Merry Swap-mas

Today we hosted a big toy and gear swap for our MOMS friends. Several people stopped by and dropped things off beforehand, and I did my best to clean out as much as possible, so by the time our guests arrived we already had quite the pile going! It was a good thing that I had cleaned out the garage because between moms & kids & stuff, we needed all the space.

I love swaps because they are great motivation to look through your belongings and decide what you no longer need. Not that you can't do this whenever you like, but having a swap gives you a good deadline to work towards. I also like knowing that the things we have used & loved are finding a new home with someone else who can use and love them all over again. This time we even had free samples & coupons from GreenWorks to giveaway thanks to House Party.

I was pretty impressed with how much the Tumbleweed was into giving away her things. She had carefully selected some items from her room (after I took out the things that I thought should be swapped), and was showing them to other moms & kids as if she was a sales person - LOL. She still "rescued" a few of the things I had chosen, but overall I thought she did really well.

The kids are both really enjoying the "new" toys they chose at the swap. The Dandelion chose some Cars toys (big surprise) and the Tumbleweed selected a spiral drawing kit, a little ballerina doll, a Littlest Pet Shop display (no more stray pets around here... they now live in "Pet Town") and a few other things. This afternoon it was like Christmas all over... first playing with one toy, then the next, then the next. We have decided to call it "Swap-mas".













Now it is time to get ready for next week's book swap and then the big semi-annual clothing swap!

Wii like MOMS Night Out

We all had a blast at MOMS Night Out this month! I hosted a Wii Game Night and through House Party I received two new games for us to try - Your Shape and Just Dance. While most of the moms liked the Your Shape game, we agreed that it probably wasn't really a social game and moved to Just Dance! We had lots of fun. I'd post pictures, but I promised I wouldn't :)

After the party, I found out that two of my friends bought the game Just Dance (one posted here) and one even went and got a Wii! Thanks for coming everyone! It was a fun night all around - and I kind of like having a bunch of the furniture cleared out of the family room.

Homemade Holiday Gift Ideas

Need some gift ideas for the holidays? Today we had a Homemade Gift Idea Playgroup where everyone shared their ideas for things to make for friends and family this Christmas.

From sewing projects like aprons and pillowcases to keepsakes like framed photos and photo books, everyone got some great ideas. Thanks to House Party and Kodak Gallery I had some great samples to show them. I made a fabulous photobook of our Disney Trip. I know, what about the scrapbook? Well, the photobook was so easy to put together and is so easy to make duplicates of (good when you have 3 other families who went on the trip!) that it really saved me a lot of time. But if you know me - I have always been a fan of Kodak :)