Things I love today

~~Cold water with lemon slices & fresh mint~~

~~The sound of my husband and my son getting along & having a good time~~

~~My children standing up for themselves~~

~~My husband learning to give in on the small things~~

~~Hockey~~

~~Not wearing shoes~~

~~Fresh air, no matter how hot and humid it was!~~

~~Smiling~~

It might be a short list, but at least there is something on it today!

Random Catching up

I have so much to blog about, but here's a few thoughts for today:

1. Things I love today
1. May holds her hand together while she sleeps, it's precious
2. I am DONE Christmas shopping! As usual, I bought/spent WAY WAY too much and some things will have to be held over for their birthdays!
3. Mike will be home soon. I don't have an exact date, but we're down to weeks instead of months, so that makes me happy! 
2. Dad & Theresa surprised us with a visit & they were able to stay for a week.  I will blog about it soon.
3. No Christmas cards got sent out this year.  Sorry.  I emailed some to people that I had email addresses for.  Cheesy I know, but it was all I had the energy for.
4. I am quitting Swap-Bot again.  I mailed everything out that I had to, but people just aren't getting it & I don't have the time or money to keep resending!  Sorry everyone, but I quit!
5. I am disappointed in myself for:
1. not having a cleaner house
2. not being a better, more attentive parent
3. not being more organized
4. over-eating
5. Not keeping promises - I should have done something a very long time ago, not it's been so long that I have no idea how to follow through.  Just the thought of it kept me up ALL NIGHT last night & is making me cry right now.
6. crying so much
7. playing into the stupid things that close minded people assume when they see a group of Moms, kids and 1 man hanging out in the mall
6. Was I really supposed to sit around and do nothing for these last 6 months??
7. Where is the GOOD Christmas music???  All this crap I am hearing is CRAP!!!!  Where did the classic songs go?  Why did everyone feel the need to remake them into some other kind of crappy pseudo-holiday thing??
8. Oh, crap - I am NOT done Christmas shopping - just realized I haven't gotten my brothers family anything!!!  SHIT!

Things I love Today

1. Free Book Fridays!!  There are so many places doing free book fridays I love it!!!
2. Excellent German Coffee doctored up the way My friend Christa taught me how.  Thanks to my Hubby for the coffee!!  He sent it to me from Qatar - I have no idea what kind it is or even if it's decaf or not, but it's awesome!!!
3. The crib that my Daddy bought for MJ & her very own room to put it in.  After much fussing and screaming this morning she went to sleep just minutes after laying her down in it and tucking her in with her "Daddy Bear"
4. iTunes!  I have it on shuffle today and it is playing some fabulous stuff i haven't heard since i put in on here!
5. Cheap printer ink so I can print my coupons!  If I had to buy the expensive stuff constantly I'd just die!

Have a great weekend!

Our Favorite Kids sites

I am always on the look out for great kids websites. Ones that teach them something as well as entertain. A friend of mine was over today and I was showing her a few of them & she asked me to email her a list. Instead I thought I'd post it here in case anyone else is interested. And if you have any great sites feel free to let me know in the comment section below.

Kids sites

1. Kneebouncers is a great site I just discovered that has games for babies & toddlers. All they have to do is hit any key on the keyboard to get a result!
2. Babygamer has a list of baby games (it's where I learned about Kneebouncers), but it also has a great list of lullabies!
3. Disney Digital books is an interactive read along site with Disney books (duh). There is a monthly fee of $8.95, but if it will help your child learn to read & love it then it may be worth it.
4. Star Fall was my daughters favorite site for reading. It's also an interactive reading site, but this one is free!
5. The Crayola website has been a favorite of mine since SAW was little! I LOVE Crayola!!! if you ever get the chance to go to the Crayola Factory in Easton, PA you must go!!! It's awesome!
6. Here's another fun coloring page too! Best of all - no mess!
7. KidRex is a great kids search engine!

It seems like I could go one forever... Instead I'll move on to some sites that my kids liked as they got older.

Preteen/teen sites

1. Yahoolingans is run by Yahoo (duh) and has some great games, videos, news & stuff
2. Nick.com is another great page with videos & games that Bug loves to go to
3. Of course there is always the Everything Girl page where you can play with Barbie & all that stuff.
4. Bug also loves these girly games!
5. SAW's home page is UG (that's Ultimate guitar for those not in the know)

Here's a few of our Family sites we all love

1. Family Fun - great games, printables, crafts & recipes
2. Allrecipes - our go to site for new recipes
3. StumbleUpon is lots of fun when you're bored - be aware of possible adult content, it has only happened to me once and it wasn't anything too graphic, but it did happen.
4. Goodreads is a great site to keep track of the books you've read, want to read, or want to trade. Great reviews on there too! If you sign up look me up!

I hope you enjoy a few of these sites & please do let me know if you have any great ones to add.