February 2009

Laugh Out Loud!

by Christine - From Dates to Diapers on February 27, 2009

LAUGHTER: Convulsive merriment; an expression of mirth peculiar to man, consisting in a peculiar noise and configuration of features, with a shaking of the sides and expulsion of breath. (Webster’s 1828 Dictionary)

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All I can hear right now, as my children play in the backyard, is uninhibited laughter. You know, there is really nothing more pleasant than to hear my kiddos’ laughter. I can’t help but laugh with them.

Man is distinguished from all other creatures by the faculty of laughter –Joseph Addison

Laughter is contagious. And, sharing a joyous moment with those whom I love is priceless! It truly is the best medicine for any ailment.

Among those whom I like or admire, I can find no common denominator, but among those whom I love, I can: all of them make me laugh. –W.H. Auden

Who makes you laugh?

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While Mommy’s away…

by Christine - From Dates to Diapers on February 23, 2009

Dear Mom,

Today at Mindy’s house we were very busy! As soon as you left we trapped Mindy in the hall closet. We did sword fights with her china and made Bailey wear a tiara. We messed with the mini-blinds and did a tunnel slide down the staircase. We even threw an egg and a tomato off of the balcony. We ordered a pepperoni pizza from Mountain Mikes. It was delicious! After doing hurdles on the tunnel we went outside without our shoes and played in the sticky mud. We were hungry after all of the fun so we raided the fridge. Because the house was such a mess by then we threw a laundry party and danced on the kitchen counter. Don’t tell them, but we stole all of the Schuchard’s money from their coin jar! To make it more fun, we even wrestled in the house.

And we said Mindy’s house was boring!?!?

Don’t come home too soon…we’re having a blast!

Zach, Ethan, Julia, Josh, Ben, & Noah


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YoungMommy gets to walk the red carpet!

by Christine - From Dates to Diapers on February 21, 2009

womansworld

On Tuesday I received a fun email in my inbox… It was an “exclusive VIP invitation to a red carpet event“.
The invitation read:

We all know what its like to juggle our careers, family and social lives – it’s a balancing act to say the least. And moms need to give a little TLC to themselves, as God knows they give it to everyone else!

Frito-Lay is launching their first campaign inspired by women that illustrates something we usually don’t see celebrated – every lovable bit of our womanly selves, from our quirks to our most genuine moments.

We’d like to invite you to a VIP red carpet event in Los Angeles on Tuesday, February 24 (THAT’S NEXT WEEK!). Our special celebrity guest (BROOKE BURKE!) will host the premier of Only in a Woman’s World, the new animated series celebrating four friends who humorously experience everyday “that’s so me” moments about topics like diet, beauty, snacking, exercise and body confidence.

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Of the four women in Only in a Woman’s World, I most relate to Cheryl, the “full-time mom”… She doesn’t profess to be super-mom, but she does put everyone else ahead of herself.

Well, this mama gets to celebrate beauty and snacking with three of her girlfriends, come Tuesday! Along with a few other hand selected women bloggers, I will be joined by Lori (A Cowboy’s Wife & My Wooden Spoon), Katja (Skimbaco), and Andrea (Mommy Snacks), for this {squee} exclusive event!

But, don’t worry… In true YoungMommy style I will be blogging and tweeting it up the whole time!

frito-layOooh, and I almost forgot… We’ll get some serious time with the folks at Frito-Lay. Any questions or comments you’d like for me to pass along?

Yes, Mindy, I promise to bring you back some crunchy goodies!

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Not the Typical Homeschool Family

by Christine - From Dates to Diapers on February 20, 2009

Ray, and I have built our family on the solid foundation of Christ and take our responsibility as parents, and teachers, of our children very seriously. Most of you know that I homeschool, but did you know that I am a second generation homeschooler? Ever since I was a little girl I have wanted to teach my kiddos at home, as I was taught.

schoolworkonthefloor

This school year our three oldest will be finishing up their 2nd grade work, mid-year, and will move on to 3rd grade. Josh is doing quite a bit with the older kiddos, but for the most part he’s doing K-1st grade work. So far, we have used Sonlight’s core curriculum, with Saxon Math, Total Reading’s phonics program, and Bible lessons prepared by Daddy, with various other carefully selected “random” books, and such. This hodge-podge has worked incredibly well for us and my kids are intrigued by the history lessons and read-alouds (with just a few exceptions) that Sonlight has given us.

Our school days, at this point, are pretty flexible. I imagine they will continue to be so with the two little ones demanding much of my attention! We do have a set amount of work to accomplish each week, but some days are filled with hands-on activities, while others are filled with more structured work.  We do most of our structured work at the kitchen table, while some “work” is done outside, sitting on the floor, couch, or even on my bed!

With as much traveling as I have been blessed to be given the opportunity to enjoy, we will be schooling through the summer, so as to stay “on track” with our studies. That is one of the many reasons why I so love homeschooling — It affords us the flexibility to enjoy life!

Here are some things I’ll be sharing with you over the next couple of weeks:

What else would you like to know? I DO love questions and am happy to answer any you may have. I look forward to sharing more than just a glimpse into our homeschooling adventures…

You may be surprised to discover that we’re not your typical homeschool family!

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13 Ways to Use Baby Wipes (besides the obvious!)

February 19, 2009

Tweet We stock up on Baby Wipes. We use them not only for the obvious jobs, but these handy little wet cloths are useful for so many things! **Updated to add: I use Kirkland wipes for most everything, but I keep a special box of Pampers Sensitive wipes for our skin (see #’s 2, 6 [...]

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Homemade Play-Doh

February 18, 2009

Tweet Have you ever made Kooky Dough? This stuff will keep your kiddos occupied for quite some time on a cold winter’s day! It’s super easy to make, using only three ingredients: * 1 cup flour * 1/4 cup salt * 1/2 cup water My kiddos are able to mix it all on their own, [...]

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All Tied Up!

February 18, 2009

Tweet I’m still laughing…. For more Wordless Wednesday, visit 5 Minutes for Mom and Extraordinary Mothers!

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Learning Tower (gvwy over)

February 17, 2009

Tweet I love to have my kiddos help in the kitchen. Not a meal goes by that at least one of them did not help prepare. Come to think of it, I don’t do much without my kiddos… Whether it’s the dishes, cooking, or making special treats, they are constantly working right beside me. And [...]

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Happy Valentine’s Day!

February 14, 2009

Tweet Congratulations to Karen, of Lil’ Momma’s Haven, who won the iPod Touch here at From Dates to Diapers, courtesy of Nestle, Mars–M&M, Russell Stover, and Walmart! As an extra entry, Karen wrote a post about how she and her husband planned to spend Valentine’s Day with their four adorable kiddos (three of whom are [...]

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Maid for ME!

February 13, 2009

Tweet Just last night I discovered a contest, where the VERY lucky winner wins a year of free maid service. I about jumped out of my seat… I immediately began tweeting about the contest, all the while trying to figure out what I could do to win. (Wishing now it was a contest that was [...]

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Feed your family and fuel it forward – Help Quaker stamp out hunger!

February 12, 2009

Tweet We all know how important a healthy breakfast is, right? I grew up eating Quaker oats, and still love, love, love them! Mom would make pots of oatmeal in the mornings for breakfast… my favorite, especially on a cold winter day, like today. But, even oatmeal raisin cookies were (and still are) one of [...]

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Babysitters

February 11, 2009

Tweet They just don’t make ‘em like they used to. I remember as a young girl being so excited for the day that I could babysit children besides my siblings! I remember taking a CPR and first aid class to become Red Cross certified. I remember counting down the days ’til I turned 12 and [...]

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Last Minute Valentine’s Day Ideas

February 10, 2009

Tweet Thanks to Twitter and the wonderful listeners of Mom-2-Mom, I now have quite the list of ideas to make Valentine’s Day special! Here are just a few: I have a heart shaped cake pan but instead of cake I make heart shaped red jello! It’s fast, easy and better on the waist line. @orgjunkie [...]

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There’s no place like home…

February 9, 2009

Tweet BlissDom was a blast… I really can’t wait to share pictures and tell you all about it. I got to hang out with some of my bestest friends on this here internet, and I met so many amazing women, who I can now call real-life friends. But, boy am I basking in the glow [...]

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Time

February 8, 2009

Tweet If you don’t know Dawn, of Because I Said So, you don’t know what you are missing! I had the great privilege to meet this amazing mama of six (I know, crazy, huh?) at Camp Baby last Spring and we became friends. Dawn has since written a book, aptly titled Because I Said So, [...]

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Just announced!

February 7, 2009

Tweet Not more than 3 seconds ago, John Andrews, of Walmart fame, announced that Walmart will be sponsoring TWO BlissDom bloggers to SXSW next month! The catch? Spread the word about the ElevenMoms! Are you here with us at BlissDom? Check out the ElevenMoms and tweet one of the ElevenMoms’ blog urls, along with the [...]

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You can make money using affiliate programs

February 7, 2009

Tweet I am often asked about how I monetize From Dates to Diapers, and how others can do it, too. I do advertise, but since I am on a panel about affiliate marketing, with Lori and Tara today at BlissDom, I would like to tell you about how I use affiliate programs to bring in [...]

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Getting My Bliss On

February 6, 2009

Tweet Bliss is joy, happiness, pleasure and delight. For many, blogging is all about bliss.What is it for you? Define it. Achieve it. Enjoy it. Be Inspired. Inspire others. This is your chance. ~~~~~~~~~~ So, I am here in Nashville, at the BlissDom conference, with some of the most influential women online today. We are [...]

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Valentine’s Day with the Kiddos

February 3, 2009

Tweet Today on my BlogTalkRadio show, Monica and I talked about fun things to do with your kiddos for Valentine’s Day. You can listen to the episode to hear the secret word so you may enter my iPod Touch giveaway, or to discover what we are planning to do this Valentine’s Day. Are you looking [...]

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Win an Apple 8GB iPod Touch + $10 Walmart gift card

February 3, 2009

Tweet With Valentine’s Day quickly approaching, Walmart and Nestle have given us some pretty sweet ideas for making this Valentine’s Day special, even if you are on a tight budget. . Make a playlist – What are your top 10 romantic songs? Click on each chocolate in the heart-shaped box to see what the ElevenMoms [...]

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Campbell’s – Mmm. Mmm. Good.

February 2, 2009

Tweet After spending most of Wednesday in airports and airplanes, I was greeted by a huge basket of Campbell goodies in my room at the Four Seasons Hotel in downtown Philadelphia. Not having done my homework before the trip, there were some items in the basket that surprised me. Did you know that Goldfish crackers [...]

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Another trip?

February 1, 2009

Tweet Ray and I are having a blast, exploring the City of Brotherly Love, but boy, do I miss my babies! It has been hard being away from my kiddos so much lately. Not only do I miss my kiddos, but I feel extremely guilt for leaving them for days at a time… So, I [...]

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