She's Three

It's hard to believe she's already three!

Three facts about Ava:

She's a total girl. She loves shopping and shoes and dress up.

She's always talking. Sometimes I can't hear myself think! She says pretty adorable things though, such as;  "My hair is crazy town!" and "I'm freezing my pants off!".

She loves her little sister. A lot. I'm constantly having to tell her to back up or be soft. She just wants to show her sister everything!

I love this girl so much!

How I make "money" as a SAHM [part 2]

A few weeks ago I posted about how I make "money" as a SAHM.
You can read that post here.  It's all about Swagbucks.com

Another site I visit daily is i-say.com
I love i-say.com.  I have referred a few friends and they all love it too.
At i-say you're invited to take surveys.  Some are short, some are painfully long and boring but all of them reward you with points.  If you start a survey and you don't qualify they still give you 5 points.  I love this.  I've been a member of i-say for almost 6 months and I currently have enough for $25 paypal funds, i-tunes giftcards, $20 in amazon giftcards and more.  I'm saving up for prepaid visa cards to take to disneyland.

I like this site because it's just surveys.  No watching movies or signing up for subscriptions or anything like that.  I've also taken surveys where they've sent me free products, which is always fun!

Again, you're not going to get rich off of i-say, but you can bring in some extra play money...I'd suggest it!

My House

I currently live in the house I was born and raised in.

I sleep in the room my parents shared, my daughters sleep in the rooms I played in, grew up in, had secret phone conversations in.

Today I was in the bathroom doing my hair and my husband was in the living room entertaining my kids.

I could easily picture this same scene 20+ years ago, when I was one of the kids.

I can sit in the kitchen and look out the big window and imagine my Mom cutting the grass while my Dad finished loading the dinner dishes into the dishwasher.

I can stand on the porch and watch my daughter run wild and remember playing kick the can with my friends in the same yard.

This house is simple, but I love it.  I love every day that I am able to create memories with my children in the place that is home to most of my own childhood memories.

I'll be sad when this house is no longer in the family.

Six Months of Sundae

Sundae (Sunny, Sunners, Sun Bun, Sunny Day, etc) is six months old today.

She loves to "tell stories", give big, open mouthed kisses, roll, play with toys, watch her big sister do anything and smile.

She goes to bed about 7:30 pm! She wakes up to eat around 3 am and then goes right back to bed until about 7 am.

She's getting really good about tummy time and while she isn't quite scooting forward, she can go around in a circle. She can also sit by herself for up to a minute.

Love you tons Sun-a-bun!

Big Changes

A few weeks ago I decided I was done.

Done with fast food.  Done with "easy" eating (which translates to unhealthy eating in this house).  Done with excuses for my belly pudge (I can't call it baby fat anymore, I didn't have it after baby was born!).  Done with buying more packaged foods then fresh foods when I go to the grocery store.

DONE.

The Rutland family diet has undergone a huge change.

Snacks no longer consist of popcorn and cookies.  Snacks include fresh fruits, multi-grain fruit bars and cereal packed with fiber.  Drinks no longer consist of juice and soda, but water bottles.

I have a serious, serious, SERIOUS sweet tooth.  It runs in my family.  The first few days of this new way of eating I literally laid in bed and craved sugar.  I couldn't sleep because I wanted it so bad.  Every now and then I still have a piece of candy, but there are no more up all night cravings and for that I'm grateful.

Ava and Sundae will grow up with healthy foods on their plates.

And hopefully I can drop some of this stupid weight.
Because I'm done.

Influenster Secret

Influenster sent me Secret clinical strength stress response antiperspirant/deodorant in serene citrus sent.

I was all prepared to hate this. I don't wear scented stuff often and I never buy deodorant that goes on wet.

BUT I like it! A lot! The scent isn't overpowering or flowery and it dries quickly.

I also feel like it works very well, which didn't surprise me because I use Secret often.

I'll buy it again!

Influenster Skinny Girl

I loved this bar! I ran out of the house early to do crossing guard duty and grabbed this on the way.

Only 180 calories and I could have been eating a candy bar. I will absolutely be buying a box of these as soon as possible!