Walking in Town

First, last week wasn't all that great...on Thursday the husband called me to tell me the car had broke down on the side of the highway. I swear I could write a comedy on broken down cars, I mean just look back through the archive to see how many we've had. Keep in mind we got this car (yes used) after our van broke down on the highway. Well on Friday he got the car towed to the house, they called us later to say "Hey the part that needs fixed will cost over $500. OUCH. Fast forward to today, Sunday.

Finally, there's been a break with all the snow. Over the weekend we had all blue skies, yes a few clouds but who cares as long as it isn't snowing right? Well today the kids and I grabbed our jackets, the stroller and went for a walk.

First, I had to have my Starbucks so that's where we headed...the kids just wanted to walk. I grabbed my Carmel Frap, Sunday Paper and we were back on our walk. It was fun, while it was slightly cold (my 12 year old's ears were red) we were having fun chatting about life but basically just enjoying the outdoors.

On our way back home we spotted a nearby creek that is normally frozen over but had running water. I just had to take a picture of it. What do you think, is it good signs of Spring coming?

Friday Giveaway List

It's Friday and what better way to celebrate than by entering (and hopefully winning) giveaways. If you are having a giveaway please sign the mr. linky and add yours. Enjoy your weekend!

To any PR people out there, I love hosting giveaways so feel free to email me at homemom3@gmail.com



I thought some of you might like a bigger list:

Softlips Review & Giveaway

How many of you have went through a day picking at your lips because they were dry? Or saw your child doing it? Chances are with the weather being as cold as it has in the past two months more and more people will be needing to reach for a stick to moisten their lips. Now, I've stated here before of my love for Softlips and how my son refuses to use them but the girls just adore those tiny lady-like sticks.

I wrote Softlips and explained to them that I'd been hearing they had all these different flavors out there but I'd only seen two and that was vanilla and regular. They asked me if I'd like to review some new flavors (I get the sticks to review for free, they got a review and ya'll get a giveaway) they had out. Of course I said yes, so here goes.

The "Winter Flavors":

-Softlips® Sugar & Spice
-Softlips® Sugar Plum Berry
-Softlips® Sugar Cookie

The kids absolutely love the sugar cookie, which has now found a home in my purse because this is the one they frequently ask for. I think I'll have to buy an entire box of this flavor. I never thought a chapstick flavor would stick like this. Now it really does smell like sugar cookies, you know that sweet smell of a freshly baked sugar cookie, well that's it. I dont' recommend licking it, although my daughter (age 6) insists it tastes yummy and my 2 year old son licks it every time I put it in. I now have to tell him he can't have any unless he doesn't lick it.

I liked the Cherry that came in the Sugar Cookie, so as you can see that is a good thing as I can have it all to myself. With the Sugar and Spice you can immediately smell the sweet scent of spices, it makes me think of pumpkin pie for some reason. You can taste (through scent not actual taste) the berry in Sugar Plum Berry.

Sugarlips PURE Flavors:

-Acai Berry

-Chai Tea (my favorite)

-Papaya

-Pomegranate

Each stick smells just like their name!

Where can you get Softlips? For a suggested retail price of $2.99 to $3.99 for the dual-stick pack. Now through out the holiday/winter season, the limited addition flavors Sugar & Spice and Sugar Plum Berry are available in Target. You can get them at Walmart too, but mine didn't have them.

                               ~~~~~~~~~~~~~GIVEAWAY~~~~~~~~~~~

PRIZE: 1 lucky winner will get their choice of either the Winter Flavor set or the Pure Set.
RULES:  1.  Head over to Softlips (http://softlips.com/)  and tell me one thing you learned.

Extra Entries:  (you must do Rule #1 to do any of the following)
-  tweet this post "@homemom3 is having a Softlips Giveaway" (and link to the contest)
-  Facebook this post
-  Fan Softlips at Facebook (http://www.facebook.com/softlips)
-  beome a Softlips twitter follower (http://twitter.com/ILoveSoftlips)
-  Tell me what flavor you like or would like the most

Deadline: March 14 (my son's 3rd Birthday), I'll announce the winner on the 15th. The winner will have 24 hours to respond or a new winner will be picked.
US only please

 Oh and just to help ya'll out: 

Tweet about your favorite Softlips flavor use #ilovesoftlips to win the Softlips winter limited edition flavors. 5 tweets picked 3/1, 12 pm

The New Look and some Info

This is still the same old "The Life of a Home Mom," however now there is a bit more color to it. At this point I'm not sure why you can't just click a post title and go to that page. But I do know on the sidebar you can click the name there and it will take you to that page.

Comments are still a go, at the bottom of each post it says comments. Click on the comment to write one. It will then take you to that comment page.

Please let me know what you think of the new look. Like it or hate it? I can still fool around with it. If you by chance know how to fix the whole clicking the title issue I'd love to know. Have a GREAT day!!

Review of Motherhood

I was recently sent "Motherhood" the movie in order to review it. This is one of those mommy movies that I think all of us can relate to if you know what I mean. There are always the great days we may have as moms but it isn't often that we describe, in great details the bad ones. The movie starts off with a very tired mom looking over a to do list for her daughter's birthday party in the middle of the night. As she walks around the house she cleans up after everywone but stops to take a digital picture of her daughter sleeping in bed. You know to catch that first moment of her daughter's new age.

When the alarm finally goes off the morning rush is in full gear. Mom is making breakfast for everyone, brewing coffee, signing papers, etc. Dad is sitting in a chair reading his paper as mom hurries around grabbing laundry to make a full load, grabbing shoes and putting them on children. On her way out she stops to ask the elderly neighborto see if they can help with anything.

Outside her daughter runs into the neighbor across the street that is obviously in a higher income bracket. The two girls try to compete with one another over parties until her own daughter stares up at her and says, "I'm going to have really cool goody bags. Right mom?" Talk about a guilt trip. Of course that's when she realizes she is still wearing her nightgown. (what mom hasn't done this?)

Next we have her trying to manage her day with her toddler in a backpack, walking the neighbor's dog and finding out that she needs to move her car immediately as a street sweeper is coming through. Watch the hiliarious scenes of her trying to get her spot back, shopping, waiting in line, bringing the groceries home on a bicycle, etc. All this in the name of making that perfect birthday party.

But during it all she realizes she wants to be more than "just a mom" she wants to write again and this doesn't count blogging. Writing is something she use to love to do, but gave up on it once she started changing diapers and wiping noses. She finds a contest in which she can become a columnist but she must write what "Motherhood" means to her by nightfall.  Will her husband understand this need? Will she pull off this party?  Can she write it up in time? Or will she go certifiably insane before the party and go off on every person around? Watch and find out.

Motherhood, it's what its all about!  Uma Thurman, who also starred in Accidental Husband, stars in Motherhood as she takes on the life of the mom mentioned above, Eliza. The movie was released on DVD and Blueray February 23, 2010 and in Redbox.  This is a comical view on just one day of Motherhood and I can totally relate.

(I was sent a copy of "Motherhood" in order to review the movie. All opinions are mine.)

Wordless Wednesday: Hurry Up Spring

It's cold, plant life is frozen and I'm ready for Spring. Anyone else?  Happy WW!

Ice Shuts School Doors

Well, early, early this morning I found out the kids would not be going to school. Why? Oh you remember all that snow that has been hitting, well starting Saturday Night we ended up getting hit with snow, ice pellets, slush, etc. By Sunday we were getting more ice pellets and snow to cover the top of the ice.

In my email this morning (remember I don't have cable), I had an email from the school informing me that there would be none due to the ice.  Here's a picture of the ice.

The picture of the driveway with the car further down is to show all the ice. By the way our car had originally been up at the top, I noticed yesterday afternoon more cars had done this very same thing. Yes, they slid down but thankfully none went too far into the road or into a home. The tree was the very begining of what I called the ice storm, as you can see there are little icles on it. By morning the tree would be extremely heavy and when you opened the door and let the heat out you could hear the branches cracking.

Wash Them Grow Sweepstakes Ends Tonight

I tweeted and facebook'd this but I wanted to give everyone a last minute notice again:

Suave Kids “Wash Them Grow” Sweepstakes, which has offered awesome weekly prizes. Tonight is the very last night you can enter. You can still have a chance at winning a Family e-Keepsake Kit (that includes a video camera, laptop and digital camera) and the Grand Prize of a family vacation to Orlando! If I have generated enough bloggers to visit myself and 10 of my readers will win: a year’s supply of Suave Kids® products and a $100 gift card to Build-A-Bear Workshop

So help me out and click the link that says, "Wash them Grow" and enter so we can all be winners. I did get to review four bodywashes and I must say each child had their own favorite but I loved the moisturizer. I was in the shower and realized the kids had taken my shampoo the night before and when I went to grab there was only the Suave Kids Moisturizer. I decided to chance it and my hair came out beautifully soft and I'm still not sure if it was just because of the moisturizer or maybe I had a good hair day but I'm going with the Suave Kids.

For those that may not know Suave Kids now has a site called Wash Them Grow (http://www.washthemgrow.com/) which has a forum, games, daily trivia, etc. Currently there are 100s of different tips parents have entered on how to get their kids in the bath and not so many tears.

 Here's what we got:

-Suave Kids Berry Body Wash – This hypoallergenic and ophthalmologist tested formula makes bath time tear-free. The gentle formula cleanses effectively without drying out skin like a bar soap can and features a fun, fresh scent.


-Suave Kids Strawberry Body Wash – This hypoallergenic and ophthalmologist tested formula makes bath time tear-free. The gentle formula cleanses effectively without drying out skin like a bar soap can and features a fun, fresh scent.

-Suave Kids Free and Gentle Body Wash – Suave Kids Free and Gentle Body Wash is specially formulated to be gentle on skin. It is ophthalmologist tested and tear-free. The formula contains no dyes and leaves skin clean and fresh.

-Suave Kids Moisturizing Body Wash – Suave Kids Moisturizing Body Wash gently cleanses and moisturizes, leaving kids’ skin feeling baby soft and smooth. This product is tear-free, hypo-allergenic and gentle on kids’ delicate skin.

How many of you have a kid that loves the bath? Well, now they can wash with bubbles that really smell like the fruit it claims. The bubbles are thick too, take a peek at that picture.  Okay, hurry on over and enter.

Snowball Throwing Winners

I've tried emailing both winners of the Snowball Throwing Contest. I will now post them here and give them 24 hours to respond.

Derk Thomas:  Snowball Throwing Training was the best, but there are some other good ones.


and
 
Kimberly:  I like the video regarding the snow throwing uniform.
 
If you are either of these people (Derk's email came back saying it didn't exist) please email me at homemom3@gmail.com

The Spelling Bee

Wednesday, BalletGirl was in her school Spelling Bee!!! Now she didn't place but I'm so very proud that she knew enough words to even get there. Of course she's not understanding that. Her word that put her out was......GAZELLE and I think it'll be one that she never forgets.

How many of you were in a Spelling Bee as a kid? Chances are if you were then you still remember that word that made you sit down or leave the stage. I know I will never forget: Therefore

BalletGirl Won a Jar of Kisses!!!

Okay I should've posted this yesterday but I had to let BabyGirl shine in her moment. On Thursday both girls came home with surprises, BabyGirl with her chocolates and her bigger sister with a jar of kisses. This jar of kisses she won by guessing how many was in them. She said she did what I taught her, count the side and multiply it by four and add up. She basically had it right and she won so her way worked.

This is a cute little jar that I'm sure she will have for some time to come and I can't help but wonder how long the chocolate kisses will last. It was really neat that she won this because when I was 10 years old I won a jar of M&Ms from doing the same thing. First prize was a bike and second was this gigantic jar of M&Ms and back then that's what I wanted since I already had a bike that I loved. The jar eventually broke but the memory lasts forever.

She's already talking about putting either her hair ties in it or money and making it into a clear piggy bank.

Truman Weekend

BalletGirl has a report to write about on Harry S. Truman so we thought it would be a bit fun for her and the rest of the family if we went up to the local museum to learn so stuff. Course once on the road and only a minute away BabyGirl got sick in the backseat, all over her jacket but she immediately said she was fine and ready to go forward. It was cold but we still went, BalletGirl even gave up her own jacket for her little sister. Doesn't she look cold in that picture? I'm proud of her though.

I took a few quick pictures of them outside standing around the bell but we decided it was way to cold to wait around outside and read exactly what it was. Inside we were told it was Bess Truman's Birthday and there'd be an additional show later on. BalletGirl quickly wrote the date of Bess' birthday and grabbed a bunch of literature that was in the little racks.

Forward march. HALT! Look up, there is a painted moral on the wall of indians and settlers, some are handing each other items, etc. Pass under the entry way and enter the world of Harry Truman, read how he would sign his name to 600 papers a day and get up at 5am.  We got some nice pictures of the kids trying out clothes from the Truman days, standing beside statues and finally with a man that was about to do a show.

BalletGirl has been doing a lot of work on her report and I can't wait to see the finished product and the grade to go with. This was a fun trip and I think they learned a lot. They definitely learned about Japan and the Atomic bomb blasts which they had a ton of questions about before we went.

Our daughter was so excited but I think she was more impressed that her teacher met Harry Truman when she was a little girl. Apparently he use to walk the streets of Independence and she'd see him a lot.

What do you do when your kids have a report to write? Do you stick with books or go out and explore it? This was fun and am kind of hoping they have another. It's funny, growing up I never cared to learn about history...heck I didn't even like it. But today not only do I love it but I have three kids that love it just as much.

Her First REAL Valentine's From a Boy

Today was BalletGirl and BabyGirl's Valentine's Day Party at school, of course this meant the typical school party and fun. Earlier we got to address the Valentine's Day Cards for the exchange, now for BabyGirl we were only allowed to address the from as they didn't want kids feeling left out that some got certain sayings and others didn't. She was bummed as she wanted a specific Valentine for certain friends.

Fast forward to mom waiting at home to hear how her very first Valentine's Day Exchange went. I figured it would be like her older siblings' which would mean tons of talk about what they ate and games played. I did not expect her to come bouncing up the stairs to tell me a little boy (whom she happens to have a puppy love crush on) had given her a small box of chocolates. Isn't that cute?

She came up telling me, "Mom Hunky boy (changed name of course) gave this to me and NO ONE else got one."  I knew how she was feeling, I remembered that moment from so many years ago and it was written all over her face. Her cheeks were a pinkish color and it wasn't from being out in the cold, something tells me she had that smile on her face all afternoon. I also found out his mom was there and took photos of him giving it to her so I'm really hoping I can ask for a copy.  This is my little girl's very first Valentine...I'm not sure if I'm ready for her to grow up yet.

By the way that is a small box of chocolates she is holding.

Wordless Wednesday: Mom Sees All

That's all I'm saying, "Mom sees all." Happy WW!

St. Eve Kids Pink Cozy Giveaway

Just in time for Valentine's Day! What's the color that you think of when you hear Valentine's Day and robes? Well I hope it was pink since that's just what I'm giving away to one lucky reader. With all these snowstorms I think some of you could really use this, I know it has been taking turns around my house.

The St.Eve's (pink) cozy is "super soft" and feels really comfortable, not to mention this will definitely keep you warm. Now I will admit that I was trying to wear it as a robe until my oldest pointed out, "Mom you are wearing it backwards." These are basically your blankets that you can wear since they have sleeves, these are suppose to be one size fits most. There is a St.Eve Kids line that has one that looks similar, just as soft and wraps around the child either like a robe or like the Cozy. The kids line has different types of prints such as colors, princesses, animals, dinosaurs, characters, astronauts, etc.

Curl up on the couch and toss on the blanket, now the only thing I need are a few more blankets so everyone has one and doesn't have to share. But these are large enough that one can sit on the couch and share it. I've included pictures with all three of the younger kids (yes even my baby boy who is pretending to snore)

GIVEAWAY

PRIZE & RULES:   The Giveaway is for one Bright Pink Cozy to give away to one reader. Simply leave me a comment with how you do family night in the winter.

Extra Entries:
-  become a Twitter follower (www.twitter.com/homemom3)
-  subscribe to The Life of a Home Mom

-  Blog this post

-  Tweet this post with: “I just entered to win the St Eve Kids Cozy Giveaway. Click here to enter: http://ow.ly/15IUP "

Deadline:  February 21, 2010 at noon.
US residents only. Winners must respond within 24 hours of being announced/contacted or another winner will be drawn. (homemom3@gmail.com)
(The review was based off the Twittermom contest I won and received as a prize, I was sent a second one to mail out to one reader.  I did not receive compensation for this post.)

A Morning at Wonderlab

A few weeks ago we went down to Indiana in the hopes to get some advertisments, real estate ads, etc for our future home out there. I like to get a feel for an area I want to live in so it was a must. How many of you have moved and hated the place once you got there? Now how many of you, if you had went out there and visited surrounding towns may have moved to one of them and loved your stay? That's how we are, so we went, we grabbed tons of reading stuff from there and then took the kids to Bloomington Indiana. Why there?

I had went online and discovered a tiny little gem called, 'Wonderlab.'  My kids love museums and all but they love hands on material even more and this was a science activity center that had a ton of it. As you approach it doesn't give off the impression of a museum, honestly it looked more like a library from the outside. Once inside you are greeted by these lights on the floor that blink on and off (the cosmic dance) so the kids are dancing around hopping from one to another as you pay the cashier. There is a tiny (real tiny) gift shop area before you enter.

The ground floor, the first thing you see is a ton of fun...at least that's the impression I got when I saw my kids' faces as they stepped in. I knew at that moment all was going to go well. There is a small area with lockers you can put your belongings or just hang your coats.

1st Floor: Bouncy ball on a rope, bubble room, parachute drop, the bug world, magnets, baby area, building blocks.

2nd floor:  Greeted by a trunk of bees (they are sealed and making honey comb), a snake, a giant cockroach (GROSS), heartbeating drums, wave area, magnets, funny mirrors, dinosaur dig, basketball jump, giant dinosaur height machine, the room of shadows.

Now I know there were more areas but these were our strong focus. The bouncy ball is just like it sounds, there are several balls (different sizes) on a string that goes to the roof and a small rubber thing at the bottom. You lift the ball as high as you can on the string and smack it down to make it bounce and see if you can reach the top. (Little A liked this a lot, it was hard to convince him to leave it) Next was the room of bubbles (Bubble-Airium). There was a giant machine that made huge bubbles, you got to use the steering wheel to direct it but you have to do it slowly or the bubble will pop before it forms. (Babygirl loved this)  I liked the machine that made mist bubbles, once you touched them they'd pop into mist. (really neat)

We spent a good 15 minutes at , but SoccerBoy soon got tired of this and went over to the giant mechanical crane that allowed them to build that way. He got to have a steering wheel and

BalletGirl quickly dumped her shoes on the ground and climbed up the Grapevine Climber with no fear, but not her sister who only made it to the second leaf and scurried down. Little A of course tried but he couldn't get past the first because he kept slipping back down but I had to admire his effort.

On the second floor Little A had to touch that slimy snake and of course I had sworn to the kids if we ever came to a museum with a snake I'd pet it. So, I had to do it....I still don't like them so no we are not getting them if someone I know is reading this. (hubby or SoccerBoy)  Little A loved seeing himself in the funny mirrors, he'd run towards them and then back, side to side and then got a kick out of seeing us shrink and he was taller. The girls liked the shadow room, if you pushed a button it quickly took a pic that froze your shadow to the wall (poor Peter Pan would be lost in here) but Little A did not like this. He could not get his shadow back, so I had to take him out of that room.

All in all, the kids had a blast and we'll have our memories. I'm sure we'll go back there a few times once we move to Indy. In the meantime, what fun place have you visited recently?

IFST Snowball Throwing Giveaway

Yes, I know it is cold outside and snow is everywhere so this is actually the perfect time to announce a contest that deals with snowball throwing. I mean who doesn't want to toss a few snowballs right? I think it should be mandatory to toss a few snowballs every time the snow falls. I'll never forget our first year here and the expressions of each children. Now how could I ever say I hate the snow when I get moments like the one here? When was the last time you threw a snowball?

I've been informed that Coca-Cola is running an online paraody called "International Federation of Snowball Throwing." They are trying to get people excited about the upcoming Olympics and get others to help them get "Snowball throwing" in the Winter Olympics by signing an online petition. I'm not really sure how popular snowball throwing is but I know it can be a lot of fun. IFST contacted me this week asking if I thought my readers would like to win: 2008 Beijing Olympics Collector's bottle or IFST official t-shirts. I thought ya'll would love to win one of these so that's what we are doing. IFST actually has their own blog and some pretty funny snowball videos. Coca-Cola even has a commercial that is out, I'm unsure if it is on tv but it is online. (Scroll down to view it). I loved it and got a great laugh, it just reminds me of what really happens when one throws a snowball and no one knows who started it.

Did you know snowball throwing could be a sport? I honestly didn't but I can see where you are very active doing it. Watching "Snowball Throwing Training"' shows everyone exactly how much fun you can have while doing it. (watch the slow motion).  If you'd like to see this too head on over to http://www.snowballthrowing.com/ and vote. The blog even has tips for throwing and making a good snowball that isn't going to fall apart in midair. I guess they've been visiting my house a bit or watching me attempt at having snow wars with the kids. 

GIVEAWAY TIME:

PRIZE: (2 winners each will get 1 Shirt and 1 collector’s edition bottle sets from the 2008 Beijing Olympics)

GIVEAWAY RULES:
Head on over to http://snowballthrowing.com/ to prepare for the Snowball throwing events and leave a comment telling me which IFST video you like best.

Extra entries:
-  twitter/blog this giveaway (linking to it and leave me a comment with your link)
-  Become a Twitter fan of IFSTPresident (http://twitter.com/IFSTPresident)
-  Subscribe to IFST's Youtube site: (http://www.youtube.com/user/IFSTPresident)
-  sign the petition http://snowballthrowing.com/petition/

Deadline: February, 12, 2010. I'll be announcing the winner around 8pm that night. The winner will have 48 hours to respond.  (homemom3@gmail.com)

Watch the Coke Snowball Throwing Commercial:

Just a Quick Note:

Gear up as I'm about to post a group of giveaways that you can enter, one will also include those in Canada. Sorry I can't include Canada with my giveaways most of the time, but happy I will have one. Don't forget to leave a link if you have a giveaway on this post.