Word-ly Thinking

Today I am pleased to be blogging about author Justin Matott. I have previously mentioned that we own many of his books, that I recently had the opportunity to work on his blog and now I get to bring everyone a really fun contest!

Justin has written books for all ages (adults included) but his admittedly goofy self loves to write children’s books. In his latest series he is really focusing on an Anti-Bullying message. He does so in such a fun and lighthearted way kids can’t help but get the message. Please take a minute to read some reviews from kids on his book Go Ask Mom –

Justin is offering an incredible chance to not only win one his books that he will personalize and autograph BUT also the winner could could potentially have their poem published in book 4 AS one written by the main character, Gabriel!!!

Poem? You ask what poem?

Well, my friends that is the challenge for this contest and I know with all the creativity flowing in bloggy land you will ALL rise to this challenge! Enlist your kids, Enlist your Students…Bring it on!

The rules are simple – oh so simple – All you have to do is write a 4 to 8 line poem about a gross food combination...

My own example:

Eggs and pickles
taste buds don't tickle
they give me gas
when they're in my glass

And, don't I wish
there were no fish
in the kitchen sink
cuz, they're also in my drink

There is a little catch…fine print if you would – we are really hoping to reach a ton of readers with this contest – you see Justin Matott is very well known and highly respected in our region but his awesomeness has not spread nationwide as of yet and he REALLY wants to get in front of Ellen DeGeneres and hopefully get to guest interview on her show to help spread the word about Anti-Bullying.

I don’t know Ellen…Do you? I didn’t think so…

So what we are asking is that as a part of the contest you post your entry on Your Blog and link back to mine and to Justin’s then come back here and post the URL for your entry in the comments section.

By doing so we are hoping all of your readers will be enticed to come and join in the fun too…our goal? It is lofty! We want 200 entries – on 200 blogs all across the USofA!

The contest will run for 2 weeks and close on Wednesday May 27th at 10pm MST – Justin will hand pick the winner and we will announce the winner, feature them on all our blogs and send the prize on Friday May 29th!

So get thinking – I know you can do this – I can’t wait to read what you write…

There is NO limit to the number of entries you can post…so each of your children can write, you can write, your significant other can write, heck if your dog can write…let him in on it too!

(on a side note, if you are a teacher and want to get your students involved email me and we will tell what we thought of to help facilitate this)

(great resource rhymezone.com)

Tweets, Germs, Opinions, Cameras and a Swiffer

What I learned this week is hosted by JoLynn at Musings of housewife.

This week was eventfully uneventful. HA! We did a lot, we blogged about it and we moved on to the next. However I did learn a couple of things:

1. I learned that keeping a pig for a pet may not be a good idea - and I am glad I don't - I also learned that the OCD, germophobic side of this mommy will most likely be picking up some of those paper masks tomorrow (just in case)

2. Consider following @overhearddenver this tweeter is asking all of us Coloradans to tweet things we "overhear" when out and about doing our daily thing. Now come on you all know you eavesdrop - so SPILL IT and share with the rest of us! Use #ohdenver with your tweets!

3. I really enjoyed the Earth movie and am motivated to pull out our Planet Earth DVD's and give them a go in the player again! And I can STILL completely disagree with my friend and neighbor on her skewed view of this movie and we will still be friends, and I will still tell her she is wrong and she will still tell me I am and it will still be ok.

4. I learned that it is really stupid to go a downtown attraction with your children and some friends and only have your Camera Phone with you...ARGH - more on that later-

5. My swiffer sweeper WILL pick up WET coffee grounds when I hap-hazardly toss the full filter into the garbage and only half of makes it in the basket.

I also learned that I can be completely exhausted and yet wide awake at the same time, ok I already knew this - but it has been hitting home more and more lately. Nap time anyone?

There's a party in the house

We were lucky enough to get to host a Juicy Juice House Party last night! There were tons of parties happening all over the country on April 18th! Juicy Juice has come out with a new group of juices to promote immunity and brain development! Available in Apple, grape and berry and the kids loved them all! Though Apple and Berry were hands down the most popular!


Nestle Juicy Juice sent us 4 boxes of great stuff to help make the party success! It was my first "House Party" and it was a success and I hope I get to do more! We all had a blast!!!




The Party title was "Juicy Juice Shining Moments House Party" - to help decorate we added balloons in Juicy Juice colors

Shining Red stars that had brain teasers on them (for brain development

Juicy Juice Cookies and the childrens names in cookies too!

To help promote immunity and brain development we had an "active" party! We had a Wii Bowling tournament

- Complete with a stinky bowler award for the lowest adult score (Odor Eaters!!)

We played Pool

We played Air Hockey

We Colored

We bowled





We Ate

We Drank

We had a blast!

We used the downloadable artwork available on the House Party site to create stickers for our take home bags and we filled our take home bags with all the great stuff Juicy Juice sent and more!

Juicy Juice Water Bottles

Juicy Juice Reusable Tote Bags

Juicy Juice Growth Charts
Juicy Juice Playing Cards
Juicy Juice Coupons
Juicy Juice Activity Books

Crayons
Book Marks

A quote from a party guest: "We had so much fun last night. The boys just kept saying.. "that was so fun". Thank you again."

We had fun too! Thanks to everyone for coming and to Juicy Juice and House Party for letting us do this!

Alicia Posted on her blog about the party too! Check it out if you have time!!!

That's what friends are for

Friends are amazing. Don't ya know! My friend Alicia was kind enough to offer to bring (or order) dinner for us last week when my mom was struggling and Hailey ended up sick too. She has been a source of good thoughts via email all week especially when we had to let Riley go. Today I got a surprise from Mr. Fed Ex and it was from Alicia!

She sent this AWESOME Carmel tower from one of my favorite Candy Shops - and the best part is, only a good friend would take the time to scout your favorite candy shop from your Blog Side Bar before ordering you something!


THANK YOU ALICIA! You brought me many smiles today (and for however long these yummies last in my possession!!)

AND - In other news - Lauren has found a way to help cope with the loss of Riley - She made her own dogs, and dog rooms complete with dog runs. She even made a mini version for her sister.

We all know time heals, but so does "doing something" - Way to go Lauren - Always wise beyond your years.

Oh No She Didn't

But yes she did, Becky, dear Becky just found a way to outdo herself...She is truly one of the most amazing people I know. I am SO incredibly lucky to have her in my life - words can not begin to explain it.

PLEASE go check this out...and don't forget to tell her how simply amazing she is...I am sure gets tired of hearing me say it but from total strangers it will be so heartwarming!

Life According to Bec

PS - if you click on them they get bigger so you can really stare at them for an hour if you want to!

Guess hooooo I'm sleeping with?

That's right. I am sleeping with the owls! Courtesy of my dear friend Becky who got me a pajama-gram for Christmas (along with some other goodies!)

This was the year of the owl for me! My secret got let out of the bag when I told Jo-lynn I liked owls and wanted them on my blog design. I suppose it wasn't a secret, just wasn't widely known. Well, because of it my mom and I are no longer the only ones that know how much I love owls.

My husband got me an amazing book about Owls and their behavior, habitat etc...my friend Alicia gave me an amazing wooden owl ornament, my daughter drew me a beautiful picture of an Owl, the book my mom gave me (Wesley the Owl) was wonderful and I was sad when I finished it and the PJ's well the PJ's are just the best! Sleeping with the owls is kind of how it all started...more about that later...I do plan to write the story of how, what, when, where and why the Owls...but not today.

THANK YOU! I will be smiling for years to come!

How to Eat Like a Child

Have you ever read this book or seen the children's theater version of it?

How to Eat Like a Child

Well, if you haven't you should. It really is rather funny and entertaining. I always enjoy seeing youth talent and this weekend I got to see two of Lauren's friends in this cute play! There were about 15 to 20 kids 7-10 in age singing and acting and making the audiance laugh. It was very cute, quite tight and you could tell they worked very hard at this!! Most of my pictures of the show turned out a lot like this...(those kids were really moving!)

Nicole ( in green) is very animated on stage and you can almost read her mind when she acting (and not speaking!)

And Lauren's friend and classmate Katie (age 10) was great at cracking the one liners that kept the audiance hooked between "scenes"

You girls were AWESOME! I can't wait to say "I knew her when..."

Artwork Anyone?

Take a moment and go visit Life According to Bec. Becky is a school teacher and super great friend of mine. She has become quite an amazing artist and recently had 2 pictures commissioned and sold...she is working on a third now! You can see some of her work in her last two posts! It is SO worth the trip over to see these adorable pieces of art!!! So much goes into them, it is not just paint on canvas, for instance their are actual bows in the little girls hair!

Is it Friday Yet?

So, you know I have been looking forward to 3:00 Friday since, well since Sunday when it was decided the girls were going to get to Grams house for a night of DU Hockey, Grandma, Grandpa and loads of fun...as you also know the plans were almost axed as early as Monday when Hailey got a fever. I felt so bad for myself because I was not getting a night off for Hailey because she wasn't feeling well and was so looking forward to going to Grandmas. Well, she quickly overcame her fever and moved about the week in deeply hiding an impending ear infection and bronchial trauma perfect health!! We were all very glad the girls were getting their night out and mom and dad were getting to enjoy a quiet house and perhaps an opportunity to get some things done for Christmas! Yes, Christmas...I am anal, psychotic and more when it comes to figuring out Christmas...what comes from who (if you know what I mean) how many, how much etc. etc. etc. so I couldn't wait to get a chance to assess the situation and plan out a clear path of progression for the next six and a half weeks!

Friday came...and boy did it come! Friday started out very early and very sad...at approximately 5am I started trading emails with my friend Becky and quickly ended up throwing on some clothes and rushing of to the Vet ER to support a friend in her time of need.

After returning home I had to have a quick conversation with Daddy about whether or not Hailey should attend school even though she seems to have Laryngitis and most likely we will find out she has croup if we take her to the Dr. We decided, "no fever, healthy appetite" might as well head off to school, so I rounded up the troops to rush off to the SUPER QUICK shower, dry the hair, throw on the clothes and rush off to school. After dropping Hailey off we got to
make a slick U-turn and head back home for Lauren's D@^^n retainer!

On my way home from school #2 (insert mommy guilt here) I called the Dr. to grab an appointment so Hailey could get checked before she goes to Grandmas house...after 10 minutes on the phone with the nurse that rubs me the wrong way and finding out that all the "good" Dr's are out today and I was going to have to face the "new" one...after telling Nurse Rub Wrong that I was not happy about that and I could not believe she could not offer me a Dr. that already knew my children and listening to Nurse Rub Wrong say "Oh, Mrs. Emerson I remember you"
ha ha ha ...no seriously she hates me, anyway I got an appointment for 20 minutes after preschool lets out.

At 11:30 I picked up Hailey and headed to the Dr's office to face Nurse Rub Wrong and New Doesn't know my child Dr...waited in the waiting room for 30 minutes (D@^^m) with a hungry, voiceless, tired child (insert more mommy guilt here). Finally we got to see the New Dr. Her name? Dr. YOUNG. That is SUPER encouraging! Well, NEW Dr. Young looks in right ear, says it is PERFECT, looks in left ear and says "Oh she is quite infected" (Mommy guilt mounting) - listens, looks, pokes, prods...Prescribes Antibiotic for Ear Infection and Steroid for Bronchial trauma. OMG. I keep telling you that mommy of the year award will never be mine. Do you believe me yet?

Quick, call Grandma and beg her to still take the girls for the night, ask her kindly and give her plenty of opportunity to back out. Feed Hailey at McDonalds the picture of HEALTH FOOD for my sick child, drop into Walgreen's where the fantastic pharmacists know us by name and pick up DRUGS!

Once home, it took both mom and dad to give Hailey 1 1/2 pills that have to be crushed and mixed in yummy food to get down...Hailey can not be tricked she knew what was coming and it was more like restraining a horse than a 3 year old. Not sure how much of that steroid she got (probably ok though since GRANDMA OF THE YEAR said the girls could still come!)

Now comes the GOOD part...I picked Lauren up from school (Hailey slept the whole way) dropped two VERY happy, excited and barely looking or acting sick children off at Grandmas where GRANDMA OF THE YEAR had the most amazing snack plates on the table for them and I headed home, alone, in the car, listening to MY station...(not very much mommy guilt here)

I arrived home to box on my porch from my dear friend Becky...and in it: A beautiful tower of goodies from Harry and David. and the best part. I am Home Alone and I don't have to share, nah nah nah nah! YUMMY! Please go meet Becky if you have time, she is new to the blogging world and embracing it with open arms!

And now you know more about why Becky is one of my favorite friends and if you know me at all I have VERY few friends and they are all favorites because I am sort of picky, a little...maybe a lot.

Daddy and I headed off to dinner at Outback (THANKS GRANDMA MARY!!) for a quick dinner (sans children) and we did NOT get seated at a table close to screaming toddlers...we did get to sit very close to Lauren's second grade teacher though!

Home (still not very much mommy guilt) tackle the craziness of Christmas in the basement, jump on computer and type this post...my only interruption came from Grandma of the Year when she sent this LOVELY photo from her blackberry. I think she was so proud, I can just hear here saying "let me send mommy a photo so she can see you guys are fine and having fun". Well Mom (Grandma) next time you might want to look at the picture before you send it!

So now, Friday night is almost over, The girls got to go Grams, I got some quiet time and I will head off to bed (insert mommy guilt again) thinking about my girls, my evening and pondering this fantastic thought:

"When did quiet time at home trump going out and having a blast with your husband?"

Thanks for listening (reading) if you made it this far!

Now go back and hit all those hyperlinks they aren't to be missed!