Yo Gabba Gabba live tour and a Twitter party

Last year I was lucky enough to win tickets to Yo Gabba Gabba live tour in Rochester. My fiance and I took our two youngest kids. While the baby really wasn't into it my then 4 yr old loved it. The show was only about a 1hr long which is perfect for little kids with short attention spans. There was also alot of interactive things like balloons, bubbles and beach balls that helped keep the kids entrained.

I am excited that they are touring again this year and are coming to buffalo! My youngest is now older and loves Yo Gabba Gabba. She runs into the room if she hears it come on. The tour this year is being presented by Kia motors and is going to more then 50 cities! I am sure you can find one that will be close to you out of all those cities. For more info, tickets and to find a city near you you can go to the Yo Gabba Gabba! Live! site. I hope to see you there!

On Sept 20, 2011 from 9-10est there will be a #Gabbatour party on twitter. It is hosted by @StacieinAtlanta with co-hosts @crissy @mommyinsider and @jollymom.
They will be giving away Seven CD/DVD Prize Packs and tickets to the show. For more info and to RSVP check out the Divine Miss Mommy Hope to see you there!

Our walk around Niagara Falls

I grew up in Niagara Falls so I am always in shock when people say that is one of the places they most want to visit. Growing up the Falls was no big deal. You went down there for picnics in the summer or to walk around when it was really hot since the mist would cool you off. In the winter there was the festival of lights that you could walk around and look at. So after hearing numerous people say they would love to visit Niagara Falls I decided it was time to show my youngest daughter it.

I have heard from family members that still live there ( I live in the area just further away) that the area around the Falls has changed allot. I was not fully prepared for how much when we got there though.

One of the major things was you had to pay for parking. I knew that they were charging for parking now but the price to park on Goat Island (it overlooks the Falls) had my jaw dropping. It was $10, yes $10 (I am still in shock) Growing up parking was always free. We would drive to Goat Island, park and then do our thing. I had the most romantic kiss of my life on Three Sisters Island (they come off Goat Island) in the rain when I was a teen.

The area surrounding the Falls growing up was a mall (no longer there), the winter garden (a big indoor plant house attached to the mall) and the turtle (Native American history building shaped like a turtle). Now it is a big empty mall, the winter garden is torn down and the turtle is a tourist area. the walkways where they would have the festival of lights set up is now all banners proclaiming souvenirs. This is all clogging up what I feel should be a natural walkway way to the falls.


With that all said the Falls is still breathtaking. To stand there and see the water pouring over to hit the rocks below is awesome. Three Sister's Island reminds the same and is still my favorite part of Niagara Falls. Here are some pics I took on our day there.

Tastes from Home with Frito-Lay recipe contest and giveaway (closed!)

As a mom I am always looking for new recipes to try. When my grandmother passed away a couple of years ago I ended up with all of her old cookbooks. Looking through them I saw that there were quite a few I could use and some of them that reminded me of her and home. One of these recipes was honey-mustard chicken. So when Frito-lay emailed me about a recipe contest that reminded me of home I had to submit this one.

Honey Mustard Glazed Chicken (makes 4 servings
1 Tablespoon honey
2 Tablespoon brown sugar
2 Tablespoon of Dijon Mustard
4 chicken breast halves (we use skinned and with bone about 4 oz a breast)

Preheat oven to 375
Combine honey, brown sugar and mustard in a small bowl and stir well. Place chicken in a 11 x 7 x 2 inch baking dish. Spray dish with cooking spray or coat with butter. Brush glaze over the chicken. Cover and bake for 20 Min's (15 for smaller breast). Uncover and then broil chicken for about 2 Min's until golden brown. Then serve (we usually do a mashed potato)

I love Frito-lay chips and they have some tasty ones. They have come out with Regional chips that were inspired by popular regional cuisine. Here are some of them

Northeastern U.S. – Lay’s Honey Mustard
Midwestern U.S. – Lay’s Creamy Garden Ranch
Northwestern U.S. – Lay’s Balsamic Sweet Onion
Southwestern U.S. – Lay’s Chipotle Ranch
Southeastern U.S. – Lay’s Cajun Herb & Spice

**All of the Lay's Regional Flavored potato chips are made with all natural ingredients and cooked in healthier oils, like corn and sunflower oils, which contain 80% or more of polyunsaturated and monounsaturated fat - the "good fats." They also contain 0 grams of trans fats per serving.

**There’s also less sodium in them than you might think – a 1-oz serving of our Lay’s Regional Flavored potato chips contains less salt than a plain bagel!

I can't wait to try the Cajun Herb & spice and the Balsamic Sweet onion.

Giveaway is closed. winner was chosen via random.org and emailed. Thank you all for entering.

Now on to the giveaway. Frito-lay is letting me giveaway to one of my readers a multi-pack of Lay’s Regional Flavors.

Mandatory Entry: Share a flavor or recipe that remind you of home

Extra entries (leave a comment for each thing you do):
Follow Frito-lay on twitter
Like Frito-lay on facebook
Like me on facebook
Follow me on twitter
Follow me via GFC
Tweet (1 daily and leave link.) #Win a variety pack of the Lay's Regional Flavors potato chips from @mellanhead http://tinyurl.com/3mebmvs
#FritoFlavors


****One entry per household. Giveaway ends 9/4. I will email winner who will have 48hrs to email back. After 48 hrs with no e-mail a new winner will be chosen. Remember to leave e-mail if not in your google profile!

*Disclaimer:All opinions are my own. Frito-Lay provided me samples of the Regional Flavors chips and my blog post is an entry for the Tastes from Home with Frito-Lay contest.

I painted my sons toenails

I painted my sons toenails, twice. He wanted them painted and so I did it with dark blue nail polish. He even stopped biting his toenails so I could do it. Why did I go along with his request is what you are probably thinking. Here is my take on why I felt it was ok....

1) He hangs out with me (his mother), older teenage sister and baby sister most of the time. We paint our toes. He liked how it looked and saw we were all doing it so he wanted it.

2) This is not going to turn him gay. Honestly I don't know how anyone can say that about a 4yr old child, they don't even now what that means yet. If he is gay then he is gay, my painting his toenails when he is 4 is not going to make him so.

3) I painted my two younger brothers nails when they were little and the world didn't end

The reason for this post? People need to stop being so judgmental about things as little as this. My son is a sweet little boy who saw his siblings doing something he wanted to do. I let him do. I will leave you with this thought though...why is a girl considered a "tomboy" and not gay when she does what is considered "boy things" but a boy that wants/likes "girl" things is?

How he proposed

Let me start off by saying that I had no idea he was going to propose that weekend. Here is the story:

We had made saturday night dinner reservations for a steakhouse called BOA and then were going to the Penn and Teller show after. I was looking forward to dressing up again as with three kids it does not happen alot. I wore a little black dress and he dressed up in his black suit. We decided to walk over since it wasn't far from our hotel.


We got to the restaurant, sat down and ordered our food. We both had steak and a glass of wine. After we finished our dinner and ordered dessert I finally decided to broach a subject that had been bothering me. I turned to him and told him that we needed to come up with a different name for what we were. That after 7 yrs boyfriend/girlfriend sounded silly and husband/wife didn't work because we are not married. I went on for awhile explaining my reasoning. I finally stopped to take a drink of my wine and when I turned back to him (we were sitting next to each other) he had the ring out and said "how does Fiance sound?" . After a moment of stunned silence I of course said yes.


It turns out he bought the ring the day before we left for Las Vegas and had been carrying it with him ever since. He was sure that my teen daughter had told me beforehand because I brought up the boyfriend/girlfriend thing (she didn't tell me).



Now this might not have been a fairytale proposal with flowers and one knee but it was uniquely ours.

Rawhides and My dogs

I now have two dogs. Our oldest dog is a golden retriever named Nala who is a little over 4yrs old and we now have a dachshund/Chihuahua mix named Coco who is 6 months old. We got Coco from my older brother who was having a hard time training her. I agreed to take her in because we love animals and since I am a stay at home mom I could give her the attention she needs during the training process. One of the problems that Coco has (and really all puppies do) is that she chews everything in sight. I am also big on all natural items for my children and my pets so when Pet-Ag sent me some all natural Beef hides from their Rawhide Brand to try I was very excited.



When they arrived I opened the package and immediately gave a little bone to Coco. She loved it! I would say that she spent about a good 10 minutes chewing on that little bone. My older dog Nala even took a beef hide and she is a really picky about which kind she will chew. I especially love that these Beef hides are Grass-fed beef hides and have no antibiotics, hormones or preservatives. They also didn't have a smell to them like other ones I have tried.

My dogs loved these beef hides so much they chewed through the package in a a little over two weeks. I have also not come home and found chewed up shoes or toys. They also took to hiding pieces from each other which I thought was cute.

.PetAg carries a great section of pet nutrition items for alot of different pets. So check them out for all your pet needs.




I received a pack of Beef-hides from PetAg to facilitate this review, the opinions expressed are my own honest opinions and were in no way influenced.

My father

My father passed away yesterday morning after a week and a half in the hospital. He went in because he was weak (could barely stand and couldn't swallow any food). After a couple of tests it turned out he had stage 4 colon cancer that had already spread to his lungs and other places. On top of this he had a hole in his bladder, a hole in his colon and his liver was shot. The hospital was great but we knew that there was no hope for him.


It is difficult as a child to see your once tall strong father go into being a weak stick person. It tore at my heart to hear him babble about his wallet and glasses because he was confused on where he was. I tried to visit him as much as I good but with 3 kids it was difficult to get out there everyday. I am glad that I have 5 siblings that were able to visit. My two youngest siblings T & K really stepped up and took great care of our father by going everyday.

My father passed away quietly with his mother and younger brother there with him. I am sad he is gone but happy he is away from the pain.

I love my father and will miss him everyday.

Hayneedle twitter party!

I love a good twitter party and Hayneedle throws some good ones. They are having one Thursday, May 05, 2011 from 7:00 PM - 8:30 PM (CT). The prize list for this part is a doozy, it includes a porch swing, a gas grill, dining set and more. Who wouldn't want to win that?

Participating in a twitter party can be a little intimidating at first,. My advice for your first few parties is to just follow what the host is saying and answer their questions (in this case @hayneedle) As you get more used to twitter then branch out to jump into the conversation of the other party goers.

For much info on this party and to RSVP go to
http://hayneedletwitterparty.eventbrite.com/

I hope to see you there!

Our trip to vegas and a surprise

I had won a weekend trip to Vegas on twitter at the end of the summer and we just took it in the beginning of March. It was for 4nights and 3 days at the Venetian with airfare for two. Since my boyfriend and I haven't been anywhere alone together in a long time we were really looking forward to this trip. We left on Thursday morning with no problems. Our plane was on time and the sky was clear. We made it to Vegas with no problems and immediately felt the gambling pull. There were slot machines in the terminal! lol We took a taxi to the Venetian and the ride was crazy. The traffic there is unbelievable!

Let me say that the Venetian is a gorgeous hotel. As soon as you walk in there is this statue (my boyfriend in front of it) and these murals on the ceiling

Our room was great also with a huge bathroom that had double sinks , a shower, sunken tub, and vanity table. I miss that bathroom.

Vegas itself was great. We did allot of walking along the strip. Saw The Amazing Jonathan and Penn&Teller for shows. I was able to go swimming because it was almost 80 there while my boyfriend went for a massage. It was very relaxing being able to get up and not have to run someone to school or worry about dinner. I loved visiting Vegas but would not want to live there.

Now for the surprise.....while at dinner one night while in Vegas my boyfriend proposed and I said yes :) I will save that story for another post

I am fabulous

I am fabulous! Now why I am a fabulous you ask? Because I am me and don't try to pretend to be something I am not.
I am also loyal but if you do something that hurts or potentially hurts my family you are out. Case in point: I have 5 siblings (we are all pretty close expect for the second oldest who is a loner) and we grew up next door to a family that had two children. A boy and a girl..the boy B is a yr older then me and the girl S is about the same age as my younger sister. One night B,I another friend M and younger brother T went out drinking. B got really drunk. We got him to our parents house (remember he loved next door) and brother t (joking around) said something that pissed B off. So B grabbed him by the throat and went to punch him. Now B is like 6 foot and big while my brother T is 5'9 and skinny. B would have punched him but I stepped in between while M went to get B's dad. B's dad took him home and that was the end of the altercation. M and T have forgiven him but I on the other hand can't. I will still do talk to him when I see him out but no longer hang out with him.
I love my family. I am glad all of my siblings are close with the exception of one. I would do anything for them and drop everything to help them. Which I have done.
There are other things that make me fabulous but that would be one long blog post to type out and read lol.

Don't complain

My sister in law likes to complain about my mother. Which really is not that big of deal in the normal world because hey who doesn't complain about their mother in law. But in this case it ticks me off. Why? because my mother babysits her child for free. So her complaining about my mother not doing the dishes (which she specifically told my mother not to touch when she first started babysitting) gets me a little ticked. Then there are the dogs, not only does she babysit the 6 month old but also the 4 dogs they have.
Now my mother watched my youngest back when I was working full time. I knew there would be days when she needed or wanted to go out and had no problem with her taking my child. My sister in-law on the other hand does not want my mother taking my nephew out at all when she babysits. Really? You expect her to sit around your house 3-5 days a week doing nothing?
Then there was the couch issue. They got a new couch and my sister in-law was complaining to my sister that our mother got a stain on it and blamed the dogs. Now if my mother actually got a stain on it she would have fessed up and tried to clean it. I know this because she spilled sauce on my new living room carpet and promptly busted out the carpet cleaner. Second, you let the dogs on everything! The couch, the bed, you name it. So it is quite feasible your dogs got the couch dirty.
So far I have only got this second hand from my mother and sister (my sister and sister in law were best friends before they became sisters in law). I am waiting for the day that she slips and complains to me. They don't call me the mean sister for nothing.

Princess Dilemma

I was reading Parents magazine and came across an article where they did an interview with Peggy Orenstein author of Cinderella Ate My Daughter. This article got me thinking about how much princesses and the like affected my teen daughter during her early years.

One of my favorite movies is Beauty and the Beast. So my daughter saw that movie a lot along with the other Disney princess movies The Little Mermaid and Aladdin. I bought her toys with princess themes and dress up clothes. We even went to Disney World where we met them. How did this all affect her? It didn't. She is who she is today not because of some princess movie I let her watch when she was younger or even for toys she played with. She is the way she is because of the things I taught her and the way she was raised.

I am not saying that some kids will not be effected by this entire princess attitude out there but parents have a job of deciding exactly what their child takes away from it. Yes my oldest is now 15 so it is different with all the clothes, toys and other things out there now. Kids now have Hannah Montana while she had Britney Spears but the same principles of what you teach your child are still the same. I didn't want my child wearing the short skirts that Spears was wearing so I didn't buy them. I didn't want her acting like her so I taught her how to act.

Us as parents need to teach our children what to take away from anything they see be it Princess Movies, cartoons or even everyday life. Also remember that these "princess" movies were made over 20 yrs. ago when values and thoughts were different.

I still have one more daughter to go that will go through the princess stage. Yes I will let her watch the movies, dress up and wave her wand. I will teach her while she is watching to be true to yourself, follow your heart, stand up for yourself, help others and always be kind.

When will this sickness end

We started out the week with the two youngest kids sick yet again. C started to get a cold early Sunday night, by Monday morning is was worse with a barking cough we didn't like. After a trip to the doctors come to find out he had Croup. He has gotten better since and now just has a cold.
The youngest Izzy started out Sunday with a cold also. She still has it on top of getting her molars in. Talk about a crabby toddler. She has been whiny and fussy all week.
Then comes Friday night where not only I come down with a bad head cold but so does my BF. We have been sneezing, blowing our noses all weekend while trying to deal with two little ones that have colds and are starting to get cabin fever.
The only one that is not sick is the oldest B. She almost never catches anything we have. I just want this to end...

Artic Puzzle wrap up

We have had the Maclaren Artic puzzle for about a month now and we still love it. My 4yr old loves to do it once a day (usually after school) and I find it a great way for me to get a mommy break. I think he will be playing with this puzzle for awhile as I have found different ways to make it new once he gets bored with it. One way I have tried it taking a piece of black construction paper and covering the bottom of the puzzle board where the outline of the shapes are. This makes it a little tougher to do the puzzle and makes him use his thinking skills more.
I especially love this puzzle because of how sturdy and well made it is. I know that it will last past my son so his baby sister can use it. My only problem with it I wish there was a top to snap on or a bag to carry the puzzle in. My 4yr old has a tough time carrying it to where he wants it without the pieces falling out.

Maclaren produces alot of great items like strollers, toys , nursery and the beginning line of bath products. So check them out on twitter and facebook.



I received the Arctic Puzzle from Maclaren.com to facilitate this review, the opinions expressed are my own honest opinions and were in no way influenced. :)