Abby spelling

Things seemed to have 'clicked' for Abby and she's starting to read/spell three-letter words. So fun to watch! (And yes, she's always this jumpy!). :)

Swagbucks

I'm a skeptic, probably like most of you, and assume that any kind of 'make money online' plan is just a scam (and most of them are!). But a few months ago I heard about Swagbucks from a friend I trust, and thought I would try it out. It's an alternative search engine (instead of Google or other search engines) that you use just like you would Google. Every once in a while, on your search results page, it shows that you've 'won' a Swagbuck or two. After you have a certain amount of Swagbucks, you can redeem them for various prizes - I've been redeeming every time I get enough for an Amazon.ca gift certificate. I just redeemed for my sixth $5 gift certificate, after using Swagbucks for about four months - so that's $30 in free books I wouldn't have had otherwise!

I believe Swagbucks gets its money from sponsored sites, so sometimes the site you're really searching for will be third or fourth on the list of search results, below a couple of 'sponsored search results.' It's maybe a tiny irritation, but I've never had to go down more than a few entries to find what I wanted, and I've got that $30 credit sitting in my Amazon account that more than makes it worth it!! ;)

At first it seemed like it would take forever to get enough to redeem for anything, but we set Swagbucks as our home page, and we use it for everything - instead of using the drop-down list in Internet Explorer to go to Facebook or the Weather Network, etc, we just type it into Swagbucks and go to the site that way instead. Takes maybe an extra two seconds - and you wouldn't believe how often I get Swagbucks for searching the Weather Network!! (Not that I'm checking the weather anymore after all this SNOW!!)

I just wanted to say that I had actually found an online points system that actually works. Like I said, I've redeemed for $30 so far and it's all sitting in my account at Amazon, so I know it's legitimate. Try it!

Snow day :(

Well, at least the kids were excited!

(Gavin taught Rachel how to make a snowball, and she promptly threw it in his face - she thought it was hysterical!!)

A fresh perspective

http://booksandbairns.blogspot.com/2009/05/i-am-not-mother-i-wanted-to-be.html

I've already had a few of those random comments that you think people would know better than to say out loud: "Fourth?!? Wow, you must be insane!" (from the dental hygenist)... "You're clearly a sucker for punishment..." (someone at work)... etc. And I've got three months and a bit to go still!!

You might be getting too big for your paci when...

You can put the whole thing in your mouth! ;)

(For the record, she only is allowed her paci in bed and in the van - and the date has been set for getting rid of it...yikes!)