Product Review & Giveaway: Matilda Jane Clothing

Over the past 7 or so months, I've fallen in love with Matilda Jane Clothing.  I had a chance to review some of their clothing (or Addie did) back in the fall here and again earlier this year here.  So when they reached out to me again to check out some of their newer items I couldn't resist.  Right now I'm dying over so many cute looks they have to offer.  Some of my favorites are the Ladybug Bubble for the itty bitties and I really like the All a Flutter Peasant Top for Addie.

Addie is wearing the Cloudy Puffer Tee, the Love Bug Knot Top and Sweetheart Ruffled Leggings from the It's a Wonderful Parade collection.  It's all so cute!

One of our favorite things about Matilda Jane Clothing, other than the fabulous quality, is that you can take any item and easily mix and match within the same collection. That means dad doesn't have to worry about matching up your girls.

Giveaway  The great people at Matilda Jane are offering one of my readers the chance to win a $50 gift card to Matilda Jane!

How to Enter  Just follow the instructions in the Raffelcopter widget below.  Make sure you complete the first task as it is a mandatory task.  Once you complete the mandatory task, all other tasks are optional but do increase your chances to win!  The giveaway is open to US only and will close at midnight on Wednesday, June 4, 2014.  Good Luck!

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White Wine Sangria

At Graham's baptism party, we had gorgeous weather.  Low 70s, sunny and overall just a gorgeous day for entertaining.  We had been planning on that fantastic weather the days leading up to his party so I knew I wanted a light, refreshing drink to offer to guests as they arrived.  Very simple, very refreshing.



4 kiwis, peeled & sliced
4 limes, wedged
1/4 - 1/2 cup raspberries
1 large bottle of moscato
1 liter gingerale
handful of ice
mint leaves if you like

I didn't have the mint leaves so I left them out but that would have been even more fantastic for this drink.  Mix it up in a pitcher and refrigerate for approximately 4 hours before serving.

-stephanie

Graham is Baptized

When we baptized Addie, she was 6 weeks old.  This weekend, we baptized Graham...at 8 months old.  The whole second baby problems where everything gets delayed and isn't as urgent as the first time around.  It was actually quite funny how large Graham was in comparison to the other babies.

Addie with her godfather Joey.

Graham loves water.  I'm actually quite surprised he didn't try to flip over and dive into the water while the priest poured water on his head.

Instead, he just stared at the priest and blew raspberries the entire time.

My little man.  It's amazing how babies can look so much like their mother but at the same time like their father.  I see me in his eye shape, nose and mouth but somehow still see Rick.

We selected my friend Katie to be Graham's godmother and Rick's youngest brother Zack to be his godfather.

And yes, Katie swallowed a watermelon.  :) 

She's due literally any day now and we can't wait to meet her little guy!

-stephanie

Graham Month Seven

Nearly a month late, but here it is.  Life is getting in the way of blogging.  Mini goals set to get 3 blog posts a week.  Anything you guys want to hear about from me?  Any questions you have? Let me know, this can help generate some posts.

I seriously cannot believe that Graham is already 7 months old! Less than 6 months to his first birthday and I'm sure that time will fly by.  Graham turned 7 months on Easter Sunday and we all enjoyed the nice weather outside.  Here's what has changed over the last month.

(NOTE:  I took 7 month pictures but apparently they were "lost" in upload and then deleted from the camera.  Really irritated but I'll try not to let it bother me.)

Stats:  My chunky monkey grows bigger every day.  Especially with the solids he's consuming.  I imagine weight is at 20-21lbs and length is at 25inches.  Wearing size 9-12 month clothes. It really seems to depend between brand and type of clothing (shorts, shirts, etc).  Not in shoes yet.  Head is a rather large size so we have you in 12-24 month hats.  :)

Sleep Schedule:  Still terrible.  On the weekends you manage to only sleep a maximum of 90 minutes all day long in naps.  That's broken up by 3 - 30 minute naps, one in the morning, mid day, and late afternoon.  We lay you down to bed around 8/8:30 and you've continued to wake at around 12/1 and sometimes again at 4:30.  We're trying to kick that midnight wake up but you've spent a couple nights screaming for 90 minutes on and off.  It's been rough.  I don't know when to go in and when to let you go.  If I go in, it seems to make things worse as you see me and want to nurse.  Mornings you wake up by 7.

Foods:  He's yet to meet a food he despises but I'm sure that will change.

Firsts:  Two teeth!  Seriously, two teeth in one month is crazy!  But they're there.  Various new foods, mostly fruits & veggies, but we did give a couple bites of bread.

Favorites: Little Miss Addie.  Still his favorite thing.  He loves this little giraffe that has buttons on it.  He pushes the buttons and they play music and then he sits up and rocks back and forth to the music.

Later this week I *hope* to have the 8 month post up.  I say this every month but it seems like so much has changed in a month.  So excited to share with you.  I love this boy more and more everyday.

-stephanie

Addie's First Haircut

Addie is now 3 years and 4 months old and finally got her first haircut.  That's right, the first.  No trims, nothing until now.  Her hair has been out of control, gets tangled easily and just looked like a mess.  After speaking with my hair stylist (who has a daughter) and asked her opinion.  She suggested getting a trim which would probably help out with the thin, fine hair she has that constantly is tangled.

I really didn't want to spend a lot since she was literally getting a small snippet off.  But I decided it was the first so we went to Cookie Cutters.  She asked that Graham come because she was scared but it was nap time for Graham so I promised ice cream if she did well.

Sheepy was able to come though and he got his hair combed.

She loved the place.  They have a play area, games, toy machines, etc to keep the kids occupied.

She sat patiently, though she kept trying to see what was going on behind her.  She ate a sucker and watched a movie while the stylist quickly cut her hair and gave her a cute braid.

Then we had ice cream.

-stephanie

3, 2, 1....Dip!

Whatey what is she talking about?  3-2-1 Dip.  Never heard of it?  Well buckle up, because it's awesome.  My go to, easy appetizer for any potluck or party.  Great for tailgating and bad for your hips.



Ingredients
3 - 8oz packages cream cheese
2 - cans of Rotel
1 - lb of cooked sausage (spicy, regular, sage, whatever you like)

Get it? 3, 2, 1.  Easy to remember and easy to make.  Pop it all in your crock-pot on low for about 4 hours and ta-da, you're done.

You're welcome.

-stephanie

Easter 2014

I know what you're thinking.  It's May 5th and you're just now telling us what happened Easter weekend?  Yes, that is what I'm telling you.  Easter weekend was fun but busy for us.  Saturday we did an Easter egg hunt at the local high school.  They had 3 different age categories, luckily we were in the first.  The egg hunt was more of an egg scramble (haha) but it was on the hs football field.  7000 eggs were spread across the football field and then a helicopter flew over and dropped another 200 or so eggs to start us off.

The hunt was over in about 20 seconds.  Just before the countdown began I told Addie she would need to run as fast as she could when they said go. She did!  She got a lot of eggs.  Three is definitely the age for egg hunting!  

That afternoon, we went to Rick's parents house for Easter lunch.  His mom set up an Easter egg hunt for Addie.  Since she's the only grandchild old enough to hunt she didn't have to rush through the hunt and found a lot of good stuff.  

Sunday morning we woke up and ran out to see what the Easter bunny brought the kids.

Luckily, Addie does a great job sharing with Graham and gave him his bucket to go through.

Basically everything in the basket was found at Target, most of it in the dollar spot section except for Frozen and the Carter's hair clips.

Graham's basket was full of baby snacks, a couple squeaky chewable books and the dream lite I found on clearance for $7.50.  The kid loves staring at the lights coming out of these, not so much what they display on the ceilings.

Sunday morning we went to church then went up to my parents house for lunch and another Easter egg hunt.  This one had some of my cousins children and, surprisingly, did very well wit them there as well.  Sometimes she shocks me with her sharing skills.

If only I could get her to behave at dinner and not put her feet on the table in the restaurant.  Ugh!

-stephanie