TOT TUESDAY

You can go HERE to see what we were up to last week!

I am working on finishing up a few things to begin a new "schedule" that will incorporate time in our new playroom. Just waiting to completely "move in." I have been a "Babywise Mom" from the start (for the most part), and since I am by nature a "planner" and love my routines, I have found that having a set schedule or routine each day helps so much even if we don't follow it exactly. Here is a tentative look at what our new "schedule" will look like once we start using the playroom. The times are approximate, as I am not as concerned about exactly what time things happen, but more the routine of our day. (Oh, and anything before 8:00 is what I WANT to happen. Lately, though, I haven't been getting out of bed until I hear her around 8:00. I know. I could get a LOT done if I just got up earlier, but....it's just SO hard. I am NOT a morning person. ) And another thing.....this is just a rough guideline for days we are home. Tuesdays we go to Grandma's and Thursday mornings we go to Mom2Mom group. Plus, we have playdates every once in awhile or run errands. But Morgan likes her routine when we ARE home. And I find our days go so much smoother!

6:00 – Mommy Wake up
6:15 – Work Out
6:45 – Devotions
7:00 – Mommy Get Ready
7:30 – Jobs for the Day
8:00 – MJ wake up / Get Dressed
8:15 – Breakfast
8:30 – Bible Time / Clean up / Brush Teeth
9:00 – Independent Playtime in Room (Mommy’s Computer Time)
9:45 – Circle Time / Read Theme Books – Mommy picks
10:00 –Tot Trays
10:30 – Free Play (Mommy does other Jobs for the Day)
11:00 – Structured Play with Mommy
11:30 – Structured Play Alone / Table Time (kitchen)
12:00 – Lunch
12:30 – Storytime – MJ picks from ones Mommy sets out
12:45 – Nap (Mommy’s computer time)
3:30 – Snack / Read Aloud
3:45 – Tot School (Playroom)
4:15 – Independent Play in Playroom
5:00 – Video Time (Mommy makes dinner)
5:30 – Dinner
6:00 – Family Time, Play Outside, Free Play
7:15 – Get Ready for Bed (bath, jammies, teeth, 2 stories, songs, prayers)
7:45 – MJ Bed
8:00 – Mommy and Daddy time / Mommy’s Reading Time

Independent Play is just that...she plays by herself with a choice of toys that I rotate every so often. Structured Play is when I pick the activity for her to do. And Freetime is when she can do whatever she wants with whatever toys she wants. She usually picks her kitchen or baby dolls to play with during that time.

Anyway, having routines works for us, and I am excited to start this new schedule....which is really isn't all that different from what we already do, except that we can use our playroom and I am going to start a "Circle Time" in the mornings. I'll post more on that later.

MOMMY MOMENT MONDAY - OUT AND ABOUT

Morgan has always done pretty well running errands with me. She actually gets all excited when we go to CVS because she gets to "pull coupons from machine!" It's pretty funny that she recognizes and can say "CVS" and "Walgeens" about as easily as "McDonalds." When we go run errands, and I know I have to stop at like 3 or 4 places, I make sure to have something different for her at each place (at least if it will be longer than a 5 or 10 minute stop). For instance, she has a little "backpack" that she only gets to take on errands or if we have to go someplace that will require a wait, like a retaurant or the doctor's office. It has special stickers and books in it, as well as her My Little Ponies, some play jewelry, a mini magnadoodle, etc. This usually occupies her for one stop. Then, I will give her a snack in her snack cup and a drink at the next place. Then, at the next stop, I'll give her her "wallet." I made her her own little wallet one day after I got tired of her trying to pull everything out of mine. I got out one of my old wallets, and filled it with paper "money," little counting discs as coins in the coin part, and I put wallet sized pictures and old gift cards or those fake credit cards that sometimes come in the mail in it as well. She loves playing with her wallet while I shop. If I have to go somewhere else, I may give her some coupons that I dont' care about in a bag for her to pull out and play with. (She loves coupons!) As she gets older, I can hopefully have her help me find items I need, cross things off her own little grocery list, put things in the cart, add the numbers on the calculator, etc. But for now, this system works great for us. If anyone has any other suggestions or tips for how to occupy toddlers when "out and about" I'd love to hear them!

FIX IT UP FRIDAY

My mom and dad were so gracious to take Morgan overnight for a sleepover on Monday and then keep her all day Tuesday so I could work on stuff around the house that I just never get around to with a tot running around. I had a major list of things I wanted to accomplish, and of course didn't get to it all, but I did get a lot done nonetheless. With our playroom in the basement basically finished now (more pics on that later), I am trying to get stuff organized to move a lot of Morgan's stuff down there.

I started off with this cheap laminate toybox that I had from when I was teaching that I paid like 1.00 for at a garage sale. Jared helped me "sturdy it up" a bit with some new screws and hinges, and I researched how to paint laminate, so here was my first attempt at a "bigger" piece of furniture.

I first sanded it lightly with a fun tool that Jared bought with his birthday money. It's SOOOO cool! There's no way I would tackle furniture if I had to sand by hand ever again!

Then I primed it with an oil based spray primer Jared had leftover from something. But I ran out and had to use a bit of latex primer that said it was for glossy surfaces.....Zinsser Bullseye 123, but I didn't like it as well, and it takes longer to "cure." I didn't get a picture of the primed toybox all done, but it is sitting in my basement waiting for the 7 days so I can paint it white. I am going to use the same white semi-gloss that Jared used for the trimwork in the basement.

My next project was this bulletin board. The cheapo looking brown was bugging me, so I decided to give it a quick painting. I first taped a bunch of junk paper all over the board part so as not to get black all over it.

Then, I sprayed one layer of Walmart gray primer, waited 10 minutes, then sprayed it with a couple layers of Walmart black flat spray paint. I didn't worry about high quality paint on this. Quick and easy!

I'm still thinking it needs something else, though.... Maybe some fun fabric covering the bulletin board part...or burlap? Or maybe adding a thin black trim piece around the edges to "beef it up" a bit? Who knows. We'll see.

Then, since I had my paint out, I quickly sprayed this little basket with the same Walmart paint. Just a couple quick black flat layers (no primer) about 10 minutes apart. Again, a quick last minute project. I had used the basket at school, and it has a fun bright colored lining that my mother-in-law made for it that will look great in her playroom. (You can kinda see it in the background.)

Remember these frames that I painted awhile back? I hadn't hung them yet, because Jared doesn't really "trust" me with a hammer and nail. But I found some 3M Command Picture Hanging Strips (thanks to a recommendation from a great blog called House of Smiths) and decided to give them a try. At first I couldn't get it to work, then I reread the directions and ....wallah! No nails, and so far they haven't fallen down.

Well, in addition to all that, I cleaned all the bathrooms, vacuumed the whole house, changed the sheets on my bed and did laundry, and organized all Morgan's toys. I dragged every toy that she owns into the living room and grabbed 6 tubs and a box. Then, I sorted out all the toys that are too young for her now and put them in a box for storage. Then, with the tubs, I divided up all her toys between "Bedroom," "Living Room," and "Playroom/Basement." I also made a second tub for each location that I can use to rotate out the toys in each spot every month. This process took me about 2.5 hours, and is something I could NOT have done had Morgan been around.

Hopefully next week I can show you my finished toybox, and some pictures of how the playroom is progressing. Yea!

THRIFTY THURSDAY - WALGREENS COUPON POLICY

Woo Hoo! If you are a couponer like me, you know how frustrating it can be to shop at different Walgreens since they all seem to have their own coupon policies from store to store. (There used to not be any formal corporate policy.) So, while you could do one thing at one store, you may not be able to at the store down the street. (For instance, using a $2 coupon on an item for $1.99. Some stores would adjust the coupon to take off $1.99, other stores wouldn't let you use it at all because of the penny overage.) Well, I am SOOO happy to report that Walgreens finally got their act together, and they now have a formal corporate coupon policy posted on their website here. Yea! Print it out and carry it with you! According to this new policy, you CAN use a $2 coupon on a $1.99 item, and you CAN use two coupons on a BOGO sale. This is going to make things so much easier for us coupon freaks....I mean, users. :)

WORDLESS WEDNESDAY

Oh, and I never got around to posting yesterday (more on why later), so here is the link to the post for our Tot School week last week if you want to check it out.

MOMMY MOMENT MONDAY

Well, I think I can say we are done with the hard part of potty training. She has done amazing, and I am so proud of her. She has only had two accidents since last Monday. One was right after I let her finally out of my sight for a bit (I guess she didn't know to come find me), and the other time was when we were driving in the car and couldn't get to a bathroom. But at least she had a pull up on that time. She tends to wait until right when she has to go to tell us. That will just take time and practice for her to know to tell me sooner. Anyway, we still visit the potty about every 45 minutes if she doesn't tell me, and I still tend to follow her around because I'm paranoid. But for the most part, we've had really good success in what I consider to be a short amount of time. I invisioned weeks of this! She even told the nursery workers at church that she had to go! We're still working on the poo part, though. If I can catch her cues, she'll go on the potty, but if not, she hasn't yet come tell me she has to go, so she has gone poo 2 times in her undies. But 2 out of 7 days isn't that bad, right? I'm not stressed about that yet as I know that takes longer and takes some kids a long time to "get." I am just proud of her for going without a problem when I DO catch her in time. It hit me this week through all this that my "baby" is definitely a little girl now. Where has the time gone?

THRIFTY THURSDAY - DROP CLOTHS

Jared and I are having a "debate" as to what drop cloths are for....He says they are supposed to be used while painting to protect floors and such from paint. Nah! Have you seen those pretty hemmed dropcloths for like $10 at Home Depot? Much too nice to use to catch paint. I say they should be used for ...... CURTAINS! Yep!

Now, if I hadn't told you the curtains in those pictures were really drop cloths, you wouldn't have ever guessed, would've you? They are cheap, they're already hemmed on all four sides (unless you need to hem them for length), they come in a variety of sizes, they can easily be hung using ring clips, and they look like linen! Perfect thrifty choice for any home, right? Well, now I have to convince Jared of that fact.....

WORDLESS WEDNESDAY

PROGRESS!

We're on day 3, and I am actually VERY encouraged! We haven't had any real significant "accidents" since the first day! Yea! She has done GREAT the last 2 days. She is now used to the new sensations that go along with going in a potty versus her diaper. If she doesn't tell me she has to go, I can now detect her "cues" pretty well. She even went #2 in the potty last night! Yea! Grandma Joy came over this morning to help break up the monotany of being stuck in the kitchen, and Morgan was doing so well that Grandma convinced us to break out and go to McDonalds for lunch. So, I put a pull up on her, and off we went. While we were eating, I noticed her "cue" and asked if she needed to go. She said yes, so we went, and lo behold, she sat on that big adult potty (with me holding on of course) and just went without a problem! I couldn't believe it. She hasn't even gone yet on our big potty at home. I have been so proud of her, and I have to say that I am happy how things have gone, despite a tiring first day and frustrating first evening. I know she'll have accidents, and things will happen, but I think she really is "getting it!" We are obviously still wearing pull ups for naps and diapers for nights. I'm not rushing that. I expect that to take a while. Anyway, YEA MORGAN! Mommy and Daddy are so proud of you!

TOT TUESDAY - TOT SCHOOL

You can go visit our Hart 2 Hart blog to see what we did last week. We had a fun week!

Also, here are some GREAT blogs written by mommies of tots that I find encouraging and helpful as I seek to mommy my own tot. I get lots of my tot school and activity ideas from them.

2 Teaching Mommies

1+1+1=1

The Shafer Family

Homeschool Creations

Confessions of a Homeschooler

Home Grown Hearts

MOMMY MOMENT MONDAY - POTTY TRAINING

Well, potty training has officially begun. Here's how we've been spending most of our day:

It's tiring. It's exhausting. It's yucky. It's rewarding. I am getting tired of being in the kitchen all day. But I think we're getting somewhere.....slowly. I put Gerber training undies on her first thing. We practiced with Baby. I showed her where to go and what to do when she had to go potty. She was excited about her big girl undies, and I could tell the minute she had to go. She could tell something was different. I let her drink LOTS to give her plenty of chances to go, and I set the timer for every 15 minutes to have her go sit on the potty. She never ever made it that long. So, I started doing shorter amounts. Nope. Never could make it. We went through 8 pairs of undies in just a little over an hour. So, I just stopped using the timer and just kept having her "check for dryness" every few minutes and setting her on the potty between each activity we did. It didn't take long before I was out of undies and had to throw them in the washer. So, I decided to just have her go without undies at all. She was getting good about saying, "Uh, oh. Potty" AS she was going on the floor. We'd rush to the potty and she could usually get a bit more out. Enough that we could cheer and she could see the results and clap for herself. I gave her small piece of Twizzler each time she got any in the potty. But when she had the undies on, she couldn't get over and pull them down in time to go. So, when I had her go without undies she was much more aware when she had to go and could just run over to her potty and sit down. She still had a few misses, but finally when we were eating lunch (picnic style on a towel on the floor while watching Dora), she got up twice on her own and went to her potty and said, "Go potty." The first time she didn't really go too much, but the second time, she finally did it! She got up, went and sat down, and went potty.....a lot! She was so excited, and we even called Grandma to tell her! I have been having her take it to dump out in the big potty and have her help me flush it, which she loves, too. So, anyway. She is napping now.....with a pull up on. I'm kinda not looking forward to days of this....being stuck in the kitchen all day when it is so nice outside. But I keep telling myself it is worth it. We'll be back at it as soon as she wakes up, so I'll keep you posted how it goes. I tell you, this is one of those Mommy Moments that is just not fun.....but necessary.

Edit: She did well after nap. She basically sat on the potty for most of the afternoon, content to just sit there and "read books." She went 2 or 3 times while she sat, and would smile and clap each time she did. She also came and sat on it and went on her own once when she was playing as well. I thought we were on a roll! Well, right when I start to get confident about things like this, God is always there to remind me of reality. Around 5:00 she suddenly got scared of going in the potty. I had to really work at getting her to sit on the potty. I could tell she had to go....BAD! But she wouldn't. She just sat there and cried and squirmed and said, "tummy hurt." It got to the point of her screaming, "NO, NO, NO!" over and over again. I finally stuck a pull up on her and decided to lay off a bit so I could focus on getting us both dinner because it was way past dinner time. It is almost 9:00 now and I can still hear her up there making noise and moving around. I'm sure she went as soon as I put a diaper on her and put her to bed, so I'm assuming I'll have to go back in and change her before she'll go to sleep. I'm exhausted, and I dread having to do it all over again tomorrow. Okay, yes, I'm complaining. I need to stop. It's only been one day for crying out loud, and I know we'll have ups and downs. I'm just wondering why oh why I decided to start this the week Jared went back to work and is gone every single night this week! What was I thinking?

FIX IT UP FRIDAY

My Fix it Up Friday is more of a Thrifty Thursday post, but you'll see later how it relates...

Here is what my kitchen looked like this morning after I got back from our subdivision's garage sales. This picture actually doesn't even do it justice. There is a lot of stuff hidden on the other side of the island, and the whole back side of the island is covered in stuff, too. I figured that I spent about $50 for it all, and that includes 3 pieces of "furniture" if you will.....plus, loads of clothes (a lot of them for me, which I hardly ever find....and most of them fit great! Yea!), lots of books, a new beautiful shower curtain for whenever we get our basement bathroom done, a small shelf to put in my laundry room, a second set of monitors (for taking on vacation or to use for the playroom in the basement when it gets done), some decorations, and lots more! So, anyway, here are my three favorite finds:

I have seen this Melissa and Doug magnetic responsibility chart on some blogs and sites and always wondered if it would be worth the price. Well, when you find it for $2, you might as well try it, right? (By the way, I usually snatch up any Melissa and Doug stuff I find at sales if it is in good condition and a decent price, because I LOVE their products, but they are pricey.)

I saw this table from my window at the house across the street, and made a beeline over there to get it. Why? It matches Morgan's new kitchen she got for her birthday! Morgan loves it, and I am super excited. Both will eventually go downstairs to the new playroom once Jared finishes up a few last things on the room.

And finally....... a cute white dresser for Morgan. Sometime here in the next year or so, we will move MJ to what is now the guest bedroom and make it into her "big girl room." I already have a really cute toddler bed and mattress that I got at a garage sale (for only $20 bucks for both!), and I am on the hunt for other pieces to put in her room eventually. I don't want to have to buy brand new furniture if I don't have to, so when I see something that I can use, I snatch it up....even though Jared doesn't get why I buy things we don't need at the moment. But he'll be glad in a year when we go to set up her new room that we don't have to go out and buy all new furniture. What I love about this dresser is that it is already white, so I won't have to paint it. (I want to do white in her room.) Plus, aren't those little bluish/gray flower knobs so cute? I think I will try to find bedding to match and paint the walls a bluish / gray, and add white curtains with hopefully matching bluish / gray flowers hot glued to it....I know that sounds wierd, but I saw a very cute tutorial on this....

Oh, and I wanted to throw in a helpful fix it up tip: Become friends with Mr. Clean Magic Erasers!!!!! Some of the stuff that I bought (including the dresser and little table), had marks on them or were really dirty, but yes, I bought them anyway knowing my magic eraser would do the trick. And it did! Just a before and after to help you see how great it is. I couldn't get this sticky stuff off very well with just a wet rag...

But my magic eraser did the trick! (I use the extra power kind.)

Anway, that's how this post relates to Fix It Up Friday..... because all this stuff will help to "fix up" our house (sort of) eventually. Yea! And all for under $50!

AND THE VERDICT IS.....YUM!

Morgan got her first taste of cheese today! Yep, you heard right...dairy! We got back the results of her bloodwork from last week, and according to the test results, she has no traceable signs of a milk allergy anymore! YEA!!!!!!!!!!!!! However, the allergist and specialist reminded us that "traceable" is the key word. They both said that just because the test showed it being gone, that doesn't mean her body is ready yet to fully embrace dairy. BUT, last year at this time, the "markers" were 1.24 (whatever that means.....I really don't know!), and now they are "not traceable," so in my mind, that is a big accomplishment! We are supposed to ease into it very slowly, giving her a couple bites of cheese for a few days, then a bit of yogurt, then increase the amounts a bit, then we can start introducing actual cow's milk if all goes well. Then, after a few weeks, we can stop reading labels and ...... oh, I see a whole new world opening up for her...and us! Okay, I can't jump ahead. We still have a long road to go. Remember, she doesn't have immediate reactions to the milk. Her reactions are delayed and can be very subtle and easy to miss. SO, this could take awhile. Plus, who is to say that she will like drinking milk? She LOVES her specialized Neocate that we call her "milk," so she may not want to switch. But .... we'll cross that bridge if we come to it.

I only gave her a few bites of cheese as the doctor said, and she immediately said, "Mo cheese pease!" She was a bit upset when I wouldn't give her any more. Well, at least she likes it! :)

Another first for her today was getting to eat a cookie! Jared wanted me to make cookies, but I didn't have any chocolate chips, so I used a bag of white chocolate chips I had and made chocolate cookies with white chocolate chips instead. As I was reading the recipe I realized that if I just used our "non dairy" butter for now, Morgan could have the cookies, too (minus the white chocolate chips). So, I made her a few cookies without the chips, and gave her one for dessert tonight. Oh my! A little bit of heaven for a girl who has had VERY LITTLE sweets in her life! LOL!

THRIFTY THURSDAY - BLOGS AND SWAGBUCKS

Here are a few of the money saving blogs that I read daily. They have helped me save gobs of money and get some really great deals!

If I only have time to check one a day:

• Hip 2 Save

Others I try to make sure to check daily if I have time:

• Money Saving Mom
• Couponing to Disney
• Deal Seeking Mom
• Common Sense with Money
• Who Said Nothing in Life is Free

Great blogs for individual stores:

• I Heart CVS
• I Heart Wags
• I Heart Kroger
• Totally Target

Other blogs I check when I can:

• The Thrifty Mama
• Stretching a Buck
• Surviving the Stores
• Saving and Giving

AND, If you have not yet signed up for Swagbucks, now is the time to do so! Through tomorrow, August 13th, at 11:59PM PDT, new Swagbucks members can click here to register and use the code SwagToSchool when registering to snag an extra 20 Swagbucks (that’s in addition to the 30 Swagbucks new members receive)…that means newbies will snag 50 Swagbucks just for signing up!

WORDLESS WEDNESDAY

TOT TUESDAY

We didn't do a whole lot last week, but you can check out our new post on Hart2Hart to see what we were up to.

Also, I found some great pattern block printables and activities HERE for anyone who is interested. Morgan loves doing these, and we even took them on our vacation.

MOMMY MOMENT MONDAY

Potty Training......YUK! I have been dreading this since she was born. LOL! I really just have been putting it off because MOMMY isn't ready. But it's about time. Morgan is infatuated with the potty, her potty books, her baby's potty, etc. Plus, she really doesn't like to have her diaper changed anymore. She is showing me it's time to start....I'm just dragging my feet. The other day when I was changing her she was squirming and trying to get up. Finally she looked at me and said, "Bye, Bye diaper. Hello potty." (This is in one of her potty books.) Okay. Message received loud and clear! This week I have been setting her on our big potty (with her little toddler seat on top) each time I change her diaper. If I forget, she says, "Go potty on Mommy potty." The other day she shocked me by pulling off some toilet paper and actually wiping herself (even though she hadn't actually gone potty)! Then, she said, "All done. Flush potty." So, I helped her down, and she went right over and flushed that potty, sure thing! And then, she went to her stool at the sink and said, "Need to wash hands now." Okay, that did it. I decided I had better get in gear and strike while the iron is hot! She has obviously taken notice of what I do when I use the bathroom, and she is showing so much interest. Now, my job is to figure out the best method / way to go about this. I have talked to a few people who all had different methods. I'm so nervous! Any suggestions??????? (Oh, and she is still in her crib at the moment....I know. Something else I need to get moving on. But how does that work at night and naps, then? Should I start with moving her to a toddler bed first or doesn't that matter? I don't want to throw too many new things at her at once, though .....in other words, I don't think it'd be good to work on potty training AND go to a toddler bed all at once, would it?)

SOME FUNNY THINGS SHE SAYS

Morgan cracks me up all the time with the things she says....

Yesterday, we were getting out of the car at CVS, and she looked across the street (where the Walgreens is) and said, "We go Walweens, too?" I've trained her right! LOL!

She heard and saw a motorcycle go by when we were shopping and said, "Sow dow, mocycle!"

She is currently in her room playing with her baby doll, and I heard her say, "Good mohning, uney!" (Good Morning, Honey!) Hmm, wonder where she picked that up at?

At Grandma's the other day (Tuesday) the tornado sirens went on for their monthly test, and she was concerned by them and why they weren't turning off. Grandma just jokingly said maybe they were stuck. So now she constantly will keep saying, "Whistle stuck at Gamma's ouse." She will wake up and tell me that first thing or even just randomly throughout the day tell me that.

FIX IT UP FRIDAY

I don't have anything house related to post about.....Well, I do, but not that I have time to write about right now. So, I'm going to share a recipe that we tried last night that we loved. (You have to "fix" the food, right? Okay, maybe stretching it a bit....)

I follow the Milk Allergy Mom blog to get recipes so I can fix things that Morgan can eat, too. I got this recipe here. It is a super quick and easy side dish that even Morgan ate up!

Sweet Green Beans (I would need to double the recipe next time for even just the 3 of us)

1 can whole green beans, drained

6-8 slices cooked bacon (I cooked in microwave)

1 Tb butter

2 Tb brown sugar

1/4 tsp garlic salt

**Melt the butter in a skillet, then add the brown sugar. Toss in the green beans and sprinkle with garlic salt. Then, add the cooked bacon. Heat through for about 10 minutes.

Yummy!

FUN AT "GAMPA'S" CHURCH

Last night, Grandpa Doug's church held their annual "Summer's Last Ride" event. This was the first year that we went, and Morgan had a blast! She LOVED the inflatable slides, the firetruck, eating a snowcone and hot dog for the first time, getting a balloon.... She was in heaven! Throw in the fact that she got to see her cousin Molly, Uncle Brad, Aunt Cali, and Grandpa and Grandma, and you had one very excited tot!

We "pawned" her off a few times to some very willing girls that we knew who took her on the slides so I didn't have to go with her every single time.

THRIFTY THURSDAY

**Quick reminder: Don't forget about the tax free holiday for school supplies starting this Friday (Aug. 6). Go HERE for more info and a list of qualifying items. (Remember, clothes are included under $100.)

Okay, so I told you a couple weeks ago that I'd give you some info on a few free survey sites that I am a part of that also reward with Amazon gift cards. There are MANY survey sites out there, and some not so credible. These are ones that I researched and got reviews on. I have personally been using them for almost a year, and they DO pay out well. You won't get rich off these, but every little bit that goes into my amazon gift card account helps! I will start with 3 so as not to overwhelm anyone.

I try to check each site once a day (they also email you when you have available surveys). Most surveys will take between 10 and 20 minutes to complete if you qualify for them. You usually have to answer between 3 and 10 questions before you know if you have qualified to take the whole survey, so this is a bit more time consuming than Swagbucks, but I find it is well worth it. You can spend as much or as little time each week as fits in your schedule. And my recommendation would be to pick maybe 2 sites to focus on first, then add more if you want. I spend about 30 minutes (at the MOST) each day on surveys. Another benefit to these sites is that a lot of times, you can qualify to test products that they send you for free, and then you go take a survey about it and earn points. I've tested Huggies and Pampers diapers, shampoos, Stouffer frozen meals (yummy!), cleaners, baby wipes, marinades, and others that I can't think of at the moment. And most of the time the survey payout for doing it is GREAT! Can't beat free products AND payment for it to boot!

Opinion Outpost
I LOVE this site even though there are a lot of surveys that I don't qualify for. The ones I do qualify for pay well, and you only need 50 points to get a $5.00 amazon gift card (or $5.00 check if you'd rather). The thing I love about this site is that they give you the Amazon gift code immediatly when you request it. You don't have to wait a few days or weeks like some other sites. I'd say I get a $5 gift card from HERE about once a month or so now. (It did seem to take awhile at first to start qualifying for the surveys, but I just kept trying, and now I qualify for plenty to be worth my time.) Go HERE if you are interested in joining Opinion Outpost.

Lightspeed
I LOVE this site, too, because they send lots of surveys, and it didn't take long for me to start qualifying for them. I seem to qualify for a lot of their surveys, and the pay outs for each survey are pretty good (between 75 and 150 points usually). You need 550 points to request a $5.00 Amazon gift card, and they usually send you the code within 24 hours or so. I tend to get one or two gift cards per month. Go HERE to register.

MyPoints
I like this site because it is easy to earn points, and even if you don't qualify for a survey, they still give you ten points for your time. You need 3850 points for a $25 Amazon gift code. (On this site, I usually redeem 1600 points at a time for a $10 Walgreens gift card, though.) For this site, you register, and then sign up to receive paid emails and surveys, and they come to your email. I usually get about 5 emails (in my junk email) a day that all I have to do is look at the email and click where it says get points for just "reading" the email (which I never actually sit there and read) and I get 5 points for each one. Also, I usually get about 1 survey email a day. If you qualify, you get 50 points, if not, you still get the 10 points. I usually cash out for my $10 Walgreens card about every 2 months or so. There are lots of easy ways on this site to earn points. If anyone is interested in knowing more about this site, let me know, and I can answer any questions you have and give you a referral email.

Well, there are a few to get you started. Let me know if anyone has any questions.

WORDLESS WEDNESDAY

TOT TUESDAY

Not much actual Tot School took place last week as we were on vacation in Florida, but I did include a bunch of ideas for activity bags that we took in the car to keep Morgan occupied. What a lifesaver those were! Go check it out on our Tot School blog.

MOMMY MOMENT MONDAY

Sorry about the lack of posting last week. We were in Florida with Jared's parents for vacation. I am so tired today after driving 20 hours back and getting in last night...unpacking...laundry...a doctor appt. for Morgan at 9:00 this morning....you get the picture. So, not a lot to write about... just a few pictures from our trip.

There was a nice kiddie pool at our condo. Morgan's favorite thing was getting water from the fountain in her glass and carrying it to the big pool and dumping it in.

All of a sudden one day, Jared said, "Where'd all her pool toys go?" We hadn't noticed that they had slowly been sucked into the pool drain thing. LOL!

Jared and I took Morgan to Green Meadows Petting Farm. It was such a neat place, and Morgan had a blast with all the animals.

And her favorite.....riding a pony!

We also went to the beach one day. Morgan loved the sand and the waves.