Giveaway #2 sewingsilly Pocket Bib $6 value

Up for grabs now is the super high quality pocket bib from sewingsilly.  This bib is not only cute and made high quality but also it is water proof which means that when your baby or toddler spills something on himself or herself you are not going to have problems cleaning them off.  Nor are you going to have issues with stains on their clothes from stuff leaking through the bib.

Entry #1 you have to give me the special number code that Karen has listed on sewingsilly. 

Entry #2 you are going to follow this blog.

These two entries are a must to be able to get entered into the giveaway.  You will need to make sure that you enter a new comment for each of the entries for you.

Entry #3 follow me on Twitter @momtoAJandAllie (again I do not know how to change my name and had an account that I had forgotten about).

Entry #4 like my Facebook page.

Good luck to you all and I know that you will happy with this one because it is perfect for everyone.

The winner for this giveaway will be chosen on June 15th.

The bib is valued at $6.

Review sewingsilly

One thing that I have hated for a long time is how ugly my hair chair has become after the two toddlers.  To be one hundred percent honest I really wanted to purchase a new high chair for Adeline because it had been well loved, often used and stored in the basement int  between babies.  Well I found a much better solution and ended up with a gorgeous new high chair cover courtesy of sewingsilly.

This high chair cover features one of my personal favorite things, OWLS.  As you get to know me you will see that this is a reoccuring theme becuase so much is being done in our homes with the cute little fellows.  I have redecorated with owls, planned rooms around owls, had specialty custom products with owls, and am even planning a first birthday party with this same theme 

Now I should note here that I am a bad customer.  To be one hundred percent honest I often times am a bit on the hurried side when I am shopping and sometimes I miss the fine print.  With this being said I did pick out a cover that was not specific to the high chair that I have.  I later realized that sewingsilly actually has specific covers for a variety of different models of high chair.  I did get lucky though because this one fit our high chair with ease so there was really no problems or issues that I had to worry about.  I was thankful for this because I honestly would have felt a bit stupid had I had to contact the vendor and tell her that I could not use this.  I was ovecome with excitement at seeing the cute owl fabric and it completely overshadowed the fact that it was made specifically for a certain type of high chair.

So here is a picture of my skanky icky high chair in the condition that it was in.

I know that this is not horrible condition but I hated the yellowing in the cracks and how the overall highchair looked.  I am pretty practical with things like high chairs because my kids generally do not love them so I typically move them to a booster early on.  Plus since we have a fairly small house for the number of people that live here I find that it is hard to actually find the room to add one more big item into my home.  The high chair would be just that, one more bigger sized item for our house that has to go in the ever popular dining room.  We have some of the bigger overcast toys in there as well so there is not often a ton of room. 

So I was very excited when I got the great high chair cover in the mail. 

The owls were just as cute in person as they were online too which was nice. 

And when I placed the cover on my high chair, not only was I excited because I knew that clean up would be just throwing the cover in the washing machine but also that I was going to be able to make it look cuter.  Here is the finished product.  If the baby was eating yet, she starts on her 6 mos birthday June 5th, I'd post pictures of her eating in it.  Sorry folks you are going to get an empty but still really cute high chair instead.

As a bonus the folks here at sewingsilly were very generous and offered a giveaway bib.  The bibs are sold in their shop for $6.  I will be posting a giveaway link in a bit so you can enter there for the adorbale bib.

The shop is filled with bibs and high chair covers for every model of high chair that is common and can even be custom ordered for those that you might not see.  Plus she has a lot of different fabric choices for you to choose from.  Here is a picture of some of the fabric choices that she shows as being available on the Etsy site.



She also gives you the option to be able to pick out your own fabric and send to her.  This is great for those of you who are very specific in your decorating as you can easily find the fabric that is going to go perfect with your home decor.

Karen, the owner of sewingsilly has celebrated thirty nine years of marriage to her husband.  They had a daugther and then a son and their daughter and son have both had a daughter and then a son of their own.  She is a happy grandma to these four amazing grandchildren.  She sounds a lot like my own my mother, saying that "grandchildren are the best" and talking about how much she enjoys spending time with them and how much fun she has with them.  I hear this same thing from own mom's mouth all of the time so it made me smile when I saw Karen saying it too.  Her daughter is the owner of another Etsy shop Practical Designs.  I had to smile when I saw that her daughter's name was also Amanda and I figured that she was more like my mom then I knew.  Her daughter was getting requests for the high chair covers and just could not do both items while caring for her two young children because the demand was too high.  Karen resides in the mountains and is happy to be away from the hustle and bustle of the city.  She loves making the high chair covers because people need and appreciate them.  I would highly recommend Karen's services if you are interested in finding the perfect high chair cover.  They are a super high quality and if her daughter's sewing skills are anything like her's you will be happy with the shopping cart ocvers that she has as well.

Review URloved by MDamron

Art and children go together like peanut butter and jelly in this house.  My kids are constantly drawing and coloring or playing with other art supplies.  I love that they are so creative and I have a ton of fun with them when they are making and creating things.  One passion that I have is organization or new ways to organize things.  I am in the process of reorganizing our entire house so I have been busy in this area.  I am constantly searching for new ways that I can organize things.  So when I was looking for a way to organize my kids' art supplies I was looking for things that would travel well and I came across URloved by MDamron on Etsy.  The lovely shop features a variety of products but two of them really caught my eye.  These were the Children's Crayon Art Folio and the Mini Crayon Art Folio.  I thought that these were really adorable and something that my kids could use and would be great to grab in a hurry and travel with.  I contacted Meaghan from the shop and delighted to see how amazingly generous she was to work with. Not only did she offer me one of the mini crayon art folios but she also offered me a children's crayon art folio.  Then when things put her behind schedule and she had to send them to me later than planned, she added a second mini crayon art folio.  This was so generous and when we opened the package my three older children were so excited. 

Now I was faced with the issue of two of them getting mini ones and one of them getting a big one.  It was easy to figure out which one I was going to give to Althea becuase one was definitely made for a girl and two were definitely made for the boys.  I decided that since most of the review products I get were geared more towards the younger ones that I would let my oldest pick and he gladly chose the mini one which was what I would have given him anyways because I knew that my two year old would enjoy the bigger one much more.  The mini crayon folios are just $8 and the full sized larger one is just $20.  As a special bonus Meaghan includes stickers in each of her folios for your child to enjoy and play with.

So here is Andrew with the mini crayon art folio that he chose.  He really likes it and I am sure from this picture that you will all be able to tell.

Here is a shot of Althea with hers.  This is the one that was sent to us as an extra and there is no possible way that Meaghan could have known how much I loved rainbows but she did send this awesome rainbow and hearts one to me.

I must say that a favorite feature of this picture of mine is the fact that she has some cookie or cupcake frosting on her mouth.  So funny and something that I am sure that she is going to hate me for later but let's face it our kids are going to be mad about something and I am sure that frosting on the face is quite minimal in comparison to what it could be right?

Now for the full sized product that my two year old Huxley got, I love the fact that there are handles on it.  They are great becuase he is going to easily be able to carry it and that is something that at his age he seems to really enjoy.  He is always packing little bags and sometimes even his sister's purses so that he can take his toys with him wherever we go.

 

Here is a shot of the insides of each of them, again the rainbows was an awesome touch on this additional one that was sent to me.  Very cute and the paper and crayons are already there so they were ready to use.  I have bought a lot of crayon rolls and such in the past where I had to go out and purchase these items so I loved that they were included when I got the ones from URloved by MDamron.  Here is Andrew's....

and Althea's...

and Huxleys.

So now that you have seen the inside you are sure to need to see the outside.  So here we go these are so cute that I just love them.  Here's Andrew's....

and Althea's....

and Huxley's!

She sells many other great items in her shop like this awesome shopping cart cover.  Speaking of which I need one of these so of course after seeing the quality of her products this is going on my wish list of things for future purchases.  Plus at $35 this is a steal on a homemade shopping cart cover.  I have not seen many for this price or lower and most of the ones that I have looked at have been at least $40, so you would be saving money by going to her shop.

I love how cute and well detailed this is and the fact that it looks like it really would fit on those bigger shopping carts that so many covers end up falling short on.

She also features insulated water bottle carriers, and I personally love this design.

And the last of her products that I was super impressed when I saw them was Love Your Lunch lunch bag with snack bags.  Who would have thought that it would only cost you $30 to purchase the lunch bag and the snack bags that your child will be able to carry for a long time, perhaps even more than one year.

She, of course, has other products listed and featured on the page.  I love checking out her shop and find it to be one of the ones that I have started visiting more often just to see what she has in stock.

Now you can get to know a little bit of information about Meaghan Damron the creator of this amazing line of useful products for moms.  Remember that you can go to URloved by Damron at any time and find these great products available to you for your use.  Best of all is that the products are all under $35 that she currently has in her shop and some of them are as low as $5 which means that this can be a new stop for you to purchase some quality handmade goodies for birthday parties and other small gifts.

Meaghan lives in Sierra Vista, Arizona where she enjoys spending time with her husband of 5 years, her 3 year old son Gabe, and her 2 year old daughter Bentley.  She grew up in Columbus, Ohio with a sewing momma who handmade her clothes as a child and learned how to sew from her.  Like all kids she was resistant at first but when she received her first machine at the age of twenty five, she became hooked.  She was a hairstylist before she decided to stay at home with her children.  She swears that she is just a beginner since she is just going to be twenty eight in October but after looking over our folios she could have fooled me for a sewing expert.  I too got my first sewing machine not too long ago but I am nowhere near as talented as Miss Meaghan is but sure wish that I was.  She is a big fan of blogs especially those that are centered towards crafts and sewing.  She also enjoys testing out new patterns.  She is eager to learn new things.  She's hoping that she can expand her Etsy store and is hopeful that she can also own her own store one day.  She started the company URloved LLC with her husband because she believes that every person is loved in some way by someone and she puts a little bit of her love in everything that she creates and sews.  I would highly recommend you look at her shop and really think about how you can support this wonderful woman as she pursues her dreams of bring you a little bit of love in each product that you buy.

Even the Baby's in on It!!

So if you're like me as a mom you work painstakingly hard to make sure that your little angels look perfect before leaving the house. You double check their clothes to make sure that they haven't gotten anything on them, comb their hair one last time, and sometimes even bribe them to please leave their hair pretties in place. However for me it's always a failure in some way. One of my kids always looks disheveled and/or messy by the time we finally get where we are going. Most of the time for me it's Althea, my three year old pulling her hair out of her ponytail or tossing her clips, bows, or flowers across the floor of the van. There are times when it's my two year old, Huxley who seems to manage to find something to make himself messy with when I had no clue that there was something that he could be messy with. I find it so frustrating because I guess I'm vain & I take extra care in making sure that my kids look spectacular.

Well now my darling little angel of a baby is in on it. I took a lot of care in matching her shirt to her adorable ruffle diaper cover & baby legs combo. I even matched one of her teething necklaces because Andrew (my oldest, he's 8) had an appointment. So we get to the appointment & I notice that somewhere between our house and the literally 8 blocks to the clinic she had spit up! I've been pretty good about keeping bibs on her after she had just eaten or when she's eating but I thought that we could make it this far since she hasn't eaten in a while. So I've come to the conclusion that it's a conspiracy with the four of them. I had to share this little moment & of course a picture to celebrate some of the joys of mommy hood!

Giveaway #1 Streamline Design

So the great folks at Streamline Design gave me this awesome mini version of their moon wall decal and I am offering this up to you as a giveaway.  I am so excited to be listing this first giveaway.  If you are interested in learning more about Streamline Design then please check out my detailed review which includes a ton of information about the fabulous Darla that is behind the product itself.  The mini size is valued at $10.



To be able to win there are a few things that you can do to be entered.

Chance #1...start following my blog and let me know that you follow with your email below.

Then you can do the following, please post a new comment when you do each one.  Thanks!

Chance #2--visit the Streamline Design website and let me know what items are on your wish list.

Chance #3--visit the Streamline Design Etsy shop and let me know your favorite item.

Chance #4--like my Facebook page.

Chance #5--Follow me on Twitter @MomtoAJandAllie (I'm not able to figure out how to change my tag, if anyone can tell me how to do this and I am successful I will give you a bonus entry.)

Chance #6--Follow Streamline Design on Twitter @StreamlineDesign.

Remember to post each time that you do one of these so that I can appropriately host the raffle.  I will be doing things the old fashioned way for a bit and then doing them a bit differently in the future.  By old fashioned way I will have numbers on slips of paper for the numbers of comments that are listed below.  Make sure that at least one of your comments has your email address so that I can contact you if you have won.

The winner will be chosen on June 15th.

Review Streamline Design

I have been in the exciting process of redoing my house.  I thought that starting the blog at this time would be a great idea.  I got a little more involved than I thought and while I have some amazing wall decals to put up the painting has not been finished.  So I am going to review these companies and let you know what I think of the amazing decals that they have and then once the painting and renovations have been completed I will post an additional post with pictures of these being used in my home.  I was ecstatic when Streamline Design offered to work with me. 

The reason that I was so excited about working with Streamline Design was that they had so many great options for my oldest son's room.  He is in that akward adolescent age where you never know what to get them.  He is not old enough to be a teenager and while he likes many teenage things there are a lot of things that he still likes that are childlish.  So comes into play the amazing monster wall decals that I received from Streamline Design.  These are so cute and I'm sure that they are going to add enough light hearted childlike elements to his room.  I am amazed at the quality of the product that I got.

The vinyl actually seems thicker than some of the decals that I have seen and the quality is far above and beyond anything that can be bought in your neighborhood retail store.  Best of all are their prices.  The monster set which by the way is very large is just $17.95. 

Here is a picture of the pair of monsters that my son chose when given the offer from the company's website.  I am posting some pictures of the product before I have put them up but wanted to give you an idea of what they are going to look like on the walls.  There are actually three monsters that come as part of the set.  They are sold with one of the bigger monsters and the smaller monsters.  I personally have a bit of love for these little guys just for the fact that their names are Larry, Moe, and Curly.









This is a picture that I snapped of the larger monster (Curly), I am litterally thrilled to be putting these up on the walls and I am going to be reviewing the process of putting them up and the actual finished product and even posting some video of the application process.  Lucky for me I have an artist other half so I will just videotape him applying them.  I am sure that the painting is going to start next week so this is going to be posted soon but to make Streamline Design a big part of my launch party I wanted to include this post now.



Here is a snapshot of the other monster (Moe) that we received.  Again I am going to be posting these great monsters on a green wall so I chose to have them in black.  I did learn that they are cut from fully removable matte vinyl and that they also have the ability to do photo-tex.  However if you are interested in purchasing these monsters they do come in a wide variety of colors that you may choose from.

Here is a picture of the available colors that you can choose.  There are forty five for you to choose from.



Now I'd like to highlight some of the other products that I saw on the Streamline Design website that I liked.  I personally really loved the Planetary System vinyl wall decals.  They are great and something that I really think that most kids would not only enjoy in their room but also something that you could use to help teach them with.  They'd be awesome for a classroom or a homeschool learning area as well.  Plus they are note so juvenille that if you home schooled and chose to use a room that served as another purpose that they would look bad.




Now if you are not shopping for wall decals Streamline Design still has a lot of products that you could possilby be interested in so you should definitely check them out.

There are some great laptop decals with my favorite being the mustache.  This is so fun and whimsical that it makes me smile and giggle every time that I see it.



They also have a few really great t-shirt designs.  Since I am sucker for zombie flicks I thought that I would post the pic of the Zombie hand t-shirt.  Again this is something that just makes me smile and is actually a piece that I might end up purchasing for my other half because as much as I love zombie movies, he loves them more. 



Streamline Design is ran by the lovely and personable Darla Davis.  She is a PTO mom, wife, gardener who loves her irises, writer, and of course business owner.  She is much like myself in that she wears many different hats that make her life work.  They have a second website where you can visit Streamline Design but I had worked with her through her Etsy shop.  They started the business in 1998 and Darla was able to quit her previous day job to stay home after a few years of starting the business with her husband.  She was happy to get this opportunity so that she was able to stay home and spend more time with her kids and be involved in their schools more.  She has also enjoyed the additional time that she has gotten to spend with her dog.  She said that he would be happy to tell me about it himself but he was playing with toys and trying to trip her instead, which I am sure is one of his favorite games if he is like the dogs that I have owned in the past.

Of course you should also be aware that Streamline Design was started as a company that offered decals for cars.  After I learned this I checked them out and looked at some of the car decals.  I loved the fact that they offered you the chance to fully customize your design as well as having a full range of truck and racing stripes and the decals that many hunters and other niche groups enjoy.  Since you are my readers I must be one hundred percent honest in saying that I would not personally add a decal to my car because it is just not my thing but for those of you who are interested you might find that there are some great options and some designs that I have not previously seen which is something that I am always excited about.  These designs can be found here on their main website.  You will also find that they can make posters, business cards, canvas prints, and much more.  Plus you can always get one of their mustaches for your walls as well because who would not love to have a mustache hanging on their wall. 

Plus if you have imagined something then all you need to do is go to the Streamline Design Etsy shop and send a message to Darla.  She would be happy to help you come up with any design that you could possibly think of or dream about.  She is wonderful to work with and meeting the great people like Darla is just one of the many bonuses that I have found to the start of this blog.  Thanks again to Streamline Design. 

Now for the good news for your as readers, Darla from Streamline Design generously sent me a great moon decal.  You can enter the giveaway for this item here.  The one that she sent is a photo-tex image and smaller than the one in this picture but still a great deal for you to be able to try out their product and get a little bit of home decorating done in style. 

Let's Get This Launch Party Started

That's right!!! Today's the day!! I'm excited to get this going. Be prepared for a ton of fun later this afternoon & throughout the evening!

Adventure Wednesdays

So every summer since I've been a stay at home mom I've found there to be a ton of issues with my oldest (the only one that's school aged) getting bored. This year I decided to creat "Adventure Wednesdays". Since this is the first full week of vacation we are taking our first adventure today & we invited some friends to join us. It's supposed to be a scorcher out but that isn't stopping us from packing up our bags, grabbing the things that we need & heading out for hiking & to see some waterfalls. I'll be sure & post pics of each of our adventures. Of course our adventures have to be aged appropriately for my children who are 5 mos, 2 1/2, 3 1/2, & 8 1/2. Today we are having grandma watch the baby because of the heat since she is not a huge fan of being hot. Most trips are likely to just be me & the kids but we could have friends joining us here & there. Since we have a good friend of mine & her 9 1/2 year old son going I thought we might end up doing a bit more hiking then we would if we were on our own. This is the biggest factor in my decision to leave the littlest one with grandma for this trip. She will be with us for most of our adventures! :)

Upcoming Launch....

So what type of games would you like to play during my launch?  I'm hoping to make it a fun time for all and for you to be able to really enjoy the time as well.

I have some "prizes" to go along with my giveaways.  I also have a huge amount of information that I'd like to share with you but what would you most enjoy reading about.  I love to read and write so I think that book reviews would be fun.  What do you all think about an online book club?  We could all vote on a book and "meet" or post comments to discuss the book once each week or something.  I really want this to be interactive and fun for you as well as for me.  I love knowing that there are those of you out there really reading what I have to say and I'd like for your voice to be heard as well.

I'm not afraid of controversial subjects but what I do expect is that everyone and I do mean EVERYONE has the same rights on this blog.  I want you to all be able to share your thoughts and beliefs as a free thinking forum.  Whether or not I or anyone else agrees does not matter.  We all have to have respect.  I can tell you that you and I do not agree on something this does not mean that I can not do this in a way that is respectful and in a manner where we both can be friends.

Also are there any products that you'd like to see a review of?  If I have ideas from you, as readers, I will try my hardest to do so. 

Please comment and share with me, give me ideas and let's get ready for the huge launch party to come. 

Love Products Mommies Invent, You Must Check Out Mom 4 Life

How many of you out there love to buy things that were invented by other moms?  If you're raising your hand then you are not alone.  I am there with you.  I know when I purchase a product that a fellow mommy has made or invented that I am going to be happy with it.  I know that the quality will be high and that my kids are actually going to enjoy it.  It is one of the reasons why I tend to love handmade goodies and things made by WAHM so much.

One thing that I have struggled with is really finding out which products that are made by bigger companies were made by moms.  There is not a lot of information on most websites and let's face it as a mom of four, I do not have a ton of time to really look up and research each product that I buy before I buy it.  One website is setting out to change this problem, Mom 4 Life.  This website is a great place for moms to go and buy goods that were made by other moms.  There are so many different products on there too that you can really shop for anything that you might be interested in finding.

As I was looking around the website I came across a number of great products that I already knew that I loved.  One of these products is BabyLegs.  Let's face it most of us love BabyLegs on our little ones so much because they are just so darn cute.  My favorite thing about them is that they actually can help turn a onesie into a darling outfit or even complete the look of a t-shirt and cloth diaper. 

Since I have my own personal obsession with them I thought that I'd share a favorite photo of my youngest when she was just a wee thing wearing them with an owl shirt.  If you know me, you know my love for owls. 

If you are a nursing mommy then you are sure to love the Hooter Hider  Nursing Cover.  In my opinion, even though I am not a nursing mommy this is one great product.  I wanted to nurse my babies so bad but was on medications that I just should not go without that I could not safely take while nursing.  In addition I did not produce the amount of milk that I should have ot be able to fully nourish a growing baby.  However if I were to nurse then I know that I would strongly desire the Hooter Hiders  brand because not only were they created by a mommy but they are in my opinion the most stylish and cute choices of nursing covers.



The next product that I noticed was one that I never personally owned but a lot of my mommy friends did.  To be honest I do not know why I have never owned a WubbaNub because the idea is fantastic for those months when your baby seems to spit out their pacifier.  These specially made stuffies resemble cute little beanie babies in my opinion but do a whole lot more.  They hold onto your infant's pacifier and help him or her to keep it in their mouth.  Again I can not state enough how much I like this idea and how I do wish at times that I had one of these at my house, but you can't own everything, right?  Or can you (insert giggle when I think about Shane's face if I'd have said this one out loud.)  And if you want to know he is giving me a funny look as I sit here giggling and typing.

Another great mommy made product that I believe every mommy needs and deserves to buy for herself is the Belly Bandit.  This is one of the best things that I have ever owned.  I loved the fact that I did not have that jiggle belly for long after having my baby.  Don't get me wrong I still have enough loose skin to house a linebacker in my abdomen if I tried (four kids just gave my skin a bit too much of a workout) but I did not have that poochy "When are you due?" belly after having just given birth.  The Belly Bandit  is made to offer you the support that you need in your tummy right after you have given birth.  I personally would not have believed that it worked as well as it did had I not tried it.  And since I did try this product I think that I should share a few more pictures with you.  These are me one day after giving birth and then again about 3 months later.  Mind you, this is child number 4 so there is a pretty big difference in that short of a time period, especially when you are considering that this was the fourth baby that I'd had.

and here is the after shot

So if you are like me these results are enough to prove that this is what I was interested in.  Please excuse the massive cloth diaper destashing that is happening in the after shot.  I was cleaning out cloth diapers and getting ready to sell a bunch and unfortunately caught the messy stash pile in this shot. 

There are really a ton of additional products that you can check out as well.  One of the ones that I found most interesting were LilyPadz because even in the short few months that I nursed my second son I had some embarassing leaks b/c the stupid nursing pads that I was wearing moved.  I had both cloth reusable pads and pads that were disposable and still had these same problems so I am not sure what I was doing wrong or if it was because I am bigger busted and the pads just slipped.  However with this choice in pads they are supposed to adhere to you and make it more possible for you to do the things that you enjoy without having to worry about the problems. 

All in all I think that Mom 4 Life is one website that all moms should visit and check out.  They will find that there are products there for them no matter what type of mom they are.

Needing Kids Clothes/Got Old Kids Clothes??

If you are a mom then you are sure to have old kids clothing lying around and you are sure to need more kids clothing.  I feel like I have hit the jackpot everytime that I go onto thredUP.  The website is amazing.  They originally started out as a place where you could go to exchange gently used kids clothing but now have changed to an online consignment shop of sorts.  You can easily sign up at thredUP today and you even get a free $5 to spend in their shop.  This is awesome because at the moment they have free shipping and there are a ton of different pieces of clothing that are actually priced for $5 or less so basically you will get free clothes.  While there are some clothes that are new with tag (NWT) most of the clothing is used but in like new condition.  Best of all if you have your own kids clothes lying around you can order a bag, fill it and get money sent to you so that you do not have to worry about things like yard sales.  So what are you waiting for?  There are plenty of brand name options and really if you are a parent you can not afford to not look and sign up.

A Little About Me

I guess if you are going to be following my blog then you would probably like to know a little bit about me.  This is my offical attempt to introduce you to me and who I am.  I am going to be posting introductions to my family as well as some posts about favorite things, most used products and some posts where you, as the reader, will be asked to participate.

So here goes....

Hi.  My name is Amanda and I was born on July 25th, 1982.  I would describe myself as hyperactive, fun loving, energetic, and intelligent.  I love to be able to have a good time and enjoy going to festivals and concerts.  In fact, I can't wait until all of my children are able to really go to these events with us and really enjoy themselves as well.  I love that you can have special family moments that might not be right for someone else's family that can be simply perfect for your own.  All people should remember this and remember not to judge each other.  It is important to realize that there are people who are great parents who make choices that you would not make but that does not mean that they are any less of a parent.

I have always loved writing so a blog was a very natural thing for me.  In fact this blog has been two years in the making.  I have played around on Blogger to test out things.  I have practiced writing in different styles to show to others to see what they think and I have attempted some other projects to get the information that was needed for me to bring Everything For Modern Moms to you.   I am also doing a second blog where you can follow my weight loss journey Finding My New Body By Visalus.  I have struggled with my weight my entire life but no where near the same as how I have struggled after I had my third and fourth babies.

I am a freelance writer and I make my living writing as well so I am really writing all of the time during my free time.  It is easy for me because I really love it. 

I am mom to four amazing children.  Andrew is 9 and very smart and funny.  He is always looking for unique ways to do things and he is constantly inventing things and coming up with new ideas.  Althea is 3 and is adorable and such a dainty little girl.  She loves ballet, princesses, and mermaids.  She makes me smile all of the time and reminds me of what it was like to be young.  I love how youthful I can be with her and I especially love reading to her and playing things like Barbies.  Huxley is 2 and one neat little boy.  He is so creative and he constantly is teaching me things.  I love how he is able to navigate through the iPod and iPad better than his mommy.  To top it all off he is so funny.  Adeline is just 5 months old and a very lucky baby.  I am reminded all of the time that I am so lucky to have these four little miracles in my life. 

I try my hardest to focus on this to be able to avoid thinking negatively with my children even in the  most negative of situations.  There are times when I'd love to be sleeping but Miss Adeline wants to play at 2 am.  In the end I keep reminding myself that one day she will be all grown up and these years will be over.  This season of my life is amazing and one that I truly enjoy so much so I cherish those time when she wakes me up, constantly reminding myself that she is not always going to be little and that this time will soon be over with her.  Sometimes I hate to sleep at all for fear of missing a moment with them.  It seems like I woke up one day and Andrew was four or five and I just am not ready for them to all be big kids.

I feel so blessed to be a big stay at home mom.  I love that I get to spend my time with these amazing children all day long and on the days that are long and hard I think about what I could be doing instead and well I continue to be able to see the bright in all things when  Ihave done that. 

I have two college degrees and am partially finished with a third.  I have an AA in Communications and Sociology.  I have a BOT BA with minors in Sociology and African American Studies and I am part way finished with my BA in Special Education.  I plan on working hard to get back in school and finish up this degree and in gaining my MA after my youngest is in first grade.  I plan on attempting to one day publish a book and I would eventually like to work in a college.  These are my long term goals and whether or not they will come true is something that I do not know about.  What I do know is that I am going to try my hardest to accomplish them.

So what are your hopes and dreams?  Do you feel like you are finished with certain things in life or are you like me where you would like to always be changing yourself for the better?

Launch Dates Announced....May 30th, 31st, and June 1st

Hello all. Things have been so busy.  I have been trying out products for reviews.  Getting ready to paint some rooms so that I can review some wall decals and much much more.  I am so ready to get this blog up and running and I have a ton of special reviews, giveaways and prizes.  There are going to be some contests so pay attention and be reading as many of my posts as possible.  I am in the process of putting together two special prize packages for my readers. One will be open to anyone and one will be for bloggers who send their readers my way.  If you are a blogger please contact me and we can discuss details in general.  The packages for these prizes are coming together quite nicely and I am hoping to continue to add new things to them as well.

I have several giveaways and prizes that include....custom clothing items for adults, custom clothing items for children, gift certificates to a variety of different shops, toy items, home organization items, and so much more.

During the launch I will be hosting some special events as well.  I am hosting an Intials Inc book party where you can get any of the amazing products that I talk about, a Scentsy and new Velata (Scentsy's version of yummy chocolate fondue), Tupperware, Thirty-One (love so many of their things too and use bags by them nearly everyday!), and Gold Canyon candle.  Some of these companies are going to be offering you specials or chances at free products just for ordering at this time rather than waiting until later. What a great opportunity to buy something that you might have anways and get something for free at the same time becuase let's face it who doesn't love free.  :)

There are so many special things going on.  So I am excited for the fun to begin.  I am going to be adding daily posts until the launch to pump up what is going on as well as to let you know a little bit about me.