So, here I was convinced that David’s Crabapple Tree would not survive after being planted only a few days before we had our first frost and then snow. We didn’t even water it except for when it was planted.

Now here it is Spring and that little tree is starting to have leaves sprout out all up and down it’s little trunk. Can you even call it a truck at this point? I mean, it’s so tiny.

Anyway, David has to inspect his little tree every day to see how it’s growing. He’s excited about getting to see the tree he planted grow. That makes me happy!

Yesterday we had our Easter Egg Hunt at church and the Easter bunny made an appearance there. As you can see Brooke was not too sure about sitting in the Easter bunny’s lap.

David with the Easter Bunny

Brooke with the Easter Bunny

The kids had a blast hunting eggs and playing on the inflatable bouncy castle and slide. Now my problem is keeping them out of all the candy that was in the eggs.

I just thought I’d let you know that I am currently posting a series, over at Mommy’s Idea Book, on learning to use coupons effectively. If you’re interested in learning, you can click here to get started.

David got another 100% report card this nine weeks and got a ribbon at his award’s ceremony today at school. We took him to Logan’s Roadhouse for supper to celebrate since he loves eating at “the peanut place.”

We’re so proud of our little man!!

I clip mine…and she clips hers.

Brooke is obsessed with Princesses and pretends to be one at some point every day. Tonight she got all decked out in a pretty little dress her Aunt Janna and Uncle Richard got her for Christmas. She absolutely loves this dress. And you might have guessed, she calls it her Princess dress.

We added the purse and heels. Then I flat ironed her hair to finish off the look. I couldn’t help but have her pose for a few camera shots. Well, maybe we got a little carried away, but it sure was fun.

I think the camera loves her, but you know I’m just a little partial.

That being said, I want to add something after the name “Mommy’s Idea Book” to indicate that some of the stuff I’m writing about will be on various subjects. However, I’ve got to figure out exactly what I want that phrase to be.

Here are a few ideas that have crossed my mind:

• “Mommy’s Idea Book…and Other Spontaneous Thoughts”
• “Mommy’s Idea Book…Etc.”
• “Mommy’s Idea Book…and Other Interesting Stuff”
• “Mommy’s Idea Book…and Life As I See It”

I’m leaning toward either the second or last one. What do you think? Or do you have any other ideas?

Photo Credit: Arnold Gatilao

Challenge Twice,yard bedroom communication fruit they content intention alternative difficult reader gas short narrow guest touch terms like smile nobody basis credit north type behind impose direct form vary advance annual reasonable who this switch watch united democratic solution buy extend recent floor official without owner method visitor maybe escape executive fire house right remember challenge human order treaty army software unit above surprise regulation truth home dry stick argue telephone our anybody arrive human surround shut notion priority fairly opposition human mainly still publication true before sum

So, did that make any sense to you? No, it didn’t to me either. You thought I’d lost my mind didn’t you?

Yeah, this was actually a spam comment I got the other day on one of my posts.

I mean – COME ON!!

Do these people actually think they’re accomplishing anything by sending out a jumble of words. All this does for me is make me hit the DELETE button and do this .

Just a word of advice….if you’re going to spam me, at least leave an intelligent remark. Make yourself sound interesting.

You’ve likely seen all the deals I’ve been getting by combining coupons and sales. Well recently I’ve decided to branch out a little more and try some other money saving/earning strategies.

About a month ago I joined Ebates to start getting cash back on most of my online purchases. It’s a completely FREE site and since I’m going to be continuing to order online anyway, I figured I might as well be getting some cash back in my pocket.

Ebates is very easy to use. All you have to do is sign up and then choose one of over 1,200 stores and click through to the website and shop as you normally would. Ebates then automatically credits your account, based on your purchase amounts, for the specified percentage of cash back for that particular store.

You also get a $5 sign up bonus. Then once you earn $5 cash back you’ll be eligible to receive either a check in the mail or have your earnings credited to your paypal account. It’s a win-win situation!

The other site I recently signed up for is Swagbucks. Basically with this site you earn Swagbucks for searching the web. In other words, you use Swagbucks as your search engine and you earn Swagbucks for certain searches. The fun part is you won’t know which searches will win you bucks. The best thing to do is just search the web naturally like you would with any other search engine.

The best part is once you get a nice stash of bucks saved up, you can redeem them for prizes. This site is also FREE and since you’re going to be doing internet searches anyway, you might as well earn prizes along the way.

It may take a little while to save up for the better prizes but you’re not losing anything in the process.

Here is one example of what you can do with your swagbucks. One of the prizes is a $5 Amazon E-gift card, which you can redeem bucks for once you have accumulated 450 swagbucks. There are many other prizes requiring more or less swagbucks.

UPDATE: I have been using Swagbucks for two weeks now and have accumulated 470 swagbucks.

Here’s the breakdown that is showing up on my account:

• 30 for signing up
• 50 for referrals (Some friends signed up through my referral link. You can earn up to 1000 swagbucks from each referral – when they win by searching, you win too.)
• 220 for searching (I earned these simply by searching the web as I normally do, just using the Swagbucks search engine.)
• 40 for Swagcodes (You can get at least one of these each week – very easy to do.)
• 130 for special offers (You don’t have to do this. I just do some of the easy free ones to earn some additional bucks.)

One other thing, I recommend downloading the Swagbucks toolbar. This way you’ll have the Swagbucks search box easily accessible no matter where you are on the web.

Have fun shopping, searching and earning!!

Check out this cool photo below! Who would have thought Brooke had such talent for balancing things?

Yesterday, I turned around to grab my Sobe Lifewater only to find an apple balanced on the side of the lid.