WordFul Wednesday - Scout Camp Day #2

Monday wasn't enough for me....I'm going BACK to Cub Scout Day camp for a second day!

This time I will be better prepared.....

Last time a few friends of mine gave me their lists of recommendations. After 7 hours with cub scouts on Monday, I came up with my own.

1- Do NOT, under any circumstance forget your drugs. Bring PLENTY of tylenol and excedrin or you might regret it. Headaches and screaming, squealing boys pounding leather with mallets does not make a good mix.

2- Don't listen to the mean lady with the BB gun when she tells you not to take pictures of your son shooting his first BB gun...and making BULLS EYES with each shot!! (Twizzler, apparently, is a natural with a rifle. CandyMan says that there's some kind of Southern legend (?) about people with grey eyes being good shots. He's kinda got grey eyes. Maybe that's it. And get this--he shoots left handed (or left eyed, as they call it) but he is otherwise right handed.

Archery is a bit trickier. It takes him until his 2nd try to get a bulls eye.

3- Twizzlers (the candy this time) will buy you time, quiet, and friends.

4- Enjoy the boys. It means a lot to them that you are there. You might even get to hold a hand or two.

For more Wordful Wednesday, visit Angie:

Not Me Monday

What? It's not Monday? Hmmm.....Oh well. You don't mind, do you?

In case you were wondering, I am not feeling the slightest bit guilty about the fact that I promised to take AJ to McDonalds when we went to the mall for an errand today.....but kept putting him off because I wanted to finish up editing some pictures on the computer first. "In a few minutes," I kept telling him as I adjusted the exposure on the last few pictures. Finally he left me alone. When I stood up to tell him it was almost time to go, I found him asleep on his bed.

I didn't have major mommy guilt at that moment. No, not me!

I have an hour left before picking the other kids up for camp. Now the question is......let him sleep, or drag him out of bed to fulfill the promise?

I think I'm getting him up.

See ya!

Skin Free Giveaway!

Contest closed! Winner is #36, Lindsey of A Kindred Spirit's Thoughts. Congrats!

As a teenager, I had pretty nice skin. Strangely, it was in my early 20s and into my child-bearing years that my facial skin took a turn for the worse. Not only do I have a tendency to get pimples (yuck!) my skin also has a tendency to not heal very fast, leaving me with the remnants of a pimple long after the pimple is technically gone. My skin gets purple blotches and it peels....To make matters worse, I have now entered my mid thirties, and kids and stress have aged me. Enter the age of the wrinkles. Sometimes I look into the mirror and hardly recognize myself.

When Skin Free contacted me a little while ago for a review opportunity, I looked over their product line and was immediately drawn to the facial care and repair category. I found a couple of products that looked interesting, and a week or so later I received the products and started using them. I am a little embarrassed to admit that by the time I got the two bottles of skin care products, I didn't remeber what they were supposed to do. All I knew was that I put one on my face at bed time and the other on in the morning.

I only tell you that because it's relevant to my story.

You see, as I used these products, I didn't know what to expect. All I knew was the results I was witnessing. After about a week of use, I stopped CandyMan in the bathroom as we were getting ready for bed one night. I told him that ever since I started using this strange new stuff, my skin was healing faster. It wasn't necessarily stopping me from getting blemishes, but they were healing almost immediately. My skin hadn't looked so good in years.

As he questioned me, I decided that I'd actually read the boxes and see what the two products were supposed to be doing. And guess what? They did exactly what they said they would do. Incredible!

Every night before bed, I wash my face and apply just two drops of the corrective face nectar. Here's what it does:

"Our Corrective Face Nectar is a special blend of incredible healing oils including Squalane, Tamanu, Sweet Almond, Carrot Seed, Evening Primrose, and Virgin Olive. Known for their soothing, regenerative, and anti-inflammatory properties, in combination these oils become a super power that can help reduce capillaries and scarring, prevent wrinkles, help heal eczema, acne, reverse sun damage, and stop visible signs of aging."

And every morning after showering, I apply two drops of the Daytime Light Moisture. Working together with my night time routine, the daytime moisture does this:

"Most of us need a touch of moisture in the morning to revive our natural beauty. We have formulated our Daytime Light Moisture™ with the lightest blend of Squalane, Sweet Almond, Evening Primrose, and Vitamin E. Use just a few drops each morning after cleansing your skin to help reduce aging effects and give your face a fresh, younger appearance. Keeping your skin well moisturized will always reduce the appearance of wrinkles."

I can't tell you how happy and purely amazed I am at how well these work! Skin Free has found a customer for life. And I'm not just saying that.

Skin Free has many other incredible products to chose from, and they are available not only online but at many local drug stores, like my local CVS. Skin Free has generously offered one of my readers a $30 gift certificate to their website. I can tell you exactly what I'd spend $30 on....What about you? What Skin Free product would you like to try?
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To enter my giveaway for a $30 gift certificate to Skin Free, visit their site and tell me what product you would like to try if you won.
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For extra entries, do any of the following (and leave a separate comment for each entry):

~Subscribe to my blog
~Follow my blog
~Tweet about this giveaway (mention @1momof5 and leave me your tweet URL)
~Really, just about anything that you could do to promote or share this giveaway would be fantastic. If you stumble, blog, email, call a friend, etc....just let me know!

This giveaway will end on Monday, July 13th at 10:00 pm Eastern time. I will contact the winner by email and post the winner's info on the top of this post. Good luck, everyone!

I'm Off to Camp This Week!

I am heading off to cub scout day camp with Twizzler this week. I'm the den walker (chaperone) today and Wednesday, and I have to admit--I'm kind of excited! I've packed my my bags and slathered us both in sunscreen and bug spray. I spoke with a few veteran Cub Scout moms to get their advice on how to survive my time at camp. Here are a few of their tips:

1 - Wear a hat. It will help with the sun AND the bugs (oh, joy!)
2 - Pack lots of water.
3 - Bring a cooler for all of the lunches and don't forget where you put it.
4 - Make sure you get the list of requirements that the boys have passed off before you leave.
5 - Wear your scout shirt.
6 - Don't wear your scout shirt.
7 - Bring a poncho (it rains a lot in June and it is miserable to be in the woods, wet, for 6 hours)
8 - Don't eat any of the food that they offer you (apparently, a group several years ago ended up in the hospital because of the camp food).

I think I'm set. AJ is spending 3 days this week at babysitters (he'll be in heaven!) and I will be out of the house. Wish me luck, and stay tuned for camp pictures later this week!

I Heart Faces - Wedding Bells

This week's theme at I Heart Faces is Wedding Bells. 'Tis the season! I do have a few weddings under my belt, so I figured I'd go through my files and pick a favorite photo. I decided to go for something different and fun today. Jumping shots don't always work very well, but this group of guys knew how to do it well, and this shot worked for me. It makes me smile every time I pass by it.

Wanna know a secret? Taking wedding photos stresses me out. And it's a whole lot of work. I used to wonder why wedding photographers charged so much. Now I know. Don't get me wrong--I love weddings! I adore being with a new bride and groom during the first hours after they have been married. It's an incredibly uplifting, exhilarating time. New brides and grooms radiate joy and love, and it's hard not to let a little of that rub off on you.

Go check out the other wedding entries at I Heart Faces!

Give Me Your Best Shot (or Two)

I typically pick one favorite shot of the week to display on Fridays, but I couldn't pick just one this week. On Wednesday, AJ and I spent the day surrounded by some of the most beautiful scenery I can imagine. One picture wouldn't do the day and our experience there justice. This day needed more of a photo story rather than just a photo by itself.


Hosted by Cecily and MamaGeek

I am working on a project documenting the growth and death cycles of plants at a nature facility (a facility that happens to have some amazing high adventure courses, like the shot of the zipline below).

Hey, SITScation friends: How about next year, we do a high adventure blogging conference? I've got connections....

It was very interesting to start this project this week. I typically focus on people when I take pictures. I found that I loved taking shots of nature.

How could I not love a day like this? 85 degrees and the sky a dark blue. I was overwhelmed with the beauty of it all.

AJ loves being in nature (not all of my kids do...). He was a trouper and hiked for nearly 2 hours (in flip flops!) with us as I snapped away. OK, so half the time he was getting a piggy back, but still....


Our tour guide...in talking about each aspect of his project, he might as well have been telling us about his children. Here, he was pointing out how the soy plants looked like ocean waves as the wind blew across the fields. I wish I could have captured the movement.


What have you been shooting this week? I'd love to see your favorite shots. To find out more about Give Me Your Best Shot, read this....And come back to leave the link to your best shot (please link to your actual Give Me Your Best Shot post, and not your main blog page so that everyone can find your photos). And grab my button below so that we can get more people to stop by!

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Living the High Life as a Pirate's Mother

Inspired by one of MamaKat's writing prompts today, I decided to interview AJ in the car on the way to pick up the big kids. Here's how our interview went (I wrote it down on the back of a grocery store receipt while I was waiting for the kids to be done. I didn't want to forget.)

Me: AJ, what's your favorite thing to do?

PAUSE (I thought maybe that he hadn't heard me. He had....)

AJ: Finding treasure.


Me: Oh, really? You like treasures? Cool. What would you like to be when you grow up?

AJ: A pirate. So I can find treasure.


Me: Wow. You really must like treasure. Why did you decide you want to be a pirate?

AJ: Cuz I want to be rich.

Me: Oh, are pirates rich?

AJ: Yeah, cuz they have lots of treasure.

PAUSE

AJ: I'm going to need to build a really big boat like Noah's Ark. I'll need lots of wood.

Me: Are we all going to live on the boat?

AJ: Yeah, we'l all live on the boat and be rich.

Me: What about school? Aren't you looking forward to starting school?

AJ: Nah.

Me: But don't you need to learn things to be a good pirate?

AJ: MOM! I already know how to be a good pirate!

Apparently, he's been learning all he needs to know from his videos. Thank goodness. I can't wait til he gets big enough so that we can live the high life on a pirate ship and be rich.

What's the deal with my boys and shiny golden things?

Picaflor Kids

I am happy to introduce you to a new friend--Picaflor Kids! When I received an email from my friends at Eleven Collection Shoes (seriously my favorite kids shoes ever!) recommending that I take a look at Picaflor, I hopped right over. Picaflor Kids makes children's clothing for boys and girls, in sizes Preemie through 7/8 years. My first impression was that Picaflor Kids was.....

Unique (one of a kind knit styles)
and Comfortable (who doesn't love a soft knit?)

Later, I found out that the clothes are machine washable (a must!) and easy to care for. I can attest to that! Our package arrived while I was out of the house, and I came home to find Reese and AJ already in their new clothes. And AJ's shirt was already dirty. I should expect as much from a 4 year old boy! I washed the shirt and it came out looking good as new!

Listen to this: Picaflor’s knits are 100% Rayon, a natural fiber made from recycled wood pulp. (how did I not know that?) Not only is it environmentally friendly, it’s soft and comfortable on the skin. Rayon is hypoallergenic, incredibly absorbent and wicks moisture away, making it great for year round weather. Our rayon has a superb drape and retains brilliant colors, making it the perfect material for Picaflor’s innovative, fresh designs. All of our clothing is machine washable and dryer friendly.

Here's a little history on Picaflor:

Picaflor (“hummingbird” in Spanish) uses thoughtful fabrics and small-scale production to create a unique collection of knitwear that is designed for busy little wings. Nancy Coronado, founder and designer, has established a relationship with a family-owned clothing maker in her home country of Peru. Picaflor is strongly committed to fair-trade practices, and is proud to give back to a variety of organizations.

So the clothes are cute, comfortable, easy, to care for, AND they give back. How awesome are they?

Speaking of awesome....Picaflor Kids has offered my readers a special discount! All you have to do is enter the code blogfanss09 when checking out and you'll receive 10% off your total purchase. (They're also currently offering Free Shipping on all orders!) PS--Picaflor is also on Facebook!

Here are a few pictures I took of Reese and AJ in their new Picaflor Kids clothes this morning. They were feeling a little silly....

Splash

Want more Wordless Wednesday? Visit 5 Minutes For Mom, Go Graham Go!, Three Peas, and The Not So Blog!

And now for the WordFUL part of this picture: There is something so amazing about watching my little girl become a young woman. She gets in the car when I pick her up from school or camp and talks about cute boys and flirting games. She spends more time in the bathroom getting ready in the morning than I do. She can wear my shoes. She can babysit (and she does a good job, too). Random things lately seem so deep. So meaningful. Where did the time go?

If you haven't stopped by Angie's blog lately, you have to go check out her new design!



Ok, it's probably a little ridiculous, but I'm adding this picture to You Capture at I Should Be Folding Laundry. The theme this week is Summer, and this picture just screams summer to me.

Summer: Even my Head is Swimming

School has been out for a week now. Here's a little re-cap of what we've been up to, and what we have to expect for the next little while, along with some random thoughts in my head today. Because that's just how my brain is working right now.

Summer started off with some rain. The kids didn't care. They played outside anyway, which simply gave me dirty carpets, extra laundry, and kids that smelled like wet dog. But they were happy!

As of yesterday, my kids (all but AJ) happily spend their days here:

Summer camp! This is a special treat. Almost as fun as Disney. The kids were both exhausted and excited when I picked them up yesterday afternoon. They saw old friends from last year, swam, sang, danced, crafted, and (as Twizzler said) "played a really fun game with water guns." The best part? They are utterly exhausted when they come home, and AJ and I can enjoy all of the free programs in our area that are catered to the younger crowd. Seriously, KitKat said to me, "Oh! You mean we don't have to go to those concerts this summer? Thank goodness!"

AJ and I, on the other hand, CAN go to the concerts. Yesterday, after dropping off the big kids and running a few errands, AJ and I planted our blankets on a shady spot of the lawn and listened to the performance. Sadly, it was not great. Instead of the typical musical concert or magic show, there was a rather boring and drawn out play involving kids from the audience and a few dozen costumes. We left early.

I hate to say it, but our free Regal movie today was a flop, too. There are two movie choices this week, and since we had already seen The Tale of Desperaux, we decided to give Igor a try. Big mistake! It was awful. AJ actually turned to me after 45 minutes and said, "Can we go home now?"

In other news, I am happy to report that our garden is growing! We have been extremely neglectful of our little plot, and on Thursday and Saturday I spent a few hours picking weeds that were a foot tall. I forgot to put sunscreen on my back, so I ended up with quite a burn below my neck. But the plants have been hardy, despite our neglect, and in a few weeks, we'll be eating fresh garden veggies!

And, yes, we have had a chance to swim a few times. Now that the big kids are swimming at camp every day, I am trying to work into my weekly schedule a time or two for AJ and I to have a pool date. What? Just one kid at the pool? Heavenly! I'm contemplating putting AJ in a raft and exercising in the water. I really need the exercise!

I am so behind on my giveaways. I'm also sorely behind on editing all of the photo shoots I've been having lately as well as updating any of my other blogs. I blame my getting behind on my inability to stay up late anymore. I know it's for the best. But I'm just not making use of those golden hours after the kids go to sleep to catch up on all of my posts. Check back all week for new giveaways that I'll be posting! I can't promise the same for the other blogs, but I will try!

PS--Did you all notice my new commenting system? So far, I've had a great experience with Disqus. It has caught some of the annoying spam that I've been getting, and it has made replying to comments super easy. And my replies not only go to the person I'm replying to, but also post back to my blog so everyone can see what I've been saying. :) One of my favorite features is not having to scroll way down a page to find the comment form. Has it been easy enough to use?

Bella Sara Giveaway!

*CONTEST CLOSED* The winner is Elizabeth, comment #3!

I remember quite clearly the day when Necco, my tomboy, came home from kindergarten with a poem she had written all about her love of Yu Gi Oh. I thought it was a very strange subject considering she had never seen the show on tv and we did not own any Yi Gi Oh cards at the time. I asked her about it. She said that she and her friends talked about Yi Gi Oh all the time, and some of her friends would bring the cards to school and play with them at recess. A few years later, she got her own first set of cards. By then, Twizzler (only 19 months younger) was also interested in collecting and playing Yi Gi Oh....and so our family's Yi Gi Oh involvement began. As many cards as we have around the house, I still don't quite "get" what they are supposed to do with them. But they seem harmless enough, and certainly take up less space than a larger collection, so we continue to buy packs of card here and there.

While we are staring at Yi Gi Oh packs, Reese (my 6 year old girly girl) stares longingly at the packs of pretty horses. You can only imagine how excited she was when I opened an envelope a few weeks ago and discovered those very same cards. her first set of Bella Sara cards!

It was a brilliant move to create a trading card system for girls. The cards are bright and colorful, and the cards and characters promote good values for girls. And even better--Bella Sara has a website with games and activities for girls, too. Each pack contains a code that unlocks horses and other items and prizes for use on the site. Reese (and even Necco, I might add!) love playing! And at only $2.99 suggested retail, they are easy for kids to earn on their own. :)


Bella Sara has captured the hearts of young girls across the country, offering positive, inspirational messages and selling more than 83 million cards to date (that's a lot of cards!).

This month, Bella Sara expanded its line of trading cards for girls with Royalty, the 9th series in the brand. To promote thsi new series, Bella Sara, in conjuntion with Team Mom, is giving away ONE Bella Sara Prize Pack featuring Royalty (1 pack), Miniatures (1 pack) and Treasures (1 pack) collections.

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To win this prize pack, simply visit Bella Sara and tell me who you know that would enjoy these cards.

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For additional chances to win, you may do any of the following (please leave a separate comment for each entry)
~Subscribe to my blog
~Follow me
~Tweet about this contest & leave the link (or share it in any other way--email, blog, etc)
~Stumble, fave on technorati, etc (leave user name)


This giveaway will end on Monday, July 6th at 10:00 pm Eastern time and notified via email. Good luck!