Potty Training Update - Days 2-5

WOW! I can't believe how fast it's gone.  I'm so far behind in posting, that I'm going to make this a quick recap

Day 2 (Saturday) ~ "Mommy, need a diaper"  This was heard again today during his normal pooping time. When we told him he wore underware and went on the potty, he replied "Need a diaper, so sad about that" with those big eyes filling up with tears. Later in the day, he managed to escape our view for a minute and hide out of site to go poo. Rick caught up with him just 30 seconds after and got Turbo to the potty. He didn't go any more, but it was our first training moment for #2.  As for the pees ~ he stayed dry ALL day again!

Day 3 (Sunday) ~ We decided to brave a family lunch outing since he'd been doing so well.  We went to one of his favorite places, Baja Fresh. This kid loves guacamole and mango salsa!  It's 15 minutes each way, door to door. We had him go potty before we left, then we had a leisurely lunch and came back home.  I was honestly so surprised he didn't have an accident! By the time we got home it had been 1 1/2 hours since his last potty and he'd drank a big milk at lunch!   He went the whole day with no accidents!


Day 4 (Monday) ~ Rick went to work, so the three of us (Turbo, Sweet Pea and I) flew solo for potty training. Guess what, we had a pee accident. He was playing with the games on our iPod Touch and I was making lunch and didn't remember to ask him if he was dry for awhile. When I asked again, we both realized he'd had an accident.  In this moment, I was reminded that this is still new him and that I have to remember to continue asking him and celebrating if he's dry.  As for #2,  he didn't ask for a diaper today! He felt that he had to go and ran into the bathroom. By the time he got there, he had gone in his pants. However, he is making steps in the right direction!


Day 5 (Tuesday) ~ WOOHOO! He made it to the potty for his poop! He actually tried about 5 times to go throughout the day and one time actually went.  By the time he had gotten to the potty he'd gone 1/2 way in his underware, but finished the other half on the potty!!! He was so proud of himself. We celebrated and called Daddy right away.  Another huge milestone today, he went pee in a public potty.  He doesn't like that the flushes are so loud and was very nervous about going. We compromised that he would go, then leave the bathroom and I would flush. It worked for today.  For the next trip, I'll have the portable potty that arrived today. My girlfriend recommended it and it seems to be great. I'll post more about it after Turbo uses it.


Tomorrow is Wednesday. Rick is picking up his parents from the airport for their visit and taking Turbo along. It's 45-60 minutes each way. We thought we'd put a pull-up on him, but Rick doesn't think he needs it. I'm inclined to agree. We'll see how it goes!

Potty Training - Day #1

Friday was the day that we kicked off our potty training with Turbo.  Rick took the day off work so that one of us would always be by his side. We didn't know what to expect and if the transition would be difficult.

Thursday night I put out 10 pairs of underwear and 5 pairs of soft and ease to slide off/on pants. I also had some rags and cleanser ready for the accidents. Of course we had the step-stool and potty seat.

Friday morning I went into get Turbo.  He was happy as usual and ready to start the day. I decided to start with underwear after breakfast so he would be able to run to the potty when needed.  After breakfast and a little play, I told him that today was the day we were going to go on the potty.  Now I should say that for the previous 3 days, I told him that he would be going pee/poo on the potty starting Friday. Still, he seemed a bit surprised, but I was already pulling down his pants and removing his diaper. I decided to leave off his underwear for a bit to help reinforce that something was different - plus, 2 year olds LOVE to be naked. He was so excited about being without pants that he took off his shirt too. I have some adorable pictures of that little tushy running around, but cropped them for a little privacy.  It wasn't long before we put the underwear on, but it was a fun transition for him.

The day went super easy! Rick and I kept saying we must be missing something it's going so well!  There was one time that Turbo was on his own, Rick was occupied with Sweet Pea and I was cleaning up the lunch dishes, all of a sudden we hear the toilet lid go up and the sound of him peeing all on his own.  WOOHOO.   There was two times during the day that he asked for a diaper. We're assuming because he had to poo.  Of course we told him that he was a big boy now and wore underwear and went on the potty. He managed to hold it in the entire day.   So as bedtime approached, we celebrated a wonderful and successful day potty training.   No fighting, No whining and No Accidents.  It was a dream day.  

Since I'm behind in posting, I'll soon be posting about Day 2. Stay tuned to see if the 2nd day went as smoothly as the first.

January Update #1

Goodness, it's been awhile since my last post! I've missed blogging and sharing our lives this past month.  It's hard to believe we've only been home three weeks! We've fit so much into that time.  That first week home we got some organization projects completed that had been lingering. The best part is that I now have more room for my TotSchool supplies!  Here's my closet almost entirely dedicated to his TotSchool - there's more room to the left and another shelf up top and room below the last shelf. YEA!

Then last week my Mom came for a visit. It's always fun when she's here. The kids absolutely adore her and she spends tons of time with them. Her visit was great timing because Rick was traveling and it rained the ENTIRE week. It was nice for all of us to have the company! For several weeks last year she was in India training their offshore staff, so she brought us some treasures from there. She brought Turbo some instruments made from wood and reeds. They are lovely and absolutely treasured by my musical boy.  There were gifts for all of us that are just lovely and very 'India'. We are so grateful for all she did to buy and bring them to us!!  She's going back again in March, so it will be a few months until we see her again.

This week we're undertaking potty training. YEP! Starting tomorrow Turbo will be in underware!  Rick and I are both excited and nervous about it.  The timing is really perfect since with Sweet Pea's nap and Turbo's rest schedule, we're home most of the day anyway. Plus Rick's parents will be here part of each week in February and the extra attention and time for Turbo will really help with the training.  I'll be posting every day with our progress, more about the 'method' we're planning to use and how it evolves over the first few days. Stay Tuned & wish us luck!!

January Update #2 - COUPONS

2010 is going to be a great year - I can feel it already.  I have written out most of my goals for this year and a plan on attaining them.  One of my plans is to use our money more wisely. I want to be spending less and getting more for my dollar.  My biggest focus for January has been learning to use coupons, rebates and sales to stretch our money for groceries.  We returned home on Jan 5th and that first weekend I went out to the stores, armed with my coupons and scored some incredible deals!! Seriously, I can't believe how much money I had been wasting by being uneducated in the strategies of sales, coupons and rebates.  Does it take time? Yep! In fact those first two weeks it took a LOT of time.  It was an investment and one that I happily made. Seriously when you see that big "You saved 70%" at the bottom of your grocery receipt, you realize it was time well spent.  See that $79.48, that's what I saved.

So let me tell you, I am now THAT mom, the one with the big basket of groceries and handfuls of coupons that you DO NOT want to be behind in the checkout line! I have a funny story, I purchased a bunch of groceries at Safeway and after my coupons it came to $.08 - yep - even the checker was impressed.  When I went to swipe my credit card, she couldn't believe I didn't have $.08 and had to use my cc for the transaction. She razzed me a bit, in good fun.  When I got home and told Rick about it, he laughed and made me start carrying a quarter with me for my next super deal!

February plans are to make all the phone calls to reduce or comparison shop our monthly and annual expenses such as insurance, cable, etc. 

Do you have any strategies to save your family money this year?

We're Home again!

We've been gone for awhile and I've missed blogging!  We traveled to Pittsburgh to visit my husband's family. He has a large immediate family and a huge extended family (think of the movie "My Big Fat Greek Wedding") in both the Pittsburgh and Allentown areas.  While visiting his parents, we were blessed to see all his siblings and many of the cousins that were also home for Christmas. It was non-stop visiting! The best part was watching all the kids running around, playing and having so much fun together. There was such a sense of family and love - even with the kids.  For part of our trip we drove to the other side of Pennsylvania to visit Rick's Grandmother (Dad's Mom) and all the family on that side.  It was a very special time to be together.   I'll be posting updates over the next week or so with pictures from our visit.

I must take a Mommy bragging moment here - MY KIDS ARE AMAZING!!  Travel is tough for little ones with our very early and long travel days, TONS of new people all at one time, off schedules, many different enviornments, not as much dedicated time with Mommy, different foods, not all the favorite books, etc.  My kids were terrific!!!!  Turbo was excited to be in new places and did great on all the travel days (air and car!) I was so happy at his behavior - he kept his humor and easy going nature for the entire trip.  Sweet Pea was sweet and adorable during the days. She was fine being passed around and smiled/laughed for everyone.  Yes, they are absolutely amazing.

Now, before you think it's all a picture print by Currier and Ives, we did have major sleeping challenges. Basically one or the other seemed to be up constantly throughout the night and only Mommy would do. Sweet Pea screamed during bedtimes like I'd never heard her do before and was so out of sorts I thought she needed to go to the doctor! After a day she was better, but not completely herself as she wouldn't sleep by herself for naps or bed. So I napped her in the carrier or held her. It was so nice to have the time to just hold her - I didn't mind. As for the nights, let me just say, I am still amazed at how little sleep a Mommy requires.  Honestly, it was inconsequential compared to the memories we created.

While visits are fun, there's also a joy in coming back home and settling back into routine. Next week we'll start TotSchool and our other activities again. More posting to come!

Grateful!

We're heading to Pittsburgh to visit hubby's family for Christmas, so this might be my last post of the year.  2009 has dealt economic challenges to our family as most of the country, but that is not what we'll remember years from now. This year we've brought a new life into the world with our daughter's birth, witnessed the astounding growth of our son, strengthened friendships and continued to grow as individuals and as a couple.  There are so many reasons to celebrate and be grateful this (and every) season.  Here are just a few blessings that top my list.

• We are healthy, fed, warm and loved
• I'm tremendously grateful for my amazing husband that provides such a wonderful life for my children and me. I love him dearly.
• My two children - healthy, happy and very sweet little people
• Our family and friends for their love and support
• I'm deeply grateful to those that really love my children. As we don't have family nearby, I'm especially grateful to my friends that show such love for Turbo. Thank you for being our 'village' and allowing us to be yours too.
• I'm very grateful to you that follow our blog! The encouragement and care for our family is heartwarming
• I'm also very grateful for the fellow bloggers that provide so much inspiration. Seriously, what would Turbo and I do all day without you guys?!? 

Wishing all of you a very warm, peaceful and merry Christmas!

Season for giving

Turbo is 29 months and Sweet Pea is 4 months

2 weeks! Wow, I can't believe it's been that long since I've posted. We've been busy, enjoy the holiday season with play, parties, friends and giving.  It's the giving aspect that I want to nurture in my children.  We did two specific acts of charity this year with Turbo.

ADOPT A FAMILY
We adopted a family through the local CASA Program. CASA (Court Appointed Special Advocate) program services the foster child population in almost every county in the USA. These children have been abused, neglected and/or abandoned and finally become dependants of the court.  They are placed in foster homes, group homes or at times with another member of their family. The CASA program is comprised of volunteers that assess, then advocate for the child's best interest regarding education, mental health, medical/dental, sibling/family visitation and placement interests. During the ever changing enviorment of a foster child, a CASA volunteer is often the only stable relationship the child has while in foster care.  I was a CASA for over 5 years before my son was born. It was such a tremendous expereince to be brought into these kids lives (8 kids in all). The picture below is of one my kids and me several years ago.

We adopted a needy foster family through CASA this holiday. We bought the kids and caregiver gifts and then delivered them to the CASA office. Turbo was so excited to give! It was heart warming to see his smiling face as he saw the gifts carried into the office.  Can you believe I didn't get one picture of this entire process?!!? 




FEED THE NEEDY

What does it look like to feed 28 families for 2 days?
112 cans of vegetables
56 cans of fruit cocktail
56 cans of tuna
28 cans of spaghetti sauce
28 boxes of pasta
28 boxes of tuna helper

Another project was preparing bags of groceries for the hungry. The bags contain: pasta, sauce w/ meat, tuna helper, tuna, canned vegetables and fruit. It's designed to feed a family of 4 for two days and are handed out as the needy come for a meal at the local soup kitchen. I chose this project because Turbo could participate in every aspect of it.  

Turbo had some terrific Tot School moments. 
General: We talked about the food groups. We worked on same/similar/different using the fruit and vegetable cans. I think Turbo got it. We'll see if it translates to other things besides peas, corn and green beans!  Concepts of high and deep while stacking the cans 3 high, 5 deep and heavy/light between the cans and boxes.  You get the idea.

Counting:   It was great opportunity to count to larger numbers than normal.  We counted boxes, cans and packages. While we did mostly consecutive number counting, I showed him the concept of counting by 5 and by 2, while I don't think he understood it completely, it got his attention.  He also counted for Daddy while helping to bag the groceries.  (4 vegetables, 2 fruit etc.)

Sorting: It doesn't get better than this.  We had boxes and cans galore for him to carry, sort and stack. Truely a 2 year old's delight!  He's very interested in the pictures and words on cans and boxes now.

 

Following directions: He had to hand Daddy just the right vegetable, fruit etc. It was good practice for listening and following directions. I was so proud of him and his wonderful attitude!

 Here are the bags, filled and ready to go. We'll be doing this again soon!

Our Winter Wonderland!

Wow, we woke up this morning to snow on the ground!! We live in Northern California bay area, so it's very unusual to see snow here! Turbo has never seen snow before this week!   Our snow melted after a couple hours so we headed out to the hills to play.

 

 

 

 

 

Tot School

Turbo is 29 months and Sweet Pea is 3 months

Oh what fun we had this week!! It's been a busy posting week for me too. Be sure to check out these other related posts.

• Our letter this week was R. Here's the post all about it.
  
• Sweet Pea decided to Roll Over. I caught it on video!! You can see it on this post.
• Open Ended Art - Hans Hoffman inspired a Rolling good time!

Now for other Tot School things:

Circle Time - Turbo LOVES circle time. This week we did a memory verse from the December 2's curriculum from Hubbards Cubbard (free!), then we danced to some happy music. We always read a book or two. This time we're reading our new Bob Books. 

Turbo is dancing to "I've got that Joy, Joy, Joy" song. His joy is just bubbling over!

Train Run - There's something about a loop that makes kids run! Turbo's favorite is the loop around our kitchen island.  He grabs his train whistle and a letter off the fridge (making the sound too) then says "come on Mommy" and we'll run around the island pretending to be a train. Each time we run by the fridge we get a different letter. He'd run all night - I'm good for about 15 laps then I get dizzy!  It's such a fun way to burn off little boy energy and work on a skill at the same time.  Do you have a loop that your kids love to run?

Patterns with Ornaments - He's not been interested in patterns until this day. Baby steps!

Winter Bingo - from Preschool Printables  He LOVED using the drums.

Dried Beans and a Gumball Machine

Glass Gem counting - He decided it was more fun to hand them to Mommy and have me place them. That worked great because it was adding/subtracting practice as he gave me the gems. This idea has been on my list for ages since I saw it at The Adventures of Bear

Color Round up - Orange - Despite his happy face, he's not enjoying these, so we'll try them again next year.

Rhyming Cards - While we read tons of rhyming stories, I've never focused specifically on rhyming. I printed these cards from kidssoup.com (I think).  At first we just reviewed the cards and saying the rhyming words. Then when he asked for the cards, we did this game where he had to pick the card that rhymed.

Button Snake - He asked for this again this week and is doing so great with it. Read how to make your own at the terrific Counting Coconuts blog.

Game Play - We play a lot of games during the week. Lucky Duck is his favorite. Sweet Pea and the dog that Daddy won last weekend, played with us.

Match the letters/numbers with Lines - I was so surprised that he did so well in drawing the lines! I first saw this activity here . I wouldn't have thought to give him something like this yet.

Color Wheel.  On one side of the clothespin is a color and he matches it to the color on the wheel. He's doing it upside down now for added interest.  We first did this months ago and he still enjoys it.  The idea came from here.

Color Stomp and Color Match up - I spread several colors all around the room, then have Turbo shout out a color while we race over to STOMP on it.  After that game, we clean up by matching them to their pair.

Snowman window cling. Fun and good workout for fine motor skills.

We read about the birth of Jesus in several books. I'll update with the titles tomorrow. We're talking about Jesus and the real meaning of Christmas every day.   Hope to get some Christmas crafts in next week!

Letter of the Week - R r

R is a terrific gross motor letter! We had so much fun pretending to be rockets, rabbits, robots and more at every chance.

Playing Ring Toss

The Rock Maze at our local amusement park

Rolling and Running were even more fun for R week.

We worked on Rainbow patterns.

We matched shades of rainbow colors

Coloring with rainbow colors

Rainbow puzzle- this was the left over scraps from a different rainbow activity I attempted, but didn't go as planned. I was putting these in our scrap paper pile, and realized this would be a terrific rainbow example for coloring and a puzzle for him to put in the correct order. He liked it too!

Leaf Rubbings - Turbo liked this more than I anticipated!

We wore red and especially our Red Rocket jammies. The best wearing red was on Friday before bed, Turbo was helping me sort the clothes from the dryer. He thoguth Daddy's red underware were very cool. This is what I found after putting Sweet Pea to bed. Yep, took of pants and diaper to wear Daddy's underware. Oh my, I'm still laughing about that.

We made and played with Rainbow Rice. I posted a tutorial for you earlier this week.

Ate 'r' things. This was a rice cake with peanut butter and raisins. We also ate ravioli.

We practiced Rhyming cards from Kidssoup.com

Few other things we did, but no pictures:
- We attempted to make a rainbow rice covered R, but Turbo insisted on using a glue stick. So, the process was fun, but the outcome was a slightly sticky R with slightly sticky rice all over the counter. I wish I had a picture because it was very funny!
- Watched rocket videos on YouTube.
- Reviewed our R poster from Kidssoup.com
- We talked about R things like recycling, reindeer, robots, rain, and routines.

I am so happy to be back doing letters of the week. However, we're going to take off again until the new year. We have a very full next two weeks with other activities and we'll be doing some traveling over the holiday.  It's going to be so much fun!

Rainbow Rice

Turbo really enjoys sensory activites. As I've mentioned he has a love affair with dried beans but has not been interested in rice.  Thinking it needed some visual interest, I decided we'd add color.   Good timing too! It's R week, perfect for Rainbow Rice!

Supplies

• White Rice (I used 1/2 cup rice for each color)
• Zip-close baggies 
• Food Coloring 
• Rubbing Alcohol
• Paper towels for quick clean up
• Work area covering (we used a cookie sheet)
• Drying containers (I used one per color to avoid transfer)

Directions
*  Have your assistant pour rice into the baggie.

*  Put 1/2 teaspoon rubbing alcohol in the baggie of rice. I believe it speeds drying. I did this step myself.

*  Have your assistant help carefully add food coloring to the rice. I let Turbo hold the bottle, then put my hand over his to help him squeeze and for quick removal if necessary. There's no pictures of this (obviously)!  We used this opportunity to count drops. It helped him remember to squeeze slower so he could see them.

* SEAL THE BAG - then double check.  You do not want to be dealing with food coloring stains!

* SHAKE, SHAKE and SHAKE. Turbo loved this part. He was amazed the first time. He kept stopping and telling me the rice was turning red.   For every color after, I asked him what he thought would happen to the rice.  He said - "get dizzy, bounce around, shake up, maybe get painted."  I was dying laughing and that encouraged him to come up with more funny things.

* Dry the rice in a container or on a cookie sheet. (doesn't take long at all)
* Repeat for each color.
* MIX!

*  PLAY

Here's my approx drops for the 1/2 cup rice:
Purple - 8 drops of red and 2or 3 of blue.
Blue - 8-10 drops
Green - 8-10 drops
Yellow - lovely and bright with only 3 drops.
Orange - added 10 drops of yellow and 2 drops of red.
Red - wasn't able to master that color. With 10 it looked a bit red, but more pink. I did it again with 20 and it was much better, but still not red, red.  Thankfully I didn't enter into a Rainbow Rice contest, so it's all good.

Got Beans?

~ Dried Beans ~ 
We seriously cannot get enough of these things. Turbo asks for the beans every week - sometimes every day.  He scoops, pours, sorts, fills, glues, slides, transfers and more. This post about sorting and this post with our art work are only a few of the many, many times these beans have been used since September.

Yep, September, these things have Staying Power! That's what I need in all my toys. Who knew this $3 bag of beans would buy me more time than....well almost anything except his $1 music erasers and his keyboard.

While at the Dollar Tree recently, I saw this Gumball machine and it just screamed to be used with the beans.  It was a HIT.  He loves to move the lever and see the beans rush out.  It's terrific practice for him to put the beans back inside - patience, fine motor skills - all good.

R is for...

ROLL OVER!!   Evidently Sweet Pea's in on this being R week. She rolled over for the first time today. Tummy to back over her right hand side.  She was so close for about 3 minutes so I grabbed my camera and was able to get it on video!! HOORRAY.  She didn't seem all that surprised to have rolled.  Such a cool cat.   She did it another couple times right after.

Then we had company and too many little feet running around so she didn't stay on the floor for long.  Can't wait to see if she'll do it again tomorrow.  I don't know if I'm ready for her to start moving her self around yet.  Ha, I don't know if Turbo will be ready for that either.  This is the first step to her getting into all his toys.

In the video I say she's 4 months old today, but she's 17 weeks today. She'll be 4 months on Friday. Yep, tired.

25 days of Free

Amazon.com has some seriously great deals on music. In addition to the other free music I posted about this week, they are offering a free holiday song everyday until Christmas.

Joy to the World - casting crowns

Snow Angel - tori amos



 Head on over to their 25 Days of Free page to download your freebies!

Hans Hoffman Inspired Art

Hans Hoffman is the inspiration for this week at Open Ended Art.  I created a collage of Hoffman's work and posted it on the wall in Turbo's playroom.  We also looked at Hoffman art on the computer. Turbo looked at 10 or more pieces (a new record) and really enjoyed identifying colors and shapes on the art. His favorites were Autumn Gold and Landscape.

The supplies were paper, cut rectangles of various colors and sizes and a new painting tool - the roller.  Oh my, he was in heaven!!  He had so much fun painting with that roller!
He painted....

and painted...

and painted.

MUCH to my surprise he got his hands in the paint. It started with squishing the roller then proceeded to full finger painting!! 

This is hysterical because he does not like paint on his hands (at all!!) and I've been wanting to make handprint painted turkeys all month. He absolutely would not do it - even when Daddy and I both did. Now that he's broken the ice, I'm hopefull he'll do it again!

Free Christmas Albums at Amazon

Thank you to A Mommy Talks for posting about this great opportunity.  Amazon.com has two Christmas Albums for you to download FREE. Both are great! One is classic songs performed by various artist and the other a classical Christmas album - seriously, you can never have too much Christmas music.   We're listening to the Classical album right now.  Click the pictures below for a direct link.  Hurry over, so you don't miss it.

 

Overwhelmed and making adjustments

I've been a bit overwhelmed with Rick's seemingly non-stop travel and the added responsibilities of the new baby. It has been challenging to work in all the daily duties, our classes, playgroups, playdates and our tot-school activities. An extra pair of parental hands helps so much and I miss it when they're gone. My heart goes out to the military wives who have husbands deployed. They are true heroes in my book.

Until a class ended last week, we've only had 1 morning a week open. That quickly got filled with errands and such.  There just hasn't been enough time to do all the things I wanted to with Turbo and Sweet Pea. It's funny how just one short activity outside the house can require an additional hour or more for getting ready, commuting to and from, then getting settled at home again. Mornings are golden hours for learning and they've been disappearing during the week.

I've learned so much from all my TotSchool peers here in bloggy-land that I'm more confident than ever in my ability to teach and productivly play with my kids. I no longer feel like I need to have several classes to keep my kid(s) occupied. I know I can do that myself!  2010 is going to be a terrific year.

That being said, I've decided to cut back on outside activities next year. We won't be doing Mommy and Me preschool since the class wasn't well managed and the activities required so much parental involvement - I ended up doing several myself (and I'm ALL for the openness of art.).  We have two playgroups each week and I'll have to see how it works out. At this point I think I'll skip one playgroup day(each) per month. I'm sad to say I will likely drop MOPS this time around too. That will give us at 2 or 3 open mornings each week.  Music Together is the only class we're keeping, because Turbo absolutely loves it. In addition, it's the only class that is targeted for ages 0 - 5 in the same class - and actually works well!  

I'm excited about our upcoming TotSchool week. I have a lot on our plan and hope to accomplish most of it.  When we first started TotSchool, I was doing a letter of the week. We're getting back to that with the letter R  ~ inspired by a Rainbow we saw on Friday.

Stay tuned for some fun posts this week. I have several coming up....including a little gift sent our way!!!!

Are you adjusting your schedule in the new year? What changes are you making?

Life School!

This past week we had Rick's sister, her husband and their two wonderful girls here for a visit.  It was such a special time to share our home and lives with them for a short time. I'm so grateful for Rick's wonderful family and wish that we lived closer to all of them. Turbo was in HEAVEN with his two cousins ages 11 & 7.  Both girls were great with him and Sweet Pea. They were a joy to have around and we all miss them already.

As they hadn't been to Northern California before, we spent a couple days in San Francisco and then a couple days closer to home.

Here's some pictures of all our fun! (When I finally find my camera, I can post pictures of our other adventures / activities.)

Turbo and the two girls. 

Almost everyone (Brother in law is taking the picture & Sweet Pea and I are at home)

In one of the cells on Alcatraz

Just hanging around

Our weekly Music Together class

Me, Turbo and the girls making spin art and marble paintings (SOO FUN!!!). Turbo was not at all interested in doing the art - he wanted to wash dishes in the sink.  It worked out perfectly!

I'll find my camera soon - I hope. Pictures on my iPhone just don't cut it for the blog!! So happy to be back after our little break!

Kids Bathroom Decor

The bathroom next to Turbo's new room needed some kid decor in a bad way. Until he moved into his new room, all his teeth brushing and such was done in our Master Bath - so the hallway bath hadn't been a priority.  Ages ago I found this idea and decided it was time to just get it down.  Here's the new pictures.

Super cute shower curtain, matching towels, a couple themed accessories and a Bulletin Board Under Sea Life pack from the school supply store (laminated) = DONE!  No painting required (thank the Lord!)

Turbo had so much fun placing some of the sea creatures and telling me where the others should go. Great thing is we can move them around or swap them out easily. Seriously fun!

 

 

Walk, Run or take a Bus - Get to a Toys R Us!

Can you feel the heat? That's because this is a smokin' hot deal on Hasbro Games.
 
Toys R Us has great games for $3.99, $7.99 or $9.99.  If that wasn't sweet enough, you can score extra savings!

• Spend $25+ on these games & TRU will give you a $10 gift card!   
• Hasbro has a rebate offer of at least $2 for most of the sale games.   

Here's what I did.
Purchase #1 
7 of the $3.99 games that are also on Rebate - (See my game list below)
Total $27.93
$10 gift card
$14 rebate
= $3.93  ($0.56 per game!!!)

Purchase #2
2 $9.99 games and 2 $3.99 games (that are also on rebate See my game list below)
Total $27.96
$10 gift card
$8 rebate
= $9.97 ($2.49 per game!)
 
* They say your gift card will be activated in 6 hours, but mine worked right away on my second purchase.

All in all I purchased these 11 games (there are others available!) for $13.90.  WOOHOOO!!

$3.99 games:
Ants in the Pants
Cootie
Don't Spill the Beans
Don't Break the Ice
Hi-Ho-Cherry-o (x2)
Candyland
Chutes and Ladders
Memory (all versions)

$9.99 games
Scrabble
Connect 4

Between this deal and the Weekly Reader Deal, my gift closet is stocked for all those birthday parties next year.