Almost half-way through May? How is that even possible?

Sunday:

When the weather is this nice, it’s hard NOT to go to church – we can almost see it from our yard.

Carrying 40 lbs on my back definitely counts as a workout.

Explaining to Daddy that quesadillas are the best.

Monday:

READY TO GO

Hats

Spring cleaning my favorite room of the house

Tuesday:

Good morning!

I think this sign is in the wrong place.

Thinking about running away, as usual

Wednesday:

CANONBALL!

Good listener waits his turn

Sleepy girl

Thursday:

Rain isn’t so bad when your raincoat is this cute

He already thinks balls are hilarious

Cheeseburgers are always the right answer.

  Friday:

I don’t even know what this thing is.

Caroline’s definition of “playdate” is “push me on the swing for two hours”.

This does not seem fair.

Saturday:

Caroline has joined a penguin colony

I’M THE KING OF THE WORLD!

And then I died of cuteness.

It’s been pouring since about noon and I have a serious case of the “I don’t really want to do anything”s. Luckily tomorrow is Sunday and I can tackle the laundry, dishes, piles of toys AND get my plants in the ground. Probably.

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Today is another installment on my recent theme: parenting gets easier and you’re a good mom. YES your kid will eventually eat a vegetable. YES he will survive even on Goldfish and cheese slices. YES your kid will probably be fine even if he hates bottles and you can’t ever leave him for more than 2 hours at a time and you feel like you’ll be breastfeeding until he’s 12.

Evan had his four year well-child visit on Tuesday. The visit itself was kind of awful, with two children sobbing about their shots (despite the fact that only one child even GOT shots) but the information from the visit was great. Evan is 40.5 pounds and 41 inches tall, which puts him just below the 75th percentile and right on the curve he’s been on since his 2-year check up. They also calculated his BMI at 16, which a) does a 4 year old really need to know their BMI? and b) obviously doesn’t mean the same thing for a kid, since 16 falls in the “significantly underweight” category for adults and my kid is clearly not underweight. He’s as healthy as can be and impressed the pediatrician by saying his favorite food was apples. SO MANY APPLES.

It was a good check-up. As the doctor asked her questions I felt an overwhelming sense of “I got this. ” Despite the fact that it’s been almost three years since Evan fell of the growth curve I used to still get nervous when they pulled out the charts. Finally I feel like I can own our choices and our mistakes – when the doctor asked if I thought Evan’s speech was a little unclear I said it was probably because we relied on a sippy cup for too long but we had already switched to straws and I wasn’t worried. Then the doctor started asking ME for advice, since she has a 2 year old she’s struggling to get off sippy cups because he has been so reluctant to give up bottles and they finally found a sippy he liked and she doesn’t want him to stop drinking milk and she wasn’t sure what to do and did I like the take’n'toss cups as an alternative? (Yes.)

There’s nothing like seeing your pediatrician as just another mom struggling against the whim and will of a toddler to make you realize we’re all just doing the best we can as parents and things will be OK.  Of course, telling you things will be OK is not going to make you believe they will be OK, but try to  hold that knowledge deep inside. If you think there is something wrong, there might be something wrong and getting it checked out is the right choice. Always. But don’t feel guilty over every less-than-ideal-nutrition bite that crosses your kid’s lips. I wish I could go back and hug my previous self who thought she was doing everything wrong when it came to feeding my kid and show her 4 year old, 75th percentile Evan. He’s doing great, which means I am too.

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The gingers and I had an impromptu lunch at Mystic Drawbridge Ice Cream. Highly recommend. Apologies for the photo overload.

The kids are cute but the sandwich menu is the real star of this photo.

Lemon chocolate kiss is my go-to.

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If I were to make a list called “Small things that make me really, really happy,” I’d have to put store loyalty cards in the top five. Maybe the top two. They’re magic little bits of plastic that automatically make your potato chips or ice cream or fabric or wreath forms or whatever cost less. MAGIC. FREE MONEY. COUPONS YOU DON’T HAVE TO REMEMBER.  

My newest rewards card might be the best one yet. Living in the suburbs means I depend on my mom-mobile to get us everywhere from preschool to the aquarium which means my gas budget is kind of…terrifying. I can’t do much to avoid buying gas, but now I can do something about the price by signing up for the Fuel Rewards Network™ program, or FRN™ program.

Step 1: Get a card from a local participating Shell station.
Step 2: SAVE MONEY.

It really is that easy. I stopped by one of the many, many Shell stations I pass on a daily basis (specifically the one between my house and Wendy’s, since a week without a spicy chicken sandwich is a week wasted) and grabbed a card. Then I went to fuelrewards.com, entered my card number and pin and registered my account. Once you get registered you can check out the many ways to earn points which you can then redeem for cash off your price-per-gallon, including buying stuff you need anyways, like clothes and Philosophy face wash. True story, that $60 I just spent at Sephora.com earned me 15 cents off per gallon. AMAZING.

You just click through the Fuel Rewards Network Online Mall to one of the more than 700 participating shops online and you automatically earn rewards. I’m also really excited to try out their FRN Dining program. I checked out the participating restaurants in my area and it includes some of my favorite, like the sushi place next to the Aquarium and our favorite breakfast spot in town. It will not take long for me to earn DOLLARS off my gas purchase. In some markets you can also link your grocery store rewards cards (MAN do I miss Winn-Dixie). Can you imagine how fast you could earn?

Since the program launched in 2012, it’s already saved customers $68 million at Shell (according to fuelrewards.com on 5/6/13). SIXTY EIGHT MILLION DOLLARS. I’m sold. You can use your rewards on all three grades of Shell gasoline, including Shell V-Power® Premium Gasoline and Shell Diesel. Which, really, is the best news for people with fancy cars who are already paying more. Now they can pay less! For more information, visit the Fuel Rewards Network program page at http://www.facebook.com/fuelrewards.

Now here’s even better news: BlogHer wants to give one of you a gift card!

How would you benefit from the Fuel Rewards Network program? Enter to win a $100 Shell Gift Card.

No duplicate comments.

You may receive (2) total entries by selecting from the following entry methods:

1. Leave a comment in response to the sweepstakes prompt on this post.
2. Tweet (public message) about this promotion, including exactly the following unique term in your tweet message: “#SweepstakesEntry” and leave the URL to that tweet in a comment on this post.
3. Blog about this promotion, including a disclosure that you are receiving a sweepstakes entry in exchange for writing the blog post, and leave the URL to that post in a comment on this post.
4. For those with no Twitter or blog, read the official rules to learn about an alternate form of entry.

This giveaway is open to US Residents age 18 or older. Winners will be selected via random draw, and will be notified by e-mail. You have 72 hours to get back to me, otherwise a new winner will be selected.

The Official Rules are available here.

This sweepstakes runs from 5/6/2013-6/2/2013.

Be sure to visit the Fuel Rewards Network program page on BlogHer.com where you can read other bloggers’ reviews and find more chances to win!

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We did a lot of stuff this week. There was also a lot of falling asleep on the couch, in the car, on the floor, sitting up, etc. And right now both kids are about to fall asleep next to me while I try to beat level 79 in Candy Crush. It’s NEVER going to happen.

Sunday:

I’m addicted to Bagel Thins.

Family dinner date to Johnny Rockets

She liked this game WAY TOO MUCH. I’m terrified of her teenage years.

Monday:

Caroline’s idea of a good morning: lying on my bedroom floor eating graham crackers.

Watermelon serving size: half for breakfast, half for lunch.

Karate Kid VII: Attack of the Ginger Babies

Tuesday:

My dentist is cooler than your dentist.

Swigin’ by the Sea

They’re very into boats, even indoor boats.

Wednesday:

Who are these quiet, well behaved children playing during my preschool teacher conference?

Fancy new gym is FANCY!

Lookin’ good, Nature.

Thursday:

Good morning, this is your pilot waking you up…

Not the least big scared of the huge, be-horned cow.

Picnic dinner at the playground

Friday:

He’s covering his ears so he won’t be scared by the Surprise Symphony.

Stroller Strides. Hat.

Much much MUCH needed solo evening walk.

Saturday:

When did bookstores start selling SO MANY TOYS?

Enjoy it at someone else’s house, kid, since I am NEVER buying you a drum set.

Future jockey in training

  I wrote that whole post and used up all my lives in Candy Crush and Caroline is STILL asleep. But E is also home from work so we’re going to celebrate Cinco de Mayo with some maybe-not-exactly-authentic burritos at Moe’s. Any excuse to eat guacamole is a good one. Happy Weekend!

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