My Life In Pictures May 7 - May 13

May 7, 2018
I got to try this beef in a can! More on that when I write up my review post.

May 8, 2018
One of my little preschool students was picking some dandelions and clutching them like they were roses. I love dandelions and love that kids love them.

May 9, 2018

I was in the process of having electrodes on my calf at physical therapy when my daughter text me asking what I was doing. I took a quick "blind" selfie. While I couldn't see it I sent it anyway. I find it so creepy.

May 10, 2018
Went to my nieces graduation and my son fell in love with the New Jersey Devils. This was the year he got into hockey after being a major football fan. I was hoping he would eventually love the Devils because they are the team his dad and I love and especially since they don't share a favorite football team. He has never been to a teams arena and was smitten from the moment we got out of the car.

May 11, 2018
Probably my favorite photo of my son's 15th birthday. He wanted rings so badly after watching Paul Abrahamian on Big Brother for 2 seasons. He loves his rings. Notice the shirts on these bad boys. Thankfully they will share the Devils as a favorite hockey team and I couldn't be happier.

May 12, 2018
At the end of the night while watching whatever my husband puts on TV and I am not reading I am usually coloring on the app Recolor. It is so much fun.

May 13, 2018
So blurry but I don't care. My son kissing my head is a winner!

I Have Decided To Smell Like A Baby At 51

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The 411: 

I have missed this smell for years now and after using it I am wondering why I stopped buying it just because my kids grew up.

When I posted last week that my family and I were using it again a friend said she missed the smell. I told her to use it! It is incredible and makes me feel and smell good.  A reader mentioned that she uses the Baby Magic Creamy Baby Oil on her legs after shaving. Can't say I blame her. It makes all the difference.  My legs feel smooth and silky and no oily feel afterward.

We have been using the Baby Magic Hair and Body Wash on us, the cat when she has a dirty bum and when my husband colors his beard it is what he uses on his face because he said he feels less irritation.

Friday my husband got a terrible burn on his head and shoulders while working on the house. I mixed the Creamy Baby Oil with Aloe and used it on his head and back. It glides smoothly and since his skin was super sensitive it was perfect. It has become our go to massage lotion.

Pros:
Great for your skin
Gentle on your skin
The whole family can use it
Smells wonderful
Inexpensive
You can find it anywhere

I Have Found My New Favorite Hair Care Products & If You Need Lift; Check This Out

WOW! I am in love with Doux Hair Care Products and don't know how I did it before finding them.

This month I received a box containing 3 products to try out and have already had to buy one of them. The Sucka Free Moisturizing Shampoo is absolutely the best. I love that it is gentle on my color-treated hair. My part is grey and I need to color every 5-6 weeks so using something free of Paraben free and Sulfate free is a must. I also have frizzy, dry hair so finding something that moisturizes is important. My hair smells amazing after using and feels less dry!

I also love Mousse Def. It has been years since I have put mousse in my hair. It definitely helps define my curl and doesn't make my hair dry or leave any residue. It is super light and also smells great.

Last but not least is The Light, a wonderful smelling mist that creates beautiful shine for your hair. No more boring, bland, brown, mousey hair.  My daughter has even started using it because she loves the way it smells. 

You can use this spray before blow drying or as a finishing spray.

We will definitely be getting all three products from now on.  

 

I have very BIG hair so did not try these thickening products. My girlfriend was able to review these for me. She usually has to spray and use a ton of product to get lift which then eventually flattens in a few hours. She tells me what she love about the BioRepair-8 Thickening Blow Dry Spray was that it didn't weigh her hair down. She said usually she uses products that promise volume but they end up feeling heavy which weighs her hair down. 

She said her hair looked amazing and that it washed out easy as well. 

As for the Puff Sprayer she liked the size and how easy it was to use when she needed it. After work she and her friends head out 3 times a week for dinner and drinks and she loves that she can slip the sprayer in her bag and use before leaving the office giving her a little lift at the top allowing her to look like she didn't sit in an office all day. She said she will use this often!

Photo Challenge - April 29th - May 6th

How do I always get so far behind? I love taking photos and I love creating a place where I can remember why the photo was special. UGH...so here are way too many photos.

April 29, 2018 - I couldn't help taking photos of these toddler made bird feeders. My preschool does a whole big Earth Day thing and these feeders were so colorful.  It is the best place to work if you love kids and I love kids. I would rather be with them than most adults.

April 30, 2018 - These are our duck pets. Every year for the past 6-7 years for a few months we get ducks. They come up to our steps a few times a day including 5 AM and quack waiting for us to bring them bread, crackers, etc. When they see us come out of the car after pulling in, they waddle across the lawn as fast as they can because they know food is coming. We absolutely love our duck pets and miss them when they leave.

May 1, 2018 - Every Friday is Pizza Friday in my house but on May 1st I decided to treat the kids and picked up 2 slices each. Why or why are the slices bigger when we order by the slice? We wish our Friday night pie slices were this big!

May 2, 2018 - While I never heard of or watched Workaholics when it was on TV from 2011-2017 I love that they have their own K-Cup. BTW...it was delicious.

May 3, 2018 - Not a great photo by any means but it was all I had for May 3rd and it was a glorious day. This is a tree that was planted on the playground at work. The kids love touching it and I spend much of recess telling them to stop touching the tree.

May 4, 2018 - How cute is this recycle art project done by the 3-3.5 year old class in my preschool?
The sharks and octopus were toilet paper rolls, the crabs and turtles were egg carton pieces and of course gold fish crackers. It is adorable.

May 5, 2018 - Photo of a rock band spotted at our Earth Day Showcase at work!

May 6, 2018 - Can you even imagine?! Adorable! These kittens look a few hours old and were brought into the animal shelter when mom was spotted. Sometimes it is better to let them be. Mama may return and will take care of them. When they arrived there was a scrambling of phone calls and texts to find foster care for them. They would need round the clock feeding. Two surrogate moms were tried but they wouldn't let the kittens nurse.

Daphne and Velma The Original Movie Out May 22nd! REVIEW BELOW

  

The 411:

This spin off of the Girls of Scooby Doo has Daphne and Velma prior to Fred, Shaggy and Scooby. The girls are friends but have been apart due to Daphne traveling all over due to her mom’s job at Bloom. Bloom Innovative is the technology used in this movie.  So many cool gadgets and social media gizmos make this a movie kids will definitely enjoy. It felt like a Disney Channel movie and I didn’t hate it.

It starts out with Daphne and Velma chatting on Bloom via their computers. Daphne tells Velma she is returning to Valley High but Velma doesn’t seem very happy about it and when she sees her on the first day of school tries to avoid her.

Velma eventually tells Daphne the reason she hasn’t been talking to her is because something weird is happening at Valley High and the top students are changing. Daphne thinks they need to do something about it and enlists the help of another student, Carol. Carol presents as someone who cannot be trusted and right away my daughter and I were suspicious of her.

There were many cute scenes in the movie and we loved Daphne’s dad played by Brian Stepanek who I remembered from The Suite Life Of Zack and Cody.  He is a sweet daddy who wants his Daphne to want for nothing. Anything his little girl’s heart desire he will make it happen. She has no idea. She thinks she has it all. Her closet picks out her outfit for her, She gets caviar at the cafeteria, Breakfast is always what she expects, she is a lucky girl. She has no idea it is daddy making all these things happen. Really cute scene of dad dressed as a cafeteria worker so that his daughter get the lunch she wants.

This is a cute movie for kids age 8+ Fun musical accompaniment. My daughter mentioned the musical changes a few times. We enjoyed the technology which will definitely keep kids interested. Cute scene of Daphne and Velma doing cafeteria help time behind the counter due to Velma blowing up a locker and cool boy Griffin watching cat videos.

My favorite character was the school principal who believes shame stickers and shame drones are the way to work through the girls problems.

The ending wasn’t surprising but we are huge Scooby Doo fans and really enjoyed this movie.

Discover of Believing In Yourself With Unicorn Magic by Sabina Gibson

 The 411:

Besides having the most adorable illustrations with handmade felt characters the book is very sweet. Periwinkle doesn't think she has a special power in her horn but when she gets good advice from her friend Birdie she passes it on to her friends who can't do their special power today.
  
After Perwinkle tells them to "follow your heart" they all create magical things with their special powers.

When Perwinkle's friends all find her, they in unison tell her "follow your heart" and Perwinkle's magical, special power is revealed. It really is a cute book and the unicorns are so cute. The message is simple...follow your heart, support your friends, believe you can and YOU WILL ALWAYS WIN.

2008 Dad Worked A Lot And We Did A Lot Of Playing

Back in 2008 my husband worked A LOT! He was self employed and worked nights at Lincoln Tech teaching. It was hard for a woman who had two kids, now family nearby and not many friends. It was fine because I had my kids. They are my everything. They are the reason my dark days are light.

We took a lot of photos like these way back and I probably edited these for some reason and really wish I had the originals.

I would do anything for these two people and wish I could have another day with them at this age. 

FYI...my daughter was not sleeping but she is a total actress. I wish she would come out of her shell.

Fifty Shades Of Grey Trilogy Unrated Edition Out Today

Imagine all these movies in one place. Mother's Day is coming and mama wants to watch Mr. Grey!

Isn't this pretty?!

If you read the books, you will want to see the movies.

I only read book one and so far have watched only Fifty Shades of Grey. I enjoyed it.

Anastasia played by Dakota Johnson and Mr. Christian Grey played by Jamie Dornan do a fine job. I loved the awkwardness of Anastasia and the tension her conversations with Mr. Grey created. It pretty much followed much of the book for as much as I could remember (It was a while ago). The sex scenes are not over the top however they are steamy. I do not see this as an abusive relationship rather an exploration of a young woman's sexuality. She was in charge and he only did what she allowed.

Hopefully this weekend I can get my kids in bed early one night and watch Fifty Shades Darker.

Easy Days and McDonalds

Back in the day my kids were happy to just be on the deck, eating some McDonalds and playing with mommy all day. Who wouldn't want those days back?

These posts are mostly for myself and my kids. I make blog books every year based on my personal posts (not reviews) using this as a diary/journal/scrapbook for my kids.

This pictures are from my deck, May 2008. My son's hand looks crazy but his face is too cute not to include. In the background is a playhouse that we got for the kids and eventually donated to their preschool when they grew out of it.

He was busy but not sure what he was doing with his hands in these shots. Maybe I was making him wait for his Happy Meal until I got a pic.

Who doesn't love fries?Obviously this girl does!

Those little faces are so cute. We were under the gazebo which was attached to the slider of my dining room at the time. It was perfect because on beautiful days we often left the sliders open so we had extended space. The kids loved it because they could play, and eat in there as well as watch DVD's on the computer. I loved it because we were all together.

That face! LOL. He was zoning!

She is a clown!

She was NOT looking behind her but asked me to get a picture of her "butt". I did because how could you now? That eyelet skirt with bloomers is adorable.

Got myself in a shot. I was there too so may as well show up in a pic or two

I think I am trying to eat her ear or stubbed my toe. Not sure which one but that would be the face I use for either.

Weather Is Getting Better, Get Off The Couch And Play With Your Kids - Laser X Micro Blasters - Video Review + A #GIVEAWAY

Are your kids like mine? They go to school all day, do their homework then race to their computer or game system to play a game alone or with a friend ONLINE! ONLINE!? Why? When I was a kid I couldn't wait to get outside after my homework was done. On the weekends it is the same. They wake, eat breakfast and if they are not doing house chores they are online. It makes me crazy. On the weekends I was either at a friend's or had a friend over, rode my bike or played OUTSIDE with my sisters. Kids these days!!

I have been talking to them a lot about spending time with friends OUTSIDE. It is way better than texting, Face Timing or playing in a virtual game. Well, Laser X Microblasters takes what they love (video games) and gets them outside or hey even inside is fine as long as they are off the damn computer. 

Laser X will get them off the couch for a fun game of laser tag with an updated, technologically-advanced laser blaster system.

Micro Blasters are the newest addition to a line of products that includes: original Laser X, which blasts 200 feet; a Long-Range Blaster, which blasts 400 feet; and a Gaming Tower with 10-built-in games.

The 411:

So far we have played indoors, in our yard and even at the park and LOVE it. Laser X Micro Blasters has no learning curve. You can take them right out of the box, put the batteries (3 AAA in each) and get to playing! 

The box says it has a 100' radius and it is not necessary to hit the target as long as you are shooting anywhere near the person. 

I love the lights, sounds and think it is pretty cool that with the touch of a button you can reload and shoot without having to retrieve sponge bullets from the ground when you are done and reloading like our other toy guns. It is so much fun and all the kids at the park wanted to play. 

The box comes with enough for 2 players but if you buy another set you can play teams as the target as an option for red or blue team.  We also love that all the Laser X guns can work together.

We loved it and highly recommend it. So get your butt off the couch and join your kids for some outside fun.