I Heart Instagram--September Photo Dump

If you're friends with me on Facebook or friends with me on Instagram, it's no secret that I have a crush on my Instagram app. It's addicting. Quick. Easy. Fun.

If you don't have Instagram I highly suggest snagging that little app for your phone--you can thank me later. It's a great way to snap a pic and give it a different look, a different feel and the bonus? You can stream it right onto your Facebook, Twitter accounts in a snap.

So, here are a few of my favorite pics from September...love!

From left: 1. The girls filling up their car...so sweet when they play nicely together! 2. Brynlie on our car trip to Houston a couple of weeks ago. Great times. 3. My lucky scratcher Bingo ticket--won $200! 4. Sweet Brynlie asleep...love sleeping baby pics. 5. Me and my new hair. I am not going to show a close up of the highlight job...not good, friends. 6. Brynlie on our trip home from Houston earlier this week. More great times. 7. Maddie on a rocking horse at her grandparents' in Houston...she turned into a cowgirl while we were in Texas. 8. My two new fave hair products. I'm a hair product junkie. 9. Brynlie at the Houston zoo--LOVE the pic of her. 10. Isabella outside of her dance class. Girlfriend is in l-o-v-e with dance and her "teach-ah".

That was my photo dump for September. Hoping to do this weekly...if you do a photo dump leave me a comment--I love checking out pics from my favorite readers!

Fall Love...

Can you believe that tomorrow is the first true day of fall? I know-I can't either, although I have been in fall mode since September 1st.

Fall is time for warm, cozy blankets.

Pumpkin spice lattes with whipped cream on top.

Pumpkin breads and banana breads.

My favorite Gap Long & Lean jeans.

Sweaters.

Warm socks.

Chili.

Chicken noodle soup.

Red, yellow and orange leaves.

Or just brown leaves like we get down south.

Lots of good books to read.

Halloween.

Thanksgiving.

Cute boots for the girls. And me.

Fall television lineup.

Scary movies.

It's The Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown.

There we have it. My list of fall...what makes fall turn into fall for you?

Friends You Love: It's Back!

Last year's Friends You Love event was a great success. So great in fact that we are once again gearing up to have a fun and eventful month beginning October 1st!

What is Friends You Love? It is a time when we can celebrate our friendships and bonds that we, as women have formed over the years. For me, personally, it's a great time to reflect and remember my friends that have impacted my life and that have helped me become the persona and woman that I am today.

The month long activities include:

• Twitter Party! Help us kick off the month long event with a Twitter Party on October 4th starting at 7:30 pm CST. This will be partnered with the fabulous One2One Network! 

• World's Greatest BFF Contest! This contest will run from October 1-22. Tell us all why your BFF is the world's greatest and you could win an amazing prize pack for you AND your BFF! This is brought to you by Earth to Alice. 

• Join the Monday Blog Hop! Do you have some favorite blogs that are a must have? A blogger that inspires you to be better at the things you do or inspires you to try new things? Invite a blogger to come and guest post at your blog to show your readers why you love them so. Then link up and you could be a winner of a prize brought to you by Eyedews! If you are interested in blogging on my site let me know! I would love to have you! And if you are needing/wanting a guest poster feel free to contact me!  

•   Bestie Photo Contest! The week of October 9th you can enter your favorite photo of you and your BFF together. When you link up you can win great prizes from Bare Escentuals!

• Enter our Scavenger Hunt! The week of October 16th you can search for fun friendship facts found on Twitter and the internet. Be the quickest and most accurate to win a great prize from Trading Phrases.

• Twitter Gala! This will be the grand finale to the month of fun. Join us on October 25th at 7:30 pm CST to talk all things friends and for your chance to win great prizes from Bare Escentuals!

Outdoor Fun with My Family

If there is one thing that my family loves to do it is playing outside. We could spend hours at a time playing and just enjoying one another while we have fun outside. Being such an outdoors loving family I wanted to share a few of our favorite outdoor activities that we do with one another.

1. We love going on walks. Whether we are walking around our neighborhood, walking the track at the park, or even when we were on our vacation in the Smoky Mountains hiking their beautiful trails outside. Walking not only encourages you to observe different things with your children, but also is a great way to sneak in some exercise.

2. Paint with water. I love getting some water in containers and gathering up many different sizes of paintbrushes. The girls then "paint" with water out on our driveway or one of our porches. They love creating and then watching the magic of the sun dry it up. This is a fun and expensive outdoor activity that you can virtually do anywhere with your children.

3. Head to your local park. My family is so lucky that we have a gorgeous and spacious park literally less than a minute away from our home. There my daughters can run, climb, jump, swing and then when they are done they can play in the splash pad to cool themselves down. If we go during the early evening hours I take this opportunity to walk the track for some exercise while my husband watches the girls.

4. Hook up your sprinkler! We have bought and tried so many expensive sprinkler toys out there on the market, but our favorite is a normal sprinkler that you would use to water your lawn. The girls beg to put on their suits, turn on the sprinkler and play with one another under the sprinkler. Bonus? We are watering our lawn at the same time. It is a win for everyone!

5. Go on a hunt for something. I cannot tell you how much fun we have collecting different things. Some of our favorite hunted items include flowers (I try to name a specific color for them to collect), rocks of all shapes and sizes, pinecones from the pine trees we have lining our streets, acorns to gather for the squirrels. The girls love the little scavenger hunt and it really works out well for all seasons.

There you have five of my family's favorite outdoor activities. What are some of the activities that you love to do as a family while you are enjoying the outdoors?


I wrote this blog post while participating in the SocialMoms and Clorox2® blogging program, for a gift card worth $40. For more information on how you can participate, click here

Happy 4 Months, Sweet Brynlie!

 4 months today! What to do, what to do...

What's up....

Why Can I Not Find a Hair Stylist?

Seriously. Enough with the horrible hair stylists. The last two that I went to here in Mississippi have been awful. As in their hair skills are way below satisfaction.

I don't think that I am asking much.

I want someone to not leave 1/2 inch of roots showing from my highlights. I mean, come one. Put the foils up to the top. Apply hair color. Voila.

When I say that I want highlights, but want them to look natural, don't practically color my entire head of hair blonde. Totally not natural. And for the record--blonde isn't orange. Just sayin'.

When I bring in a picture (in color to even help said stylist out) please listen to me. Please, please, please study the picture, study the texture of my hair and tell me if you don't think that this is possible for my hair or your skill level. Don't glance once at the picture and not look at it again.

Don't have your male coworkers feeding you bites of cake while I am your client. Right then and there I decided that this place was not for me.

Don't try to have my buy clip on feathers for my daughters. Not interested. I saw the racks when I walked in. If I was interested I would buy them when paying. Not when I am sitting in the chair wondering who else would come and feed you some bites of food.

My hair currently looks like crap. From the hack job to the horrible highlight job, I am upset. I know it's just "hair", but that is one area of my life that I feel like I have control of. Not to mention that I am paying a lot of money to get my hair "professionally" done.

Someone suggested another salon--much closer to my home and they even have portfolios of their work. It looks like they have fixed quite a few bad hair jobs from their pictures...I am praying that this one works out. I can't keep going home to Missouri to have my #1 girl fix my hair every month!

Now the countdown is on until I go and get my hair done again. 7 1/2 weeks to go. I may beg and plead and cry to Leo that 5 1/2 weeks would be much better...

Thanks for listening...just not happy with my hair...*sigh*

The One Where I am a Dance Mom...

 Isabella has recently started dance class which consists of tap and ballet. She has wanted to dance for so long and I really think that this will do wonders for her firecracker personality. Watching her do the tap moves and ballet poses is one of the cutest and funniest things ever. I am constantly giggling and grinning from ear to ear while I watch her. You can definitely tell who the newbie mom is that has never had her daughter enrolled in anything...I probably embarrass her to death. Poor Isabella!

Madelyn, unfortunately, is too young to be in the class. On the first day of Bella's first class Madelyn insisted on wearing her own dance attire. She was so happy and felt so big in her own precious leotard and tights. Isabella was so great about it and really was happy that Madelyn was dressed up which really made me proud of her.

Once the first class had started the students were sitting on the floor, legs stretched out in front and hands in their laps. They were each telling the teacher, Miss L, their names. I was holding Brynlie and before I could stop Madelyn she was sitting at the end of the row with the students.

It was the sweetest thing ever, and absolutely shattered my heart that I had to go and remove her from the class. She broke down in tears and was sobbing. I felt so bad for Maddie! She was so proud of herself and even made sure that she was sitting just like the big girls.

Sigh.

I'm thinking once spring arrives that I'll enroll both big girls in gymnastics somewhere...but until then Madelyn will keep wearing her leotard and tights to dance to her big sister's class.

Brynlie's Birth Announcement from CardsDirect {Review}

When it comes to picking out baby girl birth announcements I tend to take a long time until I find one that I love. There are so many different sites and I used to have the problem of not knowing where to even begin searching.

When I was told about CardsDirect I was curious and went to check out their site. I loved their girl photo announcements selection! I was so in love with multiple designs that it literally took me an entire evening to finally decide on that one card design to order.

Adding my own words, font, and picture were very easy to do. Have you ever went to order a card or invitation of some sort only to be confused on the execution and how to navigate the site? CardsDirect was so simple to do!  The spot for the photo is preselected for you. You upload the photo of your choice and drag it to the card. From there you can move the photo around with your mouse to get it to fit correctly and to your liking.

After I completed the photo portion I added the wording and played around with the font, font size and color. They do have their preset option, but I chose to scroll through their large selection of fonts before settling on one that I loved with my card. You can also change the size of your font if needed and change the color to a color of your choice.

Here is the card that I chose:

All in all I am very pleased with my photo baby announcements from CardsDirect. My cards arrived in the mail very quickly and they were packaged up beautifully. I can't wait to mail them out--especially since Brynlie is almost 4 months old.


Thank you to CardsDirect for providing the products for review. I was not compensated for this review and all opinions are 100% mine.

Since I Haven't Posted for a Week...

Seriously? An entire week since I have read another blog or bothered to write a post? I swear time slips away from me much too easily...I blame it on there not being enough caffeine in the world to make me feel like a normal, functioning woman. Here is a little of what's running through my head:


* Leo will be painting my entire home next week! The girls and I will be living it up in Texas while he is here painting away. For the record this was his idea...and I couldn't be happier since I've been only begging for us to painting for 4 years that he made such a sweet offer!

* When Leo bought me a Nook Color I was a little on the iffy side. Seriously. I love books. How they smell. Bending the pages. Turning the pages with my fingers. Now that I have a new baby and am awakened frequently at night? Hello, Nook Color! It's like my new BFF/must have/highly recommended product. Trust me.

* Hello, fall lineup on tv! I'm excited for the following shows to return: Grey's (no brainer there), Survivor, Modern Family, and I'm starting to get into Parenthood. Excited for these new shows: Whitney, Up All Night, 2 Broke Girls. What shows are you excited for this fall? I'm going to love having a full DVR to watch at night when the girls are all asleep!

* Getting my hair done on Friday! I'm cutting it. I'm so not a long hair type of girl. It's below my shoulders and I've had enough. Also going to be doing some highlights/lowlights. Cannot WAIT.

* Where do you buy clothes at? I've been losing weight (now at my lowest since having Brynlie!) and I am over yoga pants. Help! I love Anthropologie, but we don't have one here and honestly I wouldn't spend that much money on clothes for myself at the moment.


Okay, so that's it in a nutshell. I'll *hopefully* be catching up on my blog reading this weekend and next week. I always get a little extra time when we're visiting the grandparents...it's a win/win for us all!

Infantino: Right Angle Tummy Triangle

Tummy time can be a frustrating time for your little one. It's hard work to be on your tummy and trying to control your head and neck. After Brynlie was born and we were doing her daily tummy time she would start crying after a few minutes. She couldn't understand why I would place her on a blanket, on her stomach, and want her to try and hold her head up.

As she has gotten older she has gotten to be a pro at tummy time. Taking time out for my daughter daily to practice neck and head control is still a must, but now that she is interested in her surroundings more I try to make her tummy time a lot more fun for her.

She has gotten to try out the new Infantino Right Angle Tummy Triangle and we both give it two thumbs up. The Right Angle Tummy Triangle is angled and allows your infant a different tummy time experience. It comes with a fun bar, mirror, crinkle bee and musical timer which allows mom or dad to keep track with how long your little one has been playing on their tummy.

The Right Angle Tummy Triangle encourages your infant to use their tummy time in three different areas which you will notice them progress as they get older. The different areas include head control, neck and arm strength, and the third is lifting the torso and reaching forward. It is approved for ages 0 months and older.

Brynlie and I both love the Right Angle Tummy Triangle! It allows her to play in a different way and I love how different this toy is. She loves the crinkle bee and I love watching her actually enjoy being on her tummy.

I think that it would make a great toy to purchase for your newborn and you can even buy it for the next baby shower that you'll attend. It will be a huge hit with baby's parents to be! You can purchase the Right Angle Tummy Triangle at Babies R Us online and in stores. It's also available on Amazon for pre-order.



Do you want to keep up with Infantino? Check them out here:

Infantino on Facebook
Infantino on Twitter
Infantino on YouTube



I am a participant in a Mom Central Consulting campaign for Infantino and have received various Infantino products as part of my participation.

I'm a Sandals Loving Girl...

It's no secret that I have a love of shoes. For myself, for my daughters and even for my husband. One of my favorite brands of shoes is Havaianas. There are so many cute styles out there that are available for many different functions. If you haven't heard of them, I  recommend that you go and take a look for yourself--they have endless possibilities!

A trend that has been increasing in popularity amongst brides and bridal parties are having the entire wedding party sport bridal flip flops. I have to admit that I really wish that I had went with this footwear choice on my wedding day. You can get white for the bride or another color if you have an accent color that you are wanting for your shoes. You can also get your bridesmaids a pair to wear after the wedding is over for all of the dancing and walking around. I love seeing bridal flip flops in wedding pictures. Seriously a cute statement and a laid back look.

Maybe you are already married or not looking to get married in the new future. Not to worry because Havaianas offers an enormous variety of every day sandals. The options truly are endless when you choose Havaianas. You can browse their selections and if you cannot find exactly what you are looking for you can make your own pair! Simply click on the "Make Your Own" link on the left sidebar and from there you get to choose your gender, color of your sandal sole, color of the straps and you can even pick out crystals and pins to add some extra flair to your pair.

Havaianas are an amazing sandal and shoe source. They're comfortable, stylish and have different looks for your entire family to love. Check out their shoes today and have fun picking out a pair or designing your own custom look!


This was a sponsored post. All opinions expressed above are my own. No other compensation was given.

My Baby Clothes Boutique {Review & Giveaway}

Congrats to #111, Gina F! She has been contacted. Thanks to all that entered!

If you were to ask my husband about my shopping habits for the girls he would tell you that it could be considered as one of my hobbies. I would definitely have to agree with him there. Shopping for Isabella, Madelyn and Brynlie is one of my favorite things to do.

I was recently introduced to My Baby Clothes Boutique, an online boutique that has the most adorable outfits, shoes, accessories--seriously cute items on this site. There is something for everyone on My Baby Clothes Boutique. Before I picked out Brynlie's outfit I browsed for so long. I fell in love with so many pieces!

I picked out the Bonnie Jean Fuzzy Gray Leopard Print Dress and Pant Set. It is adorable! The outfit is so soft and the colors are adorable. The quality of the outfit is amazing and most importantly? My Brynlie looks beyond cute in the outfit. I am seriously counting down the days until it is cooler so she can wear it.

***Giveaway***

One lucky person will win a $25 gift code to My Baby Clothes Boutique. To be eligible to win visit My Baby Clothes Boutique and tell me what you would use the $25 on. This must be completed before any/all bonus entries will count. 

***Bonus Entries***

{1 entry daily} Tell me another item you would love to buy from My Baby Clothes Boutique. Cannot be something you previously left a comment on. This can be done every day!

{1 entry each} Follow Winey Mommy via GFC, subscribe to Winey Mommy via email, and/or subscribe to Winey Mommy via RSS.

{ 1 entry} "Like" My Baby Clothes Boutique on Facebook. Please leave your first name & last initial in comment.

{1 entry} "Like" Winey Mommy on Facebook. Please leave your first name & last initial in comment.  

{ 1 entry} Follow Winey Mommy on Twitter. 

{1 entry daily} Tweet this giveaway! You can click the retweet button at the top of this post or create your own tweet (if you do this leave link to giveaway in tweet or it will not count). Leave tweet link in your comment.

{2 entries} Post my button on your website/blog. 

***Rules***

This giveaway will end on September 15th @ NOON CST. Open to all US residents 18+. To be eligible to win you must do mandatory entry. If you do not follow that rule all entries will be void. Leave a valid email address in comment or available on profile. Winner will be drawn via Random.org and will have 48 hours to respond to notification email. If winner does not contact back w/full name/address a new winner will be picked. All winners will be posted on blog when picked. This blog is not responsible for prizes not being delivered, getting lost, etc.Facebook and Twitter have no bearing on giveaway or outcome of giveaway. I will try my hardest to work with company if something should go wrong. This blog is not responsible for anything regarding to your use of product.

I received the product above in order to facilitate my review and giveaway. No other compensation was given and all opinions expressed above are my own.

 

Mat Kearney: Young Love

Have you noticed that so many of today's songs and artists have lost their uniqueness? There are so many songs and artists that sound similar and honestly I don't want to waste my money on them. If I buy an album I want it to be good.

That's why when I popped in my new Mat Kearney CD, Young Love, I was the one who fell in love. His music doesn't sound like anything mass produced, I can relate to what he is singing about and I can listen to it in front of my family without worrying about any words that my girls shouldn't be hearing.

I will be honest that previously to receiving the Mat Kearney CD I wasn't entirely sure of who he was. But now I can't imagine my iPod without him on it. Love his music! Come to find out his music has been featured on Grey's Anatomy, Scrubs, The Hills. I probably have heard some of his music and just never realized it.

Mat Kearney's style is amazing, the beat is totally catchy and the lyrics are sweet. My favorite song is Hey Mama:







So? Do you like it? Catchy isn't it? I dare you to put it on and not find yourself dancing or smiling. In fact, as I'm writing this post I am listening to Hey Mama and doing a dance type thing as I sit here typing it out. I even had it on earlier and Isabella and Madelyn were both dancing around the living room. Happy girls = happy mama.

Here is the complete listing of songs from Young Love: 

• Hey Mama
• Ships in the Night
• Count on Me
• Sooner or Later
• Chasing the Light
• Learning to Love Again
• Down 
• She Got the Honey
• Young Dumb and in Love
• Rochester
• Seventeen

Click for Mat Kearney's full list of tour dates. Hopefully he will be playing in a city near you!

Want to buy Hey Mama and listen to some of Young Love now? Head over to iTunes to purchase--his album is currently sitting at #5 on the iTunes Album and Rock charts! You can also find him on Facebook to stay up to date on all things Mat Kearney.


I participated in the One2One network campaign and received a copy of the CD. No other compensation was given and all opinions expressed above are my own.


 

Curious George Premiere

There are few children shows that I actually like to watch with Isabella and Madelyn. One of my favorites that I sit down with the girls to watch?

Curious George.

The show is a quieter show than others that are on television and both of my girls love George. I think one reason why I love Curious George so much is that he was around when I was a little girl. There is something about my girls watching a show that reminds me of my childhood that makes me happy.

Curious George's new season will premiere on September 5th (that's this coming Monday) through September 7th on your local PBS station. The new episodes include:

• Auctioneer George/Sock Monkey Opera
• Hamster Cam/The Great Monkey Detective
• George and the Giant Thumb/Shutter Monkey

All three of the new episodes will focus on the arts. I'm planning on incorporating different arts related activities with Isabella and Madelyn next week to show them that the arts are a lot of fun to both learn and try out for themselves. I know that they will both love doing the activities after we watch an episode!

Remember to set that DVR, check your local listings and watch the newest Curious George episodes on Monday morning!




Want to keep up to date with all of PBS KIDS happenings? Follow PBS KIDS on Twitter and/or "Like" PBS KIDS on Facebook!

I was sent a DVD containing the three episodes of Curious George listed above to facilitate my review. No other compensation was given and all opinions above are my own.