Dallin's Birthday Interview

Instead of me telling you all about Dallin at this age, I figured I'd let him tell you. I interviewed Dallin and these are his answers (with my comments in parentheses).

Dallin according to Dallin

Favorite color: black

Favorite game: Lego Star Wars (on Xbox)

Favorite show: Star Wars (no surprise there)

Favorite book: There's Something in my Attic by Mercer Mayer (He also really likes The Little Old Lady Who Was Not Afraid of Anything by Linda Williams, because it's a Halloween-y book and it's a fun read-aloud participation book)

I really like to wear: hoods (hoodies, jackets, any shirt with a hood)

I love: animals.

Favorite animal: lion (I think he was just throwing an answer out here. I've never noticed a preference for lions.)

Favorite stuffed animal: R2-D2 (The one he got for his birthday last year from his friend)

Favorite breakfast: pancakes

Favorite lunch: cantaloupe (he usually eats other things with it too...)

Favorite dinner: pizza! (Pizza, burritos and mac and cheese are about the only dinners he likes)

Food you don't like: ...um... grass. (He thought his answer was pretty funny.)

What are you really good at: writing (This answer made me happy. I'm glad to hear that he has a positive experience with learning to write and that he feels it is one of his strengths. His writing is definitely improving.)

Best friend: Kendal (his friend with WS who is also in his Kidnergarten class)

Are you going to get married when you grow up? Yes. To whom? Bennett. Maybe mom. (He clearly still has a lot to learn on this subject.)

What do you love to do with mom? make pizza, do art projects

What do you love to do with dad? play Lego Star Wars, do homework

What do you love to do with Connor? Play outside

I would describe myself as: making pizza (I think I was starting to lose him at this point.)

What do you want to be when you grow up: Spiderman! (He's been asked this question a few times at school as a writing prompt and he always answers "Spiderman." We've tried suggesting other realistic professions, but he still wants to be Spiderman. He probably thinks this question is the same as asking "What do you want to be for Halloween?")

Dallin turns 6

Dallin's birthday started with lots of balloons. While the boys were sleeping the night before, we blew up about 100 balloons and put them into their bedroom to surprise Dallin when he woke up on his birthday. We had visions of the room being entirely filled several feet deep. We were not even close to that but we at least covered most of the ground with balloons.

Dallin was really excited so I guess that's what matters. He kept asking all day if he could go play with the balloons. Him and Connor would just run back and forth across the room while the balloons scattered and bounced around them. These balloons have given the kids hours of entertainment.

Bennett likes them too.

I realize he looks less than impressed in this picture.

Mckay and I took Dallin out of school during his lunch break and we took him out to lunch. We went to Stake and Shake because Dallin wanted grilled cheese. We left Connor with a friend and it was kind of fun to have some alone time to spend with just Dallin.

Since we had just celebrated his birthday at Legoland the weekend before, we didn't do a whole lot on his actual birthday. He took Star Wars cupcakes to school to share with his class, so I didn't make a cake at home for him. I think we were all OK with that. 

Dallin got lots of fun presents. 

I made him some new PJ pants from Star Wars fabric. I also made him a black hooded cape and a Darth Vader mask.

I was rushing to finish Dallin's cape before he got home from school that day. As a result, it's not my best sewing work, but he is pretty happy with it.

He also got a scooter and helmet from Grandma and Grandpa Crapo. 

Now that it's finally getting warmer outside, he's been able to play with the scooter more. He's starting to get the hang of it.

The stats from his 6 year check up: 

Weight 33 lbs

height: 40.75 inches

Blood pressure: 92/60 (He's still on a blood pressure medication to lower his blood pressure to a normal range, so I'm always happy to see that it's working!)

He's still tiny and Connor has passed him in weight. But Dallin is still taller. Tall and skinny.

I still can't believe how quickly he's growing up! Happy 6th Birthday Dallin!

Birthday at Legoland

Spring break always happens right around Dallin's birthday. So this year we decided to take a short weekend trip to Chicago to take the boys to the Legoland Discovery Center. On the drive up there, Dallin got to open his first birthday present from his Easton grandparents: The Lego Movie.

They were silently glued to the screen for the rest of trip.

When we arrived, Dallin could see the Lego logo on the building and got very excited because he thought we were going to a Lego store. It was a little bit cooler than that.

Now, I've never been to Legoland in California or a similar place before, but I knew that this Discovery Center wouldn't be on quite the same grand scale as the theme park. I DID think it would be a little bigger though for the money we paid and have more than two rides. I forget that things cost a lot more in big cities and that we are so used to not spending our money. Every time Mckay or I felt a little underwhelmed by the experience, we reminded each other that this was for the kids. And our kids had a wonderful time.

There was a replica of the Chicago skyline made from Legos.

And a rainforest filled with lego animals.

They liked the hippo.

Dallin was VERY excited to see Darth Vader.

 And R2-D2.

We watched the short 4D movie (the boys were not impressed with the 3D glasses and kept taking them off) and went on the two rides.

There was a big play area with tunnels/slides and big foam bricks for building with. There were tables for building with duplo blocks and tables for building with regular Lego bricks.

We built several different models of cars and then put them to the test on the track.

Most of them crashed into pieces at the bottom of the ramp but Mckay managed to build a pretty sturdy car.

We ate lunch at the cafe there. The website said that outside food would not be allowed and that we could buy sandwiches there for $3.

This is how big a $3 sandwich is. One piece of bread folded in half with a slice of turkey on it.... No cheese, just turkey. They did have closer to normal-sized sandwiches for purchase at $8-$10 each. 

*sigh* "This is for the kids. This is for the kids..."

We bought a few sandwiches and shared a tiny snack size bag of chips for $1.

We were pretty hungry by dinnertime. We left Legoland and drove to the nearby hotel we had booked for the night. Then we picked up our dinner: a 30 inch pizza.

I don't remember how exactly this idea came to us a few weeks before the trip. We were talking about how we should get pizza in Chicago because Dallin loves pizza and Chicago has great deep dish pizza. Then we thought about how some places sell really big pizzas, so we did some searching to find the biggest pizza available in Chicago. Bacci Pizzeria won with 30 inches. That's almost as tall as Connor.

And this was GOOD pizza too. Good sauce, good cheese, nice crust, better than most chain delivery pizza places. It cost $35 and we had leftovers for a week, but it was totally worth it.

We spent the night at our Homewood Suites hotel. (Suites are the way to go when you have kids at a hotel. The kids slept in the living room on the sofa bed and we got our own space in a separate bedroom, with Bennett in the pack 'n play.) We ate a big breakfast at the hotel, had a relaxing morning and went to the nearby mall to walk around/play before driving home. We all had a really fun time. And now we'll have to go to the real Legoland sometime. 

Spring Break

We did a few fun things during Dallin's spring break this year. One day, we went to the Children's Museum in Indianapolis. It was just me and the three boys, which is quite an amazing feat of endurance for a parent, if you ask me.

We saw the Chihuly glass sculpture.

If there is ever anything related to Star Wars in a room, the boys know how to find it.

We played at the water table.

And then the sand table.

That's the best way to do it: get the kids wet first and then let them get sand all over their bodies. They managed to keep pretty clean, surprisingly.

Connor played some drums.

Really fast.

We had fun and despite being there on a very crowded day, each boy only wandered away from me once for 30 seconds. (Except for Bennett. I had him tied down pretty well.)

Before we go into a busy public place like this where it's easy to get lost, I remind the boys of what to do if they got lost: I tell them to find someone with a name badge who works there and ask for help. Or I tell them to find a mom with kids because she'll know how to help. In fact both times one of them wandered away (like when Connor wandered out of the bathroom while the rest of us were still in there changing Bennett's diaper), he was brought right back to me by a mom who saw the boy looking around scared. The other important safety step we go over is to make sure both boys know my name. No one is going to know how to help a lost kid if he's looking for "Mom." So I make sure they know to say, "My mom's name is Sheri Easton." We should probably eventually teach our kids my phone number too, but it's a little harder to remember 10 digits for area code AND phone number instead of just 7 digits. Any tips on teaching phone numbers to kids?

Anyway, we all survived and had fun.

Later in the week, I thought I'd be really cool and let them do a fun art project by gluing ripped up scraps of colored tissue paper.

As usual, 10 minutes of preparation bought me 5 minutes of craft time. And don't be mislead by their happy angelic faces in that picture above. They were laughing AT me for getting angry because I was trying to take a good picture and I growled at them when they did the wrong thing or made the wrong face. Whatever... I got my picture.

We kept dinners simple during spring break and I let the boys choose most nights. That means we had quesadillas, pizza and macaroni and cheese.

Dallin saw this Star Wars Mac and cheese at the store so we had to buy it.

 It made his day.

Bennett at 4 months

This little guy is 4 months old now.

(As you can tell by his blurry limbs, he never stops squirming.)

He is a great baby, although I still haven't decided if he is actually easier than the other two were, or if my perspective as a parent has changed. For instance, he eats every two hours and sometimes he'll stretch to three hours. As a first time parent, feeding a baby every two hours sounded exhausting. This time around, I know that babies are supposed to eat that often so I expect it. And when he does go longer between feedings, it's a happy surprise.

(I've actually noticed that literature about feeding babies has changed in this regard. When Dallin was born, the pamphlets and handouts the hospital gave me said babies nurse every 2.5-3 hours. When Bennett was born, all the handouts said babies nurse every 1.5-3 hours. I don't think babies have changed, just that experts are trying to show a wider range of normal. Some babies will happily go 3 hours between feedings and that is normal. Some babies eat more often and that is ok too.)

Another way my perspective has changed is with sleeping. I remember when Dallin was a newborn and we were talking with another young family at church. They said their baby started sleeping through the night when he was 6 months old. Six months straight without a full night of sleep sounded awful to me! Now, I'm used to not sleeping at night. I haven't slept through the night more than a handful of times in 6 years. And I actually feel quite rested most days. Bennett will sleep from about 9pm-4am most nights. Then he'll eat and sleep again until 7 or 8am. Because I have no expectations about his sleeping, every time he sleeps for a long stretch feels wonderful.

At 4 months old, here is what Bennett is up to:

He is spitting up far less than he used to as a newborn. A burp cloth can last into a second feeding now before getting soaked, which is a vast improvement from needing three burp cloths for each feeding.

He smiles all the time and at anyone who will look at him, but most often he smiles for his brothers.

He is starting to babble, giggle and laugh. Baby laughs are one of the best sounds in the world. I haven't gotten a good video of the laughing yet, but here is some babbling. In true Easton baby fashion, he spits up at the end of the video..... but what can you do?

He is an efficient eater. Each feeding is about 10-15 minutes long. Sometimes I want him to take longer so that I have an excuse to sit and rest for a bit.

He will fall asleep on his own, without any sleep training. This one still baffles me. Dallin and Connor both needed to be rocked to sleep until we did some sleep training around 6 months old. Because of that, I never even tried to lay Bennett down awake because I was sure it wouldn't work. I decided to try it out one day and he fell asleep on his own. He didn't even cry! He kind of grunted for about 30 seconds and then just laid there until he fell asleep a few minutes later. It's been working like that for almost two weeks now. He is awesome.

Connor likes to sing him songs before bed.

This one is called, "Go to sleep little baby."

Bennett has rolled from belly to back. He doesn't do it very often. That's probably because I don't give him enough tummy time, but I'd much rather look at his cute face that his butt. Just sayin'...

Right after he rolled over for the first time, at 3 months.

He is a very content baby. He is happy to lay on the floor on his own for a while, taking in the surroundings. I think it helps that his big brothers are always running around him. Laying around doesn't get so boring when there's always someone to watch.


He'll sit happily in the bouncy chair or the bumbo while I make dinner or do dishes. I'm sure it sounds like I never hold him, but I promise he gets plenty of time with me. The wrap and carrier I have help with that a lot.

(At the park on the one warm day we've had this year.)

We haven't had his 4 month check-up yet, but at 3 months old, he weighed 13 lbs 12 oz. I don't know what percentile that is and I confess that it is liberating to not care what percentile he is in. He is eating well and healthy; that's all I need to know.

Money Saving Monday: 5 smartphone apps to save you money

I've recently entered the current decade by getting a smartphone. It's a blessing and a curse. The downside is that my kids have figured out how to work it and can play games anytime they want. (And now they think all phones are like little computers, so they are disappointed when Mckay's old/reliable non-smartphone doesn't do much. It has a color screen! What more do they want?!) The nice thing about a smartphone (beside the obvious Google map and internet access implications) is access to some nice money saving apps. And they're all FREE. For those without a smartphone, you'll like to know that a few of these programs can be used on a computer as well.

1) Target Cartwheel has hundreds of percent-off offers on Target items. Anything from food to apparel, diapers to toys, electronics to outdoor: if Target sells it you can find a Cartwheel offer for it. You can start out redeeming up to 10 offers at a time. As you use Cartwheel more and more, you can unlock extra spots. Each offer can be applied to as many as four like items. To redeem, you show the bar code on your phone or tablet screen to be scanned by the cashier at checkout. You can also use Cartwheel on your computer by printing the bar code at home before going to Target (much like a coupon) and having it scanned at checkout.

Why I like it: As I mentioned last week, you can triple your savings at Target by combining a Cartwheel offer with a Target store coupon AND a manufacturer coupon. The Cartwheel discount is applied after Target coupons and before manufacturer coupons.


The next four apps on my list are cash back apps. To use them, you take a picture of your receipt showing the correct item purchased, and then the discount amount is added to your account. When you reach a certain cash back threshold (the amount is different for each app) you can "cash out" your account and get your money through pay-pal, bank deposit or in the form of gift cards. (Let's be honest here: Amazon gift cards are practically cash.)

2) Checkout 51 - This is one that you can use with or without a smartphone.  Look through the offers and buy the products at ANY store. Upload your receipt to Checkout 51. It's easiest to do this with a smartphone, but you can also use a computer's camera or even a digital point-and-shoot to upload pictures of your receipt. Your purchase will be confirmed within 24 hours and your account will be credited. When your account balance reaches $20 you can cash out and a check will be mailed to you. A few things to keep in mind:

• Offers are available in limited quantities. If you see an offer you want, upload your receipt immediately after purchase to avoid missing out. (This applies to most all cash back programs.)
• Offers run from Thursday to Wednesday. You must upload your receipts while the offer is live.

Why I like it: Checkout 51 has a fresh produce offer each week.  There is always a $0.25 off produce offer on things like grapes, tomatoes, limes, lettuce, carrots, apples, etc. Bananas are always on there. We eat a lot of bananas in our house, so even if I'm not redeeming anything else that week, I know I can always save 25 cents on bananas each week.

3) Ibotta is one of the better know cash back apps. You use it much like the other ones: choose your offers, scan your receipt, get cash on your account. With Ibotta, you'll need to scan the barcode on the the purchased item as added proof that you bought the correct item. Ibotta has offers for most grocery stores, and even has offers for non-grocery stores like Best Buy and clothing stores/website. You'll have to unlock each offer to access it by answering a question or reading a fun fact about the product. It takes 10 seconds.

Why I like it: Ibotta often has an offer for milk. Most households in America buy milk regularly, so that alone will convince a lot of people. In addition to the regular coupon-like offers you'll see for a specific brand, Ibotta will often have offers to be used on any brand of an item. Things like shredded cheese, eggs, bread, ice cream: ANY brand. You can cash out with Ibotta at $10 through Paypal, Venmo or your choice of gift card, like Amazon.

If you are interested in using Ibotta, you can sign up here or use my referral code: pwevujy. Not only does that link me as your friend so we can both earn a teamwork bonus each month, but it gives me a little referral bonus. I'm not sure how much. Someone click and I'll find out. ;)     

4) Snap - by Groupon. The offers on here can go really fast so check frequently and redeem quickly. The offers available on Snap range from cleaning products to food to magazines. They often have fresh produce offers that get used up quickly. Snap can be used on a smartphone, tablet, or computer.

Why I like it: Snap can be used at any store. Sometimes they'll have milk offers. (The "used" milk offer in the picture above was for $1 off a gallon!) Snap also has occasional any brand offers. The offers are random and change often so, like I said, check frequently. You can cash out at $20. Use this referral link if you're interested in using Snap and I'll get a whole dollar after you redeem your first offer! Come on big money!

5) Saving Star - Saving Star works differently depending on the store. For some stores you will scan the product barcodes and upload a receipt. For some stores with a loyalty shoppers card, the Saving Star offer will be connected to your card and the discount will be applied automatically to your Saving Star account after purchase. Check their website for details on specific stores.

Why I like it: There are offers unique to Saving Star, but they also have a lot of the same offers you would find on coupons.com or from Kroger's website. This means you can stock up with several of the same product when it's on sale and still get a good deal. Saving Star has a Friday Freebie offer to get something completely free (usually candy, gum or a snack food). There's also a healthy offer every Tuesday for 20% off a produce item. I've seen offers for oranges, lettuce, bananas, apples, your basic, common produce. You can cash out to Paypal or directly to your bank account.

Like I said last week,  coupons will only save you money if it's a good buying price for an item you're going to use. The same applies for these cash back programs. Shop wisely and try not to buy unnecessary things just to get the cash back from it. I can consistently save at least $1 or $2 each week with these apps depending on the offers.

So, check some of these out. See if you like them. Use them. And let me know if you use any other money saving apps. I'm always interested in trying new ones.



Other apps:

• BerryCart - Cash back on organic, gluten-free and Non-GMO foods.

• Walmart Savings Catcher - This app does the price matching for you. Scan the QR code on your receipt AFTER purchase and the app will search for advertised deals. If any other store had a better deal on something you bought, the difference is added to your account. 

Money Saving Monday: My top 5 Coupon Resources

My husband is currently in his 4th year of graduate school. Before that, he was working on his bachelor's degree. In fact, for the 6+ years that we have been married, he has been a student and the main wage earner in our family. So it shouldn't be a surprise that our family keeps a pretty tight budget. When "extreme couponing" became a new fad years back, I was intrigued for the obvious money-saving reasons but had no idea where to start. And being a busy parent, I couldn't imagine devoting enough time to make using coupons worthwhile. I've been doing this for a few years now and I'm happy to tell you that you don't have to go to extremes of clipping and stock piling to consistently save money on groceries each week.

When I first started couponing, I did a google search and was overwhelmed by the number of couponing websites. Some for printing coupons, some to tell you which coupons to use at which stores: it was too much.

I thought it might be helpful if I shared my favorite "tried and true" couponing resources and websites. If you've ever wanted to start using coupons or save a little extra money on groceries, here are some helpful tips to get you started.

First off, one criticism that many (including myself) have for coupons is that they are mostly for unhealthy/processed foods. While this is true, you can still find coupons for healthier foods and even produce/perishables. You just have to look in the right places.

I have to tell you that I don't get my coupons from a weekly Sunday newspaper. I feel like the cost of a subscription (however low it is) isn't worth it to me. Most of the coupons are for things I wouldn't buy and the ones I do want I can find a similar match to from another place. Now, I'm not one to turn down newspaper coupons from someone else who doesn't want them, so if you know someone who gets the paper and doesn't keep the coupons, ask for them. But you can still save money with out the Sunday paper.

Before I get started, I often have to remind myself that coupons are about saving money. (Duh!) So I don't buy things I wouldn't normally eat or buy. It doesn't matter that a coupon can save me $3 on a $6 razor. If I'm not going to use that brand of razor, I just lost $3. I Also remind myself that Time=Money. I know I could spend 10-20 hours a week researching and preparing coupons to save myself $20, but is my time worth $1 an hour?

1) Kroger.com and Kroger coupons in the mail have been my greatest and easiest resource for coupons. Kroger has electronic coupons on their website that often match the coupons from the paper or other websites. The digital coupons load directly onto your store card and are then applied automatically when you purchase the corresponding items. I love this because it means fewer things for me to keep track of at checkout. When you sign up for a free store card, coupons are mailed to you regularly (make sure your address is connected to your account). I often get coupons for things I buy frequently, like eggs, cheese, tortillas, even produce and meat department coupons.

Kroger is the store I shop at the most, but I realize that not every city has one. Most chain stores with a store card have access to digital coupons on their websites (like Safeway, Albertsons, Marsh, Meijer), so I suggest looking into it for whatever store you have in your area.

2) Coupons.com - This site has printable paper coupons that you'll cut and take with you to the store. These are often identical to what I get through the digital coupons. This means that I can buy more than one of the desired item, since the digital coupons can only be applied once. This is helpful when the price is really low and I want to stock up on an item. You can print up to two duplicates of any coupon per computer (again, helpful for stocking up). You will also find lots of good value coupons unique to only this site. You'll have to quickly download their free printing software the first time you want to print something, but after that it's super easy to use.

3) Target.com - I shop at Target a lot too. The thing that makes Target a little different is that you can stack store coupons and manufacturers coupons for extra savings. Target offers store coupons (found at coupons.target.com, in Target ads or through Target text messages) that can only be used at Target. All the coupons you'll find in the newspaper or other printable websites are manufacturer coupons. Each coupon will be labeled as such so you can tell the difference. At Target, you can use both a store AND manufacturer coupon on one item. For instance, you can buy one box of cereal that costs $2, use a $0.50 off store coupon AND a $0.50 cent off manufacturer coupon and get a box of cereal for only $1. You can save even more when you use the Target Cartwheel app. (More on that next week.)

You're probably thinking that it will take too much time to search through all the store ads and coupons to find any good deals. Luckily, there are many websites that have already done the searching for you and provide a write up of the best deals for a store each week. Here are my two favorite coupon match-up websites:

4) Couponmom.com - Coupon Mom looks at the weekly advertisements for several major grocery stores across the country. They match the sales with any available coupons and write up the best deals for you. You can scroll down the list, check a box on items you'll want to purchase, then email the grocery list to yourself, along with where to find each coupon. This site does use newspaper coupons for a lot of the match-ups, but I can still find plenty of good deals on here with the coupons I have access to.  You'll need to make a free account with CouponMom to see the match-ups.

5) TotallyTarget.com - While Coupon Mom does provides a write up for Target deals, Totally Target ONLY does match-ups for Target, so they can go more in depth and tell you about even better deals. This site will give you a weekly ad match up that corresponds with ALL known Target coupons, Cartwheel offers and any manufacturer coupons. They give updates on any unadvertised sales or deals on clearance items. Target often has gift card deals listed in the ad where the store will give you a $5 gift card for buying 2 of a specific item. Totally Target is really good at matching these offers with the best coupons for maximum savings. This website does not require an account or log-in.


I'm sure there are lots of other helpful coupon websites out there. These are the ones that have worked best for me. Feel free to look for others ones that work for you. Just remember that Time=Money. If I have to check with 15 different websites before I can leave for the store, it's a problem. Not to mention that by then, at least one child will likely be hungry again and then I'll never get out of the house.

Next week I'll share how a few easy to use phone apps can save you even more money. (Not all of them require a smart phone.)




Other coupon websites:
Commonkindess.com - A lot of the coupons are for organic/health food items. I've also seen Huggies diaper coupons. For every coupon you use, they'll donate to your favorite charity.

Kelloggsfamilyrewards.com - Has coupons for some Kelloggs products. You can also enter codes here found on all Kelloggs family products that earn you points to redeem for gift cards and better coupons.

Grocerycouponcart.com - Many of the same coupons as coupons.com.

Pickupthevalues.com - Coupons only for Kimberly-Clark brand products, like Huggies and Kleenex.