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Jun
7
Both my boys have June birthdays, so we have celebrations on the brain around here. We don’t go crazy with parties, but we have had parties for them when they were younger, and they’ve gone to many summer birthday parties, too. When my kids were little, we would have a combined party for both of them, since they had the same friends. Now that they are older, we don’t usually do big parties, but instead we’ll let them pick one or two friends to do something with. I thought I’d share some of our favorite parties – some we hosted, some my kids attended. Here we go, counting down to number 1:
10. An art party. When my kids were younger, they were invited to an arts and crafts party by the sister of one of their buddies. This probably wouldn’t go over too well at their ages now, but for six and seven year olds, it was a huge success. This family set up card tables in their garage and had two simple crafts for each kid to work on. Even my not-so-artsy child enjoyed this party.
9. Gymnastics party. My sons were friends with some kids that took gymnastics, and they had a party at the local gymnastics school. They were about five years old, and the kids absolutely had a blast. This is probably pretty typical of any party at a business; they had the party room for presents and cake. But here the big attraction was the gymnastics rooms, with ropes to climb, foam pits to jump into and general rowdiness.
8. Party at the park. We did this several times as a combined party for both of them. This was years ago, but I’m pretty sure we were able to rent a covered eating area at local parks for around $20-$25 dollars for 2-3 hours. We did this as a potluck with extended family or just with cake for friends. This is one of the easiest, low maintenance parties we ever did. Which is a big deal for mom 
7. Party at the movie theatre. My kids have been to lots of these. Our local theatre has a couple party rooms for the cake and presents and an arcade. You can pay extra for a private movie viewing room, or just watch the movie in the regular theatre – the kids really don’t care.
6. Party at the drive-in movie theatre. We did this for our son a couple years ago; he chose two friends and we saw the Cars movie. It was a huge hit with the boys. I had forgotten how fun a drive-in is, and I loved it too.
5. Party at the amusement park. My son was invited to celebrate a friend’s birthday at a local amusement park. The birthday boy chose three friends to spend the evening riding the rides and eating the junk food. This was a small amusement park; I don’t know if I’d attempt this in one of the large mega parks. But I’m a chicken that way, lol.
4. Sleepover party. There are endless variations on this party theme. We were never content with the plain old sleepover, so we had to mix it up. That usually meant sleeping outside in our tent that we use for Boy Scout camping. Throw in smores, root beer floats, and late night flashlight tag outside in the dark, and the kids had a great time. These kinds of parties are my favorite, and it’s the kind that we did most often: inexpensive, easy, and a lot of fun.
3. A paintball party. This has become a recent favorite; we did this last year for Nolan. Something about shooting your friends with globs of paint and causing lovely welts and bruises – ?? I may not understand it, but they love it.
2. A swim party. We did this years ago as a combined party for both boys. A small town about twenty miles away would let you rent the public pool for several hours in the evening. We had called all over to price this party, and this small town pool was cheaper than any party option we checked into. Since it wasn’t at my house, we didn’t have to deal with clean up or space constrictions. We brought food and drinks and shared with the teenage lifeguards; they really made the party fun for the kids. The boys still talk about how great this party was. I’d have to agree.
And the #1 birthday party that we have ever had (drumroll):
Party in the backyard. Yes, it’s true. We would fill hundreds, maybe thousands (ok, that’s an exaggeration) of water balloons, fill up the kiddie pool, turn on the sprinkler and let them get soaked. We did this several times, starting when they were in preschool and on up, usually as a combined party. This does mean a lot of clean up for the parents, but it’s so easy to do. Sometimes we would have cake, sometimes a cookie cake, sometimes we’d do snack foods. The kids didn’t care about the food, they just loved the water play. These parties went on for hours, and my boys slept like a rock when it was over. I miss those backyard parties.
There you have it; our favorite birthday parties. Feel free to share yours in the comments – I can always use new ideas, especially for older kids.
This post is part of Top Ten Tuesday at ohamanda.
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Jun
6
Visit Blogher and answer my question for a chance to win $100! “What would you flaunt..if you had it?”
Here’s my answer: On a very basic, superficial level, I would flaunt beautiful fingernails if I had them. Instead, I have these mangled, ripped nails that I can’t seem to leave alone. I think I have had nice nails maybe two times in my life, and even then they were barely there. But at least they weren’t torn and ripped to the quick! Of course, a flat stomach is right up there with healthy, pretty nails, but I’ve given up on that completely! And these days, no one sees my stomach, but it’s harder to hide unsightly fingernails. Oh the shame!
Go now and answer my question for a chance to win! You have until 5pm Monday, June 7.
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Jun
4
Note: The entry methods for this giveaway are a little different than the other two kick off summer giveaways – please read the rules! Thanks.
I was going to post this later today, but I am knee deep in garage sale preparations so I needed to get it done early. Garage sales are a lot of work! Hopefully it will be worth it.
For my final summer kick off giveaway, I’m giving away a reader favorite You can enter to win an Apple iPod Touch 8gb with a $15 iTunes gift card.
Here’s how to enter:
The only required entry is to leave a comment here telling me a book you recently read that you loved. I’m hoping that in between work, school, and general craziness, I might get to read something for leisure this summer, so I’d like some suggestions. One comment per person, but there are other ways to enter.
This is where the rules are slightly different, just to avoid repeating what we’ve been doing for all the giveaways this week.
More ways to enter:
- Mention this giveaway on your blog (include direct link in your comment)
- For an extra entry, tweet on Twitter about this giveaway. This may be done twice per day; more than twice per day will not be counted. Leave a comment for each tweet with the link to your comment and your Twitter id.
- For additional entries, you can contribute to the fund to help send my son to march with his high school band at the Rose Bowl Parade. Instructions for that are below.
For each of the above that you do, leave one comment on this giveaway post, ie one comment for each tweet, one comment for mentioning this on your blog.
Your comments may not show up immediately. Please do not post the same comment/entry more than once; all the comments will show up shortly.
After all that, if you’d like to help me send my son to the Rose Bowl Parade with his school band, you are more than welcome to do so, and I will be forever grateful. For every $5 donation, you get five extra entries for the giveaway. So $10 = 10 entries, and so on. Of course, you do not have to donate to enter or to win. All donations will be used to help pay for his band trip. If I raise more money than the cost of the trip, I will give the excess to the band patrons association to be used to help other students who cannot afford to go. If this is something you feel called to do, I thank you from the bottom of my heart, and so does my boy.
If you donate, you can leave a comment on this giveaway post just stating that you donated, but you don’t have to. I get a confirmation email for every donation, and I can also verify donations in my Paypal account. I will have a record of your donation and the amount, so I can keep track of the entries. Please use this donate button for this giveaway; do not use the button that was in the previous giveaway posts earlier this week. Well, you can, but those donations will be entries for those giveaways, not this one. To keep track of entries correctly, each donate button is coded differently.
This giveaway is open to US addresses only. Please make sure you leave a valid email address with each entry.
This giveaway will end Wednesday, June 16 at midnight CST. This giveaway has ended; the winner will be notified and posted here after I recieve their reply. Thank you for entering!
Each entry will be assigned a number and the winners will be chosen via random.org. The winners will have 72 hours to respond to my email notification. If I do not hear back within that time I will pick another winner. This giveaway is open to US addresses only.
Questions? Email me at unexpectedblissmail at gmail dot com
Good luck! Thanks for joining my celebration to kick off the summer.
This is not a sponsored post. Apple doesn’t know me. If they did, I’m sure they would love me.
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May
30
I wrote about the purpose of these giveaways in my last post, and I really can’t think of a better way to kick off June and the start of summer than by having a giveaway. If you haven’t had time to slog your way through that never ending post, basically I’ve got some very cool prizes to give away. I’ve also got a son who has the awesome opportunity to march in the Rose Bowl Parade with the high school band, but the cost is out of our reach. So I’m borrowing an idea from another blogger who wanted to raise money to attend a blogging conference. This giveaway will be pretty much the same as any other giveaway I’ve held, except that you will have the option to earn extra entries if you want to contribute to my son’s band trip fund. No donation or financial contribution is required to enter or to win; there are many other ways to enter.
I’ve got several prizes, so we’re going to drag out the fun a little. I’ll announce each prize or set of prizes separately, so there will be some overlap. Here’s how the giveaways will work:
The first prize that I’ll be giving away is a brand new Canon PowerShot A3100 IS. Perfect for summer vacation, sporting events, or just having fun at home. You know you want one
Here’s how to enter to win this little baby:
The only required entry is to leave a comment here telling me if you have any exciting plans for this summer. Exciting is a pretty loose term; a picnic in the park is exciting, so is a family vacation. Just share your summer plans with me, because mine all revolve around a classroom and lots of homework, which is definitely not exciting. One comment per person, but there are other ways to enter.
More ways to enter:
- Subscribe to Unexpected Bliss.
- Follow me on Google Friend Connect (right sidebar)
- Mention this giveaway on your blog (include direct link in your comment)
- Follow me on Twitter (@UnexpectedBliss), leave a comment with your Twitter id.
- For an extra entry, tweet on Twitter about this giveaway. This may be done twice per day; more than twice per day will not be counted. Leave a comment for each tweet with the link to your comment and your Twitter id.
For each of the above that you do, leave one comment on this giveaway post, ie one comment if you subscribe, one comment if you follow me on GFC, one comment if you follow me on Twitter, one comment for each tweet, one comment for mentioning this on your blog.
Your comments may not show up immediately. Please do not post the same comment/entry more than once; all the comments will show up shortly.
Okay, that gives you a lot of opportunities to enter. After all that, if you’d like to help me send my son to the Rose Bowl Parade with his school band, you are more than welcome to do so, and I will be forever grateful. For every $5 donation, you get five extra entries for the giveaway. So $10 = 10 entries, and so on. Of course, you do not have to donate to enter or to win. All donations will be used to help pay for his band trip. If I raise more money than the cost of the trip, I will give the excess to the band patrons association to be used to help other students who cannot afford to go. If this is something you feel called to do, I thank you from the bottom of my heart, and so does my boy.
If you donate, you can leave a comment on this giveaway post just stating that you donated, but you don’t have to. I get a confirmation email for every donation, and I can also verify donations in my Paypal account. I will have a record of your donation and the amount, so I can keep track of the entries. Please use this donate button for this giveaway; do not use the button that will be in the upcoming giveaway post later this week. To keep track of entries correctly, each donate button is coded differently.
This giveaway is open to US addresses only. Please make sure you leave a valid email address with each entry. Each entry will be assigned a number and the winner will be chosen via random.org. The winner will have 72 hours to respond to my email notification. If I do not hear back within that time I will pick another winner.
This giveaway will end Wednesday, June 9 at midnight CST. This giveaway has ended. I will verify the entries and notify the winner via email; as soon as I hear back from the winner, I will announce it here. Thanks for entering!
I will post another “Kick-off Summer” giveaway on Wednesday, June 2. To simplify record keeping, each giveaway will be separate and will have separate entry methods, even though the dates will overlap some. Good luck!
Questions? Email me at unexpectedblissmail at gmail dot com
This is not a sponsored giveaway. I purchased this camera myself; Canon does not know I exist. Their loss, I know
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May
11
Finally a winner! Cassandra is the winner of my first iPod touch giveaway. I hope this is okay with her, but I want to share with you her response when I notified her that she had won the iPod touch:
OMG, ARE YOU SERIOUS?!! Freaking WOW!!!
I love that! Notifying the winner is just so much fun. Visit Cassandra’s blog, tell her congratulations and keep entering my current iPod touch giveaway.
I promised that I’d have some other, smaller giveaways this week to celebrate my two year blogging anniversary, so check back tomorrow for that.
Congratulations Cassandra ~ enjoy!
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May
5
Update 5/15: The giveaway has ended, and the winner will be contacted and announced soon.
I said I’d have the new giveaway up today, and I’m going to make it! It was so hard deciding what to give away. I wanted to be able to do a couple of giveaways instead of one huge one ~ more winners = more fun.
Also. Since I missed my actual “blogiversary” a few weeks ago, I’m claiming the next nine days as my Blogiversary Week. I think it deserves a whole nine days. So throughout the next nine days, I’ll be having several smaller giveaways that will only run for a day. Those will have their own separate posts and entry requirements, so check back for those through May 14.
For this first giveaway: I want to give you guys what you really want. And since so many of you really, reallywant an iPod touch, we’re going to do it again! I hope no one minds a repeat
One winner will receive a brand new Apple iPod touch 8gb with a $15 iTunes gift card.
Here’s how to enter:
Leave a comment here telling me something that you are looking forward to. Maybe your own blogiversary, anniversary, birthday, graduation, vacation or just a night out. What’s coming up in your life that you are excited about? This is the only required entry. One comment per person, but there are other ways to enter.
More ways to enter:
- Subscribe to Unexpected Bliss.
- Mention this giveaway on your blog (include direct link in your comment)
- Follow me on Twitter (@UnexpectedBliss), leave a comment with your Twitter id.
- For an extra entry, tweet on Twitter about this giveaway. This may be done as often as you want. Leave a comment for each tweet with the link to your comment and your Twitter id.
For each of the above that you do, leave a comment on this giveaway post, so 1 comment if you subscribe, 1 comment if you follow me on Twitter, 1 comment for each tweet, 1 comment for mentioning this on your blog.
This giveaway will end next Friday, May 14 at midnight CST. The giveaway has ended. I will verify the entries and notify the winner. As soon as I hear back from the winne I will announce it here. Thanks for entering!
Open to US addresses only. Please make sure you leave a valid email address with each entry. The winner will be chosen via random.org and will have 72 hours to respond to my email notification. If I do not hear back within that time I will pick another winner.
As soon as I hear from the winner I will announce it here. Thank you for entering and check back for more giveaways this week!
Questions? Email me at unexpectedblissmail at gmail dot com
This is not a sponsored giveaway. This iPod touch was purchased by me with a gift card that was given to me. I own this iPod touch and iTunes gift card and am giving it away all by myself.
If you don’t see your comment right away, it will show up shortly. I’ve been getting crazy spam comments lately, so my filter is blocking a lot. I will make sure all the giveaway comments are posted, so please don’t submit twice. Thanks!
Note added 5/9: I’ve never had to set a limit on the tweets for a giveaway before, but I am seeing tweets being done several times per hour, sometimes just a minute or two apart. Please be reasonable and use good judgment – I think once per hour is plenty, but certainly less than every few minutes. Thank you.
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May
4
Every once in awhile my kids will say things that make me think I need to write it down, so I don’t forget. Over the years there have been many of those, so in honor of Mother’s Day this weekend, I’m going to share some of them here. Some are heartbreakingly sweet, some are goofy.
- Said by my youngest when he was about 11 months old: Instead of saying “Mama”, he called me “Mimi” at first. I thought it was adorable, but he started saying mama a few months later.
- Said by my oldest when he was two; I was nine months pregnant and wore a dress because I couldn’t fit into anything else: “Mommy, you look like Cinderella”.
- Said by my oldest a week after his baby brother was born: “Take him back, take him back” as he brought the infant car seat to me.
- Said by my youngest on his third birthday; we were still in denial that he needed speech therapy: “Bit by birpbay”. (translation: “It’s my birthday”)
- Said by my youngest when he was five: “Mommy, when you die, I want to sit on your lap so God will take me too”.
- Said by my youngest last year in response to his brother saying I was having a blonde moment: “She’s not blonde, so she must be having a gray moment”. I think he really thought he was being helpful, but not so much.
- Said by my oldest when he was 11; our power was out because of an ice storm: “Oh no, this means the truck won’t start”. We cracked up, then explained why the vehicles would still start.
- Said by my 12 year old when his teacher was trying to find volunteers and asked him if his mom worked during the day “No, my mom doesn’t do anything”. (huh?)
- Said by my teenage son just last week: “Girls are confusing, and when they get around their friends it’s even worse”! They learn this early, don’t they.
- Said by my fourteen year old just last week, after we had a heartfelt discussion about some things going on in his life: “You’re a pretty awesome mom”. There’s my Mother’s Day gift right there.
For more Top Ten Tuesday, visit itscome2this.
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Apr
26
Update: The winner has been notified by email. As soon as I hear back from the winner I will announce it here. Check back soon for more giveaway fun!
You know it’s going to be a good week when it starts with a giveaway, right? I went to a carnival fun night at a local school this weekend, and I won an awesome iPod Touch and iTunes gift card in their raffle! I don’t need an iPod touch, in fact I would probably never figure out how to use it, so I am giving it away to one of my lucky readers! Can’t beat that, can ya?
This is a brand new Apple iPod touch 8gb with a $15 iTunes gift card.
Here’s how to enter:
Leave a comment here telling me what you would do with this iPod touch if you win – would you keep it or give it away, and to whom. One comment per person, but there are other ways to enter.
More ways to enter:
- Subscribe to Unexpected Bliss.
- Mention this giveaway on your blog (include direct link in your comment)
- Follow me on Twitter (@UnexpectedBliss), leave a comment with your Twitter id.
- For an extra entry, tweet on Twitter about this giveaway. This may be done as often as you want, leave a comment for each tweet with the link to your comment and your Twitter id.
For each of the above that you do, leave 1 comment on this giveaway post, ie 1 comment if you subscribe, 1 comment if you follow me on Twitter, 1 comment for each tweet, 1 comment for mentioning this on your blog.
There will also be an additional chance to enter later this week; I will provide another opportunity in an upcoming post about Mother’s Day, so check back.
That is a lot of chances to win!
Open to US addresses only. Please make sure you leave a valid email address with each entry. The winner will be chosen via random.org and will have 72 hours to respond to my email notification. If I do not hear back within that time I will pick another winner.
This giveaway will end May 3, 2010 at midnight CST. This giveaway has ended. I will verify all entries and choose the winner using random.org. The winner has 72 hours to respond with their mailing information. If the winner does not respond within 72 hours an alternate will be chosen. As soon as I hear from the winner I will announce it here. Thank you for entering and check back for more giveaways this week!
If you don’t see your comment right away, it will show up shortly. I’ve been getting crazy spam comments lately, so my filter is blocking a lot. I will make sure all the giveaway comments are posted, so don’t submit twice. Thanks!
Good luck!
This is not a sponsored giveaway. Apple doesn’t know me, although I’m sure we would be BFFs if they did. I own this iPod touch and iTunes gift card and am giving it away all by myself. Cause I want to.
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Apr
9
- Sneezing, sniffling, watery eyes. Welcome to the midwest.
- Wind. Not to be confused with a gentle breeze.
- Flowers. Love it.
- Eating outside. Something about eating outside just makes any meal taste better. Even if I cooked
- Baseball. Woot! I am not a big sports fan, but I love nothing more than watching my boy play baseball.
- School activities. Spring is the time for band concerts, piano recitals, music contests, and school programs. You know I love all that.
- Hiking. My family loves hiking. Its free and its outdoors – what can beat that. We try to find new trails every spring.
I guess I can tolerate the allergies and wind, since so many good things come with spring. What is your favorite part of this season?
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Apr
8
Kimberly!!! Congratulations! I just heard back from Kimberly with her mailing information, so I’ll get the camera shipped today. Looking forward to seeing all kinds of great pictures on her blog.
Thank you again to everyone who entered the giveaway.
Giveaway note: I realize that some people commented extra for their donation entries and others commented once. I received a confirmation email from Paypal for each donation, so I did count the extra entries and included them. Every entry was counted, even if you only left one comment when you earned 5 entries, and so on. That is why it took me a day to get the winner notified.
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My boys
Where did those little guys go?Cuteness overload
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