Reading support for kids

Adam's teacher told us about this great FREE site, book adventure. It is run by Sylvan Learning, but is completely free. It is really great!! You make an account for your child (also one for you so you can follow their progress without logging into them, really for older kids) and then you can choose what type of book (funny, sports, adventure, etc..) they like most and what grade level your child is and which grade you want your child to read. It brings up a huge list of books to choose from. We get our books from the library and every once in a while just happen to have one of the books on hand. After they read the book you log back into the account and they do a 5 question multiple choice quiz to test their comprehension on the book. Based on how many they get correct they earn points that can be used for special prizes on the site OR you can create a special prize personalized for the child. It is really helping us keep Adam on track and make sure we are challenging him, but not pushing him too much. He is in Kindergarten, but he reads grade 1 and some grade 2 books off the site. Oddly enough ALL the books from the library come from the Easy Picture Books section! Before we learned of this site I was picking all his books from the next higher section, and was having a really hard time finding appropriate books (even using their dot system).

Swimming lessons for Adam

Preschool 1 - This is the only pic that turned out well enough to post.  The lighting in the pool is awful and I didn't have a good angle for taking pics.

Preschool 2 - Adam starting wearing goggles so his eyes wouldn't be irritated and red.  He was so excited to wear them and loves them still!!

He is more or less swimming at this point, but he will do 1 more class, Youth Level 2, before summer and the start of T-ball.  He loves his lessons and loves swimming, but I will be ready for the break when the next set is done.  Adam will have lessons at 5pm and Noelle at 5:30pm every Monday and Wednesday for 4 weeks.

At least it's not every day...

It's been a really long time since I posted pics of Noelle in her weird sleeping positions.  Fortunately she usually sleeps in her bed now, and it only took 2 years to get her to do so!!

Her new car seat is NOT conducive to sleeping.

This swing was slept in daily by Adam, granted he was an infant at the time!

Oh, and Noelle is officially not a napper anymore.  We are dealing with this rather well.  Why you might ask?  Because she actually falls asleep when we put her to bed at 7:30pm every night!!

Valentines Day Party 2010

Noelle and I joined Adam's Kindergarten class for their Valentines Day Party in February.  It was short but fun!  They had a craft for the kids to do and even provided the picture to go inside.

I'm not sure how this pic didn't show it, but there was a TON of food!!  Especially considering they had maybe 10 minutes to eat.  They each were given a heart shaoed sugar cookie, frosting and assorted toppings to make their own cookie creation.  The frosting was hot pink and did a great job of making little tongues the same color.

Refreshing Iced Tea

Mr. Coffee Iced Tea Maker courtesy of CSN Stores!!

I was so excited when I got home on Monday and the box was waiting for me.  I took it out, cleaned it, and made a batch right away.  I actually already made a second batch today!  The taste is so good, none of the bitter taste you sometimes get.  I also really liked that I could tell it how strong I wanted the tea.  I can't believe we went so long without this!!


*I was sent the Mr. Coffee Iced Tea Maker free to review from CSN Stores.  I was in no way paid to give positive feedback and all comments are my own.*

Such an opportunity!

I have been given the opportunity to review a product from CSN Stores.  They have over 200 online stores specializing in everything out there!  They have an entire store devoted just to cribs!  It honestly took me half a week to make a decision on what I wanted to review, but I have finally chosen.

And this is it:

Mr. Coffee 3 Quart Iced Tea Maker

We have wanted one of these for years!!  But it is just one of those things you end up not getting because of all the things you HAVE to buy.  I can't wait to get this and make the first batch, especially with all this warm weather we are having!

Merle's 30th Birthday

My brother, Merle, turned 30 in January and celebrated along with a couple of his friends who were also turning 30.  They had a room at Bar Louie with snacks, cake, and karaoke.  It was fun to hang out and watch everyone sing.

Merle sang a LOT! 

Noelle's 3rd Birthday

Noelle turned 3 in January!  YEAH!!

This was how we celebrated on her actual Birthday.

How old are you now?!

J made her 2 cakes, Dora the Explorer and...

a castle!

Noelle's People

Noelle drew this picture of her Cousin Mary to send out to NJ with Mary's Easter package.  (She also drew a picture of Ethan.)  I had no clue she knew how to draw people!!  AND she even wrote most of Mary's name by herself!  She is SOOO ready for Preschool in August.

Crash and Burn

We've been so busy around here that I haven't had any time to devote to the blog.  But I wanted to share Adam's mishap from Thursday.  Right in front of the park in our neighborhood Adam hit a rock while riding his scooter.  His face hit the ground first and then the rest of his body flipped over.  I'm not even too sure what position he actually stopped in since I was up the hill still when it happened.  I still am amazed that the only thing he got was scrapes to his face, well, that's not counting the damage to his helmet!  He was hysterical afterwards and he still had to walk home from there.  Poor little guy.

He was so happy to get to ride his scooter again right afterschool.  The weather has been so nasty here that he hadn't been riding much at all.

At first he couldn't even close his eye because it hurt so bad.  We cleaned him up, slathered on ointment, gave him Motrin, and an ice pack.  He recover pretty quickly after that.

I haven't ventured to ask if he wants to ride his scooter right away again or not.  He originally begged for a Razor for pry 9 months.  He finally got it at Thanksgiving and we had to practically talk him into actually riding it since he was scared he would fall.  Who knows what he will do now that he did fall.