A Treat for You from Treat.com

Today and tomorrow treat.com is offering a free greeting card. They are different from other card companies because you can pick out just one card, personalize it and they can even mail it for you! You can even add photos. 

 The Holidays are busy enough. Go to treat.com and create and send a totally personalized greeting card from Treat for FREE. Whether saying thanks for Thanksgiving, wishing a best friend a holiday birthday, or simply sharing the holiday cheer with a just because card, Treat lets you create a one-of-a-kind card that is sure to impress. 

I really liked the Thanksgiving cards. Being away from family is always tough this time of year, but think about the smiles these cards would bring.

Just go to treat.com and enter TREATBLOGR Monday Nov. 19 or Tuesday Nov. 20 for a free card.

It's that time of year again!

Can you believe it is already time to start making Christmas Cards? Where has the time gone?

This year, Tiny Prints is offering some amazing new  Christmas Cards . There are so many options! I used to think the hard part was finding the picture to use, but now there are so many choices on styles, colors, number of pictures, and layouts. I like to get the folded cards because I think it's important for everyone to sign the cards, and the kids need lots of room to do that.

One of my favorite options from Tiny prints is that I can customize layouts and add lots of pictures. I always have a hard time narrowing down what pictures to use. There are always so many great ones of the kids. Now I can pick as many as I want and use them all! You can even put some inside the card and on the back!

Make sure to check out some of the special offers they are offering.

Here are my two top picks for folded cards:

I also am interested in these circle cards! I think this would be an easy way to display all the holiday cards you get.

I guess you will all just have to wait a few more weeks to find out which one I choose. Whichever one it is, I know that Tiny Prints will do an amazing job printing them out for me!

This post has been sponsored by Tiny Prints.

Yosemite Day 2

Since my Mom was with us, Kyle and I decided to go on a hike by ourselves. So Nana and the kids stayed back at the cabin and spent the day picking up garbage (for their Jr. Ranger badges) and playing in the pool.

Kyle and I headed into Yosemite nice and early so we could catch our tour bus up to Glacier Point. I am really glad we were riding in a bus and not driving up the road ourselves. We both thought the tour would be boring, but it turned out to be very informative. After driving an hour and a half, we finally arrived at our ultimate goal, Glacier Point. We took the tour to get up to the top of the trail. We left our car parked at the bottom. There were 50 people on the tour and half of them did the same thing.

We picked out the Panorama Trail to do. It is 8.5 miles, mostly downhill. But don't let that fool you. It was relatively easy until the last few miles. We had to go down lots of steep granite stairs, some with just a railing seperating you and the steep waterfalls and sharp rocks.

It was amazing and worth every second. We got amazing views of every area of Yosemite. It was a well traveled path but we still felt like the only people up there. We even met a new friend. We know you are not supposed to feed the animals, but this little guy was helping himself. He climbed in our bag and all over Kyle's feet and legs. It was really funny.

We took a well deserved break and stuck our feet in the river. This was by far the most amazing hike we have ever taken. And yes, we did buy some poles. Best $40 we spent.

 The beginning....

Second grade

I still have lots to catch up on!! But today is such a big day that I have to post a picture. Aaron started 2nd grade. It is hard to believe. He has a new teacher and lots of different kids in his class, but he did fine today and is already looking forward to the weekend. Thanks Grandma for the cool backpack!!

Look for some new updates soon, I will try to catch up this weekend.

Yosemite Day One

After driving up to our cabin at the KOA on Wednesday, we headed into the park early Thursday AM. Our first stop was Mariposa Grove to take a nice walk among the giant trees. The kids favorite part was the giant tree that once was driven through. Then we headed up towards Yosmite Valley. On the ride, Aaron and I were lucky enough to see a bear walking through the woods!

Next we stopped at an amazing overlook and Aaron decided it was the perfect spot for a picnic. It was amazing!

Then we headed for Bridalviel Falls. It was a short walk up to the falls. The kids had a great time exploring the river. They were amazed that they were getting hit by the mist from the giant falls. We found a great rock to hang out on and lay there watching the water.

The afternoon was getting very warm, so we took a break along the river at a great beach. I don't think we will ever find another beach that offers such an amazing view.

Before we found something for supper, we parked at Curry Village and took the shuttle out to Happy Isles Nature Center. It was a neat little building with lots of stuffed animals for the kids to look at. We also got them their Little Cub books to work. We then took a nice walk down the river and had a snack.

We hopped back on the shuttle and headed off to find some dinner. The only place open at the stop we got off at was a pizza place. The line was very long and the wait for the pizza just as long. Thank goodness we Nana there to keep the kids busy and happy. After some great pizza, we headed back to the cabin. No easy feat, it was an hour and a half drive. We brought some Magic Treehouse books to listen to in the car and they made the drive a lot better.

Rafting

Kyle and I had a chance for a little mini vacation while Nana was visiting. So we headed up to El Dorado Hills just past Sacramento to do a little white water rafting. We spent the day on the South Fork of the American River enjoying some Class II and Class III rapids. It was a ton of fun and we can't wait to do it again sometime. Next time we definitely will try the Class III and Class IV rapids. We only bought one picture. Kyle got to "ride the bull." He sat on the front of the raft and went through a crazy rapid. The entire raft was under. He managed to hold on and fell back in the raft. We both enjoyed at a lot. The water was cold!! I promise to post some pics of Yosemite very soon.

Big Moments

This last week has been filled with some major milestones. Aaron lost his first tooth! He has been waiting forever. I am pretty sure he was starting to think it would never happen. He was so excited and pulled it out all by himself. He was pretty happy with the special $1 gold coin he got in his awesome tooth fairy pillow (Thanks Susanna!).

Lauren had her last day of preschool. She had a lot fun singing silly songs and getting her certificate. She was so happy and proud. She was fine until her last goodbye. She starting sobbing. She was pretty sad about leaving her teachers. But she is already excited about her next adventure. We have decided to wait another year for Kindergarten. The cut off here is Nov 1 but everywhere else is Sept 1. So we now have her on a waiting list for a great prekindergarten program.

I told you I could do it!

 

Lauren has been asking us to let her take the training wheels off her bike. So tonight, we loaded everyone up and headed to a nearby park to give it a go. They both did amazing. The videos are their second attempts! Mommy and Daddy are very proud! They both were very excited and nobody cried. Great first time.

P.S. Make sure to click the play button to actually watch the video.

Proper English

Aaron has been using the dry erase board to practice his spelling words. Last night he wanted to keep using it after we finished. This is what he came up with.

What impresses me the most is the fact that he used the correct form of "too". Now we just need to teach him how to spell gross. Aaron has finally hit the stage in a boy's life when everything gross is really funny. Fun times....

Beach Day!

We had some amazing weather here the last 2 days. Our heat actually has not come on at all! So we took advantage today and headed to the beach. We first went to Pacific Grove, but when we got down to the beach discovered it was cold and foggy! It was crazy. So we headed to one of our favorite spots along Del Monte beach. The kids had a blast and were super excited when our neighbors joined in the fun.

 They were all collecting ladybugs.

 Even after a shower, I am still finding sand in his hair!

Easter Eggs

We had a great time coloring Easter eggs this year. The kids concentrated really hard to make great eggs! It's been fun seeing how they evolve each year!

Hang out

Apparently, under our garbage cans is the best hang out ever. Every week we carefully move the cans to take them out to the curb. And every week we find the same cool creatures hanging out there. The kids, especially Lauren love checking them out.

 We think this must be the mommy.

We have gotten to watch this little one grow. It is still really small, but it was even tinier when I first found it!