Four year old boys and shopping

Today I took all 3 kids out to do some back-to-school shopping. We had the stores all mapped out and set time goals. One thing I always do before we leave the house is make sure William is well fed and goes to the bathroom. Everything was set. We headed out. The first few stops were simple because we were literally in and out within minutes. The last stop required us to be in the store for over an hour. Belk had a HUGE clearance sale with tons of merchandise to browse through, so naturally it would take some time. Along the way, the girls would try on a few items and add them to the growing stack. William behaved pretty well and kept picking up random strands of thread from the floor. I usually don't encourage picking things up from the floor but made an exception this time. It was just thread after all.

You can tell that he was getting tired of being in the store so I took him to the boy's department. He then tells me how the store was starting to make him sad. He said he wanted to feel happy again, very dramatically at that. So after the long time spent in the store and the even longer time at the check-out, we finally headed for the exit. Of course all you heard was the loud BEEP BEEP BEEP. We went back to the check-out counter to find out why we were beeping. It turned out from the piles of clothes we bought, there was one ink tag that was not removed. We headed  back to the exit and were successful. We made it out of there! William begged to go home and I gave him his wish. After we were home for about 30 minutes I looked down on the couch and saw this. It was a collection of all the thread my boy picked up throughout the store.

All I could do was laugh. Of course, once he falls asleep tonight, I will turn into the mean mom and throw it away. He might have dislike being in a boring old department store but surely found a way to keep himself occupied!

The last two photos are from a recent visit we had at Monkey Joe's. It is hard to get decent photos when your kid is running wild! It is our new once-a-week spot to go to, especially with how hot it has been. You can't beat all the bouncing, jumping, climbing, sliding and screaming fun! I look forward to when school starts back so we can go on 'Half-price Tuesdays'.

Come join the "On the Go with D.O." Twitter Party

I wanted to invite you all to participate in the "On the Go with D.O." Twitter party that I will be co-hosting next week. If you are not familiar with D.O. (David Oliver), you should check out this post. You can also take a peek at the video below. 

Here are the details of the Twitter Party:

Date and Time: Tuesday July 3rd from 7pm-8pm *NO RSVP
Name: One the Go with D.O. Twitter Party
Hosts: Shelly @momfiles; Tree @amotherofpearl; Piera @JollyMom **Choosing prizing and winners
Special Guest: David Oliver will be joining the party to Tweet along with fans and answer questions! Twitter handle @doliversub13 
Also, My Coke Rewards will be joining the party to Retweet questions and reply to fans @MyCokeRewards
Hashtag: #DOFieldDay

There will be 5 Activity prize packs to give away valued at $100! 

Please stop by if you can and feel free to spread the word. See you there!

Tips on battling boredom from a Veteran Mom

School is officially out for the Summer in our city and I think often to times when my kids would say, "I'm bored!" I have been mommin' it up for almost 18 years so I feel like I have a lot of experience dealing with these situations. I took it upon myself to make up a list of some very good tips on how parents can help their kids fight boredom this Summer. I can almost guarantee these will work!

When your kids tell you they are bored you can respond with:

• How about going outside and pulling some weeds from the garden and alongside the house? Why not increase the fun by mowing the lawn? Um, you mean like out in the sun? Where you sweat? 
• How about we go buy 10 Sunday newspapers and clip all the coupons so we can go out on and extreme couponing shopping adventure! They will quickly run away because they don't want to be humiliated pushing 6 carts through the store. 
• Would you like me to have your dad sit you down for one of his lectures? If your husband is like mine, he can talk 'em to tears!
• Go clean the baseboards, ceiling fans and kitchen cabinets. I think my kids would be rolling their eyes in their mind :)
• How about going to the dentist? You can get a cleaning and see what else they find that can be taken care of! If you told me this I would RUN! 
• Go bathe the dog and then blow dry him. Wet dog smell on a teenage girl? Not happening!
• Go read a book. They get all huffy because they felt like that's all they did when school was in session.
• Wanna help paint some rooms in the house? This starts off as fun and after a few swipes they usually start to whine. 

I have tested these out and they all worked the very first time. You can thank me later! ;-)

The Poor Man's Keurig

For 3 years now I have bugged  nicely asked my husband for a Keurig coffee brewer. Being the frugal man he is, he reminds me of my old school Black & Decker Cup-at-a-Time coffee maker. He's like why spend $80-$100 when you already have the original version? You know what? He is so right. I bought this gadget about 12 years ago for about $15 at Walmart. I have even purchased additional ones as gifts.

Strangely enough it has hung in there after numerous uses, and even traveling on road trips, being used in the office at work and of course at home. It still makes a steaming hot cup of strong coffee. I can use any ground coffee I want and don't have to purchase the little pods and I can brew to my desired strength. I don't think one little K-cup would work for a gal like me. I am used to drinking coffee as strong as motor oil!  I guess it really makes sense after all to stick with my old school machine. I haven't seen these brewers around in some time but if I do, I might need to purchase it as back-up! 

The life of the SAHM

We have less than 2 weeks of the school year left. Time has flown by. The girls have been immersed in studying, exams, SAT's and volleyball conditioning. Of course I am in overdrive as a mom making sure they have all the necessities to make their days go smoothly. I have been spending a lot less time online and a lot more time on the floor playing dinosaurs, camping, blocks and flashcards. I am really working hard at giving little Will the same head start that the girls were given. You really do get to see the big differences between boys and girls! It does seem a little more challenging getting the boy to sit down long enough to learn something new. I think he does better absorbing information as long as he is moving. This sometimes means practicing numbers while doing jumping jacks! Needless to say, I am in great physical shape!

I still go through those days feeling mommy guilt wondering if I am doing enough for the boy. At the end of the day, he displays a lot of what he has learned through his actions. He is listening and paying attention. You better believe if anyone does something they shouldn't be, William will be the first one to let you know that you are not making a good choice. Those are the times that I think he is listening a little too well :)

I already have the Summer calendar prepared and it looks like the kids will be very occupied. I have some family trips I am planning as well. This Summer, we will take day trips or very short trips to close-by cities. No big vacations for us. I just hope that gas prices will continue to decline. I am also getting back into couponing so that we can maximize our cash.

Have you started getting your Summer family calendar set up? Do you have any fun plans?

Meyer Lemon tree update one year later

I just had to share the latest update on my dwarf Meyer lemon tree that I planted last year. Thankfully it is thriving!! I was so afraid since over the winter months most of the leaves fell off and it looked kind of pathetic. I waited until the temperatures stayed above 55 degrees before taking it back outside. I added some more premium potting soil on top and fertilized it. After a few weeks and several rain showers later, I have a full bush that stands about 2 feet tall and it has actual blooms on it!

Do you see the little pink blooms? The tree is loaded with them! I will keep my fingers crossed that we will get some actual lemons this year. I am so excited and will be sure to post another update in a couple months. Hmm, I might have a little green hidden under my purple thumb after all!

I have been thinking about possibly planting a dwarf key lime tree. I guess I better see what happens with this one first and them go from there :)

New fish, Happy kid and the Pet Store Mafia

For William's 4th birthday we purchased him an aquarium. He has a slight obsession with fish so we figured it would be a great thing for him to have. We kept it simple and went with a 10 gallon tank but opted to get the better filtration and lighting system. When we purchased everything to set the tank up, the customer service people at the pet store were very knowledgeable and willing to answer questions and give advice. We always had an aquarium for the girls when they were younger and had great success with it. As a matter of fact, the fish would sometimes get so big that we would have to donate them to the classrooms at the school. We went ahead and started off with all of what we needed to set the tank up and get the water ready to add fish. Back in the day we added fish within 24 hours. Nowadays they recommend 3 weeks! 3 weeks?? Try telling that to a 4 year old!

How happy does he look? 

We went yesterday to purchase some fish and boy was William excited. He made up his own song about going to the pet store to buy some fish. Too funny! We decided on a few glofish in cool, neon colors, a couple "Mickey Mouse"platys and a couple fancy tetras. When I asked the person in that area for help in purchasing the fish he immediately had that "look" on his face. This is how the interrogation... um conversation went...

Fish guy: Do you have your tank set up?
Me: Yes.
FG: Are you sure it is done properly?
Me: Yes
FG: How many fish do you want?
Me: 6
FG: What size is your tank? (At this point he is in my face looking at me like he is a prosecutor or something)
Me: 10 gallons
FG: Hmm, okay. But remember the rules... 1 inch of fish per gallon. Then he stares at me all scary.
Me: Uh, okay

If you could have seen his body language and heard his tone you would have been afraid of even breathing the wrong way. Like the husband says, they are like undercover PETA representatives or something! DANG! I mean come on, they are just fish. If I choose to buy 50 of them then I should be allowed to do so.

In the end, our boy is completely happy and enjoying his new pets. He is so curious and asks a lot questions about his fish. We look forward to adding some more fun friends as time goes on. We might have to rethink where to buy them from so we don't feel like we might catch a beat-down from the pet store mafia! :)

Disney has ruined my kid!

You might recall reading a post about our family going to The Magic Kingdom a few months ago. Well apparently little William has not gotten over it. He is obsessed with all things Disney. He is, as I write this post, singing the "Happy Holidays" song that was being performed at one of the parades. He carries around a map of Disney in the house, the car, the store and asks to go to Disney World... several dozen times a day!

Dwayne recorded video of the parades and William watches them repeatedly. It also doesn't help that Disney commercial come on all day long!! When he meets new people he immediately tells them all about the "castle". SMH, I need to hit the lottery quick so we can take this boy back! I really thought he would have been over it by now. I guess the magic is still in him. I won't lie, I want to go back myself! Looks like it will be on the places to visit list in the next couple years.

Dr. Seuss' The Lorax Prize Pack Giveaway

DR. SEUSS’ THE LORAX will be in theaters March 2! We are looking forward to it especially because our almost 4 year old son shows great interest in it. I just love the story behind The Lorax. Recycling, repurposing, reusing and being kind to our environment is important to my family. Hey, I want a Truffula Tree and would love a hug from a Bar-Ba-Loot! :) From the looks of the trailer, I am sure the movie will be amazing! I showed it to my teenager daughters and they want to see it as well.

If you are a Facebook user, you are encouraged to join The Lorax in speaking for the trees and to add a Truffula Tree to your Facebook profile picture. Your participation builds awareness for the reforestation efforts taking place with The Atlantic Forest in Brazil, which has been generously supported through a contribution made to The Nature Conservancy by Universal Pictures. I very proudly changed my profile picture to show my support :)

Bar-Ba-Loots are adorable bear-like creatures who live to play games and eat sweet fruits in Dr. Seuss’ The Lorax, a 3D-CGI comic adventure from the creators of Despicable Me and the imagination of Dr. Seuss. Credit: Universal Pictures and Illumination Entertainment

Check out the trailer:
 

About the Film

Genre: 3D-CG feature 
Cast: Danny DeVito, Zac Efron, Ed Helms, Taylor Swift, Rob Riggle and Betty White 
Directed by: Chris Renaud 
Co-Director: Kyle Bald 
Written by: Cinco Paul & Ken Daurio 
Produced by: Chris Meledandri, Janet Healy  DR. SEUSS’ THE LORAX will be in theaters March 2!
Executive Producers: Audrey Geisel, Cinco Paul, Ken Daurio 


From the creators of Despicable Me and the imagination of Dr. Seuss comes the 3D-CG feature Dr. Seuss’ The Lorax, an adaptation of the classic tale of a forest creature who shares the enduring power of hope. The animated adventure follows the journey of a 12-year-old as he searches for the one thing that will enable him to win the affection of the girl of his dreams. To find it he must discover the story of the Lorax, the grumpy yet charming creature who fights to protect his world. Danny DeVito will lend his vocal talents to the iconic title character of the Lorax, while Ed Helms will voice the enigmatic Once-ler. Also bringing their talents to the film are global superstars Zac Efron as Ted, the idealistic youth who searches for the Lorax, and Taylor Swift as Audrey, the girl of Ted’s dreams. Rob Riggle will play financial king O’Hare, and beloved actress Betty White will portray Ted’s wise Grammy Norma. 
Dr. Seuss’ The Lorax is the third feature created by Universal Pictures and Illumination Entertainment (Despicable Me, Hop). 
www.theloraxmovie.com

Stay connected with Dr. Seuss' The Lorax on Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest.

For the giveaway:
One (1) winner will receive:
• Lorax T-shirt
• Lorax Tote Bag
• Truffula Tree Pencils
• Lorax Mustache
• Lorax Activity Card
 Prize Pack valued at $30, courtesy of Universal Pictures

Enter in the widget below and be sure to complete the mandatory entry to qualify for extra entries.

My Pinterest is now linked to my junkie corners

I have a confession. I love to clean. I really do love to clean. Clutter makes me feel nervous. My house is very plainly decorated. Actually, my house is not really decorated.. more like void of a bunch of crap everywhere. Everywhere except... I have this little problem (so my husband thinks). He says I have an obsession with having tiny, junkie corners in several places in our home. I admit, I do. I have a tiny pile next to my bed, at the foot of my bed, in the family room... you get the idea. You are probably wondering what exactly I keep in my little piles... Everything from clothing, coupons, receipts, nail files, pens... nothing is exempt except trash. I have spent the weekend ridding my house of my junkie corners. Yep, everything is in the right place. No junk anywhere in sight. I have declared (no promises) that I will make an effort to cut down on my little bits of junk. Maybe.

Since it was a 3-day weekend I took some time to chill. I did some cleaning and cooking but for the most part I sat my little self down and relaxed (I think). I have recently started getting into Pinterest. I find myself pinning for hours some days. If you are already on Pinterest then you know just what I am talking about. If you are not then what the heck are you waiting for? So this is where my smart talking husband comes in. He says that Pinterest is filling my void for my junkie corners. He says now I can have virtual junkie corners thanks to Pinterest. Sadly, he is not lying! ;-)

Farewell One Life To Live

Well, we said our final goodbyes last night. We watched the last episode of One Life To Live on Soapnet. It did not end as we would have thought but that's the soaps for ya. I admit that I had some tears roll down my face. Not from sad scenes but just the memories. I can't believe how much the show was a part of my life for so many years.

We all wore black for the occasion. Pictured from left to right- Brie, Haley, Shelly and Chardie.

Of course we had to have our snacks that included pizza, chocolate, candies, ice cream, popcorn and soda. I think that it will really hit us next week when we go to tune into Soapnet only to realize our show will no longer be in that time slot. 

Our trip to the Magic Kingdom

Last week, the Ismail family packed up the car and headed down to the happiest place on earth...Disney's Magic Kingdom. The drive was great up until we were 8 miles from our destination. We were stuck in traffic for almost 2 hours! Thankfully we had plenty of fuel in the car and made the best out of that time. It was actually fun although I don't necessarily think I would want that to happen very often! We stayed in a nice resort with some family members.  We really loved that we had all the conveniences of home so that we were able to cook family-sized meals which really helped out a lot.

When we were driving to the park we were all so leery of the cloudy sky. There was good reason for all those clouds. More on that later in the post.

Those clouds really had us in a panic.

We took the Ferry boat over to the park since the clouds started to break. Boy was it windy though! We all wore short sleeves. Hey, it's Florida. That's the norm right? 

We wore our "I'm Celebrating!" buttons that we got from the ticket booth just to be festive. 

Of course the teenagers were freaking out over their hair getting wind-blown!I admit I might have secretly been going through that myself!  

William really enjoyed the ferry boat ride and got to throw coins in the water. He was all smiles! Of course he did not cooperate to take photos. The sun started peaking through the clouds and we were all super excited to have some fun. Well, our fun turned into soaking wet fun. Yep, you guessed it. Rain. Not just rain, cold and windy kind of rain. We all looked a hot sloppy mess but put a smile on our faces and kept it moving. I am so happy I packed a back-up outfit for Will so at least he did not have to wear a wet shirt. Man, did it end up getting cold though!

Dwayne kept William since he is not a ride person and I went with the girls and a couple of our cousins. We met up here and there to eat and check on each other. The food was way over-priced and not all that great. You better believe that I made everyone eat every last bite!

Somehow Dwayne and William got to do way more than the rest of us waiting 2 hours to ride Space Mountain (which was totally worth it). They got to get a photo with Mickey and Minnie and our boy William was NOT feeling it! He was so afraid of them I think because they were so big. He looks like he was trying to leap out of Dwayne's arms! 

He did LOVE LOVE LOVE the castle. He is still talking about it and asks if we can go back again. I can't believe that Dwayne actually went on rides with William. I guess Disney really is a magical place after all :) 

Pure happiness :)

He was taking it all in.

We were able to catch a few parades and shows as well as get on some of the rides. Everyone had the best time and we made some great memories. We do plan to return again for sure. I wish I had more photos to share but they did not come out all that great after we got rain soaked! William had the most fun and behaved perfectly. Come to think of it, he did well from start to finish. No complaints, no mischief, no potty accidents, no foolishness. I am the luckiest mom on the planet! 

Now this sight was worth every drop of rain we encountered. I did not even have to edit this photo.  It was very cold at the end of the night but at least we caught the magnificent fireworks display. Truly amazing!! 

Thanksgiving 2011 with the Mckoy family

Wow, I feel like it has been a while since I last posted on my blog! I had been so busy with Thanksgiving preparations and having the most fun family friends come visit us. Tanyetta and her family came to South Carolina for a few days and spent the holiday with us! We have been friends for about 4 years now (met through the blog) and we finally got to meet in person. We had such a wonderful time and it is amazing how much Dwayne and Tanyetta are alike as well as how much Darrin and I have in common. I told Tanyetta that she and Dwayne were separated at birth! They were working my nerves :)

Look at how all 3 of the younger kids were totally not feeling being photographed! We ate, we laughed, ate some more, laughed a whole lot more and repeated the process. To say we were meeting for the first time, you would have thought we had known each other for life. The children had so much fun running around and playing. I enjoyed holding sweet little Gracen. I got to have my baby-fix. There is nothing like having a sleeping little one in your arms. If Dwayne is reading this don't worry, I am NOT getting any ideas :)

Is this not the sweetest family photo? Awww!! By the way, Tanyetta is the most "picturetakenestfool" ever! Her hubby Darrin is such a good sport! She takes pictures of EVERYTHING! She insisted that they had to get a photo by the wall letters I have up in the front entrance of our home. I will say that it is a lovely photo :)

Look at these faces. They refused to cooperate all at the same time. They were ready to get back to having FUN!!

We were so happy to have the Mckoy family visit us and this was the BEST Thanksgiving EVER!! Thanks for driving from so far to spend it with us. Great memories were made!

Halloween 2011

It's that time of year again...the time for silly "holidays" and although I don't believe in the whole Halloween thing, I still let my kid be a kid. Dwayne was in charge of the costume for William and decided on a pirate. Good choice, eh? Good thing Will loves all things pirate so he really enjoyed his costume. I drew on a mustache with eyeliner since I knew there is no way he would keep an eye patch on. Glad I did because the mustache was the hit at the Halloween events we attended!

Check out the mustache! 

One day he will look enthusiastic about getting his photo taken. One day.

He enjoyed yelling out "Trick or treat!" 

The bounce house. He LOVED it! It was so funny how when kids would fall from bouncing too hard William would ask them "Are you okaaay?!" and when William would fall he would yell out "I'm okaaaay!" 

Unexpected surprise

This morning I received some emails, blog comments and Momfiles Facebook page posts that I won 1,000 Swag Bucks in an hourly drawing. When I read the first message, I automatically assumed it was a scam. After about the 6th message I looked into it. Turns out I did win the 1,000 Swag Bucks and was in complete shock!

If you are not a part of the Swag Bucks community I encourage you to check it out and sign up for yourself. It WORKS! I have redeemed enough of my SB's to receive over $100 in gift cards all for FREE! It is great that all I did was search the web and get rewarded for it. Now you go get your Swag on~!

Yo Gabba Gabba! Live! It's time to dance! (Giveaway)

**Contest Closed** 

Winner is #6 RealtorSD~ Congratulations!

Hey everyone, I am so excited to find out that the Yo Gabba Gabba! crew are on the road performing a new show- "It's Time To Dance!" They will be in my city of Columbia, SC on October 26. If you have never been to a Yo Gabba Gabba Live show you are truly missing out on a fun experience! I have been to many shows over the years and even our teenage daughters agreed that it was their absolute favorite! I really believe that the parents enjoy it more than the little ones! This year there are many cities and show dates so be sure to see if there is a show near you. You don't want to miss out on the fun and excitement!!

I am also very thrilled to offer a giveaway for a Yo Gabba Gabba! CD/DVD prize pack to one lucky Momfiles reader. The CD is the called Music is Awesome 3. It has some great songs that we love: "Don't bite your friends", "Pick it up", "I'm so happy, I can dance" and many more!

The DVD is only being sold during the tour - you can't buy it in stores!
That makes it special....It's called KIA MOTORS PRESENTS Yo Gabba Gabba! Live! Live From Nokia Theatre L.A. Live

To enter leave a comment letting us know if you have ever been to a Yo Gabba Gabba Live Show or if you plan to catch the newest show in a city near you. Also, who is your favorite YGG! character?

For additional entries (please leave a separate comment per entry method)

~ "like" Yo Gabba Gabba! and Momfiles on Facebook
~ Follow Momfiles via Google Friend Connect
~ Follow Yo Gabba Gabba! and Momfiles on Twitter
~ Tweet this giveaway (once daily)

Enter to win a @yogabbagabba CD/DVD prize pack from @momfiles http://tinyurl.com/6j6thuc #giveaway

Giveaway is open to US Residents only and will end on October 29, 2011 at 9:00 pm EST. One winner will be selected at random and contacted via email. Please leave a visible email address if you do not have a Blogger account. Momfiles is not responsible for any lost or stolen prizes.

No compensation was received for this post