summer of swag!

I know I have shared about swagbucks before but I am goign to urge all of you to really look into it. It is awesome! I have earned $100 in amazon gift cards in less than 6 months! How did I do this you ask?
well I signed up free of charge to a wonderful website called swagbucks.com and use theri search engine to go to my everyday sites that I visit frequently and also for anything I want to search. So my facebook, gmail, farmville, aol, blogger, etc. addiction has earned me swagbucks with winning on random searches. They also randomly offer codes that you search for and you can grab those to make your swagbucks jump even higher! As your sb (swagbucks) add up you can shop in the swagstore to redeem for great prizes, $5 amazon gift cards is my prize of choice. I really wanted a Kindle but it is just not attainable in our budget but swagbucks has made me almost enough to get one!

On Monday they are kicking off the Summer of Swag! They are going to have a five code day of extravaganza! What a fun way to make your sb jump super fast! Also they are going to offer a new high end bill ever day next week. Every 7th person will win that big bill so your chancves of winning big are increased!

Once you have an account you will love it so much you will get others to sign up using your referral code and you can earn from their searches as well. And because they are so very kind and want more people to sign up for swagbucks they have offered a code to new members through June 11. Just give the code SUMMEROFSWAG (case sensitive) when you sign up and you will get an extra 20sb!

Just click on the link and get started today! So many of my friends who have signed up wish they would have done it a lot sooner. We spend time on the internet anyways we might as well be earning something while we do it!

http://www.swagbucks.com/refer/sampooh

All smiles

Hadley looks like this 99% of the time. She is such a happy happy girl. I wouldnt say baby because she is growing up so fast. She is very close to walking and if she would just drop her fear she would be good to go! She walks along anything in reach and can now go from one thing to the next. She loves her daddy. Her eyes just light up when he walks in the door. She still only says dada and hi! Although she can sign dog and eat.

Her eyes light up when she smiles and her giggle is infectious! She loves food and could drink water/juice all day long. She has learned to scream and she lets you know if she isnt happy. She is leary around strangers but loves her cousins and close family. She is so much fun and I look forward to all the fun times to come!

A says ah, b says buh

This is what our world revolves around. Ellie is obsessed with the alphbet and the sounds they make. She now knows all her uppercase letters and most of the lower (she sometimes gets caught up on few but other times remembers them) and she knows all the sounds each letter makes. You can give her a random letter and she can tell you what it sounds like and some words that start with that letter.

Our new task is to start on the sight word list. I plan on making go fish/memory card games with the sight words to make it fun. I have always said I want her to know how to read before going to kindergarten and I really see that happening. She loves books and is so smart that I think she will pick it up very quickly! It is amazing how fast she learns. I am hoping her love of books continues throughout her life. I love reading and find such joy in a good book.

Happy 3rd Birthday to Charlotte Jo

Last week May 18 was my niece Charlotte Jo's Birthday. She was born sleeping and we miss her dearly. We go out every year on her birthday to visit her grave and take pictures. I dont understand why God took her all too soon, but I sure wish she was here playing with Ellie and Jayce.

Happy 3rd birthday Charlotte! We love you and miss you!

Pretty girls

My beautiful Goddaughter Scarlett Stevie Schaffer. We had her baptism on sat. night and it was so much fun. It is always such a blessing to see these tiny babies getting their very first sacrament and joining our church. And it is even more fun getting to be her Godmother.

Since I had the girls all dressed up I decided to take advantage and get some pics. Like usually Ellie broke out her smile. I cannot wait until she gets over this. I hate it. she has the most beautiful blue eyes and she squints so you cant even see them. We are going to a wedding in a few weeks so we will try again :) Since Jess was at his game he wasnt there but we took some photos of all us pretty ladies anyway. Ellie and that stinkin smile. she is lucky shes cute :)

I squatted down so ellie thought she needed to also. Turned out it was the best pic!

Rain Rain Go Away

It has been raining in good old Iowa and the wind has been blowing! We are all feeling it. We were stuck inside all winter long with 7,000 ft of snow on the ground and now it has been raining so bad that I feel like we could open up a pool in our backyard.
But with rainy days comes time to get stuff done inside. Although my house could use a good spring cleaning I have been scanning pictures. My scanner program is acting up so it si taking a lot longer than I planned and I have gotten frustrated and anxious so many times. It has however made me aware of how very thankful I am to have a digital camera! Not only that but to have one the entire lives of my kiddos. Now to make sure I tackle that humongus picture file so when Ellie is a senior I know exactly where they all are :)

Today is a hard day for me. Five years ago today I lost my first baby. It hurts as much today as it did five years ago.
But God is good and I am blessed. Although I do not understand why it happened I have come to terms with it but it does not make the pain go away.
But I am forever greatful for her

and her.
They are my life and they are definately worth all the rough days.