Mommy Cards and a Giveaway….

Happy Monday everyone!! Hope everyone had a great weekend. The weather here was gorgeous. And with that, we were able to get out and go the park. It is great to get the kids out in the fresh air. The kids were running around playing and making new friends as they climbed the monkey bars…lol! It got me thinking. Now that we are going to be out and about more, meeting new people, I am in the market for some new ‘mommy cards.’ You know, the cards that have your name, phone and email on them that you can give out to other moms so you don’t have to write it a million times…lol!


Here are some examples:





Well, I went online and started looking for some printing companies where I could order the cards. I came across a great company called Day 2 Day Printing.  The company was founded as an online division of Color On Demand Printing. They have been serving local and national clients for over 25 years. They offer a wide array of products to meet any business and personal needs. Some of those include business cards, flyers, brochures, greeting cards, postcards and much, much more. You can can customize these materials to fit your needs which is great!


I am so excited to order my cards!! But I am even more excited to share with you that Day 2 Day Printing is going to offer 250 free standard size full color business cards to one lucky reader. The reader will have to pay a minimal shipping cost based on their shipping location.


In order to enter this giveaway, just comment below and tell me what you would use the business cards for. It is that simple!! 


For extra entries, do the following:
     
1. Follow Day 2 Day Printing on Facebook   and/or Twitter.
2. Tweet about this post or share it on Facebook.


Please be sure to include your name and email address with each comment.


This giveaway is open to anyone 18 years of age or older and who is a legal resident of the U.S. Contest will end on Monday, May 28th at 11:59pm. A winner will be chosen via random.org.



Good luck!!

Party Planning Tips and a Giveaway….

Happy Hump Day!! Hope everyone had a great Mother’s Day. Mine was perfect. I spend time with my family and that was all I needed!!


You all know that last month we celebrated both of my boys birthdays. With that, I had done a lot of online searching for party supplies. I came across a great site called The Party Works. They had a ton of different themed party supplies for both boys and girls. And their prices were very affordable!! So, I just wanted to share some info with you. They have provided me with a some great tips on how to make your child’s birthday a success. Check them out below. And the ‘icing on the cake’ (get it??) is that they are going to giveaway one Super Mario Brothers party pack!!

Are you excited?? I was when I saw that!  We all know how much kids love Mario. All you need to do to enter is to post a comment below telling me the theme of the best party you have ever hosted. That simple.


The contest will be open until Sunday, May 24th at 11:59pm. Winner must be a resident of the U.S. and will be chosen via random.org.


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Ways to Make Your Child’s Birthday Party Less Stressful For You


You’re probably pretty good at managing your kids’ behavior, but you’re maybe not so good at managing the behavior of other people’s children. Few parents are. When you throw a birthday party for your child, you have to do your best to keep a room full of rambunctious children under control, which can be tough. Additionally, you have to make sure that every other aspect of the party goes over well. Thank goodness you only have to throw one birthday party for each of your kids every year. Birthday parties aren’t usually very much fun for parents, but they can be. Your kids’ birthday parties undoubtedly require work, but there are a few things you can do to make them less stressful. 


Here are some ideas to help you out:


Invite fewer kids…….
If your child doesn’t mind, try to keep the guest list short. A small party is usually more enjoyable for everyone involved. Plus, if the party’s small, the behavior of the kids will be easier to manage, you won’t have to prepare as much food, and the party expenses will be less. Inviting around 10 kids is usually a good idea. That way, the party won’t be too small, but it won’t be too big to manage either.


Ask for support……
There’s absolutely no reason you should try to throw your child’s party on your own. Ask your spouse, parents, other family members, and friends to assist you in planning and prepping for the party and during the party. The more extra hands you have, the easier and less stressful things will be for you.


Stick to snacks….
You may be feeling overambitious when you’re planning the party and consider cooking a meal for the party guests. However, if you do cook a meal, your stress levels on the day of the party will be considerably higher. It’s generally best to cut down on the amount of food preparation you need to do on the day of the party. So, consider just putting out some cheese, crackers, and fruit. All the kids will really expect at the party is cake. Anything else you provide is nice but not necessary, unless you’re having some kids over for a sleepover and need to provide them with dinner. In which case, you might want to consider ordering pizza.


Don’t allow for any idle time….
Before the party, make sure you’ve planned out enough activities and games for the party to keep the guests busy, happy, and out of trouble. You may want to consider hosting the party away from your home at a party and play or adventure center where the kids will have access to all different kinds of games and activities. If you do host the party at your house, make sure you have an arsenal of activities and games up your sleeve. Kids typically get in the most trouble and cause you the most stress when they’re forced to entertain themselves.


Your child’s birthday party probably isn’t going to be perfect. A few things invariably go wrong at every party. You can make things easier for yourself if you try to keep a level head, try out the tips above, and do everything you can to make sure your child has fun. Oh, and take plenty of pictures!


Author’s Bio: Melissa is a mom and guest blogger who writes for a variety of blogs about being a mom, event planning, and throwing themed parties with stuff like Super Mario party supplies.

We’re Back…..

Happy Friday!! Did you even know that I left?? LOL! Or did you just think that I was being a slacker and not paying attention to my blog?? Well, we were away on a family vacation. I am going to tell you all about my trip next week. I just wanted to do a quick post to say hello. I will leave you with two pictures to help you guess where we went……




And I am going to try and catch up on my blog reading over the weekend.


Oh, and HAPPY MOTHER’S DAY!! Take some time for yourself, you deserve it!

Showing my age….

TGIF!! Happy ‘almost’ weekend my bloggy buddies….for those of you that are still around! LOL!  I am still here, still crazy and still trying to get better at blogging. The sad part is, I have so many things I want to blog about and just haven’t yet. But I will.


Today I wanted to show you something fun I did a few weeks back. Now, this is where I say I am showing my age…lol. Were any of you lovers of the ‘orginal’ Beverly Hills 90210??? Well, if you are around the same age as me, yes, 36, then I am sure you were. I think we all had a crush on Brian Austin Green! One of the actors that I loved then and love even more now is Tori Spelling. Now that she is older and married with her own kids, I feel like I can relate to her so much. No, I cannot relate to growing up a zillionaire and having a ‘wrapping’ paper room in my house, but I can relate to the trials and tribulations of motherhood and being a wife.  She seems like the most down to earth person in Hollywood. I have watched her grow on her most recent television shows where she really doesn’t hold anything back. She has written a few books and just released her newest one, CelebraTORI.


Now, I also subscribe to her website where she had posted a schedule of book signings. Well, wouldn’t you know it, she was coming to a Barnes and Noble near me…lol!! I knew I had to go. I also knew that I wanted to bring her something handmade since she is a crafty Momma just like me. She had her most recent daughter Hattie a few months back and I thought a little present for her would be nice. I decided to make a pillow.





The day of the book signing came and I packed up the kiddos we were off. We waited on line for almost 3 hours from the time we got our wristband to the time we actually met her.  Thank God Anthony fell asleep on the way there and slept almost right up until we saw her. I know, what as I thinking taking two little kids to a book signing?? LOL! Christopher had brought his Ipod and so he was occupied most of the time.


Waiting on line…..


As we got closer we were able to see balloons….


And finally we turn the corner and we get to see her up close!!




You could tell that she was taking the time to have a quick conversation with each guest and she even took pictures with those that wanted to.


When we got up there we gave her the present that we had made for baby Hattie and she seemed so appreciative. She is preggers again and so we said congratulations to her and wished her family well. Her son Liam is about Christopher’s age so Christopher told her to tell her son Liam that he said ‘hello’. She told Christopher that she would tell Liam ‘What’s up’ since that was probably cooler to say for kids their age!! LOL! 


And then we took our picture with her…..and of course my eyes were closed!!



Note, Anthony had just gotten up and was still in the stroller in no mood to pose for a picture!


So, thanks to Tori Spelling if you ever read this…lol! It was great to meet you and your new book is amazing!!


Happy Friday!!

Almost Wordless Wednesday…..

Yoda…(maybe more like a sad puppy)…lol!


Happy Hump Day…

Almost Wordless Wednesday….

Some birthday pictures…..yes, a few days late!! LOL!












Happy Hump Day….

Birthdays…..

Hello, hello…..is anybody out there??  I know, I have vanished these last 2 weeks. Are you still reading?? It seems like I have been starting my last few posts with excuses for not blogging. But this time I have ‘real’ reasons for being so busy. You see, it was both of my boys’ birthdays last week. Yes, both kids within 5 days. By the way, did I ever tell you that I actually had the same due date for both of my kids? What are the chances of that happening?? LOL!  Anthony turned 3 and Christopher turned 6.


So, the simple fact that we have have celebrated 5 times so far and still have to have one more family party, well, it has simply worn me out! First there are the school parties and bringing in snacks for that. Then I took Anthony and a few of his little nursery school buddies to bounce house place and had a ‘mock’ party so Anthony thought we was having a celebration with his friends. Then, I had my family over to celebrate. Then we had a Chuck E Cheese party. And we still need to have my husbands side. Really?? How many times do we need to sing ‘Happy Birthday’?? LOL!


The boys wanted an ‘Angry Birds’ themed party but since we were having it at Chuck E Cheese, there were only so many things that we could do ‘Angry Birds.’  I went on Etsy and ordered an ‘Angry Birds’ party package where a designer designed all sorts of Angry Birds decorations….such as cupcake toppers and wrappers , Hershey wrappers, banners, food display signs, etc. She personalized it with the boys’ names and so all I needed to do was to print and cut out the pieces. Perfect. I also found a site where there was a free template for Angry Birds faces. Originally they were used for balloons, but I just shrunk them and used them on the goodie bags. All I did was cut out the faces and glue them on to colored bags.


Here are the goodie bags, I think they came out pretty good!




One of the items included in the goodie bag was a full size Hershey bar. I did not wrap the bar in foil first like I would normally do. I just used the wrapper since they are kids and they would just be tearing it off to eat the candy within seconds…lol!




And these are the cupcake toppers. I punched out the circles and just taped them to a toothpick and inserted into the cupcakes.



Ok…that’s it for today. Stop back tomorrow and I will show you some pictures from the party!!


Have a great day…..