Tot School- Letter A

This week we learned the letter A. Natalie pretty much already knew A just because it's the first letter. I felt that it was great for her to hear words starting with A over and over and learn the sound that A makes.

We started out Monday morning with Tot Trays because we were all still sleepy so I didn't want to start with too much. This is how I have our trays set up for now because this is what works best. I leave the trays out all the time but she really only plays with them when I suggest her to. I am trying to leave the same activity all week with only making a few changes here or there. I don't want her to get bored but yet I don't want to use all my ideas in one week. 

 A favorite activity is sorting. With this one I just have different color beads and she sorts them into different sections on the platter. I also have her go back and count how many she has of each color or have her count them as she sorts. There are a ton of beads for this one so she usually works on it at little at a time. Whatever works!

 We made the A is for Alligator. I really love this craft. It's so cute and creative. I'm planning on making and ABC book as we go and keeping 2 crafts from each week so that we can go back and look through them and she can have her own little book. The alligator craft came from No Time For Flash Cards

 We stamped with the letter A just to help her with recognition, I plan to do this each week with the letters since she loves stamping. I think she just loves the freedom to be able to do what she wants with the stamp and it doesn't have to look like anything when she's finished.

This is supposed to be a magnet sheet but since I don't have the magnets yet I let her paint it. She had such a good time and I thought it was cute how she did each section a different color.

We did apple prints as well because I remember doing them as a kid and I loved it. Nat wasn't that into the actual apple printing. I figured it would be great for her. She had a hard time dipping the apple in the paint so I ended up getting a foam brush for her to paint the apple then use it to stamp the paper. That was a little easier for her and she liked it then. I found this really neat idea at No Time For Flash Cards to make a wreath with the prints as a fall decoration. Since fall is fast approaching I loved this idea. Natalie had such a great time gluing the apples onto the plate that she was sad when she ran out of apples. We even made an extra for grandma because we know grandma's love these kinds of "gifts".

We also did lots of do a dots with different shapes and the letter A. She had a great time with her letter A traceables though she would get bored of it pretty quickly, instead of having her try to do even a whole row I would ask her to do 2 letters in between activities and that worked out really well.

We had such a great week I'm so excited to start on the letter B tomorrow, partially since our last name starts with a B! Have a great week everyone!

Activities- Tot School Week 1

Natalie (33.5 months)


Well we started doing a little Tot School this week. I didn't have everything together to start with the letter A like I wanted to so we just started with our version of Tot Trays. I plan to actually use trays but I had to order them first. I started out calling them activities because I wasn't sure how else to explain it to an almost 3 year old. The first day she wasn't sure but once we got started she just kept asking for more activities. It was super cute. She had such a great time and didn't realize that she was learning as she was playing.

We played with her busy farm which we hadn't gotten out in a while. It's a great tool that we already had. I was so glad that we could incorporate a loved toy into our routine.

Then she loved the ABC puzzle that I picked up from the dollar store. I am planning on using it for stamps as well but she played with that puzzle a few times each day and she kept asking for it.

I found printables for a farm animal matching game (can't remember where) so I just printed that off and glued it to a folder and cut up the other copy. So easy but she loved naming the animals while matching them.

I also made a rice sensory bin. It was my first sensory bin so I just put rice in with a few tools from the kitchen. I wasn't sure how she would take it and the first time she wasn't sure what to do with it. I sat down and showed her she could just play and explore and she loved it.

This week we are starting with the letter A. I'm really excited to see all of my ideas come into play and just watch her learn so many new things.

Blog Redo

So as you can see it's been 8 months since I blogged. What have I been up to? Well I had a baby.... Now I'm the mom of two beautiful girls. I love them both dearly and would do anything for them. Some Most days around here are hectic. I feel like I never know which side is up and most of the time it's dinner time before I know it. On the other days we are out running errands or going to play groups or enjoying the summer at the park. I feel like I never sit still. And by never sitting that means I never have time to write er type. I miss blogging. I miss the outlet that blogging gave me. I miss how it connected me with other moms or women that I would never known otherwise.

I came across my good friend Alexis' Blog and she was talking about Tot School. I was very intrigued by the thought of Tot School. I wanted to send Nat to preschool this year but her birthday is October 31st and the cutoff for the 3 year preschool is September. She isn't even close to meeting the date. I still felt like she really needed some structure in her days. Yes we play and I try to teach her as much as I can but often times I end up feeling like we play with the same toys over and over. A lot of times I feel like I'm just drilling the ABCs into her and she is picking it up but is she really enjoying it? So for me Tot School provided me the resources to actually teach her the ABCs at our own pace. There is no right or wrong way to do Tot School and I like that.

So I have decided that starting Monday we are going to start with the letter A. They even say you can do any letter in any order. You don't have to do alphabetical order but for my OCD brain alphabetical is the only logical way (not saying any other way is wrong). So I'm planning to post every Sunday and link up with the other Tot School moms about what we did that week and hopefully share and get some new ideas....
    If you have any resources or suggestions for me I would love to hear them!! I am new to this and just trying to be open minded and try everything. I don't know what's going to work best for Nat until I try.

Swing Set

One of the many changes we made around here this summer was getting a new swing set. We had been looking for a good wooden one that wouldn’t break the bank. Honestly, I was having no luck. I had been searching craigslist for weeks and just couldn’t find anything. A friend said she would sell hers to us but then we weren’t sure how we would transport it since she lives and hour away.

Finally I was shopping at Meijer one day and we were just browsing the toys. I think we were actually looking at trikes to see if we thought Natalie could ride one yet. I stumbled across the sign for all the swing sets and they had clearance tags on them!! I about jumped up and down I was so happy. I find the one that we had wanted expecting to see a tag for 25% off. I honestly would have been happy with that. Well, it ended up being 50% off!!! It went from $800 to $400. I had to call Hubby and make sure it was ok with him and that he would pick it up on his way home. He was just as happy as I was. I hurried and bought it because it was the last one.

This is picture before anything was started. 

I didn’t really know how much work putting up a swing set would be. We went to pick it up and it came in 3 boxes that fit in our pickup truck. I realized then that Hubby was in for a lot of work. Of course we (by we I mean he) had to dig out a layer of grass and dirt and build a border, then put down weed barrier. After that he had to go get 2 truckloads of wood chips and spread those out. Then he could start building the swing set. I’m not even sure how long it took him to finish the whole project but I know he worked hard on it. I love him for it. I just had to entertain Natalie on the many days and nights it took him to complete the project.

I know he put so much work into but watching her enjoy it is just priceless. Her and her new sibling will enjoy it for years to come.

Here are some pictures of the finished project.

Baby #2 or not?

There have been many talks in the Buckner household of when we thought we would be ready for baby #2. We thought we were ready so decided to try, then a few unexpected things happened and we decided that we weren’t ready after all.

We had been going through a normal “rough patch”, like most marriages. We had a vacation all planned out with lots of extended family. We went to Wisconsin Dells for 5 days. It was really what we need to reconnect and reprioritize our life. The vacation was amazing! (Pics and more about that will come soon).  We get back home and are going through our day-to-day life. We were still set on waiting another year or so for baby #2. With Natalie it took us a year of trying to conceive so even though I was worried about that we both thought it was best to wait.

Around September 9^th I got a really bad cold or allergies. I still am not sure if it was a cold or not. My nose wouldn’t stop running and I just felt terrible for the next week. I finally asked Dh to pick up some meds on his way home from work and I threw in “oh yeah, grab a pregnancy test too just in case.” Honestly, I have learned not to get my hopes up. I figured I was just taking the test to make sure I wasn’t pregnant because I wanted to take meds and I had been really sick. I should also mention I was on day 39 of my “cycle”. I still didn’t think anything of it because my body is really wacky which is why it took so long to get pregnant with Natalie. I waited until after Natalie went to bed and ran in and took the test. I set it down assuming it would be negative and I glanced over and sure enough it was positive! My hands started shaking and I started crying. At first, I wasn’t sure if it was happy tears or sad tears or just tears of shock. I took a few minutes to try and put on a straight face. I went out to the living room and asked Dh if he heard the timer go off because I was baking bread (I really was). He said no. I then said “I figured out what Natalie is going to be for Halloween” “Oh yeah what?” He responded. Gulp “a big sister?” His jaw dropped immediately and he puts his arms out to me. We cried together. We sat there for probably 5 minutes and just said wow. We both agree that this is a blessing in disguise.  We are both really grateful. It took us a little while to let the shock wear off. We waited until after my first appointment at 9 weeks to tell family and I think everyone was as surprised as we were.

So we are officially pregnant with baby #2!!! I am due May 17^th, 2011 and I’m about 16 weeks 6 day right now. Life is good. 

 

My belly pic at 15 weeks 3 days

MOPS

Well I finally bit the bullet and joined MOPS. If you don't know what that is, it stands for Mothers of Preschoolers. I learned about it last year at a local Mom 2 Mom sale here in Ludington. I really wanted to go but I had a 10 month old baby who napped at 10; MOPS was from 9:30 to 11:30. I really needed it last year but I couldn't make myself go. This year Natalie naps around 1:30 so I had no good excuse not to go. Actually I had all the reasons to go. I need to get to know more moms in the area, Natalie needs more exposure to playing with other kids and when the winter rolls around we are dying to get out of the house.

The first meeting came and I felt so nervous. It was like starting high school all over again, really. I had to drop Nat off in a nursery with strangers. She has never been watched by anyone but family so that alone made me nervous. We went in and checked out the toys, I clamped her name tag on and stuck her diaper bag in the little slot, letting them know if she needed a snack they were in the bag and I left. Natalie was preoccupied so I didn't even get to say goodbye. The tear filled goodbye that I had worked myself up for never came. I did go back 15 minutes later to check on her but she didn't even notice I was gone!

I headed down to the mom's area not really sure what to expect. They had it decorated so pretty and there was a table full of food. The ladies that we there already were so welcoming. They all introduced themselves to me and I didn't feel out of place at all.

The meeting finally started and we were assigned to groups, these will be our groups all year. I really liked loved that idea because it will give me a chance to get to know these few ladies on a more personal level. We soon found out that our activity for the day was "speed friending". Gulp. You mean I have to talk to more people? Don't get me wrong I love people just when I'm in my comfort zone. My table and my group was now my comfort zone. We did the speed friending, it's just like it sounds like speed dating. We moved chair to chair and got to know about 16 new people. It was really fun and I was actually surprised at how much I enjoyed it.

The 2 hours that we were there just flew by. Before I knew it I was going to pick Natalie up from the nursery. I was really excited to see her and hear how much fun she had. I was about 10 feet from her door and I heard her screaming. My heart sank and I felt so guilty. I had had so much fun and never even thought to check on Natalie again. The ladies said that she did great but the last 20 minutes she cried. I guess someone came down to take her picture and that upset her. Her first experience wasn't that great. I asked if she had fun playing with the kids and she said yes. She kept saying mommy the whole way home. I know I shouldn't feel guilty but I do. I just hope that with each meeting she will get better and she will enjoy it too. I know it was so nice for me to have that 2 hour break and not have to worry about Natalie. I got to know quite a few nice ladies and I'm really looking forward to our meeting next week.

Changes are happening.....

Well one of the changes we have been going through lately is the weather. It has gotten cold! Most days our high temps are in the 50’s to low 60’s. I know that doesn’t sound too bad but when you add in there that it has been windy and/or rainy it makes it seem cold. I have been wanting a lot of soup for dinner and we are bundled when we go outside.

This cold weather doesn’t stop Natalie from wanting to go outside and play. She loves the outdoors. Her love started early this spring when we both had cabin fever and we couldn’t handle being inside anymore! Last winter Natalie got 14 new teeth in 4 months and had 3 ear infections. We were ready for change. So I bundled her up and outside we went. We really didn’t have anything to occupy us so Natalie made her own games. She would collect acorns all day long. She had no idea what the acorns were or why she was collecting them but I guess it made the time pass. Natalie would spend hours outside before I would have to beg, plead and bribe her to go inside because I was cold.

This summer we had so much fun outside. Natalie would say “I go outside” and we would head out, not knowing how much time had passed while we were out there we would go back in when the sun started to set or just in time for dinner. We went to the beach and had picnics. We even had mud baths at the beach provided by Natalie! 

We also found a new park by the marina. In the summer when it’s so hot out and the humidity feels like 100%; it’s the perfect park. The wind from Lake Michigan is a welcome break from the heat. It still gets hot but at least you get a little break here and there when the wind decides to blow. Natalie discovered the slides and the swings. There was even a slide that she would go up and down the stairs just to do over and over again.

I love fall but I’m sad to see the summer go. We created so many new memories and I know it’s a time we will never forget but we will never get back either. I look forward to the many summers we have as a family. I can’t wait to see what we will do next summer, what things we will explore and what adventures we will take.

I'm back (I hope)

Life seriously has been way too busy. I wanted  to blog but every time I sat down I knew there were other things that needed to be done. Right now  I sit among a messy desk that needs to be organized but I want to blog. When I sit and try to blog and I'm distracted then my words don't come out right. It doesn't sound like me instead it sounds forced and to be honest it isn't much fun to read.

I'm putting in my best effort to blog again. I know I've said this before but this time I mean it. I need this outlet for myself so I'm going to make it a priority. Oh, there are plenty of changes coming this way too... I will be writing about them soon!

Little Ducks Organics Winner!

The winner is...

True Random Number Generator Min: Max: Result: 20 Powered by RANDOM.ORG

Chany said...
http://twitter.com/chany10/status/20310018036

August 4, 2010 11:47 AM

Congrats!!! I will be contacting you and you have 48 hours to respond.

Little Duck Organics Review and Giveaway

My toddler is a snacker. I have such a hard time getting her to sit down for meals and when I do I feel like she doesn’t eat much. I can ask her at any given time during the day and she will say she is hungry though. I love to keep snacks on hand for her so that she stays satisfied. It’s very easy to get into the routine of giving her what is easy and not always making sure what she eats is healthy. I found Little Duck Organics snacks and they are the perfect solution for this dilemma. They are so easy! They come in a pouch and I just pour them into a little cup and let Natalie have it. She loves it because she feels like a big girl carrying around her snack!

We were sent the Strawberry/ Mango, Blueberry/Apple, and Strawberry/Banana to review. I assumed that Natalie’s favorite would be the blueberry apple because she loves blueberries but she surprised me and she loved the Strawberry/Mango. She kept coming to me signing “more”. I think she ate half of the package in 1 snack time. I didn’t feel bad giving them to her either! Talk about a gilt free snack.

Here is a little more from their site:
Tiny Fruits are naturally delicious baby snacks made with 100% real organic fruit. Each bag contains four full servings of fruit so you can feel good knowing that you are giving your child the vitamins and nutrients they need for healthy development.

Want to try some for your child?

You can purchase your own by going to their site and shopping online or you can find a store in your area that carries them.

Or

Little Duck Organics has provided 3 bags of their snacks to give away to 1 of my lucky readers!!!
Mandatory Entry:
Visit Little Duck Organics and tell me what you think your child would like most.

Extras:
Follow my blog via GFC. (1 entry)
Follow me on twitter @Kaylynbuckner (1 entry)
Follow Little Duck Organics on twitter. (1 entry)

Tweet about this giveaway including a link back here, @Kaylynbuckner, @littleduckorg or use this “Love Organic Snacks? Enter to win some from @Littleduckorg and @Kaylynbuckner. http://bit.ly/bTHTkH “ (2 entries per day, must be 4 hours apart)

Like Little Duck Organics on Facebook, tell them I sent you. (2 entries)

 Giveaway will end on 8/5/10 at 9 P.M Est.
*I was given Little Duck Organics snack to review but I was not paid for my review, all opinions expressed here are my own. 

The first big incident

The title of the post says it all, well most of it anyway. Natalie had her first big incident this past weekend. We took a road trip to Chicago to visit some family. We had a pretty busy weekend planned and the trip down went perfectly. Natalie got a little fussy at the end but I turned on Diego and all was good again. She fell asleep too and even got about an hour nap. Our first stop was Dh’s grandma’s house. Hubby’s aunt wasn’t supposed to be home but she got out of work early. She was very happy that she was going to be able to see Natalie since it’s been over a year since we have seen them. When we first arrived Natalie was still napping so we decided to wait in the car until she woke up, it only took a few minutes. We went inside and were greeted with hugs and warm welcomes. Natalie was being very shy, even shy for her. She is shy by nature but she wouldn’t even take her head off of Hubby’s shoulder to look up. They have a dog so I thought it would be a good icebreaker for her to pet the dog because she loves dogs. (This is where I mention that it’s a pretty decent size dog, they stand face to face.) Hubby put her down by the dog and she reached out to pet it and he snapped and bit her! I wasn’t right there; I just heard all the commotion. Hubby didn’t think the dog had actually gotten her at first but then she started bleeding pretty badly.

I took her thinking she would calm down but she just kept screaming “dog dog” and pointing where the dog was. She didn’t understand what had happened at all. She wouldn’t calm down a bit and after I few minutes I suggested we leave so that we could all calm down. I had been holding in all my emotions from the moment it happened, when I got in the car I just exploded. I burst into tears and I couldn’t hold it back anymore. That just made Natalie more upset so I tried to cry quietly. Meanwhile, my mom called our pediatrician to see what we should do. I didn’t want to take her in but I was so worried about the bacteria. Sure enough her doc said to take her straight to the ER. She said that even if we were in MI that she would want us to take her just because of the risk of infection.

We finally found an ER and took her straight there. Once inside we got the millions of questions. I felt bad telling them about the dog because I didn’t want anyone to get in trouble. I know it was just an accident but Natalie is my baby so I was really having mixed feelings. The doc looked at her bite and said it was pretty bad. He then asked if we had cleaned it out at all. Hubby and I just looked at each other like, it was very important to do that and we both flaked out on it! We did put antibiotic ointment on it though, doesn’t that count for something? They finally cleaned it out and did X-rays. The doc said that since it was so deep they didn’t want to stitch it because it could essentially just trap the bacteria in the wound. The X-rays were fine so they just put some glue and bandages on her hand and said we were free to go. Natalie was doing great by this point; I think it was harder on me than it was on her. As long as nobody touched her hand she was calm.

We finally left the ER with a bandaged hand and a prescription for antibiotics. I am happy to say that her hand is healing very well. She isn’t scared of dogs at all, which is wonderful. But she is scared of loud noises now. When we are playing outside if there is a loud car or truck that goes by she comes running up to me crying. It just breaks my heart because she wasn’t skittish at all before. I am very thankful though that for her some day she probably won’t remember this. Mommy will never forget it but we will get over it. Hubby said I was overacting but it was one of those situations where you beat yourself up because it even happened.

CSN Review

I have had an amazing opportunity to host a giveaway for CSNstores.com in the past. I loved it and I had great success on my blog. Now I am going to be doing a review for them as well. I couldn’t be more excited! This is a great company to work with. They have over 200 online stores! They have such a wide variety of things including outdoor furniture, dining room sets, baby stuff and even shoes! I have no idea what I’m going to select to review yet but I sure will have fun looking!

So stay tuned for an awesome review coming soon. Thanks so much for reading!

Memories of Grandma

Before writing this I need to just say that my grandma has not passed, that is not what has inspired me. Sometimes I feel like she has but she has not.

You see, my grandpa passed away about 14 years ago now. My grandma was remarried a few years later. I don’t blame her for getting remarried, not at all. In fact, I was very happy for her. The man seemed nice enough and she was happy. I loved seeing her happy again after going through such a rough patch after my grandpa passed.

Then things changed. My grandma and her new husband moved to North Carolina, I reside in Michigan. This makes things difficult. They moved November 4th, 2008. Natalie was born October 31st, 2008. My grandma got to see Natalie twice before moving away, she has seen her twice since one of those times being yesterday. She isn’t the same grandma I knew as a child and I wish Natalie knew her the way I did.

When I was young we would have sleep over’s and our grandparents every other weekend. We would just hang out and play and watch movies together. Grandma would let my sister and I do her hair. We would brush it and she would let us put pony tails in. Of course she never left the house this way but we thought it was so fun that she let us do what we wanted with her hair.

My Grandpa had a motorcycle and he would take us on rides all the time. It was only around the block and then it was my sister’s turn but those were some of the best days of my childhood; just me and grandpa with the wind in my face and my hair whipping all around. I could pretend then. I could pretend that there were no worries in the world and nothing else mattered. Even if the trips lasted mere minutes they were great.

Grandma would always make home cooked meals; which we didn’t always get at home because life was busy with two working parents. I remember grandma used to make the best goulash, I can’t tell you how she did it but nothing compared. After dinner there would always be a sweet treat waiting for us.

It was really amazing and I feel so blessed to have a grandma that used to be like that. She has really changed. It’s so hard to see her and not have her the way she used to be. She is cold, she still cares but you don’t see it or feel it like you used to. I know I have grown up and things change but I want her to be there with Natalie. I want Natalie to taste grandma’s goulash and brush grandma’s hair the way I did. That will never happen so I just have to cherish the memories because things will never be the same.

Winner winner!

The winner for the giveaway from Connie's shop is...

True Random Number Generator Min: Max: Result: 7 Powered by RANDOM.ORG

ColleenMarie82 said... 7

I entered the Zak! Design giveaway

inman@mobap.edu

And the winner of the Zak! Designs Giveaway is...

True Random Number Generator Min: Max: Result: 23 Powered by RANDOM.ORG

DeniseSanborn said... 23

follow Zak Designs on twitter
May 31, 2010 6:21 PM

Congratulations ladies!! I will be contacting you and you have 48 hours to respond or I will have to pick a new winner.

Business

I have really really missed my blog lately! I feel like I have been so busy I barely sit or have any time for myself. Mostly it's my own doing but Natalie has been keeping me really busy too.

I am in the process of becoming an Independent Consultant for Arbonne! I am so excited for the opportunities that this is bringing for myself and my family. I cannot wait to get to know more people in my community. I found a company that I can relate with. I looked into their products by only trying a 5 day sample packet and I fell in love. I cannot even begin to tell you in words how excited I am for these products and sharing them with others!

Arbonne means "good things from the earth". To me that tells you that the products are from the earth, botanically based. Arbonne products are formulated in Switzerland but made right here in the USA. Europe has stricter standards on health products and botanicals and more restrictions on their ingredients. There are over 500 chemicals banned in Europe that are still used in U.S products.

Arbonne's Motto is Pure, Safe and Beneficial. Now why would I use a product if it wasn't Pure, Safe and Beneficial? I'm not sure but I have been using them for years because I didn't know any better! I didn't know that mineral oil (which is found in 90% of U.S products) was the number TWO leading cause for aging, second to only the sun! So all these products I have been buying to take care of my skin have really been making them worse. Arbonne products contain NO mineral oil. Mineral Oil creates a barrier on your skin (like wrapping it with saran wrap) which will not let good things in or bad things out, that doesn't make much sense.

Arbonne products do not contain any dyes or fragrances which are the top 2 skin irritants; instead we use essentials oils.

I joined Arbonne because of what it can do for my family. I can have a full time income by doing 8 parties a month. I am not required to do a certain number of parties but I am setting a goal for myself to do 8 parties a month, it's only abotu 10 hours a week. That way, I can help save for vacations, pay off debt and start a college savings for Natalie.

I am just extremely excited about sharing Arbonne with everyone! Watch my blog for upcoming sales and specials! Who doesn't love a good sale?
I hope to be around more, I just need to learn to make time for myself!

You can find the products and company website here http://arbonne.com/. I will be setting up my own website in the near future.

Kinderglo Winners!

Here are the winners for my Kinderglo giveaway! I hope you all enjoy these as much as Natalie and I have!

Here are your random numbers:

57 60 135

Timestamp: 2010-06-04 00:23:41 UTC

edmontonjb said... 57

My favortie is the quarter moon and I'd give it to my son

dftrew(at)gmail(dot)com
May 23, 2010 4:47 PM

Chany said... 135

Tweet!
http://twitter.com/chany10/status/15063301936
May 30, 2010 4:41 PM

and I'm going to redraw for 1 of them because it was edmontonjb again,
True Random Number Generator Min: Max: Result: 157 Powered by RANDOM.ORG

fancygrlnancy said... 157

tweet
http://twitter.com/fancygrlnancy/status/15191801243
bwneyes100 AT hotmail DOT com


I will contact you and you have 48 hours to respond or I will have to draw a new winner.

Thanks for entering!

I love this part!

I love getting to pick winner's and hopefully make someone's day better! =)

So a little late but better late than never right?
My winners are....

Winner of the Reisenthel giveaway is
True Random Number Generator Min: Max: Result: 13 Powered by RANDOM.ORG

shanjol23 said... 13

I love the carrybag in rasterdots mocha. Not sure if Charlie would carry it around but I don't mind doing the shopping with a cute basket like that!
shanjol23 at hotmail dot com
May 11, 2010 4:02 PM
Congratulations Shannon!!!

And the winner of the Seventh Generation Giveaway is....

True Random Number Generator Min: Max: Result: 11 Powered by RANDOM.ORG

DeniseSanborn said... 11

ok signed up for the seventh generation nation.. got my math problem right..lol
May 11, 2010 3:16 PM
Congrats Denise!!

I will contact both of you and you have 48 hours to respond to my email before I have to choose another winner.

Craftyear641 on Etsy Review and Giveaway- closed

I love shopping on Etsy. I love hand made gifts and products. I feel like they have so much more meaning because someone lovingly crafted it. I came across Connie’s Shop on Etsy and the books she makes are so cute! Natalie loves books. She will sit and read by herself all the time. The one thing I don’t like about books is that they wear and tear pretty fast with a toddler. When Natalie was an infant she would always chew on the board books, I’m not sure why but now they all have teeth marks in them.

I also think that books make great toys for in the car, but I was always too scared to give her a traditional book because I was nervous that she would poke her eye out. Connie makes soft books that are all fabric. They don’t have any sharp edges and if Natalie chews on them they won’t get teeth marks in them. These books are such a great idea!

We were sent a Pooh book to review; this was perfect because Natalie loves Pooh. Right away she opened up the book and was pointing at the different characters. She could easily turn the pages where with traditional books she has to ask for help a lot. Connie’s books are very well made and can stand up to a toddler.

Connie also makesbibs for toddlers. I have talked before about how I hate messes and toddlers make them all the time! Connie’s bibs are big enough to fit and actually cover a toddler. The rest of the bibs I have are too small and her clothes end up getting dirty anyways. I really like that they are soft fabric and not vinyl. Honestly my husband doesn’t like using the ones that feel like plastic.

Wouldn’t you love to get one of these cute books for your child?

You can visit Connie’s Shop
on Etsy, she also has free shipping if you buy 2 books! That’s a great deal!

Or

Connie has kindly offered one of my readers and bib and book for their child.

Mandatory Entry: Visit Connie’s Shop and pick the item you would like to have the most.

Extras:
Follow my blog via GFC. (1 entry)
Follow me on Twitter. (1 entry)
Tweet about this giveaway, include @Kaylynbuckner, #giveaway and link back here. (1 entry per hour).
Heart Connie’s Shop on Esty. (2 entries)
Add any item from Connie’s Shop to your favorite items on Etsy. (1 entry per item)
Enter any of my other giveaways. (1 entry per giveaway)

*I was provided a book and bib to review by Connie, however all opinions expressed here are my own. Giveaway will end on 6/9/10 at 9 PM EST.

Zak! Designs Review and Giveaway- Closed

Natalie is getting to that picky toddler stage. She will not eat any veggies, not one. The only way I can get her to eat veggies is sneaking it in purees. Yes my 18 month old still eats purees, yes everyone stares at me when we are out and she is eating them. Spoon-feeding her the purees worked for a while until she became Miss Independent. She wanted to feed herself everything. I hated messes but soon learned it’s unavoidable. The only utensils I had in the house for her were the ones I was using to feed her. They aren’t exactly baby err toddler friendly. I came across Zak! Designs and loved them! The designs are enticing for little eaters and the utensils are shaped perfectly to fit in their little hands.

When we received our products I washed them right away so Natalie could use them for lunch. She had so much fun feeding herself. She got it everywhere but she ate more than she would let me feed her if I were trying! I love how the spoon and fork have little faces on them; Natalie loved that too. They are shaped to fit a toddler hand; they have little indents on the back for where their fingers should go.

One of my favorite products is the nibble tray Nibble Tray. Natalie eats all day long so this is perfect for her. I just cut up fruits or if we are attempting veggies and fill the tray. She loves this because she feels like she is deciding what she eats. She also loves dipping her food and it has it’s own dip tray that you can chill!

Here is a little bit more about the company in their words:
Since 1976, Zak Designs has been committed to making mealtime fun for people around the world. Whether it's through dinnerware and on-the-go products that feature children's favorite characters or tableware and kitchen prep products that represent the latest global fashion statements, Zak gives people the mealtime products that fit their appetites.

They also have a new interactive feature on their site that I really like called Meal Time Fun. You can exchange recipes that you use to get your toddler to eat healthier.

Zak! Products definitely made my must have list. They have made mealtime so much easier with Natalie.

You can try some of your own by going to Zak! Designs Website and finding a location to purchase.
Or
You can win a Nibble Tray and Smoothie Sipper right here for your child!

Mandatory Entry:
Visit Zak! Designs
 and pick your favorite product.

Extra Entries:
Follow my blog via GFC. (1 entry)
Follow me on twitter (@Kaylynbuckner). (1 entry)
Follow Zak! Designs on twitter. (1 entry)
Tweet about this giveaway, include @Kaylynbuckner, @Zak_Designs, and link back here. (1 tweet per hour)

Like Zak! Designs on Facebook. (1 entry)
Enter any of my other giveaways. (1 entry per giveaway)

*I was provided products to review by Zak! Designs but I was not compensated for my review, all opinions expressed here are my own. Giveaway will end on 6/8/10 at 9 PM EST.

Random Acts of Kindness

Ever since Natalie was born we have been very lucky to have someone in the family pass things down to us. It has mostly been the same person. I have appreciated it so much! She had both boys but she has still found things that Natalie and I can use and passed them along. We have still had to buy some things for her but we have been pretty spoiled. Natalie has more toys than most kids her age, and she even has boxes of toys that she isn’t ready for yet! Everyone says she is spoiled, and she is in that she has a lot of stuff but we don’t buy her every single thing she wants.

Well this family member had a ton of outdoor toys that she wanted to pass along. So I took Hubby’s truck to her house (an hour away) and picked up all the stuff. I was expecting a few things but we ended up with the pick up bed full! Natalie loves to be outside so this is such a blessing. This was my first act of kindness for the day. She did not ask me to pay her a dime for all of the toys that she gave us. She saved us so much money by just passing these along!

Natalie and I headed on our happy way home. It was getting late and we were going to be late for Natalie’s bedtime, which I hate. Oh well, one night won’t hurt. So I’m driving along on the highway, I hit a bump and one of the little plastic cars (kind of like a Little Tykes Coup) flies out of the back of the truck!!!! I freaked out, slammed on the brakes and pulled over. This little car landed in the middle of the highway. People are swerving so they don’t hit it and I’m standing here wondering what I should do. Finally there is a break in the traffic and I run out and grab it. I thought to myself “Oh crap, this is heavy!” There was no way I was going to carry it back to the truck and then try to figure out how to get it back into the truck. Just as I was figuring this out a car stopped on the side of the road. Out hops a teenage boy asking if I need help. I was super nervous at first, I was alone with Natalie. I said sure and we started the walk back to the truck with him carrying the car. I was trying to make small talk but I was so scared that he was going to hurt Natalie or me. I really didn’t know what to do. I just kept walking and talking and he was really nice. He helped me put the car in the truck and I thanked him over and over. I was shocked that he just stopped to help me with no reason behind it. Did I mention it was 90 degrees with like 85% humidity? I was sweating just from walking.

The whole way home I was thinking about this boy and how he stopped to help me just to be kind. It got me thinking about what I do or have done and I realized that I don’t do enough. We aren’t rich by any means but I feel like I should do something more to help others. I haven’t figured out yet what I need to do but I need to do something. There just aren’t enough nice people in this world anymore.