Simon is 6 months old and he’s ready to join the family dinner table.

And this shall be his throne….

Over the past few years we’ve tried several different types of high chairs and I haven’t really like any of them, until now. I got the Keekaroo Height Right high chair from Magic Beans and so far I’m loving it. The main reason I like this chair is the simplistic design and that it’s easy to clean. My boys are notoriously messy eaters and I absolutely HATE cleaning the high chair. With most high chairs food gets caught in all the nooks and crannies and it grosses me out. The Keekaroo has very few nooks or crannies so the likely hood of food getting stuck is small.

The Keekaroo also grows with my child, so Simon can use it from infancy until adulthood, which makes the financial investment totally worth it.

I really like the infant insert so I don’t have to worry about him slipping or sliding around in the seat. The seamless insert is easy to clean, waterproof and contains no latex or BPA. The infant insert is removable so when he gets larger we we can just use the straps to keep him in the seat. The only down side of this chair is that you have to use 2 hands to remove the tray, which can be a bit challenging when you’re holding a baby to put in the high chair. But overall, I give this chair 2 thumbs up.

We have owned several different high chairs which I end up hating because they are just too complicated. I hate that we wasted so much money on sub-par products when we could have paid a little more for a high-quality item that would last a long time.

Simon takes his place at the big table and I think he likes it!

Magic Beans provided me with a gift card to purchase a product of my choice from their site. After much deliberation I selected the Keekaroo High Chair but it was a tough decision since Magic Beans has such a great selection of high-quality baby items.

About Magic Beans
Magic Beans is a toy and baby gear store based in Boston, Massachusetts. Founded by the husband and wife team of Eli and Sheri Gurock, Magic Beans is a store tailored to both kids and parents providing a fun yet informative shopping experience. They offer superior customer service to help each family find products that are best for their family’s needs. Some of their amazing services include personal shopping (online and in-store), car seat installation, stroller matchmaking and WOW baby baskets (personalized theme baby gift baskets).

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Disclosure: I received the featured product in exchange for my honest opinion. The opinions expressed in this post are my own and not influenced by the company.

I’m not particularly crafty but Jude loves doing crafts so I was pretty excited to try out WummelBox craft kit.

WummelBox is a monthly craft kit subscription for children age 3-8 to help them learn and explore the world around them. Each WummelBox contains 3-4 themed-based projects (Nutrition, Sound, etc) with all of the materials you will need. If that’s not cool enough all of the materials and packaging are made from high-quality eco-friendly materials.

Each craft is individually wrapped with all of the necessary materials and very clear, illustrated directions. Jude and I spent the little boys’ nap time working on fun projects.

Jude is 4 years old and did pretty well with each of the projects. He needed help with reading the instructions and some of the assembly but overall he did most of it by himself. He particularly loved that each project was building something he could play with once he was finished. I thought the quality of each project was great, very high quality materials and very clear instructions.

Join the Fun
You can purchase a Wummelbox for $34.95 or purchase to a quarterly or monthly subscription for as low as $19.95/month.

Disclosure: I received the featured product in exchange for my honest opinion. The opinions expressed in this post are my own and not influenced by the company.

In March I made a commitment to get my pre-baby body back by my birthday. Well my birthday was last week and I am pretty close to my goal.

Photo by Jude!

I wanted to weight 150lbs by my birthday.

As of May 12th (my birthday) I weigh 155lbs.

I knew that my weight loss goal was a little ambitious but I think I did pretty well especially since I didn’t get to workout as much as I wanted. I hope that all of the sickness that plagued our family over the past few months is done and over so I can get back into the habit of working out.

Overall, I’m very pleased with my result from just eating clean. We don’t eat out, eat processed foods and eat very few carbs and processed sugars. We do eat a lot of veggies, fruit and meat and that has really been the best way for us to lose weight without feeling hungry. I don’t count calories or refuse myself things that I like I just reserve them for special occasions.

My goal for the next few months is to lose those last few pounds but really focus on toning my muscles.

I’ve gone from wearing my maternity jeans because my size 14′s were too tight (postpartum) to wearing a size 10.

I don’t want to get too hung up on the numbers but eating healthy and exercising makes me feel good and gives me energy to keep up with my boys… and that is the ultimate goal.

Can’t decide if you want a cookie or a pie, you should try Barbara’s Cookie pies.

Barbara’s hand-made cookie pies fuse together delicious pie form with cookie flavor. The cookie dough crust forms the base for a candy and gooey filled pie. We tried the Caramel Chocolate Cookie Pie and it was amazing. The one thing about cookie pies is that a little goes a long way. It’s a concentrated bit of goodness and sweet. You would think such a little pie would be gone in not time but it took us forever to finish it off because a tiny piece was all you need.

My favorite flavors:

I would like to try the Oreo Creme Cookie

or the Peanut Butter Cup Cookie Pie

Buy
You can buy Barbara’s Cookie Pies online

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Like Barbara’s Cookie Pies on Facebook
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Disclosure: I received the featured product in exchange for my honest opinion. The opinions expressed in this post are my own and not influenced by the company.

Pretty things for spring.

Pastel colors
Dripping paint
Beautiful Blends

Watercolors…

On May 31st Elmo and the Sesame Street crew are coming to the PNC Arena in Raleigh.

My boys are super excited to see Elmo Live! I am especially excited to see the reaction on Noah’s face when he sees Elmo and hears the music. That boy loves Elmo and music more than anything. As a parent I love it when my kids light up with excitement when they see something awesome for the first time, like Elmo Live.

Sesame Street Live: Elmo Makes Music!
Dates: May 31-June 2 (6 shows total)

ABOUT
Jenny, an enthusiastic new music teacher, arrives on Sesame Street only to discover that her instruments are missing. Jenny’s new Muppet friends quickly come to the rescue and discover ‘instruments’ they never knew existed…rubber duckies, trash can lids and even cookie jars. Elmo and friends teach children that everyone can make and enjoy beautiful music together! Visit SesameStreetLive.com for more information.

Buy Tickets to see Elmo Live!

SAVE
Use discount code: ERNIE – valid for $3 off the $15, $20, and $25 tickets for all performances (excluding opening night). Tickets for opening night are just $12!

Disclosure: I received free media passes to list and review this show . The opinions expressed in this post are my own and not influenced by the company.

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Honey Bunches of Oats has added Greek yogurt to their already delicious cereal. New Honey Bunches of Oats Greek Honey Crunch combines two unique granolas with Greek yogurt.

To be honest I’m not a huge fan of Greek yogurt, however Joe and the boys like it so I thought I would give it a try. I really enjoyed the cereal and the boys liked it even more. My only complaint, ironically, is that I wish there were MORE bits of Greek yogurt in the cereal. I wasn’t feeling too well over the weekend and the boys devoured the whole box before I was able to eat more than one bowl, I guess that just means I’ll need to buy more.

I bet Honey Bunches of Oats Greek Honey Crunch would be really good on top of more Greek yogurt.

I like that Honey Bunches of Oats Greek Honey Crunch provides over 2/3 your day’s whole grain and has 12 essential vitamins and minerals plus 5 grams of protein. I feel really good about feeding it to my boys for breakfast.

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Like Honey Bunches of Oats on Facebook.

Disclosure: I received the featured product in exchange for my honest opinion. The opinions expressed in this post are my own and not influenced by the company.

Every birthday needs a special drink.

I have been obsessed with frozen berries lately so I thought I’d use some frozen berries to create a special non-alcoholic birthday drink for my self.

It’s really simple but delicious.

Ingredients

• 1 can Vernors Ginger ale – Use a good quality ginger ale this is very important
• 1/4 cup frozen raspberries
• 1 tsp grenadine

Directions

1. Add frozen berries to a glass
2. Pour Ginger ale over berries
3. Add grenadine
4. Mix

Every few years my birthday falls on Mother’s day, this was one of those years.  I was sick all last week with strep throat, so thankfully I was feeling better by the weekend… it’s never fun to be sick on your birthday.

We spent the day with my family celebrating. There were about 24 people for our little family get together so there’s always something going on. We checked out in my dad’s new motor home, ate lots of strawberries and shot arrows with my niece’s compound bow.

My mama

Joe is actually a really good shot.

I’m no Katniss.

Even my grandma gave it a try.

My grandma, Aunt Carol, Wylie, Joe, Simon, My mom & Noah.

The grand kids checking out the motor home.

Cousins 

Jude & Noah making “music”

Joe & Simon cuddles

I got to spend the day with my family and it was pretty darn perfect.