Blogging for Books

About a week ago I read about Blogging for Books on centralpiedmontmommies.com from a fellow mom. Basically you sign up on their site and once you are approved you have a list of books to choose from. There is a ton of books to choose from based on your preferences you set up when you sign onto the website.

Once you choose your book it will take up to 10 days to be shipped to you. Blogging for Books pays for the book and for shipping. Once the book arrives at your home you read the book and within 30 days you post a review on your blog about the book. The review can be good or bad they don't care. They just want your honest opinion about the book. The best thing about this program is the books you receive are yours to keep. That's right you get a free book for just posting a book review on your blog. There is more to the program which you can read about on Blogging for Books.

I am so excited to say my first book arrived today. So keep an eye on my blog for my first book review to appear.

Stamp me Stupid

Oh man I feel like going and stamping stupid across my forehead today. I was super excited about bowling in the FoxFire Lanes Christmas Bowling Tournament today. Well I get up there about twenty minutes early just so I could see the top qualifiers bowl. That way I could see how good they are.

1:15pm rows around and I wonder when we are going to warm up for the second round. I thought it was set up where the top scores from each week bowled first to see who went to the final round and got to skip the second round. I believed the second round was for the top qualifiers and all the other people who signed up for the tournament. WRONG! They only had the top 5 bowling today for the tournament. So basically I went up to the bowling alley today to watch complete strangers bowl for 20 minutes. Yes I felt a little stupid. Oh well I needed to get out of the apartment for some fresh air.

I am sure this won't be the last stupid thing I do and definitely isn't the first stupid thing I have done. Oh and only 6 days left til the Harlands get into town. Excitement is building, I can't wait to get to hang out with my BFF and Scott.

Crafty Saturday

Virginia is still not feeling great today and now she has a terrible cough. Luckily we still have her Nebulizer and the breathing treatments seem to make her feel better.  So we are chilling out at home again today watching cartoons and coloring.

After looking at the box full of half broken crayons that Virginia has collected. A light bulb went off in my head and decided to finally try the recycled crayon project. I found a website with directions and it was very simple. After reading over the directions and the website suggested using plastic candy molds. It dawned on me that I could finally use those candy molds that Reiggin's mom gave to us a long time ago and the ones I discovered in the trunk of my car. So I dug them out and got the crayons together.

First step you have to peel off all the paper from the broken crayons. This step was the most annoying. I don't have fingernails so it was a little tricky peeling the paper off. Once the paper is off you put the pieces in your candy mold til it is full.

Next step you put the pieces in a old cup that is microwave safe. Then microwave for about 3 to 5 minutes til they are all melted. Next pour the mixture into the molds and let cool. Then pop them out of the molds. I was not patient and put the molds in the freezer. The website suggested using red and green together. I did this my first time, but made the mistake of mixing them after I took the cup out of the microwave. This was a mistake since when you mix red and green together you get brown. You would think an art major would know this. So I ended up with a brown Christmas tree crayon. Which Virginia thought was candy and almost tried eating it.

I decided to give it a second go around and used green only. I did have two shades of green a light and dark green. I repeated my steps and I had much better results with the green only. Now I want to try all my other Christmas molds. I may be buying Virginia new crayons. This project was super fun and Virginia loves her new crayons.

Calling Nurse Kathy....

No worries folks I am not becoming a real nurse. But we do have a sick patient in the Hilderbrand house. Virginia has come down with a nasty cold today. She has the runny nose, cough, and watery eyes. She is not a happy camper at all. So it is Nurse Kathy to the rescue. I will be serving up a good dose of Nick Jr., hugs/kisses, and lots of reading books. Things Virginia loves the most. I am crossing my fingers that she is over this cold by Christmas. We both want to see both families and to be able to play with cousin Samantha. So cross you fingers and send us some get well vibes.

All I want for Christmas is.....

All I want for Christmas is my two front teeth, no no that's not it. All I want for Christmas Santa is my BFF to be in town. Guess what I must be on the good list because my BFF is flying into town on Christmas day.   Maybe not on Santa's sleigh, but at least she is making it into town. I will be able to catch up on some good  chick flicks and maybe squeeze in a little bowling time with my BFF. Because I really need to bowl with her so Scott can capture a new video of her awesome bowling approach.

Just 9 more days til Santa comes flying into town. I hope everyone is ready and has all their shopping done. I know we still have a few more gifts to get and then to wrap all the presents. I am hoping to convince my husband to do the wrapping. My wrapping jobs look like Virginia did the wrapping.

I love Christmas so much. Especially this year because on my mommies website CPM, we have been doing a secret santa event. So each week my secret santa has left a small bag of goodies or some sort of surprise on my door knob. It is the best feeling to come home and see a mystery bag on my door knob. Also the first time I made my drop off was such a rush. Running up the drive to put the bag down. Then making a mad dash back to the car praying no one say me.  We have our big reveal party Saturday and I really have no idea who my Secret Santa is. But I am looking forward to all the good food.

With Christmas comes the skill of keeping secrets. Not telling people what you got them for Christmas or not telling your family what other family members have gotten them. I have always failed at this year after year. It has become a big joke in the Ford family that if you want your secret told just go tell Kathy. So my Mom decides to torture me this morning by telling me that my sister Lisa got Virginia and Samantha the same thing for Christmas. All she said was it was something from the Ford Heritage. She knows I have to know and that this is going to drive me nuts. Unfortunately my Mom has better secret keeping skills then I do.

Well I am off to enjoy a cup of Cold Stone creamy Hot Chocolate right here on my couch while watching Toot and Puddles with Virginia. And bran storming what my sister Lisa could have possibly gotten Virginia and Samantha for Christmas.

Romp n Roll

Tuesday morning came and 19 degree weather and wind wasn't going to keep us from going to see our favorite buddies Faby and Mia at Romp n Roll. So we bundled up and ran for the car. It had been awhile since we had been to Romp n Roll. Last time we went it was at one of their night open gym hours. There was also a birthday party going on at the same time. So needless to say it was packed wall to wall with kids and parents.

This time was different. We got there at 9:15am and there was only about 5 or so kids and their parents or guardians. It was so much more peaceful and all the kids were really close in age so it was great watching them play together. The last time we were here Virginia was very shy about running and playing on all the mats and slides. But this time she made a bee line and just ran from object to object. Until she eyed the basket of balls. This girl loves to play with her bouncy balls. The best thing was they also had a basketball hoop that you could move down to a toddlers level. Virginia and Mia loved it. I do believe we have two basketball stars on our hands. 

It is so funny to watch kids Virginia's age and older. I do believe around this age you start to see kids personalities coming out. Also of course kids this age are testing their boundaries and learning the idea of sharing or not sharing. I did have to laugh a little has I see this 4 year old girl rounding up all the balls and hiding them in this tower puppet area so she had all the balls and no one else had any. I saw Virginia go in after a ball and then the girl pushing her out and telling her no that they were her balls. Virginia could care less and moved on to something else. This did make me mad because no parent wants their child pushed around or bullied. Faby came to the rescue and asked the girl for one ball and explained that we have to share the toys. When out at play groups and places like this. These situations always make me think about how much should you discipline another person's child? 

In the end all the kids had a blast. Mia and Virginia had fun playing together like always. And the best part of all is Virginia took a nice 2 hour nap when she got home. Ahhh got to love Romp n Roll. Giving Mommies and Daddies across the world some peaceful time by wearing their children out with some good old hard playing time.

Santa Claus is Coming to Town!

Today Virginia and I went to the CPM Holiday Breakfast at IHOP in Concord. The breakfast was oh so yummy and to top it off Santa came to see the kids and pass out candy canes. This santa was awesome. I was a little worried about how Virginia was going to react. This was her first time seeing Santa Claus. She loved him and wouldn't take her eyes off him. He even sat down beside her in the booth and let me take pictures. She just stayed wide eye the whole time he was in the room and when he left. She was so upset and wanted to go after him. He came around to the side of the building where there are windows and knocked on the windows to say bye to the kids. He had reindeer antlers on his car someone said. It was super great getting together with everyone and for Virginia to get to meet Santa for the first time.