The Diono Radian RXT, I won from Just Kids store arrived last week! The kids were so excited to see it sitting on the porch after we got home from school pick up.
C-man was so happy his new seat was here. He was most happy that it had a cup holder....lol!
I will admit when I first opened it up I was a bit nervous. I have only ever bought Britax or Recaro for the kids. The Radian just seemed too small too compact and I worried I wouldn't feel like it had enough protection for my big guy.
My husband ended up installing it for me. It was one of the easiest installs he had ever done. Super fast, easy to get it tightened and level. I had originally not liked the harness strap pads. I clearly just was not putting them on him right when testing it in the house. Once it was in and we put him in it. He instantly lit up and was so happy. He loves the camo color and he especially loves the cup holder that he didn't have in his Recaro Signo G2.
I have found that the harness pads actually make it a ton easier getting him in and getting the chest clip in the correct place. I never have to readjust them, they are always right on when we get in the car.
The Radian does sit a lower than the Recaro Prosport that his twin sister is in, but he doesn't seem to mind. He can still see out pretty well. We do have the problem of his head falling forward when he falls asleep so I need to do some research there and try a few things to see if I can get his head at a better angle when sleeps. Otherwise this seat is a great seat and I would recommend it to anyone!
***I did receive this product for free, but these opinions are mine :)
I recently got Braun’s perfect 2-in-1 powerhouse for your face for free to test out from Braun.
The first thing I tried out on it was the epilator. It was more painful than I had thought it would be on my lip so I tried it on my eyebrows. Still there was a sting, but I am used to it just from plucking my eyebrows, so I went with it. I was doing ok until the skin on my upper brow bone got caught between the attachment and the side of the tool. I will admit I freaked a little and managed to get it turned off. Luckily my skin came right out of that area and there wasn't a cut, it was just a little red and crimped. I wish it was easier to see what you were epilating on your face. It's a little too big for your eyebrows with im my opinion.
I did however LOVE the facial cleaner part. I love that I can use it in the shower and love the way my skin feels after I use it. I really need to work up the courage to try the epilator part again, b/c the areas I did use it on it worked well on. I am sure with more practice it will not be as awkward as it was the first time. I received this product for free, but all opinions are mine :)
We received our FREE Mr. Sketch scented Holiday markers from Smiley360 yesterday! In the package was 6 Holiday scented markers and a $5 gift card to walmart to purchase more! We were asked to try out these new amazing markers for free and to give our opinion of them.
All four of my kids have been waiting to try these out, since they all love the "farting blueberry" commercial as they call it...lol! The markers smell so yummy and the kids cannot wait to make some christmas cards, crafts and letters to Santa with them.
A huge thank you to Smiley360 and to Mr. Sketch! I will update with Pictures of the kids crafts as soon as they get them done.
I am one of those suckers who cannot skip by a enter here and you may win post online. I have entered many many contest over the years and honestly just thought, no one really wins, it's all publicity. WELL, I can officially say real people do win and I am one of them.
Yesterday I received an email from a contest I had entered just the night before. My first thought was Oh man it was a scam and now they want my personal info so they can hack me. Well I was wrong and it is real! I won a Special Edition Diono Radian RXT from Just Kids Store!
This is just so awesome! I cannot even begin to express how stoked I am about this. We had just been discussing a new seat to buy for one of our twins, since his seat is expiring soon, and then I end up winning this amazing seat! This is going to be such a huge help not having to buy another seat anytime soon! Thank you so much Just Kids Store for this awesome giveaway!
Christian's Angels was started to raise funds for the love of his life, Alexis, to aid in the care of their son, Noah. The name of this fund has a dual meaning. To Christian, Alexis and Noah were his angels. But, I also see it as his friends and family joining together in honor of his memory to assist his family in this time of grief. In this way Alexis will not have the worry of meeting Noah's financial needs. Many of you have expressed how Christian has touched your lives, how giving and loving he was. Let's come together now and honor Christian's memory by showing Alexis and Noah that they are not alone and are very much loved and cared for by many.
One of Elizabeth's and Declan's movies off all time is The Polar Express. They watch this movie year round and beg for it daily. I found out about The Polar Express in Bryson City, by looking around youtube and running into this one guys video, where he surprises his whole family with the trip. It was an awesome watch and something I knew we had to do for our 4! We got Elizabeth out of school early on November 29th, loaded her in the packed up van with the other 3 and headed to go pick up my mom, sister and a family friend to go with us. It was a pretty long trip up and I wondered how it was going to be with two just turned 1 year olds, a 3 year old and a 5 year old. They all pretty much slept the whole way up!
We got to the hotel around midnight. We all were just ready to hop in bed and sleep. The older two were ready to play. Luckily the twins were ready to sleep.
The next morning we woke up and got to officially see our view of the Mountains in the daylight
We had some time to kill until the actual train ride that night in Bryson City, so we decided to go check out some of the back mountain roads. Jeremy's dream come true. He was in heaven driving those scary steep roads.
After checking out the mountains, we headed back to the hotel so we could get the kids in their PJ's. The kids were beyond excited at this point. We arrived at the train station early so we had sometime to look around and get our golden tickets to ride the Polar Express!
Finally inside our semi private car
The kids had a blast dancing and singing with the girls in our car. It was really awesome for them to have one on one attention. They were fully entertained the whole trip!
Even Cullen got in on the action!
The kids favorite part.....HOT CHOCOLATE!!! It was oh so yummy!
Reading along with the Polar Express Book
Arriving at the North Pole
The moment they have all been waiting for
SANTA!
Here he comes!
The look on Declan's face is just priceless!
Getting his bell from Santa
Elizabeth's turn!
One final dance before it's time to leave
For anyone considering riding the Polar Express, I highly recommend it! Truly an unforgettable experience no matter your age. The kids are already asking this year if they get to go back and ride again.
Ah here I am again, running behind. I did the older two kids updates back in July! Yes, I said July and here we are just a couple of weeks away from Cullen and Amelia's 2nd birthday. Time really does fly when you are busy having fun!
Lets see where to start with them.......The last post about them was July 2012 when they did their ISR lessons at 9 months. In that time of course there was learning to walk (Amelia beat Cullen to actual walking at 9.5 months), but Cullen was the first to pull up and cruise, stand up by himself from a sitting position and make us believe he was getting ready to take off (around 7.5- 8 months) and he did about a month after his sister (he was almost 10.5 months). There has been many words spoken, especially in their "twin language", but the older two seem to understand the secret language also. Amelia has always been the one in control, she has always been the aggressive one since they were conceived and we got to watch them monthly on the sonogram screen. Poor Cullen has put up with her abuse for way too long. She is an avid biter and usually only biting Cullen. Here recently, Cullen has let her know, he isn't going to take it anymore and boy has things gotten pretty interesting around this house. I have never seen two small kids fight like these two will at times. They do however have each others back. You let one of the older kids try to mess with one and the other is right there for backup. It truly is a special bond they have with each other. It has been a blessing being able to watch them grow into the tiny people they are becoming.
Here are a few pictures by the amazing Brook Mayo of Brooke Mayo Photographers
8 months old
Almost one year olds at our Halloween fun shoot
and a few from their one year shoot
We had so much fun with their Birthday party! We decided on a costume Halloween Party. Our family theme was Alice in Wonderland. The twins were Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum, Elizabeth was Alice, Declan was The Mad Hatter, Jeremy was the White Rabbit and I, of course was the Queen of Hearts...hahahah!
After their 1st Birthday, they enjoyed their second Christmas, which they were very into! They loved tearing open their gifts to see what was inside. We also took a trip to Bryson City, NC to ride the Polar Express! This trip will have it's own blog post! 2013 has flew by so fast with so many different milestones. Just looking back at these pictures, really doesn't seem like this has been almost a year ago.
Cullen and Amelia took their second year of ISR lessons. This year instead of just floating they learned how to swim float swim. I am totally amazed by these lessons. They are so important, especially for us living around so much water.
Here's a video Jeremy, put together of the kids swimming at their lessons this year (Elizabeth's is from last year)!
It's been a busy summer. Beach trips and lots of outside fun for the kids. Amelia and Cullen both enjoy the beach, but Cullen still hates the feeling of sand on his hands or feet (he is truly my child...lol)! He has gotten better and will venture off of the blanket now as long as he has his shoes on. They have been avid cheerleaders for Elizabeth and Declan at their soccer and t-ball games this summer/fall. We are planning for their 2nd Birthday party now (only 18 days away) and for Halloween. We have another family costume in plans...hopefully I can get it all together and we can pull it off!
