Shrek Forever After House Party!

Last Saturday was the first time I had ever been to or hosted a House Party.  Never heard of it?  Well, now is the time to check it out!  A good friend of mine told me about a party that she had had for House Party and I wanted to do one myself.  You log onto houseparty.com, fill out a profile, and then check out all of the the wonderful party offerings there are.  I selected the parties that I was interested in and that I knew my friends would love to come to.

I was amazed at all of the things that Shrek and McDonald's sent me via House Party to create an amazing party.  They sent me 16 Party invitations (in addition to the email invites that you can send via their website), Shrek napkins, Shrek cups, Shrek plates, two Shrek glasses, a poster for the new Shrek Forever After movie, 16 Shrek Forever After happy meal toys, 15 Shrek Forever After watches, 10 boxes to put 20 all white meat chicken McNuggets in, a happy meal box, 15 coupons for free snack size Mcflurrys, 15 coupons for free Minute Maid apple juice boxes, plus LOTS of codes that could be entered in on McDonalds.com/Shrek. 

With the codes you can unlock games and choose from one of three rewards.  The reward choices are:  A Shrek Flash Mini-Game Pack from Activision, one night DVD rental from Redbox, or a bundle of 25 photo prints from Snapfish (not including shipping and handling).  Amazing huh!  To top it all off they sent me a $75 McDonald's arch card so that I could buy the chicken McNuggets for the party plus any other food (and Happy Meal toys) that I needed for my party.

We had 29 people come to the party!  It was SO fun.  The kids (and the adults) loved the seemingly neverending supply of all white meat Chicken McNuggets.  I also added six large fries from McDonald's.  In addition, we had a veggie tray with hidden valley ranch dip, sliced apples w/ carmel dip (Yes, I stole the idea from McDonald's apple dippers), Chips w/ salsa and guacamole, strawberries and watermelon with a green fruit dip (Shrek green of course), a Shrek cake, and worms in dirt (chocolate pudding with oreo crumbs and gummy worms), and nice refreshing water. 

One of the children brought Shrek twinkies to share, I had a friend that brought several two litters of pop, and another friend brought ice.  The worm pudding was a HUGE success.   We played a game where we stuck a paper with the name and picture of a character on the back of the partygoers.  The person would then ask questions to find out who they were.  The kids then had a great time changing which character they were and talking about who their favorite characters are.  Here are our very own characters:

Bathing Beauty

Emily has "graduated" from her little bathtub.  Now she takes a bath with her big sister.  I thought that I ought to catch her last baby bath tub adventure on camera.  She is such a happy baby!  This smile was not just for the sake of having a cute picture.  I sure love this little gal.

First Visit From the "Tooth Fairy"

 Look at my tooth!

Our "Tooth Fairy" requested that Kayley put her baby teeth in a special box so that she could be sure not to miss any.  ;)

She has now lost two teeth.  She asked me point blank if I was the Tooth Fairy.  I asked her what she thought the answer was.  She said that she was pretty sure I was.  I didn't deny it.  My little girl, 6 going on 16.  Sigh.

Bear World Fun

At the end of July we went up to Idaho Falls to attend my niece's wedding. While we were there, we decided to go play at Bear World. It is a place that you can drive through and see the bears (thus the name), Elk, wolves, and other animals typically found in the wild in Yellowstone. I read that the bears there are mostly bears that have been in films, the circus etc... and their offspring.

They also have a pond where you can feed the fish, a petting zoo, and kiddie rides that are all included in the admission price.

Here are some of the highlights.





Jonathan and Kayley waiting not so patiently for the ride to begin.

My dad is playing the part of papa bear. Brad had to work, so he didn't get to come with us. Laurie is playing the mama bear with Kayley and Jonathan as the babies.


My sister Laurie came and played with us. She is a lot of fun. :)


Jonathan kept calling the deer Bambi.

We're Back (Finally)

This summer has been spent mostly in trying to get my knee to behave. Lame I know, but it definitely wasn't at the top of my list until it had to be. It is still not behaving totally, but the time has come to just exercise it when I can and just get on with life.

So, it is time to get on with the show. It's nice to be back. :)

Say It Isn't So Valassis

I just found out yesterday that Valassis is planning to pull out all of their coupon inserts out newspapers. I am a coupon shopper and have saved my family countless dollars using them. In the process we have tried and now love tons of products that we had never tried before. I personally get two Sunday papers for this very reason.

Here is the statement by Thomas Murray of the Valassis Corporation, which owns RedPlum, issued a press release stating:

"Starting in February, the RedPlum coupon booklet will now be delivered in Cleveland through consumers' mailboxes along with their weekly grocery circulars and other savings and deals. By using direct mail, the RedPlum insert will now be able to reach almost twice as many Cleveland households as in the past. In these challenging economic times, it has never been more important to make these essential savings available to as many Clevelanders as possible so they can stretch the dollars in their wallets." -Thomas Murray, Vice President and General Manager of Free Standing Inserts for the Valassis Corporation

While this may reach more people theoretically it does not do much to help the many families that buy in bulk using multiple coupons to keep their families afloat. I know of several moms who buy 5 or more newspapers because of the amounts that their family consumes and or stocks up on. The newspaper industry is struggling anyway as are many grocery stores. The Red Plum inserts being taken away via newspaper subscriptions will only put more nails into their coffins.

This company has coupons online, but I don't know if that will continue. Many people who have relied on these coupons do not have access to the internet and or a printer. I found out this sad sad news from a fantastic website that I frequent called Pinching Your Pennies. It is a great resource for families that are just eeking by to make the best of their resources.

I really hope that Valassis will reconsider their decision.

Silly Pictures

These unique pictures were created by my SIL. Enjoy! lol!

Back to Cyberland :D

On Friday, we bought our very first laptop as a family. We have really enjoyed it so far. I hope that I never take for granted the mobility of our laptop and wireless internet. I love being able to show my parents pictures that family have sent us without them (or me) having to trek up and down our stairs. It is a beautiful thing!

It's Officially a Gonner ...

Well, my computer has been trying to retire for several months now. It has finally gotten its wish. I hope to be able to replace it with a Macbook, but we shall see.

Lately I've ...

learned a lot about myself. This has come mostly from my experiences trying to recover and move past knee surgury.

1. A "crutch" can be really helpful right after you experience a trauma in your life, but it does more harm than good if you hold onto it too long.

2. I can still accomplish most of the things I need to in my everyday life. It just might take longer and require some interesting tactics.

3. I can do a pretty awesome Frankenstein's Monster impression.

4. I'm getting better at being on the receiving end of meals, child care etc... I do still prefer to be the giver though.

5. I can still keep my kids in line (for some reason they keep trying to take advantage of the situation), I just have to rely on innovative techniques.

6. My hubby and parents are real troopers and I'm very blessed and lucky to have them in my life.