Flash Card Fun

I love mom blogs for many reasons. One of them is the great products I get to learn about that I had no clue were out there. I like to enter giveaways too. I have won some cool stuff over the last few years. When my son was just a infant I won a set of A Modern Eden Alphabet Flash Cards. I thought they were so cute and colorful and planned on framing some of them. Well flash forward two years later and they have been sitting in the closet lol. The last week I have been using them with my son and to my delight and his he has mastered many words. He knew the sounds the animals make since his mother (me) is a silly one and we make animal noises all the time.

He now knows the name and the sound the animal makes of a Cat, Dog, Cow, Chicken, Fish, Pig, Sheep, Monkey, Duck (that was a tricky one can sound other wise lol) Elephant (hes a bit off but hes so close, has the noise down perfect!) Bird and Giraffe of course! He also is so very close to sounding out his own name. He calls himself baby and tells people thats who he is. Its cute but he does need to know his own name. That my goal for the next couple weeks is to help him be able to say his own name clearly and consistently. I know many kids can talk a mile a minute at his age but I have tried to let him develop it on his own but its just so darn cute to hear his little voice. Plus oh my I am tired of playing baby charades to figure out what he means or needs lol.

My Little Artist

My son has become a mini artist the last few months. Thanks to Nana and her present for my sons bday he has been painting and coloring to his delight. I love seeing the concentrated look on his face and him busy at work on his next master piece. He loves to mix the colors and make his own blackish brownish combo when he is done mixing. The bit of a neat freak that I am I find myself totally letting go of those types of habits as time goes on. I just let my son do what he wants with his paints and his drawings. Its funny how having kids makes you realize that messes happen and life will go on amongst the mess. 

I love hanging his creations on the fridge. This last set he made he makes me take them down at least twice a day to show me them to make sure that I see how wonderful they are. He asks me "You See Mama? Pretty!" I always tell him they are very pretty and mommy loves them. 

His latest creations! I proudly hang them on the fridge.

I have been taking pictures of the stuff he has made me in case any of them ever get messed up. I am sure my Mom had tons of art work from all us 5 kids. Now with digital cameras we can take pictures of anything! Film used to cost so much to develop. The other day I found an old roll of film that had not been developed. I have not had a film camera in many many moons lol. It makes me wonder what on earth is on it!!

Do you take pictures of your kids art? 

Do you picture it and toss it or keep it forever?

Big Cat Little Kitty and Meet the Planets by Sylan Dell Publishng Book Review

My son has adored cats since he was only a few months old. I thought this was odd since I am more of a dog person. Plus we have a dog and I am allergic to cats but he insists that cats are cool. I like to get him movies and books about cats to make him happy without having to go into a sneeze fit.

As he has gotten older he has started to realize there is a difference between kitty cats and big cats. We have flash cards and he is starting to catch on to things like Kitty Cats say Meow and Lions say Roaarrr. The book Big Cat Little Kitty has been a perfect learning tool for the comparison of big cats and little cats. Its a cute book that is wonderfully illustrated with comparisons like a jaguar living in the jungle to a kitty who lives near a pond. Its really cute. If you have a cat admirer in your family or want to teach more about animals that are wild and domesticated this is a great book for that.

From the Publisher's site:

Big cats are fierce predators that roam the world from the mountains to the deserts. How are these wild cats that hunt for their food the same as pet cats that might chase a mouse or ball of yarn? How are they different? The award-winning prequel to this book, One Wolf Howls, introduces children to counting and the months of the year as they watch the seasons changing. This sequel introduces children to the days of the week as they travel to seven different world habitats to meet the big cats, and then back home to compare and contrast the domestic cat’s behavior to that of its relative.

We are space fans on our house. Before my son was born we would watch Star Trek and other fun sci-fi shows. Now that I am a mama I seem to be watching more space cartoons that sci-fi lol. Which is fine by me! We read the book Meet the Planets to learn more about the solar system. My son likes to say Moon so thats what he called all the planets in the book. It is a cute book that introduces each of the planets like they are in a fashion contest. It gives facts about them in a creative way. The illustrations are great and very colorful. I learned a few things myself that I did not know. Plus the back pages of the book included interactive question and learning tools to teach more about the Planets.

From the Publisher's website:

Soar into the Solar System to witness the first Favorite Planet Competition, emceed by none other than the former-ninth planet, now known as dwarf planet Pluto. The readers become the judges after the sun can’t pick a favorite and the meteors leave for a shower. Who will the lucky winning planet be? Could it be speedy-messenger Mercury, light-on-his-feet Saturn, or smoking-hot Venus? Readers learn all about each planet as Pluto announces them with short, tongue-in-cheek facts. Children will spend hours searching the art for all the references to famous scientists and people of history, space technology, constellations, art, and classic literature.

 Sylvan Dell Publishing makes many great books to learn from and are filled with great illustrations. I like that each book has a section in the back to further discuss and learn what was in the book. For now my son enjoys the stories and pictures but as he gets older we will be able to teach him more using the included learning resources. Their books are ones we will have for many years. You can look at the other great books they have to purchase on their website Sylvan Dell Publishing.


* I was not paid or compensated for this post. I was sent a free copy of this book for my review by the publisher/PR company. The opinions are 100% mine and may vary from others.

Blog Love and How I Learned To Dress Cheap But Chic

In the last year or so I have started reading a lot of blogs. I absolutely love the time I spend looking at, reading , and admiring the blogs that have become my favorites. I am new to the world of writing on this blog, so I tell myself that the time I spend reading other blogs is research. And I try to research as much as I can in a day!

One of my very favorite blogs is called The Gardener's Cottage. The lovely and amazing Janet writes about her life in an old house in California that was once the gardener's cottage on a large estate. Janet's house and down to earth style are utterly charming.

One of the great things about Janet is her ability to find the cheap but chic in everything from Ralph Lauren clothing to cowboy boots to housewares. This lady takes the art of thrift shop and yard sale buying to a new level. She has inspired me to visit my local thrift shops and Goodwill on a regular basis. I love it!

Janet also has a flair for decorating, cooking, and gardening. Check out her blog and I'm sure you'll be charmed, too.

Here are a few of my own favorite things that I have bought at thrift stores, yard sales, or the Goodwill.

I found this lovely vintage shelf at a neighborhood shop. I really love it and am thinking of painting it black or maybe yellow. At $20 it really was a great buy and can be used in any room in the house.

A few years ago my neighbor was selling a bunch of these old chairs for $3 apiece. They are very similar to the vintage, French inspired cafe chairs that cost a lot more. They were an ugly grey when I bought them and I bought four. Now I wish I had bought more. They are all getting a new color and a paint job this summer.

I love this book I found on Vintage Cottages for only $2. It's in excellent condition and I'll add it to my collection of interior design books. After a quick coat of white spray paint, I put this sweet little stature on my dresser. It makes me happy every time I look at her. For a dollar, how could I resist?

I bought all of these tops for a $1.29 each at the Goodwill. Almost every day they have a different colored tag that costs a certain amount of money. Blue tags were $1.29 that day so I only shopped for blue tagged items. The pink shirt was new and still had it's $20 price tag on it.

Wait I forgot I was 30

 Since turning 30 this summer I do not feel like much has changed. I thought I would have some sort of epic awakening like oh I now know the meaning of things or I would gain some sort of insight. Well I still feel the same as I did in my early 20s of course I am wiser but still a big kid at heart.

I even forgot that I am 30 lol it just feels odd to say. I have been filling out a few surveys and where you need to put in your age I had a moment of Wow I am now having to click the 30-39 or 30-35 instead of the under 30 or 20-29. It was a strange moment for me. I know its trivial but just had to share it was so weird to me.