With the kids birthdays coming up in just a few weeks, I’ve been thinking about birthday gifts. My Mom visited in May and we went through the kids toys and stuffed animals and ended up donating about 1/3 of what we had plus throwing away broken ones. I felt a lot better after this happened because the kids were able to find what they liked to play with and then actually play with them!

But I’m not sure what to do about birthday presents. I mean what to get for them. We are having another combined birthday party - I’m sure I can get away with that until they are a bit older - and other then starting to think of what to have for food and where to get their pictures taken, gifts are at the back of my mind as well. They have done great with everything they do have - the Barbie computer that Santa brought for Christmas last year is still a very much played toy as is a tent, superhero matching game and a few other favorites. It’s hard to pick what to give them. We’ve been doing a lot of stamping and I wonder if I should put together a kit of kids stamping stuff for Alice? I am going to talk to them about what they would like, they are old enough to say.

I’d love to find another something that lasts as long as the Christmas gifts have! I haven’t looked at kids toys in months so maybe there is something out there that I just don’t know about!

Gymnastics camp ROCKED! It was so awesome. The kids had the best time and they came home completely wiped out every day. Twice this week Jake took up to an hour nap and still went to bed - sleeping 12 hours! Alice was the same way, minus the naps. They brought home a handful of painted pottery projects (Alice accidentally broke one but she and I are going to do a special Mom/Alice day and make another one) and his groups teacher is going to send me a few pictures she got.

They started gymnastics last October and went until May - up until then and including this week their skill levels has improved so much. I managed to get a few quick videos before we left today and once I get them to the computer I’ll share. Jake is a master at jumping from the low bar to the high and flipping. Alice can do a cartwheel off of the balance beam but we missed that with the video.

Now the hard part is figuring out what to keep doing for the school year. We were going to enroll both of them in gymnastics at the Y, each attending classes twice a week. The cost including our Y membership was the same as the cost of one class per week at the gym we have been attending. However we are now thinking maybe just gymnastics for Alice and soccer for Jake - but then I know Alice wants to play soccer too! I don’t want to be running my kids from place to place though so we need to check the schedules and talk more about what would work.

The best news of all is that the Coach said if they gave out Camper of the Week awards Jake would have received it! I’m so proud of him. He was the youngest or the second youngest person attending. The Coach said he didn’t whine, fight anyone, he was always excited, always happy and ready to go. He said he just did so well. That makes me feel really good - we have tried hard to make sure the kids deal well in classroom situations because we’ve seen other kids really misbehaving.

All in all a great week! We don’t have weekend plans yet but I think we are going to finally make a couple of towel aprons and the kids birthday party invites.

In case you haven’t heard, here is the recall form for the Hasbro Easy Bake Oven - after they put out a recall a few months ago they’ve been getting reports of more problems. Now they are doing this recall for the entire machine - fill out the form and they’ll send you a prepaid mailing address. After you send your oven back, they’ll send you a voucher for another Hasbro product.

Alice got an easy bake oven for Christmas, but we never opened the box. Then once the recall happened I had the online form open in my browser for days - but never sent it. But now apparently it doesn’t matter! I know Alice is going to be sad that we have to send it back so I’ll have to hide it until it’s gone. She doesn’t ask about it that often - but at least we can use the voucher toward something else!

Technorati Tags: easy bake oven, recall

Check out the 5 Minutes For Mom organic milk contest! They are giving away $300 worth of free organic milk products from Horizon Organic. We love Horizon milk - we’ve been drinking it for about five years now and it’s amazing how much different and how good organic milk tastes.

We buy a few organic products - always milk and sometimes meat (if the store we are at has it when we are there). We found a store here that sells organic milk by the gallon, which ends up saving us a dollar a gallon. Of course they are usually sold out though I found a gallon the other day. I’m going to talk to the manager the next time we go in, maybe they can order more since it seems to be so popular.

To enter the contest head over to the 5 Minutes For Mom site and follow the instructions posted.

Everyone knows I am an office and school supply junkie! I was buying school supplies when my daughter was a baby. I just love all the new paper, pens, new products for the year and of course the great sales. This week Target has 64 count crayons (the ones w/ the built in sharpener) and a free twistable crayon (which are SO cool!) on sale for $1.50 - regularly $3.39′ish. I stocked up and bought two of each of my kids as well as a pack for each of my school age nephews and a niece.

Of course with the school year approaching my mind has been working overtime on figuring out what and how to teach Alice first grade. I’m kind of nervous but know that will go away. I’ve been checking out homeschooling books at the library and taking pages of notes, finding new websites and even made a quick stop at a local teacher supply store. I bought a lesson planning book (completely fulfilling the organizer/list maker in me!) and was looking for a calendar yesterday. My brain works differently then some in that my week starts on Sunday - if you look at a lot of calendars and planners many of them start on Monday! I went to two office stores until I finally found one at Barnes and Noble. I do use Google’s calendar, but after having to call the dentist and my dr for a reminder of my appt times, I realized I need a calendar I can carry with me.

In stopping at Office Depot I found 24 count crayons on sale - for 9 CENTS! Yes, NINE cents! Run, don’t walk, to Office Depot right now. You can only buy 5 at a time so I did and so did my friend with me. Only one of her daughters is old enough to play with crayons so I took three of her five packs. Target has the same crayons selling for 20 cents, regular price, not on sale. I thought last year they cost a quarter, but I may be wrong. I already bought some at Target but couldn’t let the nine cent ones pass me up!

I also bought new kid scissors and glue sticks - I’m a huge price checker and Target made me laugh out loud. They have those centers set up with various supplies in them - crayons, pens, pencils, erasers, etc. - and the glue sticks were being sold a 2 pack for twenty cents. Then on the opposite side of the same center a six pack was being sold for $2.19! Hello - a dollar for six or more then twice that. I wonder what I will pick.

It’s time to get the kids school supplies out and see what else we need to replenish. I don’t think we need a lot but I admit it’s hard to stay away from when there is a great sale!

After driving by a sewing store every single time I go into town, I finally stopped this afternoon. I grabbed their newsletters which has the class schedule and ignored the prices for the time being. It stinks that I can’t bring kids to the classes with me, I let Alice ‘help’ when I have my machine out and she loves it. She even has her own kid sewing machine plus just a mini sewing machine, both of which are still in their box!

I’m debating trying to find someone to take a class with me. It would have to be someone who already sews because I think they expect that if you sign up for other then the beginning classes - but I don’t know anyone who does! I’d love to find someone to go with so I could have them to visit with during the class. And yes, seeing all of the older women in the shop does lean that debate to the ‘yes find someone’ side. Don’t get me wrong, I love going to a class or store with my own Mom, but being the youngest in that shop yesterday was a big odd. I know that while sewing is cool, hip and fun in other areas - now if I could just move to one of those areas!

The shop did have a lot of cute projects hung up - lap quilts and a LOT of baby clothes. I’ve told Chris I want to use cloth diapers with this baby and they had cute diaper covers. I have a lot of patterns of kids clothes that I always meant to make - but I never did any of them. I should, Alice could definitely use cute dresses.

Have you ever taken a sewing class? Have you done it alone? I’m not afraid to go by myself, but it would be nice to have a friend with me!

Whew, a long break I took there! I still haven’t found my digital camera and that has really bummed me out. I had a dream that I found the camera in a compartment, like the compartment between the seats in my van. But, I haven’t found it yet. Who is the patron saint of lost items?

We’ve been outside a lot or just hanging out a lot. I’ve had high energy days and days where I’ve taken four hour naps. My morning sickness
is GONE, thank goodness! The baby is doing just fine and I think the days where I took four hour naps was her* having a growth spurt. I’ve been taking walks, going to the Y and also just sitting on the couch. I’m trying to eat well and healthy, but I think I’ve gained 4 lbs in the past month so I guess it isn’t working! I have my next appointment in a week. I’ve been kind of having cravings - I came home from Y the other day and made brownies. But out of the whole pan I’ve only had two - or maybe three? - which is so good! I could have eaten the whole pan. Well, probably not, I’m sure that would have made me sick.

I’ve been doing a few crafts - making tons of cards but little of anything else. I have some sewing to do but I’m not sure when I’ll get to that. I’ve started working on planning the next school year for Alice. She’ll be in first grade and I think we are going to start in a month or so. I kept records this past year but I want to do it different this year. I’ve been checking out homeschooling books from the library left and right lately. I think this year we will do one of the reading groups at the library - we are going to switch to evening gymnastics for both kids so that will free our mornings for that.

I better clean up before I have to pick the kids up!

*her just because I don’t nickname the baby peanut or baby or something like that