Ava’s birthday party is in 10 days and what have I done? Well, let’s see….I ordered and sent the invitations, ordered her presents and….oh wait, that’s it! Argh. I have plenty of ideas, I just need to dig deep and find the motivation to get busy putting them in action. I think I’m at that point where I have so much to do that I just don’t even want to start because it’s too overwhelming. So much for being on top of things.

I have gotten a little bit of a head start on the deleavening, but the problem is that everything I got done didn’t even really have to be done. I’m 110% certain there are no crumbs in the dish cupboard or the cupboard I haven’t opened since last spring. Even though I really wanted to get the cupboards all cleaned and reorganized, I really need to get busy on the stuff that has to be done before the end of the month.

I need to at least make a list of the all the unleavened snacks and desserts I want to make and freeze to have on hand, too. Maybe I can put Daniel and Jessica to work helping me with them while they’re here! Because I sure don’t know when else I’m going to do it!

And I should probably clean the house at some point during the next few days since we’re having tons and tons of company over the next few weeks. I absolutely love having company (I get really lonely down here!), but I hope they won’t mind that the house isn’t spotless. Because I can guarantee you right now, it won’t be. Come to think of it, when has it ever been spotless? Certainly not since we had kids!

OK, I feel a little bit better now that I’ve got it all out. There are more “to-do’s” I could have bored you with, but who am I kidding? I doubt anyone’s even still reading this post at this point! LOL At least I don’t have to do anything like compare term life insurance rates …although that reminds me that I need to mail the kids’ health insurance renewal paperwork.

Oy.

If you hear any muffled screaming over the next few days, that would be me screaming into my pillow!

But before I go, you might want to click over and find out how to get some really cheap diapers (both disposable and cloth).

Apparently, they thought they could both fit in their kitchen cupboard and I’d never find them and we would just skip naptime! I’m thinking they didn’t think this one all the way through! LOL

Another funny thing happened at breakfast yesterday. Ava was trying to convince Chad that Kelvin’s eyes were blue and Chad kept insisting they were brown. After a few minutes, she said, “Fine! I not teach you anymore!” LOL

They are at such a fun age right now, especially Ava. She says the most hilarious things and comes up with really imaginative ideas. I’m really enjoying it! And Kelvin is actually becoming a *little* bit less clingy…not enough for me to want look at new baby announcements, because he definitely still acts like a baby, but I’m seeing progress! Maybe by the time we are ready to have Baby #3, he will be acting like a toddler! One can hope! Even though he’s really clingy, he’s very smart for his age. I have him doing modified versions of a lot of the stuff Ava does for homeschooling and he does awesome!

Alright, now I have to drag myself away from the computer. No more internet until I get my grocery list together…we’re having company this weekend and I still haven’t gone grocery shopping for the week! Yikes!

Here is the video I got of Ava’s performance. Sorry for the quality…between a wiggly baby, having to hold my arms up in the air to see above everyone’s heads and my complete ignorance about anything having to do with electronics, I was lucky to even get this! LOL In the beginning, she wasn’t up there and I had no idea where she was, but then she walked on stage about 30 seconds into it. Gotta make a dramatic entrance, you know!

Spring!! (I hope) It for sure means longer daylight hours with Daylight Savings Time in a few short weeks. It has been a rough winter, to say the least. Winters are hard on me. The shorter daylight hours, especially. I struggle with varying degrees of anxiety and winter does nothing to help that. Thus, the rough winter. Add to that, the car accident and having no car for pretty much the entire month of February? Yes, I’m glad this winter is behind us.

Lots of outside playtime! Since it gets so hot here in the summer, we have a very small window of pleasant weather, so we plan to take full advantage of it. I can barely wait to get the kids outside to play and go for walks! No more sitting inside and doing boring stuff like comparing insurance quotes!

Lots of MOMS Club activities! We have lots of fun activities planned this month that I’m really looking forward to. I’m so thankful that I found this group this winter. It got me through some rough times of feeling pretty isolated.

Ava’s birthday! I can barely believe my baby’s going to be 3, but she is and I have lots of birthday prep to keep me busy this month. I can’t wait!

Daniel, Jessica and Madison visiting! I am so excited that they’re going to come down and visit us for the first time. We’re going to have a blast!

The Spring Holy Days Last, but certainly not least….I was mainly going in chronological order (even though Spring doesn’t start till later in the month, it’s supposed to be 58 this Saturday, which is pretty spring-like to me!) Anyway…I love the Spring Holy Days. I’m excited to get the house nice and clean and deleavened, make all kinds of yummy unleavened food, and of course observe those special days.

What are you looking forward to this March?

Have you signed up with Swagbucks yet? If you haven’t, what are you waiting for? This is the easiest way to earn free gift cards and other awesome prizes. Plus, if you sign up right now through my link and use the code LORASCODE1 (case sensitive), you will start out with 60 FREE swagbucks (30 for signing up and 30 for using the code)! For more instructions on how to sign up, keep reading.

I wouldn’t share this with you if I didn’t absolutely know it worked….so far I’ve gotten $120 in gift cards just from using Swagbucks. And I’m getting most of Ava’s birthday gifts free with those gift cards.

What is Swagbucks?

Swagbucks is a search engine that rewards you for using it. Every few searches, you’ll be rewarded with swagbucks. The swagbucks build up and you can trade them in for gift cards (to places like Amazon, Target, Starbucks, Barnes & Noble, and Victoria’s Secret to name a few) or other prizes.

How Do I Earn Swagbucks?

It’s easy! Just use it to do your normal searches that you normally use Google, Yahoo or another search engine for. It’s that simple!

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

Plus, they’re introducing some new ways to win (detailed below).

Until 3/4, Swagbucks is offering my readers a swag bucks code to earn 60 swagbucks right off the bat, just for signing up! The code is: LORASCODE1 (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!!

To celebrate their birthday, Swagbucks is making a bunch of great changes. Here is what they told me:

1) More ways to earn Swag Bucks every day: With Swabucks.com 3.0 users will be able to earn by having their toolbar visible on their browser (must be logged in) and also by simply viewing our ‘No Obligation’ special offers. This means that in addition to all the regular ways to earn, the more you are engaged with Swagbucks.com, the more you will earn!

2) New look home page and Swag Store & rewards store: Swagbucks.com 3.0 will include a revamped, cleaner interface that will provide a better user experience.

3) Launch of the Swagstakes Portal: As you may know we currently run about a dozen on-going sweepstakes (called Swagstakes) at any given time. With the launch of 3.0 we are going to have a brand new, fully stocked Swagstakes portal in which there will be dozens of Swagstakes running at all times! Some contests will be limited entry (meaning a set number of entries will be offered) so the odds for a user to win are greater. The tentative list of items that will be offered during initial launch should include: $100 Amazon Gift Cards, Sony Bravia 32? TV, Amazon Kindle, Apple iPod Touch, Flip Ultra HD Camera, Panasonic Blu Ray with Remote, Apple iPad, Sopranos Complete Series Box Set, Rachel Ray 10 piece cookware set, Playstation 3 system + games bundle, Canon Powershot Camera, Seinfeld Complete Series DVD box Set, Viziio 22? LCD TV and plenty more!

4) Starting today, you will notice that your Swag Bucks in your account will be multiplied by 10 (as will the prices in the store. So for example, if you had 45 bucks in your account you will now have 450 SB; The Amazon which was 45 SB will now be 450 SB). NO prices are being raised on prizes (it will all be proportional – so have no fear about that), but what this split of the SB will allow us to do is to award bucks to users in ways that were not before imaginable (such as being logged into the toolbar, and viewing our special offers).

Don’t hesitate! With all the free codes they’re giving away right now, this is the best time to sign up! This isn’t complex like choosing life insurance online quotes…just sign up, search and start earning!

On Saturday, we went to church and were ready for our Growing Kids God’s Way class. But it started to snow during the service and according to the weather scanning software, we were supposed to have a winter storm warning starting in a few hours. We decided we didn’t want two totaled cars and that we were going to just go home and they ended up canceling it because enough families made the same decision. It was definitely a good idea because it was already slippery and the storm warning hadn’t even started yet! So we ended up eating all of the slab apple pie by ourselves! Yikes!

On Sunday we stayed home all day…I couldn’t even run my errands because of the snow. So we baked cookies and watched the Olympics instead.

On Monday I ran an errand and today I took all of our tax stuff to our CPA, so I am getting out of the house, it’s just kind of a pain having to schedule it to make sure that Chad will be home. We’re hoping to have our van back by the end of the week though! Yay!

This week I started ordering Ava’s birthday stuff and I still can’t believe she’s going to be THREE! Where did the time go?! I’m really excited that Daniel, Jessica and Madison will be able to be with us for her birthday this year. Daniel’s spring break is that week and they were already planning to come see us during that time, but I didn’t realize it would be on her birthday until a few weeks ago. We’re all looking forward to getting to spend more time with them and show them where we live.

So that’s what we did. The first twenty minutes or so went great. First the kids helped me mix up the crusts (we made two). I decided to make slab apple pie so that the kids could help and I wouldn’t be worried about making it look pretty. This was a very good decision, considering that Kelvin insisted on gouging the crust with anything he could get his hands on….spoons, forks, measuring cups, etc.

We finally got the crusts done and safely hidden away on the kitchen counter (we were cooking in the dining room so that the kids could reach better). Thankfully, the apple slicing went much more smoothly. I sliced up one apple for them to eat and then they helped by dumping the other apples I was slicing into the bowl.

And then things went downhill. We started the topping by putting the flour in the bowl. While I went to the kitchen for butter, Kelvin took a spoon and sprinkled all of the flour all over himself. When I got back in there, he was completely white and so was the table and chairs. I was not impressed and Ava told him he could not be “Chef Babycakes” anymore.

But we got through it…cleaned up the mess, stripped the baby down to his diaper, finished the topping, and baked the pies without burning them!

I know it’s only February, but I’m already wanting to get started buying the kids’ spring and summer clothes. I’m trying to restrain myself and wait a little longer, but it’s hard! LOL

I’m also making lists of fun activities we can do once the weather warms up….both “field trips” and things we can do in our own backyard. I’m thinking about getting some play equipment like slides for the yard to make it a little more fun for the kids. We have balls, sandbox toys, ride-on toys, and things like that, but I think they would really enjoy some bigger equipment now that they’re getting bigger. It might also buy me some time to mop the floor or do my workout (no weight loss product for me!) while they’re out there. We have a fenced backyard and the gate has a lock on the outside so I know there’s no way they could possibly get out and I plan to take full advantage of that this year! LOL Of course, I’m sure we’ll spend lots of time at the park too since it’s right across the street.

I’m sure in a few months I’ll be whining about how hot it is, but right now I’m ready for the gray, dreary winter to be OVER!

I checked my email from my phone during one of the very few quiet moments and found this email from my grandma. It put a smile back on my face and when I read it to Chad he said I should email it to all the parents I know. LOL So I’m putting it here instead:

Whenever your children are out of control, you can take comfort from the thought that even God’s omnipotence did not extend to His own children.

If God had trouble raising children, what makes you think it would be a piece of cake for you?

I think this is the first year that she really “gets” what a birthday party is and she’s really excited about it. Much to my dismay, she decided she wants a Dora the Explorer party theme. I’m not Dora’s biggest fan, but we’re going with it. Plus, Dora’s really popular right now, which should make it really easy to find all the party supplies we need.

Frugal zealot that I am, I was really excited to find a coupon for Birthday Express! Who says birthday parties have to break the bank?!