Cast Smash, Surgery Smergery, This Girl Still Rocks!

Goddess had surgery and she is still dancing, acting, singing, and spinning! Kids are amazing. I would be in pain I am sure but this kid just keeps going. No pain killers ever!

FYI this photo is completely acted out. She wanted big sad, watery eyes.
Flowers courtesy of Clary who stopped by to give them to her along with a fruit platter, and snacks for the house. This is the way to this little girls heart.

FYI 2, these flowers still look amazing.

I love her mouth in this photo! She looks like a Kewpie doll

Action shot with my iPhone 4. It is time for a new phone.

It's National Zoo Keeper Week - Enter To Win A Animal Inspired Giveaway That Is Completely Kid Approved

Peter Pauper Press invites you to celebrate National Zoo Keeper Week, July 20-26 and a chance to win two books that celebrate zoos as well as zoo keepers and their dedication to animal care, conservation and education.

What a sweet book about two kids who head out for an exciting day at the zoo but find out that all the animals are sick with various aliments. 

We loved the illustrations and the sweet story of all the animals often humorous aliments. 

Zeke the zebra lies in the shade with the flu feeling black, white and blue. Or the elephant that gets nose drops through a garden hose. Come on that's cute and funny. My kids and I thoughts so anyway.

 

 Then there is....

At The Zoo Scratch & Sketch: An Art Activity Book for Animal Lovers by Lee Nemmers, illustrated by Martha Day Zschock

This fun and easy Trace-Along art activity book allows budding artists (5 and up) to use the wooden drawing tool enclosed to trace the white outlines of favorite animals on black-coated scratch art pages. Kids will be delighted to see lions, tigers, bears, seals, and more come alive in swirls of colors and glittery foil! They can also use the sketch pages in the back to draw their own pictures of favorite animals. At the Zoo Scratch & Sketch Art Activity Book includes a wooden stylus for drawing on black-coated paper to reveal glittering, gleaming colors beneath, wire-o-bound hardcover binding and 20 scratch off, 20 illustrated and 20 sketch pages. 

 What a fun book. Goddess took it out right away because she loved that she gets to use the wooden stylus to scrap away at reveal some awesome colorful pics of some of her favorite animals. Each page has a picture to be scratched off, some interesting facts and 20 sketch pages.

  

I have to admit, I found it fun revealing the glitter pages beneath.

Both books are wonderful but we really loved the idea of the Scratch and Sketch. Perfect for road trips, plane trips, camping or visits to relatives where kids could use a diversion for boredom.  No mess and the stylus comes with it. 

 

Family Finest Take-N-Bake Not Only Easy But Delicious According To My Kids! #FamilyFinest #easydinner #walmart

In the crazy, busy world we live in sometimes it is hard to not grab something while out, eat your food from the drive through window in your car while heading home from a ball game, play date, after school activity or just a fun filled out and about Summer.

Sometimes, it is hard to get kids to sit and eat what you make because they don't want to stop what they are doing to come to the table. Face it, it happens even in the best run households, but sometimes dinner can be anxiety filled. I talk to many friends who tell me the same story. My kids gives me a hard time about everything I make. They never want to eat anything except snacks or they were so busy playing they didn't want to stop long enough to eat.

Well.........check this out.

Family Finest has made cooking for your kids part of the play.  We received a coupon to try one of their Make-N-Bake kits. While we wanted the cookie kit

Doesn't that look like fun?

We got the pizza kit

The kids were excited to come to the table and make their dinner. The best part is that everything you need is in the box.

Handsome opening the box

Everything you need is right there!

Even the pepperoni!

It comes with four personal homemade pizzas made with authentic pizza dough

Italian pizza sauce with the serving size already to go in a convenient and easy to use pack.

Mozzarella cheese. Let me tell you, even if your kids want mega cheese on all four pizzas you will still have some left over. They are generous with the cheese.

Handsome's pizza before it went into the oven.

AND the final product, was so good that there wasn't even a crumb left on the plate. I must mention that I have two very picky kids especially Goddess. She doesn't like anything and is unwilling to try and Handsome is just particular due to his OCD. If it is unfamiliar or tastes different than what he is used to he will not eat it.

Guess what we had for dinner the next night. Yup, the other two pizzas. We have since brought two more packs and have it on my shopping list for my next trip to Walmart where we will get two more.

Check out Family Finest at your local Walmart! You will be glad you did and enjoy a stress free dinner.

Surgery Is Over And My Heart Is Healing

This morning Goddess had surgery on her hand. You can read what happened here. Not a big surgery but still the first time she would be put under and I was very nervous.

We had to be there for 6:30 am so I set my alarm for 4:30 and woke everyone else at 5. We had to leave by 5:45 to get there so it was a very early morning for all of us.

Teach carried our baby girl into the surgical area and I filled out the necessary forms giving a bunch of strangers permission to take care of my baby to the best of their ability.

We sat for about 15 minutes and then Goddess and I were called into pre-op to start the paperwork in there, get her vitals and get her changed.

Teach and Handsome joined us about 15 minutes later to sit and help hold and cuddle her while she got her IV. It was awful and I wanted to just push everyone away and tell them to stop but they were so good with her and I knew it had to be done.

It took a while for the needle to get where it needed to go and watching the nurse fish around my babies vein while she cried was just terrible.

After the IV was in, she got some medicine that made her very sleepy and happy. It was strange to watch her change but I knew it would help her relax.

She kept smiling and told me she was tired. They put a surgical cap on her Wolf and her brother asked to wear one and a mask.

The doctor came in and we all shook hands.

I put on my Stay Puff Marshmellow suit which thankfully no one took a photo of and followed the staff into the OR behind Goddess who was completely fine at this point. It was getting harder for me to take a deep breath but like a good mom I stuck like glue to the nurse who had her arm around my shoulders and kept telling me I was doing a great job.

They asked Goddess to move to the operating table "bed" and she did her best with the drugs and IV and eventually made it to the pillow they kept pointing to.

I didn't see them strap her down but they told me that her head, arm and legs would be strapped down. They held up a pink mask that smelled like cherry and asked if they could put it over her face. She said, No I don't want that. She never stopped smiling. Just pushed away. They kept saying look at that smile but as she said no the anesthesiologist was giving her another shot of something and eventually they got it closer and closer to her face. Her eyes closed in one minute and they asked her to open her eyes very wide, told me she was out and lead me away carrying her blanket and wolf.

Handsome and Teach were waiting for me and asked how it was. I don't remember saying anything other than it was weird to watch her go to sleep.

They headed to breakfast and I sat down texting Goddess' Godmother and my girlfriend Clary. Before you knew it, 15 minutes later the doctor is standing over me with an x-ray telling me she did great "no blood was spilled" and that the pin was in place. He mentioned how far it had been moved and something about when he would see her again but I don't remember.

The waiting room asked questions about her age and the wolf with the mask and surgical cap. Eventually I got to walk in and sit with her.

It took forever for her to wake and when she did she told me that "I had woke her from her beautiful nap".

She is great and I am getting better.

UGH..the pain of being a mother in love with her kids.

PLAY-DOH Where Learning and Creativity Take Shape - KIDS

I am so happy to work with Silver Dolphin Books on these amazing new books that debuted this Summer!

My daughter is a crafty one so when she saw these colorful books that come with Play-doh, have stories and show you how to create adorable animals with Play-doh she was super excited and all in for this review.

She was so happy to pose with each set.

We were very excited over the pup she made with Play-Doh. He is sitting on her dad's desk now. Adorable!

We love everything about these books. We especially love the idea that they are all inclusive. A story, a craft and a colorful fun way to spend time while with friends.

Great idea for grandparents to keep at their home for when the grand kids visit.

Great idea for a slumber party, camping trip, long car ride or even to take to hotel for kids to have something to do during down time on vacation.

Keep Your Kids Lice Free At Summer Camp This Year @fairytalesinc

The 411: 

While my kids are not at camp, I know a ton of kids who do go. We have been lucky so far but luck does eventually run out. Every September that dreaded letter goes out that lice was found in the school and we do our best to take precautions and have been using Fairytale Hair Care products since 2011 to prevent and repel lice from even wanting to infest my kid's head! Hopefully! I don't know what I would do if I found lice. I cringe at the thought.

We have been using and recommending to all our friends and this is what we can tell you. The products smell good! We love using them and so far, knock on wood, things have worked out for us.

The products are safe to use daily and contain Rosemary and citronella oils both proven to effectively and safely repel lice without harsh, unsafe chemicals. 

Saturday Night of The Living Dead by Brad Carter Is Deadly Captivating! #PMPressBooks #bcarterwrites

The 411 by Maria:

What a great read. From the first page till the end I was captivated by the writing and the detail. I could visualize the entire story and what a story it is.

Our main character Ryan is a fan of horror movies. Such a fan that he and his childhood friend set their sights on becoming make up artists for some of the biggest horror movies out there and find success. 

There is mystery, murder, horror, romance, supernatural, and violence all tied up in a well written, thoroughly entertaining book with a fun and freaky cover that reminds me of the 70s.

There are some scenes that are so detailed that I felt as if I were watching a movie instead of reading. 

Full of horror movie names like Bruce Campbell, Wes Craven, and John Carpenter makes it feel autobiographical at times which once again reiterates how good of a writer Brad is. I was completely into this book.  Was it a mystery about two  girls who were murdered at a drive-in? Was it about a cult? Was it about B Horror Movies?  Was it about Ryan and his high school crush? Was it about Zombies? Ghosts? The Supernatural? Magic? Religious Cults? Well, it is about all of these things and more AND it is quite funny.

I will be recommending this book for a long time. Why has this not been made into a movie yet?

Much different than what I have been reading lately. Great change of pace.

Love Note From My Daughter Makes Everything All Right

I must admit getting love notes from anyone has always made me feel really good! Who doesn't love reading something written just for you?

Monday morning Goddess woke on her first morning after getting a temporary cast. Cast? Want to know what happened? It was an interesting day and you can read all about this here. Anyway, where was I? Oh yeah, she woke up and headed to the dining room table where she took a pink sheet of foam and started working.  I wondered what she was up to since we had company and she loves playing with these boys. Every time I walked by her she put her hand over her work and told me not to look yet.

She brought this to me while I was on the phone with my girlfriend. I just had to read it out loud. After her ordeal in the ER, all the "let me help you" and "are you OK?" from the night before along with the invitation to sleep with mommy must have been sitting with her and she wanted me to know she cared.

She made one side look like an envelope with a little arrow at the bottom.

I flipped it over to find this...

Very sweet and it makes everything so much better.

Moms, you know what I am talking about!

Hallmark Channel's When Calls The Heart On DVD

The 411: 

Unfortunately we don't have The Hallmark Channel on our TV so I have not heard of When Calls The Heart before this DVD.  After researching I see that this is an original series based on the bestselling books by Janette Oke. 

When Calls The Heart, the series is about the story about Elizabeth Thatcher a young teacher who beginning a new chapter in her life in a 20th century coal mining town.

In this DVD When Calls The Heart The Dance a group of miners descend on the town and The Dance part of the title is Miss Thatcher and the other woman in town throwing a dance to welcome the miners. It appears that there was a mining accident that took the lives of the men of the town leaving many of the woman to count on each other for support.  It also appears that the town's lone law enforcer is a Canadian Monty named, Jack Thornton. He has an obvious crush on Miss Thatcher but so does one of the new miners. A suave miner with a penchant for poetry, Mr. Billy Hamilton takes a liking to Miss Thatcher and she is definitely interested in his debonair ways that she almost forgets she actually likes Mr. Thornton who is only worried about her safety with the unfamiliar Hamilton. While these two gentlemen try to win over Miss. Thatcher. The other woman are dealing with trying to get their lives back in order after the mining accident.

Some are dealing with children who miss their daddies and won't mommy to move on with a new miner, others are dealing with pregnancy and trying to pay for food now that their men are gone. 

In the midst of all this newness and attempt to get life back in order after the accident, there have been robberies in town and Monty Jack Thornton must find out who is to blame.

What I loved about this was that the show was very family oriented. It reminded me of Little House on the Prairie without the child stars. My favorite character is played by "Becky"Lori Loughlin who plays Abigail Stanton, a wife and mother whose husband was the foreman of the mine and was killed in the explosion.

Season 2 will begin shooting in August and I now wish I had the Hallmark Channel so I could catch up on Season 1 and watch Season 2. 

If you love shows like Dr. Quinn, Little House on the Prairie, or just love the Hallmark Channel shows you will undoubtedly love this series.  

I personally love the clothing and how everyone leaned on each other during these times. You needed your friends and neighbors to survive, and you could count on them. 

How Our Vacation At Great Wolf Lodge Ended With Us Making A Trip To The ER Moments After Getting Into Our Driveway

They say accidents are usually 5 minutes from home yet this one happened in our driveaway.

No it's not a life threatening accident. No we didn't catch something or nearly drown at Great Wolf Lodge. Our vacation was awesome. This was our second trip to Great Wolf Lodge in PA and we had a great time! It is a great place for families with kids of all ages and we had a blast. Even more so then last time because the kids are older and we were able to spend more time on slides and even leave one to do his own thing for a while. Best place ever and every family should go at least once.

Handsome and Goddess were sad that we didn't do a theme room like last time but this time they got two nights instead of one.

On the first night their dad/Teach brought them stuffed animals and took them to the arcade.  Goddess and I walked around together after she was done spending all her points on games and took some selfies.

They were so excited when we got back to our room after our amazing breakfast at The Loose Moose Cottage (AKA best breakfast place ever according to my kids) and saw the beds were made with their stuffies sitting on their appropriate beds. How did they know? I have no idea but it made us all smile.

Handsome and I were up before Goddess and Teach so we headed to the deck (every room has one) to get some reading in.

And enjoyed the beautiful scenery before heading to the park for the day.

On the second night there were some fireworks in the distance that I enjoyed alone because for some reason everyone but I wanted to eat.  I couldn't fit anything else. There are some photos from my "real" camera but the iPhone photos are already on my computer so I am going with these.

On the last day we headed to breakfast and then to the water park for two hours. Back to the room for showers before hitting the shops and road again. Goddess took a nap pretty quickly and we it only took us about an hour and ten to get home.

After a large ice coffee from Starbucks I saw the driveway, opened my seat belt and told everyone I had to go pee so bad that my eyes were probably yellow. I raced for the house but not before hearing Teach tell the kids to not go in empty handed.

From the bathroom I heard the car alarm go off TWICE. I heard Teach say "OK, OK". I heard him say "What happened" very calmly. Then as I was leaving the bathroom I heard, "What? OK OK...Maria."  I met him at the top of the stairs carrying a crying Goddess. Not only crying. CRYING!

I need to access. I need to see but he is walking with her and heads to the bedroom telling me she closed her finger in the door and to get ice. I run out to get ice but I really need to see her. I NEED to.
He sends me back for more ice as he is hold, shhhhing her and saying, "yes, I know it hurts. Yes it will. Calm down. Shhhhhh...I give him the ice but I NEED to HOLD her. I NEED to SEE her. He sends me out for Tylenol. I run out. I get back and give her a spoon full and run for water. He is still holding but I NEED to hold her. I need to ACCESS the situation. Everyone seems crazy and I want to do something.

Her finger is all kinds of colors. The alarm was her trying to open the door to release her finger. My mommy guilt is at an all time high and I NEED HER. I say, "can I have her. I want to hold her." She puts out her arms and he hands her to me.

I hold her, he leaves and I say Mommy's here. She says it hurts so bad. I tell her to lie back. She does. She's hot. She's cold. She isn't breathing properly. I need her to calm down so we can talk. She says she can't but I ask her to breath with me. Deep breaths in and hold and out. She can't, she is in too much pain.

My baby! My little baby. She was hurt and I was not there. The car alarms going off were here trying to release her finger. My poor little girl.

Teach comes in and together we decide hospital visit. She says she doesn't want to go and that it is not broken. Teach tells her that we are not doctors, did not go to medical school and need a doctor to tell us it is not broken.

We head to the emergency walk in center about 10 minutes away. It is NOW closed on Sundays. Grrr...We head to the Emergency Room at the hospital now 35 minutes away. I am in the back holding her hand and Handsome in the front. She turns and tells me I don't have my seat belt on. I tell her I need to be able to hold her. She is fine with that.

The ER is standing room only. We wait 2 hours to see Triage. Thank God we are not bleeding. Handsome and Teach leave for home to get some things done. We are there an additional 4 hours. 6.5 Hours! That's right because that is what we needed after a nice 3 day weekend at Great Wolf.

The first photo I took 2.5 hours after getting to the hospital. A little dented, nail looks OK.

3 hours, pink starting on nail and on cuticle. At the hospital we are told she had a crushing injury.

We are waiting for x-rays. She is not happy. We are 5 hours in.

Still looking about the same but the finger is picking up more colors.

 AND now there is a black and blue on the other side.

She is waiting for the results of the X-ray and wants all our friends and family on Facebook to know she is OK. They are keeping us going with comments to our photos. She is reading every one and it makes the time go by.

Nail is turning and swelling getting worse.  We are told she has a fracture in her growth plate and the growth plate is shifted! We need to follow up with a specialist!

She is waiting for the cast to dry and 6 hours in. We are both DONE!

Today we followed up with a specialist. Because the growth plate has shifted significantly and because of her age they are recommending surgery for Friday. They will put a pin in which will stay for 4 weeks. She is not happy. I am not happy and very nervous about them putting her under but keeping faith that this is the best decision.  The doctor seems great and I am confident in my research and his abilities.

Until Friday I will hold and kiss her more knowing all will be well and we HAD a great weekend!