Balloons

Quite a while ago we took the girls to see a balloon race that was set to take off near our house. It didn't actually happen that day due to the weather, but we were there by 7:30am waiting to see some beautiful balloons. The girls didn't even mind that the balloons never took off.

Wow, that feels like an eternity ago. By the time I finish posting all about our summer adventures perhaps I'll remember to take the girls for a trim because of all the scraggly hair pictures from June!

Tropicana Juicy Insiders

I realized this afternoon that in addition to some very important family milestones (which I'll get around to on here eventually), I've also failed to let you all know about a new blogging program that I am taking part in.

I love finding a good deal. I especially love deals on things we buy all the time anyway. That's why I'm pretty excited about Tropicana's Juicy Rewards program. These days when I reach for orange juice on the grocers' shelves (and we can go through some OJ) I choose Tropicana. The cartons currently contain codes that can be used for discounts and coupons on everything from golf, to workout gear, amusement parks, museums, and spa services. One carton saves you up to $15, three can save you up to $45 . I'm planning to take the girls to Monkey Joe's on the next rainy afternoon courtesy of a B1G1 coupon from Juicy Rewards.

It is simple and free to sign up. Just go to Tropicana and register, and then to get you started immediately use the code: MOMCE-NTRAL for a point. Around here that's good for a day at INK kids' museum or Monkey Joe's.... can't beat that for rainy day entertainment!

"I wrote this review while participating in the Tropicana Juicy Insiders Ambassador program by Mom Central on behalf of Tropicana. I received 12 free Juicy Rewards points and a $50 Visa gift card to use in redemption of the points and to facilitate my review."

Hilton Head Island- Summer 2009

We headed out for Hilton Head Island last week and have been having a great time playing at the beach and in the pool ever since. Our days basically consist of: wake up, eat breakfast, play at the beach, dip in the pool, lunch, nap, more pool or beach time before dinner, bike riding, and bed.... wake up and repeat.

Other than that, the only story to tell is of the "brilliant" idea we had to ride bikes on the beach last night after dinner. Scott and I struggled over the soft sand portion with our two bikes with loaded carriers behind and made our way out onto the packed, wet sand. Our mistake was riding with the wind at our backs because we didn't realize how much the wind was pushing us along... until we turned around several miles down the beach. At that point, we were literally standing up on the pedals and we were still at times unable to pedal those bikes into the wind! It was a grueling trip back, but we made it, and the girls had a fabulous time playing in the waves with Daddy when we took our breaks.

That's it for now. I hope you enjoy the first round of pictures!

Wow!

Well, I figured out how I'm going to keep my mind off the fact that Scott is gone again until July...

I got my confirmation call today that our family has been selected to become a Panasonic Living in HD Family! This means that we'll be "testing out" lots of great new equipment for them and sharing our experiences with the world. Check out the list of new stuff we'll be using here, and expect an invite to come enjoy it all once installed if you live nearby!

I'm so excited that at least some of my time will soon be consumed with finding the best source of HD service around here and how best to fit all this new equipment into our home!

Scott (and the blog too for that matter) can expect lots more videos of the girls real soon...

Advent

I just read the most amazing Advent post by Ann at Holy Experience and wanted to share it with all of you. Please go, read it, and be inspired to search for Christmas this year!

My Husband Rocks!

I am incredibly blessed by all these little people with whom I'm surrounded and their daddy who we happen to be missing pretty fiercely of late.

Yesterday at 12:30pm, after an entire morning alone with the fab four and no vehicle in which to get out of the house (my Expedition is in the shop, seems something that almost never goes bad on regular vehicles was going bad on mine), Scott called me up on the computer via Skype. He was calling to give me a birthday surprise he had orchestrated all the way from Iraq, and my birthday isn't even until the end of the week! He said, "You better get going, you've got an appointment for a massage and facial in 30 minutes. Is your mom there yet to watch the girls?" Oh, let me tell you, that was some sweet music to my ears!!

I spent the entire afternoon at Bodyworks Limited, and if you live around here and have never been there..... Get Yourself There Somehow, Some Way!! It was a wonderful, fabulous way to spend the day. I really couldn't get over the fact that Scott had planned it all out, with a bit of help from my mom who was keeping the girls. He set up all the spa services and even asked a cousin of mine to help my mom with the girls should she need it.

I just had to publicly declare that for this and millions of other reasons, I truly believe I have the very best husband ever!! I was almost finished typing up this post, which at the time had a different title, when I read this post over on Becoming Me about these cute t-shirts. I had to include this picture, and I think I'll be adding one of these shirts to my wardrobe soon!

Thank you for everything Scott!

Christmas Giveaways

I've mentioned here before that I do all my blog reading via Bloglines. Well, I discovered today that there has been a glitch preventing me from seeing new posts up from one of my favorite sites, 5 Minutes 4 Mom.

It looks like I checked it out just in time too, because they have been having their Christmas Giveaways going on basically all month long. They end tomorrow, I think, so if like me you haven't checked them out yet, better get over there quick and enter to win some great Christmas prizes!!

Our Caring Corners House

A few months ago Whitney from RookieMoms.com contacted me about reviewing a dollhouse that is, "very cute, interactive (read: talking) dollhouse that teaches manners, sharing and other good behaviors, including being charitable".

My response was something like, "Of course... what mom doesn't like toys that teach manners and charity?" So Whitney sent it to us, and this toy didn't disappoint.

Once the Mrs. Goodbee Interactive Dollhouse arrived, I set out late one evening after the girls were in the bed to get it all set up. There was a little bit of assembly required, but I read and followed the directions with no trouble. One of the first things I took note of was the fact that the doll house comes encased in a large sturdy box with a handle and the recommendation that your child fill the box with clothes and toys they have outgrown to give away to other children who may need them. The people at Caring Corners have even coordinated with Goodwill stores nationwide and when children bring their CaringCorners boxes filled with giveaway goods, they will receive a Certificate of Appreciation from Goodwill with a secret code to unlock special activities at CaringCorners.com. So, before the girls had ever played with it, as a mom I was already impressed!


The following day I was amazed to watch as all four of my girls played together with the dollhouse. There are hundreds of activities, songs, and sounds that entertained them from within it's 12 different rooms. Because of all the different activities and large area once unfolded, the girls played for a comparatively long time before fights broke out. Even now, after the newness has worn off, they will still play with the doll house and accessories for quite a long time uninterrupted.... which is always nice!

Our only negative incident with the dollhouse occurred when a newly potty trained Sarah attempted to use the 1" potty herself. Fortunately I caught her while she was still trying to remove the necessary clothing and explained that even though it flushes and sounds real, it is NOT for her to use!!

For those with children just a little bit older than mine, there is a key with a secret code on it that can be used to unlock special games and activities on the Internet through CaringCorners.com that encourages children to display positive social behaviors such as sharing, caring, and preparing for responsibility through online game play.

And the very best part about doing this review was the fact that the people from Caring Corners sent us not one but two doll houses and accessories sets, with the request that in addition to doing this review, we will also find a charity organization or family to whom we'll donate the other set! I have discussed it with Ella, and she and I are going to select a family with little girls off the Angel Tree this year so that we can include this wonderful treat with the clothes and other goodies we give them to make their Christmas just a little bit brighter.

In our house full of girls, we own several different doll houses, and this one is definitely the girls' favorite. The fact that my girls are playing together, learning to use their manners, and being encouraged to give to others makes the Mrs. Goodbee Doll house tops in my book as well! You can find more information about Caring Corners and all their products at http://www.caringcorners.com/.

We're looking forward to passing along a little bit of this joy to another family, and I'll post about our experiences with the Angel Tree soon. Thanks RookieMoms and Caring Corners!

Book Giveaway

One of the blogs I check out regularly is Bloggy Giveaways. Sometimes I enter the giveaways, but more often than not I just look because I'm fascinated with mom owned small businesses, and that's the type of company she usually promotes. If you haven't ever checked out this blog you should definitely take a look!


This week Bloggy Giveaways is hosting their Quarterly Giveaway Carnival. I have perused the entries in quarters past and found some great new blogs to read.... like I need to be reading more blogs!?! But this time I've decided to host a give away of my own.


Trying to decide what to give away was quite tough because I wanted whatever I did offer to be something that says a little bit about our blog. I am a nut when it comes to reading and studying up on kids. Even though I try to do most of my parenting based on my own intuition, I am interested to hear what the "experts" have to say about things. Some of my recent favorite reads in this department are: Sacred Parenting by Gary Thomas, Love and Logic Magic for Early Childhood by Jim and Charles Fay, The Read-Aloud Handbook by Jim Trelease, The Happiest Toddler on the Block by Harvey Karp, and the one I mentioned in yesterday's post How to Get Your Kid to Eat... But Not Too Much by Ellyn Satter.


After I decided to give away a book, I realized that I have an extra copy of The Happiest Toddler on the Block by Harvey Karp here already. Now, I'll admit that some of the tactics in this book I found to be a little cooky, but there were also some great tips and tricks I've found for dealing with my house full of toddlers. So, the perfect giveaway from our house with one happy preschooler and 3 of the happiest toddlers you'd ever hope to meet was decided upon!


To enter your name in the drawing for this book, simply leave a comment on this post (being sure to include your email address or another easy way for me to reach you) letting me know which parenting books you enjoy. I'll randomly draw a winner Friday night and announce that winner here Saturday morning. (U.S. & Canada addresses only, please.) And be sure to visit Bloggy Giveaways to check out the giveaway carnival -- there's a whole bunch of giveaways going on throughout the blogosphere this week, and who knows, you might find a new favorite blog or two?!?

Good Clean Fun

My friends at Team Mom have kept us busy this month with a couple of great toys that they sent for review from Spin Master. Luckily for me, neither of the toys required assembly and neither of them is messy! Woohoo!!


On the rainy afternoon last week when we opened the Aquadoodle I wondered to myself why we didn't already have four of these little jewels?!? Ella entertained herself while the little gals were napping by quietly drawing to her heart's content... without requiring crayons be sharpened every 5 minutes or having to have assistance with paints. Once I filled the Aquadoodle pen with water she was good to go! She thoroughly enjoyed attempting to use the "instructions" printed along the edges of the mat to make the designs and drawings that they show. Once the little girls were up, they each took turns with the pen drawing on the Aquadoodle. For us, the only trouble with this toy is the fact that we only have one of them. It is difficult to share the mat... unless you own a stop watch and have very patient kids. I love the fact that once they are done and it dries we can fold it up to store it away for next time. I feel good about killing a few less trees on the days when we are playing with it as opposed to coloring books or painting on paper. I'll probably be looking for four of the travel sized mats before making any more road trips with my crew.

I will admit to being a bit skeptical about the second treasure, the Bath Blizzard from Kid Kleen. My girls have sensitive skin, so I assumed these bubbles would probably be a treat best enjoyed only rarely, and I sneakily took the Bath Blizzard along to Mimi's house on an evening when I knew the girls would be bathing there. Okay, in all honesty, I was also worried about the potential mess and ruckus it might cause!

The little machine and soapy bubbles proved me wrong on all counts... well except for the ruckus part. **grin** The Kid Kleen products are all safe, non-toxic, wheat and tears-free, and hypoallergenic so we didn't see any negative affects from the bubbles to their skin at all. In fact, they actually used the bubbles to clean... themselves and the bathtub. The hardest part about working this thing was getting it out of the packaging and finding the 4 C batteries to run it. Other than that, it was quite simple. I hung it from the faucet of the tub, turned the knob, and bubbles immediately began spilling out. There were plenty of bubbles to go around for all four of the little bathing beauties. They did all try to get to the spout at once, so it might be best when used one at a time, but I realize not everyone is bathing four kids 3 and under at once.

Overall, we thoroughly enjoy both of these products and would recommend either or both of them to other parents with kiddos in the 2+ age group. Thank you Team Mom and Spin Master!

And the Winner Is...

Random Integer Generator
Here are your random numbers:7
Timestamp: 2008-10-02 14:03:14 UTC

Comment number 7! Just kidding, I won't make you go back and count comments... my sweet fellow multiple mommy friend Annie and her four babies are the winners of our K'NEX Sesame Street Canister.

I still remember reading a message from her way, way back when on our Yahoo Same Age Group Triplets and More Page that, "SURPRISE, she was not having triplets after all. She had a stow away baby in there!!" So at 29 weeks, I think, she found out she was going to be a quad momma instead and something like 2 weeks later they arrived?!? Are my facts correct, Ann? I wonder how often that happens? Fortunately my babies had already arrived at that point or I myself would have had a panic attack!!

Email me your address when you get a chance so that I can have it shipped out to you. Hope your little cuties enjoy building as much as mine do!

K'NEX Are Cool and a Contest!

Last week before we left for the beach we got a package from my friends at Team Mom. The girls had no idea what was in the box. So being the "meanie mom" that I am, I opted to save the new toy unveiling until we got home. My girls are only somewhat interested in blocks and things so I wasn't sure how excited they would be about the K'NEX Bert and Ernie Sesame Street Building Set. I thought it would at least be a good distraction tactic to use during the 'okay, we're home so now what do we do' period.

I'm pleased to report that I grossly underestimated the amount of quiet play time this little set would generate. Normally, toys with millions 43 pieces are not high on my must have products list, but these fabulous sets from K'NEX come packaged in sturdy, cute boxes that can be used to store the millions 43 parts while they are not in use. Which, coincidentally, hasn't been often around here. During all of the indoor playtime the girls have had since we opened the box, at least one, if not all of them, has been playing with it.

Ella can make the Bert and Ernie figures pretty easily. Maggie, Kate, and Sarah don't exactly "get it" yet, but they too love to build random things with the pieces, and they love to have help to make Bert and Ernie.

I am thrilled that Team Mom sent this for us; I will be putting a few more of these on the girls' Christmas lists this year. This is not something I would have ever thought to try out, but it was definitely a hit with the Four Silly Sisters!

Oh, I almost forgot.... I have a K’NEX Sesame Street Canister Building Set to give away to one lucky blog reader. (Not sure which set, but they are all super cute!) So, if you'd like to win one just leave a comment on this post sometime between now and this Thursday morning(10/2) at 10am EST. I'll pick the winner with the old random number generator at www.random.org. Happy Building!

A Very Cool Gift

Aunt Kari always finds the coolest gifts... remember last year for the one year b-day x 3 she gave us the cool Little Tykes Jump-N-Slide . Well, this year's gift, along those same lines, was a Little Tykes Slam-N-Slide.... an inflatable water slide! Now we have one for summer and one for winter.... even mom is thrilled!

Along with our guests, we had a blast playing on it at the birthday party.
Sarah is a little bit afraid of heights. She enjoys climbing things, but once she is up she freezes. When it was just us girls playing the day before the party, she would climb to the top and then wait for someone to quickly help her back down.

She wanted to slide badly but just couldn't find her mojo. We're hoping that while Daddy is home for a few days we'll get some practice in, and she will beat her fear of the slide part.

Maggie, as usual, has absolutely no fear. She is gung ho, sliding normal, on her belly, head first, you name it, she's tried it...

Kate, Cousin Cayden, and Ella waiting for someone to clear out at the bottom

They were probably waiting for daredevil Maggie to move out of the way.

The big kids at the party, Ella, Connor, and Cayden, taking their turn.

Thank you Aunt Kari! We love the water slide!! Glad you got to see us enjoy it before you headed home....

love, Maggie, Kate, Sarah, and Ella