Another Great Giveaway

I just came across a HUGE giveaway over at Confessions of a Yummy Mummy. Cynthiaa is giving away Post It notes, a $40 giftcard to Target, an organizer, a $75 gift card to the Container Store and a cute 3 pack container set from the Container Store.

To enter, visit Confessions of a Yummy Mummy's Super Fab Organization Giveaway! You have up to 21 opportunities for entries into her giveaway! How cool is that?

Also, today is the last day to enter my Animal Lotto and Blog Button giveaways. For each giveaway, I will put all of the entries into a bucket and let my daughter pick a winner! She'll love being part of this. Winners will be announced tomorrow! Good luck everyone!

Hooked On Fridays: Family, Coloring & Books

Check out Hooked On Fridays, from Julia at Hooked On Houses, to see what other bloggers are hooked on this week.

I am loving this picture taken last weekend at my nephew's birthday party. It is all of the grandmas and their grandchildren. This was the first time all of the kids and grandmas in the family were together. As you can see in the picture, it was impossible to get everyone to cooperate, but that's part of the fun! And how funny that the oldest children, Abby and Matthew are covering their ears, because the babies are too loud! LOL! I guess they forgot how loud they used to be!!!
This week, Abby is hooked on coloring! Below is a Valentine she made for me :)

The above picture is of her and Dave apple picking on a sunny day. I love how her sun has a smiley face.
And finally, who doesn't love Library book sales? We went to the library yesterday to return last weeks book and they were having a sale in the basement! Abby and I had so much fun going through the boxes and boxes of books. She picked out the Veggie Tales coloring book and the Valentine Mice book for her cousin Matthew. She is always thinking of him, too cute!

Can you see the My Little Pony DVD at the top of the picture? The lady at the checkout just GAVE it to Abby! I recognized her as one of the story time readers at the library. She said she was waiting for someone special to give it to. Well, that made Abby's day, she loves My Little Pony!

What are you hooked on this week? Don't forget to post a link on Hooked On Fridays.

Also, thank you to everyone who has entered my Animal Lotto and Blog Button giveaways! It has been so much fun to participate in the Bloggy Giveaway Carnival.

Bloggy Giveaways Part 2

I have another giveaway for the Bloggy Giveaways Quarterly Carnival!

But first, check out the Winner Take All Giveaway at Shake The Salt. Christy is giving away over $833 worth of unclaimed prizes from her previous giveaways. We're talking: a Build a Bear gift certificate, Pediped shoes, Disney CDs and more!

Now, for my 2nd Bloggy Giveaway:

I had so much fun making my blog button, that I'd like to offer a Blog Button giveaway!

The winner will get a button that incorporates their blog theme (topics, colors, etc) with their choice of text.

I will say that I'm no professional when it comes to this and I haven't found any of those adorable cartoon people that you see in the professional blog buttons. However, you will enjoy having a button to share!

Also, I only have experience loading these into blogger. If you have another type of blog, I can give you the code, but will not be able to assist in how to place it in your blog. Sorry :(

To win a Blog Button just post a comment here about what you'd like your button to be like if you had one.

For extra entries:

• follow me and leave a comment telling me
  
• subscribe by email and leave a comment telling me
  
• add my button or link on your blog and leave a comment telling me

This contest is open to everyone and will end January 31st. I will announce the winner on February 1st!

Good luck!

Counting Bear Patterns

UPDATE: I just realized I linked the wrong type of counting bears below. I fixed the link to show you the correct counting bears.

Today was cold and snowy, so we were stuck at home today. However, Dave worked from home, so when he was finished working, he took Abby out to play in the snow.

I didn't realize this at the time I took the picture, but LOL about the cats fighting over the heating vent! They always do this and we are always cold...I wonder why?!

This morning Abby worked on patterns with counting bears. She did really well! The first time I laid one of the bears down, she said, "this is ridiculous, Mom!" However, she caught onto the pattern quickly. LOL!


As you can see, we also have counting dinosaurs, cats, dogs and turtles.

I love these Bear Pattern Activity Cards at Discount School Supply! I started running out of pattern ideas, so these cards would be great! Also, I can see Abby choosing to play them on her own, without my guidance.

Do you have a 3 to 4 year old? Check out Lori's list of Preschool At Home Ideas at the Homeschool Classroom.

Check Out 14 Days of Giveaways

I'm having so much fun checking out all of the awesome giveaways going on right now! You have to go to Mom Fuse and check out the Valentine's Day Gift Guide and 14 Days of Giveaways!

I won the Day 7 giveaway which was a $25 Build A Bear gift certificate! Every time we go to a mall, Abby wants so badly to go to Build A Bear, so she we be so excited to actually get to go AND buy something!

To enter today's Mom Fuse giveaway, click here.

Don't forget to enter to win my Animal Lotto giveaway!

Thanks again, Mom Fuse!

Bloggy Giveaways: Animal Lotto Game

I'm so excited to be participating in the Bloggy Giveaways Quarterly Carnival!

One reader will win this Around the World Animal Lotto set!

Included is 54 animal cards and 6 collecting boards, organized by habitat:

• Africa

• Asia

• Australasia

• North America

• South America

• Polar Regions

This would be a great matching game or memory game. Or have your child cut out the pictures and make an animal collage! Or if your child is like mine, let her stuff them into a purse to carry around everywhere you go, pretending they are coupons :)

To win, leave a comment telling me your favorite homeschooling activity or product. (If you aren't a homeschooler, just tell me your favorite project or activity to do with your kids)

For extra entries, you can follow me and/or add my button to your blog. Leave a separate comment for each entry (up to 3) and don't forget your email address.

Shipping is free to you, but unfortunately only open to US readers.

The giveaway will close on Saturday, January 31st and I will announce the winner on February 1st.

For more awesome giveaways, go to Bloggy Giveaways, Bargain Banana's Giveaway Party and Mom Fuse!

Beary Sweet Beads: The Cutest Beads EVER!

I was so excited to learn that I won a giveaway from the Beary Sweet Beads blog.

I won a set of Easter Peep Beads! Are these not the cutest little things you've ever seen?

To order a set of these beads or to check out more adorable beads, go to BearySweetBeads.com. The Easter Peeps are on sale!

Thanks again to Beary Sweet Beads!

Weekend Fun & A Mortified Mommy Moment

Check out that tent! Dave and Abby made this huge tent on Saturday, while I slept in. It looks like Abby got out all of her animals to cram into the tent. They had the tent down before I got up, but the family room looked like a tornado came through!
Today, Dave and Abby built and painted a birdhouse. We got the kit in October at the Missouri Botanical Gardens, during the Best Of Missouri Marketplace. It was free at the Home Depot tent!


Abby enjoyed mixing the paint colors together and said the above mixture was ketchup and mustard. Which made me think how good a Burger King cheeseburger sounded!
Friday we went to Gymboree. Abby sat down in one of those little chairs by the TV. There was another little girl who was about 3 and a little boy in a stroller, who was probably a little over a year old.

So, I'm right behind them looking at the clearance rack, when I hear:

Little Girl: "Isn't he the cutest little baby?"
Abby: silent at first and then "No."
Little Girl: "Did you say, NO?!"
Abby: looking concerned, "Yes"

Thank goodness the conversation ended there. It turns out the little boy was her brother and I have to say that he wasn't very cute at all.

Luckily the mother was nowhere near the kids when this happened.

I guess we've entered the brutally honest stage? How do you tell a 4 year old not to lie and to tell the truth and then expect them to answer a question like that? However, I could tell that Abby was uncomfortable answering the question.

Playdough Color Fun

Abby came down with a cold, so we haven't been doing too much. We did use playdough last night and Abby had a great time mixing colors.

I have to say, I used to not be able to handle mixing play dough colors! LOL! However, that is where the learning takes place! We (yes, me too) mixed all kinds of colors together and made light purple, dark purple, dark pink, light green and more.

These were just the regular jars of playdough, but we've made some fun playdough in the past. This is one of my favorite recipes:

Kool-Aid Playdough
Ingredients:
• 1 1/4 cup flour
• 1/4 cup salt
• 1 pkg unsweetened Kool-aid (just the dry koolaid, don't mix it into juice)
• 1 cup boiling water
• 1 1/2 Tbsp vegetable oil
Directions:
1. In a bowl, mix flour, salt and kool-aid.
2. Stir in water and oil
3. Knead with hands for about 5 minutes.
4. Store in ziploc bag for up to 2 months.
5. Use like playdough.
6. Smells wonderful and takes on the color of the koolaid.

It really does smell good. Almost good enough to eat! Here's another Kool-aid playdough recipe, from Memories of Mine to Thine.

I really want to try this Chocolate playdough.

Check out more playdough recipes at No Time for Flashcards.

Please share your favorite playdough recipes!

Check out Six In The Country for Monday Funday posts!

WooHoo! I Made A Button!

I am so proud of myself! I just made my own blog button. It took me awhile to make it and figure out how to put it in the blog, but I couldn't be more excited!

WooHoo for me!!!

Adorable Baby Shoes Giveaway!

Frugal Mommy of 2 Girls is hosting a giveaway for a pair of ShooShoos! They are the cutest shoes!

My favorite is the Fuchsia Kitty, shown above.
And I love these Sky/Grey/Stars shoes for little boys. Too cute!

To enter the giveaway, head over to Frugal Mommy of 2 Girls.

Wordless Wednesday

Letters, Cookies & More

Today was quite a busy day! We are currently in the middle of trying to refinance our mortgage. If all goes well, we will save $369 a month!

So while we were waiting for the man to come to do the appraisal, we played with some letters cards I had made last night.

At the library last week I checked out the book, Home Learning Year by Year, by Rebecca Rupp. This is a great book and an awesome resource. I would recommend buying this book if you are considering homeschooling.

I read through the Preschool and Kindergarten chapters and made a list of the topics that Abby could use practice with. These are the topics I noted:

• Print and read upper and lower case letters
• Understand that words have syllables
• Story sequence
• Dolch sight words
• Patterns
• Counting by 2's to 10 and by 5's to 50
• Solve simple story problems
• Identify money
• Tell time by the hour
• Understand measurements of length, weight and capacity
• Maps, Globes
• 7 Continents
• Works of Art

My plan is to pick a topic weekly and create an activity related to it. So today, I had Abby match upper case letters to lower case letters. I made the cards last night on Word, but noticed today that the font I used made some of the letters confusing. Such as "I" instead of "I" and "q" instead of "q". I made new letters today to replace those.

Abby also saw something on TV where they put little critters into ice cube trays and froze them. So, of course we had to try that today too. She's going to put them in her bath tonight. She said that they will "freeze back into water".
We also made chocolate chip cookies today. Note the cookie dough on Abby's mouth! LOL!

Monday's Field Trip

Since I was helping my sister out for the day, Dave took Abby to the St. Louis Science Center. They have gone a few times together and she loves it.
Abby says her favorite part of the Science Center is getting rocks. Whenever they go, she always comes home with a small bag of shiny pink and purple rocks. Yesterday, she also got to make a bead necklace and today she told me who each bead reminded her of...too funny!
The following pictures are of the construction on Highway 40. Kind of neat to see. The highway will reopen in December of 2009. For construction updates, check out The New I-64. Has anyone who lives in or near St. Louis ever called it I-64? Just curious.

Homeschool Freebies

Thank you to the Old Schoolhouse Magazine for this awesome list of Homeschool Freebies!

Get freebies from companies including: Friends Forever Girls, Critical Thinking, Homeschool Science Academy and MORE!!

Also, be sure to download the Old Schoolhouse Magazine's Fiesta of Freebies E-book!

Walmart Deal: Littlest Pet Shop Carry Case

This Littlest Pet Shop Carry Case is on clearance at Walmart (IN STORE ONLY) for only $15!

Amazon has them for $39.99 right now. Which is strange, because just the other day they were only $19.24 on Amazon.

I wanted one of these for my daughter for Christmas, but didn't want to pay $20 for it. $15 is the best deal I've seen yet, so I will be going back to purchase it for her birthday.

However, Amazon has the best price on the Littlest Pet Shop wall decals. $11.24 vs. $30 on clearance at Walmart.com.

Go figure!

Parents Magazine 2 Years Free

Thank you to Money Saving Mom for the heads up on getting a FREE 2 year subscription to Parents Magazine.

Click here for more information.

Walgreens Gift Card Giveaway at STL Mommy

Who doesn't love Walgreens?

STL Mommy is having a $25 Walgreens gift card giveaway.

For more information and to enter click here.

How Cool! I Won!

Angela at Thrifty Homemaker hosted a giveaway for a copy of Dining on a Dime, by Living On A Dime authors Tawra Kellam and Jill Cooper. Check out their blog here.

Guess what? I won! I just received my copy today and I can't wait to start reading it. I'm looking forward to some thrifty meal ideas.

Thanks again to Angela and to Tawra and Jill!

Usborne Books Gift Certificate Giveaway!

Crafty Crow is having a giveaway for a $25 gift certificate to Usborne Books!

I love Usborne Books. They are well made and the illustrations are always so vibrant and fun.

Abby's favorite Usborne Book was That's Not My Kitten. It is a touchy-feely book and would be great for infants and toddlers.

I also like Usborne's selection of homeschooling type books. They have curriculum sets, learning kits, seasonal books and more.

Enter the giveaway here.

Target Clearance: 75% Off Girls Coats

Hurry over to Target! They have a great clearance in the girl's section.

These Cherokee coats are regularly priced $44.99 and are currently 75% off, making them only $11.24!

We got the one in the first picture. It's called the Tech Ski Jacket. It is way cuter in person. It has a detachable hood and a nice fleece lining.

The second picture is of the 3-in-1 jacket. The fleece lining is removable. Abby found this coat to be way to bulky and she could barely move! We both loved the colors though.

Note: These coats are $31.49 online.

There are also several other styles available, from dress coats to jackets.

We also found the Nick & Nora silky cloud pajamas for only $4.98. Abby has wanted these since they came out, but I've been waiting for the 75% off clearance. Our store had tons of them.

I was kind of in a hurry, but did see several boys items also on clearance.

Happy Shopping!

Picture Collages

Today Abby worked on her fine motor skills, by making a picture collage. Since this is her first time doing this type of project, I let her cut out pictures of things she likes to make a collage on poster board.

I got out a piece of purple and a piece of red construction paper and showed her how I was going to make color collage pictures. She then helped me find a few red and a few purple things to cut out for the color collages.



This was a fun activity. It was interesting to see what type of things she cut out...donuts, hearts, Dora, a rainbow and a picture of water (she says it is the pool in Branson).

We will be making picture collages again. I just saw somewhere (sorry, I can't remember) where they cut out pictures of x's and o's and made cute Valentine's.

I also think it would be fun to find each letter of the alphabet and maybe a picture that starts with that letter. That could be made into another collage, cards or even a book.

Learning Resources: My Favorite Toys!

I was just thinking about how much I love the Learning Resources products, when they sent me a new catalog. I think we need one of everything!

The above is a picture of the Smart Snacks ABC Lacing Sweets. Abby used the "W" upside down to make another "M".

We also have:

• Piece A Pizza Fractions
• Counting Cookies
• Rainbow Color Cones
• Pretend and Play Calculator Cash Register
• Picnic Play Food Basket
• Breakfast Food Basket
• Lunch Food Basket
• Pretend and Play Doctor Kit
• Veterinarian Set (no longer on the website)
• 2 Hand Pointers
• Inflatable Solar System
  

And I'm sure there are more that I'm forgetting! LOL!

Abby plays with most of these every day. One minute she is making a meat sandwich for her dad and the next she is spelling words out with the lacing sweets. She also loves when I set up a small grocery area and play grocery store with the register. The cash register comes with money and she is really into pretending she has money right now.

All of these products are made very well and Learning Resources has great customer service. They once sent out 2 new replacement planets, free of charge, when ours got a hole in them.

To request a catalog, click here.

For the save 20.09% sale, that ends January 13th, click here. I highly recommend purchasing the Smart Snacks Smart Play Combo for only $29.99.

Now back to circling everything I wish I could buy in the catalog...

Update: Check out Hooked on Houses to see what other bloggers are hooked on!

Fleurville Sling Tote Deal

This is an awesome deal! Head over to MamaBargains.com to get this Fleurville Sling Tote for only $49.

These retail for $150, but hurry these bags sell fast.