Flower Girl B

We attended a family wedding over the weekend and had a blast!  B was asked to be the flower girl and she was so excited.  I love the photo above because you can see the beautiful bride in the background and it is a great shot of B!  Oh, and B had a great time on the dance floor - ask anyone who was there :).  Congrats to the happy couple - our whole family is excited for both of you.

Win $1,000 Gift Code from Purex and Little Tikes

I have an exciting new sweepstakes to tell you about!  Purex and Little Tikes have teamed up to provide one lucky winner with a $1,000 gift code to be redeemed at www.littletikes.com plus a year's supply of Purex detergent!

Sadly, summer is almost over and many people are scrambling to find the best deals on back to school sales and gear.  Purex and Little Tikes are here to help relieve some of that pressure.  So kick back, relax and put your mind at ease as we all prepare for a fun-filled school year!

This sweepstakes started on August 5th and runs through August 30, 2013.  What are you waiting for?  Go here and enter now!

As always you check out the latest happenings on the Purex facebook page here.

Disclosure:  Thanks so much to Purex for allowing me to be a part of this campaign and giving me all the information to share with my readers.

Zact - Helping Parents and Their Children Have Mobile Success

Disclosure:  I participated in a campaign for Mom Central Consulting on behalf of Zact.  I received a promotional item as a thank you for participating.

Even though my children are young they consistently want to use my phone, specifically my Iphone.  And I am amazed at how quickly they have learned how to pull up games, photos, movies - you name it.  When I first got my Iphone, I joked that they probably knew how to use it better than me.  I am waiting for the day when they ask for their own smartphone, I know it will be coming.  I think most parents, including me, have concerns about their children's mobile device usage.  The team at Zact conducted a survey to find out what is behind those concerns.  They found out that 73% of U.S. parents are concerned about the lack of parental control of their children's activities on mobile devices.  Yes, this is a concern of mine.  Honestly, I don't want my children on the Internet or to accidentally find themselves at inappropriate sites.  Do your kids currently have a smartphone?  While my kids do not have their own, they do have some access to mine.  For me, I want my kids to be safe - in the real world and the cyber world.  I am not surprised that others agree with me on this, 75% of parents are concerned about their children exploring the web too freely.  As my kids grow, they will certainly be allowed more privileges including Internet usage.  Internet safety will definitely be something that we talk about.  I am not sure if they will have smartphones at the age of 12 but there will definitely be discussions and boundaries set when they do!  For those that don't know, Zact designed parental control software and loaded it into their phones.  When your children are younger, you can set higher restrictions on the phone and as they grow, you can change the restrictions accordingly.  When that day comes and my children do receive a phone, I think this is the way to go!  See the Zact, U.S. Mobile Families Survey 2013 info-graphic below for other great statistics on kids and mobile usage!

For 3 days only starting today (8/13, 8/14, and 8/15) the Zact team is giving away three Smartphones, all with three months of mobile service!  Please enter here for your chance to win and learn more about Zact's services!

Purex 31 Days of Fun Sweepstakes

Just a reminder for you to enter the Purex 31 Days of Fun Sweepstakes.  And for clarification, you should be entering every day to have a shot at that day's prize!  Go here and enter now.

 Today's prize is a $200 cookware set!

I also have a mini blog giveaway going on where you can enter to win a $10 Amazon gift card.  Check out that post and enter here!

Purex Fels-Naptha Review & Giveaway

I want to tell you about a Purex product that to be honest I had never heard of - Purex Fels-Naptha.  What is it?  Purex Fels-Naptha is a laundry bar that works overtime to remove your toughest stains.  How do you use it?  You rub the stain with a wet bar of Purex Fels-Naptha and let it sit for a few minutes or you can wet your stain and then rub with your bar.  Then wash your clothes as you normally would and say farewell to tough stains!  This Purex Laundry Bar is a great stain remover - treat oily stains and remove greasy stains.  Where can I purchase it?  Purex Fels-Naptha is available at Walmart stores nationwide.

I have some children around my house who are notorious for staining their clothing.  So, what better opportunity to put this Purex Fels-Naptha bar to the test!

 Stained shirt, especially on the bottom

I wet the whole shirt in water.  There are multiple stains on this baby.

 Then I rubbed each stain with my Purex Fels-Naptha bar.

 After letting it sit a few minutes I added it into a load of wash.

 What do you think?  Not bad!

Looks like I will be using my Purex Fels-Naptha laundry bar to help our clothes keep stain free.  I look forward to trying this bar out on a variety of stains.

And now let me tell you about the 120 Years, 120 Winners Sweepstakes!  One lucky winner will win a $500 grand prize and 119 second place winners will receive a coupon for a free bar of Purex Fels-Naptha Laundry bar.  That's 120 winners for every year Fels-Naptha has been helping remove America's toughest stains!  This sweepstakes runs through August 28th!

You can enter this sweepstakes here.  Good luck!

Want another opportunity to try Purex Fels-Naptha for yourself?  Enter the giveaway below.  Three winners will each receive a free product coupon (Maximum Value $1.75 and expiration 12/31/14).

Be sure to check out the latest from Purex on their facebook page here.

a Rafflecopter giveaway
 
Disclosure:  Purex provided me with a sample of Purex Fels-Naptha Laundry Bar in exchange for a product review as well as the coupons for this giveaway.  However, all opinions expressed are 100% my own.

Bird Theme Baby Shower

Here are the hostesses and the guest of honor (in black).  This could also be an 18 week photo of me.

I told you about the bird cages I made but I didn't show you photos of some of the other decorations or food so here you go.  My friends and I had a lot of fun planning it and I am very pleased with how everything turned out!

David made an Italian Cream Cake

The food spread!

I made the two small bird diaper cakes on the table there, my first ever!  It was pretty fun to come up with my own idea too :).

 My friend Jenn is the cookie master.  Look at some of her creations.

Check out these super cute nests my friend Mellissa made as favors!

If you are planning a bird themed party anytime soon there are truly so many different things you can do.  As it turns out, it is a pretty easy theme to work with.

DIY Bird Cages for Bird Themed Baby Shower or Party

I helped co-host a baby shower over the weekend and it was so much fun.  My friend is having her third little girl this October and the theme was birds.  You can do a lot with that!  I made some bird cage lanterns inspired from the Bride's Cafe.  I did make a few changes.  Hope you enjoy this tutorial.

 Scrapbook paper I picked out.  

Our main two colors were pink and green and I wanted to mix in a few fun designs as well.  Really, there are tons of options here.

 Other supplies needed.  

I chose a golden textured scrapbook paper to make the cage.  You will also need scissors, hole punch, thread, double sided tape, brads, ruler, birds (find a template and cut them out) and I used coasters for the base (I had to tape two together because I needed more width but I liked the look better than using ice cream pint lids).

Cut strips

Cut a strip of colored scrapbook paper 1.5 inches wide.  I had to cut two strips and tape a bit of the second strip to the first to go all the way around the cage.  Take your golden paper and cut four strips slightly less than .5 inch (when you fold them over your four strips will seem like 8).

Find the centers of the strips and hole punch them.

I made a small hole in the bird, tied thread on it and put it through the strips.  I secured everything together with a brad.

Tape two coasters together and then place double sided tape all along the sides.

Attach the strips to the tape and then secure your colored scrapbook paper along the sides and voila - finished bird cage!

 We attached them to a baby banner.

 Poof balls and bird cage display

 And another type of banner

As you can see, you can get really creative with what you do with these cages.  If you make these please let me know what you do.