Awesome Giveaway!

Abby and I are still enjoying our Summer break, but I had to tell you all about a very cool giveaway going on right now at Tatertots and Jello

 a Silhouette Craft Cutting Machine that can be used for making heat transfers, glass etchings, vinyl decor, scrapbooking and more!

Head over to Tatertots and Jello to enter the giveaway, but hurry it ends June 29th!

Summer Break

We have been enjoying our Summer break so far!  Abby's gymnastics class ended the last week of May.  They had the parents come in and the kids did a little routine at each of the stations and were then given medals.  

This past Tuesday, Abby and I met up with my cousin Jackie, Lauryn and Jacob at the Butterfly House.  Admission is free on the first Tuesday of every month from 9 to 11 a.m.  

This is what Abby and Lauryn looked like the last time we went to the Butterfly House together:

I remember we could not get them to sit still and look at the camera at the same time.  Abby is on the left, she is 7 months older than Lauryn.

Isn't that hilarious!  It was over 4 years ago.

After the Butterfly house, all of us went to my Aunt's House and met my sister and her boys there to swim in the kiddie pool.  All 5 kids had so much fun.  My Aunt Barb recently bought a nice pop up pool from One Step Ahead.  It comes with a detachable tent to help keep the kids in the shade.  It looks like they are out of the 84" pool and  only have the 38" one in stock right now.

Anyway, after swimming and a pizza I was able to kind of get a pic of all 5 kids together:


 Lauryn, Abby, Matthew, Andrew & Jacob

I love this one of the 3 older kids:

I'm hoping we can all hang out more often this Summer. 

I've decided on a start date for Abby's first grade year and there's so much I'd like to do and plan before then.  Right now, I have her set to start first grade on July 19th.  There are 198 school days scheduled, until the last day on May 20, 2011.  This will give us some flexibility and we've also planned for several breaks from July to May.

I need to start looking over the materials I have purchased and put together some goals and tentative daily/weekly work plans for next year.  In order to do this, I will be taking off the next several weeks from blogging.  I will still be on the computer and email (so feel free to email), but I need to use this time to get myself organized.  I'd also like to get back to exercising and losing some weight I've put on recently.  I don't want to buy new clothes!

I hope everyone has a fun Summer break!  Hopefully, I'll be back with great tips on how I lost 10 pounds and have the whole school year planned!  Yeah right, I don't think that's going to happen.  LOL!

See you soon!

CSN Stores Product Review: Carson zOrb

Several weeks ago I was contacted by CSN Stores to do a product review.  Well, I finally got around to ordering our product and it's here!  

CSN Stores has great customer service and my product came quickly.  I ordered the Carson zOrb 35x Digital Microscope.

This thing is really neat!  You plug it into your USB port and install the software to view with the microscope.  Unfortunately, my disc drive no longer works, so my husband had to "put it on the network" so I could find it.  I have no idea that means, but he got it working and we've enjoyed the Carson zOrb!

Abby took over it immediately and had no trouble focusing and capturing pictures.  Here's a few:

Chuck-E-Cheese coin

Rock

 Hair

 Purple Ribbon

Barbie Dress

The Carson zOrb will be really cool to have when Abby finds new rocks, leaves, etc.  She likes to go on nature walks and pick things up.  We might even have to take the laptop outside and plug in the zOrb to view some critters!  No critters in my house!

I know it seems far away, but I think the Carson zOrb would be a great (dare I say) Christmas gift.  Abby has been having a lot of fun with it.  I've been wanting a microscope for her to use, but the reviews on the less expensive ones are not so good.  I think the zOrb will work perfectly as a microscope for us, until Abby is quite a bit older and we can invest in a larger microscope if necessary. 

Do you have a microscope?  What kinds of fun projects do you use it for?

Also, have you started Christmas shopping?  Just kidding!  Of course, I know there are many people that buy all year.

Disclaimer:  CSN Stores provided me with a gift certificate to purchase an item of my choice to review.  I chose this product and this review is my honest opinion.  

Wordless Wednesday

Why we have 2 cats:

For more Wordless Wednesday posts, head to:

Go Graham Go

5 Minutes For Mom

J. Leigh Designz

For those interested:  In the top picture, the cat on the left is a Fawn Abyssinian female (almost 4 months) and the one on the right is a Platinum Mink Tonkinese male (7 months). 

I Heart Faces: Barefoot Week

This week at I Heart Faces is Barefoot Week, in honor of the charity Soles for Souls.

To celebrate, I've found a few feet pics in my archives:

Abby, April 2007

Abby's Foot March 2010

Abby, May 2010

For more Barefoot Week pics, head to I Heart Faces.