Lily and Louis attend their 1st Father Daughter School Dance last week.  She had a great time and ran around with her friends the majority of the time.

I guess the Fathers & the Daughters don’t really dance together, they just show up and the Dads hang out while the girls run around like crazy loons.

Sounds just like the Mother Daughter Luau we attend last spring.  LOL.  Well whatever, she had fun so that is all that matters.

Abigail Waiting for Lily to get out of Gadets, Gizmos and Goop Class

Lily has completed 6 weeks of Summer Camp at St. Mary’s School and it was worth every penny.  There were two sessions, each lasting three weeks.  I was nervous at first because each hour she started a new class and needed to navigate her way there.  When she was in Kindergarten the teachers took the entire class from place to place, but now she was kind of on her own to get to the next place.  I did find out the the teachers do help direct them so she did have some guidance.

My biggest annoyance was the stupid Snack Cart that they had set up at recess and lunch recess, Lou dubbed it the “Crack Rack”, it was filled with candy and chips costing anywhere from .10 cents to $1.00. I only gave her .50 cents per day and on one day I did not give her money because her behavior the night before did not warrant the candy ‘reward’.  However a little girl gave Lily $2.00 because she felt bad that Lily didn’t have any candy money and as I recall that was the day that Lily came home with a stomach ache.  I think she learned her lesson that candy is best eaten in moderation.

She took some great classes such as Art Explorers, Dynamic Detective, Gardening, Hip Hop, Legos, Gadgets Gizmos & Goop and Scrapbooking.  She was busy all day and she loved it, this was great practice for her when school starts in a few weeks.  She will be entering First Grade, thank goodness we are done with those stinky 3 hour days of Kindergarten. She is sooooo ready for First Grade even though she will be turning 6 a few weeks after school starts I still believe that we made the right choice to not hold her back a year.

Here are some photos of her time during Summer School.

And here is a video of her Hip Hop class performing for the school.

Wow, what an awesome day. Today Lily graduated from Kindergarten and while at first it seems like this is the ‘end’ of something it is really the beginning it is the is the beginning of her school years. Kindergarten was really just a ‘practice’ for the next 8 years at St. Mary School. It was practice not only for Lily but for our entire family. The Kindergarten years are for Lily to make new friends and get used to the school environment and the school routines.  As a family we had the opportunity to use this year as practice as well with learning about  fundraising activities, volunteer opportunities, where to park, and most importantly what items are hot sellers at the school silent auction and even more important that that is learning when to leave the house so we are not late.

I did not cry when I dropped her off for her 1st day of school last August, but today I held back those tears. The class entered the gymnasium to their “Good Morning” song, which I have heard just about everyday at drop off and I realized that I wouldn’t be hearing that song again because she was leaving behind the fun world of singing songs, coloring and dancing around.   Soon we will be back on campus for Summer Camp but shortly after that she will be in 1st grade where they get down to business with the school work and before we know it we will be at her 8th grad graduation.

I think that this year has taught our family to breath and enjoy the moments because it all goes by so quickly.

Well, seriously it is almost the end of 2010 and it has been filled with a lot of ups and a lot of downs.  Maybe not ‘downs’ in the sense of tragedy, more like a few not so fun days mixed in there.  I think the theme of the year was ‘exhaustion’.

Last January we kicked off the new year by adding Abigail to our family.  I spent the first part of January trying to make her come out, but the little bugger stayed in there until the 18th and wanted to come out at 3:45 am during one of the worst and first storm of the year.  My family almost didn’t come to see me in the hospital because the storm was so bad, whatever!  I just pushed a kid out of my &$@# you better get your booty down here to see her! LOL.  I kid, no really I do.  If you want to read Abigail’s birth story and my rant about pain medication during labor you can go here – http://dawncullo.com/from-cheerio-to-soda-can-with-no-epidural-but-not-by-choice/

The first few months of the year were a complete blur.  I was trying to do it all, run my business, deal with a newborn and help Lily with her transition of being a big sister.  I felt bad for Lily, she really didn’t know what to expect.  We tried to prepare her as best we could about what to expect with a new baby in the house but I know at times she felt out of place and that makes my heart hurt a little bit for her.  We included her as much as we could in the care for Abigail such as her helping us get a diaper or choosing Abigail’s outfits for the day.  But the funny thing is that most times she just wanted to go play.

Once Abigail finally reached about 3 months things started to get better.  The weather was better and we could go for walks in her stroller and go play at the park with Lily.  As the months rolled on we started to do new things with Abigail such as solid foods and she started to scoot and crawl and her Baptism at St. Ignatius. Soon it was time for Lily to say goodbye to her Preschool life and venture on to the world of Summer Camp.

The summer time opened up a whole new world for all of us and it came in the form of a Taxi.  I got a glimpse into what Kindergarten would hold for me, the Taxi.  You can read more about this experience here  - http://dawncullo.com/taxi/

During the summer I also made a business mistake and disappointed a few people.  They know who they are so I don’t really care to mention specifics in my blog but I still feel terrible about what happened but I needed to do what was best for my family and I made a tough decision.  At the end of the summer I made a huge leap in my business and opened up a multi-VA firm.  At the time I did this I felt like I couldn’t breath, I was so busy with clients that I felt like I was juggling so much responsibility.  I am still working on growing the team and figuring it all out but having a great time knowing that I have a solid team of people working with me, I am not alone.

The fall brought us into the world of Kindergarten.  At first is was a fun new experience, now 4 months later I am ready for 1st grade to start.  I am so ‘over’ Kindergarten at this point.  The 1/2 day schedule is killing me and the crazy lack of communication from the school is driving my Type A personality to drink.  Yes, I’ve had a Rum and Diet Coke recently and it tasted awesome.  =)  You can read more about Lily’s 1st day at Kindergarten here – http://dawncullo.com/chapter/ and you can read more about my coming to terms with my past behavior in school here  – http://dawncullo.com/as-the-world-turns/

We also finally had the opportunity to upgrade our cell phones and just in time too because both of our Crackberry phones broke as our contract ended. We upgraded to Android phones and just love all the things we can do with our phones.

Finally we have arrived at the end of the year and Abigail has started walking now, she pretty much walks instead of crawls.  It is so cute to see a little 2 foot person walking around your house.  You can see a video here of her 1st steps – http://dawncullo.com/abigial-walking/

3 new Cullo grandkids (Abigial, Karina & Charlotte) have been added to the mix to bring the total of grandkids to 8, holy cow.  We had a everyone over at our house this past week for a few hours and I was pretty sure that they were all going to come rolling down the stairs or crashing through the ceiling.  Look at them…aren’t they so cute and innocent looking?  Needless to say but Abigail’s 1st birthday party will be off site this year at The Little Gym.  =)

My goals for 2011 include starting a Virtual Assistant Coaching program, adding more products to my company such as Ebooks and Audio programs for sale.  I also want to loose weight and eat better but everyone says that too and that is boring so maybe I will gain 5 pounds and eat some cake.  =)

Happy New Year to you.

By the way, the picture that is the thumbnail to this post is of me and Louis at the infamous NYE “Party Like It’s 1999″ party at George & Claudia’s house.

How do I do it? How do I work from home with a 5 year old and an almost 1 year old without loosing my mind? Well, honestly sometimes I feel like I just want to hide in a closet and sleep but since that isn’t an option I have some tricks that I use to make sure my day runs smooth as possible and the girls still get their Mommy time. I work from home as a Virtual Assistant and I have a team of awesome people who also work with me. So how do I do it?   One day the girls will be in school all day and I will have the ‘office’ to myself but until that day arrives I have a few tricks up my sleeve.

Nap Time
Do not, I repeat DO NOT schedule a client call 20 minutes before it is nap time for your baby!  I did that once and was so embarrassed. Abigail was so fussy, all she wanted to do was cuddle up with me and take a nap. But since I couldn’t really snuggle with her at that moment all she did was scream and I had to tell the client that I needed to call them back. Instead, schedule your client calls for around when your baby wakes up from their nap. They are more than likely ready to play alone and be content without you for a about 20 minutes or so while you take the call. I have also tried to schedule client calls for when she is napping, however this can backfire on you because when they wake up they are screaming and you need to go into their room and pick them up etc and the client will hear all of that. Also, I’ve learned that Abigail falls asleep in the car everyday after I take Lily to Kindergarten and that is the best time to schedule a phone call. I just use my cell phone headset and drive home and talk to the client.

Movies
I’ve been known to turn on a movie in the afternoon to help get me through that dreaded 4:00 – 5:00 hour. That is the time when they are a little sleepy, hungry and cranky. I get them a snack, get their pillows, blankets and make a little snuggle nest for them to chill out in. Then I turn on a movie and it keeps them quiet for a little while and gives me some time to work on a project.

Movie time!

Purses & Boxes
When working at my desk or even in the playroom I get a few bags or purses and fill them with little toys. For some reason Abigail loves to unpack and repack bags and purses, this will keep her busy for about 15 minutes and sometimes that is long enough for me to do a quick email to a client or finish up a project. When she comes crawling over to me I plop down a purse in front of her and say “wow, what is in the bag” and she in good to go!  I also keep a smallish toy box in the office and near my desk upstairs.  It is filled will all kinds of random toys.  I often rotate the toys with others around the house so the box isn’t full of the same old stuff.  This is great for cleaning up the room too, just toss it all in the box and poof the room is clean.

Here is Abigail getting into one of the bags I give her to 'unpack', guess I shouldn't have left it on the table. =)

TV Time
How much TV does your kid watch? If you tell me less than an hour a day then you are lying and you have a maid, cook and nanny! There is no way on God’s green earth that your kids don’t watch more than a few hours of TV a day. I swear, those people and ‘researchers’ that say TV is bad for your kids never met Lily.  She is very smart despite her avid TV watching.  When she was a baby she watched Baby Einstein DVD’s, she spent her 1st year watching Mickey Mouse, Backyardigians & Dora. With that being said, there is nothing wrong with turning on Nick, Sprout or The Disney Channel while you get some work done around the house. I do however strongly encourage that for every hour your kid watches TV you spend time with them playing a game or reading a book or even dare I say it….go to the park.  I even have the girls help me with the laundry.  I ask Lily to sort the clothes by color and she thinks it is the best job ever! There certainly has to be a balance so be sure to not have your kid watch TV all day, just a few hours is good.

Important News
Do your kids always bug you when you are on the phone? Somehow Lily seems to have something important to tell me the second I get on the phone. To help curb this behavior I tell her that I am going to get on a call with a client (she knows what that is) and I ask her if she has any important news for me. I give her about 10 minutes to ‘think’ about it and then I get on the call with the client. Generally, she will come to me just few minutes before my call and tell me something crazy about school or one of her friends and I thank her for telling me her important news and then remind her that I am about to get on a call with a client. I would have to say that this one works very well.

Ask for Help!!
My mom lives very close to me (who suggested that?) and she is able to either take Lily to her house for an hour or so and make cookies or play in her backyard.  This is very helpful for me when Abigail is napping, because then Lily gets a “mommy break” and I get a lot of work done.  Unfortunately, this time doesn’t last all day, usually about an hour but having that hour of silence and uninterrupted time can be like winning the lotto, well almost.

Have a Satellite Office
I utilize Gmail and online project management tools so I can work from any computer, anywhere.  I have a few office spaces around the house.  The main office is downstairs in our ‘office’ and that is where most of my work stuff is kept such as books, binders and resource materials.  Then upstairs, tucked in my bedroom I have a desk for my laptop.  This desk is pretty cool because it looks like a dresser, and even has 3 drawers and desk space.  I spend a lot of my time upstairs, the play room is upstairs and so it the laundry room and the girls bedrooms.  I find that this is a good space to work in because I can work at night when Abigail is sleeping and I don’t need to run upstairs to get her when she wakes, just a short walk down the hall.  My other workspace is a small table in the play room. There are times when I need to be in the same room as the girls, normally when they are watching a movie I am in the room with them.  I set up my laptop on the little table and all is good.

Invest in an Android phone or iPhone
I used to have a Crackberry phone and thought it was fantastic, but I also got it 2 years ago.  My contract was finally up and I upgraded to a Samsung Epic phone which runs on the Android network.  Having a phone like this is super because I can work from anywhere.  With my Crackberry I was able to get my email and get on the Internet but with an Android phone, it is a a whole new ballgame.  The network is so much faster now, especially with 4G and the ability to connect to WiFi networks.  I can log into my blog or even clients sites and make changes as needed.  I am also able to connect to my project management system, Basecamp, as well as my invoicing tool Freshbooks.  Just the other day while out to dinner with the family I was able to draft up an invoice and send it off to the client and was paid within minutes!

Don’t Do It Alone
Lastly, I have to advise any Virtual Assistant to develop a team of people to help you out. It was the best thing that I did to save my sanity. I was really hesitant to do it at first because I thought that I wouldn’t make any money if I was ‘farming’ out all of the work. However, what I found is that the clients that I already have really welcomed the idea of being able to take advantage of more services that I had to offer and ended up purchasing more hours from my company. So not only was I able to continue to work on their project, but I was able to give out work to my team as well.

My newest team member, Abigail. Her skills include jabber talk to monsters on Sesame Street

Those are my basic tips, and I have even more tips which I will be sharing in an upcoming book that will be released in January. The tips include more in depth working at home information and how to keep up on your house work, task list and setting goals.  You can check out my website for more information about my team and my company http://sunrisevirtualservices.com/

Merry Christmas from Louis, Lily (5), Dawn, Abigail (11 months) and Roxy Cat.

Well, here we are again…another Christmas season and personally since we have been married (for 10 years now) each Christmas has been crazy.  I look forward to the days when I can relax and have a stress-free holiday, but not sure that will ever happen.  LOL.  I think that with the fast paced life that I lead now it doesn’t leave much time for the holiday planning and enjoyment that I would like.  When the girls get older and are teenagers my life (hopefully) wont be as crazy and I can take time to slow down and enjoy the holiday season, but when that time comes I am pretty sure I will be longing for the days when they were babies.  I suppose the lesson here is to just enjoy the holiday no matter how crazy it may be.

We had a fantastic Thanksgiving, I hope you did as well. We hosted Thanksgiving at our house this year and had Lou’s sister Michel and her family over as well as both sets of our parents and my grandmother. The house was buzzing with people and the smell of turkey in the oven was awesome.

I decided to take the week off, but still checked in on my email to make sure none of my clients had any emergencies. It was really nice to be ‘unplugged’ for a few days. Ok, I do confess that I updated my work website, but that was fun. It sure was hard to get back to work on CyberMonday. Thank goodness I have a system in place to keep track of my clients project using Basecamp. It is an nifty project management online application that helps me to organize all of my clients ‘stuff’ so when I had to jump back into work today it didn’t hurt as much. =)

Here are some pictures from our Thanksgiving.

Lily went on her first Kindergarten field trip this week and they went to Fog Willow pumpkin farm.  It was a blast, all the kids had fun petting the animals and picking out a pumpkin.

Lily and her Fog Willow pumpkin

Lily petting a baby Bunny

Lily...too short

With the new school year starting up again, how can you be sure your children are getting a good start to the day with a healthy breakfast? One way to be sure of this is to add milk to their daily food intake. But, if your children don’t like to drink milk with their meals, you may need to sneak milk into their diet.

My favorite trick to do this is to make breakfast smoothies. You can find some super recipes online here at Smoothies Recipe, but I like to just wing it and use what I have on hand at the time. Smoothies don’t have to be an exact science and you can have your kids help you put the ingredients in the blender. All you really need to make a yummy smoothie is milk, yogurt, some fruit and some ice. I like to also have some honey around too just in case we want to make it sweeter.  If you plan on making smoothies every day, I suggest grabbing a bag of frozen fruit the next time you are at the grocery store. A mixed bag of fruit is best.

Another idea is to make breakfast muffins.  I like to do this on Sunday afternoon with my daughter, because this gives her something to look forward to eating when she wakes up in the morning.  We like to make a different type of muffin for each week and wash them down with a cold glass of milk.  Our favorite ones to make are Bacon Cheddar Muffins and Chocolate Chip Muffins. We especially like to make the mini muffins because they are so cute.

When my daughter is at school I like to pack some cereal in her lunch box and I send along some milk in a thermos.  Having cereal as part of her lunch is different, but that is what also makes it fun, and she is more likely to eat something if she thinks that it is fun.

Finally, the after school snack.  I normally leave this snack up to my daughter to make because she is a creative little girl and likes to make her own snacks.  One of her favorite things to make is her Checker Board Pepperoni.  She takes 1 slice of Swiss cheese, cheese crackers and pepperoni and then makes a checker board design out of the whole thing, and before you know it, the whole thing is gone.

If you want to find ways to sneak milk into your child’s meals you can check out some recipe sites online and just type in the word ‘milk’ in the search area.  You will be surprised how many recipes include milk as one of the ingredients.

Another place that I have found some great recipes is on the Real California Milk site; they even have a section devoted just to milk recipes. One that we recently tried as part of our Sunday baking time was the Cocoa Cupcakes. We baked the Cocoa Cupcakes last night and they were hands down the best cupcakes I have baked in a while because they were very moist and light. Even the batter was tasty.

The tops of the cupcakes are huge, look how they overtake the cupcake pan.

Topped with Whipped Cream and Cinnamon

Lily explains why she likes the Cocoa Cupcakes

Center of cupcake with marshmellow, yum

For more information about how good milk really is for your child to drink check out the nutritional chart from Real California Milk here.

Disclosure: I wrote this article while participating in a blog campaign by the California Milk Advisory Board, who paid me a fee to participate. All opinions expressed are my own.

Finally, the day we have all been waiting for has arrived.  It’s Lily’s 1st day of Kindergarten.  We have been looking forward to this day because it starts a whole new chapter in all of our lives.  This day starts Lily on her path to school and our families path to connecting with new people and reconnecting with old friends.  We are looking forward to being part of a community where everyone is ‘on the same page’.

Lily said that she had fun on her first day and can’t wait to go on her first field trip to the Pumpkin Patch.

Cullo Family Moment at St. Mary's

Lily & Abigail

Lily in her Kindergarten Class

In Lily's Classroom

Dawn in 1979 at the same school.

Lily is starting Kindergarten at the end of August and we thought it would be a good idea for her to attend Summer School at her new school so that she could get used to the environment.  We are almost done with the program and she is doing great, but I am the one who has been in an adjustment period.

I had no idea how hard this would be to drop her off and pick her up from school.  At her new school they give every parent a security badge to wear once they have been ‘cleared’ by the office to be on campus.  The badge is actually a yellow card that reads “Taxi Driver”.  On the first day that I got my badge, I thought it was so cute, now I hate it because yes it reminds me that I am fricken Taxi Driver.

Every day I have had to drive her to school by a specific time, not like in Preschool where we could just come and go as we pleased.  No, not when you are in real school, you’ve got to be on time people!  Then I have to occupy myself for 2 hours with Abigail and then it is time to pick Lily up again from school.  My entire morning and early afternoon is built around being her taxi, it is crazy.

There is an afternoon session that she doesn’t stay for and they ring a bell,  holy cow if I am late picking her up I am pretty sure that she would go into category 5 hurricane mode. So every day I get there early and wait….tap tap tap my fingers, check my work email on my phone and get on facebook mobile while Abigail sleeps in the car and I wait for the perfect time to go into the school and pick Lily up…..wait did I mention that I have to actually get out of my car, sign her ‘out’ in the office walk to her classroom and get her?  Oh My GOSH, this is madness and tons of fun when I have to wake up Abigail to do it.

I am almost sad in a way that this is what the next year is going to be  like, my entire days filled with dropping her off and picking her up from school.  Well, at least when she starts Kindergarten she will be in the afternoon class from noon  – 3:00 and this means that we don’t need to rush out of the house or deal with morning traffic.  I will also be able to do the ‘drive through’ lane to pick her up, I don’t need to get myself or Abigail out of the car to pick her up.

So, we are in her last week of Kindercamp and I am really looking forward to it being over, it was a great experience for both of us but dang it I am so exhausted.

Keeping the momentum of reading books during the summer months when school is out can be a challenge.  Luckily many local libraries have stepped up to help out with Summer Reading programs.  At the Sacramento Public Library you can find an awesome program called Summer Reading 2010 where you can sign your child up for their summer reading program and best of all it is free.  Kids and teens can earn a book, and adults will get a book bag for their summer reading accomplishments.  My daughter is in the ‘pre-reading’ stage and they even have a reading program for her as well.  The library is offering a bingo card for different levels of readers.

When your child completes a row of activities on the card they can claim a prize and be entered into the drawing for one of the grand prizes such as:

• Sony Reader with a $25 Reader Store gift card
• iPod Touch with a $25 iTunes gift card
• Nintendo DSi with a $25 Target gift card
• Target gift card

Another way you can help your child continue reading books during the summer is to make up your own reward chart and let your child choose the reward.  Other ideas include helping your teen start a book club with their friends or meet up with new friends at the library.  The Sacramento Public Library has several book clubs available such as the Sci-Fi book club, Banned book club, Mystery book club and even a Twilight book club.  For more information check out the Sacramento Public Library Events Page for times and locations.

We visit the library often and I let her choose the books she wants to read instead of me suggesting books.  She mostly picks out books about animals.  We also sit at the library and read a few of the books before we leave.  I think that it is important to stay there for a little while and allow her to be surrounded by books.  I tell her that she is just like Belle from Beauty and The Beast when she visits the library.  I feel that the best way to keep her interest in reading is to not only read to her at night before bedtime but by reading to her during the day as well.  I also suggest that she gather her stuffed animals and dolls to join us in the reading session.

“I wrote this blog post while participating in the TwitterMoms blogging program to be eligible to get an “I Can Read!” book. For more information on how you can participate, click here.”

I Can Read! Books

Become an I Can Read! Member

About I Can Read!:

The number one beginner reader series in the country, I Can Read!, is the open door to a child’s adventure with the most beloved characters in the history of children’s literature. It is the premiere and proven series for encouraging young readers from early reading together to advanced reading alone. The series debuted in 1957 with the introduction of a familiar favorite, Little Bear. It was one of the first ever easy-to-read books that children could read independently, and has been in print ever since. Now with more than 6 million I Can Read! books sold, including 200 titles, I Can Read! books is the best series to take children step by step into the wonderful world of reading on their own.

Complete list of I Can Read! books and activities

Who is this baby? Lily, Abby or is it me?

Everyone keeps telling me how much Lily and Abby look alike, but honsetly I didn’t see it until I went back and cracked open my photo albums (yes I have those even though I am a digtial chick) and I started to look at the pictures of Lily as a baby.  Holy cow, they were right, Lily as a baby looks pretty much like Abby, they are almost twins.

So, I thought it would be good for a laugh to post a picture of Lily and one of Abby around the same age to see if you can tell which is which.

Photo #1 - Is this Lily or Abby?

Photo #2 - Lily or Abby?

Photo #3 Lily or Abby?

Photo #4 - Lily or Abby?

Ok, so you are a super sleuth as you can probably tell them apart given one of them has a lack of hair!!  But it is still fun to see how similar they look.

BONUS

Who is this baby?

It’s Baby Dawn…holy 70′s !  The 1st picture is also of me.  I don’t have any other baby pictures of Louis or I would gladly post them.  Heehehe

Here are pictures of me and Louis when we were little kids.

Louis

Dawn

Lily is headed off to summer camp, not the kind where you live in a cabin for a few weeks.  She is only 4 and besides I am pretty sure she is allergic to nature, like me.  The summer camp that she is going to is actually a Kindergarten Redines program at her ‘New School’ as we call it.  This school is where she will be attending Kindergarten in the fall so we thought it would be a good idea to enroll her in their Summer Camp so that she can become more familiar with her new school.  In addition to KinderCamp they also offer KinderSpanish, KinderArt and KinderHipHop.  There are many programs available for all grades.  Check out the St. Mary’s School Summer Session, it runs in two sessions the first is from June 14 – July 2 and the second is July 6 – July 23.

If you are looking for something else such as horse riding camp or singing camp you can check out the Sacramento Parent Magazine Camp guide for some great ideas.  I know that The Little Gym is running a fun summer camp with a new theme each week and you pick how many days your kid wants to go.  They can go all week or just a few days, it’s up to you.  And as always check with your local park & recreation catalog for fun summer time camps.

When you send your kids off to camp, be sure to label their gear or  you might end up with some other kids lunch box or shoes!  I buy my labels from Mabel’s Labels and they are awesome.  They don’t come off in the dishwasher and they have some pretty snazzy designs.  They have a special combo pack called a Camp Pack / School Pack.  The pack comes with clothing labels, bag tags and sticky labels.  You will get 15 Sticky Labels 8 Shoe Labels, 2 Bag Tags, 40 Iron-Ons or 50 Tag Mates™.  If you want to place an order I have a special coupon code for the first person who emails  me and asks for it!  The coupon code is good for $6 off your order of a Camp Pack / School Pack.

So tell me, what are your kids up to this summer?

Here’s your opportunity to be recognized as the most colorful, passionate NASCAR fan! Simply upload a photo that shows off your NASCAR fandom for a chance to win a $10,000 prepaid cash card and a trip to Charlotte to be featured in the NASCAR Hall of Fame® for one year! Submit your photo today and tell your friends!

From May 31, 2010 through September 6, 2010, you can enter M&M’S® Most Colorful Fans™ of NASCAR® Contest and showcase your unmatched love for the sport, favorite teams and drivers, by submitting your most colorful racing-themed photos to www.NASCAR.com/mostcolorfulfans.  The bonus is that all entries receive 15% off a one-time purchase at the NASCAR.COM Superstore, including free shipping.

I entered the contest last year with the photo here (taken at RPM – Race Place Motorsports in Sacramento) and plan on taking a new photo of Lily this year.  We are lucky enough to have a Home Depot by our house and they are having a special event on June 19th from 10:00 – 3:00 where the #20 Home Depot car driven by Joey Logano will be making an appearance, just the car no Joey.  If you happen to go to the Home Depot in Rancho Cordova, CA on June 19th they will be having a special Home Depot Kids Workshop as well from 10:00 – 3:00 where you can build the #20 Race Car and they will have Hot Dogs and Juice Boxes for the Kids. That weekend the Sprint Cup race at Infineon Raceway is taking place on Saturday June 20th so if you are in the area then that would be a great place to take a photo for your entry.

More Information About The Contest

“M&M’S® Most Colorful Fans™ of NASCAR® Contest is unique because it’s 100 percent ‘fan generated,’” said Suzanne Beaudoin, vice president, Sponsorships and Sports Marketing, Mars Chocolate North America.  “Everything from the weekly winners to the lucky fan who gets to be featured in the new NASCAR Hall of Fame is decided by the boss of NASCAR – the fans!”

Each week of the contest, the votes submitted on NASCAR.COM will be tabulated and the photo with the highest average rating and the minimum number of votes will be selected as that week’s winner and receive a $500 gift card.  Fans can also participate in the instant-win game with one hundred (100) fifty dollar ($50.00) gift card instant-win prizes available.

As the elite of NASCAR drivers head into The Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup™ the 14 weekly winners will compete head-to-head during the “Final Round.”  At the end of the Final Round, three “Finalists” with the most fan votes will vie for the grand prize: a trip to the NASCAR Hall of Fame Museum, $10,000, and a featured display in the NASCAR Hall of Fame^TM for one year.  The 2009 contest winner, Cynthia Peace of Havana, Ill., bested thousands of other colorful NASCAR fans who participated in the contest and became the first fan honored in the NASCAR Hall of Fame^TM earlier in May.

Fans can also follow alongside Left Turn Lindsay and Right Turn Ryan, with at track behind-the-scene photos and videos starring fans at M&M’S® Most Colorful Fans Facebook page, www.facebook.com/colorfulfans and via Twitter at @mmscolorfulfans.

“The fans are a crucial component to what makes NASCAR successful,” said Jim O’Connell, vice president of Corporate Marketing for NASCAR. “M&M’S® ‘Most Colorful Fans™ of NASCAR®’ is a one-of-a-kind promotion which celebrates the creativity of our fans, and rewards them in a fun and memorable way.”

For more information about M&M’S® Most Colorful Fans™ of NASCAR® Contest, visit www.NASCAR.com/mostcolorfulfans.

I was contacted by Shabby Apple and they asked if Lily would like to review one of their dresses.  We were given the dress called “45 Words Per Minute” to review. This is the information about the dress from their website.

Taking after its matching dress for moms, 90 words per minute, this dress knows how to be stylish and flatter any woman young or old. Taking the nickname “Little Secretary Dress”, it has a dressy tie-collar at the neck and adorable puff sleeves with a band that ends conveniently just above the elbow. The hem ends at the knee and includes trendy ruching at the hips. With its easy to care for poly / rayon / spandex jersey fabric, this dress is perfect for any little girl who’s always on the go. A classy fit for a little busy body, 45 WPM is hassle-free and comfortable! We love this dress so much, we offer it in three beautiful colors: Apple Green, Fuchsia, and Turquoise!

Lily’s review

“Normally, I like a dress that poofs out on the bottom, but I also liked this one.  I like that it is blue, but pink is my favorite color, but I didn’t care what color it was because it was nice of them to send it to me.   I like that it has a pretty bow.  I like that it does not have long sleeves, the sleeves are a perfect length.  It would have been cool if the dress had pockets on the side.  The dress was comfortable,  it felt like I was wearing a dress.”

Dawn’s Review

I thought that this dress was so cute on Lily, it is a more sophisticated dress than what she normally wears.  It did make her look less like a 4 year old and more older, but I still love how it looked on her.  She prefers to wear dresses that have more pouf at the bottom so that when she spins around the dress poufs out.  The dress is super soft because it is made from a rayon & spandex jersey fabric mix, like a soft t-shirt.  There is a gathering on the sides of the dress to give it the bunched up look on the hip area, this is a nice touch.  I was surprised that she liked the bow that tied in the front, normally this isn’t her cup of tea but she liked it.  The sleeve length is nice too, I don’t like having her wear long sleeves because I just end up rolling them up anyway so she doesn’t get all dirty.  The sleeve length is perfect because the dress is a light enough fabric that is can be worn in warmer weather as well.   The dress comes in three colors Apple Green, Fuchsia, and Turquoise.  The one that Lily is wearing in the photos is Turquoise.

You can view their entire collection of girls dresses by going to their site http://www.shabbyapple.com
Charity

Not only does Shabby Apple sell dresses they also help women worldwide.  Every $100 donation from Shabby Apple Dresses provides at least 20 women with access to financial services – and the chance to live a life without poverty.

Each new Shabby Apple Dresses dress features a unique hang tag with a micro-credit success story.

Here is what was on the dress that we received:

Name: Suchitra Gain - Haringhata. West Bengal, India
Age: 30, married
Children: one son and one daughter
Current loan: First loan, $68
Business: Weaver, garment-maker
Microfinance client since: 2004
“I’ve always worked hard, but now my hard work is resulting in profit and I can improve my own life and the lives of my children”

You can read more about Shabby Apple’s charitable contributions on their site -  http://www.shabbyapple.com/t-helpingWomen.aspx.

Abigail had her 4 month check up and did very well, she weighs only slightly more than Lily did at this age, 14 pounds. Her doctor gave us the green light to start to introduce foods such as rice cereal and pureed foods. Right after we left the doctors office we zoomed over to walgreens and picked up some food for Abigail. When we sit down for a meal we put Abigail in her high chair and she just stares at us and makes a chewing motion with her mouth. So now Lily and I were super excited to be able to feed Abigail food.

Abigail's First Feeding of Banana's

We started with bananas and after a while she liked them. But then the next day she had a bad reaction to her vaccinations so we stuck with formula. When she was feeling better we gave her some rice cereal, just 2 oz but she loved it. I think however she may have been confused because it tasted like formula and I was feeding it to her with a spoon. I think she wanted it in the bottle, not from the spoon.

After a bib change Lily even helped out and feed her a few scoops of bananas.

Lily feeding Abigail bananas

Even though I have been through all this baby stuff before, my memory is terrible and I couldn’t recall how much to feed her. Luckily, Gerber has a great website with a lot of info for forgetful mommies like me. 

Here is a link to their Nutrition Guide for Supported Sitters, but they have others as well on their site. I especially like the menu planner available to help you keep your babies nutritional needs on track.  With a few clicks you can customize a menu for your baby.  You can even print it out and tack it on your fridge AND you can print out a shopping list, how type “A” is that.

Lily's first feeding February 2006

Lily's First Feeding in February 2006

I have vivid memories of my first swim lesson experience when I was 4 years old.  It haunts me to this day, I still get chills thinking about it.  I recall crying and telling my mom how much I didn’t want to keep doing the lessons, but she felt it was important for me to learn water safety since we had a pool in our backyard.  I can’t really argue with her on that point and she was just doing what she felt was right at the time.  She put her trust in the swim instructor and hoped that she would teach me how to swim.

The swim lessons took place at the YMCA in Sacramento in 1977, my teachers name was Moe and she was really mean.  I always was in fear of her and basically did what she said out of fear, not because I loved to swim.  Many times I felt out of control, like I was going to drown because she wouldn’t let us hold onto the side of the pool deck for very long.  She would only come and help us stay afloat when we made large splashes in the water and to top it off, at the end of each lesson she made us jump off the high dive.  Honestly, I am not sure how high it really was but in my mind (at 4 years old) it was pretty darn high.

Growing up I had a pool in my backyard and I did enjoy swimming but always had a fear of being in the deep end, not being able to touch the bottom and keep my head above water, it is still a fear of mine today and my biggest fear is drowning.

Lily Swim Lessons April 2006

Now, it is my turn to teach Lily how to swim and she is already fearful of the pool, she seems to think that she will not be able to float in the water and sink to the bottom.  When she was a baby we took her to swim lessons and she was ok with it until the teacher started to teach us how to ‘dunk’ her in the water.  Really? That is just mean…and now I regret even doing that to her as a baby.  They do teach you the proper way to prepare your child prior to dunking them, but I still think it is mean.   We then moved on to swim lessons when she was 2 years old and those went well, I avoided the dunking lessons and we just agreed to let her get her blow bubbles in the water instead of going underwater.

Now we have a pool in the area that we have gone to and she has been small enough to hang out in the toddler pool, but this year she is too big.  She will go with us in the big pool but she hangs on for dear life when we are in there playing.  I feel bad for her, I know that feeling all too well about having fears in the swimming pool.  We have signed her up for semi-private swim lessons this year, hoping that the teacher will somehow make a break through with her and help her to enjoy time in the pool, the big kid pool.  If that doesn’t work then I think we are going to have to shell out some bucks for private swim lessons.  I know that it is going to take patience on my part as well, but I think I’ve got this one covered because I can totally understand her fears and help her work through them….it’s going to be an interesting summer.  I will keep you posted and let you know how she does.

Here are some resources that I found about teaching your child to swim.  If you have any tips, please share them below in the comments section.

Parents Magazine – Teach Your Child To Swim

Sacramento Parent – How To Raise Water Confident Kids

We finally got picture of the girls done. This will be good practice for our family photo shoot in September

In 2005 if I had a day like I had today I am pretty sure I would be crying in a corner somewhere in my house because I felt like I had failed at being a mommy.  Back then, as a first time parent my world was spinning when it came to taking care of a newborn.  I thought I knew what I was doing because I read all those parenting books.  Lily was a difficult baby, not the kind you want to have as a first time parent.  I should have never wasted my time reading any of those parenting books because Lily broke the mold, and still does.

Today, I am older and wiser or as my OBGYN calls it ‘pre-menopausal’.  Well, leave it to my Gay OBGYN to call it like he sees it.  Anyway, back to today.  I just couldn’t get Abby to take a nap today and I pulled out all the mommy tricks but nothing was working. I was pretty frustrated today but I took it all in stride and just kept pressing on with my day.  She did fall asleep in the car, but as soon as I got to where I was going she would wake up, lovely.  The one thing that I did notice today is that she had a lot more spit up than normal and she wanted to chew on her thumbs more than normal.

This picture was taken by Lily just after breakfast and at the moment she took the picture I felt something warm on my leg….and it was Spit Up.  I should have gotten the clue that this is how my day was going to be.  Later in the day she even spit up down my back and it landed on the carpet at The Little Gym, awesome.  I tried to get her down for a nap the entire afternoon and she would fall asleep but then wake up a few minutes later.  That tells me that something is bothering her and I think that she is going through a growth spurt as she will be 3 months old in a few days.

When kids grow it actually hurts in their limbs and it can be quite bothersome, and I learned that from Lily.  When she was little there were times when she was a monster, and I am not exaggerating about that at all.  She was great birth control for us for several years.  Basically, she would be very difficult and then a few days later she would have a new tooth or we would measure her and she would be 1/2 inch taller.  When she got old enough to tell us what was bothering her, she told me that her arms and legs hurt and we would figure out that she was growing.  So knowing this vital information helped me today and I never ended up crying in a corner somewhere in my house because I know that Abby is just growing and I have to help her through it and give her extra love and some Motrin.

Lily swinging on the bars at The Little Gym

Lily and I started classes at The Little Gym right before her 2nd Birthday in 2007 and we had a great time because it was a “Mommy & Me” type of deal and we had fun together.  Later she wanted to try a cheer-leading class and that didn’t go very well because it was a class she had to do on her own.  I honestly don’t recall what happened after that but we didn’t enroll for the next session and we just stopped going for a few years.

Then a few weeks ago Lily found her red award ribbon from The Little Gym and ran over to me and shouted “I want to go back to The Little Gym”.  I was in shock, really? We haven’t been there in almost 2 years.  I guess those red reward ribbons are great marketing tools on their part. =)

We went back to our local The Little Gym in Folsom, CA and she tried out a class, this time she was old enough to do a class on her own and quite frankly I didn’t think she would go through with it.

Well, I wrong because she did great.  Abby and I sat outside the room with all of the other parents and watched.  Lily amazed me because she took so many risks that day and succeeded.

Lily swinging on the rings at The Little Gym

I don’t only mean the type of risks such as the balance beam but she wasn’t familiar with any of the kids, teachers or activities and she just jumped right in there and participated.  I would have expected her to come out to the waiting room some time during the class and ask to go home, but she didn’t.  I could see the joy on her face after she accomplished a task on a piece of gym equipment.   She completed the entire class and at the end came running over to me and said “I really liked it and I want to sign up”.  The day we went back to The Little Gym was fantastic because I could see her confidence in herself soar.

I recall when we first went to The Little Gym in 2007 and seeing all the Thank You cards on the walls from parents about how their child’s confidence had risen or how their child was doing better in school or at home because of The Little Gym.  I clearly remember thinking, “ah poohy, that is silly, gymnastics can’t make that much of a difference”  Guess I was wrong and now I am one of those parents thanking The Little Gym for helping my daughter’s confidence too.  Not only do the programs at The Little Gym make a difference but it is the owners and the teachers too.  The owners of The Little Gym Folsom are fantastic and they really do care about the kids and their families.  When we went back to The Little Gym it had been almost 2 years, but the owner Cindy still remembered Lily.

Lily really looks forward to her time at The Little Gym and she can’t wait for their Summer Camp as well.  Her birthday is in September and she has already made plans to have it there.  We will also be signing Abby up for her first class during their Summer session, I can’t wait for her to have a great time there too.

Abbity Rabbity

Ok, well it wasn’t really madness but I thought that it was going to be.  Now having two young kids makes everything take longer and just seem like more of a pain in the booty.  Don’t get me wrong, I love my girls but holy cow now we have even more crap to lug around, especially on a Holiday visit to the in-laws.

However, this Easter I was pleasantly surprised, it went very smooth….omg did I say that?  I could not believe how awesome my Easter was.

Lily was so well behaved and I was so proud of her as she didn’t gather ALL of the Easter eggs during the hunt at Grandma’s, she left some for her younger cousins.  Abby was the best baby EVER!  She cried when she wanted to be fed, took naps when she was tired and even did some socializing.  I just couldn’t believe how un-stressed I was….it was a very nice feeling.

However, the days before Easter were a bit stressful for me.  You see, I am a very organized gal…ok I used to be before I had the girls.  Normally, I would have had all of my Easter stuff done at least the weekend if not a few days before.  This time, I didn’t start until Friday and I was still putting things together on Saturday night, which drove me a bit batty.  The whole time I was putting Lily’s Easter basket together I was so sure she was going to come bounding down the stair and ruin the surprise, but she didn’t and I stressed for no reason.  She slept through the night, unlike me though.  I was up every two hours with Abby and then up at 6:30 when Lily woke up to see what the Easter Bunny brought.  *sigh*  So we started our day pretty early and I had a headache the entire day, but it was still a good day.

Are you looking for something F.R.E.E. to do with your kids on a Saturday?  If so, you might want to head on over to your local Home Depot and check out the Kids Workshops.

Louis and Lily happened to be at The Home Depot a few weeks ago and found out that they have F.R.E.E. Kids workshops on the first Saturday of every month from 9-Noon.  You don’t have to stay for the entire 3 hours, you can just come and work on the project between those hours.

Your kid will get an Apron and a special pin to put on it for each project that they complete and a certificate.  The projects come in a kit that you put together and they provide the decorative elements such as stickers, paint and markers.

Lily had a great time working with Louis to put together the house, she even “bammed” in some of the nails.  Of course her favorite part was the decorating.  Lily thought that the whole thing was pretty darn cool and is looking forward to the next one in May.

Lily had her Kindergarten assessment with St. Mary School in Sacramento and did great.  As we left the appointment she said “That was fun”.  A few days later we received the good news that she was accepted.  We were a little worried that she may not get in because this is one of the best catholic schools in Sacramento and we are not exactly fully participating in all things Catholic at the moment, but we will be from now on.  I know that by having Lily at this school it will really help our family.  We are excited to be part of a community of people with the same values as we do.

She will actually start this summer in their Kinder Camp program.  For Lily this will be a way for her to get used to the Kindergarten surroundings and make some new friends before the school year starts.