mommy's reviews

  Ever since I have had children, I rarely have to use an alarm clock. THEY are my alarm clock. Those of you with children know exactly what I mean here. :) I remember the days of having to use an alarm clock and believe me...I don't miss those days one bit! There are so many different types of alarm clocks on the market today, it can be difficult to find one that fits you perfectly. I have always wanted an alarm clock that plays relaxing music or sleep sounds but finding one that doesn't cost a fortune isn't easy. My husband is the one who uses an alarm clock now and I sometimes dread hearing the loud "BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP" in the mornings. He has been elbowed once or twice because of it. :) Today, I am going to introduce you to my brand new friend, ivee . ivee is a voice controlled talking alarm clock that comes in several sizes and is so neat!! If you are looking for a new gadget that will help you get through your day with a smile, check out ivee! Here ...

Waaaaaaaay back when hubby and I were just engaged, we knew we wanted to live in a house and not an apartment or condo. This was a mutual decision and because we were just starting out, we knew our budget was not that flexible. So, the house hunting began. I remember going to open house after open house...hoping that we would find the "perfect house". It was not an easy thing but personally, I LOVED going to open houses. It is so cool to walk through different houses and see the way people decorate and arrange their homes. Although none of the houses we visited were good fits for us, we still enjoyed looking. Now that our family has grown to a family of five, we are again looking to move. I don't think we would ever Buy a Kansas City Home , but we are certainly looking for a nice home around here! Some of the things we wanted in a house back when we first moved were must-haves. They were not optional, we needed certain things to be right. For instance...we needed our ...

Mommy's Little Helpers Doing the Dishes! See you all Monday and have a great weekend!! :)

When my first baby was born, she was a DREAM. In the hospital, that is. When we brought her home, she screamed our whole first night together. I vividly remember sitting in the easy chair the next morning, my new baby in my arms, sobbing as my mom walked through the door. Mom took one look at the baby, then at me. She took Hannah, told me to go get a shower and go to bed IMMEDIATELY. Ha! I must have looked a wreck! The diagnosis? Colic. My daughter cried her whole first 3 months of life and because I was a new mom, I really had no idea what to do. All the books said that there was nothing for colic and no way to solve the issue other than to massage, give warm baths and cuddle. My mom used gripe water with her babies, but the store that carried it when she had babies no longer did and I never did the research to find a solution that worked and just dealt with my fussy baby. Now that I have two more children, I have learned a few things and the NUMBER ONE thing that I have learned i...

From the time I was a child, I remember my mother fixing the relish tray for Thanksgiving dinner. It was loaded with all kinds of pickles, olives and hot peppers. My family as a whole was not too fond of olives but I was and always insisted that they be on EVERY relish tray. Before dinner, I would sneak an olive or two when mom wasn't looking and my oh my...were they ever GOOD! Today, I am still a huge fan of olives. With this last pregnancy, I actually craved the pimento stuffed green olives and could literally eat a whole jar in one sitting. However, I never did eat an entire jar due to the sodium content. Pickles and olives make wonderful appetizers for any meal or occasional...just make sure you have plenty to go around or your will run out quickly! Today, I am going to introduce you to a fantastic company that is based in California and they specialize in the Early California and Pearls brand of olives. Musco Family Olive Co. also has some lovely reduced salt olives t...

Snacks, snacks and MORE snacks!! I am LOVING this re-occurring theme here on my blog recently...hope you are as well. :) By now, you should all be well aware of the fact that I love snacks and that my goal is to provide my family with healthy snacking options . This week, hubby came home from the grocery store with LOADS of fruits and veggies and we are starting to make some dietary changes in our home. Because I have children, I think it is natural to try and find the easiest and most convenient food and this typically means that we eat a lot of processed foods. Anyone with any kind of sense at all knows that in moderation, this is OK but in excess it can be harmful to your health. My children are so important to me (understatement there) that I am really trying to make better food choices for them. Do they always like my choices? No. But I think that offering them healthier options is a good start in the right direction. I was recently browsing the Internet in search of or...

I am a huge fan of personalized greeting cards and just adore the ones that you can add your own photos to! The CardStore is offering a free greeting card with free shipping and you can take advantage of this freebie until 9/23 at 11:59 EST and until supplies last...not sure how long that will be. I think I will create a birthday card for my baby sister...her birthday is not until October but I can get ahead of the game here! When you are at the checkout, enter this code:  CCL2673  and you will be good to go! Happy creating! :)

My diaper brand of choice has seemed to be Pampers . Occasionally, I will buy something different but I tend to stick with Pampers. Why? Several reasons...great coupons, Gifts to Grow (earn free stuff!) and leak protection. LEAK PROTECTION is huge for me and I get frustrated with cheaper brands because they do not pass this test. Anyway, I love Pampers and today, they have released a new Pampers Gifts to Grow Code for us! Here it is...it expires on 9/30. SEPTFALL12SPNML

I am a huge fan of eating breakfast. Now that I am a mom, I am more adamant about breakfast and am pretty good at making sure my children get a good, healthy breakfast . Kids are just so energetic...they need something hearty and nutritious to get them going and KEEP them going throughout the morning. I do not give my children a ton of snacks, and this is why I want them to eat well at their meal times. Breakfast is also essential to kick start your body in the mornings...after all, it is called "break-fast" for a reason. Yogurt has become a favorite around here when it comes to a healthy breakfast and I am thrilled with this! My children have a difficult time enjoying food that is good for them and so I often resort to yogurt for some of their morning nutrients. For some time now, Hannah has been on a probiotic vitamin for her tummy and I think her digestive system is finally maturing a bit more then it was when she was younger. Several months back, I had the opportun...

See you all Monday! :)

I love how my email automatically dumps emails into my spam folder, simply because my email thinks it is smarter than me. Because of this, I can miss some emails at times and have to check out my spam folder regularly. I am amazed at some of the emails that get sorted into this folder and wonder what would have happened if I had missed out on the information within those messages. Recently, I found an email within my spam folder that had some really great deals in it. It was for a free silver coated necklace or earrings...free shipping too! Because I have a 4 year old daughter who loves all things having to do with dress-up, I ordered one of these necklaces. It arrived the other day and she wears it all the time! It makes me mad that I might have missed out on that.  Marketing emails are typically the ones that I find in my spam folder and most of them truly are junk. But, every now and then I receive a totally professional and great-looking email that includes information ...

My husband absolutely LOVES to drink milk . He consumes about 3-4 gallons per week and is constantly running to the store to pick more up. I like milk, just not as much as he does. Right now, milk severely effects Isaac through the breast milk so I am unable to drink any right now. But, I love my bowls of cereal in the morning, as does my daughter. I have never heard of Milk Unleashed until recently and I wanted to share some information about this milk with all of you today! Shelf stable milk is something that I ran across when I was on a missions trip to Spain many years ago. I was really surprised to see milk sitting on a shelf in a grocery store, as I had never seen anything like that in the States. So, in my tourist"y" way, I snapped a picture and tucked it away into my photo album. Today, shelf stable milk is becoming popular and with school starting up again, it is a great way to make sure your children are getting healthy drinks in their school and after-school ...

We are in the process of selling our house. No buyers yet, but we have had lots of activity and showings. Yesterday was our first open house and it went well! Because we are selling, we are also looking for a new house and one thing that I always notice when I walk into a house is how it smells. I have a really good "sniffer" and can tell right away if the home has any pets or smokers or if it is not cleaned well. Some homes just smell sooo good and fresh, while others smell musty, dirty and...not to be disgusting here...like wet dogs or kitty litter. The smell of a house can make or break a deal and so when we have showings at our house, I always want to make sure my home smells fresh and clean. As a BzzAgent , I am made aware of new and exciting products that have just come out on the market and today, I am really thrilled to have the opportunity to introduce you all to Glade and their newest line of products... Glade Expressions Fragrance Mists and Oil Diffusers ...