Target Toy Clearance 2012

Every year we watch for great deals on toys during the month of July at Target. Target does a major toy clearance to make room for new product and at the very end of the month usually has items up to 70% off. We take advantage of this sale to buy Christmas gifts and birthday gifts. We keep an eye out for items we know our nephew, our kids, and our kids friends would enjoy. We also buy for charity to give around Christmas time.

We have been checking our store every week when we run our errands for good deals. Already this month we managed to find a TAG reader world map for 50% off as well as some adorable super hero Little People sets for $3.74 each. This is in addition to two giant LEGOS sets we found at 50% off.

Our store does markdowns Wednesday night do I headed to our store as early as my kids would let me out the door. This year was not as spectacular as years in the past but there was still plenty of great deals. I was pleasantly surprised to find a nice variety of toys this year.

 

Today our Target had lots of Thomas the Train, Cars 2, Sesame Street, My Little Pony, Disney princess and fairies, LEGOS, Trio sets, Super Mario, Fisher-Price toys, and Dora the Explorer items. There was also plenty if outdoor summer toys and Target brand toys available to chose from.

The best part is looking at my receipt and seeing how for so little I can give to children. We get really excited about that!

Less Whine, More Wine

It is nap time right now and for once all three kids are actually snoozing. We spent the morning at the pool and I think it wore the kids out. Which means I can actually be productive and relax a little bit. And by productive I mean sit on the couch and update our blog. Mommy is TIRED.

Summer has been flying by this year, hard to believe that school will be starting up again in just 6 week here. Thomas got out of school  at the end of May and we immediately took a vacation and visited family in Myrtle Beach. The beach was perfect and the boys loved getting to see Logan. Brent and I were just happy to hang out and play board games with the family and drink some wine and relax. We don't get to head out and visit with his family that often so that was really nice to meet up with everyone.

We celebrated Eleanor's 1st birthday in June which was somewhat bittersweet. I was not ready for her to be 1. I think I am slowly coming to terms with the fact that Ellie is not really a baby any more. She (and the boys) get bigger and bigger each day. She took her first steps on the beach and recently has recently decided wrestling with her brothers is a great way to have fun. She is always trying to keep up with her brothers. She loves cars, dogs, and playing in the dirt. Everything she does is adorable, I really love this age it is so much fun. We had her one year pictures taken and I think I about died from cuteness overload. I don't normally buy her a lot of pink outfits but we found this tutu dress in pink and it is the most girly pinkest frilly thing ever. Yeah we had to do it. Our photographer and friend Emily Crall did an awesome job. They turned out better than I could ever have imagined and I am so happy with how they turned out. You can see them here: http://blog.emilycrall.com/2012/07/eleanor-1-year-cedar-rapids-iowa-childrens-photography/ If you look really closely at the pictures you can tell she was playing in the dirt and eating sticks. That's our girl!

The boys have been keeping me busy too. School is out which means Thomas is home again. Adjusting to 3 kids at home all day has been a little crazy. Oliver is used to being king of the house so there has been a lot of squabbling and whining between the boys. We try to mix things up by doing play groups out with friends and visiting the park, splash pad, movie theater, and library several times a week. With summer 1/2 done I think we maybe finally have a good routine going. As long as they don't get bored they usually don't get into trouble. The thing is by the end of the day we have run out of ideas and we all get kind of cranky. You know what kind of cranky I am talking about. In our house it seems to happen between the hours of 4-6 PM right before dad gets home. We call this the WHINING hour in our house. I have not yet found a solution to this conundrum. Perhaps some wine instead of whine? Less whine, more wine. I like it.

Things are not so bad really. We try to enjoy ourselves and make the most of things. Brent has summer break from his MBA program so we have really enjoyed having him around more. We have taken advantage of our time together by visiting family in Des Moines and Chicago and finding fun things to do here in Cedar Rapids on the weekends. Summer has been pretty good to us, whining and all. I will just keep a bottle of wine on hand just in case. ;-)