Lunchables Party

Okay I'm a bit behind in posting a few things so I'm going to play a little catch-up here tonight. First up, we recently had a LUNCHABLES Party thanks to a website called, "HouseParty.com" that supplied almost everything. By this I mean I got the guests, the blankets and the space but they sent me the coupons for the FREE lunchables, $1 off coupons for each of the guests to buy their own, coloring place mats, place mats for the moms to find out what's all out now, markers, clip on watches and a few other items. My favorite being the wheelable Lunchables Cooler, however as I told them I don't like the handle as it is a pull out/push down type that my 2 year old showed me he can stick his head through. Not to worry he's not allowed near it and when it is NOT in use it is put up high.

But lets jump on over to the party, it had to be postponed twice, once due to weather and the second schedules. We had the party this past Monday afternoon, but I was unaware of another party on the block. Course parents thought mine right before it was perfect as they wouldn't have to feed the kids before the birthday party. I had laid out each of the different lunchables for their new Fall release. Here's a few that I recall:

- 2 Subs (one turkey, the other ham)
- Turkey & Cheddar combos (with crackers)
- Ham & American Cheese Combos (with crackers)
- 2 pizzas (one deep dish cheese, the other type deep dish pepperoni)

Each comes with a water and a kool-aid single to mix. The kids were just having a blast and seemed to love just sitting down and eating. I did do a few games but they basically just wanted to eat. The placemats had word searches so the kids were doing that or coloring. Some did the telephone game, well the "I brought a lunch and in it I had...." you get the drift. Hope you enjoyed the pics, the neighbors that did not have kids did ask that the next time I invite them. I even passed coupons out to the other neighbors that didn't have kids, just in case.

By the way these combo meals were on sale at Wal-Mart for 2/$6.

Wordless Wednesday: Lunchables Party

We were one of the lucky ones that got picked in HouseParty to host a Lunchables party, here's just one pic of the event. As you can see Little A likes his lunchable. More pics and a review will be coming but had to start you off with something for WW. Leave a comment if you'd like me to visit!

Book Review: Daniel X: Watch the Skies

MomCentral recently asked if my son, SoccerBoy and I would like to review: Daniel X: Watch the Skies. Of course I just had to say yes, I mean he got hooked after he read Dangerous Days of Daniel X back in August of last year. My son anxiously awaited fot the new book to arrive, which was kind of funny since he had been eyeing it for a few weeks while it was hitting the store shelves.


Here's his review of it:

Daniel X My fav part when #5 Alien was able to show up in TVs even if they were broken. The book got interesting when the father made a vehicle out of computers, video games and TV parts. Whenever Daniel thought he found a way to stop #5 or #21, #5 always one step ahead. So he tried to go to school, but there was a bus full of his classmates. #5 also made a TV show about him killing people. #5 was giving out cavier to all the women around the town but if they ate it they became pregnant with the alien baby. There were about 30 women pregnant with them, Daniel was able to see the alien babies because of his xray vision. Daniel begged his mom not to eat it. I liked it and I heard they are making a movie, I definitely want to see a movie of it. I want to read the rest of the books because I like it and want to see Daniel kill everyone on the list.


Here's a review from the book:

Daniel X: Watch the Skies. In this story, an evil outer-space outlaw named Number Five comes to a small town on Earth intending to produce an intergalactic version of "Survivor," with a twist: every human in the town will be eliminated. Daniel finds himself on a quest to stop Number Five and his alien crew, not just to save the world, but to save himself.

This review was part of the Momcentral Blog tour.

Weekend With No Kids

On Friday the hubby called me from work and asked how I felt about going up to his moms. Now not that I'd care, but I had some MAJOR homework to do and it just wasn't sinking in. I knew I'd have to be hitting the books all weekend, "Probably not this weekend I have a ton of studying. You and the kids can go." He responded with, "Would you be okay with me taking the kids up there?" I was a bit shocked at first but this was the break I needed and the time with just him and the kids sounded like great bonding. I would've asked him to do something with them anyways in order to do all my reports. "I'd be fine with it. Do you think you can do it?"

We've never done a road trip without the other one there so I wasn't sure if he was really ready to drive over 10 hours there and back, in one weekend. I mean, sure he'd drove that for a funeral but that was for something that couldn't be avoided and was extremely tired once he got back that time. Friday he came home, called a taxi and went to get the rental, knowing our van would never make it up there and back in one piece. The car he got wouldn't have fit us even if we tried. It was a regular family car that seats five, not six. We've also decided our next vehicle will be a car or two cars because I like driving it better than the van or the truck we once had.

The kids and hubby left at around 6 or 7pm that night and stopped off at a hotel. It felt weird waving goodbye as the pulled out of the drive, but it wouldn't fully hit me until I went to sleep around 3 am. Why so late? I was watching movies and waiting to make sure they made it to the hotel. Hey, they are may babies regardless of the age and honestly this would be the first time away from all of them.

Saturday morning I woke up to no noise and had I been able to I would've been able to sleep until noon. I went straight back to work on my project. I got a quick text from the hubby saying good morning and if I could help locate Chuckie Cheese for them since they were there but needed something to do. Here are a few pics of the kids there.

The kids as you can see had a blast, the two top pics are BabyGirl with her brother, Little A (buddy) and they are doing one of those dances in front of the television there. Cute huh? You can see him dancing in the top pic but looking as if he were studying what it was showing in the second one. BalletGirl and SoccerBoy were hitting up the games of course. Here are a few more of the two youngest in the Chuckie Cheese car, I heard once this car started he freaked out as it rocks as it drives through the dirt. He was not ready for that and finally him on the racing horse. Oh and we went to Hy-vee the day they got back and he tried making the merry-go-round hop like the racing pony did at Chuckie Cheese. hehe. We did have to explain this one didn't do that. All in all the kids and hubby enjoyed themselves, I relaxed, chatted with neighbors and got most of my homework done. What did you do over the weekend?

Ringling Bros. Circus Ticket Giveaway (4pk)

Oh I just love the circus, I remember going as a child a few times. My favorite part of the circus was watching the acrobats and eating the sweet, melt-in-your-mouth cotton candy. What's your favorite circus snack? As for the animals? My favorite for the circus would have to be the elephant, just like my youngest daughter, BabyGirl. So she is going to flip out when I actually tell her I got tickets for the family to go down and watch the Ringling Bros Circus in September. I hear we'll even get to go to the circus floor to meet the performers, get autographs and try on the costumes. Sounds like fun doesn't it? I can't wait, there'll be tons of pics (if allowed).

That's right the Ringling Bros. Circus will be coming to Kansas City in September, actually here are the dates:

September 16-18th all beginning at 7 p.m.
September 19 starts at 11a.m, 3pm and 7 pm.
September 20 starts at 1p.m. and 5 p.m.

(READ MORE TO FIND OUT GIVEAWAY)

Coupon Code for Ringling Bros. Circus:

- The coupon code will be MOM but the details have changed slightly — you can get four tickets for $44 for all weekday shows and any additional tickets are still priced at $11. The code will also give you $4 off all tickets for weekend shows.
- The tickets can be purchased from http://www.ticketmaster.com and by entering the MOM code in the “MC promotion” box when purchasing tickets.
- Minimum purchase of 4 tickets required
- Offer not valid on Circus Celebrity, Front Row, or VIP seating.
- Cannot be combined with other offers. Service Charges, facility & handling fees will apply.

GIVEAWAY:
PRIZE: 1 package of 4 to Ringling Bros Circus Tickets for Kansas City, MO
RULES: Tell me your favorite Circus animal.

As I mentioned before mine is the elephant because they are so huge
but seem so gentle. Yes I do realize they can crush someone but
look how cute they are.

Extra Entry: twitter, facebook, stumbleupon or blog about this and comment back to let me know you've done this.
Deadline: August 31st, I'll announce the winner that following Monday, September 1st.

Good luck. Oh and one more thing, this is for those that can attend the Ringling Bros. Circus in Kansas City, MO. There won't be rainchecks. :)

Wordless Wednesday: Sad Face and Painting

Believe it or not this is how Little A spent most of yesterday. Yesterday was the first day without any of his siblings home. That's right, they are all in school now and he was not letting me go or out of his sight. I guess he thought I'd leave too, in the picture you can see his little hand is cupped against my shirt. He's actually watching Wubbzy here. In the following picture he finally released me, but had to be right beside me. We were learning the letter A and coloring with crayons and markers, he got a bit colored on as you can see. Happy WW!

All Kids at School

Wow, I can't believe I'm finally typing this. Okay the truth is I still have one more at home but the feeling is so strange to me. Bright and early in the morning SoccerBoy leaves for school, two hours later his sisters get on the bus. I still have one more at home with me but it is a big change.

This morning was BalletGirl's first day of 4th grade and since she didn't go on her siblings first day she wanted to make sure she got the "1st Day of school" star treatment. "Mom, are you going to take my picture and stuff too?" Now just how does one say no to that, of course I was but she didn't have to know. They took a few shots on the back porch and she even wanted her sister and baby brother in them. The kids enjoyed juice, pancakes and hot from the oven muffins with butter falling off of them.

At the bus stop we got few more shots of BalletGirl boarding the bus with her sister right behind her. I thought this was a cute shot, kind of like saying I'll take those first few steps to make sure everything goes right for you. I knew I could trust the driver, she smiled a knowing smile when she saw me taking pics. She's a mom and I know she gets it. Once the doors closed, Little A and I just stood there. No one else would be in the house but us today, normally he spends his morning playing cars or chasing his sister, BabyGirl (age 6 now) and today that would not be happening. Last Friday he still had his bigger sister at home so he did not notice the change too much, granted he still walked around searching for her.

How are we holding up? He has colored with crayons, markers and pencils. We've talked green and red and the letter A. He is currently watching "Wubzy" and will help me with a review later on about it. But he refuses to leave my lap, he leans his head down on my shoulder and watches the movie. He won't let me leave his sight, I think he might be scared that I may leave too. I know in just a few short hours he'll be reunited with his big brother who will hopefully stop being a teen (preteen) for a few minutes and play cars with him.

How did your baby react when their were no kids left in the house because they were all at school?

School's Out....

Okay, not really, but apparently they didn't think the kids had enough of a summer vacation and gave them one more day. See, two started last week, BabyGirl and SoccerBoy for their transition into Jr.High and K-garten. Today I guess is a teacher break (so soon? I didn't think the kids would be that hard to deal with just yet), the teachers say it is to get all the papers done for the school year. BalletGirl will go to 4th grade when schools (for all grades) begins tomorrow.

So what are they doing today? Simple, doing chores and playing video games. Yes, I'm a horrible mother and allow the video games to rot out their brains. Okay, not really, but I do allow that and movies especially when it is storming outside. It got so bad earlier that it picked my screen door (which was laying down on the back porch) up and tossed it to the other side of the patio. I wish I got a pic but I missed my shot, but I honestly thought a cell may be forming. Who knows now. We've got lots of water in the grass due to the "flash flood" which means Little A will probably be an indoors kid this week.

In the meantime we are staying inside, Little A is watching Wubzy and kids are reviewing GI Joe: The Rise of Cobra for the playstation 2. Next post will be all about SoccerBoy and his first day of Jr.High and some pics because I didn't post them on Friday.

BabyGirl Goes to Kindergarten

Today was the first day of school for BabyGirl, she entered Kindergarten and there was just no stopping her. Yep, no matter how much I begged her to stay my little girl. She insisted that she had to go and could not be late and that I could kiss her one more time before we left the house. To which of course I did, I worried about all those things moms worry about when they are about to put their youngest (well one of) child on a bus without her older siblings, entering a school that would be her first time, meeting kids and making friends when she didn't normally get to play with anyone since everyone is older. Plus she'd recently got glasses and while some are fine with that I know kids can be brutal and she has such a sensitive heart.

The biggest part was knowing I had to let her go, she had to grow up and this was one of the first steps. Momma had to be a big girl and let her big girl go off to learn, no matter how much she wanted her to stay home one more year.

She had woke up early this morning, early enough that I begged her to go back to bed, but not early enough to see her older brother off to school. She explained to me she was afraid she'd be late, by the way she was already dressed and with her backpack on. Babygirl hadn't even ate breakfast yet but was afraid if she was late she would not graduate and get a good job when she became a mom. (her words, not mine)

Finally, when it was time I walked her to the bus stop and watched her board her bus. I got a quick wave and "I love you mom," as the bus doors shut. Thankfully, BalletGirl (she starts 4th next week) and Little A (he's only 2) so they kept me occupied until it was time to go get her. She's already counting down until she goes back.

Wordless Wednesday: Sizzix

What else were we suppose to day on the last week before school was out? Since Sizzix sent us this beautiful display we just had to have fun with all the crafts. You can see some of the crafts done, but I'll be reviewing this in a bit and let me just say we LOVE out Big Shot from Sizzix. Happy WW!

Epic Summer Tour

Have you been on an Epic Summer trip? This summer we ended up staying at the house, but in the past we've been known to travel around visiting all types of beautiful scenary and educational spots. Last month Momcentral told me all about a site called, "Epic Summer." Epic Summer is located in the beautiful Colorado and they want to help plan your next summer vacation, you can choose their 4 or 7 day plan. In this trip you will visit places in Colorado such as: Keystone, Rocky Mountain National Park, Breckinridge, Beaver Creek and many other fabulous spots. The best part is it is an all inclusive vacation, which means you pay before you go, so while you are there the only thing you have to spend money on is your souvenirs and drinks you might get outside the vacation.

Here's what you could be doing on your summer vacation:

- horseback riding along the beautiful mountains, trails and rivers
- white water rafting (I love doing this, course never done it with a raft)
- coast over the river on a gondala (ski lift things) before breakfast
- 2 mile hikes
- pan for gold and go inside a mine (mine I think I'd pass)

Kids:
- climbing wall
- bungee cord bouncer

There are tons of museums, gardens and of course there is a spa for moms, golfing for dads and a pool for all those in between. This is one vacation I wouldn't mind going on, I live so close to Colorado but I've never actually just visited it. I've always loved the beautiful postcards of the area, but it would be so relaxing just to let someone else plan my entire trip and let me sit back and enjoy, I think the hubby would even like this. The price for all this ranges between $700-$1200 depending on how many days and with or without kids.

“I wrote this review while participating in a blog and giveaway campaign by Mom Central on behalf of Epic Summer and Vail Resorts. Mom Central sent me a gift card to thank me for taking the time to participate.”

Did you go on vacation this year? Where did you go?

Ruby Tuesday: The Red Bowl

Betcha didn't know a red bowl could look so good did ya? Well, after reading a post over at Mom Is Teaching about making a Jiffy Muffin cake I just had to have muffins. Okay, it wasn't just me that wanted muffins, the kids did too and as you can see Little A decided he was the baker. This (for those that don't know) was the chocolate chip muffin mix by Jiffy. (jiffy is a blue and white box in the store that normally sells for .50-.60 each. The kids each ate these all up, not forgetting the mommy of course and topped each one off with a spoonful of cold cool whip. Yummy!

The Jiffy mixes normally need one egg and a 1/4 cup milk, sometimes they don't need any milk or eggs at all (biscuits). The kids have been making these so much that we went out and bought an entire shelf full of them. Hey, if they are inspired to cook, lets encourage them. Right? Well I hope this post didn't make you too hungry. Happy Tuesday! Don't forget to read other Ruby Tuesday posts at Work of the poet.

BabyGirl Went Birthday Shopping

I'm not sure if I mentioned this, but for birthdays now we've decided to try the following. One gift is given to the birthday child on their birthday, cake and ice cream. Yes, small and simple but that isn't all. A few days later, since each one has happened to be on the weekday, we take them Birthday Shopping. Each child is given a set amount to spend on ONLY them, they are NOT allowed to buy anything for anyone else.

This weekend we took BabyGirl Birthday shopping and she bought herself a small puppy in a purse, a fairy barbie and swimming mermaid Barbie. The swimming Barbie cost about $15 and you are able to push the sides of her legs (or where they would be) and her fin flaps. BabyGirl immediately tried her out once she got home and insists that she can swim like a mermaid. She loved spending all that money on just herself, I loved watching her spend all that money. BabyGirl is our shy one, she tends to be very quiet and won't ask for much....her sister will let you know what she wants and when.

She also got glasses this past week and was doing great with them all day on Thursday, however on Friday morning she walked in to me with the saddest look on her precious face and told me she could no longer be a Princess. When I asked her why she explained no princesses wear glasses, not Belle, Cinderella or any of them. I took this to another blog I write on, "Princesses Do Wear Glasses" and of course to facebook. I had a ton of responses and she is much happier with her glasses now. I am still worried over them but not because of feelings now, but apparently her 2-year-old brother thinks they must be something special and wants them. This morning he snuck into their room and pulled the case off her dresser. He was trying to put them on when he was caught. Looks like I'll be buying him his own set.

So that was our weekend Birthday Shopping trip with a little added in because it still dealt with the Birthday girl. Do you buy gifts? Birthday Shop with just the Birthday girl? How do you do the birthday gifting part?

Bugsby's Great Adventure Contest

This morning I was notified that Bugsby by Vtech was having a contest where kids actually got to write an "Adventure with Bugsby" entry. As many of you know BabyGirl turned 6 this past week and will be starting Kindergarten in less than two weeks so this was the perfect thing for her. She got to pick out the characters, objects and any text she thought they'd have. Hurry over and enter the "Bugsby's Great Adventures."

The contest wasn't very long and while we have been writing up a story and waiting for the publish to go through we made up a few muffins for the family. What a great way to start the day. If you enter don't forget to comment below and leave a link to your blog about it or a comment with the title of your story. Our story was called, "Adventure Insisde Space," where Bugsby just wanted to be able to read in a quiet place on the moon.

Each page (frame) can be a different background, however she chose to use most of one since they would be on a ship. After that she just used the characters and had them talking. Once she was done writing her story (with me typing it in for her), she hit publish. Now it does take a bit of time to publish, my guess is there are a ton of people submitting to the contest right now. But she had a lot of fun with it and got to write about Reading in Space. We can't seem to find her entry just yet but the moment we do I'll post it here for you to read. Thanks to Twittermoms for letting us know about this.

UPDATE: Okay here is BabyGirl's story, she did rewrite it as it wasn't working right earlier: "Going Into Space." Don't forget to vote for her so she can win the collection of books.

Don't forget to sign up because you can win the entire collection! http://www.vtechkids.com/bugsby/

Wordless Wednesday: Happy Birthday BabyGirl

BabyGirl will be entering Kindergarten this year and on August 2nd our little pixie turned 6. Happy birthday once again BabyGirl. I just love looking at pics of when she was first born to her 6th birthday. That girl has so much emotion! Happy WW ya'll, don't forget to leave a comment so I can visit ya.

A Breastfeeding Doll for Kids

Oh my goodness, I couldn't believe the trend hitting the internet today so I looked it up and sure enough there is an actual "Breastfeeding Doll" for kids. Yes, now your daughter can breastfeed a baby doll just like mommy. While I may have breastfed my four kids, I'm not okay with my daughter pretending to breastfeed a doll. Am I wrong here?



A Spanish toymaker by the name of Berjuan has created Bebe Gloton (the first ever breastfeeding doll). There is a little nursing bra you would put over your daughter that has a flower where her nipple would be. When the baby starts to cry simply place the baby up to the bra and she begins nursing and making sounds such as suck suck (sounds) and once she's done burp it by hitting it on the chest. I don't know there is just something about seeing this on a younger child that makes breastfeeding look bad. Breastfeeding is natural, but not on a 7 year old.

I won't lie, the doll itself without the whole creepy breastfeeding part is very cute and everything else would be great if they left that out. Replace the breast and give the baby a bottle, not my 6-year-old's boob. Ikkk. Maybe give the baby a bottle and a sling in replacement for the breastfeeding and the nursing bra.

How do you feel? Would you by this doll for your young girl? I'm definitely keeping this post away from BabyGirl and BalletGirl as they'd love it because it is different. I'd be scared of the thing and would not want to see them doing it. Yes I realize this goes against all those that breastfeed but then again so does this doll.

By the way here are a few that thought Bebe Gloton was also creepy:

EcoChild's Play said: Play Nursing: The Creepy Breastfeeding Doll

NJ.com says it's a 'sucky' Idea. I must agree.

Parent Dish said: New Doll Leaves Little to the Imagination.

Earn Money with Gather.com

I know with the economy in the bad area that it is in many of us are looking for extra ways to find some spending cash. Especially since there is no more spare money between those couch cushions anymore. Am I right? Well besides all those little emails I always hear about or those surveys, I've found another way and it is called Gather. So join me now in learning a bit more through the Gather Blog tour outreach and find out what is in store for you.

Head over to Gather.com and sign up, course once you do that find me: homemom3 (Did ya think it was something else?) I also have an older one that I had stopped using called: CelebChatter if you'd like to read some older stuff. Yes, I've been a part of Gather for about a year or two now so when MomCentral asked me if I'd like to talk about them I said YES.

The basic idea is to be able to socialize with one another on Gather.com, but also earn some gift cards at the same time. How do you earn these? You comment on other people's posts, you write stuff, you vote for things, they vote for your posts/pictures. Now this may all sound good and fun but it gets better, now you can actually socialize with other moms/friends/family, etc and get something for it. When you sign up it'll ask you some categorize of things you like and once you sign in you'll have half a dozen invites to join groups with your interests. From there you can go and find the ones that really click with you. For instance if you love CVS there is a coupon group for it that everyone lists the goods they found for the week. Now who can argue with that?

By the way I typed in Mom for groups and got: 160 groups about moms, 3000 photos tagged moms and much more. So that should tell you a mom should be able to find someone that can relate to her. Granted I like to think of myself as odd, I'm sure someone else does too though.

For myself I've always loved the interaction and the friendships that develop from places like this. You can start your own groups if you can't find one you like, join tons of groups, not join any and so forth. I always love signing in to find a new email from someone or a comment on one of my posts. Want to join me? Stop by my place on Gather.com and let me know you came from the blog. :) Can't wait to chat it up with ya.

“I wrote this review while participating in a blog and giveaway campaign by Mom Central on behalf of Gather. Mom Central sent me a gift card to thank me for taking the time to participate.”