4 more days...

...till summer break! As mush as I adore my students (and they are one of the best classes I've had in a while!!!), I am ready for a break. Ready to be mommy all.day.long! Whoo-hoo! Making plans...June is booked up-swim lessons, tennis lessons, VBS, doctor appointments, fun! Spencer and I are starting a book journal where we write about what we are reading (inspired by this post). I also signed us up for this summer class at Big Picture Scrapbooking. Can't wait! Meanwhile, while I finalize our own summer plans, check out these links to start planning yours. Don't forget to make a summer wish list of actvities....

we loved having ours last summer! We did almost all of them! The pic was taken before we started checking them off-should have taken a pic afterwards! Oh well...this year! We'll make our Summer 2011 chart this week sometime.

*Summer Fun List
*Summer Camp ideas on this blog
*List of Summer Fun ideas
*Funner in the Summer series

And a new *fun* blog I just discovered....Styleberry Blog...loving the bright colors!

EDITED TO ADD: I just purchased a Summer Survival Guide (pdf format) and as I am looking through it, it is well worth the $7-ideas for themes, worksheets, lists, tons of info! Check it out at lifeasMOM (Hurry, the price goes up soon!)

Summers-a-coming...

And we're on the countdown...whoo-hoo...8 days left...though i will admit, I will MISS my class a lot! I love love 3rd grade and I had the best class! Kind to each other, readers, writers...just a great bunch! While I am happy to be staying at Peterson and going to 1st with my Coop, I will miss 3rd!
Been busy! Went to Tahoe last weekend with some girlfriends and it snowed! It was beautiful! But snow...in May?!

Got a new lens for my birthday-a 50 mm lens...LOVE it! It works so well in low light! Having fun playing with it!

Picked up a new book, Mamarazzi-full of adorable pics and good photo advice. If you are a mama that likes to take pictures, it's worth it!
Got to take pics for Running With the Angels, a 5K run in town to honor 2 families with teen boys who lost a parent way too early. (Cooper did the kid race...and was very proud of his first "runathon"-as he called it!)

It was wonderful to see so many coming out to support them. Our babysitter/2nd mother to Kendall, Miss Michelle, organized it!

She's incredible-such a caring and giving woman. I have been blessed to have her watch over Cooper and Kendall! It's such a hard thing to be a working mama, but she makes everything so much easier and I have never worried a minute about them when they are at her house.
Cannot believe my babies will be soon be in 3rd grade and 1st grade! What in the world?!? One of the best things I ever did was journal about my kiddos-pretty regularly until they were 2. I love looking back on those and remembering moments I thought I'd never forget (but did). Now I keep a family journal, but I have been very bad in updating.
Come back soon! I have some summer plans with my kiddos!

Lily Ilona

My sister Jenny had her baby on Saturday, May 7!

Sweet Lily was due on my birthday-yesterday-but decided to make her grand entrance 2 days early at 4:03 pm, weighing 7 lbs, 11 oz.

Both mama and baby are doing great! Joe and I decided at the last minute to go see her, and we took my mom (and Kendall) down. My mom had been planning to go down anyway on the train, but this was even better.

It was a super fast trip-got there around 1 AM and left the next day at 1 PM, but oh so worth it to see my little sis and her baby girl on Mother's Day!

Wow! Jenny is a natural. I am so excited for Jenny and Justin-they will be great parents! Thanks to my sweet Joe

for doing all the driving, and for having this idea in the first place-after all, we start and end with FAMILY.
HUGS to all you MOTHERS out there-Happy MOTHER'S Day!

How to get free stuff...or at least cheap stuff! :-)

OK, I know there are a ton of scams out there, but here are some I've tested and think are worth it!

1. Groupon-if you've not heard of Groupon, it's a "coupon" a day for food, attractions, clothing, spa services, almost anything in your area. They can email you the daily deal. For example, on Groupon, I have bought a Shutterfly photo book for $10 (worth $29) and dinner for two at a Greek place in Modesto (spent $10, worth $20). It was yummy! Joe and I are currently on the lookout for hotel deals for our anniversary getaway this summer. And if you refer people, you get money from Groupon which equals free deals. So NOT a scam. Click here: GROUPON.

2. Living Social: is pretty much the same as Groupon. I spent $9 for 2 movie theater tickets. A cheap date, huh? You can customize to your location OR even look around for deals to a place you are going on vacation! They even have family friendly versions. Click here: Living Social

3. GroopDealz: This is more of an artsy/creative deal site. Cute kids' hats, vinyl lettering for your house, art projects. I love this one. I bought 3 Art prints for $5. Check it out here: GROOPDEALZ

4. Mamapedia: another deal site, and is great for mamas. You can customize your location for deals on house cleaning, kids camps and classes, magazines, food, etc. I got a Family Fun mag subscription for FREE since when you sign up you get a $5 credit! Let me know if you want more info in comments (leave email address) and I will send you a link-again, you get credit if someone signs up from your link. :-)

5. Swagbucks-probably everyone has heard of this! Use it as a search engine and get points, which are then redeemable at many places. I've been stockpiling my amazon gift cards for a camera lens! Click on my link on the right hand side of the blog for more info! This is awesome!

6. Mypoints: this one rewards you with points for buying things online-you do that already, right? Also, they send you emails (warning) BUT you just click the link and get 5 points. I clean out my email mailbox every few days and with a few clicks, make 50-60 points. Redeem these for gift cards. I've redeemed gap, pottery barn, chilis, starbucks to name a few over the past few years I've been with my points. Again, I'd love to refer you, so please let me know and I'll email you the referring email.

Have I missed any? I will update if I think of more...let me know if you know if any, too!