A glimpse into my crafty side

As those of you who have been to our house know, we have a playroom- both Ethan and his Mommy's playroom.  Ethan plays with his toys while I play with my crafts!  Here's one of my most recent projects:

My sister got engaged and is getting married in Mexico, and for her wedding shower gift, I made her a scrapbook to chronicle their precious engagement memories.  All she has to do is fill in the blanks with her favorite photos.

I made the book from scratch, in the shape of a heart of course.

The proposal!

 The Vegas bachelorette parties.

 Wedding planning in Mexico.

And finally, the bridal shower.

 Shout out to my crafting buddy Joanne who inspires me with her guerrilla scrapbooking!

"Mommy's Super Hero" Practices Walking

Here's a video of our little man pushing his way across the living room.  

He's been going back and forth and back again!

(note: if subscribed to our blog via email, feed, or Facebook, go to our blog www.LivinginGear.blogspot.com to watch the video :)

Wiped out by fun family weekend!

"Grace, sorry I shoplifted your toy from our playdate. Mommy didn't see it in my hand when we left. you can tak one of my toys next time so we're even?"

Ethan Waves "Hi!"

Today was the first time Ethan ever waved.  And now he won't stop!  

Every toy, piece of furniture, and person in the house has been waved to!

Daddy vs Ethan Tickle Show Down

"Did Daddy say he wants a piece of this?"

"Well, that's hilarious!  Bring it on!"

The showdown begins!

A confident Ethan broke free...

until...

Daddy unleashed his high school wrestling moves!

"giggle... C'mon Mommy! .... giggle....."

"giggle! giggle! giggle!"

"hee-hee! this is fun!"

After the bell rang, he took a breather, plotted his next move...

and dove in for more!

This Mommy thinks she'll be seeing many more matches in her living room as the years continue!

Frugal Find!

I know I have a bit of a reputation for being a sometimes extreme bargain hunter.  Well I wanted to share one of my favorite finds with you because I've been kicking myself for not using it earlier!  The cash back program, Ebates!  You get 1-25% cash back on purchases you make online, for doing ... nothing!

Here's how it works... when you click on an ad on Google or another site to buy that dish set at Macy's or the lawn mower at Lowes, those stores give Google a kick back of about 5-7% of your purchase.  You don't pay any more because you found them through that ad, but Google gets paid for referring you.  Ebates works the same way, referring you to the site by clicking through their page first, but they give you a cut of the kick back.  So when you do online shopping, you first go to Ebates, then click on the store that you want to buy from.  I have found EVERY online store, including eBay, on there except for Amazon.

I didn't share about this until I actually got the money.  And so far I've received two checks (that cashed) for a total of $28.26.  So now that I know it's legit, I wanted to tell you about it.

You are allowed to use all the promo codes and coupons you usually do, and still get the cash back or points from your credit card if you do that already.

I'm only mad that I didn't know about this before when we didn't have a car and every purchase I made for about 5 years was online.  Grrrrrr!

Click here to join and get $5 free from Ebates as a new member.

Earning his keep!

The Impossibly Cute Award check for $1,000 came! Thank you for all of your votes!! (sidenote: it's very hard to take a photo of a 10 month old while getting him to a. sit still and b. not tear or eat a $1,000 piece of paper!)

Pink eye on Mother's Day?

We still had the most special day- thanks to the best hubby in the world and a kid who doesn't let anything get him down!

you assumed it was just another my kid is cute pic...

but instead it's my first iPad sighting on the Metro! (behind the cute kid on the left)