blog blasts

a dirty house on new years is a dirty one all year

- brandy3

thats the way my mother always put it. so i try and organize and get everything clean after the holidays.  my main problem is we live in a apartment and my kids get to many clothes and toys for christmas.

so i always go through and get all the old broken toys and nonfitting clothes out to make room for the new.   well i stilll have a hard time parting with things though. like a special dress or toy.

getting finances back in order is a biggy to, exspecially if you have credit card debt from the holidays or something. i try and manage what i spent and then figure out what i can put towards whatever needs to be paid off.

cleaning out your refridgerator, is a must After the holidays with all the left over food.   i try and make a weekly list of leftovers and what days to eat them. i hate to waste food.

one of my biggest prioritys after the holidays is family time.  vacation ends. school starts again, work starts again etc. so trying to spend time together, before our lives become busy and hectic again.

a big thank you to parent bloggers network for making this post possible, and sc johnson for some wonderful tips on getting things back in order after the holidays

so much to do i’m getting scatterbrained

- brandy3

i don’t even know if thats a word

do you get overwhelmed around the holidays i know i do. with three kids there is a lot of preperation and gift buying, plus if your going out of town there is a million other things to do. there is a site to help with being overwhelmed http://www.familyaware.org .

i usually start shopping super early to help ease the rushing of trying to get all the gifts in time.   thr tradition is to eat at a family members house, so usually everything plays smooth.

this year i am a little panicked. my husband has finals, and so i have to take 3 kids christmas shopping with me. you would think they wouldn’t know who i’m shopping for, but you’d be suprised we get home and my daughter remembers what i bought and wants it.  i have a coupon for a free turkey(thank you parent bloggers network and butterball) so i decided that this year i would cook for my family. so i have to prepare all that. to top that off i am having my wisdo teeth pulled a week before christmas. so i will be out of it for a couple days.

so yes i do feel very overwhelmed. i am adapting by having my husband on break. (hopefully he’ll help, no gaurantee on that yet), i’m doing all my shopping online, it’s easier you don’t need to leave the house and it’s delivered to your door gift wrapped for a small fee. i’m going to cook most of the food the day before christmas, just to make it a little easier.

so i’m a little overwhelmed but trying to make the best of it. i will definitly check out www.familyaware.org

the new year and the great things and headaches

- brandy3

it’s the last blog blast of the year. parent bloggers network has teamed up with big tent, and want to know what your doing to make the new year less of a circus

the new year for me brings lots of new starts, and time better yourself.  i have never been able to keep my new years resolution, it’s just been to hard on me.  my life now is a circus and i can only hope it will get better. 

 with the new year brings lots of new changes in my life. my husband is graduating from college, and moving on to grad school. which means of course we will be moving, i’m excited about that. it’s hard though because i know what i want the new year to bring and what i want accomplished. with the bad economy, you can’t really hope for all that, because you don’t know whats going to happen.

i want to become a better wife and mother. if you have been reading my blog you know that me and my hubby hit a rough patch a couple months ago. so i really want to better my marriage. 

 i have a 3,2 and now1 year old. it’s very hectic and stressful, and i want to try and relax and be more calm around my kids. spend more time with them and most important not swear around them (i’m bad about that).

i want to get into good shape. as you can imagine, having 3 kids in 3 years has given me some extra wieght. i would like to turn that into muscle. even eat better, try and cut out the snacks and soda.

i want to help with the income. i hope to find a job, even a stay at home one, or part time to help with the finances. with the economy the way it is now, it’s hard to say if thats going to happen.

getting my act together for the new year

most of all i just want my family to be happy and healthy in the new year.

 

thi spost was written for parent bloggers network in conjunction with big tent for a contest

i can’t cook so i cheat

- brandy3 1 Comment

okay maybe i can cook. just don’t have the patiance for a big meal with 3 small children running around. i am 24 years old and only cooked thanksgiving dinner once. i’ve always went to familys house or out to eat.

so when i got this weeks blog blast from parent bloggers network, i thought i’d write a post and let the world know it’s all about the premade. luckly for me butterball has a line of premade turkeys. just thaw and cook. no cleaning, basting etc.

thats right, i’ve made thanksgiving dinner once, but i’ve also cooked a big meal on easter. i have to say it was simple because i cheated. i bought a butterball premade turkey.  potatoes from the box, stuffing from the box, green beans in a can, frozen pies. it was so simple.

i end up feeling bad when i invite family over, because i know when they cook, everything is from scratch and homemade.

one thanksgiving it was my first time going to my in laws. i didn’t eat a thing. ot was wierd and unusual. they had cooked everything the night before, so it was cold and hard. it was like every 5 minutes you had to pop your food back in the microwave to keep it warm.  the stuffing was homemade, but was not very good. plus it looked like a cake. (if my familys reading this, i’m sorry. love you)

when i was younger, i loved thanksgiving. it was the only time my family sat at the dinner table together. usually we’d eat in the living room in front of the tv. it was the one time of year my family actually prayed together. if anyone did at all. (i know that sounds bad, my family is religous just not really into praying and church.) it was tradition for me to pray before we ate on thanksgiving. even though every year someone would ruin it and eat before i could.  even growing up my mom made thanksgiving out of boxes and cans. the turkey was made with love though.

i’m not sure if i am cooking this year, i probably will but you can gaurantee it’ll be a premade turkey. just buy the roasting pan.

this post was written for parent bloggers network as part of a sweepstakes sponsored by butterball

sing a song even if it doesn’t make sense

- brandy3 1 Comment

have you ever heard the school yard chant “beans beans the magical fruit.” well bushs baked beans wants you to rewrite that chant and tell people that beans are a vegetable.  they have teamed up with parent bloggers network this week to write about your favorite kiddie songs.

my kids love to sing. my daughter mckenzie makes up songs just about anything.  some of her songs are, i took her toys away for not cleaning them up. she sang,

 “mommy don’t take my toys away, i love you ,but  those are my toys. how am i suppost to play. don’t take my toys away”     

know notice ther is a song similar from the cartoon yo gaba gaba, but this was long before that show came out.  there was one on mothers day.

” mommy it’s mothers day and i got you a present. happy mother day mommy, i hope i’m good for you. okay so it doesn’t really make sense but it’s cute she’s only 3.

child hood songs that we sing together get twisted around in words. there is the alphabet, you know abcdefghij etc. well my daughter alexandra takes the lmnop part and wiggles her tongue to skip that part. they know row row your boat, but skip straight to the part of if you see a crocadile don’t forget to scream. and my daughter added another part. row row row your boat gently down the stream, merrily lifes a piece of cake.

some of the funniest i sing with the are old mcdonald, it’s so funny to try and see them snort there noses. i taught them patty cake and ring around the roses’ and i still play them. my kids have combined them together into one jingle.

they roll their arms and say patty cake patty cake. then they throw there arms in the air and say fall down. then they fall down 

now just imagine these two cuties singing those songs.

this post was written for parent bloggers network as an entry for a contest sponsored by bush’s beans

never knew a zoo until you walked in my house

- brandy3 1 Comment

i’ll admit i have never been much of a clean freak. my husband is though so i’ve tried to better myself. after we had kids, i feel like i could clean from morning to night and make little difference.

it makes me feel like i’m living in a zoo, which reminds me of the fun animal sounds like the great toy, i know animals letters and sounds.  so when parent bloggers network had a blog blast about this exact thing i’m taking part.

i have two toddlers and a infant. so my living room is filled with toys, a kitchen playset, a playpen, and a walker. let me tell you it gets pretty messy. i step on toys all day long and feel like toys just keep adding up.as you can tell in the background. my living room is a mess. toys everywhere, my kids try to act like princess’s though!( should of used this pic on th

this is my living room on a good day. still messy but not as bad

 

my kids room is better than it’s been. my two girls share a room, so itgets a little messy. especially since i have another 4 bins of toys up there. plus i have clothes beyond belief, coming out of every corner. it gets a little rediculous.

my girls room, now i have to admit i did clean a little before i took the pic. no one wants to see little panties on the floor

 

my sons room (10 months) is a work in progress. he grows out of clothes so fast, and i don’t have a lot of places to put all this stuff. it kindof just gets cluttered. it’s pretty bad.

my sons room, clothes and outgrown baby stuff everywhere

 

after i had kids it became very difficult to do anything. i never do anything alone. i chase kids around the grocery store. i can never go clothes shopping. i’m constantly picking clothes up and putting them back. my kids pull them off the racks. there are tantrums in the stores. i do a load of laundry everyday.  

the worst of all is after meals. there is such a big mess. food ground into the carpet. food everywhere. i really have to say i feel like i’m living in a zoo.    i’ll admit sometimes i feel like i’m a animal in the zoo. i don’t have time to take a shower or put makeup on etc. it makes me look awful. but thats what kids are for!

my toddlers run around and scream all day like they are monkeys, whats worse than that is my sons scream i have never heard a boy scream lik etaht. he’s a howler monkey! my daughter jumps off furniture like a kangaroo. ugh! i’m living in a zoo!

 

this post was written for a contest in conjunction with generation next and the parent bloggers network

fashion mishaps make kids cute

- brandy3 1 Comment

my daughter is at the age where she wants to dress herself, no matter how mismatched or wierd she looks. my daughters love polly pocket and have so much fun changing out there outfits. my daughter has even said she wishes she could dress like that. so when parent bloggers network teamed up with toys r us for the polly pocket pop n swap. i jumped right on it.

when my daughter was 18 months she came down stairs wearing a pair of sweats, a tutu, and a spagetti strap t. well it’s the middle of winter so that was seasonable. i told her it just didn’t go together. she replied with this is my style.  i convinced her to take off the sweats. she could only wear it around the house due to the weather. that problem got solved

my kids don’t like clothing to much thats one of my biggest fashion problem.  no clothes at all.  i usually let them run around the house like that. i try not to let them out, but they see no problem in it. so my kids run around our apartment complex, with only diapers and underwear, at least until i can catch them.

my daughter are so fascinated by the disney princess’s, polly pocket, etc. they want to play dress up all the time. i encourage there creativity, but also try to explain to them fantasy and reality. people don’t wear ballgowns to the grocery store. princess movies they do, but not in real life. so she can play dress up at home, but when we leave she needs to put her play clothes back on. i’m usually in charge of the clothing, but i do encourage my daughter to go carzy with her jewlery if she’d want to. beaded neckalaces in all.

my daughter biggest problem right now is learning how to put clothes on the right way. she’ll get ready to go. she’ll have her , pants shirt and shoes on backward. i will correct them, but she gets upset. when i let her go out like that. people look at me like i am a bad parent. 

so i’ve gotten into the habit of corridenating her drawers and outfits together so she knows, what matches and what doesn’t. she still wants to dress like a princess everyday.

this post was written for a contest in conjunction with parent bloggers network and toys r us polly pocket pop n swap

this si what my children want to dress like everyday.

after pregnancy i became a junk food crazy

- brandy3 2 Comments

growing up i hardly ate junk food. my mom said i was so good i never begged for candy at the store.  after my first pregnancy it got worse all i wanted was junk food 24/7. it got worse with my second, but i learned to control it with my 3. now that i have two toddlers. it’s so hard to keep the junk out of the cupboards. my kids love candy chips everything you can think of.

when i got the email parent bloggers were doing a blog blast about snacks. i thought that i’m going to embarassed by taking pictures of all my unhealthy food. but who cares this is me. i am eating chocolate fudge poptarts as we speak. we do have some healthy snacks, my kids are not to fond of them. but like freeze dried fruits, cheerios, etc. which is wht i am glad to know that brothers all natural makes a great snack my kids will love

my husbands in college and packs his lunch, so there is part of the junk food right there, but it’s mainly my fault. i do the shopping. my snacking confession is i am dpressed a lot and snacking is helpful to me. i odn’t over do it. but you know it always feels nice when your down to just graba bag of chips and chow down.

this is my cupboard and as you can see it’s not very good.  pop tarts, chips, jello, and they are hidden but hershey bars.

my pantry is not so bad, popcorn and graham crackers

 in my fridge i have ready to bake cookies, soda, and juice

so i am not a health freak i love to snack. and i do give my kids occasional snacks. but we do eat healthy too. salad or vegetables every night with dinner. plenty of fruits with breakfast and lunch varies.

this post was written for parent bloggers network as an entry for a contest sponsored by brothers all natural

going out to eat is a nightmare

- brandy3 1 Comment

having small kids and eating out just do not mix. thats why burger king is putting crayola toy sin their happy meals to help keep your kids occupied. it’s a part of their CLUBBK.  

the parent bloggers network wants to know all about those horrible dinners when your kids just wouldn’t behave.

when my daughter was just a baby is was so easy. you could just put her in the car seat and she would sleep most of the time.  now that i have three children and two of them are toddlers. i dread going out to eat we opt for fast food. thats always the drive up window.

my kids touch everything, the salt and pepper. the little sugar packets, katschup etc.   a lot of restaurants are good about giving the kids a page and some color crayons. but then my kids are dropping the crayons and wanting you to pick them up every two minutes.

we went out for breakfast at cracker barrel  and my 2 yr old daughter was just in one of those moods where she needs to touch everything. she was playing with the creamers. and she pops one open right on the couple next to us. i was so humiliated. luckily it was a very nice older couple and they laughed it off.

their have been times where my kids were cranky and just cried or screamed. i knew it irratated people. i just try to ignore it, as much as i can. i’m not going to pack up and leave when my child will calm down in just a couple minutes.

i hate hen i order my kids food and then they refuse to eat it. i can’t stand that.

so now we go out to a restaurant maybe once every 3 months. most of the time we opt in for fast food, something i know my kids will eat. when we do go out i bring a toy or their favorite juice. a snack i know they will eat, so i don’t feel to bad if they refuse to eat their food.

“This post was written for Parent Bloggers Network as part of a sweepstakes sponsored by Burger King Corp.”

my children are worth it

- brandy3 3 Comments

hasbro has a free shipping offer right now all part of their hot summer toy event. hasbro will donate a toy or game for every toy or game bought, during their hot summer toy event. providing toys for economically disadvantaged children.     so hop on over now and get a toy.

in light of this event the parent bloggers network wants to know what you would do to get your child that perfect toy.

growing up getting the perfect toy was never really a problem. my mom worked at toys r us, so anything we wanted she could put on hold before it hit the floor.my mom no longer works at toys r us, os i now have to rely on lines and fighting for that perfect toy.   there have been a couple instances i have fought for a toy.

black friday 2005, i decided to go shopping and take my infant daughter. my husband was in iraq and i wanted to make sure my daughter had a good christmas since daddy was gone. i had all these great toys in my cart, and i was just about to leave. my daughter was coming down with a cold, and was coughing like crazy.  i took her out of the cart and moved away for a minute, when i turned back around my cart, along with my purse and diaper bag were gone. i searched around and found the lady that took my cart. big altercation, with names i shouldn’t say. the police were called, and they relized my personal belongings were in the cart it had to belong to me. so i got my toys.

i can remember when TMX ELMO came out,my daughter wanted one more than anything.  everytime i watched the news you hear someone being shot fiting over a elmo. i think that only happened once or twice. i didn’t even bother after a while, i thought it was a lost cause. when i was grocery shopping, they said over the loud speaker they had some. i ran over there and squeezed in a pile of people. got one and had a lady trying to grab it from me, calling me every name you can think of. the lady even went as far as calling me racial slures. as we were different races. by that time i was crying and just grabbed the doll, paid for it, put it in the car and then continued to grocery shop.

i would wait in line for a toy, but not stay all night. i’d get there early in the morning.

i’d push and shove my way to the perfect toy.

i would put up with name calling for a good toy

i would do what i could as long as it doesn’t bring serious harm to me or anyone else to get a perfect toy in my childs hands

this post was written for the parent blogger network on behalf of hasbros hot summer toy event

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