win an ergo from heavenly hold!

Win An ERGO Performance Baby Carrier!

ERGO's newest baby carrier is the Performance. It's 1/3 lighter than the standard ERGO and has Cool Max mesh lining on the inside of the body for a more breathable, cooler babywearing experience.

WIN a Performance from Heavenly Hold by entering our September Contest now!
5 Entries per person:

1. Become a Facebook Fan of Heavenly Hold (yes, it's that simple!)

2. Suggest Heavenly Hold's FB page to your FB Friends
(email Amber to tell her you've done this...honor system!)

3. Blog about the contest and post a link to it (email Amber with the link)

4. Tweet about the contest (email Amber with the link)

5. Post a link to the contest on your FB page (email Amber with the link)

Contest will end Sept 30, 2010 and winner will get to choose which color ERGO Performance they like!

what mom does......

apparently she doesn't wash clothes, cook meals, pack lunches and read stories. she plays bunco. with a drink in hand. which was illustrated for his teacher at a small christian school. great. sure i made a great first impression. oh and now i'm 44 (or so he thinks, but is not quite sure).

thanks for the laugh bubbie. i will save this one forever.

bento? what's a bento?

in case you haven't noticed... i've been mia. why you may ask?? well we've been very busy sending this boy,

to KINDERGARTEN!!!

and along with the joys of starting school has come the joys of making lunch each day (except wednesdays because that is pizza day and bubbie is excited about that).

we bought this lunch box: (the one on the left), but that's not really ours, that's the one from the pbk's website, ours is red and blue to match our uniform.

the first week of lunch making went fine, except i noticed all those pre-bagged snacks i bought weren't being eaten. i asked him why and apparently he can't open them and no one has helped him. i was inspired by bento lunches before but thought they looked too hard, too much work, but while at wally world last night i found the perfect plastic box to fit in his lunch box (and it fits to a T!) so i thought i would give it a whirl.... here's what i came up with

dinosaur pb w/ honey sandwich on raisin dirt, with pretzel trees, whole grain goldfish and some cookies. i couldn't do any wet fruit yet because my silicone cupcake liners haven't come in from amazon.

so what's a bento you ask? well mine is as bare bones as it can be, but a bento box is a really tightly packed, cutely presented lunch. there is tons of inspiration online to get good ideas. here are a few sites i have found:

http://bentolunch.blogspot.com/

http://bentoforkidlet.blogspot.com/

http://lunchboxlimbo.blogspot.com/

have you made bento lunches? i would love some inspiration, so please share your links and ideas! check back I will post some more as i get a little more daring and creative!

sweetness

i love this picture. i love the looks on everyone's faces. it wasn't planned to come out like this but it just looks like it tells a story. pure sweetness.

back from the beach.....

with a not so lovely souvenier....



it all started wednesday night at the beach. bubbie, mema and uncle frankie were the first victims. i think mr.bear had a touch while we were there too. then friday night it hit super dad and saturday aunt mel. i thought we were finally turning a corner. super dad was returning to the land of the living.

i should have known something was up when i told sass she didn't have to nap but could just play in here room where she promptly fell asleep on the floor. after the impromteu (and had to be uncomfortable) nap, she meekly came down stairs and snuggled up on my lap. she mentioned her tummy hurting, but often that just means she's hungry, so i attempted to get her to try a bite of granola bar. big mistake. the volcano erupted all over my kitchen floor. and my feet. yuck.

super dad brought home some pedialyte and we let her start sipping some. big mistake number 2. the kitchen floor took another hit. lucky for me, this time it was super dad's feet that fell victim. oh and one of our recliner chairs (not the one she puked in the last time this winter that took weeks to get out the sour milk smell, now we have matching puked on recliners).

all afternoon she insisted on laying on top of me. the only person who has yet to fall victim to puke bug 2010. what are the odds that i'm not puking in the next three days? i'm praying hard that i have an immune system of steel as friday is bubbie's first day of kindergarten and i will be devastated if i can't take him. pray healthy thoughts over this mama please.

okay, so that's all. sorry for writing the most disgusting post ever. i promise for a more appetizing post next time!

bumgenius 4.0s..... the lowdown

first off... no i did not get eaten by the disaster of my bedroom. it actually looks amazing, but my camera phone just wasn't cuttin' it to take pictures and i honestly have been super busy this week and haven't had a chance. you will have to wait a few more days to get to see the amazing transformation that took place and unleashed a cleaning, purging monster. we still have a few things to go through, a book shelf to buy, etc. but the progress is fantastic. i'm in love with my new closet. it makes me happy! LOL!

okay onto bumgenius 4.0.... the official review. my sweet friend amber owns a great online carrier store called heavenly hold. she also sells bumgenius products and i have purchase probably 90% of mr. bears diapers from her. i own flips, 3.0s, sized AIOs, and elementals (organic aios). i love them all for different reasons.



i used 2.0s with sass until i wore them out, so i upgraded to the 3.0s with mr.bear. these are great diapers for babysitters as they go on just like a sposie (except when some one in the church nursery puts one on inside out. as in the PUL facing the baby. as in the cloth on the outside.... craziest thing i have ever seen... sorry i digress). then sweet amber asked me if i would like to try out a 4.0 and write a review on it for her. ummm.... YES! ( ps. that is my disclosure that i did not purchase my 4.0 from her, but have purchased many many other diapers from her prior to this gift, there you have it FCC). Wow, this is a long post and i still have yet to review the diaper, sorry about that.



okay so i chose a noodle (aka... off white) 4.0 w/ snaps. i do have to say as a lover of the brights, i was taken aback by how drawn to the noodle color i was and i really like the name. it is a nice neutral and will be perfect under some of our "church" clothes that brights show through. the inserts haven't changed at all, nor had the inner, but that is fine since i liked both already. i'm loving me some snaps. i keep several aplix on hand as they are better for others who aren't use to cloth diapers ( well usually, see above mentioned nursery story) but i love my snaps for me (and super dad has gotten quite good at puttin' snaps on if i do say so myself). i don't sew so i don't really understand how the whole replaceable elastic feature works, but i'm sure if i get to that point, i will appreciate it. i have a fairly good rotation though, so i would be surprised if i had to replace elastic. other than that, the fit is the same ( i know they say it will fit bigger babies, but mr. bear is a string bean so i really couldn't tell the difference). if mr.bear was a mrs. i would be all about the bubble color, but lavender doesn't really suit him.


so the bottom line (no pun intended).... not too terribly different from the 3.0s, but i'm okay with that as i love my 3.0s. all my bumgenius diapers are bullet proof. they wear well, are super trim and last a long time. the snaps are a fabulous up grade. so happy to have them. and prints are supposedly ( i totally say this supposably... apparently i've said it wrong all these years) around the corner so i am holding out on those. right now our medium aios still fit fine, but once we out grow those i will probably replace them with 4.0s since they have snaps and i find them better for older babies.

have you tried out a4.0? what are your thoughts?

ps... if you are new to cloth diapers or are curious about trying them, bumgenius is the place to start! they are so simple and trim and work great. i highly recommend them!

keepin' it real

okay internet. you've seen bubbies pretty bedroom all cleaned up. you've seen my cute, organized playroom but you ain't never seen what i'm about to show you. i'm all about keepin' it real. don't want you putting me on some sort of pedestal or anything. so with that said....

proceed with caution....

the images below are disturbing....

no this is not a recent episode of hoarders,

this would be the contents of our master bedroom closet.



yes we had all of that in our closet/office/ gift room/ baby storage. a big closet is not what it is always made out to be. ours was our dumping ground. an easy place to drop some clutter when we wanted the rest of the house to look nice. just close the door and no one gets hurt. well not no more! closet systems have been purchased. the dumping ground has been emptied out. holes are patched. super dad is ready to paint and put in our new system and i've got a morning of sorting to do. watch out ebay and craigs list. here i come with lots of junk to give you!

super dad is busy on a call in his newly cleared out office (um i mean closet?)

day 1 mimi and pop camp - project playroom

the big kids are at mimi and pop camp this week (hip hip hurray!) and i have a list of projects to complete while they are gone. today was tackling the playroom. i ran to ikea yesterday and got one more storage shelf. i'm in love with these shelves and wish that was all we had in our playroom as they hide the mess so well. last night i made labels for my buckets and today i cleaned out, rearranged and organized. i am really happy with how it turned out. i need to make a few more bucket labels, but besides that this room is now mr.bear safe and ready to go. all small pieces have been put away and he has free range to play in there with the big kids now.

still have some art work to hang up on this wall, as soon as i find my sticky tack.

sorry the lighting is so bad in this one. i took these with my camera phone because i'm lazy like that.

don't you love my magnet wall? another great ikea find! now my fridge is free from all those darn leap frog magnets

close up of my tubs and labels

if you can't tell just by looking the room, i use to teach 1st grade. this room now kind of feels like my old classroom with everything labeled and organized with a specific place to go. it's my happy place right now (unlike my closet which is a wreck and the next project on my list). i printed my labels on cardstock and super dad dropped them off this morning to the office max to have them laminated for me. i than used sticky velcro dots to attach them to the buckets. my thought is that way if i need to move stuff around it's just a quick rip of the velcro and viola! buckets are changed. i know, it was a genius thought, occasionally i have those.


so what do you think? turned out pretty good, huh? now off to help super dad clear out our closet... new organizational system coming in there asap!

babies and banana bread

we made banana bread today. i doctor up the box mix from trader joes. it's yummy. mr.bear liked it. sass though bitty baby would like some too. so we set her up. mama sass and her baby just like me and my baby. i love when they imitate life!

so much better

we did it! it took over an hour. about 8 million redirections. several sneeks out to the trash can when he wasn't looking. but it's done. whew! i feel so much better!



ps. not sure why this last picture insists on being sideways in both post. i have turned it in picasa but both times it came up sides ways.... so weird!

my little junk collector

okay mom. you may not take any pleasure in what you are about to read. i know it's sweet revenge for all the years i had a messy room. just sayin'.


so bubbie is our little trash collector. every piece of paper. every little container has a purpose to him. he needs to save little thing because he might could use it for a project. he is a builder. he has an incredible imagination. but his room is always a mess. i mean there is stuff everywhere. i go into a panic attack every time i walk in there. he tries to straighten up, but i really don't think he sees the mess. to him it makes sense. to me it makes me a little crazy.

these pictures are of his room in it's current state. this was after he cleaned up. yes really. i. can't. take. it. anymore. we had a come to Jesus moment this morning. when he gets home from camp i am going to attempt to help him actually clean the place up. i don't want to hound him. i hate being a nag, but really? it's a death trap. do you know what those tiny little legos feel like on your bear feet. it's enough to make a grown man cry.

does anyone else live with a junk collector? is he doomed to be on an episode of hoarders later on in life? we need help! what can i do to encourage him to take pride in his things and keep his room tidy? i don't need it to be white glove clean, i just want to be able to walk in there and not risk breaking a limb while trying to get him out of bed in the morning.

be on the look out. i will post some after pics if i get a chance.

where oh where has yo baby gone??

okay my friends. i'm on a hunt. i can't find yo baby yogurt anywhere right now. for a few weeks now everywhere i have checked is sold out. not a publix, kroger or whole foods. what is going on? is there a yo baby shortage? i have googled to try and find out. i asked the guy at whole foods who was stocking the yogurt shelf.... pretty sure he thought i was crazy. are they discontinuing it? (surely not!) remarketing it? what's going on! mr.bear loves him some yo baby, but it's no where to be found!

in the mean time we've been getting creative with the plain whole milk stonyfield farm yogurt mixed with fruit, but i do love our little containers for on the go. yo baby please come back to us!!

wow what a morning!

today was a day for the record books for us. bubbie started "manly man" camp this morning. today was pirate day. he was excited. we get to the church to drop him off. we notice right off that the lobby is smokey, but have our worries calmed by being told they were using a fog machine to practice for a show. so i heave up the stairs with an 18lb baby on my hip and two little ones by my side to the third floor. just as we get up there, the fire alarms start going off, strobe lights and all and we are told to head down the stair well, so me and my three climb back down three floors to get outside. luckily the it was just because the fog machines had set off the alarm, but off we were to climb up the three flights of stairs again. i start to wonder if i can write this off as my exercise for the day. bubbie successfully gets dropped off to camp and we are on our way.

the little guys and i stop to do an errand on the way home. mr. bear is beat and so ready for a nap, so as soon as we get back home i run to change his diaper and get ready to throw him into the bed. he surprises me with a poop diaper, so i leave him for just a second to clean it out and throw it in the pail when it dawns on me that i might not have clicked the gate all the way (being that i had planned to just throw him in the bed). just as i head that way to check i hear the worlds worst sound... my baby tumbling down the steps. now thankfully, we have a spilt stair case, so it's only six steps to the landing, then six more. and they are carpeted, two things that worked in his favor. i immediately scooped him up and comforted him and he calmed down pretty quickly, so i was thinking that he had been protected and we were blessed to escape what could have been a lot worse. well we are blessed that he wasn't seriously injured, but as soon as i put him down to crawl and he went to bear weight on his right arm, i saw him just crumble under the weight and knew something was wrong. i was sure he had a broken arm or wrist. super dad raced home and my sweet friends came to my rescue taking care of sass and getting bubbie from camp so off to children's we went. six horrible xrays later (xraying a 10 month olds arms in six different positions is kind of like wrestling a wet cat, he was MAD), my nursed and now napping baby was diagnosed with a hairline fracture in his clavicle. thank you Jesus for protecting him and letting that be all! unfortunately there is not much we can do for him, but let him have some motrin and heal up. he is already figuring out how to bear most of his weight on the other arm and is on the move again, but boy this mama has had a long day!

friday fun

it's friday. we are ready to have some fun. we have a pretty busy day filled with gymnastics class for sass and a swimming playdate right after. than tonight super dad and i are going on a date night (he hates that phrase). but this morning we are in no hurry. we're building blocks. well mr.bear is doing more destroying of the block building than anything, but now he is down for his morning nap.


i love old classic toys. alphabet blocks definitely fall into that category. mr.bear likes to tap them together. the big kids spelled their names. they tried to build a super tall tower. they made color patterns out of the letters. they fought over who had more blocks. we had a little math lesson about equal as i divided up the blocks between the two of them. blocks are fun. fridays are fun.

simple snack mix

if your pantry ever clutters up like mine does (okay maybe yours never looks as bad as mine does) than this is the simple recipe you have been looking for that your kids will gobble up! you know all those almost empty boxes of snacks and cereal that clutter up your shelves? well i've started keeping this cereal tub full of "snack mix". i take all those almost gone snacks like cheerios, raisins, annie's bunnies and throw them all in the tub and give it a little shake! i also occasionally add a little treat like chocolate chips or m &ms in there for an extra surprise. the kids think it's the biggest treat to get snack mix and i end up with a less cluttered pantry (not that my pantry would EVER be cluttered, no never!). it's a win win!

bumgenius on the Today show tomorrow morning!

last week the Today show did a segement on "designer" disposable diapers that are going to look like cloth. well the creators of my favorite diapers, bumgenius, are headed to NYC tomorrow to flood the street crowd with babies in cloth diapers. i've got my tivo already set! i so wish i could be there! if you are in NYC, you can take your baby down there and let them flaunt their fluff. if not, you can send a photo of your baby in his or her bumgenius watching Today to their facebook page.



here is all the info you need to know!

ice cream for breakfast?

i read a recipe on my friend shelly's blog yesterday (you should check out her blog.... she's crazy!). i immediately knew we had to try it out this morning because it was ice cream for breakfast... and you will actually feed your kids this! she took great pictures. i was in too much of an excited hurry to get to the finished product to pull out my camera so you will have to go to her blog if you need visuals.

so now to the important stuff. this is a perfect recipe as it only calls for two ingredients, frozen bananas and a splash of milk. i already had two bananas in my freezer so i was ready to go (note to self, next time peel and chunk banana up prior to freezing otherwise a hammer is needed to open them. no i am not kidding.) chunk up your frozen banana and add a good size splash of milk into your blender/food processor/ magic bullet (my preferred method!). whip it up and voila! breakfast ice cream. i did have to take a spoon and mix around the banana a few times before the bullet really got going and giving it a good whip just as a heads up.

now normal kids would be thrilled to try this out. mine, well not so much. it could have something to do with them seeing their father take black bananas out of the freezer and beat them with a hammer. next time i will prep this when they aren't around. the baby on the other hand devoured it.... he wasn't afraid of a hammered up banana.

i am curious to try this out with other frozen fruits. peaches maybe? frozen pinapple... sounds yummy! let me know if you give any other fruits a try and if they whip up to the same creamy consistency!

bumgenius 4.0s.....

UPDATE! i have heard that brights are coming back and prints are in the making! can't wait now to get my hands on a 4.0! when I do I will be buying mine from my sweet friend Amber at heavenlyhold.com. if you are looking for a place to get them I highly recommend her site. she is a reliable, stay at home mom, who runs a great business! i buy all my carriers and bumgenius diapers from her!

What's new:
Larger sizing
Updated hook & loop closures
Replaceable elastic
3 new (pastel) colors: Sweet, Bubble, Noodle

And SNAPS are available!!

what do you think? discuss please....

great sale on biokleen products at drugstore.com

drugstore.com has all their biokleen products for 40% off plus free shipping over $25! i just got a ton of natural cleaning products for $26 shipped! i highly recommend bac out for laundry needs. i originally bought it for my cloth diapers to help with stains but now use it on all kinds of things. it's great! do you have a favorite biokleen product? which one?

saturday morning breakfast......

yum.