Aug 31, 2009

Not Me! Monday, 8-31-09

Welcome to Not Me! Monday! This blog carnival was created by MckMama. You can head over to her blog to read what she and everyone else have not been doing this week.

##If you're new to my blog please notice that "Not Me" Monday is sort of like opposite day##


This week was a really good week, devoid of very many typical emabarassing Not Me's!


Ok so I have one, I did NOT barely make it the boys school in time to get them Friday because I was thinking they got out at 3:20 even though 1- Timmy went to school all year there last year and 2-just the day before Tom and I 'discussed' release time and I had to look it up and then tell him he was RIGHT and they got out at 3:10.


I did NOT spend a great afternoon with my mom. Lunch, girl talk and just sitting and being with each other! Can't ask for more.


I did NOT put off planning anything for Tom's birthday. I am all about birthday's and always have my purchased made ahead of time.


He did NOT end up getting a fire pit and a movie (that I may have wanted).


I did NOT call on my niece at the last minute to see if she'd babysit so we could go out together since his family was all getting together to see the family band play. We did NOT have an amazing time.


We did NOT hear some great music!!!
I did NOT have a single shot!!!
We did NOT see a ton of family!


And we did NOT have some super yummy cake or sing happy birthday in a bar at almost 11pm!

And of course, this is NOT an actual photo of us, out of the house, together, without our children.





Despite NOT having any shots I was NOT a little late to church Sunday. I would NOT have skipped it all together if it wasn't for a committment to work the nursery during service.

I mean, I would NOT volunteer for such a task, thinking it be fine. And despite almost one on one volunteers thanks to some awesome teenagers, it was NOT the longer hour and a half ever, thanks to MY own child. He did NOT follow me around the entire time (if I wasn't carrying him) screaming! No my child is NOT jealous or spoiled or anything. He did NOT care when I held another very unhappy baby, took a little one to the potty, changed a diaper, etc etc.
I will NOT be waiting until my own child is out of the nursery before I ever volunteer again!

And my new amazing charm did NOT arrive just as we were leaving. I did NOT grab the envelope and bring it with me to check out in the car, and put it on.
This is NOT a photo of what is now one of my most prized possessions. A small, beautiful charm made with my mom's fingerprint on each side.
I do NOT think this is the best thing ever!!!!!!

And I'm NOT about to shamelessly plugging a fundraiser for Ezra, an adorable little 2 year old boy who's fighting a brave fight against Leukemia. If you visit Imprecious now you can get a charm just like mine with a special heart charm (also like mine) to show your support for all those who like Ezra have had to fight cancer. And 25% of the purchase will go to Ezra's "Kick Cancer's Ass" fund.


And I did NOT beg my oldest son to do this (a second...and third time) to get it on video



Or try about 15 times to catch Bryan doing even a little of his usually constant dancing on video




And I would NOT love some comments! Nope I'm not that shameless at all.
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Aug 30, 2009

Arm & Hammer Spinbrush Review & Giveaway

The great people at Arm & Hammer and Orajel sent me a few of their products to try out, ARM & HAMMER® Spinbrush® Sonic Brush, ARM & HAMMER Toothpaste, Baby Orajel, and Orajel Toddler Training Toothpaste.
I had a feeling that I would like the ARM & HAMMER® Spinbrush® Sonic Brush and I do! I love the clean you get from the sonic brushes but I have some sort of mental block against charging things so traditional sonic brushes just don't work for me. (Add to my mental block the fact that my teeny bathroom, you'll remember from last week, doesn't have a single countertop in it to stuff on.) So I am loving the Spinbrush. The ONLY downside is that I can NOT get away with brushing my teeth in peace because Bryan LOVES brushing his teeth and the Spinbrush, while not loud really lets him know immediately that I have the nerve to try to brush without him.



From the company:




New ARM & HAMMER® Spinbrush® Sonic BrushesDeliver Superior Clean At An Affordable Price Princeton, NJ (May 1, 2009) — ARM & HAMMERSpinbrush® battery-powered toothbrushes introduce sonic technology at an affordable price with their new Spinbrush® Pro Clean Sonic and Spinbrush® Pro Whitening Sonic toothbrushes. These are one of the first toothbrushes on the market to offer advanced sonic clean without the price tag to go along with it.


Defined by the high rate of speed at which their brush head vibrates, the new Spinbrush® Sonic delivers up to 16,000 brush strokes per minute. They offer dynamic fluid action to help dislodge food and remove plaque between the teeth and in areas where a manual brush may not reach, providing a clinically proven way to effectively remove plaque.Spinbrush® Pro Clean Sonic is clinically proven to remove up to 95% of plaque in hard-to-reach places. It also offers a multi-functional head design for superior cleaning that includes angled, multi-level, high density bristles, as well as a profiled slim head.


Spinbrush® Pro Whitening Sonic has specialized whitening bristles that help remove stains and whiten teeth.


The new brushes have a suggested retail price of $14.99, putting sonic technology within reach for more consumers.Available in 4 metallic colors (red, orange, blue and green), the new brushes have a sleek, clean form with economical replacement heads available.For more information visit http://www.spinbrush.com/




I was skeptical about the ARM & HAMMER Toothpaste though. I've been trying lots of different toothpastes lately looking for a good that does it "all" but actually has a taste I like, with very little success. I like really minty toothpastes because they make me feel l have a clean mouth (you know no bad breath). And ARM & HAMMER Toothpaste really is minty and does a great job. I didn't think to take a photo before to test its whitening ability but I'think' my teeth are actually a little whiter already.The Orajel products are something that I have already tried and loved with the older boys. But as with everything with them I can never know if Bryan will take to things the same way. But he also loved the Orajel Toddler Training Toothpaste. Like I said, he loves to brush his teeth but up until now he's just used water and his brush. He does great with the toothpaste and loves anything that makes him more like the big boys. And I love that its from Orajel!

And then there's Baby Orajel, which no mother should be without. So I'm embarrassed to say I was. Well, technically I'm pretty darn sure there is some, SOMEWHERE in this house. However, it couldn't be found if my life depended on it. And while I don't think Bryan is working on any teeth right now...I know he will be again sometime soon. But today i came up with a different use for it...Timmy has his first wiggly tooth. He realized it was wiggly two weeks ago but it hasn't gotten much wigglier because, much to my suprise, he's barely touched it. But this morning he was messy around and caught something on it and yanked it forward. So we tried some Baby Orajel because he complained it really hurt. Well needless to say it worked. But since I let him put it on himself...it also worked on his tongue and lips. He was NOT happy with that result but when he calmed down we aked about the tooth. Oh, yeah no pain. So dad suggested it was a good time to work on it, so he sat and wiggled it for a bit while he watched TV!

How would you like a Smile Essential package , including ARM & HAMMER Spinbrush Pro Clean Sonic and a ARM & HAMMER Spinbrush Kids
brush, such as Spider-Man, and ARM & HAMMER Advance White Toothpaste?




To win, leave a comment and tell me what you remember about losing your first tooth?

AFTER you've left your first comment, you may earn additional entries by leaving seperate comments for any of the following:


  • follow my blog (in my upper right sidebar)

  • add my button to your blog (include link to your blog)

  • subscribe to my blog via email

  • follow me on twitter, @lisanoel03

  • for 3 entries (please leave 3 separate comments,include a link to your post), blog about this giveaway, including a link to my blog post

  • for 1 entry per day (leave separate comments, including links) tweet about this contest, including a link to my blog post

Contest will end 9-8-09.
US Only

Please be sure that I have a way to contact you either with a email available on your blogger account or leave your email in your comment. If I can not contact you via email, or you do not respond with in approx. 48 hours to my email, I have to pick a new winner. And I really hate doing that!


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Aug 27, 2009

Squiggle Giveaway




I found the cutest thing for the boys. Squiggle is a great little activity for when the kids are bored or for a car activity. (assuming your kids don't get car sick)
My boys love to draw. Timmy can draw for hours and if I DO say so myself he's pretty darn good. But he can get stuck in a rut and draws the same thing, again and again.
When we got the Squiggle pads, they couldn't wait to try them out. Timmy did the Alphabet one and spun an "I." He wrote his I and then made it into an igloo. Since it suggests drawing something either using the actual letter to create your drawing or that has the letter in the word...Timmy did both! So it's obviously good for their creativity. I thought they'd get stuck and whine to me about needing ideas but so far they've done great with each thing they've spun!


Now that we've broken them in and they know what they're doing, they'll be designated travel things! I LOVE having different things to keep them busy in the car. Especially when we're making the over an hour drive to some of Tom's family's houses!

Think your kids would enjoy the Squiggle products??

To win TWO products of your CHOICE, visit randomline leave a comment telling me which of your squiggle products you think your kids would like the most.

AFTER you've left your first comment, you may earn additional entries by leaving seperate comments for any of the following:
  • follow my blog (in my upper right sidebar)
  • become a fan of randomline on facebook
  • add my button to your blog (include link to your blog)
  • subscribe to my blog via email
  • follow randomline on twitter
  • follow me on twitter, @lisanoel03
  • for 3 entries (please leave 3 separate comments,include a link to your post), blog about this giveaway, including a link to my blog post and randomline
  • for 1 entry per day (leave separate comments, including links) tweet about this contest, including a link to my blog post
Contest will end 9-5-09.
Contest open to US residents only
BE SURE I HAVE AWAY TO CONTACT YOU TO GET YOUR MAILING INFO IF YOU WIN. If I can not contact you,or if you do not respond to my email with your info within 48 hours, I have to pick another winner and I HATE doing that!!
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Another little birdy leaves the nest

Johnny had his first day today and he had a great day!! He learned songs and made me a card and just did great!  And despite what I expected he did NOT end up passing out when he got home.  I'm still interested to see if he'll be more tired on day with speech therapy because he ALWAYS feel asleep on his speech days last year.







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Aug 26, 2009

1st things 1st

It was Timmy's 1st day in 1st Grade today. Well at least, his first day as official first grader.

He actually spent a good amount of time in the qst grade class during the second half of the year last school year. Which his teacher says made him a GREAT little leader/helper today. I'm sure he loved that!!

It was raining this morning so I had to leave him waiting in the entry way which I could tell felt sort of weird to him but he did fine.








Johnny had his screening today which had fun with and also got a chance to meet his teacher, who I'm super thrilled with, is the same teacher Timmy had last year. Johnny goes tomorrow for his first day and its a full one!

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Aug 24, 2009

Not Me Monday, 8-24-09

Welcome to Not Me! Monday! This blog carnival was created by MckMama. You can head over to her blog to read what she and everyone else have not been doing this week.

It has NOT been another crazy kind of week in our house.

I did NOT shoot over 300 photos in just under 5 hours in one day. I did NOT love every minute of it.

I did NOT almost vomit after doing something to my (stil very new and very expensive) camera that left not one but two big 'scratches' in the image I see through the view finder. I am NOT BEYOND lucky that these marks do not at all show up on the actual images!!!! (Seriously thank GOD, I haven't done much at all lately and I had the senior session and like 3 other events coming up! I don't know what I would have done!)

I did NOT at any point in said shoot lay dow on my stomach in some else's driveway. There were NO neighbors hanging around to watch the whole thing.

I did NOT spend a great afternoon with my Mom and just one of my children. He was not totally overtired and silly as can be as a result! I was NOT VERY lucky that he wasn't a total monster.

I did NOT attend a Sunday School "preview" where kids AND adults took part in a Sunday School lesson together. And I did NOT get totally shown up by any kids!

I did NOT agree to work both the nursery and a two day youth event this week. I never volunteer to do anything more than I can realistically handle!

I did NOT recieve one of THOSE phone calls again Friday. It did NOT go something like this, "I'm ok but I was in an accident."

I have NOT procrastinated so that the day after tomorrow is the first day of school and I have nothing ready and will be working all day today and tomorrow and busy at the youth event tonight and tomorrow night. I will NOT be stressed trying to squeeze it all in. Nope I am an amazing time management expert...I'll even be sure to get plenty of sleep! (Ok, even I couldn't keep a straight face with that one! LOL)

Oh and I did NOT find a new delicious resturant thanks to some friends. No, I will NOT be gonig back to Noodles & Company as soon as I get the chance. I did NOT have buttered noodles (DRIPPING with butter, so not good for me but ooh sooo good) with Parmesan Crusted Chicken!! I mean I have no idea who good it is, because I was NOT there. Ok, but if I was Bryan MAY have provided some entertainment with his "piano" playing and singing.

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Aug 22, 2009

Posing Preview

I had the pleasure of taking some senior portraits for two beautiful young ladies! We took a ton of shots both inside and out! Here is a small sneak peek at few of the indoor ones.







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Aug 21, 2009

Tight Quarters


Have you ever thought to yourself that you'd really like a bigger house, or yard, or bathroom?

Well, I have to admit we have a nice big yard. But I could definitely a handle a bigger house. Just under 1000 square feet is bit squishy for 5 people, especially when 3 of them a VERY active young boys. But the one thing I really feel like we NEED is another bathroom, or a bigger bathroom OR maybe both.

But today I got some confirmation that this is not just some wishful desire, but really need. I was giving Bryan a bath. I reached up and got the shampoo from the shelf inside the tub and when I pulled back I quickly realized that Timmy had joined us in the bathroom. He'd popped in, opened the toilet and was using it. This wouldn't have been so bad, except for HOW I came to this realization. Actually, my elbow realized it first as it went right THROUGH the stream that was flowing. I thought, "What the..." for just a split second before I knew exactly "what the..." was going on.
So what do you think? Don't you think I need a bigger bathroom? I am really not a fan of being peed on! I'm all for family closeness, but really, this is just too much!


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Aug 20, 2009

Honey Kix Prize Pack Winner


True Random Number Generator Result: 26

Winner is Deann. She simplifies her mornings by:
We keep a desk organizer with 3 compartments, one section is for things to go back to school, one is for homework that needs to go back on a later date, and the last is important info for us to keep. She knows to check for papers to go back that day, and knows to put her stuff there so it doesn't get lost!
Thanks to all that entered and shared their tips. I think the #1 was to get stuff ready the night before, especially clothes which is something that DOES help a ton when I remember to do it.


THANK YOU to MyBlogSpark for this generous giveaway!!!

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