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I am a Christian, tattoo loving, paranormal believing, pierced up, supernatural watching, vampire diaries adoring, soccer coaching, animal helping, Earth saving, twimom to 4 living a crazy life I love. I am definitely Not Everyones Mama.

Archive for June 16th, 2010

Welcome To My SITS-tahs!

Posted by Heather Manning On June - 16 - 2010

Today is my SITS day!  I am all kinds of excited!  I love me my SITS-tahs!  What is SITS for those of you who might not know?

It is this awesome blogging community that I adore!  Everyday there is a featured blogger who we all visit and then after visiting them, you can visit all your fellow SITS-tahs until you have fulfilled your blogging addiction for the day!  (Is that possible?)  Then you start the process all over again the next day!  On Friday there is a potluck where various bloggers who participated throughout the week get featured and there are helpful blogging tips on the weekend!

I have met so many awesome bloggers over at SITS and I really hope you all enjoy getting to know me!

I am Heather.  I’m a 35 year old attachment parenting, extended nursing, baby wearing SAHM to 4 married to Pato and we live in Iowa – land of storm warnings and tornados.  (Turning 35 traumatized me, I hate my birthday anyway, don’t know why.)

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Yep, that’s us!

Jordan is my oldest.  He’s a soccer playing (goalie or fullback), video gaming, bike riding, book reading, incredibly smart 11 year old who thinks he’s 16.  He will be playing the trombone this fall in 5th grade.

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He’s my mini-me I’m told and he’ll tell you proudly he looks like his mama.  I miss him terribly when he goes to his dads and not just because he does so much to help me out with the little ones.

Katiana is my next one.  She’s my 6 year old girly girl.  She always wants to be styling in a skirt or dress and gets really mad at me in the winter when she can’t wear them.  She loves playing soccer too and has been getting goal after goal this last season.  She loves Hannah Montana, Polly Pocket, and her DS. She’s also awfully proud that her hair is to her waist and plans on growing it out to her feet.  She loves to memorize poems!  She’s also really excited that she is going into 1st grade this fall.

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Alyce is my 3rd child and she is 3.  She’s my blue eyed baby.  My mother in law is constantly asking where she gets those blue eyes from.  (Did I forget to mention my husband is Mexican, from Mexico, been here 10 years, hence my MIL thinking her eyes are impossible.  Just to prove she’s not the milk man’s child, my mom’s whole side of the family has every color of eyes but brown.)  Alyce is my thumb sucker, we’re working on that, she loves the Little People, Hannah Montana, any baby that you can buy her, and singing and dancing.  She cracks me up!  For the record, she’s also my drama princess.

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Christiano.  He’s my last.  And the one who gave me a panic attack when I found out I was pregnant.  He was a “what do you mean I’m pregnant, we were using protection” baby.  Best thing that was not supposed to have happened to me.  Christiano was insistent that he share a birthday with Jordan even though I tried my hardest to give both of them their own day.  My boys are exactly 10 years apart.  Christiano is now almost 16 months old, at his 15 month check he was 29 1/2 lbs and 35 1/2 in long.  The doctor didn’t think it was possible for him to grow almost 5 inches in 3 months, rechecked him, and yes it was possible.  He loves cars, trucks, trains, anything with wheels and has been pushing things around (vacuum cleaner attachments)  making car noises since he was 9 months old.  He started walking at 9 1/2 months and his first word was den (here, take this in Spanish).  Daddy was so proud.  His latest phrase is I did it!  I find that incredibly funny because no one in this house ever claims anything.  He also says I stop, even though he doesn’t really stop.  And he has the cutest cheesy smile ever.  We think he’s going to be a big guy like his 6’2”, 220 lb daddy.

That’s us!  I’m also a parront.  What’s a parront?  A bird parent. :)   We have 5 parakeets (Lemon Meringue, Blueberry Pie, Angel Cakes, Lucky, and Penelope)  and 1 newly added absolutely adorable baby lovebird (Twinkle), who I have had to hand feed because the breeder kind of told a fib.  We think she’s younger than he told us she was.

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Lucky and Penelope don’t do pictures.

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Twinkle

Did I mention that I cook for my birds?  Really, if you have birds, you might think about doing it too.  An all seed diet is very bad for them.  Just a tid bit of knowledge from me to you.

We speak Spanglish in our house.  Pato speaks in Spanish, I speak in English, the kids understand Spanish, but respond in English, frustrating my non-English speaking MIL to death when Pato calls down to her.

Also, if you’d like to follow me (right sidebar), I am going to be a bazillionaire and I promise to remember the little people who helped me get there.

Oh, I also am a digital scrapbook designer who hasn’t added anything to her store in months (If you want to see digital scrapbooking in action, here’s my layouts and I’ve got some tutorials for Paintshop Pro users), bad bad me, but I’ve had so much fun doing reviews and giveaways that I’ve neglected my other passion in recent months.  I’ve got 4 giveaways listed. I’m bouncing back from my site going down (what a mess!) but I’ll get more added little by little.  I also have my own cafepress store where all the designs are either hand drawn by me or are one of my digiscrapping products (made by me) that I use.  I make some fun Scottish stuff, stuff for mom’s, stuff for women, and of course, Twi-stuff because I’m a Twi-mom/Twi-addict/whatever you want to call me!

See -

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My husband loves to drive my Kia with that on the back of it. (Random people take cell phone pictures of my car when we’re driving down the road.)  Here’s a video of my son talking about his Twi-mom’s addiction.

I also love to read, but I’m sadly behind on my stack on my desk right now also.

I think I’ve overloaded you with info on us.  You never knew you wanted to know so much did you?  :)

Have a wonderful day and thank you for dropping by today!

If you’re looking for another blog to read, my mama has entered the wonderful world of blogging.  I just told her about SITS, so you might see her over there sometime!  My son has his own blog too where he shows off his pictures and videos, it needs updated.  Totally my fault because I haven’t uploaded his stuff recently.

Again, have a wonderful day!

ETA – Yes, I do talk like I blog.  Fast, lots, and jumping all over the place.  My blog was just my journal for it’s first 4 years of existence.  Lots of it is about my kids and their naughtiness antics (I’ve got 4, they fill a lot of my time), other times it’s a make up trick I’ve found, a celeb that I think is crazy, a recipe here and there, some news,  plus the reviews and giveaways.

My sister in law just got me a sign that says Life is too short 2 stay on topic.  It’s so me.

Popularity: 26% [?]

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Wonderland Escapades – A Musical Dream

Posted by Heather Manning On June - 16 - 2010

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Wonderland Escapades – A Musical Dream by Maria Russell

Wonderland Escapades will enchant children of all ages based on Lewis Carroll’s story about a little girl, Alice, who enters a imaginary world of a fantastic fantasy. Journey through a Musical Dream with hilarious capers of characters full of fun, folly and surprises entertained with songs and dance madness. Alice’s curiosity chased a White Rabbit into a rabbit hole where strange and unusual things began to happen in a fascinating adventurous Enchanted Forest of a nonsensical wonderland.

I received a copy of Wonderland Escapes to review and I have really enjoyed this CD.  My girls love it and I am completely enchanted with the music and singers, Shelley Martinsen and Dan Frank.  Shelley Martinson’s voice is just gorgeous!

A little more information from Maria Russell –

“My newest CD, ‘Wonderland Escapades,’ blends together many different musical styles. I wanted to make the arrangements fit how I envisioned each character. The mischievous Cheshire Cat, for example, I portrayed with a jazzy blues style, and the brothers, Tweedledee and Tweedledum, as being more characteristic with a hip-hop style. There’s also a tango, a tap number, waltzes, pop and the high-energy ‘Wacky Hot Wheels’ as the Mad Hatter’s wild entrance. The CD is broken into three acts with several scenes and songs with guest vocals by Shelley Martinsen and Dan Frank bringing Alice and the various characters to life. ‘Wonderland Escapades’ creates a journey through a musical dream with hilarious capers of characters full of fun, folly and surprises entertained with songs and dance madness in a nonsensical wonderland.”

Alyce is my dancer and she loves to twirl and dance when this CD is on.  The music is perfect for a little ballerina, in fact, I could totally see this on a stage, either as a Broadway show or a ballet.  I think I’d almost prefer a ballet, the music would be wonderful set to dance!

Since we have enjoyed this so much, I asked if I might be able to give away a copy to you!  Maria was so sweet to actually autograph a copy of Wonderland Escapades – A Musical Dream for one of my readers!

MAIN ENTRY:

Tell me your childhood tale (ie: Alice In Wonderland).

MAKE SURE YOU DO THE MAIN ENTRY BEFORE ANY OF THE EXTRA ENTRIES! THANKS!

EXTRA ENTRIES:

  • - Tweet this giveaway –

Enter to win a signed copy of Wonderland Escapades from #HeatherM74 http://bit.ly/be8UR0 7/7 please RT #Giveaway! US only!

See this link for extra entries now.  It will open in a new window/tab.  Then you can just look, come back to this page, and enter each one you did.

Giveaway ends on 7/5/10 at 11:59 PM CST. US ONLY! – Winners will be chosen by random number generator. Winners will be emailed and must respond within 48 hours or an alternate winner will be chosen.

disclaimer

Thank you to Maria Russell for providing me with a copy of Wonderland Escapades – A Musical Dream to review and an autographed copy to give away!

Popularity: 3% [?]

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**CLOSED** Kung Zhu!

Posted by Heather Manning On June - 16 - 2010

Congrats to Sonya Allstun!  Thank you to everyone who entered!

I’ll admit it.  We are a Zhu Zhu pet family!  The girls each have one (Kat has 2 counting her Zhu bunny), Christiano has 1, they all have accessories.  Jordan wanted one, but I hadn’t gotten him one because they just seemed too young for him.  Then they come out with Kung Zhu!  Ninja warrior hamsters?  Awesome!  Jordan loves army guys.  He lines them all up on his desk and does various battles that can get really intricate in their design.  (I’m so glad he’s still acts like a kid at 11!)

We got a HUGE box filled with Kung Zhu toys!  My kids could not wait to dig in but I said they had to wait until we could get together with their cousin Carter because we were sharing with him.  Today was that day!

Picture heavy post!

Let me start this out with saying, the little ones couldn’t wait until everything was put together.  They started playing as the pieces came out.

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Carter, Alyce, and Christiano with the half put together ring.  They were battling already!

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Carter and his tank, with Kung Zhu hamster driving into battle of course!

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Taylor and Jordan putting one of the rings together.

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Flags are up!

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Alyce and Christiano

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Cambria preferred the boxes.

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Kung Zhu mass chaos.  See how big that box is compared to Christiano?  That was filled with Kung Zhu stuff!

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Christiano’s ninja

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Taylor with Carter’s in it’s battle armor.

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The girls brought their Zhu Zhu pets with them.  That’s Kat with her Zhu Zhu Bunny .

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Alyce with Kat’s other Zhu Zhu pet.

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How about we end with mr cheesy smile, Christiano!

Kung Zhu are available at a variety of places including Toys R Us, Walmart, Target, and of course at Amazon

Also, MomSelect is having a Kung Zhu Twitter party!

Kung Zhu™ Twitter Party

Date: Friday, June 18th, 2010
Time: 1 p.m. – 2 p.m. EST
Location: #KungZhu
Host: @MomTalkRadio (Maria Bailey, Founder of MomSelect)

Be sure to follow @MomTalkRadio, @ResourcefulMom, @Zhuniverse and @MomSelectAmy throughout the evening for updates, prize information and contest details.

We could not leave you guys out of the Kung Zhu fun!  I saved a set off to the side to give away to one of my awesome readers!

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You get everything in the picture: Azer, the Kung Zhu hamster, battle armor, a Samurai Training Ground, and the Dragon Hammer!

MAIN ENTRY:

Tell me which Kung Zhu the kid in your life would like the best! (The winner still gets Azer, it’s who I have. :) )

MAKE SURE YOU DO THE MAIN ENTRY BEFORE ANY OF THE EXTRA ENTRIES! THANKS!

EXTRA ENTRIES:

Enter to win a Kung Zhu pack from #HeatherM74 http://bit.ly/bt1Zss 7/7 please RT #Giveaway! US only!

See this link for extra entries now.  It will open in a new window/tab.  Then you can just look, come back to this page, and enter each one you did.

Giveaway ends on 7/5/10 at 11:59 PM CST. US ONLY! – Winners will be chosen by random number generator. Winners will be emailed and must respond within 48 hours or an alternate winner will be chosen.

disclaimer

Thank you to MomSelect and Kung Zhu for providing us with a box full of Kung Zhu stuff to review and give away!

Popularity: 28% [?]

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I Am Going To Be A Bazillionaire

Posted by Heather Manning On June - 16 - 2010

My ex-husband called me the morning he was bringing Jordan home to tell me I got mail there.  He had opened it (a federal offense which I won’t hold against him since I am going to be a bazillionaire).  He told me all excitedly how I was going to win all this money and all I had to do to get it was send them $39.95!  And they’d really like my credit card numbers to go with it!  How exciting!

See!

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You can click on it to see it bigger.

See, I’m going to win 422,342,326.00 Euros!  That’s 519,822,578.53 US Dollars!  Or if we were going to Mexico – 6,558,281,022.02 pesos!

Iwin

You can click on it to see it bigger.

See, they want my credit card number, I guess I could send $39.95 in cash, but how would I have proof of paying it?

I promise you, I will not forget the little people, everyone who can say I knew her when!  You all will be rich with me!

You know, I don’t remember entering the Japan Jumbo “Summer” Draw.  That’s kind of weird.  Also, they sent it to my ex-husband’s house under my old married name, both haven’t been correct since I got a divorce 10 years ago.  That’s not fishy at all though.  Obviously I entered their Jumbo Draw over there in Japan and forgot to update my information.

Silly me!

They won’t hold it against me will they?

I’ll still get all my money won’t I?

I would hate to get my hopes up about being a bazillionaire and not get the money because of a simple clerical error.

That would stink.

I’m off to dream about what I’ll do with all that money.

I’ll leave you with a cute picture.

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I’m trying to teach Twinkle how to perch and you know, be a bird.  I tied his elephant up to the side of the cage and raised his lovie tent up a tad, placed a few perches up higher with ladders leading up to them.

He sat and looked up at his elephant that he loves for a few minutes.

He decided if the elephant wasn’t coming to Twinkle that Twinkle would go to the elephant. :)

After this he flew for the first time.  He’s been flying from here to there in his cage to get to perches now but when I have him out he’s not quite brave enough to make that leap yet.

Have a great day!

(P.S.  If you can say you knew me when, be sure to leave me a comment so that I can get you a share of my huge sum of cash – after I give them their money first with my credit card numbers!  I’m sure it will arrive quickly after they get my money.)

ETA – The lovely Grace contacted me because she was concerned that I might be serious about this post.  I thought that was the absolute sweetest thing to do for someone she didn’t know at all.  I was joking.  Unfortunately, lots of people get letters and emails like these and they don’t know they are scams/frauds.  They prey on the elderly (someone tried it on my grandma who thankfully thought to call my Uncle, who alerted everyone else, and the cops were involved) and it’s very sad when that happens.  For more info on these scams, check this link. And thank you again Grace for reaching out to me.  I could have been someone who believed it.  And if that was the case you would have just saved me.

Popularity: 2% [?]

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