Giveaway from Picket Fence Publications {one of my favorite mommy secrets}

Do y’all remember when I shared my top ten mommy secrets?

Do you remember my number 5 mommy secret: Plan out your week?

Do you remember the little beauty I use to help me do that?

I am so happy to say the the designer of this awesome executive planner is letting me giveaway 3 of these lovelies to my readers.

Jen Boss is a wife, mom and independent graphic designer.  Two years ago she finally acted on the idea to design a planner that had everything she needed and could never find.  She took matters in to her own hands and designed the perfect planner.

I am so glad she did.  I was so happy when I stumbled upon this in a store in Utah this summer.  I snatched it right up and counted down the days until August rolled around and I could use it.

It has also been fun to get to know more about the designer behind the planner.  I have enjoyed getting to know Jen; after I shared this on my blog several weeks ago.

I promise you as one woman to another; you will love this planner.  It will help you in so many ways.  My whole life is organized in this one book.

The planner features: Sturdy plastic covers, inside pockets, full color pages, 18 yummy recipes, three schedule columns, weekly meal planning, weekly shopping list, over 600 stickers, holiday menu planning, holiday shopping planning.

What I love about this planner: 

I love having a place for everything.  I put my to-do’s in here for the week, my menu, and my pantry items that we need to buy.  I love that I have a space to put everything.  Before this planner; I had a million lists.  Pieces of paper floating around with my thoughts on them; that often times ended up in the trash.  Now I have a place to put those thoughts and know that they are all in one place.

I also love that I can go back and see what we had for dinner.  This helps so much in my meal planning. 

I love seeing everyone’s schedules all laid out in front of me, and I love that I get to write in such a cute book everyday.  The graphics are absolutely divine.

…and I love having a place for all my holiday planning.

Really, Jen you are a genius.

Giveaway Details:

You have 4 chances to enter.  Remember you must leave a comment for each entry.

1.  Visit Picket Fence Publications here, and look through a sample online.  Comment about your favorite feature.

2.  “Like” Picket Fence Publications here, and then come back and leave a comment.

3.  Talk about the giveaway on your Facebook page and come back to leave a comment.

4.  Pin this on pinterest, linking back to my blog.  Share this great planner with all your pinterest friends.  Make sure you leave a comment about this too.

Giveaway will be closed Thursday, November 15, 2012 at midnight.  Winner will be announced Friday November 16th.

Ok ladies, don’t forget to enter.  I know some of you lovely ladies all ready went out and purchased this after my last post.  However, Don’t forget what a great Christmas gift this would make. 

Don’t forget to check out Picket Fence Publications. 

Thanks Jen for helping us all feel more organized.

 

Winner of Ruby’s Giveaway.

Thank you to everyone who participated in Ruby’s Giveaway. 

I counted 33 acts of kindness left in comments on my blog in honor of Ruby.  WOW!!! what a tribute to Ruby and her parents.

…and the winner is.

Alesha.

Alesha, contact me with your address and I will send this special gift your way.

Thanks again to everyone.

Ruby’s Giveaway.

I am so excited.  Today is my day to host Ruby’s giveaway.

Ruby was born to my sister and her husband a year ago.  She spent 15 short days here on earth. 

Kristin, family and friends have been hosting 15 days of giveaways to celebrate her life.

If you missed any of it, you can see what is being given away here.

I am excited to share this with you.

I am giving away something that is special to me. 

As you know, I love to celebrate Birthdays.

My giveaway is full of great birthday essentials.

Throwing a beautiful celebration starts in the kitchen.

Here is what my giveaway includes:

An angel cookie cutter for Kristin’s sweet angel baby.

Red towels, red spatula, and red measuring spoons to help bake a special birthday surprise.

Red polka-dot cupcake liners, along with these great liners that represents her so well.

…and my favorite part of the giveaway:

A special Ruby cake plate.

I love cake plates, and believe that are a great addition to any party.

In fact, Kristin bought this same cake plate for Ruby’s party.  You can see it here.

To be a part of this giveaway, just leave me a comment telling me how you celebrate your loved ones birthdays.

To  get a second entry, leave me a comment sharing a random act of kindness that you participated in to honor Ruby. (Kristin and Jared’s wish for Ruby’s birthday.)

Giveaway will end Monday evening at 10pm.

Winner will be announced on Tuesday morning.  Don’t forget to include your email address so I can contact you.

Thank you for celebrating with our family and my sister’s family.

Enjoying Pennsylvania

Our family is trying really hard to live it up here in the East. 

Our time here is short; so it’s important that we make the most of it.

There is so much to see and do, so we are trying to do as much as we can.

Here are a few things we have enjoyed since we have been here.

The beautiful farms and countryside.

I am in love with Strasburg in Lancaster county.  It is the cutest little town. We stumbled on this neat little band concert one evening; so charming.

 

It is also Amish Country.

It is fun to drive around this town full of old charm.

It has a great railroad that you can ride.  We are hoping to make time for this.

We enjoyed a Saturday in Hershey, at Chocolate World.

The kids had so much fun taking the tour, I think we did it 3 or 4 times. 

 

It was fun to hear all about how the city of Hershey was made, and how Hershey chocolate came to be.

We really wanted to take the kids to Hershey Park.  The more we read about it, it seemed like the kids wouldn’t be able to ride a lot of the rides because of their height.  We opted to take a trip to Lancaster over Labor Day weekend.

We stayed in a Hotel, which is magical for a child…

…and did what every good set of parents would do:

 

We let them jump on the bed.

The next morning, we took the kids to Dutch Wonderland.  Which is an amusement park that is well-suited to our kids ages.

We had a blast.  I love hanging out as a family.

As you all know, our family loves baseball. 

We had to make sure we made it to an Orioles game while we were here.

Camden Yards is really neat.  The kids loved being at the ballpark.

We have also enjoyed being a part of a soccer team.  It is nice to be a part of something after only a few months of being here.

Jex and Stella have a chance to run around and play with all their friends from church, and it makes them so Happy. 

What else I love about PA:

the fall leaves on all the old established trees in these historic neighborhoods

roadside stands and farmers markets everywhere

beautiful farmland

What I hope to visit before we move:

Washington D.C.

New York City

Gettysburg

I am grateful for opportunities to experience new things. 

It is never easy to move to a new place, but I enjoying finding the good in life and new places.

Don’t forget to check out Ruby’s giveaway today.  It is Awesome.

Day one giveaway is still open.  It is the most adorable mobile that my sister made.  It is beautiful.  Go here to enter to win.

Happy Birthday to You.

Happy Birthday to you.

Happy Birthday to you.

Happy Birthday dear Ruby.

Happy Birthday to you.

We miss you, and love you.

For a beautiful message from my amazing sister Kristin on this special occasion visit here.

Just a reminder that my sister Kristin, and her blogger friends and family will be hosting fifteen days of giveaways.  My sister is kicking it off today. For Ruby’s fifteen day’s of giveaway’s go here.  You won’t want to miss this.  The first giveaway is adorable.

For spiritual enlightenment on the loss of a child; visit here.

Happy Birthday Angel!!

…and the winner is!!

The winner of the ruffle skirt giveaway from Dress me up fun is:

Lisa!!

Lisa said:  That skirt is adorable!! I love the yellow and would love this for my daughter, mainly because she can't ever have enough ruffles! I know she would be so proud to wear this :)

Congratulations!!

I will pass your email on to my sister and she will contact you in the next few days.

Don’t forget you can have 10% off your next order when you mention my name.

Thanks again to all who entered, and to Lindsay for a fun giveaway.

Contact Lindsay at lindsaydrobbins@gmail.com to place your order.

Visit her here and here to check out her shop.

Birthday Gifts Week {gives from the past and a giveaway}

Today, I am going to share a few links to some fun gift ideas that I have given in the past.

…and I also have a great giveaway.

This is a sweet little stationary tray that we gave for Birthday’s last year.

The year before that, we made a homemade apron, and passed along a recipe for cookies made from a cake mix.

We included the cake mix with the gift. I can’t seem to find the post about this.  It was much to long ago.

This sweet monkey shirt was made for my adorable nephew.

I have also enjoyed making framed monograms to give to friends.  Here are a few that I made.

I have also given these away as a gift to a neighbor or a friend when you just want to say hi, thank you, or cheer them up.

I am leaving you with one last homemade gift idea.  Except you don’t have to make this one. 

Remember my sister and her cute shirts?  Well today she is giving away a skirt to one lucky J and A & Co. reader.

Please visit her site, and leave me a comment about how much you want the skirt and why.

I will pick the winner, on Monday March 19th in the afternoon.

I ordered this skirt for my little miss, and I just love it.

 

She also made the shirt to go with it.

 

The skirt comes in several colors.

She is also giving 10% off to you.  Mention my name when you place your order.

Visit her here or here. or contact her at lindsaydrobbins@gmail.com

Thanks Lindsay, and thanks to all my awesome readers.

I truly love you and appreciate all your sweet comments and emails.  A nice email or comment from a friend really does make me day.

P.S.  Don’t forget to leave me an email address.

What I have learned Thursday…

This weeks What I have learned will be scattered with some pictures of my favorite little ballerina. Well, I have two favorite ballerina’s.  I just happened to take some pictures of this one this week.  She wears a dance dress-up every day. I just have to share pictures also.

What I have learned….

I must say that the last few weeks have been full of learning experiences.  I feel like Heavenly Father is always trying to teach me something.  I think I need to work a little bit harder at listening.  That way he wouldn’t have to work so hard to refine me.

I have been thinking a lot about Faith this week and what it means to me.  I always thought that I was a pretty faithful person, but I have to admit that this past year has been a very faith trying year for me.

It has made me take a step back and think about what the word faith really means.

After a great conversation with my sister this week, I felt my understanding of faith increase.  She has been such a wonderful example to me of faith.  We have all had trials in our life, but Kristin’s trials have been more public.  People have been more aware of the trials that she has gone through.  Through it all, she has been an example of faith to me.

 

This week,  she explained faith in her own words, she told me “Sometimes it is just easier for me to hope.  When I hope for things, I watch that hope turn into faith.” 

It got me thinking about hope.  This past year, I have had a very negative attitude.  I think I left all hope aside.

 

I found this wonderful quote this week while reading my scriptures:

“There are to many of us who put question marks instead of periods at the end of what the Lord says.  We must learn to trust the Lord.” Harold B. Lee

This is my resolve to change my attitude.  I am now putting periods at the end of what I know to be true; no more questions from me.  Well maybe a few. I am not perfect yet.

 

I am having more hope for the future, and in turn plan to watch my faith increase.

Thanks to a wonderful sister who helped me see.  I believe that we are given family and friends to help us become better.  It is important to call on them in times of need.

One more beautiful thing I have learned this week.  I love my sisters.  I am thankful for them.  I am glad they are some of my closest friends.  I hope that we are teaching our own children just how important it is to forge friendships with their siblings now.  Family is forever, while most friendships come and go.

On that note, don’t forget to enter the giveaway from my other awesome and talented sister; Lindsay.  Click here to see what it is she is giving away. You won’t want to miss it. Giveaway ends tomorrow afternoon.

Thanks for always listening to me as I share what I am learning in life.  When I take the time to write it down it helps to make me better.  It gives me a place to come back to and reflect.  I hope my words help you in some way also.

 

Giveaway {Dress me up- custom onesies, leggings, and more}

I think I have some of the best blog followers ever.  So in honor of you, I have another exciting giveaway today. 

My sister is the owner of a small business.  She is the most creative person, and I begged her to let me share her talents with all of you.  She graciously agreed and is so excited.  Heck, I am so excited to share her awesome creativity with you.

I want one of these for Tess.  I should have ordered it before Valentines.  Lindsay… I need one of these please.

She is so creative, and can make almost anything you want.

She makes adorable onesies, and matching baby legs.  She also makes t-shirts for toddlers. She made the most adorable shirt for Tess when she turned two. I will be sharing a photo of her in that adorable shirt in my next post.

The sky is the limit with her.  She can design almost anything you have in mind.

This is perfect for Valentine’s Day. She can create anything for any Holiday.

I would have loved these for my boys when they were little.  Baby legs are perfect for those little ones who are just learning to crawl.

Lindsay is giving away a custom onesie and a matching set of baby legs to one of my readers.

 

If you don’t have a baby, it would make a great gift for someone.  Lindsay is going to be my go to shop for all my baby showers.

She is also giving 10% off to anyone who places an order with her and mentions my name.  Yeah, for sisters!!!

Okay, you have three ways to enter:

1. Check out Lindsay’s etsy shop here: http://www.etsy.com/shop/linsdave 

or

visit her Facebook page here: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Dress-Me-Up-custom-onesies-leggings-and-more/292605100792676

and tell me your favorite onesie or shirt.

2. To get a second chance at winning:

Like Lindsay’s facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Dress-Me-Up-custom-onesies-leggings-and-more/292605100792676

when she gets to 100 likes she is having a giveaway of her own.

3. For a third chance at winning:

Share this giveaway on your blog, and link back here.

You must leave me a separate comment for each one that you do.  I also need a way to contact you.

Winner will be announced Friday afternoon.

If you would like to place an order with Lindsay, you can do it through etsy,Facebook, or contact her at lindsaydrobbins@gmail.com 

Thanks Lindsay and…

Good Luck to all my awesome readers.