Earth's Best Happy Snax

With the recent planning of a playdate at my house with a mixed age of infants & toddlers I turned to Earth's Best to provide the best snacks for all the kiddos. My new favorite snack addition is the Earth's Best Happy Snax.

New Earth’s Best Organic® Happy Snax Whole Grain Cereal Snacks are fun smiley-face shaped
snack products available in delicious apple cinnamon and graham varieties for toddlers. Happy
Snax provide the perfect wholesome snack for toddlers, containing 12 grams of whole grains, 2
grams of protein, 2 grams of fiber per serving and 25% of the recommended Daily Value of
Vitamin C. Plus they taste great too & I would know because I couldn't resist the smiley faces sitting out on the table begging to be eaten.

Each canister of Happy Snax is created with a great concern and consideration for the health of
its tiny consumers. They are made with organic ingredients grown without potentially harmful
pesticides or herbicides and are specially formulated with an excellent source of iron, zinc and
six B Vitamins. As with all Earth’s Best® products, Happy Snax Whole Grain Cereal Snacks do not
contain any artificial colors, flavors, preservatives nor do they contain Genetically Modified
Organisms (GMOs).

These snax are great for on the go or playdates with friends. My little one can't have them just yet but her older friends sure enjoyed them at the playdate. And now you can have the chance to give them a try too!!

 a Rafflecopter giveaway

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Life Change

This is going to be a two for one post because well that's just how I operate. Who watches Private Practice? If you don't want any kind of spoiler at all, though doesn't deal with the characters, then you probably shouldn't read this post.

Long story, short...a father sober 6 months for the first time in his life reconnects with his adult daughter who has every reason to be mad at her father. These types of stories really tug at my heart as a "counselor" & a believer. God can change people & nothing is too big for Him. This father may have been a horrible father, but God is bigger than that. He is sober & he so desires to apologize to his daughter for the way things went down. I was moved to tears. I love how God really can transform lives. You may be thinking I'm crazy talking about these characters like they are real people but the fact is there are tons of people just like them in this world & knowing that my God is big enough to transform lives is moving. 

It was fitting that I watched that after spending 20 minutes reading an amazing article on The Texas Observer titled Life On The List. Wait, don't run off & read the article just yet but do read it for sure. Have you ever spent time looking at the sex offender registry? 

I've only done it a couple of times, but on one particular occasion I noticed there was someone on my street. I was curious with them being on my street for what reason they were listed. I don't remember specifically what it was but it was ridiculous really. I knew the man & had a good portion of my life. I'd seen that his life had been completely transformed by the gospel & I honestly would have never guessed he was a registered sex offender. His incident had occurred when he was around 18 now probably in his 60's. When I saw that it made my heart ache for him. How many people have seen that & hated him for it? I bet a zillion. 

So today as I read this article, Life On The List, I thought about it all over again. The man in the article happens to be a registered sex offender because of an offense that occurred when he was 12 with his sister & it was completely blown out of proportion. Kids explore other kids and that's just part of being a kid, but this kids counselor reported it to the state as they had to by law. This mans life has forever been changed because of that and honestly it makes me kind of sick to my stomach. You should really take a minute to read his story & to read the ridiculousness that is the sex offender registration especially in regards to minors. 

All this to be said, God can transform lives and we are not called to judge others. I don't know how many times I've heard a friend say "I looked on the registry and there is someone in my neighborhood. I completely disgusted & feel so unsafe" to which I always respond, "but God can transform lives & you can't judge a book by it's cover." By no means am I excusing the behavior of a sex offender, but know that my God is bigger than all of that. And yes there is a difference in being scared by an older man next door who is a repeat offender or maybe even in the last 5 years has offended verses someone who "offended" when they were a minor or even someone who offended 10, 15 or more years ago. 

Okay I am ending my rant now because I could keep going & going, but please just take a minute to read the article. No really go read it now: Life On The List. (And read some of the comments, there are some good ones)

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Fisher Price Playdate

I had the chance to host my very first House Party & it was a total blast. But let me first start from the beginning. I was seriously so excited when I logged onto my computer to find out I had been chosen to host a party. I really had no idea what to expect but got really excited when I saw a 54 lb box was headed my way for the party. Here's Ems & I opening it up:

 

It's been fun planning everything along the way and getting my friends excited about the party. Everyone came over yesterday & we had a blast together. Here are the 5 kiddos that enjoyed the toys are the party:

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Sun Protection with Earth's Best

My favorite part about this time of the year is spending all of our time outside. We go to the park, take a walk or sit in the yard almost daily. I have to remember that even in the fall & winter we need to protect babies skin. In the summer when you are headed to the pool it is so easy to remember to put on the sunscreen, but when it feels good outside you tend to forget. 

We need to remember to protect babies face as well as our own,  regardless of the temperature. Here are a few tips from Earth's Best:

• Seek the shade or wear a hat if you're planning on spending an extended amount of time outdoors.
• Invest in a stylish pair of sunglasses for you and your baby - make sure they indicate that they block ultraviolet (UV) radiation. 
• Don't forget about your lips - too much sun exposure can lead to dry, cracked lips! Find a lip balm that is SPF 15 or higher.

Earth's Best offers an Organic Chemical-Free SPF 30 sunblock that is organize, chemical-free, paraben-free, 100-percent vegetarian, and hypoallergenic. It was even recently voted BEst Organize Sunscreen in the Babble Blogger Favorites 2012 Awards in the Sunscreens for Kids category! Even better, Earth's Best sunscreen is fragrance-free :)

So go on out and enjoy the beautiful fall weather, but don't forget to protect you and your children's skin. Now if only we would get the beautiful weather again here in Texas...
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Nine Months

 Dear Emily,
 
You have spent much of the last month trying to get around whether it be trying to crawl, cruising or walking. You have an army crawl down to a tee, but can't seem to get a hold on the normal crawling but you are very close. I actually thought you'd figure out by the time you turned 9 months but you are just a few days shy of becoming a pro. You have been cruising along the couch and your toys too. Plus you ALWAYS want to hold our hands and walk around the living room. You will be sitting playing and then grab onto our hands to pull up to a stand so you can walk. I didn't expect you to want to walk this early considering your daddy didn't walk until 15 months old. Looks like it's time to baby proof the house!

We read the same two books to you every single night & you have become very animated during that time. I think you are reading us your books now. At the end of one of the books we sneeze & you think it's hysterical. You love reading all of your other books too and will pull them out for us to read to you. You are our little bookworm!

You love music & we listen to it all day. You especially love If You Are Happy & You Know It and will clap along to the clap your hands portion. We listen to lots of fun music like Casper Babypants, Raffi, & Laurie Berkner. Look forward to all the fun we will have with music over the years.


We love you more today than yesterday and this will be true tomorrow and every day after that. You are the best thing that has ever happened to us.

Love,

Mommy

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Snotty Noses

It's a sick day at our house today & someone is getting away with doing whatever she wants. Seriously though because if I say no or take something away she screams & sobs. Poor girl doesn't feel good at all. I feel so bad for her and wish there was more I could do for her but really all I can do is try to get the snot out of her nose so she can get better quicker.

Now who knew a 9 month old child could be so hard to get the snot out of? I didn't realize I would have to pin down my baby to perform snot sucking miracles. 

With that said I feel like it's my duty as a momma to share with you my favorite nose sucking partner, the Nose Frida from Frida Baby.

Are you completely disgusted? Because I most definitely was when my friend told me about it 9 months ago. "You want me to what? I will never suck my childs boogers out!"

 

And now look at me telling you it's my favorite. Don't get me wrong the hospital booger sucker as I like to call it is amazing, but this gets out way more snot especially when my husband does it. Yes, you do have to stick the tube in their nose and suck it out. But don't worry the snot can't get in your mouth which I totally feared. I made my husband do it at first because I didn't want to risk the possibility of getting snot in my mouth. When he successfully did it snot free I gave it a try. 

 

I am seriously amazed by how much snot you can get out. Like I said though my husband can do it way better than me. I feel like I am going to pass out as hard as I have to suck to get it out but it works and I love that. I love feeling like I've given my child the ability to breathe again. And I love that I don't feel like I have to suck her nose out again in 5 minutes. After I clear her out I normally use the hospital syringe to get what might be left over and then we are good to go. 

 

I just wish their was some kind of straight jacket mechanism to put your child in while doing it. I have had to fight her way too much today. Though when my mom stopped by tonight she happily let me do it because she was being entertained by her shenanigans. I guess the trick to clearing their noses at this age is to have two adults to one baby. 

 

Now go get the Nose Frida....

{I in no way was compensated for my opinion or the product itself. This review was simply written because I wanted to share with you an exciting product that I use in my home. If you are interested in me reviewing your products please contact me by email. Email address can be found under connect on the right side of my blog}

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Family Photos

We decided to head back to our alma mater for some family photos. I love our photos and can't wait to put a few up in our home. Enjoy!

(Photos by Ginger Ivey Photography)

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I'm a Sewing Machine

I took the plunge and decided to finally do a craft show, my very first craft show. I'd like to pretend I'm really prepared and that my booth is going to be so rockstar but it won't be. I will be lucky if I get enough product made in time so the rockstar status will have to wait for another booth another day. I am going halfsies with a friend on the booth & am pretty much letter her decorate.

I've been getting ready for the show by pulling out Halloween, fall, Thanksgiving & Christmas gear. Then as I am doing that I decide I might as well do something besides just applique so I started making skirts that match the onesies. And then I made this cute skirt & though originally for Halloween decided it was perfect for OSU so now I've started a collegiate line of options too.

And yes I did totally text a picture of this to a friend who is a die hard OSU fan & she bought it. I shipped it out 30 minutes afterwards so her niece could wear it to the 1st game of the season. Now I have to make it in Texas Tech colors so my little can wear it this season. 

So what have you been up to lately??

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