Week of Thanksgiving - Day 3

Ok, I'll admit it: I am a procrastinator.  But, but, but, I AM improving.  At least in certain areas.  Unfortunately, Thanksgiving was not one of them.  It got lost somewhere between making Halloween costumes and planning for Black Friday.  We had talked about it a bit, then my dad called and wanted us to go out to have the feast with them, then he didn't, it was a big mess.  nevertheless, Thanksgiving finalization was done this afternoon.  Which brought me to 2 separate grocery stores this evening.  The day before Thanksgiving.  Lord have mercy.  The people in Kroger were just farting around.  I swear some of them were planning their holiday menu right there in the store.  The people of Walmart, however, were on... a... mission! (note the determination there)  I am pretty sure I saw several people who were more than willing to take off an arm if you got in their way.  And this leads me to my point for today.  Today, I am (super, wonderfully, amazingly) thankful for online shopping.  I am already gonna have nightmares about my shopping experience today, the day before thanksgiving, I don't even want to imagine the day AFTER Thanksgiving.  Madness!  Lucky for me, I will be sitting pretty, in my jams, with a cup of coffee, ordering all of my Christmas gifts (hopefully for very, very cheap) from my computer.  I did, gratefully, make it out of both stores with all of my limbs intact, most of my wits, and (surprisingly) only $101 out of my pocket for our "gourmet Thanksgiving feast" plus staples for the week.  I was pretty proud of myself, and super stoked about this meal.  Thanksgiving is such a heavy meal, so we tried to lighten it up by adding lots of fruit and cheeses.  In fact, the whole meal centers around citrus flavors.  Delicious!  Right now, the turkey is marinating in the fridge, the small things are finished, and I smell my citrus pound cake, about to be pulled out of the oven.  Life is good.  And I am thankful.      

Week of Thanksgiving - Day 2

Today I am thankful for the quiet.  Steve is downstairs, the kids are in bed, the tv is off.  Silence.  Wonderful silence.  Except the exceedingly annoying buzz of the monitor.  That is what I get for using the $12 monitor I bought at Walmart.  But while we are at it, I am thankful for Walmart.  I am thankful for this crappy monitor that I almost never use, but always truly appreciate when I do.

I am thankful for my kids.  I am thankful that they are growing bigger and stronger everyday.  You know, when I work in the nursery at church on Sunday morning, there are a couple of babies who just have the sweetest, tiniest cry.  Not me, my baby wails like a banshee.  So, I am thankful for my baby's strong little lungs, even when I feel like she is gonna bust out my eardrums.  At least I know she is healthy.

I am even thankful for my girl's flair for the dramatic.  Steve and I decided today that one of them is definitely going to be a soap opera actress!  It is amazing how fast both of them can go from totally happy to totally melting down.  But I am thankful because I am the one they run to at the end of their breaking point.  I get to hug them and hold them and tell them everything will be alright.  And that makes me feel like everything will be alright.  Mostly, I am just thankful that they are a part of my life, when they are good, and when they are not.

7 Days of Thanksgiving - Day 1

Today I thankful for my children and I am thankful for laughter.  I am most grateful that the two often go together.

At preschool this morning, Kira got to glue magazine clippings of things she is thankful for to construction paper.

Apparently she is thankful for ketchup and chocolate chip muffins.  Probably at the same time.  Yep, that sounds about right.  

This totally made me laugh, and it was one of those days that I needed a moment to let loose and belly laugh.  So, for that, I am very thankful!  What are you thankful for this week?    

PS: Don't forget to sign up for the Tom's Fun Band giveaway!!!

Become.com

I have to admit, until I was asked to review it, I knew nothing about become.com.  At first glance, it is just another online mall, however, it does have some cool features.  The site is set up to allow you to compare various products and reviews for similar items you are shopping for.  The idea is to give you the best deal for your money (and who doesn't want that, right?).  The site was pretty basic, the template could use a little sprucing up, but the product selection was vast.
I took a look at the pages for baby screw back earrings.  I have to say, I was impressed with the selection.  There were several brand name sellers listed, such as Helzberg diamonds, as well as many others that I didn't know.  The prices were reasonable, as was the selection.  You can check them out here: http://www.become.com/baby-screw-back-earrings or through the link above.
I was also viewed the monkey baby clothes.  I was quite impressed by the selection of items.  There were onsies, toys, and all sorts of monkey outfits.  As a girl who loves animals, I was pretty impressed!  There were a variety of reputable sellers with a "trusted merchant" symbol next to them.  I appreciated that they had been checked out, and would feel more comfortable ordering from them.  You can view these items at: http://www.become.com/monkey-baby-clothes or through the link above.
I liked that there were so many ways to narrow down your search.  This is very helpful if you are looking for something more specific, such as a certain color palate, or a price range.  Looking at the bassinet strollers I can see how this would be especially helpful.  I have two girls, and plenty of plans for more.  I generally want something to look a little neutral, so I was able to check a specific color (I chose red) and narrow my search from 371 items to 15. Very helpful.  You, too, can look up strollers at http://baby.become.com/bassinet-stroller, or just use the link above!
Overall, I thought this site could be more aesthetically pleasing, but overall, seemed pretty helpful.  I would use it again and suggest it to others as well!
     

Tom's Fun Band Review and Giveaway!

"I love you, I love you, I don't think I could love you anymore than I do..."  I love this little song, so much so that I have been humming it for days.  It is one of 16 cute, catchy tunes on "Happy Street", a great kid's album by Tom's Fun Band.  I had the pleasure this weekend of meeting Tom Wilbeck at the Woodlands' Children's Festival.  He headed up the parade and played the side show on Saturday and Sunday.  His band, as well as thier music, are sweet, energetic, and a lot of fun!  The cd has a song for every occasion: bathtime, bedtime, rainy days, new friends, and sweet little love songs to coo to your babies.  I love the fact that these guys have actual musical talent.  I have been listening to this cd for 5 days now and I haven't wanted to pull my eardrums out once.  That is quite the feat for music designed for 2 to 5 year olds!  I really enjoyed it and highly recommend you check out and support these guys!  You can visit their website at http://www.tomsfunband.com/, where you can preview his songs and buy the album, Happy Street, for $12.97.  They also have t-shirts and stickers!  I am thinking about buying some myself to support this amazing group of daddies!

And now, on to the good part: I have 2 copies of Happy Street to give away to two lucky families!  Here's what you do to win:

Mandatory Entry:

Go to www.tomsfunband.com and preview the songs.  Leave me a comment telling me which one is your favorite and why.










To get extra entries:


1. Publicly follow my blog with Google Friend Connect.


2. Follow me (MissMontez147) on Twitter.


2. Tweet about this giveaway and post the permalink in your post.  You can do this 2 times per day, at least 1 hour apart.


3. Follow The Mama Life  through Networked Blogs.


4.  "Like" The Mama Life on Facebook.


5. Post about this giveaway on Facebook.


6.  "Like" Tom's Fun Band on Facebook. 


6.  Make a blog entry about this giveaway.  Post the link with your comment.


8. Enter this giveaway into a linky and lave me the link of where to find it!


Leave me a comment telling me which entries you completed.  I will be choosing a winner on December 2.   Good luck everyone!!!
  
Disclosure Statement


I was given no compensation from Tom's Fun Band except the album Happy Street to write this post, nor was I instructed to post anything specific.  The views and opinions expressed in the post are solely my own.  
One winner will be randomly selected from all valid entries using random.org.  The winner will be notified via e-mail and given 48 hours to respond and claim their prize.  Please make sure your e-mail is on your profile and not private so that I can contact you if you win!  If it isn't, please post it in the comments.  If the winner fails to respond within that time period, a new winner will be selected.  Contest ends December 1, 2010 at 11:59 pm CT.  Open to US residents, age 18+.

Wordless Wednesday

I thought I would use this opportunity to catch up on some pictures. 

While I was feeding Ariana, Kira was being quiet.  Too quiet.  I came into the kitchen to this:

Apparently, I did not put the oranges high enough in the pantry.  Not only did she find the oranges, she figured out how to peel one!  At least she put some of the pieces in a bowl.  I love that she only has one shoe on.  She can never seem to keep them both on!  

These picture were taken on our trip to the Children's Museum on Friday!  I love that place, and all the colors make for many great photo opportunities!

 One of my goals is to get pictures into every post.  This week, however, most of my blog goals have been pretty much left behind.  Next week...  I'll be back on top of things!  But of course then it will be a holiday and my world will be topsy-turvy again.  Is it strange that I am starting to actually enjoy the chaos?  Haha.   

Ah, The Good Life

It is amazing how much better I feel about my life when my kitchen is clean.  

 This is my kitchen yesterday after Steve and I worked together for literally 2 hour getting everything straightened up and put away.  I know there is still some stuff around, but hey, I'll take it!

And what is better than a clean kitchen?  A kitchen someone else cleaned!

Our kitchen today, after Steve (wonderful as he is) held up our agreement of who takes care of what chores.  We each do the dishes every other day.  There are still a couple of pans in there, but I load the dishwasher, he unloaded it.  I didn't even have to nag, after dinner he was like "guess I have to unload the dishwasher, then' and went and did it.  What a good mama life it is!  (You'll note the pile of laundry just moved from one side of the kitchen to the other.  Laundry is my chore, guess I have no one to blame but myself.  Haha)

Thanks to my great girlfriends for all the words of wisdom over the past few days.  Y'all are total lifesavers, the absolute best.  Look for fun stuff on my blog in the coming days!!!