Entries from December 2007 ↓

This is the second week of winter break and the kids are still out of school. They keep on telling me that their toys are now “played out”. Now, I am getting a little irritated about how “bored” they are and that they want other things to do. I have taken a couple of days off of work and I guess I have been in a bit of a funk as well. Usually, I try to get them out the house with the usual activities like going to the park or to the mall. But it is pretty cold and windy at the park so that is one place I don’t want to go right now. Also the mall is full of people back for that “major” sales and to exchange the gifts that they didn’t want or like. That means that mall is too crowded. What else is there to do? Can I get out of my funk and break the routine? So, instead of having them look at t.v. all day or play video games, I remembered there is another alternative.

Six months ago I found this site called www.GoCityKids.com. This site can give any parent a new way to find things to do with the children because it highlights activities that are in a mayor city close to or in your area. Another reason I like the site because it is very user friendly. Many of the activities that are on the site can probably be found in your local newspaper or your city’s monthly activity calendar. Instead of going through all of those sources, you can go to one source and have most of the information at your fingertips on the computer.

First, go to the site and choose your city or the closest city you live by (most of the choices are for major cities around the United States). Second, you can make your selection by choosing the day, the kind of activity that you want to do, as well as something that is age appropriate for your child. I even found activities by how close they are to my nearest cross street! Third, scroll down and find something to do today or within the week. It is just that easy! I mainly use this website to find free activities even though they also have activities that may require a fee. Some people would think that here in Las Vegas it is hard to find child-like activities because this place is known to be an adult playground. Well Las Vegas, the city, has many activities to offer just like in other cities. So today, take the time and go to the site. Find an activity to do that is “out of the ordinary” and get out of the house before they go back to school. You and your children will be happy that you did.

I want to wish everyone out there a Happy, Safe and Merry Christmas. It is a wonderful thing when you can get together will your family and friends and share the day with them giving gifts and fellowship. Usually, we celebrate Christmas with my family, but this year staying home seemed to be the best thing to do this year. With gas prices and other expenses that comes with visiting family members, I decided that for me this Christmas was about making a budget and sticking to it. We thought that we should only spend around $1000.00 dollars total including gifts, Christmas dinner and decorations. This was going to be the total opposite thing we did last year. Instead of trying to buy things the kids would be playing with only a couple of days and asking for another toy, my husband and I decided to give the kids a couple of gifts (one or two high ticket items) and take the family out to eat at one of the buffets here in town.

Being here in Las Vegas, we have a wonderful variety of options for restaurants and buffets. We chose to go to the buffet for Christmas brunch. Since it has been a while since we have eaten together at a buffet, I found this to be a treat. Our total came out to be around 63.00 dollars for 5 people ( around 12.00 dollars per person) This is a pretty good deal considering you can drink and eat all you want.

I also had a budget for purchasing decorations to set up the house. Six months ago we upgraded our living space and moved from an apartment to living in a house. (the unfortunate part is that many of our Christmas things where probably thrown away due to the fact that they where in a brown bags and my husband mistakenly thinking it was trash). No worries. I bought my Christmas tree from Biglots and I did my shopping at the 99 cent store for Christmas. This came out to be approx 90 bucks. Including all of the fixing for the tree and other things around the house.

Far as the gifts, I let my husband be in charge of that department. Limiting the gifts to one or two ticket items (mp3 player and a gift certificate for my daughter and two Ninendo DS units and a couple of games for the boys) was a winner because we didn’t feel the we had to fill the space under the Christmas tree with gifts. Everyone seem to be very happy with what they got for Christmas. These items actually where added to be under our budget ( around $700.00 or so) Oh, I also got my husband a wonderful gift certificate to his favorite restaurant and I he got me a digital camera.

Overall, I think that having a budget and sharing the responsibilities with my husband did help in regards to lessening the stress that Christmas can bring during the year. I think that keeping the objective of Christmas as a day for spending time with family, no matter how, is the way it should be.

Remember to keep it positive and live in the moment.

The whole family got together and we celebrated Tyler’s bday yesterday. It was great. He didn’t even know that we where going to celebrate. He got him all kinds of toys. From Spider man to Ghostrider. What a treat. We also got Devin a gift. It is so wonderful to see them so happy on their B-days. Even though we celebrated it yesterday (his birthday is really on the 6th of December) I believe he had a ball. I also just got a new Camera and will try to add some pics on the blog. Well here it goes…. They look so cute. My little men.