Busy "Big" Weekend

I can't believe it's Monday again! We had a busy weekend. On Saturday I took to the kids to our town's fall festival.

We only spent the morning there, which was just enough. A little shopping, a little browsing, a little visiting with the locals and a little something to eat.

On Sunday, we headed north to The Big E! New Englanders know that The Big E is our biggest fair. It's in Massachusetts, and celebrates all the New England States. It's your typical large fair -- many vendors, agricultural and crafts exhibits, animals, amusements, rides, shows and, of course, lots of food!

When my husband mentioned that he wanted the family to go on Sunday, I did what I always do: I headed to the Internet for some quick research! I know they have special "days" where they honor organizations, states, etc. And it turned out that Sunday just so happened to be Girl Scout Day! All scouts in uniform would be admitted free of charge. So Big Girl got her vest, and I put on my GS leader pins, and they let both of us through the gates for free -- saving my family $25. (The twins were free because they are little; my husband was the only person who had to pay admission.)

At The Big E, they have special buildings dedicated to the New England states; they are all lined up in the photo below...

Of course, we had to stop in Vermont for some flatbread! It's one of our favorite things on our Vermont vacations so it was a treat to stop here and have some for lunch.

The Connecticut building had our favorite family toy:

Of course he's hold a famous Frankie's hot dog (at least I think he is)... We love our Frankie's here in CT!

Did you know that the American LEGO headquarters are in Enfield, Conn.? I wish they had a visitor's center or even a LEGO store. Believe it or not, there is not one LEGO shop in CT. Such a shame. I would shop there!

We walked around to try and see everything, but it's basically impossible. There is so much to see, and since it was a Sunday, it was very crowded. But we managed, and the twins -- despite waking up at 5:30 a.m. that morning! -- held out. Buddy Twin actually fell asleep in the stroller for a long time; Bunny Twin just zoned out and watched the action. My hubby and Big Girl tried a few rides; we looked at some displays and had some fair treats.

By mid-afternoon, we were ready to go home, but not after checking out this:

Well, let's just call Paula Deen and have a party! It's a butter sculpture! And in case you were wondering:

That's a lot of butter :)

I'm all faired out now. We've been to three fairs in two weeks. So today, it's back to the grind. I have mountains of laundry, work assignments to do and an overgrown yard that needs some sprucing up for fall. Over the weekend I took out some fall decorations; I am totally ready to go pumpkin and apple picking! Enjoy your day!

This MoM Can't Live Without: My K-Cup

 

I love my coffee. I look forward to my first cup of coffee every morning, and with the cooler months coming, I look forward to it even more. I probably drink too much of the caffeinated stuff; I try to stick to no more than three mugs of my favorite drink daily. We have a Keurig, and my three cups, plus my husband's occassional brewings, can cost a lot when you are using K-cups.

For a long time now I have been using My K-Cup, a reusuable coffee filter/K-cup that you can fill with any ground coffee. The accessory came with my first Keurig and I have found that it definitely saves me a lot of money. I am really the one person who uses it: My husband likes the convenience of the regular pre-packaged K-cups, which I also keep on hand for visitors. But if it's just me, home alone, I'm refilling My K-Cup! (Or if I make coffee for my husband, I use it too -- every little cent counts!)

My K-Cup is basically three pieces: a tiny resuable coffee filter where you put the ground coffee, a grey plastic cone which you put the filter in, and a round top that screws on and holds it all together. It obviously require more effort to use: You must put coffee in it, and therefore you must empty the used grounds out. But the few seconds that it takes to use this is a big money saver for a MoM on a budget like me. And clearly it must be better for the environment since you are not throwing out all the plastic cups every time you make coffee.

Before you use the K-Cup, you need to pop out the piece with the triangle in the photo below:

Now your brewer will look like this:

Fill up your K-cup filter:

Put the filter in the grey cylinder, add the top and set it in the hole in your brewer:

Now, just close the coffee maker and brew away:

See the coffee above? I love it! I'm sure many of you out there in Internet land like Pumpkin Spice flavored coffee too, otherwise it would not be hyped at every coffee shop from Starbucks to Dunkin Donuts. I was in Target the other day, and I had the box of Green Mountain Pumpkin Spice K-cups in my hand ($10.50-ish for 18 cups) when I spotted the bag of coffee for only $6-ish. The bag of coffee will last much longer than 18 K-cups.

I've been using my Pumpkin Spice coffee with this creamer:

It's the Aldi version of liquid coffee creamer like Coffeemate or International Delight. It's a giant bottle and it costs under $2. I add a little of this to my black coffee (no sugar) and it tastes as good as any Starbucks fancy coffee drink.

See? Even you are at home, on a major budget like me, you can still have a little treat.

To find other products which have saved my sanity

as a MoM (mom of multiples),

check out my MoM Reviews here!

A Holiday Reminder!

Christmas is coming!

I know, it's hard to imagine, but it is. Christmas lights are up in my local Target already -- even though they are still putting out the Halloween stuff. I don't know about you, but I'm still trying to get adjusted to school. (Although I have a confession: I do have several Christmas gifts already purchased!)

Here's an article I wrote to kickstart your holiday shopping: Saving Money on Christmas Gifts. Enjoy!

FREE FUN: Let's Go To The Mall!

The reason for our trip to the mall:
Big Girl wanted a Girl Scout uniform for her bear!

Last Monday was the last day of summer vacation. Hubby was busy and I had three kids to keep in check. Big Girl had been bugging me for weeks to go to Build-A-Bear, and I finally relented under one condition: She had to use her own money.

She agreed, and so off we went to a mall that isn't the closest one -- we need a bigger shopping mall with a Build-A-Bear. I knew it would be crazy on Labor Day, but I figured it was a way to get out of the house and get a change of scenery. We packed some snacks and planned to browse a little beyond the dreaded stuffed animal store.

As I was walking around the mall, I decided that even though the funds are tight, the mall is actually a great place to go for FREE! If you can get past the temptations of all the wares around you, it's actually not a bad place to spend an afternoon with little ones who will still sit in a stroller. They look at people, Mom gets some exercise walking around, and there are a few attractions for the tots.

So let's go to the mall!



(I just had to post this video. If you are "How I Met Your Mother" fans you will will hopefully get a laugh!)

OK, back to our purpose of this post -- free fun at malls! Most malls have things like fountains, or trees, or elevators; some have free play spaces; and during the holidays there are plenty of decorations to see. The sights and sounds can be stimulating to little ones. And although my twins are not elevator fans just yet, this mall had two clear glass elevators that could seem fun to the right tots.

There are plenty of kid-friendly stores to enjoy at certain malls. My favorite?

The Disney Store, of course! Who doesn't smile when they see giant Mickey? Although I rarely buy much in The Disney Store (we don't NEED much there), being in this shop makes me happy and reminds me of happy memories at Disney World. The music, the film clips playing, and all the characters bring joy to all ages. Some stores even have things like storytime on certain days and times, or offer spots where kids can color a Disney picture.

We also took time to enjoy the front part of The Rainforest Cafe -- ours has a little gift shop, and you can see a talking tree, enjoy the rainforest sounds, see an faux alligator in a shallow lagoon.

And then there are the fish aquariums at the cafe entrance:

The twins loved these and probably could have watched them for hours. It was free entertainment without paying a lunch tab. And if your mall has a food court, you can sit down with a lunch packed from home for a meal outside of your own home.

Malls often have events for children during the day, or storytimes, etc. Look up your local mall's website to see if there is anything going on that is free for your little ones.

Now that Big Girl is in school, we might take a trip or two to the mall to just get out of the house, enjoy the sights and hopefully come home without shopping bags!

TWINS TUESDAYS: Twin Mom Support Groups

Twins can be cute, but any mom of multiples needs support!

Last Wednesday night I went to my first Mothers of Multiples meeting. It took me nearly 3 years to get there, but I'm glad I went.

I had wanted to join this group for some time, but so much keep me from getting around to it. Originally it was just a bad night, as my older daughter's PTO meetings were the same night of the month. And Wednesdays are hard, as my husband golfs in the warmer months and bowls in the cool months. And we have our religion instruction on Wednesdays too, so it's just a busy day in general.

But now my current PTO meets a different Wednesday. And the Mothers of Multiples local chapter for our region now meets in my town! It was time to get involved. I have been having many issues with the little ones lately, from their non-stop energy level, discipline, sibling fighting, etc., and I really needed to find out if it was me, or a "twin thing."

This was the first meeting of their new year, and there were several new MoMs there. The group usually tries  to have a speaker come, but this meeting did not, so we just chatted about our kids and issues we were having. It was wonderful! The stories many were sharing could have come out of my own mouth. For the first time in a long time, I truly felt that I was not a completely bad parent.

One MoM even said so many things that I felt -- that it's just hard to do anything with a second adult... That she dreads parties and family events... That she sometimes feels trapped in her house... It was everything I feel, and often everything that non-twin moms don't understand.

This particular MoM group has activities beyond their meetings: outings at play areas, holiday parties, and more. I don't know if I can fit everything in, but I'm at least glad to know that once a month I can be with other MoMs who might give me some guidance or at least lend an sympathetic ear.

And I am looking for forward to the speakers they have lined up for this year. The schedule includes a yoga instructor, a personal organizer, and a pediatrician to answer questions about development.

If you are looking for a local chapter, visit the National Organization of Mothers of Twins Clubs website. You can also find numerous resources on multiples at the site.

Fair Days

We went to our local country fair this weekend, and guess what? I won a ribbon! And so did Big Girl! And so did Hubby! Ribbons all around for everyone!

My husband has entered his photography for years, and won several ribbons. Big Girl has entered the youth photography contest for a few years now, and also has a few ribbons, including a Best of Show ribbon. This year, I decided to throw a few of my snapshots in the "fair" category, where you enter pictures of last year's fair. The entry fee is $8, which also gives you admission to the fair for the entire weekend. We always go anyway, so I figured it would just be fun to enter. I entered a few, but it was the shot below with all the clouds that landed a prize.

And guess what? In addition to my second-place red ribbon, I won $8! I thought that was kind of funny.

Hubby got several ribbons, including a first-place blue ribbon:

Big Girl got a second-place ribbon and a fourth-place one. Here she is, posing with her second place winner in the Still Life category:

We are proud of Big Girl for her ribbons, particularly since her fourth-place was in the black-and-white snapshots category, which is for all ages, including adults.

Hubby has a zillion ribbons now, and I am never sure how to display them. I have them in my office hanging on the side of a wire organizer. I should find some crafty way to display them, but I'm never sure. I'd like to do something on the wall next to the stairs going down to the basement and the family room. Another project to tackle!

We went to the fair early Saturday morning, which has now become our annual routine. It's much less crowded early in the morning, which is what I love. I am not a crowd person, and neither is my husband. At 8:45 a.m., it was fairly quiet and mostly empty. Rain was expected midday, so I'm sure that contributed to people staying away until the weather cleared.

We walked around and looked at all the displays and entries. Pretty flowers:

Gigantic pumpkins!

Ma Ingalls' stove! :)

And dozens and dozens of tractors:

Don't you just love fairs? To me, this fair always signals the start of fall. I love looking at all the agricultural displays, the canned goods, the pies, the produce. It's lovely to celebrate old-fashioned talents that are showcased at the fair when most people just seemed to be connected to technology all day, every day.

We didn't leave with any "souvenirs" -- so much of the fair shopping was disappointingly junky. (However, I was totally in love with these shirts. I mean really in love! They are so cute. May have to order some for Christmas!) Of course, I couldn't leave without a bag of my absolute favorite kind of kettle corn:

I think this is my favorite booth at the fair. It's so adorable I want to live in it. And I love, love, love their kettle corn! Now I am not really a kettle corn fan. I like my popcorn buttery and salty. But there is just something about this particular stand's corn -- it's not TOO sweet, just right. And it has that homemade popped in oil taste. It's delicious. And kind of pricey. But it's my favorite fair treat.

Big Girl had a pretzel:

And the rest of us tried out the fried dough:

The twins enjoyed their time at the fair too, particularly seeing all the animals. We saw cows and chickens, ducks and rabbits, goats and sheep and horses and turkeys and so many other creatures.

By noon, the rain came -- and a tornado watch! -- but we were back home and munching on kettle corn!

Happy Weekend

School started on Tuesday -- that's Big Girl on her first day of fifth grade! -- and it has been a crazy week. I'm still trying to adjust to how to manage the little ones and get back into the school routine. I was out two nights this week with meetings, so I'm a little "off" and don't have a post prepared for today. Usually I'm ahead -- now I'm caught up!

I hope you all have a lovely weekend. We are planning to go to a local country fair this weekend... Big Girl has a bedroom to tidy up from the busy week... I need to make several to-do lists and schedules mapped out... And plan the meals for the upcoming week.

And I need to figure out how to keep the two tiny siblings busy when their beloved sister is in school all day!

Have a great weekend!