Blogger Opportunity with Organized Chaos!

Shana at Organized Chaos is looking for some bloggers to help her out with her giveaway in July! 

I’m planning a giveaway for the month of July! Yay! I will be giving away goods straight from South Africa and I would LOVE everyone’s participation! These are items that are truly unique to this country and I’m excited to share this with someone! The full prize pack will be dependant upon the number of bloggers who join up! Items will include: a two set coffee mugs featuring a big five animal as well as choice brand coffee ($27 value), exclusive handmade African jewellery ($30) and a handmade South African handbag ($30). More items will be added if entries are enough! I think this is going to be an AMAZING giveaway so please spread the word! #SABloggerOpp

Get a free twitter link in the giveaway with this Announcement Post!

Just send a link to @ShanaMom2

Jack Rogers? Not exactly.

Have you heard of Jack Rogers?

If you like preppy clothes or you're on Instagram at all, you've seen them. Even if you don't know the company, you've seen them. 

Coming in at a whopping $110 a pair, they are a little pricey for some of us normal people. 

But of course, I love them. 

So imagine my surprise when I was at our local mall and stumbled across these dupes.

Pretty damn near identical.

The strap is a bit differant but I don't think you'd be able to tell.

What do you think?

Would you be fooled?

Summer Reading List

Our school's summer reading list is pretty awesome.

Every Day by David Levithan

Wonder by RJ Palacio

The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd

Born on a Blue Day by Daniel Tammet

The Fault in Our Stars by John Green

Divergent by Veronica Roth

Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe

I am Malala: The Girl Who Stood Up for Education and Was Shot by the Taliban by Malala Yousafzai

So I obviously put them all (that I don't own) on hold at the library but what other books do you recommend I read this summer?

The New England Aquarium

One of the perks of being a Massachusetts teacher? Discounted admission at many of our amazing museums and historical places.

The New England Aquarium even lets teachers in for FREE!

It's usually $25 for a base ticket so that's a HUGE savings!

The husband menioned he wanted to bring the princess so we figured we'd save even more money and borrowed the museum pass from our local library to cover him.

Between me being free for being a teacher, and Emmalee being free because she is under 3, we ended up only paying the $10 discounted admission through our local library's pass! It would have been $50 for us to go if we hadn't had those discounts!

We love the aquarium and this post is just going to be my photo dump from the day!

Three Years Old : An Interview

Three. Three years old. Are you kidding me?

It's amazing how fast little babies grow up into independent assertive little girls.

I can't believe my little girl is three today so last night I obviously sat in her room pouring over her baby book, loking at every memory for when she was tiny.

And then I realized I stopped updating that book pretty much this time last year, right after 2nd birthday.

So obviously I'm full of mom guilt (I should prob start Tyler's book...)

but I just don't have the time (or the set up) to do a book right now so I am jumping on the idea of the birthday interview.  I'll do a page each year with these questions and see how her answers change each year!

What's your name?

Emmalee "Difford"

How old are you?

"Free"

What's your favorite thing to do?

Have a birthday party

What do you want to be when you grow up?

Three

What is your favorite food?

Celery and tea

Who do you like to spend time with?

 Mia, Miss Karen, Miss Liana, Miss Jill, Daddy, Mommy and Baby Ty-lah

What can you do really well?

jumping ropes and flips

What makes you laugh?

a silly puppet and Ty-lah makin faces

Whats the best time of the day?

marshmallow time

What are you afraid of?

the boogey man

Who is your best friend?

Elsa (from Frozen)

What do you like to do with your family?

play outside on my "flayground"

What do you like to learn about?

presents

What is your favorite book?

Little Einsteins and the witch

If you had one wish what would it be?

to be Sophia (from Disney Jr.)

Some of these make me laugh and I'm so excited to see her grow into the amazing girl that she is. <3

I love you a million red m&m's.

This Summer

Did you know this summer started 6 weeks early for me?

The school I teach out lets out June 18th but delivering Tyler on May 6th meant I was done working as of May 5th! I feel like I NEED to take advantage of the extra time.

Last summer we made a "Places We Want To Go" Bucket List and we actually went to all but 2 of the places!

This year, we're going more generic and just planning things we want to do. 

We do a lot of the "go out for ice cream" and "go to the beach" so this might get us to go do something else!

What's on your summer "must do" list?

Yoplait Greek Yogurt #Tasteoff

Want to know a fun fact?
I have texture issues when it comes to food.
I won't eat certain things becuase of the way they feel.
This includes some jello, certain yogurts, even soups!
I have to dump the liquid out of sour cream (or shake it so I don't even see it....).
I don't like mac n cheese or coffee either if you want confirmation that I'm weird...

Anyways, I was hesitant to try the Yoplait Tasteoff because I tried greek yogurt once and I did not like it, but I went in with an open mind and figured a bite or two wouldn't hurt.

Klout sent me a #Tasteoff kit and I sent my husband to the store to pick up Yopailt and Chobani Blueberry Greek Yogurt.  We peeled off the covers and popped them in the holder.

I hesitantly took a bite of one and instantly tasted that sour taste I associated with greek yogurt the first time I tried it. Boo.

I tried the other. 

And then had another bite.  It was light, creamy and not sour!

So I picked it up and snapped a picture:

I was thrilled!
The Yoplait Greek was delicious! I ended up eating the rest of the container!
And at 100 calories, I didn't feel guilty.
Now if I could just find more in the store...

Have you tried Yoplait Greek 100? Did you have blueberry or strawberry? I can't wait to try more flavors!

Disclaimer: I was offered this product complimentary from Klout.

Happy 1 Month Little Man!

Look whose been with us for a full month already!?

Growth:

Our little man is a weed, always growing! He's already 10 lbs 10 oz! he was 8 lbs 6 oz at birth so that's an awesome gain! Additionally he grew 2 1/2" and is now 22 1/2 inches long!
The doctor was super impressed when he found out he was breastfed and growing so well!

Looks:

He looks like David at times and Emmalee at times.  He has my lips but he's mostly daddy. He's got the same ears and eyes as Emmalee, which were both inherited from their father.

Firsts and Milestones:

No specific milestones or firsts yet, but he has been working on holding up his head and on Tuesday (exactly 4 weeks old), while doing tummy time he flipped onto his back.  Today at the doctor he did it again.  But that's a 3 day gap between.. he can't really being rolling already... he's only a month old... 

Sleep:

One word: Champ.
We have had three not so wonderful nights since he was born, but most nights he goes down around 7 pm and will sleep until about 2 am.  Sometimes he wakes up around 11 for a quick feed but that's rare.  After the 2 am feeding (which is usually 45 minutes!) he goes back to bed until about 7 am. He fights sleep during the day, he likes to be sitting up and seeing everything. Most of his day time sleeping is only 20-30 minutes at a time, unless he's in his swing or we're driving. 

Food:

Entirely breast fed still. He is great at nursing and I'm hoping we can go a full year like I did with the princess. He had his first bottle on Wednesday. Em and I ran out for some errands and Dave gave him 2 oz in a bottle. Unlike his big sister, Tyler had no problem taking it!

Language:

He just cries and grunts.  Lifting his head requires a grunt. Kicking his legs around requires grunting. A diaper change or need for food warrants crying. Gas pain crying is the worst.

His favorites:

He loves his swing! You could leave him in it all day if you wanted. And the sun. He loves being outside and if he's i his swing he turns his face to be in the sunlight.
Otherwise, he pretty much just likes sleeping and eating.

My favorites:

I am loving the late night nursing session. I'm sure I won't eventually (like when I go back to work) but right now, I love the quiet moments just watching what I made and seeing him grow from what I'm producing.  It's pretty magical and I missed a lot of it with Emmalee, being stressed about whether or not I was "doing it right".

Gifts for the Birthday Girl

Emma's birthday is next week and we thought long and hard about what to get her for a present. 

That's a lie.  We knew exactly what we wanted to get her but I had to convince myself not to buy all the other gifts too!

We decided to buy her... (drum roll please)...

A swing set!

We had a big wooden one at the house we used to rent and Emma has missed it big time since moving here!

We didn't want to get a huge swing set and this seems like the perfect size for our yard and for her. 

So the real question is what didn't make the cut for birthday gifts?

Honestly, any of these would be perfect for a three year old girl.

Trampoline / Frozen Dress Up Set / Leap Frog Digital Download Card 

Minnie Mouse Shopping Cart / Bubble Machine / Princess Play Tent / Flower Sprinkler

Think I made the right choice?