Stocking Stuffer link up reveal

One super fun thing about blogging that I have found to love over these last few years is the community!  While most of the people that probably read my blog know me in real life (because, let's be honest - my blog is not that interesting!), I have gotten to know a few ladies through this crazy thing called the Internet and it's pretty fun!  I also love these little exchanges and link ups because you really get to know some new people!!

So when Jess, Whitney and Amy announced this exchange - I jumped at the chance to join in.  Because who doesn't have time to pick up a little something and send it across the country to make someone else's Christmas season a little more cheery!?  

Even better was when I found out that I was paired with Liz from Chasin Mason Blog!!!  She so great and I love following her and her adorable family through her blog.  My favorite thing is her Instagram posts taking her son to the post office - he LOVES that place and you can see in his pictures every time they go.  Anyways - Liz and I traded some ideas...but it seems that we both had the SAME idea.  Coffee and chocolate :)  Some of the best things in life right there!  I love the little "B" stocking too!  It was so fun to open a present for me from the mail - since after online shopping, I was so used to opening presents I bought for other people!!

I opened this up and then the next day couldn't find the adorable stocking!  I knew there was some extra chocolate in it and was on the hunt.  After I got home from work, the older kids were playing outside and they told me they found something - of COURSE.  Toby (our German Shepard/Chow mix) had snagged up the mini stocking and attempted to get the chocolate out.  Well, he failed miserably and apparently if you're 13 years old as a dog and you don't succeed, you just give up!  Because the stocking was rescued in one piece with the chocolate still in tact!

Thank you, Liz!  I always love a nice {solo} Starbucks run - so you know I'll put it to good use!!

One more thing....fun fact about Liz: I also learned that she is allergic to blue cheese.  While I was not going to send her blue cheese, it did make me sad because she was talking to blue cheese's number one fan right here!  But see, I just love the things you learn about people through these!  Even more insight into these awesome ladies of the blog world!

Can't wait to fill my family's stockings now with some fun gifts!

Summer birthday box blogger swap!

I'm not going to lie- pretty sure my kiddos think the mail man = Santa lately!!! With Charlie getting such a fun boy box a few weeks ago and then they BOTH got goodies in the summer birthday exchange- they are in love with getting mail. I was thrilled to get Liz's email this year asking if we wanted to participate!  Funny story- she actually sent me it last year too- but I had set up an email linked to my blog....and then never ever (like 9-10 months never ever) checked it.  I was so bummed when I finally found the email again, logged in and saw this fun thing to miss out on. So this year I was all over the...

Since both my kiddos are July birthdays- I thought it would be fun for both of them to participate.  Which made for double the fun (in giving and receiving!!!).

First up, Charlie!!!  He was so excited to get awesome awesome package from Laura and Liam at tiny toes, little nose!!!  I loved that we got paired with her - I have followed her blog from afar for a while and it was just the push I need to start reading it more and commenting.  She has a beautiful family and 2 awesome boys - and in my mind couldn't live in a more fun state!  Anyways, I made him wait until Maddie had one of her packages too - he was dying to open it up.  Such cute wrapping paper and even more fun opening up the Ninjago legos (seriously his FAVORITE) and then an awesome Ballpark book.  

We got to do half of the Lego build the night of the opening - but then Charlie had to wait until the next day for the rest of it.  (I mean, does anyone else think that Legos are awesome but also so time consuming - especially with an impatient almost 4 year old!!??  Maybe that's why they are made for 7 year olds...)

I had to take a video because he was so excited!!!

And here is an up close of the awesome book we got! 

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We love reading it and already have read it a ton - it's perfect in the middle of Royal's baseball season!!!!

And onto Maddie's birthday box - she got an awesome present from Laureen and Tyson at  Chateau Deveau!!  She's so super cute and her family looks awesome too - check out her blog!!  I loved her recent post about her anniversary and referencing the Frankie Ballard song that I LOVE!  The present that they sent Maddie came in two boxes - so it made it double the fun.  One from Amazon that she opened the same time as Charlie.  It was an awesome camp fire set (see picture below) that she's already played with a ton - they both love to "roast marshmallows" on it.  Haha.

The second box came a day later - so Maddie got to do round 2 - even better.  That box was full of awesome Minion stuff - her favorite!  A fun necklace - which she loves - and wait for it, SUCKERS and FRUIT SNACKS.  Haha.  Oh the life of a 2 year old.  Just buy her those snacks and she's happy!

Here is the awesome camp fire set - a better close up!

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It was so stinking fun to see them open their fun mail surprises!!  I'm not kidding that they both talked about getting "fun mail" for about a week after they arrived!  So thank you so much to Laura and Liam AND to Laureen and Tyson - it was a great swap and so much fun to see the kiddos opening up their birthday goodies!

And even more fun?  We loved shopping for Brantley and Ethan who Charlie and Maddie were paired with.  We are real life friends with Sarah and Brantley and I have followed Ethan's mom, Natasha, for a while now - so needless to say they were great to partner up with and we hope they loved their gifts as much as we liked shopping for them!!

Thanks again to Liz for organizing - what a fun swap!!  Check out all the other blogs and fun goodies that others got - all kids with summer time birthday - a lot of them are 2012 babies like Charlie too!!!

Ashley and Waverly // Being Brickner

Elizabeth and Mason // Chasin' Mason

Laureen and Tyson // Chateau Deveau

Brittany, Charlie, and Maddie // Just Another Day in Paradise

Desiree and Julia // Macke Monologues

Natasha and Ethan // Schue Love

Sarah and Brantley // Seeing All Sides

Vanessa and Arden // Sunflower State of Mind

Julia and Myles // The Everyday Momma

Traci and Charli // The Hallway Life

Amanda and Lily // Tickled Pink

Laura and Liam // tiny toes, little nose

Whitney and Brielana // Work It Mommy

#BoyMom box swap revealed!

As if we didn't have enough took on, I couldn't help myself but to sign Charlie up for the blogger boy mom swap when I saw it on Sarah's blog.  Because really- who doesn't love a) getting mail and b) surprise mail/package at that!!!??

I was so very excited when I got the email that I was paired up with Stephanie from Run, Knit, Hitched blog. Why?! Well, she and her family also live in Kansas City (really we are right down the highway from each other) and I already "knew" her a bit through following her as a fellow KC blogger. 

She was on top of things and sent me over a great list of things that her son, Jack, is into, as well as a few fun ideas for things that she likes.  I, on the other hand, was a slacker in sending an email back to her with ideas for Charlie and me...but luckily, she knew my sister was getting married around when we were supposed to be doing all this so she was forgiving :)

Anyway- onto the fun reveal!  Side note- my dad has taken it on as his sole job to go get our mail every day at our house. He's the best and also uses it as an excuse to check on our contractor daily with progress reports sent via text to Jimmy and me.  So lucky for us, we had the package that went to our house, hand delivered by him to my parents.  I knew Charlie was going to be so excited!

I told him I had a surprise for him and that was it- he couldn't focus after that! So I took him over to my parents ottoman and we carefully used the scissors to cut open our fun package!

Stephanie had everything wrapped up so cute and designated "Charlie" and "Brittany" and even had a sweet note with KC Royals stickers!  Charlie pulled out the tissue wrapped stuff immediately!

Stephanie and Jack put lots of fun stuff in there for him- including a cup with a "4" on it for his upcoming birthday, some awesome Go Fish cards (sister has commandeered those already and slept with them multiple times- she's an interesting one!), and of course his favorite...GUM! She got him the kids sugar free orbit and it was a hit.

If you cannot see from the picture above, the big hit though? Ninjago Lego "thing". Worst boy mom because I'm not quite sure what it's called but let me tell you- this kid is obsessed with ninjas and anything ninjago...so he was SOOOO excited!  Wanted me to open it immediately and dump all the pieces out and build it for him.

But since Stephanie had put some other fun goodies for mom in the box too (which was so sweet!), I had Charlie open those too.  She got me the cutest little make up type bag that is the perfect size to throw in my purse...AND a gift certificate to try out Black Dog Coffee - which is a local place just down the street that has the best toast (or so I've heard)!  Stephanie had posted a picture of it on IG and I commented on it - so I loved the personal touch.  She's the sweetest!!! :) 

After all the goodies were opened, we dumped all the Legos out and mama got to building.  It was a cool thing that you can pull and it flew in the air.  Of course we had to go outside in Nana and Papa's backyard to do it over and over again.  It was (and still is a huge hit).

...if you cannot tell from his face :)  As for this little sister, Maddie still has the "4" cup and go fish cards in the play shopping cart that she pushes around my parents house (along with my cell phone most days...), but Charlie made sure to eat all the gum and share a bit.

Thank you, so much to Stephanie and Jack for such a fun surprise box and goodies.  Again, we just loved getting the mail to have something fun (and not junk or bills!).  And since we are so close - Stephanie and I are planning to get together at some point likely once the baby comes!

Thanks for hosting Liz, Sarah and Stephanie for hosting!

Secret (really!!) Santa blogger book exchange

Hi December.  Wow.  Work has been crazy.  Kids have been sick.  Then mom gets sick.  And guess what? In the midst of trying to keep up with the crazy that December already is...poor blog gets no attention.  I hate it I really do- but unless you can find some extra time or energy my way...this will have to do.

When I saw that some wonderful folks were hosting their second annual secret Santa blogger book exchange- I jumped on to participate!  I had a lot of fun with the scarf exchange this fall and thought something that involved my kiddos would be even more fun!

Thanks to Liz, Courtney and Ashley  for hosting this fun exchange!!

We got a nice surprise of three fun gifts.  One for me, one for Charlie and one for Maddie!!!

I had the kids come upstairs from playing (yes that's a buzz light year costume...nope, not Halloween ;)) to open up their books!

Hard at work ripping open the books and practicing for Christmas Day!

Per usual. Checking out what each other got!!

I tried to get Charlie to hold them up- but you cannot really see them.  But he got the Little Blue Truck's Christmas which was a HUGE hit!!! We don't have any of those books and I think we will have to buy some.  He loves reading this book and especially the blinking lights of the Christmas tree on the last page!  And Maddie got a little mermaid book- which lo and behold, she got to read like once and it's found its way into big brothers nightly book rotation (as if he doesn't know the little mermaid story by heart!)

And for me?? Well I cannot wait to read this book!! I loved Gone Girl and heard great things about this!!  And for the sweet bookmark!

What even funnier is that my awesome partner kept anonymous the whole time!! For real! She wrote a sweet card but didn't reveal herself!  So then I started freaking out thinking "oh my gosh, I ruined the surprise for my partner too!".  So I quickly sent the Crystal from a direct message on Instagram telling her I'm sorry I ruined it- haha. I'm a mess!!  She responded and let me know that if i did it wrong then so did she!!  I emailed the coordinators and found out finally who our awesome books were from and it was Whitney from Work it mommy blog  . Thank you for an awesome package of books!!! We have loved reading them this holiday season!! 

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I'm a moron and misread the email from the hosts - ahh!  My package was NOT from Whitney, it was from Stephanie at Wife Mommy Me.  SOOOO sorry!  I tell you what, this has not been the month for me.  Thank you so much for our books Stephanie!!!
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And thanks for the hosts- this was a fun little exchange that I enjoyed getting to meet new bloggers and send and receive some Christmas cheer!

Here's wishing to no sickness in our house the second half of December and more blogging!!!

Fall Blogger Scarf Exchange

My friend, Sarah, knows my love of scarves...so when Courtney, Elizabeth and Whitney announced they were hosting this fall scarf exchange, Sarah told me that she was joining in and so should I.  It didn't take me much convincing to sign up. How fun!!!

I was lucky enough to get paired with Jess from Secrets of SAHM to buy a scarf for me and then I got to buy a scarf for Sara from Running from the Law. 

After getting and email from Jess and an email back from Sara, it was time to go shopping (for Sara!) and anxiously await the scarf that Jess chose for me.

I was very excited checking the mail each day for the package from Jess to arrive and was like a kid squealing with excitement when I saw the package from her.  And even more excited when I had Charlie rip open the package for me.

An awesome scarf that is just perfect for fall!!

And guess what?  I only have had it for a little while and I already found two outfits to wear it with!

One to work on Thursday:

(Please excuse this awkward picture - I'm obviously NOT a fashion blogger)

And then to church on Sunday:

Yep!  I'm a fan!!

It was fun to do the exchange and get to "know" a few other mom bloggers.  Jess sent such a sweet note with her scarf and was so nervous that I wasn't going to like it!  Never fear - the colors are perfect and it was the perfect weight for a scarf to wear when it's not too cold, but not too hot!!!

I hope that Sara likes her scarf that I picked out for her - and am thankful for a new scarf AND two new blogs to follow!!!  I'm so excited to see what everyone else in the exchange picked out and sent too.  

And most importantly, Happy Fall, y'all :)