You've got to see this

I've got some exciting news!!

Read it here.

Have a great rest of the day off!

Summer is almost here

Are you starting to plan your summer vacation yet?

We are!

I have been wanting to go to St. Louis, Missouri for two years now. I'm hoping to make it a reality this summer. We want to visit the zoo, go on the arch, and check out some shopping!

Right now Twizzlers® Candy, the perfect on-the-go treat, is helping to sweeten family travel this summer with the Twizzlers Landmark Summer™ promotion. The promotion gives consumers the chance to win a trip to a well-known United States destination plus daily, road trip-themed prizes throughout the summer. Twizzlers is my favorite candy and has been since as long as I can remember. How cool would it be if I won a vacation from the bestest candy makers in the whole wide world??

Then, I might have to go to Disney World instead- I'm just saying...

"I'm entering a contest for a Twizzlers Landmark Summer promotion prize pack as a member of the Mom Bloggers Club."

Not the fun mom.

Summer is approaching fast-even though Mother Nature seems to be bi-polar these days and can't decide what season she wants it to be. This was my youngest daughter's first year of school and I can't believe we survived. We went through ups and downs, first play dates at her new friend's houses, story telling, and who knows what else since school is not out yet.

I have to wonder what her summer will be like being at home and stuck with us. She says she's excited to get to stay home, but I think she will be bored. I love when my kids are home for summer, but I don't look forward to those dirty looks from her when, after the first two days of freedom wear off and she suddenly has nothing to do.

I will then have to become her playmate, even though I don't have the summer off. In fact, it's my busiest time of the year. So, I will have to disappoint her and be the bad guy as usual.

This reminds me of the other day, when I picked her up after school and as we were walking to the car, she turns to me and asks, "Mom, what do fun moms do with their kids?"

Ouch.

Pampers Little Miracle Mission

In celebration of its 50th birthday, Pampers wants everyone to know that every baby is a miracle and they want to celebrate it. That's why they started Little Miracle Mission campaign – a program that delivers acts of kindness to families while encouraging parents to support others.

Pampers started their campaign by donating care packages to Neonatal Intensive Care Units (NICUs) across the country!

Watch Pampers video here.

Pampers gave me a chance to do something good for another parent as well! I was given $50 to donate however I chose. I recently learned that a parent with two small children lost her job and home. I know that $50 can't fix everything, but I decided to give it to her to use for gas to look for a new job while she stays with a close friend until she gets back on her feet.



What you do with $50 to help a fellow parent?



Pampers wants to give one lucky reader a chance to pay it forward and help someone with their own $50 American Express Card.



I know this isn't like my normal giveaways, where you get to keep the prize, but it's the biggest prize of all-helping someone and feeling good about it!



Please help out and enter-it's fun, trust me!



Entry requirements:

Leave a comment and tell me what you would do if you won.



My readers can easily participate in the Miracles Missions programs, and support little miracles across the country, by logging on to Pampers Facebook page (Facebook.com/Pampers).



Pampers will issue different missions throughout the entire year to celebrate all aspects of parenthood, and with the help of parents, family and friends, they hope to touch the lives of every baby born in the next year.




Giveaway ends:

May 20th, 2011

Setting goals for your child-and you.

I'm always making lists.

Lists that contain goals.

Big ones.

Little ones.

I think it's a good idea to set daily goals for yourself, or even long term goals. It helps you to stay organized in your life. What about your children? Yes, they should set goals too. It's something that can help them to help deal with life when they are older and to help clear their mind and know what they want out of life.

When I had the opportunity to try Goalforit.com , I thought it would be a great tool to use! Goalforit.com is an online goal setting data site to help you document and keep track of your goals. For adults and children. One thing I wanted to try right away was the Chore Chart option.

With the Chore Chart, you can build a chart online, picking the header and what chores you want your child to do and even the rewards you want to give your child for doing their chores. I made one for Emily and she's been having fun doing chores (that's right-fun!) and seeing her allowance grow.

So, if you are looking to document your goals or chores and behavior charts for your children, you should give this service a try-it's free!

It's a Zhu Zhu party!

Have you heard of Zhu Zhu Pets? If you have children, then you probably have. Zhu Zhu Pets are Zhu Zhu pets are fuzzy, interactive hamsters that run around like real hamsters. They are about the size of regular hamsters and take two AA batteries.

It took awhile for my youngest to catch on to it. She just wasn't interested until a couple of months ago. A great timing too, because I was picked by MomSelect to host a Zhu Zhu babies party!
I could not believe what our party kit included. We got enough babies for everyone, a big Zhu Zhu pet, a nursery, and extra outfits. Plus, ideas for the party.

I decided to invite some daycare kids and some of Emily's friends from school. We started the party by letting everyone pick out a Zhu Zhu baby.

We already had the nursery set up, so everyone got to try it out. Oh, I also told moms that kids could bring their Zhu Zhu pets from home if they had one.

We passed out treats while they played for awhile. Then, we played hide-the-egg game. Whoever found the egg won one of the outfits for their baby. The kids loved it! Afterwards, they wanted to go back to playing with the nursery. I'm guessing that some moms probably got an idea for next birthday. :)
Would I recommend Zhu Zhu babies and accessories? Yes! I think they offer hours of play and when friends can bring their pets from home, there is a lot of interactive play without the fighting that sometimes comes along with sharing.

We are now looking into getting more accessories!

I was not paid for this post-I received Zhu Zhu items for party review.

The life of a wedding photographer

I shot a wedding a couple of weeks ago and I think it had to be the worse wedding ever. I don't think I ever had a wedding go perfect, but this wedding put all those to shame. This was a wedding that I would not wish on my worse enemy.

Six months ago...

When I first talked to this couple 6 months ago, the bride was very excited to have me take their wedding photos and how the pictures were very important to her. I was a bit nervous with the pressure put on me to produce perfect photos. I studied poses and put together a plan on what I wanted to take so she would have a nice book to remember her wedding by.

THEN, came the two weeks before her wedding. I contacted her to set up a time to meet and pay the rest of the balance and discuss any changes before the wedding. I told her what time I needed everyone to be there so we would not be rushed for pictures. She said that it was fine and that everyone would be there. She paid and we talked about her wedding and took care of final details.

Thank goodness!

A couple of days pass, and I receive an email from her stating that she talked to her bridesmaids and they decided that we didn't need to be there that early.

Really? THEY decided? And how many weddings have they shot before?

I tried to explain to her that we did need that time to get all the photos that I'm accustomed to getting for a great book. She insisted that she couldn't, so I reminded her that my contract clearly states that if wedding party and client are late, it is not my responsibility for missed shots, etc.

So, my assistant and I show up at the venue on the wedding day. We came way early in hopes to catch the bride and talk her into starting early. We found her in the reception room decorating an empty room. She looked upset and when she saw us, she told us how the night before at the rehearsal, some of her bridesmaids turned on her, her maid of honor was at the emergency room for an allergic reaction, and she was fighting with her mom.

Ceremony starts at 4:30pm-it's 12:30.

We offered to help decorate, but she said 'no' and had her dad help her. We decided to leave and get some filler shots to kill time and when we got back (at the time she wanted) she was still decorating. I explained to her that we already lost an hour of shooting and couldn't be delayed any longer. She finally tried calling people to help and I was relieved to see some people finally show up to help. I figured that we would now be able to grab her and get some getting ready photos, only to find out she said she had to stay longer to show them how to do it.

1:45. tick, tock. tick, tock...

I finally put my foot down and said that if she wanted pictures done for her wedding, she needed to come-now! She agreed and we finally got her on her way to her room. When we walked in the room, her maid of honor calls her on her cell phone and starts yelling at her (she blamed her for her allergic reaction) and she can't get her off the phone. After about 10 minutes of the girl yelling at her, she finally loses it and starts crying.

It's now 2:00-we've lost an hour at this point..

She settles down and I finally get some getting ready photos. Just as I am about to take a picture, her mom walks in the room. The bride tries to talk to her mom for comfort and her moms blurts out, "Well, the problem is, you are just a bitch!"

OMG...

The bride jumps up and tells her mom to "F-off" and literally throws her out the room and breaks down again and starts crying hysterically. My assistant and I (who are the only other people in the room) just look at each other and give the what-the-hell-now? look. I decide to ask the bride if she would like us to leave and she said 'yes' so, we go down to the lobby. There, we meet up with the mom and she's telling the story to everyone standing around her. They all turn to us and give us a look and she blurts out, "Did she kick you out too?" I gave a nervous laugh and said, "No."

2:45 now...

I figured the day would be cancelled at this point, but she ended up calling us and said she was ready to take photos. We went back up and she was putting her makeup on. We got her mother-in-law to help with the dress. We were making progress now.

Wait! You don't think that was the end, did you?

Just as we were taking another shot, in storms the maid-of-honor. She starts complaining to the bride and she (the bride) calmly tells her that everything would work out and to just get ready. The bride turned back around, thinking her friend left, and mumbled something about how everyone was acting. The girl comes charging back at her and they start yelling at each other. The bride gets upset-AGAIN.

It's now 3:00...

I now have an hour to take three hours worth of photos. The bride decides to calm down so we try to rush her out to get her photos taken, only to have her drag her heels. I decide to just run down and take the groom's photos and that is the only thing that went smoothly ( guys are like that). We rush through his and then she (the bride) ends up finally coming down, so I rush through hers (haaaate thaaaaaat!). We threw in some bridesmaid photos and by then, it was 4:10.

Another, OMG!!

I ran to the ceremony part, threw in new batteries, and got ready with only 2 minutes to spare. We got through the ceremony and then...

Well, of course there was more drama-really? Did you think that my day would get better?

Hahahaha...

We still needed group shots and couple shots, so I told the couple that we needed to get right on it. The groom decides all of sudden, to start complaining. He said it was rude to keep the guests waiting.

What? Are you kidding me??

I explained to him that they expect to wait for photos-I wanted to add, "You bozos are the reason we are fitting photos in right now anyway," but, I bit my tongue instead. So, I only got half the poses I wanted.

We finally finished and went on to the reception.

God, please let this be done...

When we got to the reception, the couple did everything backwards, so we were running around trying to get everything. Oh, and I found out my ex boyfriend was the DJ.

Funny, wedding gods.

So, when we were FINALLY done for the night, I walked up to the bride and thanked her and said we had what we needed. She was all excited and said, "I can't wait to see the pictures!"

Trust me, honey. You can wait...

Winners announced! Shabby Apple Giveaway

I didn't think this day would come:

The winner of the Shabby Apple Giveaway is.....

Dawn

Dawn said...
I am already a follower and I am passing on The Versatile Blogger Award to you! I love your blog!
Check out my post:

http://checkitoutdawn.blogspot.com/2011/04/i-won-versatile-blogger-award.html

Congrats, Dawn!