Sorry I hadn’t been online much this past week.  Between school starting and having an 8 family garage sale at my house for 4 days, it was needless to say quite hectic for me where come night time I really didn’t feel like going online.

One fun thing I did though was Thursday I got to be one of the parents to help out with Kevin’s class!  All I can say is I bow down to teachers!  The kids were good, but they were also kids!  Here I thought 2 kids were bad, but can you imagine being in a class room alone with TWENTY 4-5 year olds!!  I don’t know how they do it!  I hope this doesn’t come across mean, but after an hour I was ready for a drink!  Of course maybe it was just because I was nervous hoping I was doing an ok job for the teacher, trying to learn all the kids names, trying to keep the kids working on whatever they were suppose to be working on at that point in time and also wondering how the garage sale was going and if Katie was being good with Grandma & Grandpa.  (Yes, I’m a big worry wart)    Even though I was glad my hour was over, I am now looking forward to going again and helping out!  I had signed up to do it the 1st Thursday of every month, but since another Mom had volunteered to help out on my day (and I REALLY appreciated it) I’m thinking maybe I’ll volunteer to help out on other days too when there is already another mom there.  To me it wouldn’t hurt as I feel you can’t give children to much attention.

So how was your week/weekend?  Did you do anything exciting?

Now that school’s been back in session for at least a week, I’m sure the dreaded homework has started.  Thankfully my child is in pre-k, so I don’t have to hear the whining, but I have a feeling some parents out there have already started hearing it.

What worries me is how I never really paid to much attention in school, I never really studied, just enough to pass.  (I was a B-C student, which wasn’t bad considering I never applied myself)  For me school was more a social thing than anything.  I loved the sports, marching band, dances, etc.   Of course now that I have kids that could come to bite me in the butt as when the time comes and they are stuck on their homework, will I be able to help them like I should?  Of course I heard they have a “new” way of teaching math and I know I’ll be lost in that anyways as I have no clue about “Chicago Math”.

For parents like me, there is now a resource out that that can help your children with their homework online and it’s called Tutor.com Homework Help and Online Tutoring.  What’s great is that they have professional tutors to help you 24/7!  So if your child is stuck on their Math, Science, English or History homework or if they have a test or exam coming up and need help studying and they need to turn somewhere, they now can turn to tutor.com. 

Tutor.com’s tutors have been carefully screened and include certified teachers, college professors, graduate students, select undergraduates and other professionals that are based in the United States or in Canada.  To get hired these tutors not only had to have an extensive background check, but they also were tested on the subjects, and had to do a final exam and mock tutoring sessions!   So at least you will have a piece of mind knowing that the person who is helping your child actually knows what they are talking about. 

The great thing is if you sign up today, you will receive 30 FREE minutes of tutoring!   Otherwise the pricing does range.  It kind of reminds me of the prepaid cell phones the more minutes you buy up front, the cheaper the per minute charge will be.   What’s nice is there is no monthly fees, you can buy more minutes at any time and your minutes will stay in your account until you use them and are good for up to 6 months!   Tutor.com also has a Satisfaction Guarantee that if you are not completely satisfied at any time you can receive a credit so you have nothing to lose!

So next time your child starts asking for help and you don’t know where to start, why not give tutor.com a try!

What’s your favorite kind of tv shows?  The ones Paul and I really like watching together are ones like Criminal Minds, CSI, Law & Order and I really got hooked on Flashpoint this summer.  As you can tell we enjoy the police type shows where they tend to use DNA testing to solve the crimes. Sometimes I think that would of been a fun field to do into job wise. I know solving crimes takes longer than an hour, but I think it would be interesting to try and figure them out.

I remember working downtown Grand Rapids and whenever the circus would come to town everyone would take a break to watch the animal parade as it would go right past my work. It was always fun to watch the animals and I remember thinking if I ever had kids, how much fun it would be to take them to the circus.

Then when Kevin wasn’t even 1 yet the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus was coming to town and one of my friends informed me that if you go to their website http://www.ringling.com/ you can sign up your newborn to get a Free ticket voucher that can be exchanged for a free ticket to any Ringling Bors. and Barnum & Bailey Circus performance! (Anytime, Anywhere with NO expiration date!) So needless to say, me being the tightwad that I am, ended up signing both kids up so we could take them when they got a little older. Now that the kids are old enough and the circus is coming to down this month Paul and I talked it over and it sounds like this just might be the year we take them!

The clincher on us perhaps going this year or not is that Ringling Bros. Circus has been kind enough to give us a 20% off discount code that we can use for our adult tickets and I am also able to share with my readers! 

The 20% discount code for Ringling Bros. Circus. is MCC and is valid for the circus shows in the following cities:

Indianapolis, IN - Sept. 4-7, 2008
Kansas City, MO- Sept. 10-14, 2008
Grand Rapids, MI - Sept. 18-21, 2008
Denver, CO - Oct. 2-13, 2008
Boston, MA – Oct. 8-13, 2008
Cleveland, OH - Oct. 24 - Nov. 2
Chicago, IL - Nov. 6 - 30, 2008
St. Louis, MO- Nov. 6-9, 2008
Auburn Hills, MI- Nov. 12 - 16, 2008
Highland Heights, KY - Feb 27 - Mar. 1, 2009
Cincinnati, OH - Mar. 4 - 8, 2008

Now I just have to figure out which day we will want to go see it and go back online to buy them!  I was thinking Thursday night as that would be the least crowed, but I know Paul will be wanting to go to the township board meeting that night so that won’t work.  Maybe I can talk him into taking that Friday off and we can go that night?

If you know of anyone else (friend, family member, neighbor, blog buddy) that is planning on going to the circus, give them a heads up about this discount code or if you know if anyone who just had a baby within the past year (the newborn has to be 12 months or younger) or someone that is expecting, let them know about the FREE baby ticket!

I’m getting so excited to taking the kids!  I only went once growing up, but really don’t remember to much of it.  According to a survey on Mom Central, 88% of the moms said that this is a ”not to be missed” childhood experience!  Have you ever gone to the circus?  What do you remember from it?  Have you taken your little one to the circus yet?  If not, do you think you might someday?

Going to school

Coming Home

Overall… great 1st day!!

I can’t believe it’s been a year ago today that my Grandpa passed away due to cancer.  How much my life has changed in that year’s time. 

I just wish both him & my Grandma were still around so we could of went over to their house and Kevin could of told them about his first day of school and Paul could of told Grandpa about getting ready for Deer hunting since Grandpa always loved talking about that.    We love you & miss you Grandpa!

Even though we really didn’t have anything planned for the weekend the kids & I had a fun time.  Paul ended up working some Overtime on Saturday so the kids & I went in search of the perfect garage sale.  Needless to say we didn’t find it as we only found 4 books,  (Kevin’s buy for the day) but we still had a fun time.  We also stopped by my parents so Kevin could show off his new Superman lunch box!  Then after that we went in search of some more garage sales and found a couple, but they didn’t have any good treasures for us so we headed to Wedgewood Park in Grandville where the kids have fun playing on the playground and check out the creek so Momma could get some pictures.

Then on Sunday we went to church (which is always fun) and then headed over to my parents for a get together with a few family members as my Cousin who is in the milatary at Fort Hood (New York) was in town and that way we could see him. It felt great to see him again and found out it sounds like he will be getting deployed before Thanksgiving, but he isn’t 100% sure where yet. Either Afganastan or Iraq… either way we should be able to see him 1 more time before he leaves!

Katie with her favorite soldier!

All of us that were there. Next time hopefully we will be able to get everyone together! This was a last minute thing and most of the family members were out of town for the holiday weekend. (Yahoo for timers on cameras so everyone could be in it!)

Just the cousins

 

My cousin, sister & I went blueberry picking this past Wednesday.  That night, my cousin ended up emailing me a Blueberry Muffin recipe she had found one allrecipes.com and it did sound to die for.  So that next day I ended up making a batch and tested them out on Paul & the kids and needless to say the muffins didn’t stay in our house to long.  After my husband’s first muffin he flat out said he could eat all 6 of them!  Needless to say I can’t wait to go blueberry picking again this week so I can make some more!

Here is a picture of one of the muffins before they ate it…. 

Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup white sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1 egg
1/3 cup milk
1 cup fresh blueberries
1/2 cup white sugar
1/3 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 cup butter, cubed
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C). Grease muffin cups or line with muffin liners.
2. Combine 1 1/2 cups flour, 3/4 cup sugar, salt and baking powder. Place vegetable oil into a 1 cup measuring cup; add the egg and enough milk to fill the cup. Mix this with flour mixture. Fold in blueberries. Fill muffin cups right to the top, and sprinkle with crumb topping mixture.
3. To Make Crumb Topping: Mix together 1/2 cup sugar, 1/3 cup flour, 1/4 cup butter, and 1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon. Mix with fork, and sprinkle over muffins before baking.
4. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes in the preheated oven, or until done.

 ”Big blueberry flavor warrants big muffins, so fill the cups right up for oversized muffins that will please everyone. The cinnamon-sugar streusel is the crowning glory.”

The last few days have been quite emotional for me as Paul’s friends wife found out this week she has cancer in her lung, ventricle to her heart and also in her liver.  I guess they ended up doing emergency yesterday for the liver and will be doing surgery Tuesday for the Lung.  That’s pretty  much all I know, but I guess the outcome isn’t looking the best. 

It just scares me as she is my age (34) with a 2 & 4 year old just like me and our husbands work together.  I just keep putting myself in there shoes and I can’t help but bawl thinking what it would be like to not be able to see your kids grow up, graduate from school and get married. 

I’m just so thankful that we already have life insurance bought on Paul & I just in case something like that happened to us.  In case you don’t have life insurance yet, you never can be to young to get it as sicknesses and accidents can happen to anyone.  You really should pick up that phone and start getting some life insurance quotes. Don’t just go with the cheapest because they are the cheapest. Do your research and ask your friends and family where they go to and who they would recommend. That’s one insurance you don’t want to skip if you have a family.

If you do want to say a prayer for our friend Kelly and her family… I know it would be greatly appreciated.  Thank you!

If you’ve never seen Aloha Friday then here is the run down from Island Life….

In Hawaii, Aloha Friday is the day that we take it easy and look forward to the weekend. So I thought on Fridays I would take it easy on posting too. Therefore, I’ll ask a simple question for you to answer. Nothing that requires a lengthy response.

If you would like to participate, just post your own question on your blog and leave the link below. Don’t forget to visit the other participates! It’s a great way to make new bloggy friends!

Now on to my question of the week:

Since it’s Labor Day Weekend… do you have any special plans for the weekend?

We don’t have any plans as Paul works tonight, Sunday night & Monday. (not sure if days or nights) I guess it will be another laid back weekend for us.