Are you a parent? If so, bookmark this site!

Since we are getting ready to move, I headed over to one of my favorite sites Family WatchDog to update my address. I want all parents, caregivers, etc., to know about this site. You can have free alerts sent to you via email or text message whenever a new sex offender moves into your neighborhood. Thankfully, my new home only has 7 offenders that work or live within a 5 mile radius (pretty much what my old address was too - we are only moving 2 miles). The site allows you to map where the offenders live and see pictures of them, along with their conviction information.

I believe as a parent you can never be too prepared for protecting your child and this is just one more step that you can take in the right direction.

Information taken from the website:

1 of 5 girls and 1 of 6 boys will be molested before their 18th birthday.

1 of 5 children has been sexually propositioned on the Internet.

Up to 70% of sex offenders released from prison will offend again.

'09 Family Vacation

Adventure Land / Kokomo Kove 2009!

Eddie & I decided that we want to take our family on some sort of vacation each year & as this year was filled with big events like the wedding & the house - we decided to just take a weekend vacation to Iowa. We had never been to Adventure Land and it seemed like a great place to take a 3 year old (kids 3 & under get it free!) Pictured above is Kokomo Kove, their new water park. Reece LOVED this part of the park, his favorite things were the green slides (the ones on the left of the picture.) He went down the slides a million times!

This was one of the "family" rides that they had, where all of us were able to go together. Reece was having a lot of fun by this time!

One of Reece's favorite rides was the bumper cars. He & Eddie rode together and chased me all over the rink. Reece laughed & laughed when they finally would bump into me!

My two favorite men!! Complete with Reece's new haircut (that he gave himself).

My grandparents live about 15 minutes away from Adventureland, so we spent the weekend with them. It was great to be able to spend some time with them and for Reece to get to do fun things with them like tractor rides with papa and picking peas with grandma.

Newest favorites....

Lulla-Bear

I first heard of this product while browsing through "mommy" blogs. I then entered a contest on Susan Heim on Parenting and actually won =) We received this bear a few weeks ago and my son is in LOVE! The bears official name is "Brownie" but has been given the name "Lola" at my house. Lola gets played with during the day and taken to bed at night where she sings great songs to my son. There are three different "buttons" on one foot that play "slow" night songs, "upbeat" daytime songs, and nature sounds. Unfortunately, my son always picks the daytime faster ones to fall asleep too, but hey it still works! You can also adjust the volume (on the other foot) AND there is a usb port in the back (enclosed in the bear) where you can hook it up to your computer and add music/stories of you own. It's a little expensive for a "teddy bear" but not for a mp3 player at $49.95. It's a super unique gift for a baby shower or 1st birthday party though - I'd recommend it!

Shark Steam Mop

This baby was number one on my wedding list & I am sooo diggin' it! It heats up fast (around 30 seconds) and only uses distilled water to clean (=NO chemicals!) I've used it several times since getting it and it works wonders - it cleans up any sticky mess and takes up little space in the closet. It's really light weight and easy to push around. It comes with two washable mats & a piece that you can put on the bottom to steam clean your carpets. The only downer? You have to use distilled water or it gets clogged up =( and the steam is VERY VERY HOT! (which you would think is a good thing until you burn your bare foot!) You can order these mops of TV (for around $100) or local stores (for around $80).

UV Skinz

I won this UV Skinz long sleeve shirt through a blog contest as well and have been using it all summer. I was allowed to pick the color & style, so I picked the Jesse for my son because it matched his swim trucks and because it was long sleeved (they have short sleeved too). At first I was nervous that my son would get too hot while swimming, but it's actually quite the contrary - the shirt seems to keep him cooler - crazy! I love that I don't have to worry about the sun beating down on his skin (I'm one of those 70 spf mommies - even though my son has darker skin). The shirt has been a topic of conversation at the pool and I wanted to spread the news even more -- please remember sun safety this summer!!

Thanks for the couch!

If you gave us money for our wedding, your thank you probably mentioned a new couch that was purchased with the dough - well here it is folks...our first "big" purchase as a married couple (the house isn't final yet - so it doesn't count!)

We purchased the couch, a matching chair, & ottoman (that has a lid that lifts up for storage) at Mrs. B's which is a factory outlet type store ran by Nebraska Furniture Mart. We ended up buying some different throw pillows out of a clearance bin that were a brighter color (the ones that come with it are too dark - see photo). We got a great deal on them - $10 even though they were on clearance for $40 (the salesman quoted us the wrong price & ended up honoring it.) We won't tell you want we paid for the couch, chair, & ottoman - but we got a good deal =)

So thank you again to all of you that gave us our new living room set!

Our home search adventure...

So as some of you know - Eddie and I have been looking since last October for a house (yes, 8 months!)  After looking at almost 100 houses and making 2 offers, we have a signed contract on a house and close July 31st!  We are SO happy to have finally found the one.  So here's the details on our future love nest!

Updated ranch that features approximately 2,155 square feet, 4 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, & 1 car garage. Oak kitchen cabinets, center island, pantry, extended family room with fire place. Refinished wood floors, bed room & living room ceiling fans. Basement with new carpet, tile, non-conforming master bedroom with master suite featuring whirlpool tub, separate shower, and dual sinks. Patio, fence, shed, mature trees in back yard.

The front of the house...

-there is a gorgeous old tree that will offer wonderful shade

-a little landscaping has been done...but plenty of area for us to plant some flowers!

-we're going to do something different with the brick in the front, not our style!

-you can see our nice one car garage, with some added parking

-i don't think you can tell from the picture but it has a PURPLE front door - love it!!