Yesterday

Here are a couple of pictures from yesterday.
Wyatt climbing the footstool to get to his spoon:

And here's one of the three kids watching the feral cat that comes around when it's cold out.

And here's from a couple weeks ago when Wyatt was enjoying strawberries:

And here is a picture of the kids just before shopping the other day:

Now we are off to bed!

Why the fascination

Why the fascination with Dora the Explorer? Madison is obsessed with Dora and Diego. For those that do not know, Diego is Dora’s cousin. Brooke and Madison walk around and say some words in Spanish. I have to stop and figure out what they are saying. I guess I better start paying attention to Dora so I know what they are saying.


Wyatt has decided to make it a game to hold his arms out, stick his little tush out, and stand up. He has been doing that more and more the last couple of days. I cannot get pictures of it because he gets so excited by the camera that he falls. The little guy loves the camera. He’s sitting at my feet fussing because he is ready for bed. I was busy with a twitter chat so he missed his bed time. Bad mom! Off to take him to bed. Night Night all!

RLR Laundry Treatment Giveaway - Ended

RLR Laundry Treatment Giveaway - Ended

I have two 1.35 oz packages of  Cadie RLR laundry treatment to giveaway to one lucky winner. I use RLR on cloth diapers and also in my load of whites. My whites come out cleaner than using just bleach. I use RLR in my cloth diapers quite often. I have hard water and the diapers never seem to rinse out all the way unless I use RLR. Now the cloth diapers come out smelling clean.

From the package:

The once a month treatment for all washable fabrics...whites & colors. RLR Laundry Treatment is NOT a soap or bleach. It is a special treatment to remove dulling dried in particles from fabric. It leaves whites whiter and colors brighter. During regular washing, mineral deposits in the water; dirt and soil sediments; and residual matter from detergent all accumulate in the fabric causing it to look dingy. RLR Laundry Treatment works by removing these particles from the clothing, holding them in suspension in the water and preventing redeposition so they rinse away leaving fabric looking like new.

When to use RLR?

Whenever your things begin to look dingy. RLR is safe to use as often as you wish...fabrics actually last longer with regular use.

Directions:

Open package and empty directly on dry or wet laundry in washing machine. Wash as usual with detergent, softener, etc. as desired. RLR Laundry Treatment can also be used for hand washing of one or two small pieces of clothing--just use a small amount in a basin of water.

RLR - For Whiter whites & brighter colors.

No phosphates - Non-Polluting - Bio-Degradable

Contest ends Sunday September 5th at 12 am EST.

Disclaimer:

I purchased these packages of RLR. These packages were not given to me to review. This review is only my opinion. The product may not work the same for every person. This review is based on my personal experience with RLR.

Please leave a comment for each entry done and remember to leave your email if it’s not already in your profile.

Mandatory Entry:

Tell me how you will use the RLR and follow publicly on Google Friend Connect (right sidebar – comment with name if different from your profile name) This is one entry. Must complete this entry or you will be disqualified.

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Melissa and Doug giveaway at J.Leigh designz

J.Leigh Designz is having a Melissa and Doug Wooden Workbench  giveaway. GummyLump is offering one their readers one of these wooden workbenches. My girls would love to have one of these work benches to play with. And best of all...it's wooden!

J. Leigh Designz water slide giveaway

J. Leigh Designz is having a bouncehousesnow.com water slide giveaway. It is ending tonight so hurry to J. Leigh Designz for your chance to win. I know I would love to have that slide set up at my house for the kids to play on!

Why you think an Energizer Smart Charger would make your life easier

You go through many batteries when you are a parent. When you are a parent of three children you go through three times the amount of batteries. Especially as children get older and they have complicated toys. Like my two girls have leap pads. It seems most toys need batteries today. Thanks to Jleigndesignz.com and Energizer I have a chance to receive an Energizer Smart Charger and a $15 gift card to Target. You can read about it here. What a great way to save money and keep batteries out of landfills!

10 tips for saving money during the back-to-school season

10 tips for saving money during the back-to-school season


1) Reuse what you can

2) Clip coupons

3) Watch for sales

4) Shop at discount stores

5) Hit yard sales and resale shops.

6) Ride bus to school to save on gas

7) Stock up at the end of the year for the following year.

8) Take lunches

9) Pass down to younger siblings

10) Shop online sales. Saves gas.



Disclosure: I wrote this blog post while participating in the TwitterMoms and Staples blogging program, making me eligible to get a $50 gift card. For more information on how you can participate, click here.

Five Lessons Every Child Should Learn

Five Lessons Every Kid Should Learn


Here is my list of five lessons. It was hard to narrow down. I am also big on keeping their area and toys clean. I just could not find a place to add it in the other categories. The following five are more important to me.
1) Be polite. My children must say please, thank you, and you’re welcome.

2) Respect themselves, others, and their space. Toys are included in the respect category.

3) Be nice. No hitting, calling names, saying hurtful things on purpose, and other not so nice behavior. This mom really dislikes calling names or saying something to hurt others on purpose. It’s not tolerated in my household.

4) Food and money are not luxuries. You have to work for money. Money buys the food. Don’t waste either.

5) Learn something new everyday. You can never know enough. By setting the goal to learn something new everyday they will have a better chance at succeeding in life.



Disclaimer: I wrote this blog post while participating in the TwitterMoms and Nanny McPhee Returns blogging program, making me eligible to get a $50 gift card. For more information on how you can participate, click here.

And mom catches on

Poor Brooke. Three times today I have heard Madison telling Brooke to clean something up. So I would go into the room to see what is going on and tell Brooke to clean up the mess. I had assumed Brooke had made it. Well, I just caught Madison destroying a toy and telling Brooke to clean up the mess. That does not go over well with mom. Mom does not like her children being mean to each other. And here is Maddie Jean making messes and then telling Brooke to clean it up. So a very upset mom tells Madison to clean up the mess. She gives me the evil look and says "NO, Brookie clean it up!". I give Madison the "mom" look and tell her since she made the mess she will clean it or she will get in trouble. She smiled and cleaned it up. KIDS!

Cranky baby today

Wyatt is cutting his first tooth. Well, his first two teeth. Both bottom teeth are coming in. So without thinking I grab the kids and go out school clothes shopping for Brooke. Brooke and Madison both got haircuts. As we were picking out styles Grandpa showed up. So the shopping trip started out great. Wyatt loves my dad. So they played while the girls got their haircuts. Then we went to Subway and ate. That went well until the last 10 minutes. Nothing Grandpa or I did was ok with Wyatt. It went downhill from there. All Wyatt wanted to do from then on was fuss. We made it through the shopping trip (my sanity is still in question though). I have to exchange some jeans because they were too big. We ended up just grabbing size 7's and checking out. Well, the size 7 jeans are too big. So a return trip is in order. For sanity sake I will have to pick a day when Wyatt is in a better mood.

290 calories

Yesterday I burned 290 calories on the treadmill. That was the most I have burned yet. I also put 2.5 miles on the treadmill. I always feel so much better after working out.

Here are my stats for the last week:
8/10/10 35 minutes, 2 miles, 222 calories, 70 fat
8/14/10 39 minutes, 2 miles, 210 calories, 67 fat
8/15/10 46 minutes, 2.5 miles, 290 calories, 91 fat

I am at 123 lbs and hoping to be down to 107 by October 13th.

16 lbs to go!

Hopefully done

We have had high fevers raging through the house this week. Monday started off with Brooke having a 102.4 fever. We had to keep giving her Tylenol to lower her temp all day Monday and part of Tuesday. Then we were sick free until Wyatt got it Friday. Poor little guy had it for 2 days. Today was the first day since Friday I did not have to give him Tylenol. I do not give my children Tylenol every 4 - 6 hours. Only as they spike a fever. And it wasn't Tylenol since that is recalled. It was the Walmart or Meijer brand. Madison has not caught it yet and hopefully she doesn't.

gdiaper giveaway at marineparents blog

Marineparents is having a gdiaper giveaway that is ending tonight. Head over too: http://marineparents.blogspot.com/2010/07/gdiaper-review-and-sweet-giveaway.html and enter to win!
Good luck!

First tooth

Baby Deer (that is what Madison calls Wyatt) is finally cutting his first tooth. He has been fussier the last couple of days so I checked his gums. There were other signs too. Like I was feeling some pain too while breastfeeding, his nonstop drooling, and of course the biting everything in site.


Now comes the fun of the girls running around screaming because brother is trying to bite them. And yes, it has already started. He has bit Brooke a couple of times. She laughs right now because the tooth is just starting to come through the skin. But in a couple of days she won't be laughing. I am hoping it will be as easy to teach him not to bite as it was the girls. Brooke bit me once and Madison was a little more stubborn. She bit Brooke and I a few times. Wyatt and I have already had our differences when he was breastfeeding and clamping down as hard as he could. I would scream and he would laugh. After 15 minutes I had to put him on the ground and let him scream for 5 minutes. Then he was fine. I foresee many bites in our future before I can get him to understand that biting is not allowed in this house.


I just realized that Daddy hadn't been bitten by the girls....will he escape the teeth this time? We shall find out!

I had to blog this....

I had to blog about the Petunia Pickle Bottom Diaper Bag Boxy Backpack giveaway at http://sugarpopribbons.blogspot.com/2010/08/layla-grayce-petunia-pickle-bottom.html. Why you may ask? Well, I simply love the http://www.laylagrayce.com/Default.aspx site. It has the coolest looking baby carrier that I ever saw. The merchandise on that site is awesome. The Petunia Pickle Bottom Diaper Bag Boxy Backpack had a lot of choices in colors. I had a very hard time picking just one. And I am secretly hoping to win that bag.


Here are some features about the bag that I love:

water-resistant lining

convenient zip out changing station with detachable pad for easy cleaning

removable dirty diaper pouch

valet clips will attach the boxy backpack to your stroller


Who couldn’t fall in love with a bag with all the above features?

I could picture the kids and I walking through the stores with that fancy bag. Here’s the one that I love:

http://tinyurl.com/284ps7g

Followed closely by this one:

http://tinyurl.com/2bg2rfh

Vacation break

We have been on vacation. This is the first time in 7 years that we have taken a vacation. We went down to the father in laws house on the lake. The kids had a blast. They went out fishing with daddy on the boat a few times and fished off the dock. I think catching frogs was the big highlight for them.

I got to meet up with my Aunt that I have not seen since 1997. The last time I saw her was at my moms funeral. It was a bittersweet meet up. It was wonderful to see her but there was sadness at the missing of my mom. So many memories came rushing back when I saw my Aunt. Wonderful memories! My kids loved meeting with her. They have decided to call her Grandma because she is so special.

Here are some pictures from vacation. Sorry about the picture quality. I took the pictures with my phone camera.

Usually I cloth diaper but I decided to use disposables while visiting relatives. Here is a picture of Wyatt in one of the new blue jean Huggies. I am not a huge fan of disposables but I have to say they are cute. Here's the picture of Wyatt sporting his cool huggies blue jean diaper: