Smile While You Shake It

“This post is part of a compensated campaign with Mom It Forward Blogger Network and Honey Bunches of Oats but all my opinions are my own."

How do you start your morning? Is breakfast essential or do you skip it?  What's your go-to breakfast food? Typically, when I have time, I'm an eggs kind of girl. They're easy, they're good for you, they are cheap, me and eggs are tight.  But when I don't have time for eggs I love a bowl of cereal.  Since Kendall was a tiny toddler she's been eating Honey Bunches of Oats like it's her job.

This weekend I had the pleasure of hosting my first, live, in home blog event.  I had some of my favorite bloggers and my good ole IRL{in real life} friends come over for a Smile While You Shake It Party.

Honey Bunches of Oats, recently launched a new brand anthem "Smile While You Shake It," to celebrate what it means to start the day off with a smile. The fun and upbeat song, inspired by Samba beats, incorporates the cereal box and breakfast utensils as percussion instruments. It is catchy and fun for families to make it their own.

I was a little bit nervous to host such an event in my home.  Not only was this a big deal but also my two worlds, real-life and blogging, would be colliding for the first time!  Finally my IRL friends would see that my blogging friends weren't crazy, Internet stalkers and were actually all really cool girls.

I emailed all the girls beforehand letting them know we'd be filming some videos and get ready to Smile While You Shake It and I thought it was going to be really hard to get them to show their moves but everyone was more than willing to show us what they've got.  Even the guys got involved. Maybe it was because they wanted to win some of the swag, or even the grand prize, $500 gift card.

It was really quite fun, if I may say so myself.  I think everyone got very creative and the boys may or may not have suggested we do a "make it rain" style video and pour cereal all over each other.  I knew I'd be cleaning up cereal for days so I quickly vetoed that idea however I kinda wish someone would have done it.  My mother-in-law loves Honey Bunches of Oats so much that she was like a walking commercial throughout the entire party.  I love her.

You can Smile While You Shake It too!  Every week from now until June Honey Bunches of Oats will be giving away a $500 gift card from the pool of entrants!  It's only 15 seconds for the chance to win $500!  Seems like a no-brainer to me!  Let me know if you do it because I'd love to see your videos!  Here's mine with my little sidekick, Kendall.

Can you "Smile While You Shake It" as well as Shannon Dew? With a little help from Honey Bunches of Oats, we know you can http://t.co/kRl4PZjA4T

Check out Honey Bunches of Oats on the following outlets:

Honey Bunches of Oats Microsite - http://bit.ly/1hCKc1o
Honey Bunches of Oats on Facebook – http://bit.ly/1gP5asG
Hones Bunches of Oats on Twitter – http://bit.ly/HQQsCv

Holiday Fashion

“This shop is part of a social shopper marketing insight campaign with Pollinate Media Group™ and People StyleWatch and InStyle magazines but all my opinions are my own. #pmedia #PeopleInStyle http://cmp.ly/3/8vNxcO”

So the holidays are right around the corner and you know what that means? Holiday fashion! Is there a time of year where fashion is more fun? Sparkles, glitter, shine, glitz, glamour! It's pretty much the only time of year that it is completely acceptable to look like a walking, talking disco ball. I love it!

I've never worked anywhere that had a fancy Christmas party and these days my form of a holiday party consists of a cookie exchange with my closest girlfriends who have kids. It's very glamorous.

I picked up both issues of People StyleWatch and InStyle December/January issues at Target last week and I thought it'd be fun to get inspired by some of their looks and recreate some of the outfits out of my own closet. If you are familiar with my blog you might remember that I did a Challenge Your Closet series and so making the most out of what I already have is one of my favorite things to do.

My first look was a combination of two things I saw in People StyleWatch. I know every girl has a little black dress but I was also seeing lots of skirts. So I got out my little black skirt and thought I'd mix and match the two ideas.

I took my little black skirt, a grey, slouchy, hi-low, dolman sleeve sweater and my favorite red pumps {nothing says Christmas like red, patent heels} and a chunky necklace and I think I'm in love.

Now if only I could squeeze into this skirt again, I might even wear this look to preschool drop off. I love it that much.

My next look was inspired by a red dress. It just stood out to me and I knew I had a red dress in my closet so this outfit would be an easy one to make my own.

I've actually wore this outfit to our friend-holiday dinner in the past.  This dress is so comfy and being that we live in Ohio, I love that I can wear black tights with it and not freeze my butt off.

My third look is my most favorite.  I got the inspiration from the "vacation" section of People StyleWatch. Not that I'm going on vacation anywhere, anytime soon, but a girl can dream.

This is comfy, cozy and totally suits my mom lifestyle.  In fact I wore this to Thanksgiving at my in-laws. #teamleggingsaspants is a must for Thanksgiving or any holiday where there's lots of yummy food.  

If you want to check out these issues of InStyle and People StyleWatch, go to Target where they'll give you a $5 gift card for buying both! Score!  Perhaps you'll find your holiday look in one of them too, even if it's leggings and a chunky sweater ;-).

Keep Your House Party Ready

“This post is part of a social shopper marketing insight campaign with Pollinate Media Group™ and Cottonelle, but all my opinions are my own. #pmedia #CottonelleHoliday  http://cmp.ly/3/8vNxcO.”

I've got a question for you, what's more annoying than walking out in the rain just after you curled your hair?

Think about it...

Toilet paper.

Namely when you run out and you're seemingly the only person in the house who knows how to "refill" the roll. Case and point.

I mean even my three-year-old knows how {and likes to} refill the toilet paper roll {#startemyoung} but I swear if my husband even sees that roll getting low he'll pull out another from under the sink and just place it on the sink with a half full roll still on the thingymabobber. And don't get me started on the bathroom trash, if I didn't empty it, it'd look like this for days, weeks, months even.

I'm a bit obsessive when it comes to things like toilet paper and paper towels. As in, I like to have LOTS of them on hand, at all times. I mean those are not things you want to run out of. Am I right? I usually always buy the Cottonelle 12 pack and each bathroom gets 4 rolls. Another thing Kendall is very helpful with.


This is especially true during the holidays. You have people over for Thanksgiving, a cookie party, a white elephant gift exchange, an ugly sweater party, the list goes on. My point is you have a lot of people coming in and out of your house and a lot of people using your bathroom. The last thing you want to forget about is toilet paper.

I can remember one time we had a party and for some reason, unbeknownst to me, we didn't restock the toilet paper beforehand. We ran out and I thought, "oh no worries, I'll get some from the other bathroom" nope. It was out too. So I checked the third bathroom, empty! So...that's embarrassing. THANKFULLY we have a store close by and the house was full of toilet paper but geesh! That was stressful, especially with a house full of guests.

Target and Cottonelle make it easy for you during the holidays. Buy Cottonelle Triple Roll 12 pack or larger and get a FREE box of Kleenex* (RevTrax system will only let you click on this coupon twice  per IP address so do not click on it till you are ready to print please. )
COUPON: https://secureimg.revtrax.com/RevTrax/cpn?merchantId=11613065&affiliateId=12832277&programId=28498808

*While supplies last.

ChoreMonster

Chores aren't fun.  When you were a kid you hated your daily chore whether it was making your bed, feeding the dog, or doing the dishes.  When I was younger I had the "strict" parents and, yes, I had chores. My dad didn't believe in sleeping in so even during summer break he'd call the house to make sure I was up by 11, rude.  He got home from work at 3:30 and so my chores had to be done by then.  Usually it was one BIG thing a day {vacuum, dust, laundry} and then your every day stuff like making the bed, putting dishes away, etc.  None of my chores took that much time and if I'd just suck it up and do them it'd take like 30 minutes, tops.  But?  They were still no fun and I would have much rather been watching TRL.

Now that Kendall's getting to a chore appropriate age I've been giving her little things to do here and there.  She LOVE to feed the dogs. She makes a mess most of the time and there's always some dog food on the floor but she's learning it and each time she gets better at it.  She also loves to help me with laundry.  If I'm putting clothes from the washer to the dryer she'll happily stand there and make the transition for me.  Lately her favorite thing has been "doing the dishes".  I'll pull up a kitchen chair and she will stand there for as long as I'll let her "washing" away.  Now I have to go in behind her and re-wash everything but still, it's cute.

We try to make chores "fun" but I'm not always the most creative.

That's where ChoreMonster comes in.

ChoreMonster is a fun, new app that make chores fun for parents and kids. Kids can earn points by completing chores that they can turn in for real life rewards like ice cream, an hour of Super Why or even a park day. Parents can enjoy a simple, hassle-free, digital system that takes the tension out of family chores.

ChoreMonster is easy, let me just say that first and foremost because chores don't need to be any more complicated.  You set up a parent log-in and a child log-in {More than one kid?  No problem!}.  You set up your kids chores and their rewards.   They can then log in to their child account and when they complete their chore they simply click the chore to mark it as done.  They can also review their rewards too.  Once they mark that it's complete the parent receives an email notification where they can go in and approve it and the kid{s} start racking up the rewards. There is also a "carnival" where they can spin a wheel to earn more prizes for each chore they complete. Pretty cool, huh?

For Kendall we've kept the rewards simple, more TV time, chocolate milk with dinner, an extra book at bedtime, and if she reaches her BIG reward she will be able to cash all of her reward points in for Monsters University DVD.  I don't know about you but that'd get me excited to make my bed!

She's still a little bit young to be able to do the whole online thing by herself but with my help she's figuring it out. She loves having the extra bit of independence and I love having a little helper!  I definitely think as she gets older it will get even more fun, when she can take the reins and do the whole "chore" by herself.  She always gets really proud when she can say "look what I did!".

ChoreMonster wants to give you a free one-month subscription to their service.  Click, here, and get your kid{s} set up and start having fun!  Have your kids handy because they'll even get to chose their very own chore monster to greet them when they log in!  Too fun!

I only accept brand opportunities to write about things I love and would normally buy on my own. I received an opportunity through Canopi to partner with ChoreMonster.

Preschool Problems

“This post is part of a social shopper marketing insight campaign with Pollinate Media Group® and Kleenex but all my opinions are my own. #KleenexAllergy #pmediahttp://cmp.ly/3/8vNxcO

Everyone warned me, when Kendall starts preschool she is going to get sick. For those of you who are new around here, Kendall has only ever been in my care or the care of family up until she started preschool this year.  I knew that preschool germs would be inevitable, she would get sick more than usual, and we would need to stock up on all the first aid things we could get our hands on.  Oh, and add our first family of four trip to Florida, on an airplane, and we're just asking to get sick.

I am happy to report that, for the most part, we have been a super healthy family.  Kendall has literally had less than 5 "sick" visits in her chart in over three years.  So far, James has yet to get any signs of sickness.  Jimmy and I are both the type of people who will wake up with a sore throat one morning and wake up healthy as a horse the next.  We're very fortunate in the health department.

There is, however, something about this time of year that you just know a sniffly nose is inevitable.  It's bound to happen.  Before we left for our trip to Florida I stopped by Target for some essentials, toys for the plane, snacks, a new magazine on the odd chance that both of my children slept the entire 2 hour flight, a new pair of shorts, and some Kleenex {for various uses}.

Do you see how fun these tissues are?  I mean, who knew?!  Chevron?  Geometric? Quatrefoil?  Oh my!  I could have bought every pack and with the "buy Kleenex 4pack, get free wallet pack (2-pk) or pocket pack (3-pk): http://goo.gl/186og3" deal I could have!  I mean they were only $0.99!

I thought the wallet packs were perfect.  Perfect for the car, diaper bag, purse, backpack, you name it.  I snatched up a few and quickly shoved them in every spot I could think of.

Wallet pack in our carry on bag for the air plane. 

Wallet pack in the diaper bag, always.

Wallet pack in my purse.  Slender enough for the smallest of bags.

And there's always a wallet pack in KP's back pack.  This chevron pattern even matches!

They are the perfect solution to sneezing in public.  Have you ever had to sneeze into your elbow?  Or worse yet, your hand?  It's gross.  Add some sneezing littles to the mix and you have a recipe for {snot}disaster.  No one likes a snot sleeve.  These wallet packs are perfect as they are small enough to even fit in your back pocket.

After browsing the tissue aisles, Kleenex definitely had the cutest patterns, the most options {wallet packs, pocket packs, etc}, and were the softest of all the tissues brands available.  Don't forget, while supplies last buy Kleenex 4pack, get free wallet pack (2-pk) or pocket pack (3-pk): http://goo.gl/186og3.  You can get one for everyone in your house and every bag and car you own.  

#ChewforChange

This shop is part of a social shopper marketing insight campaign with Pollinate Media Group™ and Project 7 but all my opinions are my own. #pmedia #chewforchange  http://cmp.ly/3/8vNxcO

Have you heard about Project 7?  Chances are, if you're like me, you haven't but you need to know about them because what they are doing is going to change the world. Project 7's mission is to make products like bottled water, gum and coffee that give back to seven areas of basic needs to live a healthy life.  These include Feed the Hungry, Heal the Sick, Hope for Peace, House the Homeless, Quench the Thirsty, Teach them Well and Save the Earth.  How cool is that?

I was inspired by this mission and wanted to do something to reach out to someone that I love.  I thought about what things people have done for me and my family that really meant a lot to me and helped me in a time of "need" and the first thing that came to mind was when both of my babies were born and people brought food.

I don't know about you but the first few weeks at home with a new baby are a blur. So much snuggling, lack of sleep, the last thing on your mind is making a nice hot dinner.  When James was born I was fortunate enough to have my mom here with me for a full week and she made us dinner every night that week {with enough left over for Jimmy's lunches} and that was the best. Not having to worry about doing one.more.thing while caring for a new baby is the best gift I could ask for.

Some of you remember The Pregnants.  Well I am happy to report that as of September 1st all the babies have been welcomed into this world, healthy and happy. 

I got the pleasure to go see Baby Raleigh recently and I knew that I wanted to let her mommy know that she was being taken care of the same way my mom made me feel after James was born.  Kendall and I headed to Meijer to buy all of our ingredients, so glad she loves going to the supermarket and helping me bake, for two-ingredient pumpkin muffins and bubble-up enchiladas.  

The two-ingredient muffins are quite possibly the easiest thing on the planet and now that it's fall it's the perfect thing to take a new mom.  Plus they are easy to eat, you can even eat them while your feeding your baby.

What you need:

• Box of cake mix 
• 15 oz. can of pumpkin

That's it, people!  Now I will add that I cheated.  I read the reviews and comments beforehand and saw where someone had suggested using the spice cake versus the originally pictured yellow cake and then someone else said that adding mini chocolate chips was the way to go.  They also suggest a dusting of powered sugar on top.  Done. Done.  And done.

And basically you just mix all said ingredients in a mixing bowl and mix. That is it.  No, really.  There is no oil, no eggs, no adding water. The batter is very thick but very tasty. Best part is that since it has no raw egg you feel safe eating it.  Because when has that ever stopped someone from eating cake batter before?   Never.

I wanted them to have dinner too because I feel like dinner is the most stressful part of the food day.  However, I have a newborn myself and needed to make something that wasn't going to stress me out either so bubble-up enchiladas are great!

What you need:

• 1 lb ground turkey
• 1 10 oz can red enchilada sauce
• 1 8 oz can tomato sauce
• 1 can reduced fat refrigerator biscuits
• 1 cup shredded Mexican cheese

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Brown turkey and drain, if needed. Mix in enchilada sauce and tomato sauce.  Cut the biscuits into fourths and stir them into the meat mixture. Dump all of it into a baking dish and bake for 25 minutes. Take out and sprinkle with cheese and bake for an additional 10 minutes. I topped mine with some green onion to make it look a little "fancier".

My friend was so thrilled to not only have dinner but also breakfast, or snack for her and her family that night. It felt amazing to give them that gift and take some of the pressure off the "what's for dinner" woes. It's nothing major but it's the little things that mean the most to people, I've learned.  

Random acts of kindness don't even have to be to people you know.  Ever had someone buy your Starbucks for you?  Me either but gosh I've heard those stories and they make my heart smile.  Through this project I bought 10 packs of Project 7 gum, purchased at Meijer, and passed them out randomly.  The first pack I gave was to the cashier and when she looked at me like I was missing an eyeball I told her the reason behind it and she had no idea.  She had been looking at the gum in her isle for nearly a month and had no idea.  Do you know how cool that felt to share with her?  See, it's simple things like that that Project 7 is all about.  Small acts can make a big impact if everyone does it.

If you want to learn more about this amazing company and what they are doing to change the world you can "like" them on Facebook and follow them on Twitter to stay up to date on the latest.

Packing Your Pool Bag

“This shop is part of a social shopper marketing insight campaign with Pollinate Media Group™ and Huggies, but all my opinions are my own. #pmedia #HuggiesSwimmers http://cmp.ly/3/8vNxcO.” 

Summer is here which means fun in the sun, am I right?  Can I get an "Amen!"?  If anyone loves a good pool or beach{if you are lucky and live close enough} day it's me!  Now this is my third summer packing a pool/beach bag so I'm a bit of a pro in this department.  I've learned what is necessary and what you can go ahead and leave at home.

Our pool bag is fairly simple these days.  Must haves are sunscreen {SPF 50 for her and 15 for me and Jimmy}, snacks, a few pool toys {but not too many because they're hard to keep track of and the other moms tend to not bring any so yours become community}, towels, a dry change of clothes, and, most importantly, Huggies Little Swimmers {don't leave home without these, ladies}.

Have you ever tried to use a regular diaper for swimming?  Bad news bears.  That 'ish sags, puffs, dissolves, falls apart, etc.  It's a hot diaper mess.  You need swim diapers.  Period.  End of story.  They are super easy to put on, they aren't very bulky, they do a great job containing everything that needs to be contained {without going into too much information} and with the easy open/rip sides they make removal a piece of cake too!

They really last a long time so one swim diaper should last your entire swim session, no need to worry about going through a whole pack in one day.  I think last summer I bought maybe two boxes, all summer, and we go to the pool a lot {I even have a few left over from last year}.

As we gear up for our annual family vacation I know I'm taking a couple boxes to cover all our bases {we've got babies and toddlers going this year}.  Thanks to Target you can save $1.50 on a box and be set for all your water needs.  Target is stocked and ready to get you through the summer.

Buy them now, thank me later.

Snack Attack

This article is sponsored by Walmart Labs

Let me ask you two questions...

1.  Have you ever been watching TV, saw a commercial for a snack, gone to the grocery store to buy said snack, come home to sit down and watch the latest episode of RHOWhatever and find out your savory snack sucks?

2.  Are you someone who loves getting subscription boxes in the mail?

If you answered 'yes' to the above questions then Goodies Co. is for you.

I don't know about you but nothing is worse {OK a few things are worse} than getting excited about a new snack and hating it.  Then you're left with an entire box of whatevers just staring you in the face every time you open your pantry.  Annoying.  Not to mention the $$$ staring at you in the trash if you dare throw it away.  So you try and pawn it off on your spouse, he/she hates it too.  Surely The Toddler will like it, right?  Toddlers like everything.  Nope, no chance.  

The thing about a Goodies Co. Taster Box, besides the excitement of getting a surprise in the mail each month, is that you get to test out 5-8 snacks a month for just $7!  I mean that's practically the price of an entire box of cookies these days.  Cookies you may not even like.  I don't know about you but I love trying out new products so this would be right up my alley! 

How do you get in on this deal?  Well...normally their is a wait list but if you act fast {use code JUNEVIP} you can get your order going as easy as 1, 2, 3.  

• Enter email on the landing page
• Create your account by selecting a password

• Enter payment information.

It's really that simple to start getting a tasty assortment of snacks right on your doorstep for less than the cost of a movie and popcorn {you might even get popcorn in your box!}.

I think this would make a great gift for teachers, new parents, college students, really anyone who loves snacks {who doesn't?}.