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Not a day goes by that my girls are not dressed up as princesses, ballerinas, or as fairies. They love to dress up. And I love that it is something that they enjoy doing together!
Fairy-Gram is an amazing online store that I came across one day on Mom Made That. I’m pretty sure that Fairy-Gram was designed with my girls in mind! Ok, maybe not just for my girls, but for any little girl who loves to dress up or loves fairies!
Everything a little girl needs to be a fairy is wrapped up in this amazing little Fairy-Gram. Each Fairy-Gram includes Fairy Tutu with a stretchable waist to fit ages 1yr to 8yrs, Fairy Wings, Fairy Ribbon Wand, Fairy Halo, and 2 Butterfly Clips. All your little girl needs to add to make her fairy experience complete is her energy and imagination!
The woman behind Fairy-Gram is a stay-at-home mom who created Fairy-Grams out of the love her daughter had for dressing up, especially as fairies. She says that Fairy-Gram was founded “directly from the heart of a 5 year old little girl.” And you can tell because every single piece of the fairy outfit, right down to the ribbon wand, is something a little girl would love!
While the idea is something straight from a child, the quality of each piece is anything but childish! The Fairy Wings and the Fairy Tutu are both lined with with satin, making them so comfortable for even your littlest girl to wear (and putting my homemade tutu to shame)! My two-year old wore the wings and tutu for hours in nothing put her pull-up and it never once irritated her skin.
Fairy-Grams are available in hot pink, lavender, lemon, pink, white, rainbow, and turquoise and cost $29.95. I would definitely recommend sending a Fairy-Gram to the little lady in your life…the look on their face as they open the box will be priceless! Remember, Easter is only a few weeks away and this would be a magnificent gift for those Easter baskets!
GIVEAWAY
I am so excited to be giving away one Fairy-Gram to one lucky reader here! And you even get to take credit for it when your little girl opens the box and tells you are the bestest, greatest, most super wonderful person in the whole wide world!!!
To Enter:
Mandatory Entry - Visit Fairy-Gram.com and tell me which color you would choose if you won. You must do this to enter. All entries below are extra and optional.
1 entry - Become a fan of Fairy-Gram on Facebook.
1 entry - Follow Fairy-Gram on Twitter.
1 entry - Subscribe to Stacey Says… via RSS.
1 entry - Subscribe to the Stacey Says… Email newsletter (link on the side)
1 entry - Follow me (@Stacey_Says) on Twitter and tweet about this contest (you can do this every day and receive one entry each day!).
5 entries - Blog about this contest and leave me a link to your post.
5 entries - Not a blogger? Send an email to 5 of your friends with a link to this contest. Make sure you CC me (staceysays (at) me (dot) com) on that email and then leave a comment here saying that you did so.
The Details:
The One (1) winner will be randomly selected from the comments posted by Friday, March 19. All entries will be verified and must include an email address where I can contact you if you should win. This contest is open to US shipping addresses. You can read more about Giveaway Policies here.
*Disclaimer: This review was made possible by MomMadeThat.com. I did receive a complimentary Fairy-Gram from Fairy-Gram.com so that I could provide you with an accurate review of this product. However, receiving the complimentary product in no way affects my opinions stated here.
I wasn’t sure exactly how the girls would react seeing their favorite characters in person as we got ready to go to the Playhouse Disney Live show. It’s one thing to see them on the tv in the living room as cartoons. It’s quite another to see them “live” and in person, dancing and singing on stage!
The girls loved it though! Zoe LOVED seeing Mickey Mouse and Abbi loved joining in on all of the dancing. Abbi was a little concerned when Goofy’s hat fell off during the show and even tried yelling to Goofy that he dropped his hat. (I don’t think Goofy meant to drop his hat) Thankfully it was a loud part in the show! Abbi was also questioning this morning, while we were watching Playhouse Disney, why Daisy and Pluto weren’t at the show last night. I told her they must have been sick and she bought that. Note to Playhouse Disney Live: Get a Daisy and Pluto in the show!
Overall, the girls had a blast! The length of the show was great (although the intermission got to be a little long for the girls) and the story and music definitely kept the girls’ attention. The basis of the show is that Mickey is throwing a Music Party at the Clubhouse and is inviting some of his Disney Pals — Handy Manny, Tigger, Pooh & Darby, and the Little Einsteins, including Rocket. Each friend is to bring a song to sing at the party. We get to watch (and help) as the Disney friends find, discover, and prepare their songs. Blast off with the Little Einsteins as they discover music around the world. Hang out in SheetRock Hills with Manny and the Tools as they realize that the tools themselves make their owns special music. And head over to Hundred Acre Woods to find the musical inspirations the woods themselves hold. Wrap it all up with the famous Hot Dog Dance and you have one rockin’ show!!!
I’m so thankful to Feld Entertainment for giving my family this opportunity and for providing two other families tickets as well through the giveaway. I cannot wait to take the girls to more live shows in the future!!! And thank you to the Disney Live events for providing such amazing and fun events where families can make great memories!
Zoe is our second born and, as it stands right now, the baby. She’s nearly 2 years old and, well, I’m just going to say it…I have the hardest time connecting with her. It’s not the age that makes it so hard for me to connect with her, as it has been this way since she was born. It just is. And I have a few theories!
Theory 1: She’s different
Zoe is very different from her older sister. Different in almost every way. Abbi was a very laid back and yet quick to fall into a schedule child. I’ve mentioned before that Abbi was sleeping through the night at an early age and weaned herself from bottles and naps at just the right time. Zoe’s never been a good sleeper, didn’t fully sleep through the night until after she was a year old, and is still on a bottle. I think all of those factors have caused me stress.
Zoe is also a very intense, short-tempered little girl. She’s constantly pushing her boundaries and, thus, pushing my buttons. I think this is due, in part, to the fact that she’s trying to keep up with big sister. Trying to do things she’s probably not quite ready to do. Or at least not do perfectly. She gets so frustrated when she can’t get the legos to line up just right the first time and ends up throwing a huge tantrum about it. Abbi wasn’t like that at this age. She was content reading/looking at books or building towers. Until she turned 3 I think she only threw a handful of tantrums, whereas Zoe throws a handful or two of tantrums each day.
Theory 2: I’m different
When it was just Abbi and I at home during the day I was still doing some website design. I would do that design work while she was napping or after she went to bed for the night. I was even able to do some of that work while she sat happily next to me on the couch or on the floor playing. Now I’m not doing nearly as much design work but am focusing more on writing. The workload seems to be about the same or a little more, so what is the real difference? Well, I’m feeling more so now that I need an existence outside of just being Abbi and Zoe’s mom. I need to be connected outside of these four walls. Writing gives me that since of identity, that connection.
After four (plus) years and with every year that goes by, I feel my identity slipping away. And it scares me. I love being a mom. I love being my girls’ mom. I love being known as Abbi and Zoe’s mom. But what happens when they are in school full time? When they are no longer here all day demanding my attention? When they are off having lives of their own? Who will I be then? I don’t want to be figuring that out after the fact. I want to maintain my own identity now. And I think that the drive to keep that identity puts a little stress on me and stress on my relationship with my kids.
Theory 3: Life is different.
I think the biggest stressor on mine and Zoe’s relationship is that life is different. Our lives are so much more different now than when Abbi was this age. When Abbi was this age it was just her and I in the house during the day. Our house was quieter. I only had one kid’s schedule to work around. Tim only worked a few miles down the road and was often home from work by dinner time. And he wasn’t traveling near as much, at least not overnight and long trips.
That was then. Now I have two kids in the house. The house is amazingly louder. I have two kids’ schedules to consider and those schedules don’t always line up. Tim’s office is now a half hour away which means he rarely makes it home from work for dinner with the girls. He travels a lot. And the chaos of our house is increased by the presence of our puppy (now 10 months old).
So, how do these theories fall in to the fact that I just can’t connect with Zoe? In a lot of ways I guess. Mostly though, I’m stressed most days. Stress that is brought on by me most of the time, stress that is a result of my kids being at very demanding ages, stress from solo-parenting. Combine my stress with a child who is short-tempered, impatient, and intense…well, it creates for some explosions throughout the day.
I’ve been trying to figure out ways that I can connect better with Zoe (I’ll be writing about that soon). Unfortunately I’m sick right now and Tim is traveling again and, well, that just isn’t helping me reduce my stress. Damn you, stress!
Here’s where I need your help! Have you been in this position with one of your kids, where you connected easily with one but another was more of a challenge? How did you make that connection? Please, let me in on your secrets!
It’s one of the best moments as a parent — hearing your child’s first word! Especially if it is some version of “mom”! We spend so much of their first year or so trying to get them to say words, words that we can understand, words that make us proud. Then we spend the next 10 years trying to get them to be quiet. And, then, the following decade is spent trying to get them to talk to us again, or so I’m told. Ah, the rewards, the joys, the frustrations, the headaches!
I am knee deep in the second of those three phases. The “please, just stop talking for five minutes” phase. The “can you PLEASE speak in a quieter voice” phase. The “if you continue to say ‘mom’ I’m going to throw my head through a brickwall” phase. Oh yes, that phase.
My girls were early talkers. We didn’t overly push them to talk, they just picked up words quickly. This means that it has not been quiet in my house for 3.5 years. And, ironically enough, they are loud talkers! Thankfully we’ve never had any of those “my kid just said ‘oh shit’ in front of the in-laws or pastor” moments but we do have plenty of “seriously, who did she learn that word from?” and “why did we teach her that” moments!
So, here are a few of the phrases I wish I could eliminate from my girls’ vocabularies!
Me: “Zoe, please don’t chew on my phone.”
Zoe: “Why mom? Why mom? Why mom? Why mom?”
Me: “Because I asked you not to. We don’t chew on phones.”
Zoe: “But why mom? Why mom? Why mom?”
The funny thing is that I don’t mind my kids asking me questions. I love their curiosity and hunger to know more about things about them. However, I cannot stand the constant and pointless questions! On to number 2…
Me: “Zoe, what do you have in your mouth?”
Zoe: “Huh?”
Me: “What do you have in your mouth?”
Zoe: “Huh?”
Me: “Abbi, can you see what your sister has in her mouth?”
Abbi: “Huh?”
The worst part about this one is that I totally answer them when they say “huh?” so I’m just feeding the behavior. I don’t mean to answer them time and time again, it’s just habit. And it frustrates my husband to no end!
This next one is completely my doing. Taking 100% of the blame on this one!
Me: “Zoe, where is your blanket?”
Zoe: “No idea.”
I would often (ok, apparently more than often) say to Abbi, when she would ask me where her toys were, “Abbi, I have no idea where your toys are. They are not my responsibility.” I never realized how annoying it was until that is the response you get from your 22 month old with every question you ask her! Go FIND YOUR BLANKET!
And the last, for now…
Zoe: “Sure potty mom! Sure potty!”
That is the way Zoe tells us she has to go potty. I have no idea why she says it this way or where it came from or why she just can’t say “Go Potty!” or even just “Potty!” But she adds that freaking “sure” on to it every time and, after hearing it a hundred times each day, well…you just don’t want to hear it again! There’s probably more behind that frustration but that is for another Mommy Confession!
What words do your kids say that drive you crazy? And are you going to admit that they got those words from you?
