Keeping the Kids Busy! < Part 2 >

Well, we did a few things this weekend that we haven't really done before with the girls that I thought I'd share with you all.

I taught Miss A how to braid. Braiding is just one of those things, a "skill" maybe, that I learned how to do *ages* ago. Both my older girls have long and beautiful hair so I often find myself making mini-braids, ponytail braids and french braids.

We used 3 different colours of yarn, tied at the top and then pinned with a safety pin to a sofa cushion. I sat directly behind her and we were off. She did a fantastic job and all I did was hold the yarn ends down. When we were finished she decided to wear it as a necklace - she was so proud!

The other thing we did was had a water gun fight. Guns bought from the dollar store worked great and we had a blast! Poor Daddy was cutting the lawn though so he didn't have any defences!

Both activities are super simple and maybe that's why we don't think of them often. It's always great to do some of the things I used to do when I was young, you know, before T.V. was on all day long! Who doesn't have great memories of building forts with blankets and chairs?!

WINNER!

Thanks again to everyone who stops by and enters my giveaways!! The winner of the $25 Gift Certificate from Daisy Bags is...

Congratulations Heather!! You will be like a little kid in a candy store spending your $25 at Daisy Bags! So many great options!!

I will be emailing you shortly. You have 48 hours to respond to my email before another winner is chosen.

WINNER!

Thanks to everyone who enters my giveaways!! The winner of the $20 Gift Certificate from Epicure Selections.... Yummy... is...

Yay Jayda!! Congratulations! You will have a great time spending your loot on delicious goodies! I will be emailing you shortly. You have 48 hours to respond or another winner will be chosen.

If you didn’t win the Epicure Selections $20 Gift Certificate you can still earn the items you were interested in for FREE just by hosting an Epicure Tasting party with Lori! Invite a few friends over and be prepared to sample, sample, sample the yumminess!

There are 2 ways to do this… Lori can come to you and help you host a tasting party OR if you don’t live local to Toronto and surrounding area you can host a catalogue/tasting party yourself and STILL earn FREE products! Friends can come to your place and sample a few things and/or you could offer the online catalogue to your out-of-town friends and family! So simple AND so yummy!! Feel free to contact Lori directly at loritoon@rogers.com

tmomotwins22 Etsy Shop Review & GIVEAWAY

I like to think of myself as an organized person. In fact, before I had children *gasp* I might have been lovingly called “obsessive”. However, a marriage and three children later I’m not nearly as up tight about things as cleaning and organization – maybe you remember my Wordless Wednesday pic of my dish soap? But I do still try - after all, I am a Mom AND a school teacher.

Assisting me in this effort is Lisa and her Etsy Shop - tmomotwins22! Lisa’s shop offers a “little of this and that” (as stated on her shop page), but it’s clear, her passion is with Memory Boards.

What’s a Memory Board you ask? Simple. It’s a functional, chic and affordable way to organize your papers and pictures on a daily basis – without damaging them with pin holes! Lisa was generous enough to let me choose a memory board of my choice from her shop – hard decision. I chose the board shown here.

I hung my memory board in our kitchen – the epicenter of our family life. This is what it looks like today…

We’ve been using it for the last few weeks now and as you can see it’s been home to photos, drawings, appointment cards and notes. It has become an incredible organization tool for us!

Whenever I discover a fab Etsy Shop I am always intrigued by the creator’s “story”. Lisa of tmomotwins22 was a cake decorator for 13 years before having twin girls – already I’m in LOVE with her story! ;) With the birth of her twins she became a SAHM and has been kept very busy! My twin girls are only 5 but I can a test to that! Lisa started making Memory Boards when her girls couldn’t find anything they liked that matched their rooms. She then started doing a few local craft shows then opened her Etsy Shop.

Lisa’s work, while functional, is also very fashionable. I chose a fabric that accented my kitchen, but she offers Memory Boards in a variety of fabrics appropriate for bedrooms, offices or classrooms. She is also open to custom orders!

Here's a little something for the Nascar fan...

A fab Board for a breakfast nook…

A student’s college dorm room…

tmomotwins22 Shop also offers custom wooden letters,

a fleece baby blanket,

and even photo frames and bows! - A little of this and that!

Lisa of tmomotwins22 has generously offered one lucky Take A Mom’s Word For It reader a Memory Board of YOUR CHOICE!

BUY IT!

Head over to Lisa’s Shop and pick up the perfect birthday or back to school gift to accent any room.

WIN IT!

CLOSED

Win a Memory Board of YOUR CHOICE from tmomotwins22!

Mandatory Entry

As always, please leave your email address with every comment (unless it’s in your profile)… you don’t want to win and then have me not be able to reach you!

Visit tmomotwins22 and choose your favorite item and come back and tell me what it is.

Bonus Entries

1 Entry: “Like” tmomotwins22 on Facebook HERE and tell her I sent you. Please leave me your FB name to verify your entry.

1 Entry: “Like” Take A Mom’s Word For It on Facebook HERE. Already like me?! Aw shucks! Please tell me!

3 Entries: Update your Facebook status telling all your lovelies about this great giveaway. Please include “@take a moms word for it” in your post.

1 Entry: Follow Take A Mom’s Word For It Blog through Google Friend Connect.

1 Entry: Follow me on Twitter HERE. Please leave me your Twitter name.

2 Entries: Tweet about this giveaway. You can use this sample tweet:

“Win a Memory Board of your choice! Visit @amomsword #giveaway ends 7/9 http://tiny.cc/gafwx"

This can be done once a day for 2 entries each day until the giveaway closes. Be sure to include the permalink to verify.

2 Entries: “Heart” tmomotwins22 on Etsy. Please leave me your username.

3 Entries: Post the Take A Mom’s Word For It button on your blog. Please leave me the link.

5 Entries: Enter this giveaway into a giveaway linky on another blog. Please leave me the direct link. (5 entries for EACH giveaway linky you enter it into - max. of 3 linkys)

10 Entries: Make a purchase at Lisa’s tmomotwins’ Shop. Leave me your name, what you purchased and when.

Good luck to everyone! Open to Canada & US only.

Giveaway ends 7/9 Winner is chosen using random.org

Disclosure: I received a memory board for free for the purpose of this review. No other compensation was made. All opinions are my own.

Blog Hop Friday!

Welcome to the 7th edition of Blog Hop Friday! Blog Hop Friday is hosted by My New Life As Mom, Chubby Cheeks Thinks, Take A Mom's Word For It, Bree Bee's, This Adventure Our Life and Belly Charms! We invite you and your friends to link up every Friday and join us for a wonderful blog hopping adventure! We're all about making friends and having fun so come join us!

While your here please be sure to check out my current giveaways from some fantastic sponsors! They are all located on the top of my right sidebar... good luck!!

Here's how you can join in on the Blog Hop fun;

Link up to your blog, using our inlinkz link list, below.

Follow the host/hostesses located in the first 6 slots.

Follow any other blogs that you feel appropriate! :)

Add the Blog Hop Friday button to your sidebar.

When following a new blog, please remember to leave a little personal comment love.

If you get a new follower, please feel free to reciprocate the love.

This is a new list every week, so please remember to come back and link up, every week!

Please remember to send a little comment love when you follow someone's blog. The point of this is to gain new followers and new friends, so please take a second to send a personal comment on their latest post, something you like about their site or maybe something you find interesting.

We understand that not everyone has time to follow and comment on every Blog Hop Friday Participant, just do what you can and are willing to do. We will do the same! Take your time and go at your own pace.

The link list is only open to add new blogs on Fridays but will be visible all week long.

So go link up and hoppy blog hopping!

It's A Social Parade!

Social Parade time again! The parade is hosted by Smart and Trendy Moms. Welcome and while you're here please take a minute and enter the giveaways on the right sidebar. They all have pretty low entries so your chances of winning are great and two of them end FRIDAY at midnight - good luck!

Wordless Wednesday

I should really STOP calling this "Wordless", I mean really, who am I kidding?! Anyway, we've had a busy couple days! Here are a few photo highlights...

Little S snuggling Daddy on his special Day!

Daddy's most favourite things... his girls AND ice cream cake!
Little S trying her hand at skipping!

Miss A and Miss H finished another session of gymnastics lessons and earned their White Level 5 Ribbons! *Proud Mommy!*

Meet Me On Monday

This week I'm joining in on the 2nd edition of Meet Me On Monday hosted by Java at Never Growing Old It's a chance for my 'peeps' to get to know me a little better. Here are my answers to this week's questions...

1. How many brothers and sisters do you have? I have 1 younger brother.

2. What is your favourite thing to do? Snuggle with my girls!

3. What countries have you visited? United States (hello cross-border shopping!), Dominican Republic, Cuba and that's about it - I live in CANADA!

4. Are you a morning or a night person? I'm kind of a mid-morning person :)

5. What's your favourite cereal? Honeycomb - I recently re-discovered it and can't seem to start my day without it!

That's it for this week, catch y'all next Monday!

Happy Father's Day!

Happy Father's Day to all the Daddies in our lives!

This is a pic of the top of the cake my daughters picked out for today... Daddy LOVES ice cream cakes!

A special Happy Father's Day to my hubby (who is still sleeping... what better gift than to sleep in!)! You really are a "SUPER DAD"!

xoxo

DADDY (to the tune of "Bingo"

I love him and he loves me and Daddy is his name-o

D-A-D-D-Y,

D-A-D-D-Y,

D-A-D-D-Y,

And Daddy is his name-o!

** the girls are pumped to sing this later!*

Winner of the Elmo Crayons...

Congratulations Kristi!! Your comment was selected by random.org... you are the winner of a Set of 5 Hand-Poured, Non-Toxic Elmo crayons from Gaddy Nipper Crayons!!

I will be emailing you shortly. You have 48 hours to respond before I choose another winner.

Didn't win? As you know, Gaddy Nipper Crayons are great for all sorts of occasions - keep them in mind when searching for that truly unique (and affordable) gift!!