1. Georgia had a major meltdown today in Micro Center. I don’t think they ever want me to return again if the children are with me. I could tell from their looks.
2. I wondered how long it would take someone to call 911 when I was dragging a crying girl to the car who was screaming, “NO! LET ME GOOOOO! I DON’T WANT TO GET IN THE CAR!!!”
3. Should a power adaptor for a laptop really take a visit to five different stores to locate?
4. Eli has a new expression that he picked up from me today – a very exasperated “Jesus Christ!” . . . Lovely.
5. If you drink Chlorophyll water, it makes your pee glow.
6. Three weeks until school starts. Can I get an Amen?!
7. Best Buy apparently has one adaptor for a Laptop, and a different one for a Notebook. I’m convinced they’re just trying to f*ck with me.
8. I discovered that I am out of vodka.
9. Why the hell does every store have a picture or even empty boxes of Wii Fits even thought they don’t actually have any Wii Fits?
10. Georgia only had one potty accident today, which would have been fine except she used my decorative palm tree towels to clean it up.
11. I found out that my husband will come close to hyperventilating if you tell him that I spent $30 for Georgia to get her hair cut.
12. I am still addicted to ebay. I just need to flat out block myself from the site.
13. I realized today that Eli has worn the same shirt for the last five days. This really has to change when kindergarten starts.
Thursday, July 31, 2008
13 Things About My Day
Wednesday, July 30, 2008
Tuesday, July 29, 2008
Potty Palooza
This weekend, we took the kids to yet another birthday party. A 5-year-old girl’s Hannah Montana-themed birthday party. This was the cake:
Okay, I knew Hannah Montana was popular, but when I went to the party I was surprised that there were girls there as young as three who knew ALL the words to the Hannah Montana songs! Dude! Then the presents ranged from anything and everything related to Hannah Montana, Miley Cyrus or High School Musical. For a 5-year-old? I am out of touch. I thought 5-year-old girls were still into Dora. I have a lot to learn in the next two years.
On the homefront, we proclaimed this weekend Potty Palooza. Georgia began wearing big girl panties on Saturday. Okay, I did put her in a Pull-Up for the party, but other than that she wore her big girl panties. The first couple of times, she had it. She pulled her undies down and went potty. After about the third time, for some reason, she said, “screw it” and decided it was just easier to go in the big girl panties and them scream for me to change her. *sigh*
Sunday was a little better. This time she did well all day. She pulled her pants down every time to go pee in the potty. Then she had to poop, and she pulled her pants down and pooped in the middle of the living room.
Monday, there was again a poop incident, but this time she did try to go to the potty. She just didn’t quite make it. But we are making progress, right? I’m hoping that it’s going to completely click soon. Eventually, everyone in my house will be wearing regular underwear. Without incident! It will happen! I know it!
Monday, July 28, 2008
Manic Monday - Storm
I love this week’s Manic Monday word – Storm – because this was one I could think of a few things to write about. My mind always seems to go to music first, but I will save that for the end.
I LOVE storms! Mid-summer, late evening thunderstorms are just about the best thing! I have a friend who moved to Seattle who told me that it never thunders there! What?! It rains all the time there, but no thunderstorms?! Dude, that is just not right!
Unfortunately, the storms have recently been working against us. Last weekend when we went out of town, we checked the weather, and there was only a 10 % chance of storms. Uh-huh. That 10 % chance managed to rain on us for the entire 4-hour trip. We even stopped once on the turnpike to look at the radar, and it was raining nowhere else except all along the interstate. Imagine that.
Then, this weekend I have had a serious craving for grilling out on the deck. Two days in a row, it has been perfectly sunny until we are just getting ready to cook out. Then it rains. Last night, the sky just opened up and let out a torrential downpour complete with thunder and lightning right after Eric put hamburgers on the grill, so he had to snatch them up and finish cooking them inside.
I try to pay attention to the weather, but honestly, how much good does that usually do? Even with all of that, I still love thunderstorms, as long as we don’t lose power. That is not cool.
On to the music. I recently made a lullaby CD to play for Georgia when she goes to sleep. One of the songs on it is Over The Rainbow sung by Harry Connick, Jr. (lurve him!). He sings it with a full orchestra, and at the beginning, the orchestra sounds like a big storm is rumbling. I wish I could find a clip of that on YouTube, it is super cool. Anyway, I made a copy of the CD for my 4-year-old niece, and later found out that the storm scared the crap out of her. I guess I need to be a little more careful when making mix CDs for children.
One of my favorite songs is Stay With You by the Goo Goo Dolls. You all know I am a Goo slut, so it shouldn’t surprise you that this came to my mind. The chorus is:
“I’ll stay with you
The walls will fall before we do
So take my hand now
We’ll run forever
I can feel the storm inside you
I’ll stay with you”
Fabulous song, freaking awesome video! See below.
Sunday, July 27, 2008
Snacktivate!
Kellogg’s Snacktivate Web site offers great ideas and recipes for moms to make snack time healthy for children. Kellogg’s sent us two boxes of Frosted Mini-Wheats cereal and some recipes so I could try out a few healthy snack ideas. All of their ideas are great because they are all recipes kids can help with, and my kids are definitely more apt to try something new if they created it themselves.
My kids are like me in the fact that they looooove cookies. (I drool like Homer Simpson when I think of homemade cookies!) The day we received the boxes of Frosted Mini-Wheats in the mail, I made the their recipe of Sassy SunDrop Cookies, which can be found on their Web site. It is a basic peanut butter cookie recipe with crushed Mini-Wheats added to the batter. Just as a side note, I think the best way to crush the cereal is to put it in a large Ziploc bag and bang the hell out of it with the flat side of a meat tenderizer. That way you can be productive and take out some aggression – multi-tasking!
Those cookies were delicious!!! I actually made a double batch, and not just because between me and my two kids, we eat half the batter. In addition to the kids loving the cookies, my husband couldn’t stop eating them. I was happy that I found a sneaky way to get a little extra fiber and more vitamins into everyone’s diet.
In addition to the cereal, we also received a Kellogg’s snack cup in the mail. I have never seen anything like it!
Hello! Coolest thing EVER! If you love cereal like me (my absolute favorite cereal is Kellogg’s Frosted Flakes Gold), this is great. You can freeze the bottom portion, and then pour your milk in it, so your milk will stay cold. The top cup screws onto it, and you add your cereal to that. On the go cereal!!! Awesome idea!
For more great healthy snacktime recipes, visit the Kellogg’s Snacktivate Web site. They offer recipes for quesadillas, muffins, parfaits, apple pie, you name it! In addition, the Snacktivate Web site offers comprehensive nutritional information and sensible snacking solutions. Visit their Web site today for some great ideas!
Now, I love peanut butter cookies, but I love chocolate chip cookies even more. So, I created my own recipe for Crunchy Chocolate Chip Cookies (below), using the crushed Mini-Wheats. They are YUM-O!!!
1 cup butter-flavored Crisco
1 cup white sugar
1 cup brown sugar
1 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons vanilla
2 beaten eggs
2 ½ cups wheat flour
1 cups crushed Frosted Mini-Wheats
1 12 oz. bag chocolate chips
1. Preheat oven to 375.
Friday, July 25, 2008
Rambling Friday
It was the last day of Mom’s Day Out, and the pedicure won! I hit up Beauty Brands this morning, and now I sit here with purple toenails. All is right with the world. And I didn’t even have to feel guilty because I had a gift certificate.
After that I went and spent $40 on my luxury purchase of gas! It’s really sad that I got excited because gas was ONLY $3.87 on the Missouri side.
Anyway, once I pick the kids up from Mom’s Day Out, they are always exhausted. You’d think that would be a good thing, right? Nope. Not my offspring. Georgia fell asleep on the way home, and all you moms know what that means. If your kid sleeps for 10 minutes in the car, that is their nap for the day. Yeah, no way in hell was she going back to sleep when we got home. So, that meant I had two very tired, very cranky kids on my hands who began fighting about everything, including such important issues as who got to hug the cat or who got to put the broom away.
At one point I banned the kids from watching anymore DVDs because I couldn’t handle the argument of whether they were going to watch Speed Racer or Backyardigans. After I announced the DVD ban, they left the room for about 30 seconds, and I immediately heard a Backyardigans DVD start up on the office computer. I went in there to find the kids sitting on the office chair, and I glared at them. Eli said, “I didn’t do it. It just started all by itself.”
I said, “Really? You mean the DVD jumped out of the case and into the computer and started playing all by itself, and you never even touched it?”
Eli said, “Exactly!” My sarcasm is lost on him. Although I am glad he is such a bad liar. I hope that skill doesn’t improve before high school.
Once they settled down, I continued on my quest to get my family healthy by making a dinner of citrus tilapia and brown rice with almonds. They bypassed that and began screaming because I wouldn’t let them have taffy.
I think I am ready for another Mom’s Day Out.
Thursday, July 24, 2008
Neila's Random Thursday 13
1. Eli desperately needs a haircut and I refuse to spend $20 when I can do it myself. The problem is – he HATES having his hair cut. I asked him today what it would take for him to sit still while I cut his hair. He looked me square in the eye and said, “75 cents.” It’s nice to know he has a price.
2. Today is my last “Mom’s Day Out” for the summer. I can’t decide if I should do something productive or just say ‘screw it’ and go see The Dark Knight.
3. I could also get a pedicure – that falls under “productive,” right?
4. Is there anyone who actually likes the show Little Bear on Noggin?
5. You would think that since I work from home, there wouldn’t be a time when I feel the urge to smack a co-worker, right? Wrong.
6. Less than one month until The Goo Goo Dolls, Volume 2 comes out on August 19th. I have already pre-ordered my copy. I am so excited!
7. I never believed my stylist when she said I needed a $100 flat iron to get my hair straight. Then I finally broke down and bought one. She was right. The Croc iron is a freaking miracle!
8. I would really like to know why healthy foods are so freaking expensive! I just paid almost $6.00 a pound for Rainier cherries. This annoys me because they jack up the prices so high that no one buys it. Then it goes rotten, and they have to throw it out. Does this make sense to anyone?
9. If you can’t afford to spend $6.00 a pound for cherries, you could always go buy some bulk Brach’s candy. That’s only $3.00 a pound.
10. I am so excited that Project Runway is back on. This has nothing to do with the massive girl crush I have on Heidi Klum.
11. Georgia’s quote of the day was when she stomped up to me in her princess shoes and loudly stated, “Excuse me! But I am NOT a monster!” And stomped away. . . oooookay.
12. I learned that you can add fiber to your diet easily by crushing up Mini-Wheats and using them in recipes!
13. I had a hypnotherapy appointment last night, and my therapist is awesome. This is just one of the reasons I love her. She showed up in tight jeans, a bullet belt, a sheer black shirt and black bra, and dark make-up. She had a “gig” right after our appointment (her husband is in a band), and she knew I wouldn’t mind if she was herself. I love her!
Wednesday, July 23, 2008
Tuesday, July 22, 2008
This place is a zoo!
We took the kids to the zoo this weekend with Eric’s parents, his sister, and her kids. The zoo always sounds like a good idea in theory. Then when I get there and it’s the middle of July, I realize that it is f*cking hot! (I get irate in upper-90 degree heat.) It also doesn’t help that the stroller is a very distant memory for Georgia.
That is something I don’t understand. She doesn’t want to ride in the stroller, but she doesn’t want to walk either. I had to carry her through the whole zoo because she didn’t want anyone else but mommy. I tried many times to tell her that daddy needed love, too, but when Eric did tried to hold her, she was not happy:
The kids did seem to have a good time. I suppose I would have had a better time if someone was carrying my ass all over the zoo, but I digress.
The kids loved the petting area. I discovered that Georgia likes to hug the goats and lay on them just like she does our cats. Except the goats aren’t nearly as tolerant as the cats are. I had never seen a goat actually buck a small child. (Said goat is pictured below before the “incident”.)
Luckily, we escaped the petting zoo without injury. As we were leaving the zoo, we asked Eli what his favorite part was. Guess what he said. “The lady making the snow cones. That was cool!”
Monday, July 21, 2008
Manic Monday - Lick
After much thought, I did finally think of something. Ice cream! We have been enjoying a lot of ice cream this summer because the kids both received coupons for their birthdays from Baskin Robbins and Cold Stone Creamery. (I drool at the thought of their cake batter ice cream.)
Eating ice cream with Georgia is always a challenge because she only licks one side of the cone. I have to be very sneaky about licking the other side of the cone before rivers of ice cream stream down Georgia’s arm. I discovered this weekend, when I bought her a snow cone at the zoo, that she licks snow cones exactly the same as she licks ice cream cones. Without nearly as much success.
Speaking of ice cream, I got very excited by Ben and Jerry’s lately when I heard they were coming out with a new limited edition:
This ice cream is only available in the scoop shops until July 25! I will be there tomorrow! Is it sad that I get this excited about ice cream?Friday, July 18, 2008
Tales From The Potty
And my attempts to potty train Georgia continue. Dude! She starts preschool the day after Labor Day. I have a little over one month with her, and she must have it down! I don’t think they would buy it if I just sent her to preschool, said she was potty trained and then acted shocked when she had an accident every single day. Or maybe I could try that. Hmmm . . .
At home, she does not wear pants. This tactic worked with Eli – naked from the waist down. With Georgia, that even works better because I bought her lots of little fun summer dresses, so you really can’t tell that she doesn’t have pants on. If I don’t put pants on her, she goes potty. So, we’re half way there.
Occasionally, I try putting regular panties on her. The first few times I tried that, she peed right through them. She didn’t get that you were supposed to pull them down to go potty. I tried again on Tuesday. She had on her little sundress and panties, and every time she needed to potty, she pulled the panties down! Woo hoo! Did she finally get it? Did it click? Is it possible the universe could be so kind to me?
Tuesday evening after a full day of success, we took the kids to the library. I took Georgia to the potty right before we left the house, and I decided to leave on her panties since she had been doing so well all day.
Picture this. We are in the middle of the (fully carpeted) library. Georgia was standing next to me, and all of a sudden I hear someone pouring water. Hmm . .. that’s odd. Then I looked down. Georgia was standing there, her legs slightly spread, and the biggest torrential downpour of pee I have ever seen was streaming out of her, flooding the carpet.
I gasped and snatched her up, wrapping her legs around my waist. I mean if she’s going to be, hopefully it would be less noticeable to those around us if she peed on me rather than in the middle of the floor.
Now, here is something I wish for you. I hope you are never in a dilemma in which the optimum choice is to have your child pee all over you.
I ran with Georgia to the restroom and sat her on the potty – not that that did any good since she was all finished by then. I pocketed her soaked panties – I mean what the hell, right? I was already soaked in pee. And I tried to subtley leave the library with urine-soaked clothing and a half naked 3-year-old.
Eric was waiting outside for me. Laughing his ass off.
Okay, so in retrospect it probably was funny. But still, I hope next time Georgia pees all over daddy.
Thursday, July 17, 2008
13 Photos We Took At Eli's Chuck E. Cheese Party
1. Eli with his friend Jack and mechanical Chuck E. Cheese.
2. Georgia was happy before she got near the scary ass Chuck E. Cheese.
3. Then she had a melt down.
4. Eli loves playing the games.
5. Here is one of his favorites - the roller coaster game.
6. Eli and his girlfriend Savannah. This gives me a visual of what things will be like in 10 years!
7. Yay! Time for cake!
8. More mechanical Chuck E. Cheese fun until . . .
9. The real Chuck E. Cheese came out.
10. In this shot, you can see our bored hostess.
11. Eli was just happy that Chuck E. Cheese gave him a medal.
12. Then it was time for presents!
13. Woo hoo!
Wednesday, July 16, 2008
Nearly Wordless Wednesday - The Alien and The Princess
Tuesday, July 15, 2008
The Chuck E. Cheese Experience
Yesterday was the big day. 10 kids, 11 adults, and a CEC hostess that looked like she was just about bored to tears. Seriously. For what they charge for parties at that place, they should at least hire employees who can muster a smile.
(My TT this week will be 13 pictures we took at CEC, so check back on Thursday.)
Anyway, the kids seemed to have a great time. Except for Georgia. Our party table was located right in front of the big, animatronic Chuck E. Cheese. That thing scared the living shit out of my daughter. Admittedly, Chuck E. Cheese is a little scary, but Georgia was freaked. She wouldn’t sit at the table – I had to take her to a table towards the back to get her to stop screaming. I sat her by grandma and tried to go back up front to take pictures, but Georgia seemed to be worried that I would be attacked by the giant scary mouse and started screaming again.
If I thought that was bad, about an hour into the party, the real Chuck E. Cheese (i.e. person in a CEC suit) came out to greet the kids, hug them, and sing Happy Birthday.
Georgia flipped the f*ck out! She ran, screaming, “NO! NO! NO! NO!” Seriously, she was running as if she were being chased by Jack the Ripper. I picked her up, and the poor girl was shaking like a leaf. I felt so bad for her. I tried to explain how mommy wouldn’t let CEC hurt her, but she was having none of it. If I took one step back toward the party, she started screaming again.
So, the moral of the story is this. Eli had the best birthday ever, and informed me that he wants to have his party at Chuck E. Cheese every year. But, that trip Eric has been wanting us to take to DisneyWorld is definitely out. I don’t think poor little Georgia would be able to handle it.
Monday, July 14, 2008
Manic Monday - Bug
This week’s Manic Monday word is Bug! Yay, a Manic Monday word that doesn’t bug me when I try to think of something to write. (ba doom ching)
If any of you have little boys, you may be experiencing some of what I am going through this summer. My six-year-old LOVES bugs. Actually, it’s not just bugs – it’s pretty much anything that is alive and crawling . . . or flying for that matter. I have noticed that in the last few weeks, my mantra (which was previously “Look with your eyes not with your hands.”) has now become “All bugs stay outside!”
I think I am going to have to alter that mantra just a little bit because Eli is extremely literal. One afternoon I was working on my laptop while the kids were playing in the backyard. Eli comes in and shoves his hand in front of my face and says, “Mama! Look!”
He was holding one of the biggest freaking spiders I had ever seen about two centimeters from my face. Of course, I let out a blood-curdling scream so loud that I’m sure it was heard across town. I’m sorry, but the spider scared the crap out of me. Unfortunately, my screaming scared Eli so much that he jumped . . . and dropped the spider, which went scurrying under the coffee table.
NOT. COOL.
I seriously don’t do spiders! My first apartment in college was infested with daddy long legs. It was like living in Arachnophobia. I hated those damn things. And why is it that spiders like to achieve that element of surprise? They’re always popping up when you least expect it!
But, I digress. After Eli set a spider loose in the house, he said, “But Mama. You said that all BUGS have to stay outside. You didn’t say anything about spiders!” I informed him that included spiders. I said, “No bugs, spiders, roly polies, ladybugs, june bugs, fireflies, or anything that flies.”
So after that, guess what I found out last night? As Eli came in and shoved his hand under my face, saying, “Look Mama!” I realized that I forgot to say worms. *sigh*
Sunday, July 13, 2008
Strawberry Explosion
Recently, Mom Central teamed up with the California Strawberry Commission to spread the word about all the wonderful benefits of strawberries, plus fun strawberry facts to share with your kids, and fun interactive games to play on the Web at Strawberryville.com.
Did you know that California growers pick about 6 million crates of strawberries each week to ship to grocery stores nationwide? So, what do we do with these wonderful strawberries?
Take advantage of the hundreds of strawberry recipes that can be found here. Whether you enjoy strawberry shortcake, strawberry drinks, desserts, or strawberry salads (my favorite is the strawberry chicken salad), the California Strawberry Commission has hundreds of recipes absolutely free for you and your family to enjoy.
Not only are strawberries the most delicious fruit out there (in my opinion), but they also have numerous health benefits. Here are just a few things that moms should know:
• Strawberries contain powerful antioxidants.
• One serving of strawberries contains more vitamin C than one orange.
• Strawberries help fight some types of cancer, lower blood pressure, and reduce the risk of heart disease.
• Strawberries aid in memory function, and help prevent Alzheimer’s.
• Strawberries decrease stress and inflammation.
If your kids are picky eaters (like mine), you can find a way to serve them strawberries by trying one of the many recipes found on CSC’s Web site. In addition, they also have a lot of fun strawberry facts to share with your kids. Increasing their knowledge of strawberries will make eating them more fun!
Here are a few fun facts to share:
• If you lined up all of the strawberries grown in California in one straight line, they would wrap around the Earth 15 times.
• There are about 200 seeds on the outside of each strawberry.
• California harvests over a billion pounds of strawberries each year.
• One acre of land (about the size of one football field) grows about 50,000 pounds of strawberries - that's the same weight as 4 elephants!
Friday, July 11, 2008
All together now – Ewwww!
Do you ever have a day where your children do something, and you wonder what happened to the brain that God gave them? Eli has something new he started doing the other day.
I was sitting in the family room, and he came out of the bathroom with a big wad of wet toilet paper in his hand. I said, “WHAT are you doing?” He explained that he decided to throw the toilet paper away in the trash can rather than in the toilet. After he used the bathroom, he used the toilet paper and then put it in the toilet. Then dug it all out of the toilet (I won’t go into how disgusting this was – you can imagine), wrung it out and brought it into the family room.
I was trying to be calm. I said, “Eli, YUCK! Toilet paper stays IN the toilet! Why would you take it out?” Then I got the answer that is really beginning to annoy me.
“I dunno.” Gaaa!
I explained about germies, and how we don’t stick our hands in the toilet (Ewwww!), and Eli said he wouldn’t do it again.
Fast forward to yesterday. I was on the phone with one of my best friends, and I had to go to the bathroom. (Come on, you’ve all gone to the bathroom when you’re talking on the phone. Don’t pretend you haven’t.) However, I didn’t flush, because I didn’t want the person on the other end to hear the toilet flushing.
I was on the phone for a few more minutes, and as I was hanging up, here comes Eli out of the bathroom with a big wad of toilet paper, asking “Mama, why did you waste all this toilet paper?” Yes, he had dug every last bit of it out of the toilet. This time Eric was home. It was very entertaining to see the look of horror on his face when he realized what Eli was doing.
This time Eric talked to Eli and scrubbed his hands clean. We got the same, “I won’t do it again.” Uh-huh. I certainly hope not. I would just really like to know where Eli developed a sudden fascination with toilet paper.
Thursday, July 10, 2008
13 Things We Looked At Today With Eli's New EyeClops
1. A piece of pizza (food doesn’t look very appetizing under this thing)
2. My face. (which I discovered is desperately in need of moisturizer)
3. The bottom of my husband’s shoe. (Ewwww!)
4. Eli’s hair – naturally blonde.
5. My hair – not naturally blonde.
6. My bedspread (which, apparently, I need to wash)
7. Bugs (Ewww again)
8. The cat (who did not appreciate being magnified)
9. Georgia’s owie (aka – the rug burn on her knee)
10. Pennies from daddy’s pocket (the dirt on those coins made me want to get out the hand sanitizer.)
11. My toothbrush.
12. The yogurt stain on Eli’s shirt.
13. Our ears.
Luckily, I managed to stop Eli before he peed in a cup and stuck the magnifier in it. . . but I’m sure that’s coming.
Wednesday, July 09, 2008
Tuesday, July 08, 2008
Happy Birthday, Eli!!
Today is my baby boy's 6th birthday! He's 6!! I can't believe it!! The last six years have really flown by. It seems like yesterday I was fighting with the nurses at the hospital to get them to take him out of the incubator so I could hold him. And now, he's my little barefoot, gum-chewing bug conqueror!
Since it is his birthday, I will save the story I was going to tell about him digging through the toilet, and just show you the video I made. It's a montage like I made for Georgia. Eli's video is set to A New Day Has Come by Celine Dion. This song came out the year I had Eli - 2002. I don't think there will ever be a time I will be able to listen to this song without crying.
Monday, July 07, 2008
Manic Monday - Stripe
I asked my husband what he thought of when I said the word Stripe. He grinned really big and said, “Well, how about the new blue and green striped underwear you just bought,” and wiggled his eyebrows. *insert boom chica wow wow music here* Unfortunately, I don’t have a porn blog, so that idea won’t really work.
Then I thought of something much sweeter. When Eli was born, we painted his nursery in blue and white stripes. It was very time-consuming, but it looked awesome! I LOVED that room!! But that was in our old house, and it was before we had a digital camera, so I don’t have a good picture of it ready to post.
Eli gave me another idea when we had a cook-out this weekend. We barbecued hamburgers and hot dogs, and Eli refused to eat because he doesn’t like stripes on his hot dog!! He thought that gave him justification for eating nothing but chips and juice pouches the rest of the night.
The only thing I thought of myself was the movie Stripes from 1981, starring Bill Murray and P.J. Soles. You remember P.J. Soles – She played Linda the Totally girl from Halloween, and Riff Randall in Rock and Roll High School. Anyway, Stripes is still freaking hilarious! Here is a YouTube clip of one of my favorite scenes from the movie:
Beaches WonderFall Celebration
Mom Central just teamed up with the Beaches Resort to spread the word about their WonderFall celebration, and I am here to help! I'm taking part in the WonderFall Blog Tour to tell you about Beaches new special event (and to hopefully win a trip myself). How many times have heard me say, “Dude! I need a vacation!”?
Many people think of taking vacations at Beaches Family resort during those peak summer months when they are super busy. This year, Beaches is promoting their WonderFall celebration for the months of September and October to help families realize that you can enjoy Beaches the entire year round! Plus, if you choose to book a trip during the off-peak months of September and October (the WonderFall months), you get to enjoy wonderful savings!
Beaches sounds awesome if you are looking for that perfect family getaway. They have four all-inclusive resorts in the Caribbean. The best part is that all of the important things are included in the family vacation packages. It’s much easier to stay within your budget when you are not nickel and dimed to death with hidden expenses. Even airport transfers, hotel taxes and gratuities are included in your package!
Enjoy gourmet meals and snacks, tennis, golf, snorkeling and scuba diving, plus supervised children’s activities to keep the kids happy and busy while mom and dad relax. In the evening, you can enjoy nightly entertainment and stage shows or schedule a nanny for the kids if you need a little adult time.
Beaches has outstanding family entertainment that your children will love including The Beaches Resorts Caribbean Adventure with Sesame Street where you kids will enjoy activities with their favorite Sesame Street characters. Supervised kids camps are available for children of all ages, so there is something for the entire family.
If you take advantage of Beaches’ WonderFall Celebration for the off-peak months of September and October, you get to enjoy all Beaches amenities plus you save up to 45% off published rates and get up to two nights free!! Beaches is celebrating this special WonderFall event with a great fall line-up of events and activities!
Visit Beaches Web site to learn more about their resorts and more about the WonderFall celebration!!
Friday, July 04, 2008
Friday Ramble
There is so much going on today that I didn’t even know where to begin. I enrolled the kids in Moms Day Out on Thursdays so I could get some work done, and then I totally played hooky. Eric took the day off, and we totally did #13, #2, #5, and #4 on my list. Oh yeah, baby – the monkey love was first. And it is so nice to be able to get a happy in a house where you don’t have to worry about the children knocking on the door asking, “Mommy, why are you screaming?”
After that, Eric and I went to the Bodies Revealed exhibit, which is totally not naughty even though it sounds that way. It was cool. Dude! If you ever want to quit smoking, go see this. It will scare you straight!!
Then, we went and had a nice lunch on The Plaza. What an absolutely lovely day! The weekend is looking nice, too. We are having friends over on Saturday night for a cookout. Hopefully before then, we will have time to put the kids' new sandbox together so they will have something to occupy their time. Although, Eli and Georgia have a new bug-catching kit, which they have fallen in love with. The poor fireflies in our backyard don't stand a chance!
Switching topics, if you like independent music, there is an artist I am totally supporting. Her name is Sandra McCracken, and she is amazing! I saw her live a few years ago, and I just fell in love with her music. You can check her out on her Myspace page, where you can download some of her music for free. Support independent music!!
Speaking of Myspace, I finally got a Myspace page. Yes, Myspace has been around for how many years now, and I resisted until some Johnny Rzeznik fans started a fan club. Yes, I am 36 years old, and I am a groupie. Sue me! The man is a god! (See photo below.) Anyway, this is my Myspace page, so you can add me as a friend if you’re not freaked out by the fact that I am a 36-year-old groupie.
Have a great fourth, everyone! Be safe!
Thursday, July 03, 2008
13 Things I Could Do With My Husband When The Kids Aren’t Home
1. Drop the kids off, come home and enjoy the peace and quiet.
2. Talk to each other without having to scream over the noise of the children.
3. Go to a movie that is not animated.
4. Go to lunch at an adult-type restaurant.
5. Go to an art exhibit. (I think this is the winner!)
6. Go sit in a coffee shop and not have to chase kids around.
7. Shop for Eli’s birthday present.
8. Enjoy an entire day without having to watch Nicktoons.
9. Hang out at a book store (not an easy task with the kids)
10. Go to an adult arcade.
11. Clean out the kids’ old toys since they won’t be here to scream “NOOOOO!”
12. Go grocery shopping without having anybody cry because we won’t buy them candy.
13. Come home and make wild passionate monkey love.
Scrub It Clean!
Next to ironing, I would say that cleaning the bathtub and shower are probably my least favorite chores. And I am not alone! Did you know that 23 percent of women would rather be paying bills than cleaning their bathroom? And 11 percent would rather be sitting in traffic than scrubbing the nasty shower.
I am ecstatic anytime a company comes up with something to make my life a little easier, so you can imagine how thrilled I was when Mom Central teamed up with Scrubbing Bubbles and sent me the new Scrubbing Bubbles Action Scrubber!
The Action Scrubber is great – it’s a foam easy-grip handle that velcros to a disposable pad. Each pad contains scrubbing fibers and Scrubbing Bubbles cleaning formula. I really liked the gripper because I have joint problems in my hands and wrists, so this was much easier for me to use than a regular sponge or rag, and I was able to scrub more effectively with the Action Scrubber. You can take the pad off of the handle to clean with it by itself if you have some hard-to-reach places, but I was able to reach all parts of my tub and shower with it attached to the handle.
Honestly, I have never really used Scrubbing Bubbles cleaner, so I was thrilled to find that the action scrubber removed the ring around my tub caused by a combination of dirty children, bubble bath and bath crayons – that’s no easy task!
I will definitely buy the Scrubbing Bubbles Action Scrubber again. It comes with four disposable pads. My only complaint is that I tried to use one pad to clean both the tub and the shower, and there wasn’t quite enough cleaner in one pad to effectively clean both. So you do need to use one pad for your tub and one pad for your shower. Given, my tub was incredibly dingy, so maybe people with a normal amount of dirt can stretch the use of one pad a little further.
Overall, this is a great product – very effective and much easier on my hands! A thumbs up from this mommy! To learn more about the new Scrubbing Bubbles Action Scrubber, visit the Scrubbing Bubbles Web site!
Wednesday, July 02, 2008
Wordless Wednesday - Artsy
Tuesday, July 01, 2008
Accidents Happen
You know you should go back to bed when the first thing you hear in the morning is “MAMA! I HAD AN ACCIDENT!” These were Eli’s first words when he woke up this morning. When this happens, he will not get out of bed and come find me. He stays in bed yelling for me until I finally hear him and go to his room.
Apparently, he got into the juice pouches last night that we bought at Costco and drank so much that he woke up in a bed full of pee. I stuck him in the shower to clean off while I stripped his bed. This was around 8 a.m., and during this whole fiasco, the neighbor boy shows up banging on the door to see if Eli could play. Dude! It was 8 a.m. I hadn’t even had coffee yet. I said no, Eli was taking a shower and still needed to eat breakfast. Neighbor boy came back 15 minutes later to bang on the door again. Gaaa!
After I dealt with that situation, I got Eli dressed and sprayed his mattress down with Febreeze. Then Georgia woke up. Apparently, Eli wasn’t the only one who got into the juice pouches. Georgia even wears a Pull-Up to bed, and her pajamas were completely soaked. She had filled that Pull-Up and just kept going, so her bed was soaked, too. Here it was 9:00 a.m., and I had stripped two beds.
When I went down to do laundry, I remembered Eric saying, “Oh, there’s not very much laundry this week.” Uh-huh. With the kids’ bedding, that brought me up to six loads of laundry.
By the time Eric got home this evening, I was ready for a drink. Luckily we had all the ingredients to make grasshoppers – yum-o! Unfortunately, we don’t have a cocktail shaker, but let me tell you what works just as well – a sippy cup! Oh yeah, picture Eric mixing drinks in a purple Dora sippy cup. I should have taken a picture of that. Anyway, I got my grasshopper, and the day ended on a much better note than which it began.
