ABCmouse.com #Review

I contacted Jill from ABCmouse.com a few weeks ago in the hopes that I would be able to let Fuss have something new to try while we were on either of our trips (California and New York) this month. While we were in Cali, we weren't able to spend much time on the computer, however, she played a little bit. When we returned home I found a great way to entertain Fuss while my sitter is out of town and I still had to work!

ABCmouse.com has this really great section on teaching basic computer mouse movements! Fuss is only 3-1/2, so she still doesn't quite have the hang of using the actual mouse. She does, however, LOVE her Daddy's touch screen computer! This makes it really easy for me to pop on my headphones, listen to dictations, and type all while still keeping an eye on her (sitting just a few feet away). Fuss could literally spend HOURS on this site if I let her! She is on Level 1 of Pre-K and each level is tailored to build upon each lesson.

Step-by-Step Learning path

Below, is a screen shot showing the parent's area where you can monitor your child's progress and add multiple children as well. Fuss hasn't yet managed much actual progress on the lessons, but she adores the colorful and fun games.

As you can see, the site is fully customizable to your child and their interests. Fuss loves learning with the music and fun alphabet songs. She has also started tracing letters with her fingers on the screen. I think her favorite part is when she receives tickets (yes, they actually fall down the screen from a "dispenser" into a basket at the bottom) for completing the requested activities. She will literally yell, "Mommy, I got a ticket!! Yay!" as she is bouncing up and down in the chair. She also counts them as they drop! Even better? She can buy things with her tickets such as dresses for her avatar or fish for the fish tank.


I am so glad I was able to do this review and am pleased to say that I am also giving away a 1-year membership to ABCmouse.com as well thanks to Jill! I definitely plan on keeping up with this site, especially since Fuss now asks, "Can I play ABCmouse.com?" on an almost-daily basis! I think that, alone, speaks for itself!

Please go HERE to enter the giveaway and be sure to check out the site and "Like" ABCmouse on Facebook and follow them on Twitter.

#MMM It's That Time Again

I'm joining in on a blog hop with The Gnome's Mom to share a little bit about the life I lead here. The Gnome's Mom is one of my favorite blogs to read and follow on a regular basis as well. If you're a blogger and would like to link up, feel free! And add us on Twitter with the hashtag #MMM

Time for our weekly update on the family and our life. As you know, Hubby and I celebrated our 7th anniversary on Saturday. Well, actually, we celebrated on Friday since he had to work Saturday evening. We went out to dinner at a local Italian restaurant and even had ice cream afterwards. Fuss was with my MIL and FIL, whom she loves being with, but she was ready for Mommy and Daddy to be home to take her and go to bed. One thing about her: She's only been away from us once in her 2 years. The last time she was with someone for an evening at her bedtime, she screamed for an hour and then crashed until we picked her up. She was mad at my mom for MONTHS afterward! LOL. But, I digress. We picked up Fuss and let her eat ice cream with us before settling her in for bed. It was really a great evening.

Our ceiling tiles came in at Lowe's, so we're preparing to get those up this week. I know I am looking forward to completing this project...it's been 3 years in the making. Although, we're not completely finished, it will be useable once the tiles are in and we have a "new" TV room.

I also had a computer crash last week. My uncle got it running well enough to extract the information from it. Well, we resurrected Hubby's old Dell....and it died. Wouldn't even bring up a Windows screen! (Well, sh*t!) Now what? We still had my laptop and a laptop MIL had given to Hubby, so that wasn't a big deal. Things were still functional. We still wanted to have a desktop though. Since we'd bought a new monitor less than a year ago, we decided to buy one without a monitor. That turned out to be harder to find than expected. So, instead, we opted to buy a "kit" computer. It had a tower, hard drives, USB ports, video card, and motherboard just like any store bought computer. The only difference? It wasn't assembled. We had rebuilt one of our desktops in the past, so it wasn't too big of a step. Plug and play, pretty much. So, that is now up and running. We're still loading programs as we come across ones we use frequently but forgot about. We slaved in the drives from the old computers and managed to extract all of our important information - photos, videos, documents, even music - with only a few lost songs. Not too bad!

I am VERY thankful we were able to extract my shorthand wordlist for my transcription school. That was, literally, MONTHS of work to put together and I nearly cried when I thought I couldn't rescue it. Now, I'm trying to figure out how to get the program to run well on 2 separate computers from a flash drive. If I can't, I'll just have to use the flash as a backup.

I'VE FINISHED MY MEDICAL TRANSCRIPTION SCHOOLING! 100%, BABY!!!! Now, I have to schedule my final and get graded. :D ,br />