Naps or no naps?

My almost 4 year old son really stopped taking naps months ago- he could use a nap, but I am not in to him staying awake until 11:00 pm. If he does not take a nap, he is usually in bed at 8:00 pm, if not earlier. While I was in Las Vegas for a week, he got used to getting up when his daddy got up, at 6:00 am! Not my usual wake up time... so it has been killing me for the last few weeks, and him, since he is exhausted by 5:30 pm, too early for bed. So two nights ago, he went to sleep at 7:00 pm and woke up at 8:45 pm ready to go. He actually took a nap at 7:00 in the evening! And of course, who stayed up with him... ME! The next day, he got up early again, but this time I made him nap at 1:00 pm. He and his sister played for 1 hour before they both fell asleep. I let him sleep an hour (waking him up is a whole other story) and got him up. So he went to bed at 9:30 pm last night. It is such a hard choice to nap or not nap... peace in the evening because he is rested or an early bed time. I guess we will see how this continues to play out, and if I am the one that has to change and get up early!

The Oven Exploded!

My oven is only 7 years old and is not gunky on the bottom or anything... the other day I saw a red spot (not a flame) on the bottom element when I was cooking. I figured something got on it and was burning off. The next night, I preheated the oven. I had to go outside to get my daughter off the swing and I came back in, walked around the kitchen, and back towards the oven to put some garlic butter on my bread sticks. Then I heard a sound like the dishwasher starting, but it was from my OVEN! It was like "zizzizizizi!" and the whole oven lit up! I stepped back to look at it, saw the light, and turned off the oven and the stove top. There was a bit of smoke, not enough to set off the smoke detector, but the flame would not go out- it was inching around the element. So I ran out and turned off the breaker, which did make the flame go out. So I turned the breaker back on (I was brave) and turned the over back on. It did not burn down the house, but it never heated all the way either. My bread sticks were sort of cooked and then I broiled them to finish them. That element still works.
So this week at the grocery store, I bought things that can be grilled or cooked on the stove top. I thought this may save some energy and money on my power bill, but I guess I have to get it fixed! At least the house did not burn down! :)

Cleaning Tip

My sister told me about a tip for cleaning your jacuzzi tub- you dissolve two dishwasher tablets in really hot water and add them to your tub and turn it on. One thing I did not think of was that I rinse my cleaning rag (that had some type of orange cleaner on it) in the tub while it was filling up. So when I ran the jets, the bubbles blew up! It ended up making a bigger mess since then I had to clean up bubble residue! I am sure the tip works, but make sure your tub is CLEAN water without cleaners!

My little girl is 2!

My little girl's birthday is today. She had a somewhat uneventful day with church, nap, then her birthday cupcakes and presents with McDonald's for dinner. The best part was when she cried when we sang Happy Birthday!

Desperate for Discounted Designer Diaper Bags

I have two children. The first a boy, so when I was choosing a diaper bag, I wanted something that was boyish... not thinking that I would be the one to carry the diaper bag, not him. Also, what happened to my purse when I had the diaper bag? I could hardly stand carrying a purse before kids (although I bought plenty, they just stayed in the car!)- I certainly wasn't going to add it with the diaper bag. Why-- when the bag had all those pockets anyway?
After a year, I did buy a designer bag that was more me and much prettier. I got pregnant soon after that and had not even quit using it for the first when then I needed it for two! Two sizes of diapers, two changes of clothes (at least!) and less room for my things. I so admired those beautiful designer bags at the department stores, but I had a newer bag and could not convince myself I needed another. So one is done with occupying the bag and the other is almost done (hopefully) and now I can take the bag, but leave it in the car.
So I have now created a resource for DISCOUNTED designer diaper bags. Not only are these cooler than those at the baby superstores, they are mostly within normal price points, especially if you know you will be using it for a while.

Some of these are so cute that you may even use them beyond diaper bag years. It makes me want to have another baby just to get a diaper bag! This timi & leslie small bag is adorable and unique! You will have to check it out the selection for yourself. Desperate for Diaper Bags
To open your own store and choose your own niche, click here.

Cleaning week update...

I did not completely accomplish my goal this week. It started off great, as usual, and then went downhill and back up again. I did not get the entire family room dusted on the family room day, but I did get a lot done. The next morning I did get the dusting done, but had to go and get Sophie's 2 year old pictures so that day went downhill. Today I had to tackle the kids section. The playroom was so overwhelming that I had to stop and go all day! There were toys everywhere from my week away! I got a lot together to give to my friend and threw away the junky papers my son likes to keep. I also got rid of the McDonald's toys and the like. Overall, it looked pretty good when I got done. I moved their little table close to the little kitchen and told my son it was his restaurant. So where did we have dinner tonight... in the playroom!

And speaking of dinner, I set a record this week... 5 nights of dinner at home! That is an accomplishment!

Cleaning day continued...

Into the third day of my cleaning challenge and I have not quite accomplished my goal for today- the family room/dining room. My sister came over and blah blah blah... I did not get it done yet. I still have to dust. But the worst thing is after I vacuumed the tile, my dogs and children came in a got grass all over the place, which makes you wonder why you clean at all sometimes. Of course, I could not imagine if I did not clean- the grass and dog hair would be higher than the area rug! So I am plugging through and will not sleep until the dusting is done... even if I finish it after LOST!

A Busy Mom's Challenge to Clean!

I decided yesterday to clean my house from top to bottom... without doing it all in one day. So I divided my house into 5 sections and I am cleaning one per day. Yesterday I cleaned the master bedroom, blinds, baseboards, and all. Today it was both bathrooms, including scrubbing the tile. Tomorrow is the utility room/kitchen, next the family room/dining room, the final day is the kids rooms (bedroom and playroom!). That will be the most difficult! I will not sleep until the chore is done! I still, however, procrastinate and did not get started until after lunch. But the important part is that I am going to do it! I am not the greatest house cleaner, but I do general cleaning... after this I will need to tackle the drawers and closets!

VBS Game Day Central Ideas and Pictures

I am the VBS director for our church and like many Southern Baptist churches, we are doing Game Day Central from Lifeway. I posted some hints on Lifeway's idea section about the lockers and the worship rally, and wanted to include it here in case anyone reading also is doing the same. If you have any questions about the pictures or materials, post a comment and I will respond.

The lockers are made with florist boxes and spray painted (very easy!).
The back drop is made with a drop cloth that was a cotton type material on the front and a plastic on back (no leakage!). We have them hanging on a PVC frame that is 6 feet tall with two 8 feet sides and one long 16 feet back. Our stage is quite large, but we only used 3 panels for the back drop. The "faces" were painted with a variety of mixed tempera paint and oval sponges. It looks great from the audience.

Our pic in Vegas-

The 4fabmoms in Vegas...

Hello again...

My blog was flagged for possible spam, so I was not able to post for a few days and then I went to Vegas for a week for a conference and then participated in Relay for Life the day I got back... so it has been a busy week! And not to mention the laundry and the house cleaning I have to do to make up for my week away. My husband survived his week with the kids and the kids survived their week with the babysitter and my mom and sister who so graciously watched them some days. I am happy to be home, but I am making up for it this week! I had a great time with my 4fabmoms that went to the conference with me. We did not have any "stays in Vegas" stories, but we had a great time anyway. Many gave me tips as I went and the one I should have listened to was the tip of wearing good walking shoes... but the good walking shoes did not always go with the outfit! So I learned my lesson. I met some great people at the conference, in the airport, on the airplane, everywhere. I wore my Smart Moms - Finish Rich shirt and got tons of questions. What a great marketing tool- and I made them myself on our T-shirt affiliate, SpreadShirt. If you are traveling anywhere I would suggest you make a shirt to advertise your business. It is cost effective for the amount of exposure you get. I wore it to Disney one day and got a hit on our lead site! You never know who is watching! :)
So it is good to be home and not so good to be cleaning the house- my least favorite job!

A sad story

One more post for today...
A sad story but is a good reminder. A little girl, one month younger than Sophie,got out of her house while her dad and siblings were home with her and ended up in an inflatable pool. They have no idea how long she was in the pool, but she is in critical condition. They think she got out the doggy door. It is a good reminder that we think our kids are safer than they are and little things can make them unsafe. Keep that in mind as we pull out the pools and leave them up. You can not be too careful!

Spam

Not the canned meat either! This week my husband received an email from an Arbonne representative, and it was not me. Someone got his email because he purchased a gift a few months ago from a company and she is an Arbonne rep at some point. So she is using her email list to send unsolicited emails to all of her customers from her other business for Arbonne. It is pretty funny that she came across someone that already has their own Arbonne rep- HIS WIFE! How many emails a day do you get an email from someone that you don't know? I typically get up to 100 from crazy people that somehow legally got my name from some advertisement or a company from which I requested info, but to get an email from a real person that somehow got your email... it is just wrong. In all business, we should strive to do things ethically and not blast emails to anyone in our address book! Then she had the nerve to tell me I would discolor the name of Arbonne by being annoyed she was sending emails to my husband! You wonder how some people sleep through the night!
I am done with my rant! An example of how NOT to do business.

Sick babies

My baby is sick today. She started with a low fever. She was not even acting sick and I thought it was just a fever and would go away, even though my niece was sick earlier this week and we did spend Easter together. So I went to church tonight to work on VBS painting and my husband calls because she started throwing up. He held her over the kitchen sink and the bathroom sink! I came home and that was it. She is still leechy and warm, but she went to sleep fine. Nothing is worse than your baby being sick. Maybe it will go by fast....

My little girl slept in her big girl bed

Last night, my daughter threw a fit until she was able to get into her big girl bed. My son was in his real bed when he was 18 months and did not start getting out of it at night until he was 2 1/2. She has not ever tried climbing out of her crib so we have left her in there. It seems that she has had other ideas. We combined the kids together a few weeks ago and made a playroom with the other room. My sister gave me bunk beds, so she has seen the two beds in there. I guess she decided it was time. She has always been a child that needs her bed to sleep (going away is a nightmare!) so she had about 30 minutes of wiggling but then she feel asleep, slept all night, and did not even fall out! Now when the novelty wears off, we shall see. I will be thankful to take the crib out of the room since I have had a crib in my house for four years now! Her birthday is in May and she will be 2. I guess it is about time.

My Cute Kids

I just have to brag, don't they look so cute in their Easter outfits! What else can I say?

Mother's Day is coming soon....

Are you looking for the perfect gift to remind your husband that you want or one to give to your mother or mother-in-law? What is better than a day at the spa. Most women would love a day at the spa, but would never spend the money on themselves. As mom's, we tend to look at other's first. But a day at the spa would be a perfect Mother's Day gift because it is a day away, alone, and a day of pure bliss. A few years back (before children), my mom and I went to a spa for half a day of treatments! What a wonderful day and a wonderful time with my mother. Now I need to get back to that. If you don't know a spa near your mother or you are like me and would have to travel, Spa Finder is a great resource. You can buy a gift certificate in various denominations (maybe combine with some siblings!) and the recipient can choose where to go. Click here to check out the services, products, and spas available: Spa Finder Gift Certificate

If you can't afford the spa day, Arbonne has some great products for gifts. Check out my website for the catalog.

My son is finally old enough to appreciate dying Easter eggs. We only dyed 10 eggs (2 of the doze cracked while boiling, 1 cracked when my daughter dropped it!) but we had fun. I even found Christian stickers to apply when they dried! My son did not quite understand why we had to wait for the Easter Bunny- he asked three or four times today if it was Christmas Eve. We did explain that Easter is not about the Easter Bunny, but about Jesus dying and coming back. My son asked if he got all better? Did he go to the doctor? Did he see his Daddy? Great questions to explain the real meaning, even though the Easter Eggs are fun.

Who needs toys?!

Today, we got home from the store and had bought a large package of toilet paper. We were busy getting ready to die eggs and putting together the $10.90 Radio Flyer rocking house I got at Toys R Us (such a deal!) and my daughter had gone outside to play. Instead of playing with the toys we actually have purchased to play with, she took the toilet paper outside to play with. It doesn't matter what you buy, they will always like the box better- right?

Do you wear the right bra?

So many of us do not wear the right bra and so many of us need to. I was watching Oprah one time with the bra specialist on the show and she was explaining how many women try to fit themselves into the standard A,B,C fit of bras when they could be a J,H, or DDDD! I never heard of such sizes! So we all need to remeasure! With pregnancy, weight gain, weight loss, age, and gravity, it is likely you are not the size you were in high school. This site, Bare Necessities, has a great explanation of how to measure yourself for a bra and tells you all about the bra types (and even panty types of those interested). (Look at the very bottom that says Fit Tips). I think it even has men's underwear! They even have Spanx bras and hosiery!. And of course, my favorite, online shopping from home!
Spring Savings - Promotions and Specials at BareNecessities.com
Spanx Bra-llelujah Bra