Calling All Altoid Tins!!!

I am approaching the busiest shopping season and am running horrifyingly low on empty altoid tins. If you don't understand why this is a problem, you must not visit my online shop often enough. Shame shame.

Anyway, I use these empty tins to make scrapbooks that I sell on my online shop. But the tricky thing is that I don't even like altoids.... so I am asking those of you out there that do like them to save me your empty tins. I give one dollar in store credit for every tin you send me. These can add up, so get eating!!

For The Love Of Lily

Many of you know that my parents have adopted two little girls from China. Through their experiences, they have faced the challenges of the paperwork and red tape involved in the adoption process. Because of the knowledge they have gained, and the love they have for Chinese adoption, they have set up a foundation, For the Love of Lily to financially assist families in the adoption process. They also will do annual trips to China to help build foster homes and orphanages.

I am doing my little part to help by selling these fancy schmancy bracelets and bumper stickers. All proceeds go to the foundation, so shop away! If you are interested in purchasing something, or making a donation, please contact me.

We Saw CHEESE!!!!!

OK, so my last post told you about "cheese." But if you're too lazy to read it, I'll recap. Jordan adores the show "Signing Time." It's a great program developed to help teach children sign language. (And since Aaron and I both sign, we'd really like to help J to learn too.) So, anyway, there is a song in one of the videos about pizza and it ends saying "don't forget the extra cheese." It's his favorite song. Ever. So he calls the video cheese.

Now to the good part. Last week while at the zoo, I saw that the cast from Signing Time would be doing a live performance at the zoo. So I marked my calendar and we went. During the show, Jordan was mesmerized. He refused to sign along (although he knew the songs), he wanted to just stare in wonder. But after, while taking a potty break, he happily sang the songs to me.

After lunch and a bit of a stroll around the zoo, we were headed back to the car and saw a line of people waiting to have their pictures taken with the cast from the show. So we hopped in line and took our turn. He got a big smile when it was his turn and yelled out "Cheese!" Rachel (the lady in the movies) gave me a puzzled look. I explained the situation to her and she accepted her new name happily.

A Day At the Zoo

Last week, my sister, Ashlie and I took our kids to the zoo. It was such a trip down memory lane! This was the same zoo our mom took us to while we were growing up. Many things have changed, but a few things have not.

Jordan's favorite part of it all was the train. Grandma Diane sent him a conductor hat, which he LOVES. He wears it all the time! And on the train was no exception. Even little Pyper enjoyed the zoo.

We found out that next week, the cast from "Signing Times" will be there. This is the series of videos in sign language that Jordan adores. He calls it "cheese" because they do a song about pizza and end with a big loud "CHEESE." I will definitely be taking him to the show.

I know I have had requests to put pictures up of the new house. I'm lame...but I'll do it. Sorry for the delay. I've been spending the last little while preparing for the big "Erin's Slumber Party" that will be this Friday. I'll be doing a workshop on making my scrapbooks, along with selling them. I hope it's a good turnout-last year I did pretty well. I'll give you an update later.