Family * Travel * Food

Vent Day Wednesday

Hi friends, Welcome to this week's edition of Vent Day Wednesday. We apologize for the video being really long but like always it was Dwayne's fault. Be sure to leave us a comment telling us your vents or just letting us know what you think of the video.

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Autumn randomness

Wow, I woke up to 49 degrees this morning and it was a welcomed feeling! I love this time of year and really like to wear sweaters and cooler weather attire. I am hoping it will last and not just be a tease and then we go back to highs in the 90's. That would be South Carolina weather for you! I am in the market for an extra large soup pot and if anyone can recommend a place I can get one for a reasonable price that would be great. I want one in stainless steel. I guess October is practically here and I will have to take William up to the pumpkin patch. I know he will really have with it this year since he is walking and very curious. Well, that's all I have for today. Vent day is tomorrow. Be sure to come back!
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Nature Valley Granola Nut Clusters "Snack Pack" Giveaway

**Contest Closed**
Winner is MomUnion. Thanks for participating!


I was contacted by MyBlogSpark to try out Nature Valley Granola Clusters. I was very happy to do it especially since we are big fans of Nature Valley products. If you are a nut lover and enjoy salty & sweet flavors with a crunchy texture then this product is for you! It's hard to pick a favorite with flavors like Nut Lovers, Roasted Almond, Roasted Cashew and Honey Roasted Peanut! Yum yum!! As a mom I love the fact that is a 100% natural snack.


These nut clusters came in at the perfect time since it is the middle of volleyball season. With practices, games, scrimmages and tournaments, these snacks are the perfect choice as a healthy pick-me-up for my daughters. I like the fact that the bag is resealable so they can take their own pouch in their favorite flavor to pack in their gym bag to take them through the week (or a couple days). This helps for those late evenings until they get home for dinner. This is also a great snack to send the hubby to keep in his desk to prevent the "I got hungry so I ran out and picked up something" excuse for eating something naughty. I can see myself packing these in the baby bag for outings and also for road trips. Another plus for me is that these products are from General Mills so we can save the Box Tops for Education.

MyBlogSpark has generously offered for one lucky Momfiles reader to win their own Nature Valley Granola Nut Clusters "Snack Pack". This great prize includes: all four (4) varieties of the Granola Nut Clusters along with a sling backpack, stainless steel water bottle, flashlight and binoculars! Here's how you can enter to win:

Mandatory- Leave a comment telling us what you Nature Valley products you enjoy or would like to try. Comments that say "thank you" or "count me in" will be deleted. Want an additional entry? (You must complete the above method to qualify for extra entries)

--You can Twitter this giveaway (one per day) and leave me a link to your Tweet. Example: Win a Nature Valley Snack Pack from @momfiles http://bit.ly/3K2pTm

-- Facebook this giveaway, and please leave a separate comment/link for each entry to count. (one per day!)

--Follow me on Twitter or friend me on Facebook (leave a comment with a link) If you already follow let me know.

--You can also place our button on your blog or follow us (please leave a blog link in your comment or specify if you are a new or current follower).

Be sure to have a visible email address in your comment if you do not have a Blogger profile. Giveaway is open to US residents only. Deadline to enter is October 13, 2009 at 11:59 pm EST. Good luck! Special thanks to MyBlogSpark for sponsoring this great giveaway!
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Whos' the bigger kid?

Yesterday evening I went to the store (with the red circles) with Dwayne and William. We were out for specific items and I wanted to get what we needed and get out of that busy place. Dwayne decided that we needed to walk through the toy aisles, excluding the girly ones that had everything in shades of pink with spark;es. He wanted to see all things boy (man). He was in awe of all the army men, robots, car & trucks, superheroes, bug looking things... He was in toy heaven. We saw this fighter pilot headset that was cool (I admit it) and it was $40. Now y'all know my cheap husband was insisting it better be able to tell the future for that price hahaha! He was showing William all these things that he needs to be at least 4 or 5 to even play with. You should to see all the excitement in Dwayne's face. William, not so much. Dwayne tried to pick up at least 3 things that I had to convince him we did not need and you should have seen the pouty face! I learned something. Do not take Dwayne to stores that sell toys. Leave him HOME!

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Shelly is de-funked

I wrote a post the other day about not feeling like myself and found the culprit. I was taking vitamins and they were messing with me in a big way. I thought that maybe I needed to take a multi-vitamin to give my body some of those important vitamins and minerals I might not be getting daily. I noticed that taking these vitamins my appetite increased to where I would eat ALL day long. Might I add, eating all the wrong things and indulging in a lot of sweets and junk food. I realized that this changed my mood and physical feelings. I decided to stop the vitamins and 24 hours later the normal Shelly came back to the world. I am so happy to be back. No more multi-vitamins for me! I will stick to calcium and vitamin C supplements. I'm baaack!!!
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Downy® Simple Pleasures® review & giveaway

**Contest Closed**
Winners are: Stesha, Christy, and Autum22. Thanks for participating!!

I was lucky enough to receive a sample bottle of Downy® Simple Pleasures® Orchid Allure Liquid fabric softener to review. All I can say is WOW. I am already a very loyal Downy® user and a huge fan so this was a fun review. The scent is absolutely divine. I have to fight with my daughters to stop using it all up! They said their friends are always complimenting them on how good their practice shirts smell every day. Of course every Mom loves for their family's clothes to smell fresh and clean. I also like the fact that it is not colored, it's like a pale white so there is less fear of having fabric softener streaks or stains on your clothes.

I washed my sheets and blankets and used my liquid fabric softener in my trusty Downy Ball®. Dwayne keeps sniffing our sheets, it's funny! He really loves it and says it is actually more relaxing laying in bed with such a nice scent that really does last. I would totally recommend you to try this awesome product out and you can register for coupons and other offers here. I know this will be a staple in my laundry room and I can't wait to try some other fragrances as well.

Now here is the exciting part, I was offered a giveaway for 3 (three) Momfiles readers to win a year's supply of Downy® Simple Pleasures®!! I know you're excited! Here is how to enter:

Mandatory- Visit the Downy® Simple Pleasures® site and tell us which fragrance you would like to try. Comments that say "thank you" or "count me in" will be deleted.
Want an additional entry? (You must complete the above method to qualify for extra entries)

--You can Twitter this giveaway and leave me a link to your Tweet. Example: Win a year's supply of Downy® Simple Pleasures® @momfiles http://bit.ly/8tGpF

-- Facebook this giveaway, and please leave a separate comment/link for each entry to count. (one per day!)

--Follow me on Twitter or friend me on Facebook (leave a comment with a link) If you already follow let me know.

--You can also place our button on your blog or follow us (please leave a blog link in your comment or specify if you are a new or current follower).

Be sure to have a visible email address in your comment if you do not have a Blogger profile. Giveaway is open to US residents only. Deadline to enter is October 7, 2009 at 11:59 pm EST. Good luck! Special thanks to P&G Fabric Care for sponsoring this great giveaway!
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Vent Day Wednesday

Hello and welcome to this week's edition of Vent Day Wednesday. We hope you enjoy the video and please be sure to leave us your vents in the comments. Even if you have nothing to vent about you just show us some love ;-)

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I just don't know

I really don't know what my problem is these days. I have not been feeling like myself at all. It's as if I was taken outside of myself even though my body is still there. I don't know what it is. I have not even been blogging and that bothers me. I have lost focus it seems. I really need to get it back. I am sure most of you have the same issue from time to time. I am taking some vitamins and trying to set goals with time limits and see how that works out. I am one of those people that will put in the necessary time to meet deadlines. I am going to make up my own deadlines and stick to that. I am hoping to get my mojo back soon. Do you ever go through this kind of funk? What do you do to get yourself back?
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William updates

Master William is now 18 months old and is FULL of energy... he's a firecracker. He wants to climb most anything and never sits still. It's hard to take him to places that require sitting down for more than 10 minutes. I am sure some of you will comment and tell me that it does not get any better for a long time. Yes, I have noticed this in boys.

I decided to make a list of all the latest strange and cute things the boy is doing these days.
  • We attend both of his sisters volleyball games frequently. If you dare try to clap or cheer he will start to cry as if you were beating him. I have to remember NOT to cheer. It's hard.
  • William is teething and instead of biting on a toy or washcloth he prefers his hands. Yuck
  • He does not put things in his mouth like normal toddlers. He never really did that even as a baby.
  • His new thing he loves to do is find random items and bring them to me. His latest finds: a staple, paperclip, half a toothpick, thumbtack, dog fur, an electric outlet "safety" cover and a variety of tiny pieces of string or plastic. All of these are choking hazards and thankfully this is where the not putting anything in his mouth comes in really well.
  • He loves to do his dancie dance when watching Yo Gabba Gabba (so do I)
  • When he does something wrong and gets yelled at he comes up to my face and kisses me repeatedly. On the mouth.
  • William thinks he is my husband, he really does.
  • He loves to plow. Plow??? Yes plow. He takes his chair and pushes it around the house like a plow. He is really serious too when he is plowing! It's the funniest thing! He even knows how to maneuver his plow around tight corners.

Well I hope everyone is caught up on what the little guy is up to these days!
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Vent Day Wednesday

Welcome to this week's edition of Vent Day Wednesday! As always we bring you our vents along with a few laughs. Please be sure to leave us a comment with your vents or just to talk about how foolish that Dwayne is :-)

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Sesame Street Live! Elmo's Green Thumb

My family was offered 5 tickets to go see the show Sesame Street Live- Elmo's Green Thumb. Even though the girls are teenagers they were thrilled to get to see their little brother go to this show. I think all of us were living out our childhood dreams to be honest!




Part of the offer was a meet and greet with a couple of the actual characters. We were fortunate to meet the world famous Cookie Monster along with the adorable Zoey!! This was truly a rare treat and we had one of our amazing hosts take a family photo. Little William was a bit nervous but then again he is still pretty young.

Of course we had our big guy that was thrilled to bits to get a photo op with Cookie Monster! He pulled me aside and asked if I thought they would let him take a solo shot with him. Imagine my big cookie monster with the real-life one! In true Dwayne form he just had to throw up the peace sign since he was posing with a really cool celebrity.

As we walked into the Colonial Life Arena we took in the sights of this huge venue and had to walk down what felt like 200 steps to get to the floor seats. The big treat is that we got to sit in the third row away from the actual stage. I have never sat that close at any show so we really had the best view! When the show started we were told to get ready because it was going to get amped up really fast. That was no lie. The action was astonishing! The set, the lights, the music, singing, dancing and the overall mood was amazing!!


I took a moment to look at the crowd of moms, dads, aunts, uncles, grandparents, children and friends and it was so fun seeing all the smiling faces! I saw grown men singing the songs and swaying back and forth to the music. We were in awe of how awesome the choreography was. These characters had mad rhythm!!! It was neat how the some of the characters interacted with the crowd.

The show was so impressive and I loved how a lot of familiar songs that were made over into pre-school friendly songs. I was really shocked to see how much my teenage daughters were drawn into the show. They can't wait for the next one that comes to town!

I know I will be taking William to another Sesame Street Live production when he is a couple years older so that he can better understand what is going on. I certainly recommend this show for families when it comes to your city. I am not sure who loved it more...the adults or the little ones!!
*Special thanks goes out to Ms. Katrina Gilliam for making this fun family night out possible!
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No Vent Day today

I am so sorry for all the Vent Day Wednesday followers that we will not have a video this week. The star of the show is under the weather and is taking some time out to chat with the infamous WBC's. He also has his swine flu towel (the stolen hotel variety) in hand to avoid spreading his germs. Feel free to watch an archived video of 'Ismail the Great' acting a fool! I hope everyone has a great day!!
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Brie is a teenager!!


We spent the Labor Day holiday celebrating Briahnna's 13th birthday. We had lots of food and family time. It was a really great day!

Can you tell she truly is a teenager by the fact that she was totally embarrassed to be getting a kiss from her dad?
It is seldom we get a family photo taken and of course William did not want to fully cooperate once he saw the camera.
Here is a rare photo of me since I am usually the one that takes the photos!
We had to get a small cake because we have to celebrate Chardie's birthday this coming weekend and don't want to be caked out.

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Smokey eyes

Can anyone recommend a good website that offers directions on how to accomplish the "smokey eye" look? I also prefer not to have to spend a load of money on the make-up because y'all know my husband is broke! LOL! Also does anyone know a site I can shop hairstyles that allows me to upload a photo to see what the styles look like? If you would please leave me a link or two I would so very much appreciate it! Oh yeah and they have to be for FREE. Once again, y'all know who my husband is!!! Thanks :-)
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Vent Day Wednesday

Welcome to this week's edition of Vent Day Wednesday. Be sure to hit us up in the comments with your vents...

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William- update on speech

About a month ago I wrote a post about William not talking. I received some great advice and encouragement through comments, email and Facebook. I am very proud to report that the little fella has really been trying and it seems like overnight he has started running his mouth a whole lot. He sticks to simple things but I feel like it is progress. I learned something important during this time as well. His sisters are now back to school and volleyball each day so we are alone from about 7-6 daily. He has done so many things he never attempted when the girls were around. If he only tried to take one step he would be stopped by a very protective big sister shielding him from potential harm. Of course there is really nothing harmful around, they are just being loving big sisters but were ultimately hindering him. I am even guilty of it.

Since he is on his own during the day I have noticed a new little William. He communicates so much better. He zeros in on minute objects and points and says "tee" (see). He is learning his body parts. He is learning how to sit alone and play. If you ask him to do certain simple tasks he will do it. He claps and raises his hands in the air and says "YEEAAH!!" when he has done a good job and knows it. He's is an intelligent little boy. He is just taking his time in the speech department. Funny thing is what his favorite word is. When he wants to watch Yo Gabba Gabba on demand he grabs the remote and says "YOOO". It's too cute! I need to capture it on video but as soon as he sees the camera he won't do it. Y'all know how that can be! Thanks to everyone for their helpful insight. It means a lot!
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