Some Fall Fun (& Giveaway Winner!)

Fall is my favorite. It ranks right up there with Peppermint Ice Cream, Good Mail Days and Smocked Children's clothing. I love so much about it. I love the weather, the leaves, the holidays, the colors, the clothes, tall boots, pumpkins, cider, and bonfires. We have been able to do so much more this fall than last fall. Last fall we had newborns and I barely left this house. This year we are barely at our house. We have been pumpkin picking, apple picking, leave crunching, parade watching, and enjoying being outside as much as possible.

I could do about 40 posts with all of the things we have been up to because both my camera and phone are full of pictures of my kids posed by all sorts of fall-like things. But today we have Trick or Trunk at church, chili in the crock pot, laundry piled so high I could lose one of my children in it and I have NO lesson plans for this coming week. So again, the blog takes the back burner. I will post some pictures of our fall adventures and announce the Tiny Prints giveaway winner and hopefully one of those two things will brighten your Sunday afternoon.

 

 

 

 

 

 OH YEA- Don't think I forgot about you after uploading all of those cute pictures!

I used Random number generator to select a winner because I am not up on the new fangled ways to pick a contest winner. I used 18 comments because there was a double comment. So CONGRATS to Mrs. Howard for winning the $50 Tiny Prints coupon code!! I will be sending them your email address so watch for your code!! Congrats momma!! If you do not read Mrs. Howard's blog you should. She is also a twin momma, teacher and also has a preschooler. Stop by and congratulate her.
As for the rest of you, thanks for reading, thanks for commenting and as always thanks for stopping by.

Proof. ha!
A phone pic of my screen. I know I need to get with it and get a better way.

Have a great week! Hoping to get back to blogging. Lots of fun pics and stories to share.

Christmas Card Choices (and A GIVEAWAY!)

If you know me or have read my blog for any amount of time you may know just how much I love a holiday and I LOVE getting mail. The Christmas season is my favorite because the trips to the mailbox each day makes me smile. I love all the cards with pictures of cute kids, new homes, vacation pictures, and fur babies and I love finding new ways to display them all. I am not kidding about the excitement it causes. Ask Stuart. If he gets home before me during this time of year he has been known to check the mail and put it back in the box for me to get because he knows how much I love it.

The thought picking and printing our card is my happy place. I love it. We had family pictures taken this weekend and I am hoping she got one we can use on our card. It was a wild time and getting all five of us to even look in the same direction is such a challenge, so I am not even worried about smiles, just all eyes open and looking the the same direction would be a plus!

I have been checking out the cards on Tiny Prints website for a few weeks now and there are so many adorable ones this year. I love all the patterns and colors and I LOVE the prints on the backs of so many of them. So classy and  oh so cute. All they are missing is a picture of my tiny loves to make it even cuter. I have used Tiny Prints for many types of cards in the past including our Christmas cards last year and I have been beyond pleased with them all. Not only are they high quality, but their customer service is outstanding and we all know how important that is.

Here are a few of my favorites as of this week. Once our picture proofs come in I will make the final decision... I CAN'T WAIT!! Which one do you think suits us?

 

These are just a few of the precious cards they have this year. No matter what holiday you celebrate, they have a card for you!  Seriously- they are adorable.

 

The other great news is I have this fun giveaway for y'all - Tiny Prints has offered to give one of my readers $50 off their total order (excluding shipping and not to be combined with other promos). How much fun is that?? Would you like to win??

 

To enter, check out their Christmas Cards and let me know which one is your favorite. Come back, comment on which one you would order and I will select a winner at random! You know those cute cards are calling your name.

 

Giveaway will end on Friday October 26th - I will email the winner soon after!

 

 

You can also check out Tiny Prints on a few different social media sites...

Facebook Blog Instagram: TinyPrints Pinterest    

 They even have a special offers page -  and I of all people LOVE a sale. So head over and check them out. They have so much more than cards and it is a product I know you will love as much as I do.

 

Tiny Prints may be sponsoring this post, but the opinions are all mine. It is a product I love and I am gladly sharing with you. Please comment and enter to win so you can stock up on the cuteness too.

 

31 is WICKED.

I have been dying to see Wicked. I feel like it has  been on my to-do list for years and I am sure Stuart is tired of hearing me talk about it. Last year Stuart got me tickets to see it for my 30th birthday. He gave them to me early on our way to the hospital to have the twins as I was crying and in shock that we were going to meet our babies much earlier than anticipated. He gave them to me in hopes they would make me smile and take my mind off the fact that we were headed to the hospital with no bags packed and without my camera. I was happy and excited, but they obviously did not take my mind of the task at hand. But he surely gets an A for effort. We did not get to use the tickets last year sadly though, because we lost Stuart's grandma and her funeral was the same day as the show. So this year Stuart tried again- bless his heart, to get me to the show. It almost did not happen again, but it did. We got there and it was AMAZING!

Yes, we got there. barely. Stuart was trying to do the right thing, he really was but he bought the tickets from some pop up ad company that popped up when he googled Wicked I'm pretty sure. Let's just say we never got the physical tickets. Two days before the show we called to see what to do since he ordered the tickets a month before and they were supposed to come FedEx and they were not even shipped yet. We got put on hold, we got a number to leave a message and we even got an emergency number to call if you were in the same situation e were in. REALLY? This was a common thing for them and that was not very settling. Did I mention these tickets were my birthday present? Did I mention that we had a babysitter willing to watch all three of our wild ones on a weeknight? Did I mention that I have been waiting for what seems like forever to see this show? I was not giving up. We called all the numbers. I left at least a dozen messages. I talked to "Pedro" at the "home office" a few times and FINALLY got word that the tickets would be at Will Call. That should have made me feel better right? WRONG. I was convinced it was a hoax and we would be out the money and I would be sidelined yet again.

My birthday came and it was a good day. I will admit that I was a little nervous thinking about the tickets all day. I called Will Call again and they were not there, but she said not to worry. Me worry. ha! I rushed home from work, got all the kiddos fed and ready for the sitter and we were out the door- headed to Louisville for a night out. Stuart took me to a restaurant where everything was way too fancy for us and way too fancy for a weeknight and I enjoyed it. Loved my dinner and might have loved the wine too! In the back of my mind I kept thinking about those darn tickets. After a lovely meal we walked to the theater with only a few minutes to spare. Stopped by will call and guess what...NO TICKETS! Que the tears. I am standing at will call with no tickets in my hand. I show them the confirmation email that has just the row, she needed seat numbers. So Stuart and I both sit down and pull out the emergency numbers AGAIN.

We call. We leave voice mails. I text the company's owner. He is on hold when the nice lady from will call comes out to the lobby. SHE FOUND OUR TICKETS. They were listed under the purchaser's name and our name was in the bi-line. We got the tickets. We ran to the door (literally) and made it to our seats (that were in the very last row, in the middle of the balcony- as far back as you can get...) minutes before the curtain raises. I was about to pee my pants, sweating from nerves and tear stained but so excited to actually be there. I cannot even describe how thrilled I was to see this show. During the first song I had to run out to the bathroom and run back to my seat. I know the older ladies working the doors got a kick out of me. Anyway. After that emergency bathroom break I don't think I moved from my seat the whole show. It was AMAZING. I loved it. I loved the story, I loved being there with Stuart and I LOVED the music. I was so glad it lived up to my expectations and all that stress was worth it. What a way to start my 31st year- minus the crazy ticket debacle.

 

 

Two things for you to take away from this story:
1. Run, don't walk to see Wicked if it comes your way.
2. When you do get tickets to your next show, please do not buy them from a pop up ad company.


We are going to see Beauty and the Beast in a few weeks, but we are using Stuart's parent's season tickets. This is already proving to be a less stressful date. However we do work well under pressure and it would not be true Snyder style if there wasn't a little drama.

Thanks again Stuart! I loved it so much and love you more.