Wednesday, August 31

Back to School!

Tonight we went to Brett’s open house at school. It’s a time to bring in school supplies, find desks, meet teachers, see the classrooms. It’s really nice. Brett dreaded the pictures but I still got some. Smile It might be one of the last years he let’s me {not if I can help it!} It’s really neat to see the pictures each year. We’ve heard such great things about his teacher so we’re excited for 3rd grade.
3rd grade3rd grade classroom
Lots of school supplies this year – 6 notebooks and folders. Something new this year -he found two textbooks on his desk – science and social studies. We hear 3rd grade involves book reports, assignment notebooks and more studying.desk
Filling up his desk. I caved and bought him Mario notebooks. He wasn’t with me and wouldn’t have known the difference, but I knew he’d like them. Maybe he will be more excited about classwork?? And the spirals seemed like they’d hold up better than the really cheap ones. We’ll see.
deskinside
Brett’s concerns?  “I’ll have to write in cursive all the time.” He doesn’t seem to like it. Sounds like his Daddy. Winking smile

Another thing he said “I’m afraid I’ll be the worst.” Breaks my heart!  I talked to him about it and he was concerned about being the worst academically in his class. Well no concerns there, that’s for sure. We talked about him doing HIS best and that it’s not a competition. It’s going to be a challenging year with all the studying and tests but it should be a really good year too. The last year at Harmony. Already.

Protecting Your Family Nest


Our nest isn’t quite as full as the one pictured above, but we still have a lot to protect! Our one and only little boy made us a family. So now we have more to consider than just ourselves {a very good thing!} and a future to consider for our son. It’s a big responsibility for any parent.
There’s such a balance to meet our daily responsibilities and to consider the what-ifs and the future, that we thankfully, can not yet see.
Did you know approximately 58 million people in the United States are under-insured? 70% of people with kids under 18 said they would be in serious trouble if something happened to their primary breadwinner. I know we would be included in that group!
There’s so much to consider when you have a family:
  • Life insurance: Helps to cover the cost of your mortgage, medical & funeral expenses, continuing child care, living expenses and college tuition.
  • Savings accounts: for future purchases, vehicles, vacations, emergencies
  • 401K: retirement that seems so far off…
  • College funds: we care constantly warned college is going to cost a major fortune by the time our kids get there.
What will you do in an emergency? Overwhelming to think about but a responsible thing to do to protect your family adequately.  I’m sure most of us could be better protected.
Some of the best things we’ve done to protect ourselves:
  • Research rates from time to time to make sure we’re getting the very best rate. Since we’ve been with Allstate Auto for 16+ years, no other company has been able to touch our rate so that’s where we stay. Great service by the way! And who doesn’t love “Mayhem?!”
  • Participate in 401K no matter what. It always seems hard to have all the extras coming out of the paychecks, but save something! Up it whenever you can. One of our companies did a match so we took advantage.
  • Being self employed, I contribute to an IRA. I set it up as an auto payment so I save every month. We just make sure it happens.
  • Life insurance:  It seems like a waste….until you need it. I feel good knowing we have it.
  • Make sure your insurance really meets your needs. Our homeowner’s wasn’t enough coverage for my child care business so I found commercial child care insurance.
We’ve learned lots of things the hard way or just because we didn’t know. I hope this is one area we can look back on one day and say we made smart decisions that protected us.
Your local Allstate agent can talk you through your situation and help you plan for the future today. Allstate and their agents have been helping customers protect their families for over 50 years.
About Allstate Life Insurance
The Allstate Corporation is the nation's largest publicly held personal lines insurer. Allstate is reinventing protection and retirement to help more than 17 million households insure what they have today and better prepare for tomorrow. Consumers access Allstate insurance products (auto, home, life and retirement) and services through Allstate agencies, independent agencies and Allstate Personal Financial Representatives in the U.S. and Canada, as well as via
www.allstate.com and 1-800 Allstate®.
More information on Allstate Life Insurance:
http://www.allstate.com/

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Wordless Wednesday {New Shoes}

stormyshoes

stormyshoes 4stormyshoes3

Tuesday, August 30

Flyswatter Bubbles

This is a fun twist on bubbles, using flyswatters. We used a homemade bubble solution and flyswatters that are just for painting or now, for bubbles too!Flyswatter BubblesFlyswatter Bubbles 2Flyswatter Bubbles 3
Classified: Mom

Ocean Scenes

Ocean scenes made with foamie stickers. We used pencil erasers to stamp bubbles in the water. These types of projects are fun for all ages and some add more details than others depending on their ages.

Ocean Scenes with Foamie Stickers

People in our lives

Other people in our lives are so important. I loved to look over this morning and see Brett laying next to S quietly each doing their thing. S always lays on the floor like this and looks out the front door while listening to music. He has his favorite things in his hands. I love that Brett wants to be by him and just be together. S needs it and Brett does too. He always loves to be with other kids.

brett&sam

From the inside

I know this isn’t a great picture, but I love the view out our living room window the last while, with the sunflowers blooming.  I’ll miss them when they’re done! The finches & bees have been loving them too.
window

Monday, August 29

Happy 2nd Birthday Stormy!

He’s so loved! Stormy has a “Mii” on the “Wii” and last week it said that there was going to be “a surprise party” for Stormy. So tonight before bed, Brett insisted we all go downstairs and see what happens on a Wii surprise birthday party. Not much Open-mouthed smile but it was still fun. No sprinkles on the cat food this year for Stormy. I’m slacking.stormy2stormystormy3stormy&brett

Football!

I’m not a big sports fan but I’m a big fan of this kid whatever he’s playing.brettfb

Here’s Brett after practice tonight. This is his practice jersey. His is blue & he’s on the “Colts” team this year.

brettfb2

He’s looking so serious. I think he’s just trying to look tough. Be right backbrettfb3

Thursday, August 25

My Memories #1 Rated Scrapbook Software {Giveaway!}

THIS GIVEAWAY HAS NOW ENDED & IS CLOSED. YOU CAN STILL USE THE DISCOUNT CODE BELOW TO SAVE $20 ON THE MY MEMORIES SUITE AND PRODUCTS! THANKS FOR YOUR ENTRIES!!

I have been given the opportunity to try out My Memories Suite digital scrapbooking software.  What a lot of fun! Many of you know I’m a digital scrapper, so this was exciting.
My Album 2-001
I used a a vintage looking digital kit, called “All About Funk”. I changed up the templates somewhat to my liking. I just scrapped some of Brett’s pictures from July. It was very easy to figure out and all these pages came together in less than an hour. I did keep them simple, but that is the way to go! The papers in this digital paper pack are great.
My Album 2-004
My Album 2-002
What I like about My Memories scrapbook software:
  • It’s simple to use. I didn’t have a lot of research to do to figure it out.
  • Lots of templates and kits to choose from. There wedding sets, family memory options, pet sets {that rhymes!} layouts to customize, baby, holiday and travel themes. More besides!
  • You can also make calendars, photo books, cards, interactive albums, and videos. I want to try making a video sometime.
  • I like that you can export layouts to JPEGS for easy sharing online.
Learn more about My Memories on YouTube.
My Album 2-003
My Album 2-005
I had to make a calendar too. Winking smile How cute is this??!!
Calendar 2011-001
Would you like to try My Memories? A $40.00 value!
Enter to win My Memories digital scrapbooking software:
Required:  Visit: www.mymemories.com and choose your favorite digital paper pack or layout. Leave a comment telling which you’d choose.
Extra entries:
  • Follow my blog.
  • Like My Memories on Facebook
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  • Tweet about the giveaway (tweet ONCE DAILY for extra entries each day!) – Share on Twitter like:Enter to #win #1 rated My Memories Software via @MyMemoriesSuite & @ShareRemember! http://tinyurl.com/3lo4yew #giveaway #family #digiscrap
  • Blog about this giveaway & link to this post.
  • Share anywhere on the web! Leave me a separate comment/link for each share.
  • (ONCE DAILY for extra entries), leave a comment telling a different My Memories digital scrapbooking product you want.
******Contest ends on Friday, Sept 2, at noon CST. ********
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Special Coupon Code for my Readers! : 
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Go to My Memories Suite and use coupon code STMMMS32980 for a
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Good luck!

Rainbow Fish Story, Craft, Activity {Oceans}

oceans
Who doesn’t love Rainbow Fish? What an entertaining story & great lesson. 
The Rainbow Fish
We’ve made a variety of rainbow fish over the years, but this time, we used this template and glued on tissue squares and pieces of foil to make Rainbow Fish.rainbow fish craft for preschoolers 2
rainbow fish craft for preschoolers 3
Then we did some fishing. I cut basic fish shapes from colored craft foam and added circle shaped paperclips {that I had laying around}. I found misc dowels in the garage and tied on fishing line and hot glued some magnets to the end. Very fun! Now we can use these fish again {like this winter when we need something new to do!}
GO FISH GAME
GO FISH GAME FOR PRESCHOOLERS
GO FISH GAME FOR PRESCHOOLERS 3

Painted Seashell Magnets {Oceans}

oceans
This is an project made popular by Pink & Green Mama {in my opinion!} I added magnets so they could be admired and useful. I used hot glue to attach round magnets.Some worked better than others to be honest, but in the end all stuck to the fridge. The kids were so proud of them! Again, we used liquid watercolors for this project.Painted Seashell MagnetsPainted Seashell Magnets 2Painted Seashell Magnets 3Painted Seashell Magents 5
It's Playtime at hands on : as we grow
Classified: Mom

Wednesday, August 24

Textured Watercolors

This is a really simple but it has a neat effect. We just crumpled up our paper and then smoothed it out and painted on it. It looks great when it’s glued to a piece of colored background paper.Textured Watercolor PaintingsTextured Watercolor Paintings 3Textured Watercolor Paintings 2

This was inspired by one of Brett’s great projects:

specialart

They look even better in person when you can appreciate the dimension!