You can check out more Wordless Wednesday posts at 5 Minutes for Mom.

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.

Electrical storms are going to wipe out the Internet (perhaps forever).  You have one day left to write about your passions: What do you want to say to the blogosphere?

Wow.  Very good question.  And very scary scenario!  No more internet?  Like, forever?  That means I would actually have to open a phone book when I needed the number to a business and I would, once again, have newsprint on my fingers and papercuts from magazines.  Oh the horror!  I kid.  But seriously, one day left to share my passions with you?  Where would I begin.

I could write about my kids, how animals often deserve more respect than we give them, or how to use tech to better our lives as parents.  I’m certainly passionate about all of those.  Although the third seems a little moot in this situation.

No, instead I think I would write about relationships.  Real, person to person, look you in the eye relationships.  Real life relationships.

As bloggers we tend to have most of our relationships and friendships online.  We share our highs and our lows on Twitter and Facebook.  We offer a virtual shoulder to cry on through blog comments and forums.  For many of us we are our most open, honest, and vulnerable selves with our online community.  And they are, indeed, our friends.  But how many of us actually meet those friends face to face?

There is something to be said about our in-person interactions with others.  While online friendships are wonderful, there is something that connects us even deeper when we share a glass of wine together as we soak in each other’s laughter, feel the love your friend has as she gushes over her kids, or the unspoken support that is extended as you reach out and touch the shoulder of a grieving friend.

Yes, online relationships are amazing.  The internet has offered us a portal where we can reach out and connect with others across the world.  I can share my joys and frustrations at 3am and there is always someone there willing to “listen”.  But, what I’m quickly becoming more and more passionate about is extending those online friendships into real life relationships!  Whether it is meeting a local group of bloggers for dinner or chatting at a local or national conference, I believe it is so important that we discover ways to extend our online friendships into our everyday, in-person life!

Yes, I did love what Sandra Bullock said in her Best Actress acceptance speech.  I loved that she thanked moms.  Yes, moms.  The unsung heros.  Loved it.  Teared up over it.

But what Jeff Bridges said seemed to resonate with me a little more, or on a different level.  Here is what he said in that backstage interview:

In regards to his wife, whom he contributes his success, “She holds that kite string. Let’s me go way out there, and then it’s so sweet being reeled back in.  I love coming home…But my wife and my girls, I guess the girls are the tail of the kite, keep me centered like that.”

I want to be that.  I want to be holding the kite string for my husband.  Not that I want to be holding my husband back but that I can let him drift amongst the clouds and just be there , keeping him connected to home.  He loves to dream.  He loves to think about what else we could be doing, in business and in life.  He’s not content just settling.  But he also has a strong sense of doing what is best for us, for me, for our girls.  I’d like to think that that is where I and the girls come into play.  That I’m there, keeping him anchored to the ground (in a sense) and, when he’s ready, reeling him in back home.  That, when he is floating around way out there, that it is our girls who keep him centered.

I just love that thought.  The image it brings to mind.  It is such a breath of fresh air to hear someone compare their relationship with their spouse and kids as something more positive, instead of the whole “ball & chain” analogy.  I hope this is the way that my husband looks at our relationship.  That he sees us as this magnificent kite flying team.

Photo courtesy of haloocyn on Stock.xchng.

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!

Elisabeth Hasselbeck, The View c0-host, joked that she thought Jolie had some sort of super powers with men, while the other co-hosts tended to agree with her.  Valerie Bertinelli took a much different side.  She debated that, if your relationship with your spouse was strong and committed, then Jolie didn’t stand a chance.

Let’s be honest, Angelina Jolie does have a bit of a track record for causing a rift in her past co-stars relationships.  Billy Bob Thornton?  Brad Pitt?  What wife wouldn’t be a little worried if her husband was going to be acting out steamy love scenes with Angelina Jolie?  Ok, maybe more than a little worried.  It’s like throwing your husband into a pit of lions.  You know the lions have been “rumored” to eat people, so would you really want to chance it by tossing him in there?

The more I thought about this the more I kept coming back to two central themes: trust and faith.  Now, while I’m some what confident that my husband won’t be acting out any type of scenes with Angelina, there are still instances, occurrences where I still need to display trust and faith.  I need to trust him.  I need to have faith in his decisions.  And it’s not always easy.

So, what do you think?  Do you think Vanessa Paradis is right in not wanting Johnny Depp to be doing the movie with Angelina Jolie?  Have you ever not wanted your spouse to go somewhere or do something because of who else would be there?

This is why I still like watching The View.  I love that small snipettes or bits of their host chat causes me to think a little deeper. Now, if they could only get Barbara to quit plugging her specials and tv interviews and books every other minute…

* I am a participant in a Mom Central campaign for ABC Daytime and will receive a tote bag or other The View branded items to facilitate my review. However, all opinions stated are my own and are not being swayed by compensation.

I had little over 45 minutes today before I needed to be back home to let the babysitter go and I knew that the church just down the road was hosting a blood drive.  I figured I would just stop by and check t0 see if they could even get me in and finished before I needed to be home.  They said they would try.  Ok!

They entered my updated info into the computer and then asked the question I had dreaded: “have you ever failed the iron test?”  The answer was an honest “no” but, in the back of my mind, I knew my iron levels are consistently low.  The nurse poked my finger, took a little blood and put it in the little tester machine.  I needed a minimum hemoglobin level of 12.5 g/dL.  Mine was 11.4.  I had two options: leave and try again next time or have a different nurse do a retest.  Retest it is!  Moving on to my left hand, after a much more painful poke, my hemoglobin retest came back at 12.9!  Yay!

I took my place on the very uncomfortable table in the middle of the room, the nurse asked my name about twenty times (I guess to make sure I wasn’t pretending to be someone else), and then we were off and draining.  The nurse was pleasantly surprised at how quickly my blood was draining out (I’m apparently a fast bleeder) and I was, umm, surprised at the choice of music they were playing.  I’m lying in a church, donating blood, and they are playing “Mmm Mmm Mmm Mmm” by Crash Test Dummies.  You know the song — Once, there was this girl who wouldn’t change her clothes with the girls in the change room.” It was weird!

Anyhow, I finished donating, sucked down a small can of orange juice, and got home in time to let the babysitter go.  And it felt so good!  I loved knowing that I did something that could potentially help another person.  Not someone that I actually knew but someone.  And it was so easy.  Forty-five minutes, a few yes or no questions, and some needle pricks, that was all it took.

I will definitely be donating again. I have the blood.  I’m healthy.  I will continue to donate blood as long as I can.  What I’m really hoping to do now is to get tested to donate bone marrow (It’s on my Life List)!

Have you ever donated blood (or been tested to donate bone marrow)?  If not, what is holding you back from donating?  Don’t worry, I’m not judging you for not being a donator!  I’m just curious.  I totally understand that there are people that can’t donate and there are people that would rather eat dirt than be poked with a needle.  If you’ve never donated but are interested in doing so, here are some interesting facts:

• • 1 pint of blood can save up to 3 lives
  • Every 2 seconds someone needs a blood transfusion
  • 5 million patients in the US need blood every year
  • Less than 38% of the population is eligible to donate blood
  • Blood cannot be manufactured; it can only come from volunteer donators
  • You get juice and cookies after you donate!

You can learn more about donating blood and even find local blood drives at RedCrossBlood.org.

FYI…this post actually has nothing to do with the American Red Cross.  They did not contact me to write this post and have no idea that I am writing it.  I believe strongly in donating blood, if you can, and wanted to share this experience with you.  I am in no way being compensated by the American Red Cross for this post or by anyone else.

Each winner will receive a family four-pack of tickets to the 4:30pm Playhouse Disney Live show on March 7 the DeVos Performance Hall in Grand Rapids. And the winners are…

Ann from AnnOnandOn

Jodi from jodimichelle

Congrats ladies!  I am sending you an email about claiming your prize.  If you did not receive an email from me, please email me at staceysays at me.com.

Thanks again to Feld Entertainment for providing my family and the winners’ families tickets to the Playhouse Disney Live show!!!

In those last 4.5 years I’ve tried pretty much every brand of diaper available in our local stores, trying to find the “right fit” for my kids.  I can honestly say that not all diapers are created equal and what works for one child doesn’t necessarily work for the other (even with diapers).

Recently I had the chance to test out the new Pampers Cruisers with Dry Max, hoping they would be a good solution for some of the diapering issues we’re facing with our youngest.

Issue 1 – She’s on the move!

It’s a given, she needs to keep up with big sister.  That means running, jumping, dancing, climbing.  And, until she’s 100% potty trained, she needs something on her little butt that doesn’t prohibit those ‘keeping-up’ efforts!

Pampers Cruisers with Dry Max are surprisingly thin!  Twenty percent thinner than the current Pampers Cruisers.  That means she doesn’t have the bulkiness of a typical diaper holding her back!

Issue 2 – This girl can drink her weight in water!

She loves water!  Loves it!  And where there is water going in, there is, um, fluid coming out!  I can keep up with this during the day and it has certainly helped in the beginning stages of potty training.  The problem is at night.  She consistently wakes up in the morning with a diaper that has soaked through!  Gross!  And LAUNDRY!!!

The new Dry Max technology in the Pampers Cruisers is supposed to lock the wetness away, making the new Cruisers Pampers’ driest diaper yet.  And I’m just going to tell you, it worked for us!  The Pampers Cruisers with Dry Max locks in an amazing amount of wetness and has consistently resulted in no-leaks for us.  Ahh, do you hear my washing machine sighing with relief?

Remember, I said earlier that not all diapers are a ‘good fit’ for every child, but the new Pampers Cruisers are definitely a good fit for us!  If you are looking to change up your current diapering arsenal, I would suggest checking out Pampers Cruisers with Dry Max when they hit store shelves this month!

GIVEAWAY

Would you like a chance to try Pampers Cruisers with Dry Max on your little one?  I am giving away, to one lucky reader, a coupon for a free week’s supply of Pampers Cruisers with Dry Max and a Liz Lange diaper clutch.  The clutch retails for $50 and is 100% polyester with genuine leather trim!

To Enter:

Mandatory Entry - Simply leave a comment below telling me how long you’ve been in the diapering trenches!  Are you just starting out or, hopefully, finishing up with the diapers?

1 entry - Subscribe to Stacey says… via RSS.

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 12. 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: I did receive a complimentary weeks worth of Pampers Cruisers with Dry Max from Pampers 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.

Sadly, my girls ended up with my inability to carry a tune.  Like most people who can’t carry a tune, we love to sing and don’t let those minor details of pitch and tempo stop us from belting out a song or two in the privacy of our own homes or local karaoke bar.

Abbi has loved to sing since she first began talking.  And she has the wonderful ability to hear a song one or two times and very easily catch on to the words…which also keeps me on my toes as to what we can and cannot listen to in the car together!  One of her favorite artists right now is Taylor Swift.  Say what you may about Taylor Swift but I’d much rather listen to her than Veggie Tales over and over and over again!  Anyhow, Abbi knows quite a few of Taylor’s songs and can even recognize one of her songs after just a few notes have been played on the radio.

Here is a video of Abbi singing “You Belong With Me” without any music.

Week 5 (first week of February) was focusing on giving proofs of love.  So, I focused on giving personal attention to both of my girls — which means snuggling!  Zoe loves to rock together after her naps and Abbi loves to snuggle and read books together.  Sadly, I just don’t do this enough.  The funny thing about this week was that Tim was out of town again for work so he didn’t get any proofs of love.

Week 6 (second week of February) focused on fighting right.  Ah, yes, the fighting fair issue.  I’ll go ahead and admit that neither Tim or I fight fair.  We use word like “always” and “never”, big no-nos in the fair fighting world.  Interesting enough, Gretchen Rubin suggested that when your fights get heated to walk away and take a break, come back to the fight later.  That would never work for us.  I don’t know who it would work for.  For us at least, if we take a break during a fight we just wouldn’t come back and talk about what it was we were fighting about.  If we stop fighting about something then Tim figures everything is fine and dandy again, while I bottle it up and spew it all out the next time we have a fight.  Regardless if it has anything to do with what we are now fighting about.  So I’m just not sure about how to go about this one!

Week 7 (third week of February) told us to not expect praise or appreciation.  What?  You mean I shouldn’t be expecting my husband to notice and praise me over how clean the linen closet is?  And I’m not allowed to get irritated when he doesn’t hoist me on a pedestal for doing so?  Ok, seriously, this is something I’ve definitely learned since having kids.  I’m home all day and my “job” is to make sure that the kids are fed and still breathing by the end of the day and that the house is still standing.  My husband doesn’t expect (or at least he doesn’t say it) me to have a lavish meal on the table when he gets home and understands why the living room is in disarray when he walks in at 6pm.

Yet I’ve still found myself, on occasion, getting frustrated with him for not praising me for the work I have done during the day.  I’m used to working in the “working world” where you do receive praise for your great accomplishments and it has been a tough transition.  The funny thing is that I rarely give my husband praises for dragging his butt out of bed and to his office each and every day to make enough money for me to stay home with our kids.  So, I’m working on both ends of this — not expecting praise for every little thing I do and also dishing out praise more to him.  The cool thing about this one is that when you stop expecting the praise, you tend to treasure the unexpected praise even more when it does happen!

Week 8 (fourth week of February)…let me just say that I’m glad to see February end.  Not that I have anything personal against this short month, but I’m just looking forward to March and, hopefully, warmer weather!  Oh, so the resolution this week — kiss more, hug more, touch more.  Fun!

This one will be easy in respect to my kids (as long as I can put my phone and computer down for 5 minutes) because they love to snuggle!  They love hugs.  They love kisses!  The tricky one will be the husband since he is out of town, again!

So I’m not feeling too optimistic about my strides towards happiness this month. But there is always next month.  And I can continue to work on these resolutions.  I did get some encouragement when I was in Texas for the Mom 2.0 Summit.  I had the pleasure of hearing Gretchen Rubin speak during the Friday morning keynote.  She made the comment, “I just decided that writing about sad or frustrating things put me in a dark and miserable place.  I’d rather write about happiness.  You can’t help but be happy when you write about happiness!”

Out of that I have decided to write about more happy things here at my blog.  No, I’m not going to blow sunshine and rainbows up your butt and Yes, I will still write about the frustrating things in my life, but I’m going to try to focus more on the positive rather than the negative.  Ok, I might be blowing some sunshine and rainbows up your butt, too!

Rainbow Brite Adventure Pack cd winners:

Colleen

Laura

Jennifer H

Maureen

Traci

Ann

Amanda C

Yona Wiliams

Rainbow Brite & Friends doll winner:

Amanda C

Thanks to everyone for entering!  Remember, you can check out the new Rainbow Brite and enjoy some online games and activities at RainbowBrite.com.  And winners, you should be receiving an email from me regarding claiming your prize.  If you have not received that email, please send me an email at staceysays at me.com.

Fantastic Mr. Fox

Fantastic Mr. Fox is an animated film starring the legendary and very talented George Clooney and Meryl Streep as Mr. and Mrs. Fox!  The story is centered around the Fox family who, after being caught stealing by some farmers, settle in to a happy and safe home life with their eccentric son Ash and visiting nephew Kristopherson.  That is until Mr. Fox slips back into his sneaky ways and plots the greatest heist the animal world has ever seen!  Of course things don’t quite go as plan and Mr. Fox will need the help of his friends to out-fox the mean old farmers Boggis, Bunce, and Bean.

With a colorful supporting cast of Bill Murray, Owen Wilson, and Willem Dafoe, Fantastic Mr. Fox is definitely an entertaining film.  However, I would necessarily recommend it for your kids.  My four year old thought the animals were funny and watched bits of it here and there but she couldn’t follow the story line and the type of stop-motion animation wasn’t something she was used to.  I think older kids would enjoy the film, though, as it incorporates some great action.  I know I liked it!

Fantastic Mr. Fox is available on Blu-ray and standard DVD.  The dvds are packed full of behind-the-scenes bonus features.

Free Style

Cale Bryant (High School Musical heartthrob Corbin Bleu) is a not your typical teenage boy.  Sure, he has big dreams, has girl troubles, and is full of teenage angst, but he’s also dealing with financial struggles of his family, which weighs heavily on him!  Despite his dreams of racing motocross professionally, he finds himself working multiple jobs just to help out his single mom.  It seems like everything is against him…until he meets Alex (Sandra Echeverria) who reminds Cale that the people around him love and believe in him and that anything is possible!

I’m just going to say it, I really enjoyed this movie!  It is a great story about a teenager who is not only dealing with all of these things going on around him, completely out of his control, but he also has to figure out who he is and what truly matters in his life.  I also love the theme of the importance of a supportive family and group of friends! I actually thought it was going to be one of those cheesy teen films but was pleasantly surprised at the great story line and action!

Free Style is currently on DVD and is rated PG.  I would definitely recommend this film!

The Giveaway:

I have 3 copies of Fantastic Mr. Fox and 3 copies of Free Style to giveaway here!  That’s SIX dvds and SIX winners!!!

How To Enter:

1 entry - Leave a comment on this post telling me something you wanted to do when you were a teen or something that you dream of doing even now.  (I still dream of being one of those people that brings animals to kids schools to teach them about the animals!)

1 entry - Subscribe to Stacey says… via RSS.

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!).

• • Fantastic Mr. Fox or Free Style? I entered to win them both on dvd at StaceySays.me!  http://bit.ly/deUtfW  @Stacey_Says

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 SIX (6) winners will be randomly selected from the comments posted by Friday, March 12. 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: I did receive a complimentary copy of these DVDs to review.  However, receiving the complimentary product in no way affects my opinions stated here.

This is why I am so excited to be taking my girls to see Playhouse Disney Live on March 7!!!

Honestly, my girls are going to hit the roof when they walk in and see their favorite Disney characters live and in person!  And on March 7 we will be heading up to the DeVos Performance Hall in Grand Rapids for this awesome experience.

Playhouse Disney Live features fun with Mickey Mouse and his Clubhouse friends, The Little Einsteins, Tigger, Pooh, and Darby, and Handy Manny and his tool friends.  I am getting excited just telling you about it!  You can check to see if Playhouse Disney Live or any of the other amazing Disney Live performances are coming to your area by visiting http://disney.go.com/disneylive/.

The GIVEAWAY

I have 2 Family Four Packs of tickets to the March 7 (4:30pm) show at DeVos Performance Hall (Grand Rapids, MI) to giveaway!!!

To Enter:

Mandatory Entry - Simply leave a comment below telling me who your favorite Disney character is!

1 entry - Subscribe to Stacey says… via RSS.

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.

1 entry – Answer the questions in the little trivia quiz below.  Just try your hardest (you won’t be punished for wrong answers).  Put your answers in one comment.

1. What is the name of Mr. Lopart’s cat on Handy Manny?

2. What town does Handy Manny live in?

3.  What is the secret password to enter the Mickey Mouse Clubhouse?

4.  What is the name of the Little Einstein’s spaceship?

5.  Name the four Little Einsteins.

6.  What is the name of Darby’s dog?

7. What is Tigger’s favorite thing to do?

The Details:

The TWO (2) winners will be randomly selected from the comments posted by Wednesday, March 4. All entries will be verified and must include an email address where I can contact you if you should win. Please remember that this giveaway is for an event in Grand Rapids, MI on Sunday, March 7 at 4:30pm.  Please, only enter if you are able to attend the show!  You can read more about Giveaway Policies here.

*Disclaimer: I did receive complimentary tickets for my family to attend the Playhouse Disney Live event on March 4 so that I can bring you a review of that event in a later post.  However, receiving the complimentary tickets in no way affect my opinions stated here.

]]> http://www.staceysays.me/2010/02/playhouse-disney-live-giveaway/feed/ 76 http://www.staceysays.me/2010/02/houston/ http://www.staceysays.me/2010/02/houston/#comments Thu, 25 Feb 2010 01:21:15 +0000 Stacey http://www.staceysays.me/?p=1559 While my main reason for going to Texas this past weekend was to attend the Mom 2.0 Summit, it just wouldn’t have been right if we didn’t do a little sight-seeing as well.  And our wonderful hosts (my brother and Janice) were more than willing to share with us some of their favorite greater-Houston sites!

In case you missed my post about how I ended up going to the Mom 2.0 Summit (When Big Brothers Meddle), my trip to Houston was due to my brother who lives near Houston.  He, Janice, and Janice’s two darling kids live just outside of Houston and graciously let Tim and I crash at their apartment during our stay.  They also served as our chauffeurs to and from the hotel/conference center.  Basically I’m trying to say that they were absolutely super!

When scheduling our trip we built in a day to spend with Scott and Janice and here are some of the fun things we did:

Downtown Houston

Sam Houston monument
FYI – I was totally freaking out because Sam Houston is pointing off into the distance and we just watched “Angels and Demons” a few weeks ago!

Their mini-version of the Washington Monument. You can actually see a better scale of it here.

The Japanese Gardens

Galveston, TX (The Gulf of Mexico)

This is one of the few places that has rebuilt after Hurricane Ike.  It was so amazing to see how much had been wiped out and destroyed by that hurricane. As you drive down the highway into Galveston you can still see random boats out in fields that had been tossed there by the hurricane.  Shops and restaurants that once occupied beachfront property have vanished.

Brazos Bend

This is a State Park located out in the middle of nowhere.  Kind of one of those places where they decided to fence off a bunch of land, throw up some signs and some picnic tables, and call it a State Park so they could charge people to come in! But it was rumored to have alligators, so why not!

And of course we found some alligators!

And someone thought it would be fun to get nice and close to one of those alligators! It was only after we got home that we read one of the State Park handouts that warned not to underestimate the speed of an alligator!

The Food

Despite eating conference food and McDonalds the majority of our time in Texas, I did get some delicious Sea Bass one night.  Unfortunately, Tim and Scott’s steaks turned out to be not as good as my sea bass!  Below is a picture of Janice’s daughter, Zoe, eating her sushi!  I seriously need her to hang out with my girls so they will eat something other than macaroni and cheese!

Isn’t she adorable!

So, that was our trip to Houston.  You can see more pictures over on my Flickr page.  Thankfully the day that we did our sight-seeing it was 70 degrees!  They were calling for snow in Houston the day after we left!  I’m hoping we get back down to Houston again soon and are able to take the kids!  And thanks again to Scott, Janice, Ean, and Zoe for putting up with us, sacrificing their bedroom (Ean), and carting us around the Greater Houston area!  Love you guys!

First, I’m not even sure how to convey how significant this conference is.  The level of speakers at Mom 2.0 this year was just amazing, but more about that in a minute.  In the simplest of terms, being at Mom 2.0 and listening to those speakers, talking with them, asking them questions would be like meeting an author that has inspired you or meeting your favorite athlete.  Or, if you are an aspiring actor, like meeting one of the greats.  Does that help?

The Speakers

AH-MAZING!  The keynote speakers for both days included Gretchen Rubin (The Happiness Project), Heloise, Heather Armstrong (dooce.com), Maggie Mason (mightygirl.com), and Gabrielle Blair (designmom.com).  I know!  I could have sat and listened to Saturday’s keynote panel all day!  They were that good! Even my husband was impressed!!!

And the speakers during the breakout sessions weren’t too shabby either — Gwen Bell, Rebecca Woolf, Ciaran Blumenfeld, Karen Walrond, Allison Czarnecki, Isabel Kallman, Jenny Lawson, Marie LeBaron, and Jyl Johnson Pattee…just to name a few. The amount of knowledge these and the other fabulous speakers were willing to share was invaluable!  They spoke on everything from working with ad agencies and PR to photography and creating community.

The best part about these women is that, no matter how famous or popular they are or how huge their blogs are, they are so down to earth.  They have no problem answering questions and talking to even the smallest of bloggers (ahem, me) or posing for a picture.

(me with Maggie Mason — Mighty Girl, @Maggie)

The Lessons

This is going to be tough but I’m going to just do some bullet points of things I took away from the sessions I attended.  If anything peaks your interest, let me know.  I’d be happy to chat more with you about them!

• Different people want your blog in different ways — use email, video, photography, Twitter, and other Social Media outlets
• Trademark your blog name and logo.  Copyright your material.
• When doing PR and advertising campaigns, select brands that fit with your blog.  Don’t change your blog to fit their brand.  And make sure the value is equal on both sides!
• Engage with others
• The FTC is not out to get bloggers but be smart and disclose.
• Numbers, subscribers, followers, and stats are not the whole picture.  Think quality, not quantity.
• Product reviews and blanket advertising is becoming a thing of the past.  Advertisers are beginning to embrace the rawness and artfulness of “those crazy bloggers” and involving them in campaigns — Heather Armstrong
• Focus on content campaigns — Maggie Mason
• Is your blog, especially your comment section, user friendly for your readers
• Don’t do video for the sake of doing video.  And when you do incorporate video, keep it under 4 minutes!
• Shitty, authentic photos are better than canned photos.

The Overall Experience

I’ll be honest, I was a bit skeptical when I first walked in Saturday morning.  The only other blogging conference I’ve been to is BlogHer, so pardon my comparisons.  BlogHer is the largest blogging conference in the country.  Thousands of attendees, huge and numerous sponsors, and an very large expo hall.  Mom 2.0 is a much more intimate conference.  The attendees is capped at 350 attendees (I think) and the expo was shockingly small, more like a lobby.  While I was surprised at the lack of exhibitors and companies and, well, swag, I found it to be refreshing.  I was able to focus more on networking with other bloggers and PR/marketing reps than walking aisles and aisles of booths.

The nice thing about the smaller size of the conference is that you find familiar faces in each session and break.  I didn’t feel like a tiny fish swimming in a huge ocean, like I felt at BlogHer.  And as I said before, everyone was so nice and approachable!

And Mom 2.0 certainly did not disappoint when it came to “extra” activities.  Although I did not attend the Mad Men Party or the CheeseburgHer party, I did go to a few of the suites, met some ladies for drinks, and enjoyed a delicious dinner with Barilla and a small group of bloggers.  Oh, and FotoFest!  I was completely blown away by the photography skills of some of our fellow bloggers!!!  Mom 2.0 also offered a pre-screening of the animated film “Despicable Me” (coming to theaters this summer) and a special Q&A with the director and producer of Flicka 2 (coming to DVD this spring…I’ll be telling you more about them in a later post).

It was also very cool that I got to share this experience with my husband and that he got to catch a glimpse into the grander scene of blogging.  I think, although he’s super supportive of what I’m doing, he got a new perspective on it all.

Would I attend Mom 2.0 again?

Yes.  Well, maybe I should clarify.  Yes, if the same or a similar list of speakers were going to be there.  It was a great learning experience. Sure, there were some sessions where I walked out of it disappointed but that happened at BlogHer, too.

Will I attend Mom 2.0 in 2011 (New Orleans)?  I’m not sure.  It really depends on how life plays out next year.  I’d love to try Blissdom at some point, too.  And I’m thinking that next year will be my husband’s year to go conferencing-about.  So, at this point I’m not booking my ticket but I’m also not saying no.

- – - I will be uploading photos soon to my Flickr page from Mom 2.0 – - -

I should probably begin by saying that the first three-ish years of blogging my purpose for writing was to keep family and friends updated on what was going on in our lives (i.e. the kids) and to vent.  It has only been the last year year or so that I really took my blogging seriously.  And by seriously, well, I’m not sure exactly what I mean by seriously.  All I know is that I really enjoy writing and I am now becoming more deliberate about it.

Back to the whole ‘learning’ thing…

As I work with more PR companies and guest post at other amazing sites, I’m often these crazy questions about my site stats and unique visitors; my Google ranking and affiliate links/affiliate marketing.  Imagine me sitting at my computer, reading those emails, with a ‘deer-in-the-headlights’ look on my face!  My affiliate-ranking-stat-visitor what?  Apparently I have a lot to learn yet!

Of course, my first instinct is to head to Google and start researching these things.  But then I’m swimming in an overwhelming amount of knowledge.  And not all knowledge is good knowledge.  There are some marketing blogs and affiliate blogs that have some great information but not every site on Google has my best interest in mind.  Not every ad network or affiliate network is a fit for me.

So the next step for me is to go to the people who have been doing this and the people who have been making it work for them.  That’s where conferences come into play.

As I write this I am heading down to the Mom 2.0 Summit in Houston, TX.  I’m hoping to get some of my many questions about all of this answered while I am there.  I’m also hoping to attend BlogHer 10 this year.  I went to BlogHer last year but really feel like I have so much more I could take away from that conference by going again.

If those don’t work for me and I still feel like I’m drowning in all of this information, then I’m just going to show up on the doorstep of some of the bloggers who have got a grasp on it all and say TEACH ME!!!

The THREE lucky winners of the Iron Man Armored Adventures Volume 2 dvd are:

Julie L

Amanda C

Krista W

Congratulations ladies!  You should be receiving an email from me soon about claiming your prize.  If you haven’t received that email, please let me know (staceysays @ me . com).  For everyone else, thank you so much for entering!  Please note that Iron Man Armored Adventures Volume 2 is currently available to purchase on dvd!  Also, don’t forget to check out my current giveaways located on the right side bar!!!

One more quick thing!  I was so impressed by your creativity regarding your super powers.  I thought I would share with you some of the different super powers you mentioned:

Super Strength — No more sliding furniture around the house when looking for lost toys, just lift with one little finger!

Super Speed — Oh the things I could get done!

Flying — I’m not sure what I would exactly do with this but it would be cool just to get away from everything and fly around for a while!

Mind control & emotion control — No more crabby kids.  Or husbands.  Or opinionated old women at the super market who believe I’m doing everything wrong as a mother!

Invisibility — Wow, I would actually get five minutes to myself!  And, no more “but mom, I didn’t do anything wrong!”

Time Warp — I hate to live in the past but there are a few things I could definitely go back and change a little.

Mary Poppins super power — To snap my fingers and get things done?  Absolutely!  Sign me up!

Teleport — This would be super fabulous since traveling with my two girls any distance over 10 minutes is less than fun  right now!

Heal others — Sick kids and sick husband would be a thing of the past. Amen!

Thanks so much for sharing your super power wishes!  I had so much fun reading them and thinking of ways they could fit into my daily life!

I’ve been watching The View off and on for years.  I started watching it college and then fell back in love with the show when I had my first daughter and it joyously aired at the same time as her morning nap!  Oh those were good times!  Now, with two little ones running around the house, I have to sneak off to catch a few moments when I can.  It’s good to have a dvr in the house, too!

I’ll be honest though, I haven’t always enjoyed The View.  There was a season or two along the way that I just refused to watch.  I’m sure many of you know what I’m talking about.  And even now I don’t always agree with everything the ladies are saying.  I think that is why I like the show so much.  Not because of the arguments between the co-hosts (although those can be fun) but because they each present such different opinions on subjects.  And I’m often surprised at which c0-host takes what view.

So, what does it mean to be a brand ambassador?  Well, it means that I have to watch The View more.  Sorry kids, mommy has work to do!  Just kidding!  It means that when I do watch The View I get to share my opinions and suggestions as to how to make it a better show with you and the people over at ABC.  Over the next few weeks I’ll also be sharing with you some of the stuff happening at The View.

The first thing I want to share with you is an amazing sweepstakes happening over at Mom Central!   One lucky winner from that sweepstakes will be randomly selected to receive a trip to New York City to watch a taping of The View!  The sweepstakes ends February 28th so don’t forget to check it out and enter!

* I am a participant in a Mom Central campaign for ABC Daytime and will receive a tote bag or other The View branded items to facilitate my review. However, all opinions stated are my own and are not being swayed by compensation.

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!