Little Tikes celebrates Leap Year with a Giveaway

Quick note to readers, LittleTikes.com is giving away 29 wagons in the month of February. One for each day of the month including the 29th since it's a leap year. This LeapSweeps is free to enter at LittleTikes.com and people can enter as often as they’d like. The Sweepstakes starts today on LittleTikes.com.

Master Bedroom Makeover in the works

Longtime readers know I try to tackle making over a room or two each year.  I'm a big fan of trying to keep our home decor current (within our budget of course).  A peeve for me are those homes that you can tell were impeccably decorated at one time, but have been never been refreshed since the day the home was declared complete.

Last year we tackled a huge project, our kitchen.  A leak from our old  dishwasher warped the flooring prompting us to finally nearly gut this room.  We tore out layers and layers of flooring, removed walls, moved cabinets around reusing our existing cabinets in different locations, and added a craigslist find, and adding new finishings.  A year later, we still love LOVE the results.  It's more open set-up and updated surfaces work really well for our large family

Play Food by Learning Resources (Giveaway)

I've in all odds mentioned numerous times how much my twin boys adore roleplaying games.  They spend hours together playing "house, restaurant, kitchen, vacation, and jobs".  Some of their very favorite toys are items that enhance their roleplaying fun.  Learning Resources has proven to offer a huge selection of just such items.

One of our latest favorites is a new set of play food known as the New Sprouts™ Munch It! My very own play food set.  The Much It! set includes:  2 Slices of Bread, 3-piece Blueberry Muffin, Glass of Milk, 2 Slices of Cheese, Carrot, Juice Box, Mini Bagel, Bowl of Cereal, Bowl of Mac & Cheese, Yogurt Cup, Hot Dog in Bun, Banana, Cookie, Clementine Orange, Apple, and a couple spoons.

Ocean Spray Fruit Snacks (Giveaway)

We have a lot of fruit snack fans in our home.  Most people would likely assume it's the twin 3 year olds that consume the most followed in order by the 10 year old and 13 year old, but they would be wrong.  While all 4 of the youngest love fruit snacks, it's pur 17 year old that is considered the household aficionado of fruit snacks.  In fact, his girlfriends family even tested his vast knowledge of the different brands and their flavors by blindfolding him and feeding him various brands.  Let's just say, the kids knows his fruit snacks.

One-Track Minds (Who won't my kids keep their rooms clean?)

If my 3 oldest kids formed a band it would be called "one-track minds" or something to that effect. They will spend countless hours of their lives working themselves beyond the point of total exhaustion for their sport. If anything, I find myself having to beg them to layoff a bit. In fact, they'd eat and drink almost anything I told would make them faster, stronger, better. They give up attending parties and gatherings with zero complaints to be well rested for their events. However, 5 minutes spent picking up their rooms is an IMPOSSIBLE feat.

Kids cutting their own hair and others (The Gray Area)

I've heard the stories of kids getting a hold of the scissors and cutting their own hair.  My girlfriends have posted these nightmare tales as their facebook statuses.  Worse yet, I've heard the stories about kids getting hold of the scissors and cutting another child's hair.  It's a terrible parenting moment either way.  They did something you've in all odds told them specifically NOT do.  They've knowingly disobeyed you and your left wondering why?

Back to Normal?

We survived the car ride back home to Illinois from Colorado.  A huge shout out to in the car DVD players, crayons, coloring books, and electronic devices like the iPad and Kindle Fire for making it fairly painless for everyone.  Fruit snacks and cheddar crackers should also get an honorable mention.

Wrapping up our winter holiday

The twins had a blast on the tail end of our vacation here in Colorado. They loved going up the mountain in the snowcat along with big sister, hubby, and I. I think the exact quote was "that was so cool, we have to do that again."

We met the rest of our group at a mountain cabin for delicious lunch. They even got a taste of what skiing and boarding is really like from big brothers and their uncle. The ride back down was fun as well. They can hardly wait until next year when they are old enough to try skiing themselves.

Today will bring pizza with friends also staying in the area and packing for home. Back to the realities of home, school, weekly activities, and work.

How 2012 began

The little boys began 2012 peacefully tucked inside our vacation destination while the bigger boys including hubby plowed right into 2012 as they headed off to ski.

The twins and I spent much needed quiet time playing games, reading, and trying our hand at watercolors. A long nap was nestled in there some where as well.

Big sister, Cordelia, was home with us. She's out of her hard cast but still in a soft cast for several weeks. She's not giving up on making the most of It though.

Here's hoping you started your year off on the right foot!

Goodbye to 2011 & Hello to 2012

2011 was a fabulous year for my crew filled with much fun and many accomplishments. A few bumps in the road here or there, but all in all it shall be missed. Onward we head into 2012 ... Happy New Year!

Christmas Vacation

Chicago may not have yielded a white Christmas, but it's certain to be a snowy white New Year now that we have arrived in Colorado.

2011 "Year in Review" AndTwinsMake5's List of Top Kids & Mom Apps

In 2011, we head the pleasure of sharing 13 different app round-up posts with our readers. We hope to bring even more to everyone in 2012! Watch for monthly and themed app round-ups including not only apps for the Apple iPhone, iTouch, and iPads but for the Kindle Fire as well.






Here's all the 2011 round-ups: