Monday Mingle - November 16

Welcome to Monday Mingle, today's mingle was a little less hectic than last time...but thats my normal house! Enjoy! To join in the fun of Monday Mingle, head over to Jennifer's blog Eighty MPH Mom

Sleep Number Giveaway on Our Ordinary Life and Lizzy's Dear's Life

My good friends Kristin and Lizzy are giving away a Select Comfort-Sleep Number p5 bed set, (ARV-$2,049.97!) on their Christmas Affair Gift Guide! You can enter on both sites for more entries to win this awesome giveaway! So check them out http://lizzydearslife.net/2009/11/select-comfort-sleep-number-p5-bed-giveaway.html and http://www.ourordinarylife.com/2009/11/the-ultimate-christmas-gift-a-christmas-affair-gift-guide/ to enter to win!!!

I Love My Small Town

I was born and raised most of my life in this little town called Shenandoah. My dad was born and raised here too, and it's where my kids will be raised as well. Last weekend we had a train excursion, which was a passenger train from Roanoke come up and stopped in our little town. The whole town got excited! The craft show that was planned for that weekend, moved to 1st Street which is where the train tracks are.

I took Jeffery to the craft show Saturday, just me and him. Then Sunday when the train come into town, I took Jeffery and Jaylin down. The street was packed with people, we ran into Paw Paw (my dad) who was taking pictures (as you can see, I took mine too) We had fun, just walked up and down the street talking to people w

e knew. The town had a "trolley"

(really it was a bus designed to look like a trolley) to take the train passengers from 1st street to the community center, and the fire hall which both had meals for them. When we ran into the mayor dressed as a train conductor, I asked if the kids could take a picture with him, since they both love trains, he said yes of course! He's such a nice guy.

Then we took a trolley ride around, just to take pictures and for the fun of it...seriously, how often do you get a chance to ride a "trolley" around town. When we stopped at the

community center I popped my head out the door to take this picture of my dad, taking pictures of people getting off the trolley! When we got back to 1st street we noticed a hay ride...being driven by one of the to

wn council members. We ended up riding it

about 3 or 4 times, he took us right beside the train tracks, then under the

tunnel to the river, and once we went the other direction of the river for a change of scenery. Jeffery and Jaylin loved it! I loved spending that time with them.

We had popcorn and they even shared a Sprite (I don't let them have soda often) It was a long day, we went into town hall where they had model trains sitting around. It was a great day. I just wish there were things like that more often in town. I asked the mayor if there would be any chance we could have a train leaving from here going somewhere else...I know the kids would love that!

She's a Goof!

Jaylin is so silly. She wears a pull-up to school now, and when they change her's sometimes they put someone else's on her, which don't fit properly. The other day she was walking away from me and I said "Jayin, you have a fat butt!" she turns her head around and goes "Yea!" then keeps walking. A few minutes later I told Jeff to check out her pull-up butt (he had heard the earlier conversation between me and her lol) and he goes "Goodness Jaylin you have a big butt!" she turns around and goes "Uhhhh" and here is how the rest of the conversation went...

Me: Look at that Jeff, you made her self conscious about her looks

Jeff: What?!?!? You said the same thing to her!

Me: Apparently she don't like you looking at her butt!

Jeff: Jaylin, you don't really have a big butt, it's because of your pull-up making your butt look big

Jaylin then comes up to him and goes "Off" and tugs at her pull-up!!

I almost fell on the floor laughing!!!! She's only 3 and already gets mad when a man says something about her looks!!! I love her, she's awesome!

Great Wolf Lodge (Review Part 2)

Ok, so if you read my first Great Wolf Lodge post (remember, that REALLY long one lol) I said I was going to make a part 2. Well here it is, and boy do I have plenty more to talk about!

I mentioned we went during the Howl-O-Ween events, and there was plenty to do. When we checked in, they give us 2 tickets for the trick or treating that night, it started on the 3rd floor and you worked your way around and down to the different areas. It was neat, they provided the bags, each area had a different character (tree, gargoyle, etc) and the kids had to help them find something (most of them were "crystals") Jeffery and Jaylin had a blast! At the end of the trick or treat trail there was one last character (I forgot already what she was dressed up as) but the kids got to pick a TOY out of a chest, oh boy, the kids loved that!

After trick or treating we were all hungry. Great Wolf Lodge has plenty of places to eat, even had a mini Pizza Hut. Actually in my interview with Curtis Brown, I asked him what sets Great Wolf Lodge apart from other resorts (such as Massanutten which is right next to us and also has an indoor water park) his answer was:

"Great Wolf Lodge offers total family experience. Customer service standards are extremely high, customer feedback and high percentage return guests. Guest experience total family vacation. It's a self contained destination. “Cruise ship on land” everything together, daily activities all in one area."

I also asked Mr. Brown what a "must try" dish was in the restaurant within the lodge. His answer was:

"Loose Moose Family Diner which is a buffet. There is also Jungle Jim's right outside.

In house offers breakfast lunch and dinner.

Dessert is the Kids Camp ice cream Sunday."

Unfortunately while we were there, we didn't have the money to eat in the lodge (the prices was out of our range), but just a short drive down the road was a Sonic. Trust me, we wanted to go to the buffet sooooo bad!

When we got back with our food we looked at the time and realized it was almost time for the last trail ride! So we grabbed the kids and took off down the hallway, only to be told the last one had already left. It was 8:50pm and we were told the last one went out at 9:00pm when I bought the tickets, disappointed and irritated I sent Amy back to the room with the kids to get their PJs on them for the last story time while I went to the front desk to let them know I was upset about the misinformation about the schedule of the Trail Ride. The front desk was so great about it, she thought just like I did that the last one left at 9pm, so she went to check again, she worked it out to have them do one more ride. So I frantically called Amy and told her to run back up with the kids lol. The Trail Ride was so cool, (While in the interview with Mr. Brown he said the Trail Ride is his favorite activity for Howl-o-Ween) we took a little ride around the lodge, to a makeshift "pumpkin patch" where we all were able to get our own little pumpkin. We then went to a tent where they had cookies and hot cider, along with a small craft for the kids (coloring magnets), then back to the lodge, just missed the Pajama Story Time. When we got back to the room, the kids fell asleep almost immediately once they got in the bed! Amy fell asleep shortly after the kids and I waited up for Jeff to get there with Jaxon after visiting with his parents for the day.

Jeff was AMAZED at the place once he got there, he didn't know what to expect, but he did like it! I took a lot of pictures while Amy and the kids were sleeping while waiting on Jeff, they are in the slide show below.

The next day before heading back to the water park (can stay in the water park even after checkout!) we went to the arcade (remember in my first post, Mr. Brown give the kids a cup of tokens) We had a BLAST! Jeff was there with us and he took Jeffery, I took Jaylin and had Jaxon, and Amy went and bought her some tokens (we offered her some of ours but she wanted her own lol) Jeff said some of the games that were suppose to give out tickets, were out of tickets, and some didn't give the amount they were suppose to. My favorite was the Deal or No Deal game, I love that show, and to be able to play it for tickets was AWESOME!!! I think I did pretty good, I walked away with 35 tickets (I think the max was 70 or 90) With just the cup of tokens, the kids racked up a TON of tickets. They have something I've never seen before, a machine you feed your tickets into and it counts them for you! Amy threw her tickets in with the kids (she said she didn't want any prize or anything lol) we had I think 900+ tickets, which got Jeffery some twizzlers, a 4wheeler toy and Jaylin a pink softball with Great Wolf Lodge on it!

After the Arcade, I went and took Mr. Brown's advice and took a tour of the Scoops Spa area. It's for girls who aren't old enough for the regular spa. It's really cool! They have 3 scents to have your manicure/pedicure in...can you guess by the name of the spa what they are? Ice Cream Flavors!!!! Vanilla, Chocolate and Strawberry! It looks so fun! They also do little "sleepovers" for birthday parties and such. I really want to try the spa next time we go, if we have the money...I could use a good massage or pedicure.

My goal for this 2ND post was to be shorter, that didn't happen did it? lol There was just so much to do at Great Wolf Lodge, we had so much fun it isn't even funny! Oh, and we also did MagiQuest! Jeffery loved that! I bought both of the kids a wand, and only activated one for a game since it was $10 each, next time we go I'll buy a game for both of them. I love that some of the things the animals come to life and sing. We didn't have a lot of time for it, because the kids wanted to go swimming again! This time Jeff watched Jeffery and Jaylin in the kiddie pool while Amy and I went on a few of the water slides, which were AWESOME! I loved the funnel one, we both sat in a raft and of course since I'm bigger I ended up going backwards so I had no idea where I was going. It was a blast! I can't wait til we can go again!!!

I am hoping we'll get to go for the Winter Events they have, they make it snow inside and I want to see that! We had so much fun, and there was so much to do, we couldn't do it with just 1 night! Plus, the kids staying in the room next to us kind of ruined my stay a little, I hated walking out of my room because they would harass me. That wasn't Great Wolf Lodge's fault though, I don't blame them, it's the kids' parents who wasn't watching them.

All in all we had a great weekend! After Great Wolf we went to Norfolk where I went to Chuck E Cheese for the 1st time. But that's another post lol.

I received a discount price for our stay at Great Wolf Lodge in return for writing this review. The discount had no influence on my opinion of Great Wolf Lodge.

Holiday Gift Guide: Hasbro Baby Alive (review)

I've had quite a few boy reviews and baby reviews, I think it's time for a girl review!!! Hasbro makes a lot of different toys, and actually a lot of the toy's I've reviewed such as Nerf, and Playskool.

I love getting girly things for Jaylin, and that's exactly what Baby Alive Whoopsie Doo is the perfect baby for her! She loves Jaxon and to play with him, she needs her own baby to play with. The Baby Alive Whoopsie Doo is a doll I wish I had when I was little, she drinks then pees and poops, she coos and giggles, and she moves her arms and legs. She's so cute!

"Playing “mommy” is more fun than ever with this BABY ALIVE doll that
“eats” and “poops” just like a real baby! Feed her or give her a bottle, and
then get ready to change her messy diaper! She’ll cry and kick when she needs a
change and wiggle and coo when she’s happy—so you’ll always know just how your
little one needs you to care for her!

Doll comes with bottle, 2 packets of doll juice mix, 2 doll diapers,
rattle and t-shirt."

The only downside I see to the Baby Alive Whoopsie Doo doll is that you have to keep buying diapers and juice packs for it as long as your child plays with it. A 6-pack of Baby Alive diapers cost $4.99, going to take a lot out of our pockets, I can't find the Baby Alive juice packs on Hasbro's site, but I did find them on walmart.com for $18.88 for 10 packs of juice. After discussing this with Jeff to see what his opinion of this (after all, it's his money I spend) his eyes got huge. After doing some math, we figured it would be cheaper to buy premature diapers, and instead of buying Baby Alive juice, just mix up some Kool-Aid for the color effects...after all, the only reason for the juice is to make it look like she pooped in the diaper.

I think the doll is adorable, and if you use your imagination for the diapers and juice, it's a great Christmas gift for any little girl! The Baby Alive Whoopsie Doo doll is only $29.97 (currently on rollback for $24.00 at walmart.com) They also sell a lot of Baby Alive accessores such as clothes and such, and then you can buy a baby doll stroller, crib, high chair, and playpen (most of which Jaylin has, think she's spoiled? lol)

Oh, and another plus to me, because you know...I'm obsessed about the batteries in toys. Baby Alive Whoopsie Doo comes with batteries already installed!!!

Holiday Gift Guide: Fisher Price (review)

One toy company I grew up with, was Fisher Price. I remember playing with Fisher Price Little People and toys like that when I was little. So it's no surprise they are still making great toys! They sent Jaxon 2 toys for me to review, and I was thrilled to be able to review for such a great company!

The first thing is the Laugh & Learn™ Learning Farm. Let me start by saying, Jaxon can't quite play with this yet...isn't going to be long and he can, he just needs to learn to sit up. But I did check it out so I could write a good review. We have multiple Laugh & Learn toys in this house, actually the other year we just bought Jaylin the kitchen, which she still plays with, and the Laugh & Learn™ Learning Farm is similar in the fact that it teaches as the baby/child plays with it. The Laugh & Learn Farm teaches:

• Alphabet
• Numbers
• Counting
• Shapes
• Animal names & sounds
• Colors
• Opposites
• Greetings
• Weather

I think it's so cool how a toy so fun can be educational! There are 2 sides, and a door in the middle just like a barn door. There's so much to do with it, I'm going to highlight some of my favorite parts of it, you can check out all the features on Fisher Price's website. There's a chicken on a perch and your child can put the included eggs in, and it counts them as they drop them in! There's a lightswitch that turns the lantern on and off and tells your child if it's on or off, which teaches opposites. The muddy pig is just adorable, I love him! You roll the body around and it's clean, and then roll it again to make it dirty, just plain and simply CUTE! I know older infants and young toddlers (recomended for ages 6-36months) would love to get this for Christmas!

Another toy Jaxon got was the Go Baby Go!™ Stride-to-Ride™ Lion. It's a walk behind toy, and since Jaxon is only 5months old, he isn't quite ready for that yet lol. But it's more than just a walk behind toy, when your child is walking on his/her own, it folds down to become a ride on toy! 2 toys in 1! Awesomeness! This is the exerpt from Fisher Price's site about the Go Baby Go!™ Stride-to-Ride™ Lion:

"There’s nothing like having a friend you can rely on—especially when you’re
learning to walk! The Go Baby Go!™ Stride-to-Ride™ Lion is ready to steady
baby’s first steps, encouraging progress with rewarding lights, sounds, and
upbeat music. Once walking is a sure thing, toddlers can hop on the lion’s back
and ride all around for a roaring good time. Designed with a wide wheel base for
sturdy support when baby is learning how to walk or enjoying a ride! With on/off
switch plus volume control for quiet play. Requires 3 "AA" (LR6) alkaline
batteries (not included). "

Of course both these toys require batteries that aren't included (one of my pet peeves but oh well) but it's not a major deal. Just make sure you purchase the batteries before your child opens the gift or you'll never hear the end of it. All in all, I think Fisher Price make great toys that would make PERFECT gifts. They make toys for all ages, baby on up to older kids! You can't go wrong with Fisher Price!

Don't forget to check out all the great sponsors for my Holiday Gift Guide, also check out all the great giveaways I'm holding right now, plus more to come!