Please Help Almost Home Animal Rescue

This is a guest post by my sister, Katie. Please take a minute to help if you can. (It would literally only take a minute!)

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Hello All! My name is Katie and I have a favor to ask of everyone. I live in Metro Detroit and happen to volunteer at an animal rescue called Almost Home. Almost Home is a great shelter and is absolutely 100% no kill! They rescue dogs and cats in the area and if they hear of an animal at another shelter that is about to be destroyed, they go rescue it if they can find an extra square inch of space to put the fuzzy little soul. On to the favor part. This shelter rescues all sorts of animals and some of them have extensive health bills. The shelter would also LOVE to expand to save even more animals from being destroyed. In order to do this, money is required. I’m not asking for donations. I’m asking if you will vote for Almost Home in Pepsi’s Refresh Everything program! There are 2 ways that you can vote. You can either follow this link and click vote or text your vote in by texting 109736 to 73774 (standard text messaging rates apply). If you have the time and means, vote both ways and get counted twice!

I love this shelter as it's the place where I was lucky enough to find Spot, my 1 year old Jack Russell Terrier and adopt her. She has been such a joy in our home and we love her soooo much! We do not know her story, or why someone would abandon our sweet little girl, but we do know that the shelter heard that she was to be euthanized in Toledo and they drove down and rescued her prior to her scheduled appointment. I am so glad that they did. Please help Almost Home create more happy tails! ;-)

Katie's adorable adopted dog, Spot.

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To learn more about Almost Home and see some of their dogs that they have up for adoption, please visit their website. I was just checking out the site and there are some super cute puppies!! :-)

Thanksgiving Weekend

We've been a little busy....and sick...lately. The five days leading up to Thanksgiving we had three birthday parties, two of which were surprises and the other was a little guy turning 4, so they were all fun :-) Blake and Morgan had colds throughout that time and then Rich and I got the colds in time for Thanksgiving...not so fun!

Thanksgiving day was spent with Rich's family. I made up some green bean casserole and a pecan pie, which was just a tiny contribution to the huge feast we had. Thankfully I was sick or I probably would have eaten WAY too much...I had enough as it was ;-)

Friday, we took it easy a bit throughout the day and did a little catching up and preparing for Saturday's Thanksgiving get-together, then had to leave for the town's Christmas parade at night. Morgan's dance studio had a little routine they had practiced for the parade to the song "We Need a Little Christmas".

Morgan had the letter "E"

I tried getting a picture before dark and before I ended up in the parade behind them pulling a wagon. :-)

Blake was almost in the parade with Morgan, but ended up riding in the Fire Department's Kabota with Santa and his Daddy. Santa asked him if he was going to be his little elf and I think that made Blake feel special. ;-) Here, Santa had left and Morgan hopped on for a picture after the parade.

After the parade, the we went home and made hot cocoa and popcorn, set up the air mattress and we had a fun family movie night watching Shrek the Third and camping out in the living room. :-)

Saturday we had Thanksgiving at my sister's. I planned on leaving for my sister's between 10 and 10:30, since it was a 2 hour drive and dinner was at 1:00pm, but that didn't work out so well. Right at 10:15 Rich got a fire call and was gone. I almost left without him, but decided to wait and he made it back so we were only an hour and fifteen minutes late for Thanksgiving. (Not too bad for a fire call!) We made it home by 8 pm, were exhausted, and fell asleep before 10...which is not like us!

Sunday, we took down all the Halloween and Thanksgiving decor and set up the Christmas decorations. We won't have the tree for a couple weeks, but at least it looks a bit like Christmas here. We also watched White Christmas and enjoyed the day together resting and trying to get well. (We're still not better, but we're getting there!)

I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving like we did! :-)

Wordless Wednesday: Pictures with the New Fire Engine

A few of Rich's fellow firefighters flew out to Pennsylvania about a month ago to pick up the department's new fire engine. We went to see it the next day to get some pictures and check out all the special bells and whistles....quite literally! ;-)

This is the special bell that they had put on it.

Morgan and Blake posing with the bell.

Isn't it pretty.

Since it was in the bay, I couldn't get a full picture of it, but it sure is pretty!

Happy W.W.!! :-)

Record a Story Keepsake Storybook Review

When I think of my favorite time of the day that I spend with the kids, it's the time we spend together reading bedtime stories. I love everything about it. I love seeing the joy in their faces while they pick out their favorite books. I love how they run to their places on the couch and start looking at the books before I even get there. I love cuddling with my favorite two little ones, while reading books that spark their imaginations and foster their love for reading. I even love that they still want that time after a super long day and they both fall asleep while I'm reading so I have to carry them to bed.

Being that reading bedtime stories is my favorite time with my kids, it's also the time that I miss most when I'm away. And if I miss it, I'm sure they do too. So when I first heard about Record a Story Keepsake Storybooks, I thought it was an awesome idea! I thought it was great that I could record myself reading to my kiddos and they could look page through the book together and listen to me read it whenever I was away. It'd be comforting to me that I could still read to them, and comforting to them to still hear my voice before going to bed.

I was fortunate to have Publications International, Ltd. contact me and send me their Record a Story Keepsake Storybook,"Good Night, Sesame Street", to review! Take a look at the short video to see how the book already reads when it first comes in the mail:


One thing you may have noticed when I was turning pages was that the book has a tendency to start the music up for the wrong page. The reason it does that has to do with the lighting, so the book should be read in a well lit area. I also didn't show the whole book, if you're wondering why the book seems so short ;-)

I actually decided not to record my voice in the book, since I happen to know a little one who LOVES Elmo that I'd like to give this to. I'm sure she'd rather have her mom or dad's voice over mine. But I took a look at the directions for recording and they're super simple. The directions also tell the reader how to unlock the book so their voice can be recorded and how to lock it again so their voice can't be recorded over. The locking switch is inside the battery compartment, so little fingers can't get to it. Great features! :-)
Since I won't be keeping my review copy, I was looking into which book I'd like for Morgan and Blake:

I like this one for the times I'm gone.

With Christmas coming, I like this one.

Whichever one I decide on, I'm sure the kiddos will love having their mom reading to them whenever they want and especially the times I can't be there for bedtime stories :-)

Be sure to check out their other cute storybook selections here.

Publications International, Ltd is also doing what they can to help keep military families connected this Christmas with their Record a Story Keepsake Storybooks. This is what they have to say about their Operation Record a Story program:

"This fall and into the holiday season, military parents about to deploy will have the chance to arrange for shared story time with their children even after they leave for their tours of duty, through United Through Reading's Military Program. Operation Record a Story, a program sponsored by Publications International, Ltd. (PIL), has donated thousands of books, many from its award-winning Record a Story collection, to the nonprofits USO and United Through Reading. Through these organizations, service members can record the stories for their children before they deploy. The books, along with a DVD of the parents recording the story, will then be shipped to the kids for the holidays."

I think what PIL is doing for military families is wonderful and if you do too, you can find ways to make a donation here.

Buy it!: If you'd like to purchase a Record a Story Keepsake Storybook, they run $16.95 to $19.95 and can be purchase on their website here.

*Disclosure: I was sent a Record a Story book for review and was not compensated in any other way. The views expressed in the post are my own.

Wordless Wednesday: Centennial Celebration, Story Time and Face Paintings

Our local library celebrated 100 years of being open this past weekend. We went for Story Time and Blake made the paper! (Upper right-he's doing the craft.) I was also quoted, but you can ignore that. ;-)

One part of the celebration was the kids could get their faces painted. Morgan chose a butterfly...

...and Blake went with a shark.

Of course the library had other things going on and snacks for everyone to enjoy. I think it's wonderful all they do to show the kids that the library is a fun place, which not only encourages them to visit, but also to develop a love for reading. :-)