Letter of the Week - H

H is for Hamburger! I'm trying really hard to incorporate a snack every week with our Letter of the Week program. This week we made little hamburgers out of cookies and frosting. Cole LOVED this snack. We spread the frosting on the cookies and used sprinkles as our "condiments".

Letter of the Week - H

H is for Hands! I was originally going to paint Cole's hands and let him put his prints on the H. He wanted NOTHING to do with that and insisted that I trace and cut them out and then he painted them. Similar result, less mess. We also cut out some H pictures and pasted them down. He has gotten very good at following the lines on the box I draw around the pictures in the magazine. I don't even have to remind him about how to hold the scissors anymore.

care. crop. cure. - Breast Cancer Awareness Scrapbook Shirts - Now Available

It's time once again for our annual limited edition care. crop. cure. t-shirts. October is national Breast Cancer Awareness month and to celebrate we're offering a wide variety of products with our care. crop. cure. design. These products will be available from now until the end of 2009 so get them now before they are gone forever.

Kmart Double Coupons...

I've been all about coupons, sales and stocking up on great deals lately. I think it is my nesting instincts and the fact that we're going to have a new baby around here in just a few short months. Kmart periodically has a double coupon event at their stores. One of the weeks my sister happened to be off work so I made her come with me so we could each check out with our daily limit for double coupons. This was our haul from just the first part of the week. Total paid for everything seen is under $20. There are lots of great resources out there for good deals. My two favorite sites are Making Life Sweet and I Heart Publix. Both of them are great sites with lots of helpful info.

LeapFrog Tag Reading System Activity Cards...

Cole recieved the LeapFrog® Tag Reading System for his 3rd birthday and I must say, it has been a huge hit. With the Tag Reader he got a set of National Geographic Kids: Activity Cards - Land Animals which are by far his favorite. They tell you the animal name, you can hear what sound they make and they also tell you some random facts about the animals. The activity cards came with a horrible plastic pin in the top to hold them together. This made it so that the cards could be fanned out, but not flipped over. They were very frustrating to use. Using a pair of pliers I removed the plastic pin and replaced it with a binder ring, which is available at any office supply store. Now the cards move more freely and can be flipped over as well. Cole has found the new design much more user friendly. Santa has already purchased the National Geographic Kids: Activity Cards - Birds and Sea Animals for his stocking and I'm sure he'll be equally as pleased with that set of cards.

Kids Craft Tip...

Whenever I need a small cup for Cole to use for a craft I usually grab one of the medicine measuring cups that comes with every bottle of Children's Motrin or Tylenol that you buy. We have tons of these and they are the perfect size for when you need just a small amount of liquid. They can be easily thrown in the dishwasher or even the trash when you're done with them.

Letter of the Week - F

In addition to our craft this week we also had some fun exploration time outside in our Sand and Water Table. I bought Cole a small package of miscellaneous fish at Target, similar to these, and let him play outside with them. He had a great time making them swim around and chase each other. They also got buried under the sand and we had to dig them out.

Letter of the Week - F

F is for Fish! I came up with this activity on my own using some old bingo dabbers that my Mom brought to Cole. I drew some fish on cardstock and let him color them in. I also drew a big F on blue paper that I let him color. Once everything was dry we cut out the fish and glued them on the F. I must say that he LOVED the bingo dabbers. I know that you can buy Kids Paint Dabbers which use non-toxic and child safe paint. But, I figured the old bingo markers would work for now as long as he didn't get any in his mouth.

Summer 2009 Shutterfly Book...

A while back I was inspired by some templates Ali Edwards shared for her baby albums. I had a code for a free 8x8 Shutterfly book burning a hole in my account and in no time at all I came up with this Summer 2009 book. It was super easy to create by using Photoshop to design my 8x8 layouts with text. Then you just upload them like a picture to your Shutterfly gallery and create your book.

Click here to view this photo book larger

Sand & Water Table (or a bean table)...

During the winter months we fill Cole's Sand and Water Table with beans instead of sand and water. This makes for a much dryer activity when it is a little cool outside. I love using beans because they are cheap, easy to find, and allow him to experience a different texture than the typical sand that we use. I would NOT recommend this activity to anyone who thinks their kid might actually eat the beans. I never had a problem with him trying to eat the beans so it worked well for us.

Project 365 - Hooded Scrapbooking Sweatshirt

I created this design to go along with the Becky Higgins' Project 365 Scrapbook Program. I bought the 365 kit last year when it went on sale and I've been planning to use it as a baby album for when our little girl arrives. I know there are lots of you out there who have been documenting your lives for the last year. I applaud you. I have no idea how you keep up. Anyways, you can see all our Project 365 items at our online store.

Great place for a photo shoot...

Are you looking for a cool place for an impromptu photo shoot? My recommendation would be to head to the mall. Recently, my friend Kristi was in town for a visit and we found ourselves window shopping at one of the nicer malls in town. I was surprised by how many great photo opportunities there were right in front of us. We found a couple of super cute props/locations for some pictures of my growing belly. I would of course recommend asking permission before taking a ton of pictures in a store. And just in case you were curious, the new baby will have a K name!

Bounce Dryer Bars...

A few weeks ago some coupons for the new Bounce Dryer Bar came in the mail. They were from Vocalpoint, which is a site that one of my favorite deal blogs recommended. Then I saw there were additional Target coupons in the paper for the same item. Since you can combine a Target coupon with a Manufacturer coupon at Target it made the bars extremely cheap. So I decided to give them a try. Well I must say I'm impressed. I've been using them for a few weeks now and I love them. I love the scent (not too strong) and I love that I don't have to remember to put a dryer sheet in with my laundry. I may even try sticking one on the inside of our diaper pail when the new baby comes. I think it will keep it smelling fresh for a while. It almost makes me want to go and buy a whole case of them! So my verdict is that with a coupon (or two) these are a great buy and a great product. Enjoy!

Cole's Lego Birthday Party

We celebrated Cole's 3rd Birthday with a Lego Birthday Party. I tried to link to all the how-to information in case anyone is looking for resources for their own party. You can view all Lego Party posts by clicking here.

When guests arrived we had them guess how many Lego candies were in the jar. I found the candy at a shop in the mall and printed out business card sized papers for them to write in their names and their guess.

Once all the kiddos had arrived we had everyone find a seat and select a bag of Lego parts. They were instructed to build a race car which we then raced down our homemade ramp. The ramp was made out of piece of pliable plastic board that we found at our local home improvement store and we taped off the lanes using colored electrical tape. This even was a HUGE hit with all the kids. Later in the party when things were winding down they went back to the ramp and continued to race their cars.

After our races we headed outside where each kid was given a Lego Party Bag. We then had a quick scavenger hunt in the backyard where everyone hunted for hidden Legos. While we were out there we went ahead and took turns hitting the Lego Pinata. It worked out perfectly that the kids could use their Lego Party Bags for the scavenger hunt and then also to pick up Lego Pinata treats.

Once the fun was over outside we headed in for Lego Cupcakes and gifts. We served vanilla cupcakes with Lego chocolates on top. They were very tasty!

While the kids waited for cupcakes to be served there were coloring sheets on the table with Lego Crayons for them to use. They liked the Lego Crayons so much that I let them each take a few home with them at the end of the party. The coloring sheets are available for free download on the Lego site.

Before the party was over all the kids received a treat box with lots of goodies. Another birthday in the can, now I have to start thinking about what we want to do for next year.

Alternative Use for Sand & Water Table...

Usually we keep the Sand and Water Table filled with the standard sand and water. However, for parties it makes a great cooler for drinks. Load up your cans or bottled water and fill with ice. The shallow design makes it easy to access drinks without having to dig around. Keep the plugs on the bottom slightly askew so that the water drains and when the party is over little kids will love playing with the leftover ice.