Sunshine Wonderland - Not all who wander are lost- J.R.R Tolkien

May 17th, 2013

Looking forward to Planes

Yesterday was my last day of my week I had planned to drag myself around getting all the things done.

Unfortunately it didn’t entirely work but I am a lot more ready for someone to arrive in a couple of weeks.

We had lunch next to my local movie theatre and my son asked over and over to go to the movies, and over and over I told him there just wasn’t any for kids at the time. Which is sort of true, there are none that I want him to go see in a theater right now.

At three years old, I’ve been picky about his movie experiences.

All of his little friends went and saw Cars 2 in the theatre, something that I pondered, studied and finally said no to after hearing about loud explosions and knowing my son would cry in the theater at the overly loud noises since he startled easily.

I was lucky enough to take him to his first movie theatre experience last summer with the Oogieloves , which was perfect for him since he got to get up, get down, and there were no loud noises.

He speaks of the movie theater with a little reverence, which fascinates me because I’ve been to the movies about as much as he has in his short life.

While I’m dying to see The Great Gatsby and the newest Star Tars before the baby comes, other things and my body telling me it’s bedtime keep getting in my way of the cold dark room and a handful of Sour Patch Kids.

However, I know by the end of summer he will get a chance to go to another movie.

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I’ve been following the Disney Planes movie news for a while, but not as long as my son has been obsessed with the Air Mater short on the Cars 2 DVD (or as he put it, “the scary Cars with bad guys in them” movie).

He and his friends have all had the same little plane toy along their treasured piles of little toy cars and several versions of Lightning McQueen- a Falcon Hawk 1 that zips along and frequently gets under my feet.

And hopefully by then I can leave the baby for a few hours and spend some one-on-one time with a sweet little guy who has spent all of the long hot summer dealing with a new baby brother.

What movies are you looking forward to most this summer?

May 13th, 2013

Minted is announcing the baby

Disclaimer : Minted is providing me a credit to their website in exchange for this post. No other compensation is being oven. All opinions are my own.

After watching a friend try to deal with the new craziness of a three-year-old and a newborn to take care of, I have realized the more I can get done, the better.

Not only am I going to schedule bills (I am the banker in the house) and make freezer meals (currently being hunted down on Pinterest) but I am already planning baby announcements.

Yep, baby isn’t here for another few weeks but I am already looking at what to send out.

For Wonder Boy, I photoshopped pictures together, added a fall theme of leaves trailing around and had the pictures printed at CVS, bribing someone to go gt them for me.

A little more time consuming than I can plan for with a kid running around chasing the dog with a construction truck.

So this time I am planning to order my announcements online on Minted and make it just that much easier.

Minted has so many options online, created by independent designers.
My pregnant brain is having a problem deciding so I thought I’d share all of them I am considering!
I love the idea of this one with a quick note on the back about how the family is adjusting to the new arrival.

I almost did a moon-and-stars theme for the baby’s nursery, so of course I am drawn to this one.

A photog friend is excited to use some of her props on my upcoming arrival- I can squeeze several on a card and show off all of his cute pictures.

Minted even has postcards!
This could be a cute way to put a smile on someone’s face as they sort out the fun mail from the bills and junk.

I know my son will be a proud big brother- I’d love to share a picture of him as well on the announcement.

So, along with shopping to stock up on diapers and making freezer dinners I have this fun chore.

What announcement do I use?

Got an opinion? Let me know?

Any cute ones I missed on Minted.com?

May 9th, 2013

Marie Callender’s Pie and Pasta Amore

Disclaimer: Marie Callender’s invited me to try out their new menu at a local location. No other compensation was given. All opinions are my own.

Part of the reason why SoCal Lady Bloggers was started was to make it easy for bloggers to find other bloggers, including us out in the IE to find other bloggers and not have to hike to LA for everything.

However, with all of the get-together that had been planned I’d only made it to one other ‘meetup’ out here in the IE – a chance to check out the Ontario Reign hockey team.

I was newly pregnant at the time, and felt horribly sick most of the game.

So a second chance came up and I ran with it- hooking up with Marie Callender’s to try out their new Pie and Pasta Amore menu.

I mean, how could you not want to try out pasta and have a slice of MC’s famous pie?

We lost our local Marie Callender’s a couple of years ago and the pies are still mourned locally.

And this pregnant lady loves pasta and pie. It was a partnership made in heaven.

The Pie and Pasta Amore menu features four options for pasta, all served with a caesar salad or a choice of a garden salad or soup, depending on the pasta.

I got the rigatoni with caesar salad and enjoyed every delicious, heartburn-inducing bite (tomato sauce and I have not done well this pregnancy, yet I keep eating it.)

I’d order it again if I wasn’t pregnant (and probably again if I had the chance- I am silly like that).

I also enjoyed a bite of the shrimp pasta dish, which I loved even more. (Or maybe I should just be smart and order the shrimp next time, right?)

To top it off I picked out from their list of over 30! pies a slice of coconut cream pie and savored every coconut-y bite (I also have a thing for coconut right now. Mmm, coconut.)

Nope, no picture here. I ate it too fast after getting it back from the temporary photo studio set up on a nearby table by the other bloggers in attendance.

This menu is for a limited time only, so grab some girlfriends and have a night out dishing gossip and inhaling carbs and pie!

You can find Marie Callender’s on Facebook and Twitter and Pinterest.

May 8th, 2013

Favorite seat in the house

We got it for a steal being the floor model at our local Babies R Us.

It still had all of the plastic on and was barely dirty, so we ran it home and placed the final piece in our nursery for Wonder Boy.

Almost 4 years later it is being used again, and instead of a giant Lightning McQueen pillow to sooth an aching back, it has a different look.

Same comfy chair. Still my favorite place.

The blanket was knit be great grandma for the first baby and will soon cover the second as well. The pillow was sewn by myself, with a little help from Wonder Boy picking out the grey color.

The nursing cover hangs over it right now- I love the material too much to put it away yet.