love the Princess bed.

I however am having a hard time deciding what will be my first purchase from CSN Stores.

I was not paid to write this post but CSN Stores is providing this giveaway.

WOULD YOU LIKE A CHANCE TO WIN A $40.00 GIFT CERTIFICATE TO CSN STORES????

* For your first entry simply go over to http://www.csnstores.com/ and then come back here and leave me a comment on something that you like!

For more entries you can do any of the following - make sure that you LEAVE A SEPARATE COMMENT for each entry!! :)
Please remember to leave me your email contact so that I am able to contact you if you win!!

1) Become a fan of CSN Stores on Facebook
2) Follow my blog via Google Friend Connect
3) Add my button to your site and leave me a link
4) Share this giveaway on your blog or facebook and leave me a link
5) Follow me on Twitter

CLOSED

Winner has been notified by email.

This giveaway will remain open until May 12

available to US and Canada only.

Winner will be chosen by random.org and contacted by email. The winner will have 48 hours to respond or I will choose another winner.

You Want How Much????

I am really frustrated right now! For over a year now I have been trying to have our couches fixed. Let me explain to you a little about what that has been like for me and my frustrations. It all started when we put our belongings into storage when we were moves during my last few weeks of pregnancy with Jaclyn.

We moved into our new place and three weeks later Jaclyn was born. When Jaclyn was two weeks old I was sitting on the couch nursing her with David sitting beside me watching a movie. I looked over at David and that's when I saw them. I had silver fish crawling on the back of my couch. For those of you who don't know what I am talking about they are these really gross insects that hatched in my couch when it was in storage. Here is a picture

I was so disgusted that I got off the couch so fast. In one hand I was still holding Jaclyn as she nursed and in the other I had David. Then I called my mom upset that I had these bugs on my couch and I had a new baby and a young toddler not to mention Chris was working. Did I mention that I had a c-section with Jaclyn and that I was still not allowed to hold anything heavier then my baby or clean. I called my mom and she came over to help me clean and figure out what to do next. On her way over my brother Jeremiah called her to say he was on his way over for a visit. My mom explained my situation and he said he would meet her at my house. When my brother arrived at my house the first thing he did was get the disgusting silverfish infested couch out of my house. Then my mom and brother cleaned my whole house for me, such a blessing!

Chris and I had some money saved at the time, we decided to go and buy some new couches with our money. Chris and I have always wanted leather couches so we figured that now would be the best time to buy them. We had a budget and we new that we could stay with in it.

We found a beautiful dark brown leather set of couches that we both loved and they were in our price range. We bought them!!

After owning them for one year I noticed one day that our love seat had a small tear in the seat. I contacted the company that we bought it from to have them fix it, after all I did buy the warranty. After having a tech come out and look at my couch I was told that the damage was not their responsibility but was a manufactures defect. I then contacted the manufacturer and they told me that it was not their problem either. For over 8 months both myself and Chris have had many conversations with both the company and manufacturer and after months of getting passed off to one manager to another we were told that it was MY problem and that I was responsible to have it repaired. Even though BOTH companies admitted to me that my couches were made with faulty leather.

Over the last few months I have been looking for a local company that would be able to fix my couches and not cost me a ridiculous amount of money. Most companies I have talked to have told me it will cost me $150 to have someone come out to my house and then give me an estimate. I figured if its going to cost me that much just for an estimate then they will be over charging for a repair as well. Then yesterday I found a company who could do an estimate for me over email, all I have to do is send them pictures of the damage. I was thinking, great finally a place that will have decent prices. I received an email today with my estimate.

Here is the breakdown for my repair:

repair: $1650.00

pick-up/delivery: $170.00

taxes: $????

Total Cost: $1820.00 plus tax

That is crazy!!! I only paid $2000.00 for my couches new. As wonderful as my couches are they are not worth $4000.00.

After over a year of talking with different company about my couches I have decided to make custom covers for the seats of the couches. I am determined to make my couches look fantastic with there custom covers. I am not sure as to when the covers will be finished but when they are I will post some pictures of the final product.

I am now looking for ideas on color and fabric.

What type of fabric would you use? What color?

Monday, April 26, 2010

Silly Talent

"look mom, no hands"

Saturday, April 24, 2010

Comics

Last summer I found Mickey Mouse comics. I bought some thinking that they would be great when we were in long car rides or stuck somewhere and I needed to entertain the kids. Every time I have brought them out in the past the kids didn't seem that interested in them. The other day I had the comics sitting on the counter and was planning on putting them away for a little while until the kids were older.

I went to do some laundry and when I came back this is how I found my kids.

Both David and Jaclyn ended up sitting and reading their comics for almost 30 minutes.

I am planning on keeping the comics around for the kids and maybe even see if there are more available.

Its funny how some things kids learn on their own, especially boys.

Yesterday we were getting David some new socks and let him pick them out. Out of all the socks there he picked Batman, now he doesn't know who Batman is he just thought that he looked cool and wears a cape.

Thursday, April 22, 2010

Pre-School

Tuesday, April 20, 2010

Ukulele

Both David and Jaclyn love music and we thought that we would teach them to play an instrument. The other night Chris did some research and found Ukulele that would work perfect for a first instrument for them. .

Chris's idea is that I would teach the kids how to play as part of the early pre-school that I am currently teaching them. The only problem with his idea is that I don't play an instrument, sure I understand some of the basic ideas behind playing but I still don't play. When I was a kid I took piano lessons for about six months but that was a long time ago. Since then I have picked up a guitar a few times but never really made music.

I have wanted to play the guitar for a few years now, I figured now would would be a good time to learn.

We bought a book called Teach Yourself To Play Ukulele. My plan is to teach myself at night and then I will be able to teach the kids how to play. This should be a fun hobby for us to learn together, the kids and I are excited to play together.

David is starting to figure things out

Jaclyn loves her pink ukulele and loves that she can make her own music

Chris brought out his base to show the kids, they were really excited to see that daddy plays an instrument!

Saturday, April 17, 2010

My Sleeping Boy

This afternoon during nap time David came out of his room half asleep holding his pillow so I picked him up and put him in my bed to finish his nap with me. As soon as he was covered he promptly went back to sleep.

Here are some pictures I took of him as he was starting to wake up.

David is such a good sleeper and will sleep just about anywhere. He has even slept on the floor of a friends house when we were visiting, all the matters to him is that he knows that I am close.

Ready for Spring!!!

I feel like between the four of us we have been sick a lot lately.

We will all be healthy for awhile and then someone gets a cold or flu and shares it with the rest of us. Thankfully spring is here and summer is coming!!!

My family is ready to play in the sun and have outdoor picnics and go camping. David has been asking every day if it is time to go camping. The kids are also excited to play on there bikes and go to the park on a regular basis again. We are ready for the next few months and spending as much time outside as possible.

Here are my sick kids on the floor all tucked in watching Toy Story 2 and ready to fall asleep again.

What are your plans this spring??

Wednesday, April 14, 2010

Lists, lists and more lists

This week I have been doing a lot of planning and organizing. Now I am a list person, they keep me organized and I love being organized! I have list for everything from what we are doing this week, shopping, menu's, cleaning, sorting, packing and just about anything I can think of that needs to be organized.

So far this week I have been sick and just feeling gross all over. So the kids and I have not been spending a lot of time on the couch reading books, building with lego and watching movies..............and writing lists!

I have so much to do right now that I don't know where to start.........well I do know where to start I just wish I had more time in the day and wasn't sick to start! Here is just a few of the things that I have on my list: cleaning/organizing, packing, quilting, cake making and then I have the other stuff on my daily schedule to keep up with.

So where should I start?

Do I clean and organize all of our belongings to be ready to be packed. (we are moving in the summer.)

Do I finish some of the projects I have going for quilting?

Do I make cakes? I have two cakes coming up that I am making. But how much can I really do before the event that the cake is needed for?

So here I am blogging about all that I have to get done in the next two months and all I really want is to feel better and not have a headache anymore.

So this afternoon I think I will start to tackle one of my many list and slowly check things off!!

Monday, April 12, 2010

Sleeping Mask

I know that I have put up a lot of pictures of Jaclyn sleeping lately and its only because she is so darn cute when she sleeps.

Here is yet another picture of her sleeping, well actually she is pretending to sleep. She took one of our sleeping masks and put it on during her nap the other day........funny girl!!

I will be posting more pictures on David soon I just need him to sit still long enough to take a picture.

Friday, April 09, 2010

Menu Planning and Saving Money!!

As a stay at home mom of two young children living on one income I am always looking for ways to save money. Chris and I would love it if I could stay home full time until the kids are both in school and even then I will most likely only work a part time job. Since this is something we as a family have decided I do everything I can to save the money that Chris makes. Chris is a pastor and as some of you may already know pastors don't make very much money. Right now Chris has taken some time off from full time ministry to get him Masters degree. He is working right now but as you can imagine working a full time job and saving for school doesn't leave very much extra money with a family to support as well.

All that being said I wanted to share with you some of the ways that I have been able to save money.

I have tried making different dinner menus over the last few years and most of them I have to say I didn't stick to for very long. Then I started using the one I have now and I love it!!

What I am doing now is using a leather book that I keep my menu and shopping list in. On one side I have a printed monthly calendar and on the other side I have a note book where I write our shopping list. I try and write my menu at least two weeks in advance. Most of our meals balanced and healthy, I also like to have a fun kid type dinner every week or two.
Some of the things I have done to save is by using the weekly flyer in our local supermarket. As much as I can I buy store brand, buying locally grow or organic is also a great way to save money (at least where I live I can buy some of our fresh foods organic or locally grown for cheaper). I also plan my menu with some of the food I already have in my house rather then buying all new products that way I only buy what is on my shopping list rather then buying things I might use in the next few weeks.

Since I have been using this menu system I have been saving an average of $100-150 per month, that is on my groceries as well as in gas because we are not running out to the store to buy that item that we forgot or to buy a whole meal at the store. I also know in advance what I am making for dinner and my family is eating healthier and I am not stressed during the day trying to figure out what I should make for dinner.

Some of the other ways I save money it by going to different coupon sites to get coupons for the places I am already shopping at. Here are just a few of the sites that I have found for Old Navy, Michael's Crafts, Printable Canadian coupons, More Coupons and there are so many more coupons online all you have to do is look for them.

I am big believer in saving money and still living well as a family. I hope that some of these tips or sites are able to help some of you out as well.

Have a Fantastic Day!!!

Tuesday, April 06, 2010

Home Made Ice Cream

On most days I ask the kids what activity they want to do that day. Usually it will be something like pre-school, baking, cooking, crafts or something else creative. Yesterday when I asked what they wanted to do David said "lets make ice cream!" I then started the process of looking for all the ingredients, I was missing two. The kids and I went for a walk to the store but still were unable to find one item. Chris then picked it up after work last night. This afternoon after their naps we made vanilla ice cream!!

Here they are making there ice cream!

They enjoyed it and asked that we make it again sometime!!

Yummy!!!!!!

This was a really great activity with David and Jaclyn. They were able to be a part of every step and it only took about 10 minutes from step one to eating!

Monday, April 05, 2010

Our Easter Weekend!!

I hope that everyone had a nice Easter!

Our family had a nice family weekend. We spent time together and talked about Jesus and his life here on earth, his death and resurrection. I love talking to my kids about the bible because they have so many questions and want to learn more about who God is and what he did for us. David is at an age now where he is starting to understand more about God and prayer. For example the other night David was having a hard time going to sleep. He called me into his room and asked me to pray again so that he could have a better sleep. After I prayed he said "thanks mom, I feel better now" and he rolled over and promptly went to sleep.

As a christian mother I am filled with joy as I watch my children wanting to learn about Jesus and growing in their own faith!! We had a wonderful Easter together!!

We also went out to visit some friends of ours who had a beautiful baby girl in January. As always it was a great visit with them but not long enough. It was wonderful to see them with their baby girl they are fantastic parents! Jessica is a very blessed little girl to have parents like Tim and Sharolyn who are loving, caring and some of the most compassionate people I know!!