Cunning

Thirty minutes ago, Nate came up to me and said "I have to tell you two things. One, you're the boss of the house. And two, can I have a lollipop?"

Sweet night

The boys and I are staying at my parent's house this weekend. We just had the sweetest bedtime ever.

Nate and I are going to be bunking in my old room; there are two twin beds there now. Jack's in Deborah's old room in the crib. But part of my bedtime routine, at home, with Jack is to hang out and cuddle together in my bed before putting him down in his crib. So the three of us hung out in my old room, squeezed all together in one twin bed. Me, scrabbling to keep from falling off, Jack in the middle, and Nate on the other side of Jack.

We talked a little and sang a few songs. While I was singing Sunshine, reaching across Jack to stroke Nate's hair, he reached over and started stroking Jack's head. Then Nate and I did "I love you's" and "I like you's" - Nate told him he loved me to outer space.

Sweetest night. Sweetest boys.

More fun at Giant!

Total haul:

• 8 boxes organic cereal
• 2 big bags Chex Mix
• 2 boxes Toaster Strudels
• 2 tubs frosting
• 4 boxes brownie mix
• 5 4-packs of yogurt
• 5 Warm Delights

Net cost before sales and coupons: $87.93
Net cost after sales, coupons, and $10 OYNP coupons: $6.36

Amazing cereal deal at Giant!

So Giant Food is having a "buy $20 of GM products get $10 off your next order" deal, and the $20 threshold is triggered by the SHELF prices, not the sales prices. Lots of bloggers have covered the deal, so I won't go into details. Except for this one:



Five boxes of Cascadian Farms cereal @ $4.29 (shelf price) each = $ 21.45
Minus sales price ($3.29) = $16.45
Minus peelies on box ($1 off two boxes) = $14.45
Minus $10 off next purchase = $4.45 for five boxes of organic cereal. That's 89 cents / box (savings of 80%).

I've done that three times, and today I went back and did it twice more with a twist:



Four boxes of cereal + 2 Betty Crocker cake mixes (shelf price $1.79) = $20.74
Minus sales prices (BC = $1 / box) = $15.16
Minus peelies on cereal = $13.16
Minus $10 off next purchase = $3.16 for four boxes of cereal and two boxes of cake mix.

Yeah, I'll be doing that a few more times. Today. :-)

Nate notes

Dear Nate,

As always, these days, our relationship is so conflicted. You want what you want when you want it, and it seems I'm the one thwarting you most of the time. I try so hard to make the "have-to's" of our daily life as fun as I can, but I'm still the "mean Mom" shuttling you back and forth from obligations, keeping you from your precious TV and video games, and putting cous-cous down in front of you at dinner. Daddy plays games with you and has endless patience; it's no shocker that he's your favorite. I'm keeping at it though, stepping in to play Slapperjack and board games with you, and we've started a pillow-fight tradition in the evenings before you head off to bed. I'm not letting you go without a fight, Natey.

I want to talk to the grown-up you for a minute, the 20-year old that you'll be, God willing, some day. The 30-year old, setting down into "real life." The 40-year old Daddy and husband:

I tried to make sure your favorite clothes were clean to wear to school. I tried to make sure you had "trendy" clothes so you wouldn't get made fun of. I tried to keep your hair looking cute. I tried to remember to send you to school in a costume on "dress-up" days. I tried to make your healthy lunches as fun as possible so you wouldn't feel deprived. I tried to buy you the popular toys, so you'd have the "cool things" to play with. I tried to keep the TV off so you'd learn to entertain yourself and be happy alone, in your own skin. I tried to relax, so you'd be a relaxed person. I tried to introduce you to good music so you'd learn to love it as much as I do. I tried not to gossip or talk negatively in front of you so you'd be a more positive person than I am. I tried to be my best self in front of you all the time so you'd have a good example to learn from.

I was sometimes snappy and impatient, and I regret it. Life sometimes feels a little crazy for me - too busy, too rushed, too harried - and I'm not a "roll with the punches" kind of girl. I am really sorry.

But I want you to know how much I love you, how much I like you, how hard I tried to be a better person than I actually am so that you'd have the best life possible.

And I want you to know something else: I never once blamed you or was mad at you for loving Daddy more than me. You have the most amazing Dad in the world and I totally understand. I just hope as a grown-up you can see that while I wasn't always on the floor playing "piggies" with you, I was there in the kitchen cutting up the veggies for your lunches and researching summer camps and making sure you were signed up for gymnastics.

I love you Nate, at every age. Can't wait to meet the guy who's reading this one day!

Love,
Mama