Portrait Innovations is Our "Go To" for Fabulous Pictures!

Our family recently had a photography sitting with  Portrait Innovations. I scheduled the appointment for a Sunday afternoon. This is typically a time when things are always relatively chill for us, the weekend is winding down and we are usually just hanging out around the house.

The last time we had pictures taken was in 2014! Then, Liam was 3 Logan was 6 and Connor was 14. I knew what I was getting myself into, and even then I was still not fully prepared for the crazy.

WE WERE LONG OVERDUE FOR FAMILY PORTRAITS.

As anyone trying to orchestrate a decent photography sitting experience with littles knows, it is nothing short of exhausting! Someone is always looking the wrong way. Someone else is mad because of who knows what! I'm constantly chasing someone, changing someone, or most commonly, threatening everyone! I always end up a sweaty, frizzy haired mess, not a good look for family pictures! Needless to say, due to the last debacle of an experience, I was in no hurry to get back into a studio. However, I do know how important it is to capture these all too quickly fleeting days of our family, as it is now. I had to get past the trauma of the last experience. After all, the boys are 6 and 10 now, but they are still boys, and never predictable, never EVER! 

I expected to wait. I was kind of setting myself up for disaster, after all boys do not wait well.  I'm not new at this, I had both of their tablets in hand!

WE ARRIVED 10 MINUTES EARLY, WHY? BECAUSE I'M ALWAYS EARLY!

Jessica quickly ushered us to a room that was already set-up with a Christmas backdrop and various holiday props.


I was super impressed with her from the start. Throughout the sitting, as she moved seating and adjusted backdrops, she was engaging the boys. She talked to them about things that are important to them. You know, things like YouTube and Minecraft. They would have stood on their heads if she had asked!


She worked in some silly shots like this one with Liam acting surprised and handing Santa a plate of cookies and milk.

Within 5 minutes of completing our sitting, she was ready to review our pictures with us.

As we went through the shots, I was shocked because there were SO many great pictures to choose from! 

It was unreal! 

We struggled to decide, but Jessica quickly reassured me that I would have all of the shots in high resolution on the CD that was included in our package.

What more could a mom ask!?

Jessica helped us narrow down our favorites and showed us different options. She was very patient, I can be very indecisive. I had her cropping and uncropping, sephia-ing and un-sepha-ing. Through it all, she was very cheerful and sweet.

Once we FINALLY decided, our portraits were printed and in our hands in about 15 minutes!

The experience from start to finish took about an hour. It took me longer to do my hair and get everyone ready!

I am over the moon that I have an amazing, fast, affordable, and easy place to go for great pictures anytime! 

I'm going to go to them for everything! No overpriced school pictures for us! 

If you haven't been to  Portrait Innovations, check them out!

Continue reading Portrait Innovations is Our "Go To" for Fabulous Pictures!

A Sky Zone Birthday Party = Fun for EVERYONE!

Kids' Birthday Parties can be hard on us parents! 

I mean REALLY hard!

My son's 9th Birthday was fast approaching, I'm a planner and we had nothing planned. He constantly said he wanted to have a family day at the SkyZone. Sure, that sounds like a great time, but it's nearly 2 hours away! He begged and pleaded, and I gave in. To be honest, I REALLY wanted to go too! 

We ended up hitting tons of traffic and were about 5 minutes late and still on the interstate with about 15 minutes to go! Niyah, our party host called to be sure that we were okay and still coming. She was incredibly sweet! She greeted us at the door and helped to get us set up quickly and easily. 

Sign in was really easy, just signing a waiver for each person and then picking socks. The birthday boy got a special pair that were knee length and a T-Shirt! He was super amped that the socks were orange, his favorite color!

Niyah, walked us out and gave us a quick tour of the different areas. I don't know about my kids, but I was overwhelmed with the options! 

Trampolines + Basketball hoops = AWESOMENESS!

Check out the super cool socks!

The first thing we went for was the basketball area. We each took turns getting air and dunking. There was always an attendant nearby to make sure everyone waited their turn and was being safe.

Since there are three different hoop heights, everyone can be a star! My 5 year old was even able to try it out. I don't think he ever made a basket, but neither did I!

We each started out on the shortest hoop. I think Logan was the only one bold enough to try the tallest hoop.

I could use some practice

It is actually a whole lot harder than I thought. My body just could not coordinate the dunking with the jumping!

  Dodgeball is apparently where "IT" is at! 

Clearly working on strategy

Such an evil grin!

My boys spent the majority of their time in the dodge ball arena. It was a lot of fun and very well supervised. 




There were two attendants watching the kids and making sure everyone was playing fair. They each had whistles and the kids were very responsive to the warnings.

Eye on a target!

I was very surprised how well the ciaos was controlled. The kids were divided by ages. Everyone was about the same size so everything was fair. Most importantly to me - everyone was SAFE!

Jumping to avoid getting tagged.

Ball Pit on Steroids!

The area that I call "the ball pit on steroids" was very popular! There were three trampolines. Those looking for a thrill, bounce up to the edge and over into the pit of foam blocks. I really wanted to attempt this, but I was sure that I would drop to the bottom and never get out on my own. There were kids doing flips and cartwheels into the pit. It was really impressive!

Cake Time!

When our jump time was over, Niyah rounded us up and led us to our party room. She was extremely outgoing and fun. My boys both loved her! She joked with them and knew just how to relate to them. We had pizza, yum! We were all holding out for the cake!


When she lit the cake with trick candles, which I was not aware was coming!  It was a fun surprise!

The cake was REALLY good. It was moist and was, for me the best part of the day! Not really, but it was impressive!

Niyah delivered Logan a Sky Zone bag filled with goodies! He was really into it and eager to model for me! 

 

I am so glad we had his party at the Sky Zone! It was more fun than I expected. I definitely plan to go back!

Continue reading A Sky Zone Birthday Party = Fun for EVERYONE!

Have you Tried Luvs Diapers? Get your $2 coupon here!

Every parent wants only the best for their kiddos, right from the start! Sometimes getting "the best" can be painful on the wallet. Luckily, when it comes to diapers, that isn't the case! 

Luvs have ultra-leakage protection and a money-back guarantee! Luvs Ultra Leakguards with NightLock Plus provide high-quality features babies need for less!

With our first son we were completely clueless, to be honest I had never even changed a diaper before him! Don't judge me!! 

We tried every diaper available. We soon discovered that not all diapers are created equally! Most couldn't handle the demands of overnight duty (pun intended). By morning, his jammies would be soaked.

The only diaper that consistently kept him dry was Luvs!

Fast forward eight years to our second son. We had forgotten all that we had learned with our first. It HAD been 8 years! We made all of those same rookie mistakes. All except one! I remembered the diaper drama, I remembered the wet jammies. I did not plan to repeat that mistake. 

We started with Luvs and stayed with Luvs.

Three years later, our third son was born. Things were a little fresher in my memory. Since my middle son had only been out of diapers for a year, we went back to Luvs, we knew we could trust them!

Luvs has only gotten better! Now they feature Super Absorbent Leakguards and NightLock Plus! Whats that mean? It means that Luvs has the largest absorbency area ever AND absorb even more than regular Luvs!

Don't get me wrong, I'm a couponer, I search for deals whenever I can get them. So we did stray from Luvs a few times if a sale or coupon meant I'd save more. But I wasn't saving a thing if I had an outfit ruined because of an explosive diaper! 

Who doesn't LOVE that Luvs has large refastenable stretch tabs? They make it easy on Mom and provide baby with a secure, snug fit time and time again.

Be sure to grab this $2.00 off coupon! It can be used toward any one diaper pack at any mass, discount or grocery store that carries Luvs.

To learn more about Luvs and join their newsletter, (which will mean more coupons!) head over to their site and register.

This review was made possible by iConnect and Luvs. I was provided compensation to facilitate this post, but all opinions state are 100% my own.

Continue reading Have you Tried Luvs Diapers? Get your $2 coupon here!

Keep the kiddos busy this summer!

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At DMA, kids (ages 6-12) and teens (ages 12-17) learn computer programming, app development, 3D modeling, robotics, graphic design, filmmaking, and much more!

Choose from one week DMA Camps, or step it up with two week DMA Academies, all taught by industry experts and tech professionals.

Campers get hands-on experience creating projects using the latest hardware and software from Apple, Canon, Adobe, and more.

Digital Media Academy also offers STEM camps just for girls, called Made by Girls! Learn from a female role model and tech professional in an environment of creative girls just like you!

Hurry, save up to $200 with discount codes found here - http://dig.ma/promo .

See you this summer at Digital Media Academy! #CreateTheNext

Find your summer camp discount codes at http://dig.ma/promo ! Questions? Call 1(866)656-3342 or email info@digitalmediaacademy.org.

 

Continue reading Keep the kiddos busy this summer!

L for Levitating....sort of...

What kid isn't into magic tricks?

Liam who is 5 is delusional, and completely believes that what he is seeing is real - its a pretty terrific place to be i would imagine.

Logan is 8 and he is a realist. This kid has a NEED to figure out how and why. He tends to burst Liam's bubble regularly. Its tough being the little brother.

I found this trick on YouTube, the link is below if you want to check it out. The magician is pretty cool, all of his tricks are geared for kids!

You'll Need:

• clear cup (one you can put a hole on each side)
• fishing line
• rope
• paper clip

We have a cup that has hooks on the side for a handle, so I used that to tie the fishing line to and it worked great!

PREPARE TO BE AMAZED!!

Start off by telling the kiddos that   watch the video...

Neither of them would tell the story, so I had to narrate...

So, Liam COMPLETELY believed that we had gotten an invisible Genie...he's such a little dreamer!

When Dad got home from work, they fought over who would show him the trick! It was great!

Let me know if you do this with your kids and if they LOVE it, I know they will!!

Here is the YouTube Video I promised you.

Continue reading L for Levitating....sort of...

M? Making Milk Magical...

I have seen these tricks on Pinterest but have never tried them myself...UNTIL NOW!!!

These were so easy and so rewarding because Liam did the entire thing himself and was ASTONISHED!!!

FIRST TRICK - MAKE THE PEPPER RUN!!

You'll Need:

• Pepper
• Milk
• Bowl
• Dish Soap
• Excited Kiddo - at least one!

 Step one:

Pour the milk

 Step two:

Shake in a bunch of pepper....he liked this already!

Step three:

Insert your index finger - NOTHING HAPPENS

Step four:

While distracting your audience with some magic words and hand waving, dab a little soap on the index finger of the free hand (I put a few drops on the small lid beside the bowl).



Dip your finger in and TA-DA! The pepper runs like boys from soap!

SECOND TRICK - MAKE COLORS RUN!!

You'll Need:

• Milk
• Plate
• Paint
• Dish Soap
• Eager Kiddo

 Step One:

Pour the Milk

Step two:                                                   Add the colors                                                     - food coloring or watercolors

 Step three:

Admire your beautiful artwork!

 Step four:

Add a drop or two of dish soap

Wait for the OOOOOs and AHHHs

Liam said,"OH WOW!!! THAT'S SO COOL!!"

And then......

added more soap - because if one drop was cool surely more would be AMAZING!!

Let me know if you do these tricks and what your kiddos think! 

Continue reading M? Making Milk Magical...