late night post!

It’s 9:05 p.m. and I’m finally sitting down to blog. I had good intentions and now I can’t promise that this post will even be worth reading. But I do promise it won’t be too long, so it won’t take you long to read it. Deal?

  • Today was a great day. I dropped off Hudson at school, ran to two meetings for Junior League decorations stuff and then picked up Hudson from school. I had lunch (a delicious gyro from Devine Foods) with a super great friend who is a fellow boy mom. I loved hanging out with her. She brought lunch to our house so we didn’t have to risk having our babies in the restaurant. Love that. Good day.
  • My sweet boys took naps and then I talked to two more great friends on the phone. Love that.
  • I had great intentions of recording a vlog for you all about some fun, organization-type topics. But while I was recording “take one,” my door bell rang, my dogs went bananas and my kids woke up. The second time I recorded it, I played it back and there was no sound. So I gave up. Don’t love that.
  • Lately, I’ve been finding that I’m trying to watch a TV show and I realize I’m not really paying attention. So I just go to bed. Or I’m driving down the road and start changing the radio station and then forget what I’m doing and end up either listening to static or some crazy inappropriate music. Weird. Please tell me you’ve done that, too.
  • I’m sitting here right now listening to the Dixie Chicks because I still love them after all these years. Just like my friend, Rachel!
  • Earlier, while I was trying to fix my vlog, I was listening to The Canadian Tenors sing “Hallelujah.” I think I have just about every version of this song in my iTunes library, but this one is my favorite, by far. They sang it on Sunday night at the Emmy Awards. I was sitting here, at the computer, writing posts to be scheduled for this week and listening to the Emmys. TC was at work and the boys were asleep. I heard this gorgeous four part harmony and asked the Twitter Universe who was singing. And Twitter always knows. It was the Canadian Tenors. Listen to this.

Have a great night, friends!

p.s. You have just a couple of hours to enter the Erin Condren giveaway before Nina and I close comments to announce the 5 winners!

Hudson: The Geographer

*Don’t forget to enter the Erin Condren giveaway!

I’ve written a few times before about how much I love learning toys. I especially love the Melissa & Doug puzzles.

We usually buy things for Hudson before he is at the recommended age for the toy. I’ve heard some people advise against this, but I honestly don’t know why. He has learned all of his colors, shapes, letters and numbers — mostly because of these puzzles. We work on them with him and talk to him about the different puzzles and he remembers. These puzzles also really help his fine motor skills.

I ordered this states puzzle that’s a map of the United States. It’s a Melissa & Doug puzzle that I got on Zulily. When Hayes was born I had a stash of toys in the closet for Hudson. I had put together a little collection of new coloring books, sticker books, finger paint and this puzzle. I wanted to have some fun new things ready for him for the first couple of months after Hayes was born when I knew I’d be really busy and Hudson would probably be a little bored spending so much time at home.

So one day, I took a chance and gave him this puzzle. And after three weeks, he knew almost every single state. He has said them all at one point.

via

In this video, I have to help him with a couple. He gets a little confused and instead of Indiana, he says “Oh Suzanna.”  It’s his favorite song and they do kind of sound the same, right?

He also gets a little confused with all of the New England states. They’re so small and 2-3 states may share a puzzle piece.

(The video is more than 8 minutes long. I didn’t say he could do it in record time!)

I don’t think I could identify the states until the 3rd or 4th grade! And I still can’t place all of the northeastern United States in their correct spot. Whoops!

The recommended age for this puzzle is 5 years old, but now I know that a 27 month old can do it!

Erin Condren Double Giveaway!

It’s no secret that I am completely obsessed with all Erin Condren products. It all started with the amazing Life Planner and I haven’t been able to quit since then.

Using the Life Planner has really been a great experience. It’s my favorite planner I’ve ever owned and I’ve loved it so much that I’ve just continued to scoop up tons of Erin Condren products. I have some personalized stationery, gift labels for every member of our family, address labels and book plates for my boys’ books. I also just got some fun goodies for Hudson to use for Halloween at school.

Her designs are playful and bright and they’re perfect for any occasion or just to have to make your desk look prettier and help make the simplest task more fun!

Some of my favorites include the Call Me Cards, the Life Planner in Candy Lace in Mocha & Multi, the Book Plates, and the Large Circle Address Labels

I’m so excited to be partnering with my friend Nina, from According to Nina, on this really fun giveaway! We wanted to share the Erin Condren love with all of our readers!

Pretty exciting, huh? That means there are two blogs with two winners! There will be 4 total winners who receive $25 to use at ErinCondren.com.

But in order to be entered, you have to do the follow two things…

So make sure you visit the ErinCondren.com Facebook page ,”like” it, and leave a comment saying we sent you. Then jump over to AccordingtoNina.com to leave your comment there, too! And then you could be one of four winners! *If you already “like” ErinCondren.com on Facebook, just tell us that in your comment.*

And guess what!

If the ErinCondren.com Facebook page reaches 6,000 fans before the close of the giveaway at 11:59 p.m. (EST) on Thursday, September 22, there will be a BONUS WINNER!

Nina and I will each post two winners on each of our blogs on Friday morning after using the Random Integer Generator to choose two random winners per blog.

Good luck! We will announce the winners on Friday afternoon!

Saturday morning catch-all

I know I’ve mentioned this SO many times, but September 23 is the last day the 25 FREE Mommy Cards from Minted will be…. free. After that you’ll be paying regular Minted prices. So don’t miss out! Click on the link below to get your 25 FREE Mommy Cards.

Get 25 Free Minted Mommy Cards

There were a few random things I wanted to share this week, but never got around to posting about all of them.

1. Last Sunday afternoon, we took Hudson to Sesame Street Live. His second birthday was in June and his KK and Poppie gave us tickets to see Sesame Street Live in Greenville and they also got us passes for Hudson to meet some of the cast before the show. He is right at the perfect age to go to this. He loves Sesame Street and he absolutely loved the show. He sat in his seat the whole time except when he couldn’t see, and then he sat on his Daddy’s lap. He never made a peep. He was just mesmerized by the characters and the music.

We were on the front row, so we were pretty darn close. The characters would come down on the floor and Hudson was so excited that they were so close. But he still wouldn’t let them touch him. I wonder what it will be like with Santa Claus this year.

Before the show, we got to meet Abby Cadabby and Grover. Hudson was excited to see them, but definitely didn’t want to touch them. We couldn’t even get him to give them “knucks.”

poor Hudson… his mommy is a big nerd

2. My friend, Nina, and I have really fun Erin Condren giveaway coming up on Monday morning. So stay tuned and  get excited! And we promise we won’t make you jump through 8 million hoops to enter!

Yesterday, Erin Condren had a fun Facebook party where she was chatting with some of her fans. I totally forgot about it until Nina sent a text to Meredith and me, reminding us to get on Facebook because Erin Condren had posted this funny picture! I was dying laughing and then I wanted to run to California so I could go work in their offices with them.

3. You may have noticed a button on my sidebar for a fun company called List Plan It. They have so many amazing organizing tools and printables for you to use. They’re not free, but you can buy a one year subscription to download and print all that you want. And then it’s yours! I have loved this site and have used the printables for my home organization notebook and my recipe binder. Click here for hundreds of lists to put your world in order.

Just recently, I purchased an eBook from them called 100 Days to Christmas. Sweet Nina has already gone through the whole thing and done a great vlog review on her blog. Yesterday marked the first day of 100 days until Christmas day, so I started looking at my eBook. The book breaks down each day and gives you suggestions on things you can go ahead and do to prepare for the Christmas and holiday season. One of the biggest things for me is getting my shopping done and getting my addresses for Christmas cards organized. So I’m loving this eBook to help me stay organized so I don’t get overwhelmed later.

For me, as soon as November rolls around, life gets crazy with outside church and Junior League commitments. So I don’t want to be going crazy during such a fun and special time of year.

4. My twitter and blog friend, Katie from Loves of Life, created a super duper fantastic Fall Bucket List printable. Y’all. This thing is super cute and it gives you some great inspiration for fall activities with your family and friends. This is my absolute favorite time of year, so I love her list. It reminds me not to let this season pass by without soaking it all in and enjoying some great time outside.

Katie’s printable is free! Just click on her blog and read about how to print it out. Then print it out, frame it and check things off the list!

photo from Loves of Life

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