Small Things Are Big Things

Linking up (late) with Life Rearranged’s InstaFriday. Post your cell phone photos and link up too!

We went and saw Harry Potter opening night. This has been a tradition with this guy and gal since the first movie… of course for the first movie none of us had kiddos and we went to the midnight show. Now there are sitters involved, but it works. (We missed you Riffs!!)

            

Every Sunday after church we head on down to Salt Creek (another tradition).

It’s even better if friends come!

Cy got his first haircut.

Goodbye Canadian Hockey player hello big boy.

Boo!

          

We go to Souplantation a lot! Then we play.

Sometimes superheros.

Sometimes in the sprinklers.

 That giant blue sphere is my baby. I’m huge.

That’s our clean laundry pile. It’s huge.

If you go to Sam’s Club and your pregnant you might walk out with a 6 lb tub of cherries and a 6 lb bag of gummy bears. Best snack ever!

Outdoor picnic and movie at our church. I think this would be the best Summer birthday party idea!!

Favors for my sis’s wedding next weekend. Aren’t lime green and black the best colors ever!!

We went to the OC Fair. It was great. You should go!

Who says you can’t make blocks more fun?? You’re the mom. Do what you want!!

I made 2 turnaround trips to LA’s garment district for Lid stuff.

7 hours in the car and traipsing the streets while the kiddos ask if the sleeping homeless people are dead.

Travel potty was used.

Awesome.

Can’t wait to share the new colors!!

The skeletons found the Littlest Pet Shop bin.

(Mondays I like to share something I got. We all like to share a good deal, splurge, unique find or fun activity. If you got something awesome (or lame) recently and blogged about it, be sure to leave me a link to the post in the comments!)

A few people have asked me how Cy was able to use a straw and not a sippy cup (I mentioned it in his health update post), so I thought I would share!

My neighbor, who I have also known since birth, was an occupational therapist for autistic kiddos. I told her how Eli and Cora Jane both had trouble learning to drink from straws. She suggested the Honey Bear Cup, then loaned me one!

Cy learned in one sitting.

It went something like this…

So I totally recommend it!

We love love love Pretend City. The kiddos love to explore all the aspects of the City and the place always has new exhibits for us to check out!!

   (The fire station, farm and restaurant!)

In June Pretend City opened the library and dentist office. In the library you can “check-out” books, read in a quiet nook and even learn how to fix book bindings.

         

Lots of books and stuff on the shelves so I put Cy in the stroller to prevent mass destruction…

The dentist office has a waiting area and a dentist chair and giant teeth to brush.

 

If you are looking for something F-U-N to do tomorrow (July 31st) here is a coupon for Pretend City’s latest awesomeness – PBS SoCal Day featuring (one of our favorites) Dinosaur Train. (Click on the coupon and print as many as you like!!)

PBS SoCal Day with Dinosaur Train

July 31, 2011 10-3pm
949.428.3900
29 Hubble, Irvine, CA, United States, 92618

I’ve had these lil’ babies up my sleeve for about a month.

Time to see what you think!

Here are 2 of our Lil’ Trucker Lids…

They fit 0-6 months and have a plastic snap closure.

I’m giving them both away!!

(Don’t have a newborn in the house right now? Enter to win to have ready for your next Knock-em’-dead shower giftie!)

How to win:

Just head on over to our Facebook page and leave a comment under the picture of the one you would like to win (“boy or girl”). I’ll pick one winner for the folks who chose boy and one for the folks who chose girl on Tuesday, August 2nd!

What kind of patches would you like to see on the Lil’ Trucker Lids???

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Don’t forget about our BIG Facebook Birthday giveaway! Check this post for details about winning one of 4 Lids we are giving away!

Yesterday was my birthday!

I’m 31 and I have to say I’m totally OK with it.

REALLY!! 

I feel like the best is yet to come and now is pretty rad in itself.

To celebrate the big three-one, I thought I would do a fun Facebook giveaway this week…. (Got this idea from Sweet Lily Tutus, check her out!)

Starting now if you suggest our Facebook page to your friends in your Facebook status linking to our page, you’ll have the chance to win 1 Lid. I’m going to pick a minimum of 4 winners!!! (I’m 31 and 3+1=4… I know it’s a stretch but it’s my blog and I like it!)

In case you don’t know how to link up to pages in a status, this is what you do…

…Start typing your message and when you are ready to put in the link, type the “@” symbol followed with Eli’s Lids (pictured below)

…a dropdown menu will come up before you even finish our company name, just click on Eli’s Lids. Yay!!

After you link up to us in a status, head on back to our Facebook page and leave a comment on the “special giveaway status” (pictured below) to be entered to win!

One entry per person.

You only have till Monday August 1st to enter!!

Something else fun coming tomorrow too… think a mini one of these.

Now get back to the beach…

(Cy pictured in the Surfer tee – Its size 3-6 months but should really be labeled 6-12 month!! I adore this tee!)

I love to read.

Love love LOVE to read.

Hot Hubby… not so much.

So I vowed to make my kiddos lovers of books so someday I can have some reading buddies.

After my kiddos learned all their letter sounds I thought reading was the next step. I.e. “OK you know the D, O & G sounds so read this word…DOG.” Apparently it doesn’t work like that. Because if it did they would be reading before 2 when they learned their letter sounds. Here are some great resources I have come across to get to that next level.

Leapfrog’s Letter Factory and Word Factory

Both Eli and Cora Jane learned all their letter sounds before they were 2 with Letter Factory. Just for the record, I’m not delusional about their level of intelligence. ANY kiddo will learn their letters from this show. And the songs are guaranteed to be stuck in your head for days.

StarFall

One of my friends recommended StarFall. LOVE it!! They have a fun computer activity for each letter of the alphabet (which taught Eli the difference between lower case and uppercase letters) as well as beginning reading lessons. There is a $.99 iPhone app for the letter activities!

Start to Read!

We were given the Level 1 series of 5 books, a comprehension book and a read-along CD. So much fun!! I played the CD during errands one day and Eli has had the books memorized since then. I wasn’t sure if memorizing the books would be beneficial but it has really helped with sight words. The books use repetition, rhyming and have fun pictures so Eli loves them.

They also have all sorts of workbooks, games and they even have apps for your iPhone (search School Zone Publishing).

     

       

Free Reading

I saw a random tweet one day for Free Reading and it is such a great site. They have loads of activities and lesson plans! Here is a whole lesson plan for the short “a” sound!! Here is a whole free reading program broken down by week. It is extensive so spend some time clicking around before you start. I haven’t done it yet so if you do it you HAVE to let me know how it goes!

 

Now that I have shared all the fun stuff I’ve found, let me know what you’ve got!

Happy Monday!!

Saturday morning before the chocolate chip waffles…

More wordless Wednesday check out 5 Minutes for Mom and Angry Julie.

I haven’t linked up to Life Rearranged’s InstaFriday in 3 weeks! So I am today with all my faves from the weeks… (it’s my blog, I’ll do what I want to)

A little camo makes an awesome family night/4th of July activity! Isn’t being a mom RAD!! (See the full story here!) 

          

We went to see one of our favorite bands, OC Supertones at FishFest. They are Eli’s favorite band. Isn’t is so much fun when your kiddos like the same kind of music you do?? While we were waiting for the OC Supertones to start we discovered another great singer, John Mark McMillan. He has a song called Skeleton Bones which was a HUGE hit with Eli! (we love pirates!) I can’t get enough of his sound either. The kiddos ask to hear the song everyday and it’s just precious to hear them singing the lyrics! AND it’s long – just the right length for picking up toys. aka – “How many toys can you pick up before this song is over?” Don’t you love it too…??

Siblings pushing each others’ buttons.

We went to Pirate Dinner Adventure. The Christmas Eve headband  I made for Cora Jane went great with our pirate ensembles. (see how to make them on this OC Family TV) Which she promptly broke on the way home. Totally recommend the dinner if you have a pirate obsessed child. (They have a deal for my readers – $20 for the matinee on the 21st… that’s over half off!! See details on the Eli’s Lids Facebook wall.)

        

We so the beach every Sunday after church. Cora Jane fell asleep in the midst of playing in the sand and Cy couldn’t stop eating sand.

Join us!

Cy got these awesome shoes in the mail from some of our closest friends for his birthday. I can’t wait till he can rock them!

A full update on Cy here. A few people have asked what the final diagnosis was, and the answer is – nothing!

YAY!!

We still have an appointment with the infectious disease doctor but I think it will be a-OK!

We went on a super fun Sunset Hike with Inside the Outdoors. If you are in the OC join us for the next one!!

        

We had a Breakfast Beach Birthday for Cy and it went off without a hitch.  I can’t wait to share all the details with you!

    

Weekday evenings have been filled with twilight rides.

One of our first Easters I got Hot Hubby a big picnic basket as his Easter basket. He said we would never use it. So I promptly scheduled a couple of picnics a week. REALLY! If you have a rad picnic basket you’ll use it! (Dinner doesn’t have to be fancy… we had left over pizza, salad, veggies and a sleeve of Oreos!)
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Follow me on Instagram so I can follow you!! @elislids

Have a great weekend!!