Wordless Wednesday - Denial

Bwa ha ha...I love Calvin and Hobbes

The review that wasn't...

 

 

I’m supposed to be writing up a great review for Perdue Oven Ready Chicken, but I’m not! Why, you ask? Well you see a couple weeks ago I was asked to do a BzzAgent review for this product. I was glad to do it…we eat chicken all the time and I’ve used Perdue products before and loved them.

Unfortunately it wasn’t meant to be… One would think living in a Suburb of a large city that you would be able to find most anything. Obviously not! I can’t even tell you how many grocery stores I went to trying to find it…to no avail. I don’t even want to think of all the gas I wasted in the process. LOL

I would hope in the future that the BzzAgent people and the company that needs the review would make sure of product availability in the reviewers area. Funny thing is, I actually spoke to the Meat Department Managers in several of my local stores to find out that they did have the product a while back, but due to low sales they quit carrying it.

Oh well….at least I tried!

The girl finally saw the big man...

Between all of us getting sick and other stuff…I hadn’t taken Hailey to see Santa yet this year. Well that was until yesterday…she was so excited. We’ve been watching all kinds of Christmas shows and of course her normal shows have had Christmas stuff as well (all in preparation for the big day).

I don’t think she has quite got the presents and Santa connection yet, but after Christmas this go round I’m 100% positive she will.

Anywho…we went to our local mall (they always have an awesome Santa and scenery set up). I figured I’d scope it out and see how busy they were cause there is NO WAY I’m standing in some super long line with this one. I couldn’t believe it, there was only one family ahead of us. Hailey could hardly contain herself to wait and mommy made the mistake of letting her out of the stroller...thank goodness we didn’t have to wait long!

 It was funny, the little girls ahead of us weren’t too pleased about visiting with Santa and then the little one after us had a complete melt down.

Hailey must be some kind of Santa wonder or something because the Santa kept commenting on how good she was (and I mean like over and over). I guess after we saw the last little girl have a total cow it kinda makes sense.  

Hope you guys are getting all your Christmas stuff finished up…

 

 

A great Cause

Don’t get me wrong….I love getting presents! I think though, I like giving a really good one even better. I’m not one of those people that can just go at the last minute and grab whatever…it’s got to be right. What can be any more right than giving someone what they REALLY need??

Trust me…I know how busy we all are this time of year, but isn’t it a great time to stop for a minute and think about those that have been injured or set back from unforeseen circumstances. There are so many ways to give to your community that costs very little if anything at all.

Hailey and I recently went through all of her little baby toys and gave them to a family that really needed it. The mom had to go on leave from her job very early in her pregnancy and then ended up having her baby prematurely. Needless to say, she ended up staying home a lot longer than they had planned. I’m sure going from a two income family to one unexpectedly with three kids can be challenging.  I was so excited to be able to help them out!

Another notable way that just came to my attention is the Holiday Hurricane Rebound program that is sponsored by Touchstone Crystal (a member of the Swarovski Group). The goal of this program is to support the roughly 250 independent business women on the east coast that were severely affected by the effects of Hurricane Sandy. These women depend on income generated from in-home party sales and were unable to have them due to the devastating effects of the storm.

The aim is to have people from anywhere in the country partner with a specific Touchstone Crystal small business owner on the East Coast that was devastated by the storm. In addition, Touchstone Crystal will make double jewelry credit awards available to any remote host who signs up for the program.

To see some of their beautiful jewelry you can go here. If you would like to get more information on the Holiday Hurricane Rebound Program you can go here.

 

 

Wordless Wednesday - Southern Grammar

 

For those of ya'll that don't live in the South....it's true....REALLY!

 

 

Alexia Foods – Spicy Sweet potato Fries

 

A couple weeks ago I got my Alexia Foods buzz pack from Bzz Agent. I hadn’t realized until I got the pack and started looking through it that I’d eaten their foods before. I looked through the box of goodies which included a reusable shopping bag and several coupons for free some of their all natural products. Not to mention additional coupons to pass out…so if anyone would like some $1 coupons just let me know!

Remembering to take my coupons with me is the hard part….I don’t know about ya’ll, but I’ve tried the whole coupon thing and can never remember the darn coupons (other than for diapers). I did find Alexia products at Target, Publix and Kroger. I think Target probably had the largest selection.

Hailey and I LOVE sweet potatoes so I was really excited to try out the spicy sweet potato fries. We ended up finding those and the regular curly fries. I was sneaky and didn’t let the rest of the non-sweet potato eating family know what they are….<evil grin>. Of course Hailey and I loved them, but the big shocker was that the hubby and my oldest liked them as well.

I nearly fell over when I saw my oldest eating them….he HATES and I mean hates sweet potatoes. “I was like….you do know what you’re eating…right??” And he was like “yup” and went right on eating them.

I would say that this was definitely a thumbs up!

Wordless Wednesday - Artist

My little artist is hard at work on her latest creation...she just LOVES this table....

Did ya miss me?

 

I’ve been so dog sick I thought it might actually be possible for the germs to transmit through the internet….LOL Yes, the girls passed me their nasty germs. We were so sick over the weekend that I didn’t even get dressed till yesterday! I know…that’s bad. So obviously I didn’t leave the confines of the house till Monday…YIKES! Can we say STIR CRAZY?

I’m finally starting to feel better so I figured I better get on here and let ya’ll know I’m still alive and that I officially made it a month of daily postings…and just in the nick of time too! Cause there was no way I was gonna post this last weekend.

 I hope everyone is avoiding all the nasty little bugs that are currently all over the place and getting all your holiday stuff done! Fa la la la la la lots of shopping to do....

Hailey's Picks: Great Songs For Toddlers Part 2 – Get a move on

 

When the kiddos get bored…you’ll look for most anything to get them busy. When Hailey gets bored its BIG trouble…she looks for ANYTHING she knows she not supposed to be into to occupy herself.

In times like these…I like to whip out my little arsenal of fun and silly songs to sing!

Songs for toddlers should be fun — and these songs with their arm-moving and leg-shaking definitely qualify. After you’ve sung and danced them a few times, you’ll be surprised at how quickly your little one figures out what comes next. The sillier you are….the more fun they’ll have (and yes...the more often you’ll have to sing them)!

The Wheels on the Bus

The wheels on the bus go round and round,
round and round,
round and round.
The wheels on the bus go round and round,
all through the town.
(Roll hands around each other)

The wipers on the bus go Swish, swish, swish;
Swish, swish, swish;
Swish, swish, swish.
The wipers on the bus go Swish, swish, swish,
all through the town.
("Swish" hands in front of you like windshield wipers)

The horn on the bus goes Beep, beep, beep;
Beep, beep, beep;
Beep, beep, beep.
The horn on the bus goes Beep, beep, beep,
all through the town.
(Act like honking a horn)

The doors on the bus go open and shut;
Open and shut;
Open and shut.
The doors on the bus go open and shut;
all through the town.
(Push hands back and forth in front of you)

The Driver on the bus says "Move on back,
move on back, move on back;"
The Driver on the bus says "Move on back",
all through the town.
(Point thumb over your shoulder)

The babies on the bus say "Wah, wah, wah;
Wah, wah, wah;
Wah, wah, wah".
The babies on the bus say "Wah, wah, wah",
all through the town.
(Rub fists in front of eyes)

The mommies on the bus say "Shush, shush, shush;
Shush, shush, shush;
Shush, shush, shush."
The mommies on the bus say "Shush, shush, shush"
all through the town.
(Hold finger in front of mouth as if saying shhh)

 

Zoom, Zoom, Zoom

Zoom, zoom, zoom where going to the moon
Zoom, zoom, zoom we’ll get there very soon
If you want to take a trip
Climb aboard my rocket ship
Zoom, zoom, zoom were going to the moon
5, 4, 3, 2, 1 Zooooooommmmmm!!!!

*Ok so this one isn’t really action, but its fun (and they’re secretly learning).

 

IF YOU’RE HAPPY AND YOU KNOW IT

Emotion version
If You’re Happy is great for helping toddlers when they are learning to express emotions.  You can act out each emotion as you say it.

If you’re happy and you know it, clap your hands. If you’re happy and you know it, clap your hands. If you’re happy and you know it, then your face will surely show it. If you’re happy and you know it, clap your hands.

 Additional verses: (to be sung in same fashion as the first one)
If you’re surprised and you know if say, “Oh my!”
If you’re sad and you know it, rub your eyes “Boo hoo”
If you’re scared and you know it, shiver and shake.
If you’re sleepy and you know it, close your eyes.
If you’re angry and you know it, stomp your feet.
And always make sure end up with “happy” again.

Action Version (Of course the standard version…):

If you’re happy and you know it Clap your hands…… (If you’re happy and you know it, clap your hands. If you’re happy and you know it, clap your hands. If you’re happy and you know it, then your face will surely show it. If you’re happy and you know it, clap your hands.

Additional verses: (to be sung in same fashion as the first one)
If you’re happy and you know it Jump up and down….
If you’re happy and you know it Stomp your feet…….
If you’re happy and you know it Shout Hooray!……

 B-I-N-G-O

Ever notice that little kids want their fun on instant replay? If they liked a song the first time, chances are they want to hear it again and again, so songs like “B-I-N-G-O,” with its repetitiveness are especially toddler friendly. You can encourage your lil one to pretend to be the pup by barking along to the tune (Hailey gets the giggles with this), or get her to clap along with you as you spell out the name.

There was a farmer who had a dog,
And Bingo was his name-o.
B-I-N-G-O
B-I-N-G-O
B-I-N-G-O
And Bingo was his name-o.

*You’re supposed to clap an additional letter each time you go through the verse but we usually just sing it and change the verses to Bingo doing different things each time…it keeps her attention longer.

Hokey-Pokey

 Most of all, songs for toddlers should be fun — and “Hokey-Pokey,” with its arm-waggling, leg-shaking, and circle-turning, definitely qualifies. After you’ve sung and danced it a few times, you’ll be surprised how quickly your toddler figures out which body part goes into the circle next. Make it even sillier by using toys or stuffed animals as props: “You put your bunny in; you take your bunny out....” That really is what it’s all about, right?

You put your right hand in,
You put your right hand out,
You put your right hand in,
And you shake it all about,

You do the hokey pokey
and you turn yourself around
That’s what it's all about.

2) Left hand
3) right foot
4) left foot
5) head
6) booty
7) whole self

 

I Use My Brain

(From 500 Five Minute Games by Jackie Silberg)

I use my brain to think, think, think (touch head)

I use my nose to smell (touch nose)

I use my eyes to blink, blink, blink (touch eyes)

I use my throat to yell (touch your neck/throat as you yell the word yell)

I use my mouth to giggle, giggle, giggle (touch mouth)

I use my hips to bump (touch hips or I like to hip bump with her)

I use my toes to wiggle, wiggle, wiggle (wiggle toes)

And I use my legs to jump (jump)

 

One, Two Buckle My Shoe
One, two, buckle my shoe (act like buckling shoe)
Three, four, shut the door (act like shutting a door)
Five, six, pick-up sticks (act like picking up sticks)
Seven, eight, lay them straight (lay them straight)
Nine, ten, let’s do it again

 

Teddy Bear, Teddy Bear

Teddy Bear, Teddy Bear, turn around

Teddy Bear, Teddy Bear, touch the ground

Teddy Bear, Teddy Bear reach up high

Teddy Bear, Teddy Bear wink an eye

Teddy Bear, Teddy Bear touch your nose

Teddy Bear, Teddy Bear touch your toes

Teddy Bear, Teddy Bear shut the door

Teddy Bear, Teddy Bear count to four

Teddy Bear, Teddy Bear climb the stairs

Teddy Bear, Teddy Bear say your prayers

Teddy Bear, Teddy Bear turn out the light

Teddy Bear, Teddy Bear say goodnight.

 

This Little Piggy

This little piggy went to mark. (Wiggle big toe)

This little piggy stayed home. (Wiggle second toe)

This little piggy had roast beef. (Wiggle third toe)

This little piggy had none. (Wiggle fourth toe)

And this little piggy cried… “Wee, wee, wee: all the way home. (Wiggle baby toe)

Out the window!

It doesn’t matter what you have planned or how organized you are….when your kids get sick everything else goes out the window! As most of you are probably now guessing yes I had sick duty today. Livie has an Upper Respiratory Infection and Hailey has a stomach bug….JOY.

Needless to say mommy had the sick sister watch today. My poor little pathetic babies…. They were a sight to see and YES I do have pics (is that evil of me or what?). LOL, they don’t care Hailey even hammed it up a bit.

So in other words ya’ll get a last minute post, but at least you get pics…right?

 

Now mommy's main goal is to try to avoid getting either child's ailment...we'll see how this goes!

 

Wordless Wednesday – Nature Girl

This is her element…she absolutely loves anything and everything about being outside. She has to stop each and every time we go in and out of the house to pick stuff for her ever growing nature collection.

Not to mention, that she constantly wants to go out and play…even if it’s pouring down raining. I’m ALL about it as long as a) we don’t freeze our badonka donks off to do it and b) its not pouring down raining!

This is one of the awesome pics that our friend Kim took of Hailey the other day…I can’t pick just one that’s my favorite. If only all of us could be so photogenic….

 

 

Sweet tooth monster

source

I do believe I’ve unleashed a monster….a sweet tooth monster that is! The girl had never even really had anything sweet (other than fruit) until Halloween this year. Even at that she didn’t really have much other than gummies. (Trust me….the little boss-bucket knows where those are kept.)

I know I’m constantly saying how she’s my mini me…well I think it’s complete. To say sweets are my downfall would be true…and now I do believe they are Hailey’s as well…

source

Today I did groceries and bought some peppermint bark…..YUMMY! I should know better than to buy that stuff…its evil incarnate. Every time I pass it…I look at it longingly…LOL. You think I’m kidding!

So tonight after Hailey ate her dinner I let her have a bite of the coveted peppermint bark. That was all it took and she was hooked. One bite was definitely not enough for her… every couple minutes she was back at the counter and saying…”more candy.” Then she’d look at me and bat her big ole baby blues and say, “please mommy.”

The girl can work it already!

Resorting to the list…

Romania

Ok, ya know I’ve put my post to the last minute or am totally having writers block if I resort to the post prompt list. Not that I think they’re a bad idea…they’re not. I just usually end up with better posts on my own.

The actual Dracula...ick

Today’s post prompt was: “Do you speak more than one language? How did you learn the additional languages?”

Why yes, yes I do know more than one language. Don’t we all? I had to do a language in both high school and college. I learned Spanish in high school and then in college I decided to do something a little different and took Romanian. Yes, Romanian. Is that totally off and bizarre or what? It would have been a heck of a lot easier if I’d just continued with Spanish, but oh no….I had to make it difficult. LOL

I know...when most of us think of Romania....we think Dracula. I however think Dracula and about all the stuff I learned while in the my language class.

The more hot version I'd rather think of!

It was actually really fun and interesting…I’m dating myself here, but at the time I was taking it my professors had escaped Romania right before all the issues with Ceausescu. He was a Communist leader in Romania that was hated by the Romanian people for good reason.

By the end of Ceausescu’s reign the control over the people of Romania was so strict that phone bugging was the norm and one in three people were informants for the government. His secret police maintained strict controls over free speech and the media… there were drastic shortages of food, medicines, and other basic necessities that drove the people to the point of near starvation.

source

Another big issue at this time was the ban on birth control. This caused a HUGE issue of abandoned children that were left neglected in orphanages. Many of these children were adopted here into the U.S. after the fall of Ceausescu.

Now that ya’ll had your blog history lesson of the day….

How many and what languages do ya’ll know?

Long weekend wrapped up

For those of you concerned that I was going to miss my post today….you can breathe a sigh of relief. I know I left it down to the wire for sure!! But here it goes…figured I’d wrap up that long weekend (speaking of wrapping….who has started on that one yet??).

 

I hope everyone had a great time and spent time with friends and family. I know we got to see all kinds of friends and family and had lots of great food. As you can tell from the pics…the kiddos had so much fun they all pretty much snoozed all the way home today (I need to figure out that panaram pic thing so I can get all the sleeping beauties in the pic).

 

 

Hot diggity

I love it when the hubby has the same mindset about something as I do…it makes life sooooo much easier! Especially when it comes to a new TV for the bedroom. Can we say early Christmas present...why yes, yes we can.

Yea, yea…I know you’re not supposed to watch TV, play on the computer, etc. etc. in bed.

source

If I actually listened to that bunch of hooey ya’ll would never get any posts from me. Cause the only time I can get any peace and quiet to actually put a sentence together is to sit right here and write on the laptop.

Anyhwho…with all my blathering on about not going out into the black Friday madness…as soon as the hubby said: “hey, ya wanna go get a new TV for our bedroom”…I was like when we leavin’? Granted, this was in the afternoon after all the downright craziness was going on. Boy did I hear some stories about all that too…all I can say is to quite Hailey and say….dude, seriously!

Speaking of the girl….can these teeth please come through all ready….ai caramba!

 

 

Swirling vortex of doom

 

There is NO WAY in “you know what” that my happy behind will be caught in the midst of the utter chaos that is known as Black Friday. I don’t even like doing grocery shopping on weekends let alone going Christmas shopping on the busiest shopping day of the ENTIRE year! To drive home my aversion to being anywhere near said craziness…I made sure we had any and all possible groceries and errands done well before today (I will be a home-body all weekend…might possibly consider venturing to the park but that’s about it).

For those of you that brave the craziness….more power to ya!

source

 

I actually wish I was one of those people that could get all my Christmas shopping done before Thanksgiving, but as most of you can probably guess…I’m not! I’m not a total last minute person, but it’s like that month before is the best time to do it…after Turkey Day it’s like this switch that says “come one Christmas.”

 

I Hope everyone is having a good extended weekend in whatever you’re doing…whether it’s braving the stores or recuperating from eating too much!

Happy Turkey Day!

I am so thankful for so many things in my life, but most of all I am thankful for my friends and family...especially my kids!

When I first came across this I knew I had to put it aside for something special. I’ve stopped to read it multiple times since first getting it…maybe I’m sappy, but it brings tears to my eyes every time.

 I hope you guys enjoy it and are having an awesome holiday week!

The following is called: A Child’s Ten Commandments to Parents, by Dr. Kevin Leman

1. My hands are small; please don’t expect perfection whenever I make a bed, draw a picture, or throw a ball. My legs are short; please slow down so that I can keep up with you.

2. My eyes have not seen the world as yours have; please let me explore safely: don’t restrict me unnecessarily.

3. Housework will always be there. I’m only little such a short time—please take time to explain things to me about this wonderful world, and do so willingly.

4. My feelings are tender; please be sensitive to my needs; don’t nag me all day long. (You wouldn’t want to be nagged for your inquisitiveness.) Treat me as you would like to be treated.

5. I am a special gift from God; please treasure me as God intended you to do, holding me accountable for my actions, giving me guidelines to live by, and disciplining me in a loving manner.

6. I need your encouragement, but not your praise, to grow. Please go easy on the criticism; remember you can criticize the things I do without criticizing me.

7. Please give me the freedom to make decisions concerning myself. Permit me to fail, so that I can learn from my mistakes. Then someday I’ll be prepared to make the kind of decisions life requires of me.

8. Please don’t do things over for me. Somehow that makes me feel that my efforts didn’t quite measure up to your expectations. I know it’s hard, but please don’t try to compare me with my brother or my sister.

9. Please don’t be afraid to leave for a weekend together. Kids need vacations from parents, just as parents need vacations from kids. Besides, it’s a great way to show us kids that your marriage is very special.

10. Please take me to Sunday school and church regularly, setting a good example for me to follow. I enjoy learning more about God.