jl | The Angel Forever

Category Archives jl

Weekend away and pool time

Posted on March 16, 2009 1:20 pm by TheAngelForever

When JL made the reservation at the hotel for the weekend, having a pool was a huge perk. One of the hotels had it closed for a function for the evening thanks to a party. We quickly said no to that hotel thanks to that and no free breakfast.

After going to the outlets on the way to the hotel (great deals on clothing and shoes for the kids), heading to an important store that is not close to home, and meeting my sister-in-law and her family for dinner we opted not to go in the pool Saturday. We figured the kids would be more fresh and enjoy it Sunday morning after a quick breakfast. What I fail to mention was the stress of getting lost twice after we arrived at our destination. Google Maps said the one store was on the left, nope on the right. We managed to quickly find our location. Going home from the mall at night was not the same. A 12 minute ride took us over 45 very stressful minutes. When we arrived back at our room after 9:00 I was already in a mood. The noise issues going to 2:00 in the morning did not help.

The morning brought a new day and we were hoping to have some fun in the pool. I opted not to swim and take photos. This was partially thanks to my electric razor dying and needing a new part. Nol retailers locally feel the need to sell said items for women, and only do for men. *sigh* If you know of any online that sell the foil guard and blades please let me know.

NHL was told that he could not go in the pool right away. His behavior at breakfast left a lot to be desired. So he sat on the side looking around. He was not happy about it, but he sat patiently hoping that we would let him into the pool.

JL tried to take JSL into the water. When he put his little toes into the water the result was this:

Note that rather large tear in his eyes. He was not happy and wanted nothing to do with the COLD water! I grabbed JSL, put him onto the sidelines and we allowed NHL to go into the water. JSL was really tired and happy to sit and watch. Plus he liked getting down to look at his Jibbitz.

Meanwhile NHL adjusted to the cold water and had a blast with Daddy.

NHL played in the pool for 45 minutes or so. Then it was time for all of us to head back to the room to shower, get dressed and pack our things up. We had a double birthday party to head to. The pool time fun for NHL was well worth the money. Now if only the black mold in the shower had not ruined things so quickly (JL did not notice it, but to me it was hard to miss). I guess that should have been a sign that things were going to continue to go downhill.

Categories:
fun jl jsl my boys nasty things nhl photos road trip travel weekend

Our Purim Parade 2009

Posted on March 11, 2009 11:03 am by TheAngelForever

1. Mid sponge toss, 2. LotR JL and Mickey Mouse JSL, 3. Can you tell he’s happy?, 4. Happy Mickey Mouse w/monkey prize, 5. Dr. NHL at your service, 6. The Sponge toss game, 7. The boys with their prizes, 8. Tired Mickey Mouse, 9. Guess who?!

Categories:
fun holidays jl jsl nhl Wordless Wednesday

Goodbye to a long time car

Posted on March 2, 2009 9:17 am by TheAngelForever

Our 1998 Toyota Corolla has a lot of memories that go with the 104,000+ miles. This is the car that JL had when we met. The trusty little car is the one that would make the treks to meet me at the outlets, or come here when we were still dating. The car is pretty much the last big item that we own from before getting married, almost eight years ago.

This morning, JL and NHL ventured off to kindergarten and work in the Corolla for what will likely be the last time. As they made their way to the snow coated car I went outside to take some photos. Yes, I am being sentimental.

As ~~terrifying~~ exciting as it is to be getting a new car, it is like saying goodbye to an old friend. NHL would always go into the Corolla with JL on their way to daycare back in the day. It has also been the main mode of transportation to kindergarten each morning. Thanks to this, I felt it was fitting to have a photo of the big guy with the car that transported some of my precious cargo each day.

Tomorrow I hope to be able to share photos of the boys making their way to school in our new car. What can you say, we are just doing our part to help and stimulate the economy.

Categories:
decisions jl looking back nhl photos school

Sesame Street Live 2009

Posted on February 24, 2009 9:53 am by TheAngelForever

Over the last three years JL, NHL and I have seen three different Sesame Street Live shows. Each one has been fabulous and encouraged us to come back for another. This year the show was Elmo Makes Music and it lived up to our expectations. The show started with Bert, Ernie and Rubber Duckie coming out to introduce the letter and number of the day.

Soon after this the stage exploded with even more favorite Sesame Street characters. The kids in the audience went wild as Cookie Monster, Telly Monster, Prarie Dawn, Zoe, Grover, Big Bird, Elmo and others joined the group.

JSL and Cousin S were taking it all in. They just sat there watching as the characters danced and sang fun songs on the stage.

The little guy started out on my lap and eventually got fussy and wanted JL. At that point I took over with the camera duties. For the first half of the show Cousin S was happy dancing in front of Uncle I to the music. It was so fun to watch her with the Mamba number.

Here is the way the kids looks after the switch off.

The boys

After a while JSL started to get into the show. He was telling JL each time he saw Cookie Monster and Grover. They were definitely the highlight of his show experience.

Cousin S was excited when she saw Count. She demonstrated her count laugh (priceless) and stood mesmerized with the happenings. She was also quite fond of the part on Elmo’s World.

Soon after Elmo’s World it was time for the characters to take a break before the second half. Here are a few more photos from the start of the show.

While waiting for the second half of the show the kids played by our seats and had some snacks. They also sold the $8 Elmos balloons that we did not purchase. The boys talked about seeing Cookie Monster and Grover again.

Little did we know that a mystery would take place. The mystery of the missing Sesame Street characters. The two in question are seen below. They are fuzzy and blue. One may be seen eating a cookie and the other with a Super cape.

Why the mystery? Neither of these characters showed up again in the second half of the show! There was much disappoinement, but they did get over it. During the second half of the show Cousin S also made up her mind that she wanted to sit with Uncle JL and JSL. She made herself right at home and enjoyed the view.

The rest of the show was more fast paced than the first act. Bert came out for a 1970’s Disco number, Big Bird and Baby Bear (we all cringed when he showed up on the scene) sang Rockin Robbin, the Count did a tribute to the number 8, and there was the finale. Here are some favorite photos from the end of the show.

If you ever have the opportunity to see a Sesame Street Live show I highly recommend it. They put on a highly entertaining production for a reasonable price. I hope we will be able to see them again in 2010!

Categories:
family fun jl jsl milestone my boys nhl photos show weekend

Coupon Crazy

Posted on February 10, 2009 9:06 am by TheAngelForever

With the tough economic times more and more people are clipping coupons. Count me into this mix. JL and I work as a team to do this. He has been quite pleased with the amount that I have saved using coupons at places like CVS, BJ’s and the grocery store.

One problem we have had is file folder that we used for the coupons. Here it is:

This was great when we first started to be serious about couponing, but we quickly outgrew it. There were not enough sections for different categories. Plus when we began buying extra Sunday papers it was filled too quickly. Here is a fresh new pile of coupons that I cut yesterday and another stack of inserts ready to be done.

Many bloggers have been talking about systems to use with coupons. Several mentioned binders and baseball card holders for the coupons. We had the binders and tabs already at home. A week or two ago we bought the card holders. This weekend we finally started the process of moving things into the binder.

I usually pull out the soon to expire or expired coupons, cut new coupons and JL organizes them into the binder. It is a great system and we hope to save even more with it. Here is what I bought on my most recent CVS trip. I was using the old coupon system. I had coupons from the Sunday paper, CVS coupons, and ECBs. I spent less than $2.50 out of pocket on everything in the photo.