Twin Fun Facts

My twins are currently participating into a study being conducted by Florida State University called the "Florida Twin Project on Reading." The goal of the project is to understand the underlying causes of individual differences in reading-related skills. The project compares data collected from sets of identical and fraternal twins. My girls are not aware that they are participating in the project. They simply take the same standardized tests that all Florida public school students take. The Florida State University researches then take their test scores and compare them to those of other fraternal and identical twins.

From time to time we receive a newsletter about the progress of the study. This months newsletter contained a few Twin Fun Facts that I found interesting, and I thought I would pass them on.

1. There are over 125 million twins in the world.

2. The birth rate of twins is about 32 per 1,000 births.

3. Between 1996 and 2006, the percentage of multiple births in Florida grew by more than 19%.

4. About 1/3 of all twins are identical and 2/3 are fraternal. My twins are fraternal, but are often mistaken for identical.

5. Over 20% of twins are left handed, but only 10% of the general population are lefties. My twins are both righties.

Money In My Mailbox

Normally I do not get to excited about the things that show up in my mailbox. It is usually just bills and junk mail. Friday, was a different story. I opened the box and to my happy surprise these TWO coupon books were in there!!! It was like money in my mailbox.

The first book is from Kraft. I signed up for this book earlier in the summer and forgot all about it. The book contains $55.00 worth of coupons and rebates for products from Kraft, Nabisco, Planters, and Capri~Sun. Thank you to Money Saving Mom for the heads-up on this one.

The second book was a complete surprise. It is from Target (my absolute, most favorite store). It contains $15.00 worth of coupons for their new line of products called "up & up." I have already tried many of these products, and have liked all of them. It will be GREAT to have coupons to use and save even more money on all of my h&b and cleaning products. I think I got this book because I have a Target Visa card. I use my Target Visa like a debit card so that I can earn 10% off reward cards, and save even more! Thank you Target!!!

The total savings in both books is $70.00! Not bad for a few minutes online and a walk to the mailbox. I can't wait to see what will show up in my mailbox this week!

Wordless Wednesday

Taking it all in!

For more Wordless Wednesday go to

5 Minutes for Mom

and

7 Clown Circus

A New School Year

As much as they did not want it to come, today is the first day of school for my 3. This year my boy is a 5th grader (yep, this is his last year of elementary school) and the girls are in 1st grade.

We got up early this morning, had a good breakfast, and took our long walk to school. The book bags were pretty full and heavy, with all of those first day supplies, so it was not an easy walk. It will get easier as the week goes on.

We met both teacher's last week and the kids saw their classrooms. It was a relief to arrive at school today and know exactly where to go. All three kids got great teacher's. We are looking forward to a happy and successful school year.

I stayed in the 1st grade classroom for the first 2 hours, to help the teacher organize and store all of the supplies that the kids brought in. The teacher told me that in the past it has taken her the first 2 weeks of the school year to get all of that stuff put away. It was a big relief to her to have it all done today. When I left, the girls were working on language arts. There were no tears this year, I guess that means we are making progress toward them becoming more independent.

I have to say, it is nice to be home in a quiet house. We were all ready to get back into the routine of school. By 3:00 I will miss them, be ready to go pick them up, and find out how the first day went!

Back to the Pack

Today it began. The 2009 - 2010 scouting year got off to a great start for Cub Scout Pack 220. To get the year going we (and by we, I mostly mean me) organized a field day. The boys and siblings were invited out for 2 hours this morning to play soccer and flag football. There were 17 cub scouts and a bunch of siblings in attendance. The kids had a great day playing and getting to know each other once again.
This was the first event of the year for our new cubmaster. He did a great job of jumping right in and getting the kids excited. It looks like Pack 220 is going to have a fun, adventurous, educational, and exciting year!!!

The kids were happy to see each other after the long summer break. It didn't take them long to become reacquainted and start having fun.

Cubmaster Alberto got the kids organized and ready to play. He quickly got them back in the habit of using "signs-up" to keep everyone on the same page and paying attention.

After playing soccer and flag football everyone had a snack and posed for a group picture. The boys are excited to get a new year of scouting started!

Cub Scout Pack 220

Ready To Go!!!

Free Chocolate Friday!!!

It's that time of the week again. Time to register for your free chocolate coupon from the M&M/Mars company. Go here to register. But hurry, coupons are limited to the first 250,000 people who register.

Thursday Thought

"By and large, mothers and housewives are the only workers who do not have regular time off. They are the great vacationless class."

~Anne Morrow Lindbergh