Happy Valentine's Day! 2017

In the past, I was never one to really get excited over Valentine's Day.  Mainly because the entire time that Joe and I were dating, I worked at a flower shop. Years of helping others celebrate the holiday was enough for me.

Besides, one year, Joe and I did attempt to celebrate Valentine's Day.  February 14 fell on a weekend (a Friday, I think) and as usual, I worked long shifts leading up to the day.  I also worked the day after, but a shorter day than the rest of the week, so we decided to celebrate a day late.  Joe picked me up from work and we went out for an early dinner.  I'm not sure if the restaurant was short-staffed or not, but it took a really long time for our food to come to the table.  After chatting about our week for a bit, I started to get really tired and by the time our food came out, I was having a tough time staying awake!

We realized then, that celebrating Valentine's Day with a date wasn't really an option for us!  So, in the years to follow, we just had a low-key dinner at home.  Sometimes we ordered take-out, sometimes Joe cooked, sometimes we just had leftovers.  Even after I stopped working at the flower shop, we really didn't make a big deal over the holiday.  Joe shows me every day how much he loves us and is committed to our family, I don't need one specific day to know how he loves us.

When Grace was about a year old, I think is when we started celebrating Valentine's day with her. She doesn't eat chocolate, so Valentine's Day for her meant pink and red cupcakes and a cute stuffed animal, a few decorations around the house and all of her shows having a Valentine theme for the day.

Then school started and we were celebrating Valentine's Day in a bigger way!  Special Valentine t-shirts, dresses with hearts, parties at school and Valentine cards with candy for the class!  How exciting!

For the past couple of years, I wanted to do personalized photo Valentines but never got around to taking a picture in order to create the cards.  So, when I saw that my friend Kristen (who also happens to be a photographer) was offering an amazing deal on a quick Valentine photo session, I knew I wanted to book a session!

Here's the card I designed for Grace's classmates:

Since our family is obsessed with all things Boston Terrier, we were super excited to find this awesome Valentine t-shirt at Walmart!  It was the last one and a size too big, but that's okay!  She'll be able to wear it again next year!


Speaking of being Boston Terrier obsessed, Grace wanted to include our Boston Terrier in the photo session!  Kristen is a great friend.  She adores Grace and also knows how much we love our dog, Remmy!  So she included Remmy in the next shot!

Look at that face!  Isn't it the cutest?!  Oh, yeah!  The kid is cute, too!



Local readers, if you are looking for a professional photographer at an affordable price, check out KDW Photography & Designs.  Here's another photo session of Grace taken by KDW Photography & Designs.



Disclaimer:  I was not compensated in any way for sharing the link above.

Wordless Wednesday ~ A Date with Daddy

Since Joe works a lot of weekends, Grace and I tend to have a lot of Mommy-Grace Dates.  When Joe is off on the weekends, we tend to do things as a family.  Rarely, do the two of them get to spend time together, one on one.

Girl Scouts hosted a He and Me Dance over the weekend, so this was the perfect opportunity for the two of them to have a Daddy-Grace Date.  Time together without Mommy getting in the way!

Wordless Wednesday ~ A Girl and Her Dog

I can't remember what I was doing when I spotted my two girls just staring into each other's faces.

I do remember I was thankful to have my phone handy to capture the moment.

They adore each other.

A girl and her dog....such a wonderful thing!

Bostons, Scooters, & Unicorns ~ Wordless Wednesday

Now that school is back in session, we've noticed the evenings getting both shorter and slightly cooler.  The temps have been cool enough that the dog and I can actually walk and not feel like we're going to pass out!

One night a couple of weeks ago, I decided to take my girls to the park.  I needed some exercise, Remmy needed a walk and Gracie really needed to burn off some energy.  Walking gets boring for Gracie, so as a surprise, I packed up her scooter and helmet.  Isn't that unicorn helmet fabulous?  I wish they had stuff like that when I was a kid!

About 3/4 of the way around the park, Remmy needed a break.  Just enough heat to make her need a short break.  Either that or she was enjoying the soccer game that was going on in the field!

#ReliefIsHere Vick's DayQuil and NyQuil Severe Combo Packs Get You Through Cold & Flu Season

Disclosure:  This is a sponsored post for SheSpeaks/P&G.

Every year, during the holidays, Grace and I tend to get sick.  We visit family, someone sneezes, and that's it!  We're sick for the rest of the holiday season.  It never fails.

I knew when Grace started school this year that she would start bringing home all sorts of germs and sicknesses, I just wasn't aware that it would be so often!  So far, she and the rest of our household have been sick enough times for her to miss 6 days of school from September through February.  Add in the weekends and holiday breaks that we've been feeling under the weather and that's a lot of sick days!  In a conversation with a friend, we determined that sharing germs is the main lesson taught to our 5 and 6 year olds in Kindergarten!

Thanks to SheSpeaks along with P&G, we are ready for the next bout of colds & flu with a Vick's DayQuil Severe and NyQuil Severe combo pack!

I don't know about you, but when I am sick, I like to be snuggled on the couch with pillows and blankets with a fire going in the fireplace along with a bunch of other necessities to make me more comfortable while recovering:

• hot tea
• pulp-free orange juice with lots of ice
• old movies
• books/magazines 
• snow cones for a scratchy throat
• Vick's VapoRub
• tissues
• of course, chicken soup and lots of rest

The lots of rest portion of that list isn't always realistic, but luckily, Grace can be somewhat sympathetic to mommy feeling yucky.  Especially, if she had just recently dealt with a bug herself. Often, she will snuggle with me or play quietly in her room while I have control of the TV for once! 

In addition to my home remedy list above, Joe and I have always made sure to keep our medicine basket well-stocked with DayQuil and NyQuil products.  Joe prefers the liquid form while I always opted for the gel tabs.  So, I was excited to be given the opportunity to try this new maximum strength version.

Vick's NyQuil Severe and DayQuil Severe are available in both liquid and caplet form and are available in a convenient combo pack containing both the non-drowsy and night time relief dosages for temporary relief of common cold and flu symptoms:

• Nasal Congestion
• Sinus Congestion and pressure
• Cough due to minor throat and bronchial irritation
• Minor aches and pains
• Fever
• Headache
• Sore throat
• Reduces swelling of nasal passages
• Temporarily restores freer breathing through the nose
• Promotes nasal and/or sinus drainage 

Since Vick's NyQuil/DayQuil Severe Cold and Flu Combo Packs are available at Walmart (both online at Walmart.com and in the store), it's easy to stock up on all that you need to get you through the rest of the cold and flu season!  

Follow along via social media to learn more about Vick's NyQuil/DayQuil Severe Cold and Flu: 

• Hashtag:  #ReliefIsHere

• Twitter: @Walmart

• Facebook:  NyQuil and DayQuil

How To Train Your Dragon 2 Opens this weekend!

Looking for an action-packed weekend of fun for the whole family? Head to your local IMAX® Theater for the premiere of How to Train Your Dragon 2!

Starting this Friday, June 13th, the second chapter of DreamWorks Animation's beloved How to Train Your Dragon franchise is soaring to all IMAX theatres domestically in select engagements. The IMAX 3D release will be digitally re-mastered into the image and sound quality of The IMAX Experience®, creating a unique environment that will make audiences feel as though they are flying alongside heroic Viking Hiccup and his faithful dragon, Toothless.


Jay Baruchel, Gerard Butler, Craig Ferguson, America Ferrera, Jonah Hill, T.J. Miller, Christopher Mintz-Plasse and Kristen Wiig reprise their respective voice roles, joined this time by Academy Award® winner Cate Blanchett, Djimon Honsou and Kit Harington.

Disclosure:  The information above has been provided by IMAX.

Local Event ~ Fundraiser Carnival for Salem

Today, you're reading a guest post from my friend Emily.  She's posted here before about her It Works! business, but today she is telling us about a local fundraising event that she is putting together with another mom, for a local girl and her family.

I am helping to organize a fundraiser for a little girl who is in my daughter’s kindergarten class, who is battling a life-threatening brain tumor. I wanted to do something, anything, to help them, as my heart was breaking for them. Another Mom, Kristy Morales, is helping me to organize it, and we decided on a Carnival theme, to make it fun for families and kids, since it is to benefit a child.  

We have planned carnival games, fun foods, balloon animals, face painting, costumed characters, a fun photo booth, raffles, vendors, build a buddy & crafts, chair massages and more! Friday, May 23, 6-9pm in the Calvary Church Gym, 820 Rt 113, Souderton, PA 18964. (entrance #15, facing Rt 113)  

For those unable to attend in person, there will be online sales by some of the vendors, on the face book page (link at bottom of post), and a % of those sales will go to the family.  

Or you can contact me directly to include a donation to the family:

• email
• or call, 215-906-2552

Salem was diagnosed last November with a life threatening brain tumor. She underwent surgery and then heavy chemo, and the family was told that the chance of remission was only around a 30%- 50% at that time. She had to have other surgeries. Salem was out of school for most of November through April, in the hospital or in bed. She suffers nausea, headaches, fatigue, imbalance issues, back pain, difficulty sleeping, double vision, GI issues, hand tremors, and hearing loss, due to the tumor & its treatment. Salem is a triplet, so she has two sisters, and a brother in first grade. The family has dealt with all of this through this winter’s terrible cold and flu season, and massive snow storms (often keeping Salem from being able to see her siblings). Lots of medicine and procedures, long hospital stays, an eye patch and a feeding tube. The chemotherapy was ultimately not successful, and the cancer progressed. The family was talking hospice at that point, and my heart was breaking for them.  

Salem has since undergone a round of radiation, and is currently stabilized. She has been able to come to school some, and the kids are so happy to see her back. The prognosis is not good, but not zero. The family has been scheduled for their Make A Wish trip for the week of our fundraiser, so they regret not being able to actually attend, but we still hope for a good attendance by the community and to raise funds to help with their medical bills and expenses. They hope to know more the week after the fundraiser, when she will have her follow up MRI. They are so thankful to the community for the support, and we hope that everyone continues to offer their prayers and support for Salem and her family.

Please come out and have some fun to help support a local little girl with a big fight! 

Fri, May 23, 6-9pm in the Calvary Church Gym, 820 Rt 113, Souderton, PA. 

For full event details and a list of activities, please check out the event website or the face book event page.

Wordless Wednesday ~ It's a Wonderful Life with Elf on the Shelf

Last year, I was telling Joe about Elf on the Shelf over dinner.  While I was familiar with the elves and their antics, I was sure Joe didn't know what I was talking about one bit!

The next day, he surprised me...um, I mean Grace...with her own Elf on the Shelf.  We took a couple of days trying to pick a name.  Grace wasn't liking any of the Christmas-y names we suggested.  One of us suggested Maggie and Grace agreed that it was the perfect name for our visitor!

Both this year and last, Maggie has been a tame little elf.  She doesn't get into all the trouble that I've heard some of the other elves get themselves into!  She simply perches high up on the shelves, curtain rods or the hanging light in our dining room.

I suspect she is worried that Grace won't obey the rule about the elves losing their Christmas magic if touched.  But I'm sure next year, Maggie will be feeling a little more comfortable at our house and start being mischievous like her buddies at the North Pole!

Snow Day Milk Shakes

I cannot believe that it's not even officially winter yet and we've been hit with snow twice this week already! Snow that I was not expecting at all!  Guess that's what happens when Disney Jr is on the tv all day!

Facebook has been buzzing today with photos of the storm.  Pretty pictures of snow-covered trees.  Fun snap shots of the kiddos playing in the snow.  Some not-so-fun photos of traffic jams caused by the snow.

When I saw this picture posted by my friend Kristen, I just knew I had to share it with you today!  How fun is this?  Making milkshakes with snow!

This is something Kristen learned from her dad when she was a kid and she was excited to share this fun snowy treat with her son!

While Kristen didn't measure anything out, she did tell me she used snow, milk, sugar and a tiny amount of vanilla extract.  But how yummy would it be to use peppermint or coconut extract?  Or even some cocoa for a chocolaty snow shake?

Looking online, I found recipes using 2-3 cups of milk to a blender full of snow, along with 1/2 cup of sugar. Another recipe even used sweetened condensed milk and skipped the sugar!  And one calls for a shot of your favorite whiskey!  Mmm!  So maybe some coconut flavored rum instead of coconut extract?  Really, you are only limited by your imagination and what's available in your pantry...and maybe the amount of clean snow you have on your lawn!

Thanks for the inspiration, Kristen!  I think I'll be having lots of fun with this idea this winter!

Wordless Wednesday ~ Beautiful Fall Day

We found ourselves with some free time over the weekend and decided to take Grace to the park for a couple of hours.  Grace enjoyed playing at the playground with Joe while I took a nice walk around the walking path for some exercise.

After a little more playtime, we all walked over to see the geese in the pond.

What a wonderful way to spend a beautiful fall day!

Grace visits Crayola Experience in Easton, PA

Recently, we had the opportunity to visit the Crayola Experience.  Something Grace was looking forward to ever since she first saw the commercial for the newly remodeled attraction on TV.

We decided that a rainy Monday was the perfect time take the trip out to Easton, PA and add some fun to a dreary day!

After watching a youtube video while we were getting ourselves ready for the outing, Grace could hardly wait to get there and her excitement was evident when we found ourselves outside of the colorful 4-story building!

Once we were inside, we let Grace take the lead for the day and take us to the activities that she wanted to see.

First stop was Wrap it Up, where you can name your own crayon!

Grace, of course chose to personalize a PINK crayon using the tokens provided when we checked in.  With a little help from her daddy, she was able to personalize and print out a label for her crayon!


From there, we went on to visit Art Alive!  I think Grace could have spent the entire day in this room!  She loved creating digital works of art on the touch-screen monitor and seeing them projected onto the wall to incorporate her creation onto a large underwater scene!

She is so proud of her PINK crab!


From there, Grace led us to the Colossal Caddy!  So many crayons in one place!

I can't be sure, but I suspect she colored her picture PINK!


Next stop, Toddler Town!

A room of activities geared toward younger kids.  I'll admit, I didn't see all of it since I was busy watching Grace play with the multi-colored pegboard.  Reminded me of one of my favorite childhood toys!


Since Grace was leading the way, we ended up skipping over a few attractions before arriving at the Water Works.  She loves to play in water, so there was no way she was skipping her chance to navigate her crayon boat through the canal.  She even tried cutting through the line to play again when her turn was over!

Our last stop before heading back down stairs to the lower level was Melt Down where Grace painted a dinosaur (I kept calling it an alligator) with melted crayons.  I didn't get many pictures of this as I was helping Grace with this activity since she was nervous of the hot wax.

Of course, we couldn't skip the Crayola Store!  I was like a kid in the candy store and could have easily purchased two of everything if Joe wasn't with us!

Instead, we let Grace fill a souvenir tin with crayons and markers.  Just like I thought she would, she tried to fill it entirely with PINK crayons and markers!  Grace also picked out a plushy and a Christmas ornament along with a couple other must-have items!

After peeking out the door, I saw that the rain held off.  So, we decided to use another exit and take the long way around back to our car.  I'm glad we did!  These giant crayon and marker sculptures are awesome!


I look forward to visiting again to try out the attractions we skipped over as it was all too much for her to take in all at once!

And if seeing Grace's smiling face while she was enjoying her day at the Crayola Experience wasn't enough...here's a picture I snapped of her outside!  The Crayola Experience was a definite hit!

Even after a few weeks since our trip to Easton, Grace is still talking about her Crayola Experience!  Fitting the topic into just about any conversation she can!



Disclosure:  My family received free tickets and a gas card from Crayola Experience in exchange for a review of our experience.  All opinions are honest and our own.

The Crayola Experience

Crayons and coloring books have always been a big deal in my family.

• When we were kids, my brother and I would always find a new box of crayons in our Easter baskets and Christmas stockings.  Plus, there was always a new box when it was time for back to school shopping.  (Oh, I loved back to school shopping!)  

• Packing toys, games and other activities for vacations or an evening at a relative's house, always included a box of crayons along with paper or coloring books.  

• And, whenever there was a family birthday or anniversary to celebrate, I would dig out my construction paper and crayons and create one of a kind cards to celebrate the special occasion.  

The one thing that was always the same in those scenarios was the brand.  Crayola is the only one for us!

Grace holding a crayon at 21 months old

When I was pregnant with Grace, I hoped that my daughter would enjoy coloring and creating masterpieces just like her mommy and knew that when the time was right, I'd take her to Crayola Factory located in Easton, PA.  Over the weekend, Grace saw a commercial for the newly re-opened/re-modeled Crayola Experience and insisted that I rewind it over and over again!  So, I'm thinking that now is the right time to make the trip...as soon as Joe can get a day off from work!

The Crayola Experience is the only place in the world where the magic of Crayola comes to life. With four floors of new, interactive, one-of-a-kind attractions, there is so much to explore this summer! Enter a world of discovery where color, chemistry, and technology magically combine to create a colorful adventure! There will be many new attractions, including the following:

• Wrap It Up! - Customize an authentic Crayola crayon label and wrap it around the color of your choice to create your very own crayon.

• Crayon Factory - Learn how iconic Crayola crayons are made in a live theatre show featuring our resident Crayonologist and his animated crayon character friends!

• Marker Mania - Make custom multi-color markers from scratch.

• Color Playground - Burn off excess energy in this Crayola-inspired indoor playground!

• Art Alive! - Make your art come to life on huge projected surfaces! 

I have a feeling that the Color Playground will be Grace's favorite attraction of the day, while I know I will love Art Alive!  Which attraction would you and your family enjoy?  

Please note:  The Crayola Experience information has been provided by Crayola.

Second Hand Treasures ~ Vintage Cookware

Ever since I was a little girl, I loved old things.  I enjoyed looking at a vintage item and wondering about it's history.  Now, I tend to look for things to incorporate into my small, but growing collections while still thinking about the previous owners.

A few weeks ago, we happened to be running errands not too far from my favorite thrift shop.  I was pleased when my four year-old asked to go into what she calls the "bird store".  Fitting name since there's a bird on the sign.  We didn't have anything else planned for the day, so we parked the car and ventured into the shops for some browsing.

Grace enjoys testing each chair and sofa in the furniture department, but her patience wears off by the time Joe gets to the hardware department.  By this time she is so excited, she just can't wait to get to the toy section!  I love that she can be equally pleased with a 99 cent thrift shop find as she would be with a shopping spree at that major toy retailer.

I thought that I took pictures of all of our finds from that day, but when looking back at my camera I noticed I only took a couple photos of some pots and pans we picked up that day.  So, I'll have to come back another time to share the rest of our second-hand treasures with you.  But for now, take a peek at 3 of the items we brought home with us that day!

The top two pots were my picks for the day!  

I have a difficult time resisting old enamel kitchen items.  

Joe has wanted a cast iron skillet for some time.  

This one needs a little cleaning up.  

Since I don't have any experience with that, 

I'll leave that up to him!  

I love that large stock pot!  

I wish I had this one around when Grace was smaller, 

it sure would make for a great photo prop!  

I don't usually purchase two enamel pieces in one outing.  

We live in a small house, so I really try not to go overboard with collecting.  

So, for the sake of space and our budget, 

I usually limit my purchases to ONE collectible item.  

Especially, when it's not half price day!  

But I really had a tough time deciding 

when I came across this green pot.  

Even Joe was surprised 

when he spotted both items in our cart!  

I rationalized it like this:  

Well, we haven't been here in a while...

and probably won't be for a few weeks...

And I don't have anything this size (speaking of the stock pot) 

or this color (that green pot) yet!  

I'm still waiting for Joe to clean up this skillet 

and cook up something delicious!  

I'll have to pull a few more items out of the cupboards, so I can snap some photos to share with you next week!  

This post has been linked up to the following blog carnivals and linky parties:

• Vintage Thingie Thursday hosted by the Coloradolady