Babies taking care of Babies!

Take bottle out, baby cries, put bottle in, baby stops crying. REPEAT!

Closing the Budget Gap for Your Family

Closing the Budget Gap for Your Family 

Guest Blogger:  

J. Baker, National Techmark

Happy New Year!  Now that the frills and thrills of the holiday is but a distance memory, let's all take a moment to reflect on this past year in the way of finances, saving and budgeting our money.

For instance, we have all been hit with a few tight spots on the income/expense front at one point in our lives (if not, then count yourself LUCKY) and we are always looking for ways to improve and to keep more money IN OUR POCKETS!

A great example would be right at the end of the month, when the refrigerator and pantry has almost reached the EMPTY status and your paycheck is still a week away. While you can always get a payday loan when you have a shortfall in your budget, you can also learn to budget better so that you don’t have these types of emergencies. 

It's a good point to plan for the unexpected emergencies that can and will happen to any of us at any given time.  Starting off with a basic budget to highlight where your money will be spent every month is a great starting point and won't take much time to layout with a few steps.

Here are a few items that will stick it hard to your budget line if you're not careful to NOT allow it to get out of hand:

Gasoline 

A rise of 50 cents or more a gallon in a couple months can steal lots of dollars out of your budget, depending on how much you drive. With gas prices continuing to rise, it may be tough to realize until the pain shows up in a budget shortfall at the end of the month. Try to reduce the cost of transportation by either driving less, planning trips better, or carpooling. Taking public transportation is also a good option to reduce the cost of travel. 

Kids 

If you are a family with kids, that can be a source of stress on your budget. There is always something that a child needs as they continue to grow. Try to pool clothing needs with families that have children of similar ages or later. Hand me downs are the best thing since sliced bread!

Avoid giving in to every request that a school makes for money. Prepare your kids lunches and let them brown bag it. Use thrift stores to find things that can help with a growing family at a lower cost. Remember that a loving home is more important than things. 

Food 

Food eaten out can be a huge drain on a family budget. Even eating out only once a week can mount into the hundreds of dollars of extra money needed for a budget. Try to keep eating out down to a minimum. Use services like Angel Food Ministries to buy food at a discount. Learn some good cooking skills and use mealtime as family time to help instill savings and love into the home.

I have posted just a few tips, please; post other ways of saving money in the comment section!  Thank You!

Elf Yourself! Hip Hop and Disco!

Have you ELF'd yourself or your family yet?  If not, you should try it!  Too Funny!!

Check out our Elf'd Videos!

 

Click HERE: Disco Elf Yourself

and

Click HERE:  Hip Hop Elf Yourself

A little bit of everything and a little bit of nothing...

We are having the best of time doing a lot of everything and a lot of NOTHING!
NO schedules, No time clocks to wake us up with a list of things to do and places to go.

We are truly enjoying our Christmas Break and taking each day as it comes.  True, there are some days, we get a little cabin fever and NEED to get out of the house but, for the most part, we are just enjoying this time off.

For Christmas Eve, we are planning to bake cookies, veggie goodies then watch Toy Story 3 in campout style in the Family Room.

We are going to have a laid back Christmas Morning of opening presents, and playing Just Dance 2 on the Wii.  Wishing you and yours a Merry Christmas and a Very Happy New Year.

CSN Stores-Modern Decor

'Tis the season to de-clutter the family room and get it back to the basics.  I cleared out a lot of outdated toys, gadgets and  paperwork and only kept what we truly need in this room.  

Thankfully the CSN stores have over 200 stores to choose from when trying to organize a room and find some Modern Decor for your home.

I really want to keep it simple and clean and thought about adding mirror sets above the seating area for a cool decorative theme.  I am still on the fence.  Not sure where to begin or what to choose.  

Before long, I will make a choice.  Wish me luck.

Question:  Have you ever re-modeled a room, or de-cluttered and felt a huge sigh of relief at the end?

Getting Paid to Blog-Legitimate (SponsoredReviews)

Hello Everyone,

If you're looking to make some extra ca$h blogging, here's a great opportunity that won't make you a multi-millionaire but, will put a little something-something in your pockets!  :)

SponsoredReviews is a network with Advertisers and Bloggers.  From what I am understanding how the program works, you will receive 50% of the potential post.  For instance, if you are selected to blog about Parenting and the Advertiser will be willing to pay $100, you will receive $50.  The other $50 will go to SponsoredReviews.

Please, sign up under Thank my link HERE.  I will receive $5 for EACH referral (paid over $50) received.

Thank You!

From the site:
SponsoredReviews.com is a blog advertising network that allows you to build links, increase traffic, and improve search engine rankings on your website(s). We have tens of thousands of independent bloggers who will write blog reviews about your site on their blog. Also referred to as Paid Posts, blog reviews are a great way to increase your search engine rankings and traffic.

If you are a blogger interested in getting paid to blog, you will find that SponsoredReviews has hundreds of advertisers willing to pay you to do reviews of their sites. Blog Reviews are an easy way to earn money on your blog. Come check us out.

Merry Christmas, Happy New Year and...

The photo was initially supposed to be the kids with Santa.  We went to Walmart on Sunday.  The second baby girl saw Santa, she SCREAMED. 

I gently picked her up and told her we would take the photo with Santa as a Family and I will hold her and she will be safe in my arms. Here's the photo!  Of course my son was probably thinking, I sure hope to get a Star Wars LEGO set for dealing with this all of this business!   

All in all, here's the FREE 5x7 family photo with Santa, Grandma will be happy and no one was harmed in the process.  

Merry Christmas, Happy New Year and the best of 2011 to EVERYONE we know and LOVE!

Officially 19 months!

Check out Miss Gracen!

She is ready for the world.

Let's hold on and enjoy the ride. I know she has a LOT stored in for all of us!

Happy 19 months Baby Girl.

YBCR!

Have you tried this program with your child(ren)? What are/were the results?

I am trying to figure out what few gifts we are going to get for the kids during the Christmas Holiday.

What are great NON-TOY gifts to buy for Toddlers & Kindergarteners?

The ABC Family's 25 Days of Christmas! Dec 1-25!

The ABC Family's 

25 Days of Christmas!

Programming Highlights

Wednesday, Dec 1 - Saturday, Dec 25

I hope you will be sure to find at least ONE show that you will enjoy watching this Holiday Season.  With Technology today, we can DVR the show of our choice(s) and watch at our leisure minus the commercials.

Our Family will plan to watch Dr. Seuss' How the Grinch Stole Christmas.  Of course the title of the move should be changed to How the Grinch TRIED to STEAL Christmas.  He quickly realized the reason for the season, had NOTHING to do with the presents. The families were still able to enjoy Christmas!

To check out the entire Programming Highlights, Click HERE.

ABC Family

A new kind of Family

Disclosure:  I was asked to share with my readers about the 25 Days of Christmas.  To thank me for doing so, I received an insulated water cup and candy canes along with the enclosed programming highlights.

Santa Claus is coming to town!

Tomorrow 12/5/10 is the last day to get a free 5x7 photo with Santa. 10am - 2pm. Make sure to call your local Walmart first to make sure they are participating.

The Chick-Fil-A Cows of Reality TV Calendar-Giveaway ends Dec. 17th

I was recently sent the 2011 Chick Fil A Calendar and 10 coupons for FREE milkshakes. This is just in time to give them out to my MOPS (Mothers of Preschoolers) table next week. Since there are only 8 of us, I am excited to giveaway the remaining 2  coupons to my lucky readers.

The Calendar Theme is too cute. "The Cows of Reality TV: You can't script the Fight against Burgers" Pays homage to some of todays popular reality TV shows.

I am cracking up at some of the photos, titles and one-liners in the calendar! I highly recommend picking up one of the 2011 at your local Chick Fil A restaurant.  If you would like to order one of these very cool calendars, click HERE.

To get a quick peek into the calendar, be sure and visit Chick-Fil-A.

From the site:
You Can't Script the Fight Against Burgers!
The 2011 Chick-fil-A® Calendar pays homage to the cows who keep it real in the battle against burgers. Each month features cows who took TV by storm and brought chicken to primetime in 150 million households nationwide, one challenge at a time. And as always, it’s packed with coupons that are too hot for TV. So pull up a recliner for a yearlong celebrations of the cows who used media’s most powerful medium to put chicken at the top of the ratings. 

If I had to vote on my most favorite month inside the calendar, I would choose, February, The BeefCake.

Good News!  I am giving away TWO coupons for FREE milkshakes.

Flavors Available:  Peppermint Chocolate Chip, Cookies & Cream, Chocolate, Vanilla or Strawberry.

To enter: Leave a comment with the flavor milkshake you want try out at Chick Fil A. (2 Winners) Randomly picked at random.org That's it.

Ends, Friday, Dec 17

Disclosure:  I was sent the calendar and coupons to keep or giveaway.  My opinions are all my own.  

Toddlers and Chores!

I love to see kids helping out around the house! 

 Here's Laura's Son (age 22months) Swiffing the Floors! 

 Inspired by the Raising Abel website.

19 month milestones

We are coming up on 19 Months!

The 19-24 month milestone charts are so much fun to look over.

Nothing beats hands on activities and daily discoveries.

My sweet baby girl is GROWING up so much! 

I feel eternally grateful and blessed to share in her daily development and growth.

Happy 19th Months Gracen!  

You're our sweet baby and please, don't change once you turn two.   I'm just sayin' :-)

Perfect Day!

It's 68 degrees outside! The sun is shining the air is crisp! Perfect day at the park!

I know it's time to come to grips that our christmas family photos will not include Danyelle this year. Tell that to the lump in my throat and the sick feeling in my stomach! I was chatting with a friend a few weeks ago and she said it was time to cut the umbilical cord. Of course she was just joking around with me but, it made me wonder if I am in fact being way too much with my adult daughter. At what point are you truly able to "let go" of wondering and worrying about your children? The Holidays are hard to handle spending it without our baby girl. Hey, she will always be the baby :-)

Johnson's Baby Oil Blog Tour

It's that time of the year! When your skin is more prone to dry out quicker than usual. My problem spots are my feet and elbows. My son's problem spots are his knees. How are kids knees so ashy all the time? Well, thankfully Johnson's has a new line of Baby Oil to help with combatting dryness and to lock in moisture. I was sent the Creamy Oil, Regular Baby Oil and the Baby Oil Gel to try out on my family.

 After showers or baths, we use the creamy oil all over our bodies to lock in the moisture. I am nervous to allow my son to use the oil based products without my help because I can see the disaster of spillage in his future. We are very pleased with the products and would like to thank Johnsons for creating this line of baby oil products for families to combat the ashy business! LOL

Disclosure: I was sent the product to share with my family. All opinions are my own.
“I wrote this review while participating in a blog tour campaign by Mom Central on behalf of Johnson’s and received the products necessary to facilitate my review. In addition, I received a gift certificate to thank me for taking the time to participate.”