More hours in my day please?

Today was the annual Craft Carnival in  my area.  480 vendors in 5 different locations – the crafters’ heaven!!  It is a wonderful 74 degrees today as my sister-in-law and I ventured around to the various vendors!  I found some wonderful gifts and a few frugal finds for myself!  I love to decorate my home for the holiday’s and was able to find some cute things to hang up around our home to get even more festive for Halloween/Fall!!  I love it!!

Hope you all have a wonderful weekend – we are spending the rest of ours outside, raking leaves and having some Fall fun!

~Katie

It’s a hit!!!

We have been super busy at home and I have been super busy at work, but I didn’t want to forget to include you in the results from my Chex party!!!

All I can say is….It’s a hit!!  I hosted this party for my family and had 12 people attend!!  I made sure to let them know that this whole party was made possible by Chex and MyGetTogether!!!  And let me tell you, they loved it!!  Of course, most of my family is not new to my freebie/tester self, so that part was easy to explain, they are excited to be able to partake in my freebie/tester activities!!!

Out of the three flavors sent, the over all vote for best was the Traditional!!

This is my crazy brother!

We had a great time hanging out together, watching different games on TV, and enjoying our snacks!!

I passed out the coupons and encouraged them to pass the coupons on to others!!

Thanks Chex and MyGetTogether for this opportunity!!

~Katie

This is my brother in law being a goof!

PARTY!!

So, I hostedmy first ever party with MyGetTogether.com!!!  Our ChexMix party was a hit!!  I will post pictures soon!!

On another party note – our youngest turned 1 today!!  Happy Birthday Brett!!!!!!!!!!!!

~Katie

Learn and Froove Musical Table

As you may know, I have three young children.  We recieved the LeapFrog Learn and Groove Musical Table as a gift for my oldest daughters 1st birthday.  This is one of the most used toys in our house!!  All three of my kids have been facinated my the music, lights, and all of the different things that the table can do. 

Learn and Groove Musical Table

Some of the things it can do:

Learning Skills
– Numbers
– Counting
– The alphabet
– Shapes
– Colors

First Words

Infants string sounds together to imitate language. Later they use these sound strings to represent things in the world (baba for bottle). As toddlers they progressively build vocabulary and begin to learn the principles of word order (red ball, not ball red).

The Alphabet

Knowing the letters of the alphabet is one of the first steps toward learning to read and write. Introducing letters to young children helps them learn to recognize the different shapes and names – an early indicator for reading achievement.

Spanish Vocabulary

Exposure to foreign languages at a young age can help children understand their own language better. Studies show that children who are bilingual or who study foreign languages enjoy increased academic achievement and perform better on standardized tests.

Cause and Effect

Children progress from a simple observation of action and reaction (spin the wheel to hear music) to a deeper understanding of cause and effect (germs make you sick). Cause and effect is important because it signals that a child can perceive hidden or abstract forces on objects.

Colors

Learning color names and matching them consistently to the right color develops by around the age of 2 to 3 years. When children eventually come to understand the concepts of color they can then use that information to categorize shapes, patterns and other visual information.

Exploration and Curiosity

Toddlers use their curiosity and logical reasoning skills to solve everyday problems. By investigating all sorts of possibilities, they develop unexpected solutions and creative problem-solving strategies.

Music

From birth, children love music and even prefer it to speech. Apart from the obvious joy of music there are a number of surprising benefits to listening to music: it helps develop language, problem solving skills, memory, and physical coordination.

Fine Motor Skills

The development and coordination of small, refined muscle movements allow infants and toddlers to use their thumb and forefinger to grasp small objects, paint and eventually learn to write.

Gross Motor Skills

Gross motor development includes the ability to control large muscles, like those used for sitting up and crawling, and later, for walking, running and jumping.

Sensory Exploration

Infants and toddlers experience the world using all of their senses. However, vision is by far the main sense that they use. As they explore their enviroment babies examine objects, recognize people and learn about depth and movement. Taste and touch are also important senses for babies.

Self-esteem

At around the age of 2 children begin to develop self-esteem. Children who feel loved and have their opinions valued have a sense of self worth. It also gives then the confidence to learn, build strong relationships and respect other people.

Shapes

Children learn to recognize the defining properties of shapes (such as a square having four sides of equal length and angles, and a triangle as being a closed figure with three sides), and can identify them in different rotations.

Early Number Sense

Children learn to count and compare sets of objects, recite the number string, and identify numerals as standing for specific quantities.

My little boy will be one next week, he especially enjoys opening and closing the pages to the book as well as the green door.

In my opinion, I do not feel there is anything that I would change or add to this toy as it is sturdy, practical, useful, all while being a great learning tool!

Thanks LeapFrog!!

~Katie

Arival of something unexpected!!

So, I posted last month that I was excited to secure the Trio car for our little guy’s first birthday.  Little did you know that I attempted for at least an hour to place my “order”.  But, as you may have guessed, and to my surprise in the mail today was the Trio race car, just in time for our little guys birthday next week!!!  It will be added to his loot!!  Exciting!!

~Katie

My favorite month!

I am so excited that tomorrow is the first day of October!!  Eventhough it is a busy month as we have 3 birthday’s – it is my favorite as fall is in full swing and jeans and a sweatshirt are expected!!  We have a brithday on the 5th, on the 10th and mine on the 31st!!

I am working on birthday cake ideas for the little ones, Brett turns 1 and Brooke turns 5!!!  🙂 

What traditions do you have on birthdays??

~Katie

Excitement

I am so excited and ready to host my first ever MyGetToegther this weekend.  I hope that this is the first of many more to come!!! 

~Katie

MyGetTogether!!

I recently signed up to be a host at MyGetTogether!  I am so excited to have an excuse to get family together to try out products.  So, I was happily surprised when I got home and there was a box from MyGetTogether!!!!

I opened up my wonderful package and as a MyGetTogether host, I have the following items to share with my family and friends:

 3 packages of Chex Mix Snacks so you can have game-worthy snacks ready to wow your friends during the get-together (Honey Nut, Traditional and Turtle flavors)

 45 product information sheets with Chex Mix Snacks coupons — to share 3 each with your guests

 A special snack bowl to serve Chex Mix Snacks

 Football themed snack napkins and plates

 Allergen fact sheet — please display this where guests can easily see it

I am so excited to share my goodies with everyone!  Stay tuned as I am having my big party on October 3rd!!  I’ll let you know how things go!!

~Katie

Review – Chicco Stroller

We got this Chicco Trevi Stroller Fuego for our third child as I wanted something that was lightweight, easy to clean, and was easy to push without my feet hitting the wheels all of the time (I am about 5’9″ and have struggled to find a good stroller that had a good height that I didn’t end up walking on in the end.)  This Chicco Stroller gets a 5 star from me in all areas but two!!

~The canopy gets stuck on the snack tray when unfolding it from storage position to usable position.

~The canopy pops off on both sides easily, my 11 month old has figured out how to get it to “unsnap.”

The lightweight and fully-featured Trevi Stroller from Chicco® features a compact 3-D fold for easy travel and storage, 5-point safety harness, extra large wheels for various terrains, parent cup holder and child tray with double cup holders, storage basket and an adjustable, removable canopy with peek-a-boo window and sun visor for added protection. The multi-position, fully-reclining seat and adjustable leg support provides comfort for your baby. All-wheel suspension with front locking swivels provide an extra-smooth ride.

~Katie

Giveaway over at Faith and Family Reviews

Head on over to Faith and Family Reviews and check our her giveaway of a beautiful charm bracelet from Charm Factory.

~Katie