I am sure I am not the only one who lives with a snorer. My dear husband has snored as long as I have known him, and recently I had to kick him out of our room because the walls began to rattle lol!

He is an allergy sufferer, and I think this time of the year makes the snoring worse. I have spent many nights tossing and turning, listening to the myriad of sounds he makes.

You know how it goes….you start out with a friendly lil tap on the shoulder and the snoring stops for a few seconds (long enough to get yourself comfortable), and then you start to hear the subtle zzzz coming back. As it gets louder, you try another tactic…give the covers a yank, to shake him around a bit. LOL! It works for approximately 60 seconds and then you are back to square one. Then I make the concerted effort to politely ask him to roll over, but first you have to get him to understand what you are saying! After he rolls over, it all stops for about 5 minutes, and then it begins all over again but much louder than before. So, for 45 minutes I am laying in bed trying to devise a tactical plan,when I finally smack my husband and tell him to move! He then proceeds to tell me “Hon, I don’t know what you’re talking about…I was awake the whole time!” Here we are arguing in the dark whether or not he was awake or not…LOL!

Anyway I ran across an article…maybe it will help some poor soul out there who lives with a snorer.

9 Ways to Help You Stop Snoring

Yesterday it was an unusually cool day for Summer! We have a black driveway so I decided to bust out the sidewalk chalk with the boys and do a little artistic creation. As the creative juices starting flowing I decided to draw a road on the driveway and got out the boys little bobby cars. Alexander caught on right away and was driving his car on the road LOL. He had a blast and it is a great idea! They loved the idea of drawing on the ground and then took turns running in circles stepping on all the new artwork on the ground. We weren’t sure what that was about but they were laughing and having fun, so it was a big hit. If boredom has taken over, then this might be an idea to help get out of the funk. It helps lil ones explore their creativity and gives them something new to try. Be creative, draw a town with a road, Spell their name, do the alphabet, draw things for them to identify, or just make spots for them to jump on. The possibilities are endless.! It gets the family fresh air and most important time together!

As my boys are getting a little older, it is never too early to start teaching them about giving and receiving, and most importantly about thanking people for their kindness in remembering them.
Growing up my Mom always made a point of making sure I sent “thank you cards” out to people for gifts I had received at my parties, graduation etc. First off it says a lot to the person who gave the gift and that they weren’t just at the event so your child could get a gift and secondly it says you are teaching your child manners! I believe some form of acknowledgment is important…for me if I get a verbal “thank you” that is enough but for others a “thank you” in the mail is important.

If your child is old enough to write, get him or her involved by letting them write their own words of thanks and help with spelling. You can let them add their own personal touch by drawing pictures and such..let them have fun with it!

If your child is too young to write you can let him put hand prints in a card and you can write a small message. This is about teaching them these things early, so later, it is something they are willing to do and associate it with something fun. I think that makes a big difference!

Another good idea is, you can take a picture of your child enjoying their new toy or thing they received
and include it with the thank you card. Not only do people have a thank you card but a photo and happy reminder of the wonderful gift they gave that made your child smile.

At Cards Direct they have lots of thank you cards to choose from and you can even personalize them and have your address printed on the envelope. There are so many options!

I ran across a list of things to have on hand for busy toddlers taken from the family education site and thought I would share. I am always looking for things to do with my boys. It always nice to have a variety of supplies on hand ad at the ready, especially on rainy days when you are stuck indoors! Also varying their activities helps with all aspects of their development!

Top 10 Materials to Have on Hand for Toddler Activities

1. Crayons: Remove the labels from crayons when possible. For the younger child, fatter crayons work best. (Crayola makes a great triangular crayon!)
2. Construction paper: Construction paper is very versatile. Be sure to keep a wide variety of colors on hand.
3. Poster board: Use poster board when you need a stronger, more durable paper.
4. White craft glue: You can also use rubber cement or school paste for most projects. Choose what works best for you and your child.
5. Old magazines: Old magazines are a wonderful source for collage and activity pictures. Nature and home-living magazines are the best for this.
6. Scissors: In addition to adult scissors for you, purchase a pair of safety scissors for your child. If you wish, you can also find beginners’ guiding scissors and fancy-edged scissors at school supply stores.
7. Felt-tip markers: Markers are useful for adding small details to projects. Washable markers are available.
8. Food coloring: This is handy for coloring homemade dough and various other craft materials. Please note: It does stain.
9. Recycled household materials: You can reuse materials such as egg cartons, yarn scraps, toilet paper tubes, and boxes for many activities.
10. Tempera paint: Tempera paint is an easy paint for your child to work with. It has a nice smooth texture and comes in many colors.

So I made spaghetti the other night and the boys loved it, but I didn’t exactly love the mess! They are both busy trying to master the use of their forks. Sometimes they do really well and other times the fork winds up on the floor and their hands are what works best. I had spaghetti noodles everywhere and although it was fun eating for them, mommy wasn’t having fun cleaning it up. So I think next time I will try a heartier noodle…like macaroni or rigatoni or something. The noodles taste the same but I think it will be easier for them to get their fork into.

Ok, since having the boys things in the yard have become a bit of a jungle. I have a vegetable garden that usually grows vegetables but I was running behind this year and never got around to it! So I have been growing a nice crop of weeds. I went searching on the internet for an organic solution for weed control since I didn’t want to use chemicals in a place where we grow food to eat! And I ran across a thing that said you can use newspaper! Newspaper wetted down about 1/4 inch thick then put some weed barrier/black tarp over them and your garden will be weed free next year! I tried just black tarp and suddenly my black tarp is rising LOL. The weeds are doing just fine under it ROFL! I plan on doing this in my flower bed as I am tired of trying to yank the weeds the size of trees out. Leave any other tips if you wish!

Ok for all you coupon clipping moms out there…I am in need of a really good coupon organizer that isn’t too huge or bulky but is well designed. I have a current organizer but I hate how the thing works. When you open it you have to turn the thing upside down and unwrap the flap at the same time and I seem to lose coupons on the floor of the grocery store! I’d love to hear some input as to what the best organizer is…so please leave a comment and let me know!

I mowed the lawn last week and of course I wore my once white tennis shoes. I had totally forgotten to wear my grunge shoes for the lawn mowing so now I have green soled shoes! Nicholas had a Dr.’s appt. and so I thought his shoes needed a little spiffing and yes I am a bit anal about sending a clean kid to the Dr.! So I got my Mr. Clean Magic Eraser from the box and thought I would at least try it on his shoes. These things are amazing if you haven’t given them a try! It took all the dirt off his sneakers and all the grass stains off of mine! Wooohooo!

Also my husband accidentally hit a car in our driveway and it was a rental…and it left some of our paint on the other car and the eraser took that off too!

I use it all over the house too! It has taken smudges and dirt off the fridge handles..you name it. I wonder what the stuff is made of. For some reason when the boys play in our tub the tub gets color marks from the toys and the eraser gets those off. I must take stock in these things LOL!

Anyway I thought I would share with you..leave a comment if you have any other uses for these things!