The day we’ve been waiting for all summer finally came! Playgroup started again today!! Even though it’s sometimes hard to get out of the house in time, and I’m a little paranoid about the germs they could possibly pick up there, we still really love playgroup. It gives the kids a great place to socialize and learn how to get along with kids other than each other (more for Ava than for Kelvin). It’s also great to get out of the house and the kids love playing with “new” toys. Today there were more kids there than you could fit in a couple of bounce houses, but the first week or so is always really packed and then it tapers off a little. It’s always nice when that happens because there’s space to move around without bumping into anyone!

After playgroup, we came home, the kids ate lunch and took naps and then we did the grocery shopping. We really haven’t been home much today! The nice thing about that is that the house didn’t get very messy at all. LOL

I wasn’t home much of the weekend, either. My friend Sarah is a few days from her due date and she thought she was going into labor almost all weekend, so I was over there with her. On Sunday, her bag of water “sprung a leak” and then one of the layers sealed itself back up, but she thought her water had broken and she would be having the baby anytime. Then on Monday, her contractions were getting pretty close together (less than 6 minutes) and I really thought she was going to have the baby that night, but her midwife said it still could be as far out as next weekend. Sigh. So we wait.

Anyway, that’s about all that’s going on in our life right now. Other than, you know, the constant teething and all.

By the way, Thursday is your last day to use the exclusive 5-point code for new Swagbucks members!

Posted: September 8th, 2009 under Random Thoughts.
Comments: 3

Wow, I’ve been such a slacker on this blog! I’ve been really focusing on my other two (Motherhood Moments and Screaming Pennies), but I really don’t want to neglect this one since I want to use this one to keep our far-away family updated on our everyday lives….you know, things like buying whole life insurance! Just kidding, I wouldn’t bore you with something like that! Just know that when I’m slacking here, you can usually find cute stories about Ava and Kelvin over at Motherhood Moments!!

I can’t believe the beautiful weather we’ve been having! I always feel so bad keeping the kids cooped up in the house during the dog days of summer, so it’s awesome to be able to step out of the house without melting now! We’ve been playing a lot in the backyard, going over to the park, and taking walks. I love being outside when it’s like this….I wish we could have this kind of weather all year long!!

We’re starting to get ready for the Feast already! It seems crazy that we need to be getting ready for that already! Hopefully I’m starting prepare far enough in advance that I won’t be totally overwhelmed the week before like I normally am!!

Ava has sort of started her preschool curriculum this week. Right now, we’re focusing on learning the ABC song, recognizing and tracing the letter A and number 0, and learning about transportation (with car, plane, boat, etc. toys). I’m finding that I’m really going to have to push her in order to get her to learn anything. I know she’s only 2, but she just doesn’t seem very motivated…and not just with the curriculum. I’ve been trying to teach her colors forEVER and she just refuses to devote the attention to it. I build it into our everyday life, trying to get her to identify the colors of toys, clothes and other things, but she just won’t do it. Everything is “blue”. Even after I tell her what color it really is, it’s still “blue”. For all I know, she really knows all of them and is just being stubborn about it. And I know she’s not color blind because she can sort “counting bears” into groups of the same color with no problem. Anyway, just had to vent about that. I’ll probably get a more detailed post up on Motherhood Moments later this week. Hopefully someone will have some good advice.

Kelvin, on the other hand, is learning like crazy!! It must be the difference of being the second child and having Ava to watch. He’s talking up a storm (he says at least 10 words now) and he’s constantly exploring and trying to figure out how things work. I’m going to have to get him some more challenging toys because he’s getting bored with a lot of the toys he has. He really loves anything he can put together (duplos, toys you snap together, etc.) and will spend 15+ minutes on them. Any recommendations on toys like that would be appreciated!

It’s really neat to see the difference in what the two kids are interested in. Ava’s more into active, imaginative play and Kelvin loves putting things together, taking them apart and seeing how things work. It’s going to be really fun to see how they play together as Kelvin gets older!

Anyway, that’s about all I can think of for now! Chad has just recently discovered Hulu and has a show he “needs” me to watch, so I need to go do that before it gets too late!

Posted: September 1st, 2009 under Random Thoughts.
Comments: 5

Have you signed up with Swagbucks yet? If you haven’t, what are you waiting for? This is an amazing program that I use on a daily basis. And they’ve cooked up some great new ways to win (plus you can get 5 free swagbucks just for signing up), so be sure to keep reading!

Swagbucks is a search engine that rewards you for using it. Every few searches, you’ll be rewarded with a swagbuck (or more than one sometimes!!). The swagbucks build up and you can trade them in for gift cards or other prizes. My favorite prize is a $5 Amazon gift card for only 45 swagbucks…I usually earn at least one gift card a month! There are other great stores to earn gift cards from, too…Target, Starbucks, Barnes & Noble, and Victoria’s Secret to name a few.

You can also make extra swagbucks by referring friends. Whenever your friends earn swagbucks, you earn the same number they do, up to 100. If you sign up, please go through the links in this post!

Now that you know what this program is all about, I feel so privileged that Swagbucks is letting me help announce their brand new toolbar! They had a small search bar before, but just today they released a brand new full-size toolbar with all sorts of great features! They have neat add-ons for your toolbar and you can track your swagbucks and log into your account straight from the toolbar! You can download it here!

And here’s another great reason to download the toolbar now: Every day during the month of September, a special swag code will be messaged to your toolbar, which will give you 30 FREE swagbucks this month!! I just downloaded mine and it was fast and easy!

And it keeps getting better…

Until 9/10, Swagbucks is offering my readers a swag bucks code to earn 5 swagbucks right off the bat, just for signing up! The code is: swagwithlora (case sensitive). Just click here to go to the registration form. All you have to do is enter that code in the blue box that says SwagCode and you’re ready to start earning!!

Posted: September 1st, 2009 under Random Thoughts.
Comments: 2