Thanksgiving 2013

Thanksgiving was different this year. We had fewer people than normal, but it was a nice, quiet event overall. The day started as typical--cinnamon rolls, pajamas, and the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade. Austin was pretty into watching the bands and the floats as well as the differen stage performances this year. It was fun to enjoy that with him while Seth worked on the turkey and Graham crawled around.

This is the insides to the Apple Berry Cobbler Pie that I made as a dessert option. So gorgeous and so good!

I had bought two different hymns of thanksgiving for Gran to play on Thanksgiving, but she was gone before the day arrived and thus we just played around with them ourselves. Love that I got some cute pictures of this with my phone!

After the parade was done, we got busy getting ready for everyone to arrive.

Seth's turkey always looks amazing. And he always forgets to save the wishbone! :-(

In preparation for the day, Seth raked the back yard and created this huge pile of leaves specifically for the kids to play in while here.

It seems that I always catch Austin and Turner sitting in a chair together with Turner reading him a book. LOVE.

Nonnie buys a pair of jammies and an ornament for the kids and hands them out on Thanksgiving. These are Austin's gifts from this year.

The annual Immediate Spofford Family Thanksgiving Photo.

This post took forever because our camera wasn't working at the time and thus I had to beg pictures off of other people in order to create a post and then it was Christmas Season, aka Busy Season. Huge thanks to Kim and Anne Marie for the photo help!

Brotherly Comparisons--First Year

Here's a collage (again using PicMonkey) of the boys' milestone pictures from their first year. Think they're related?

Austin's First Three Years

We have the boys' pictures taken regularly--3m, 6m, 9m, 12m, 18m, 2yr, 3yr, etc. and send those pictures to family as well as frame them and put them up in our house. I put together a little collage of Austin's First Three Years JCP pictures using PicMonkey.

Graham's First Year

We have the boys' pictures taken regularly--3m, 6m, 9m, 12m, 18m, 2yr, 3yr, etc and send these to family in addition to framing them and putting them up in our house. I put together a little collage of Graham's First Year JCP pictures using PicMonkey.

A Few New Things I'm Trying...

I recently noticed several friends on Facebook posting things about BzzAgent (BzzAgent is a company that provides you with free products in return for a review of the products.) and it got me thinking...

I've been doing BzzAgent for YEARS. Like probably 5 years or so. I started out really slow and since that was before I had a blog, I didn't get much traffic from it (you get more products the more your reviews are seen and my having a blog means more people can potentially see my reviews). I LOVE BzzAgent. I like trying new products with not much commitment or cost, of course, but I also love that it's something to focus on besides my boys. It is a creative, a brain-using, stimulating outlet that doesn't involve dressing, changing, or feeding other people. Well, it can since I have gotten baby products, but mostly it's a way for me to feel like I have a job outside the home. Which is very good for my sanity! (And if I'm being 100% real with you, I kinda have a secret desire to be a big blogging reviewer person. :-) 

So in effort to try to increase my participation in similar types of things, different ways of expending mental energy on things besides Austin and Graham, I'm trying a few new things. I love my sons dearly, and I don't want to work fully outside the home--it's important to me to be home full time during these early years, but I'm a healthier mom (and wife) when I have something besides them to think about--it balances me. In an effort to increase these sorts of things, I've signed up on two new websites: Swaggable and FlyBy Promotions. I just signed up, so I have not gotten any free products, nor have I even been invited to participate in anything. I'm hoping that will change very soon, though. I'll let you know what I think of those sites once I have an opinion.

I'm also going to try to start being better about doing reviews on Amazon. I use this site probably at least once a week, and they have an amazing "club" called The Vine where they give products to their top reviewers in exchange for a review. You can't ask to be a part of it, Amazon simply selects you based on the amount of good reviews you submit. And it can't hurt to try! So that's the third new thing I'm trying.

The biggest new thing I'm trying, though, is working as a Consultant for Rodan + Fields. It all started a couple months ago when I got a free sample of their products. I LOVED how much better my skin was, and as someone who's tried million different skin products over the years (here and here) and still been unhappy, it was like a God-send! I have been using R+F for two months and my skin is noticeably better! It's softer, smoother, emptier, cleaner, and protected from the sun with a sunscreen that I absolutely love. Love. Love. Love! So, I decided to make a go at having a little side business with Rodan + Fields. It's still very early, but I'm hoping that this is something that works for me.

Are you a member of a site/company/club that gives free products in exchange for reviews? Do you know of any that I haven't mentioned up above? I'd love to give other ones a try as well!

Do you know of anyone who's looking for a new skin care line? I seriously love the products (and business model!) of Rodan + Fields. Get in touch with me if you or someone you know is looking for something new. It has a 60 day money back guarantee, so you're out nothing if you find you don't like it.