amushro

Get Ready for Preschool with Disney Junior

July 29, 2014 by amushro

This shop has been compensated by Collective Bias, Inc. and its advertiser. All opinions are mine alone.

#Ready4Preschool #CollectiveBias

Friends, I’m not doing so well. I’m preparing myself for an empty nest. OK, that’s a bit dramatic. I’m not really going to have an empty nest, but I’m going to have two kids in preschool this fall. So while they aren’t really flying the nest, it feels like an empty nest to me. With my son headed off for five day Pre-K and my daughter two days for preschool, I’ll miss them like crazy, but I’ve been assured I’ll find plenty to do while they’re at school (the piles of laundry that have overtaken our house, perhaps). But to be honest with you, I’m a bit nervous and I’ve started to panic a bit with the idea of my daughter heading off to preschool. Is she ready? Does she know all of her colors? What about her shapes? Oh no, does she even know her letters? Yikes! You know, the whole second kid thing where we just hope they learn from osmosis from the first kid? So when I came across the Disney Junior preschool learning activities at Walmart’s Back to School aisle, I knew I could make sure my gal was up on her preschool basics with a little help from her Disney Junior favorites.

This week we’ve been at the beach with my family and I brought the Disney Junior Preschool Learning Activities along. I used some of our down time to try out the Learning Schoolhouse Activity with my gal and my niece, who is also making the leap into preschool in the fall.

They loved playing school and they got LOTS and LOTS of practice sharing while taking turns putting up the magnets and using the dry erase markers. Sharing, now I know that’s a skill she needs at preschool.

From telling time, letter recognition, and site words, we were able to create little learning centers for the girls to try and then move on to the next activity.

The smaller learning activity packs were actually perfect for travel because they come in a resealable bag. These are definitely going into our car for long commutes. Since you can write and wipe off your answers, both kids will get a lot of use out of these activity packs

And my heart almost exploded when my daughter started working on her letters. Big sigh of relief, she does know her ABCs! See, I’ve been doing something right!

Since my son is a typical boy, he likes to be on the go ALL THE TIME. Getting him to sit still long enough to write his letters is torture for him. So we’ve learned to be creative, and I was thrilled to see he really liked the First Words Learning Activity packet. He picked out site words and copied the letters with dry erase markers, and I liked how everything could go right back into the packet until we were ready to play with it again.

We found our Disney Junior learning activities in the Back to School aisle at Walmart. Not only do they feature some of our Disney Junior favorites like Jake, Sofia, Mickey and Doc, some of the learning activities were under $5! Mamma really likes that!

Here are the Disney Junior learning activities you’ll find at Walmart:

Learning Schoolhouse Activity
Counting Learning Activity
First Words Learning Activity
Rhyming Learning Activity
Alphabet Learning Activity
Numbers Learning Activity
Colors & Shapes Learning Activity

Preschool ready? Well, my kids are, but I’m a different story!

Five Parents You’ll See at the Pool this Summer

July 15, 2014 by amushro

Headed to the pool this summer with your kids? Be on the lookout for these five parents. You’ll see them for sure. I’m #1–how about you?

Did I miss anyone?

Share a Coke with Your Favorite Graduate

July 11, 2014 by amushro

*This shop has been compensated by Collective Bias, Inc. and its advertiser. All opinions are mine alone.*

#ShareItForward #CollectiveBias

Here’s a few signs that you really love Diet Coke:

When you go out to eat and the waiter asks what you want to drink, your kids answer for you “Diet Coke!”
If you’ve had a particularly hard day, tiring day, stressful day, or just a “meh” day, the first sip of Diet Coke makes it all better.
The man that picks up your recycling has said to you (on more than one occasion), “Man, you really like your Diet Coke!” Yes, sir, I sure do.

So when I was out shopping at Walmart and saw the fun personalized Share a Coke bottles, I may or may not have spent a good 40 minutes searching for a Diet Coke that had Amanda on it (OK, I did). While I was searching through my beloved Diet Cokes, I thought how these fun bottle and cans would make a perfect addition to the graduate care package I was putting together for my cousin. Since she is heading off to college in the fall, I wanted to give her gifts that were special, fun, and that show her how fabulous we all think she is.

Luckily the day we were shopping for goodies for her present at Walmart, there was a #ShareItForward demo going on, and of course, the kids were helping me decide which Coke bottles to buy.

I like to consider myself a black belt in gift buying; I’m just that good, friends. While giving a graduate some cash is always appreciated, I wanted to pick out gifts my special Abbie would LOVE. Remembering the excitement of decorating my first dorm room, I wanted her to have the same feelings when she leaves for school in a few weeks. Look how adorable she is in her graduation cap all decorated with her future school, California University of PA.

Here are a few things I put together for her:

A warm, fluffy blanket
Gift cards to the local restaurants
Picture frames
Fun lamps
Shower caddy and shower shoes
A wrap around towel
Fun storage bins
Fun decor for her dorm walls
Her favorite snacks
And a few motivational “Share A Cokes”

I love all of the fun titles of Legend, Friend, Star and of course, Family. I like to think when she is headed off to one of her early morning college classes, she will grab one of these personalized Cokes and smile thinking about us and the fact my kids couldn’t let her open her own gifts.

And the fact I was trying to steal that Diet Coke out of her gift. Don’t worry, I got my own after my kids called me out for trying to take Abbie’s Coke.

Watching Abbie with my kids makes me think about when she was their age. I love my gal, Abbie and I cannot believe that she is old enough to head off to college! While I know she will be nervous those first few days, now she has a few fun gifts from us to get her dorm feeling like home and a few fun personalized Cokes (at least the ones I didn’t drink!).

Listen to Your Mother– The Videos are Out!

July 9, 2014 by amushro

Night after night I would watch the honest and brave women walk up to a microphone and share their stories of motherhood. I would laugh and cry with them and say over and over “Me too!” Watching the videos for past Listen to Your Mother shows inspired me to be brave enough to share my own story. I agonized which piece to read, made edits–then took those edits out–and added a few more changes, and took the plunge and auditioned for the Washington DC cast. Weeks later I was pacing the floors refreshing my email every three seconds until the email came from the producer Kate–“You’re in!”

Honestly, I cried and let out a scream that sent the dog racing out of the room (very fitting–you’ll see in the video). Then I panicked. My piece was my usual humor and parenting fail post and so many pieces I had watched online were so heart wrenching and brutally honest. What if my reading didn’t add up to those women sharing such personal stories?

My fears of not measuring up were put at ease when the director Stephanie told the cast how each of our stories served the greater purpose of telling an entire story and taking the audience on a ride full of ups and downs, tears and laughter, sympathy and empathy, and the perfect blend of motherhood.

I love this show. I love the women in this show with me. I love Stephanie and Kate for choosing me. I love this story. And I love that I get to share Listen to Your Mother with you.

While you won’t need the tissues for this reading, I hope it makes you laugh and you watch the videos of the DC cast and the other cities!

This is Three and a Brown Owl Animal Hopper Giveaway!

July 7, 2014 by amushro

There is a laundry list of things I get wrong when it comes to parenting: veggies at dinner…sometimes, too much iPad time, and always eating my kids’ dessert when they aren’t looking. But there is one thing I always do right, and that, friends, are birthdays. Birthdays in this house are a big deal. A BIG, BIG, BIG deal. I’m a firm believer that if your Mamma doesn’t make a huge fuss over your birthday, then who will? Now I’m not talking about some crazy party that the final bill could rival a wedding, but a day that is filled with so much joy that the birthday baby is just ready to burst with fun, love, cake, and pure birthday bliss. It’s cupcakes for breakfast, being sung the birthday song at least 25 times, and blowing out candles on a really fabulous cakes while wearing a special birthday outfit, and a party that screams “It’s My Birthday and It’s All About How Awesome I Am!” After all, this fabulous girl is three!

When my gal was nearing the end of her ~~terrible twos,~~ twos and we were looking ahead to three, it was time to start planning. One thing that I love about my fun, fearless, and fierce Little Mamma is that she loves what she loves. While she can sing every song in Frozen (just ask her and she’ll do it), her first loves are Mike and Sulley from Monster’s Inc and the Minions from Despicable Me. Three is a big birthday, so there’s no need to pick just one–so we went with all three of her favorite characters as the inspiration.

And what would a party be without a cake? When we have birthday cakes, we go for fabulous and delicious from the amazing Whitnee at Cake to Crumbs Bakery. She creates extraordinary and super yummy cakes every year for my kids. We didn’t have a single cupcake or piece of cake left–bummer, right? But that just shows how delicious her cakes are, and seriously, can you stand how adorable! Usually the birthday girl gets an icing flower on her piece of cake, but my gal requested Sulley’s eye–gross but fitting.

Always knowing exactly what she wants, she wants, she picked her party location at Pump it Up where kids jump for joy on six HUGE inflatable. As soon as we arrived for her party, she was off and bouncing away, but Hubby and I did get to sneak a quick picture of her

Early on in our birthday party circuit, I learned that party favors can be a bit of a waste and simply annoy the parents of the party guests. So this year I went for simple and found these adorable Sulley hats. I wasn’t sure if the kids would even like them, but couldn’t stop laughing when I saw all of the party goers eating their pizza and wearing these adorable hats. Here is my main man who worked up a sweat jumping and needed a little apple juice.

The best part of this birthday party was my birthday girl’s face the entire day. Pure Joy! She bounced her little heart out, blew out her candles on the first try, and crashed the minute she hit the car on the way home. Always a good sign of a great birthday party.

Since my gal loves to jump and bounce, she was thrilled when the nice people of Brown Owl sent her the Elephant Animal Hopper to bounce her little heart out and in celebration of my gal’s birthday, they are giving away an Animal Hopper to one of my readers!

As soon as we handed her “Rocky” the elephant, she was off and bouncing. She even started singing a little song all about “Rocky.” The toy was really easy to inflate and watching this crazy lady play proves it’s durable. Added bonus, she can even play with “Rocky” outside, and since the cover is removable and washable, we don’t have to worry that “Rocky” looks dirty and gross. What a perfect gift for a kiddo on the move!

Want one of your own? My readers will a get 15% off when buying (they are normally $39.99) by using this code: OLJFRZFJ

Click here for Rocky the Elephant or here for Carlos the Frog

Find Brown Owl Toys on Facebook too!

You can win one too! Enter here for your chance to win. The contest ends 8/10/14. Good luck!

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Pressure at the Pediatrician’s Office

July 1, 2014 by amushro

Having a sick kid is the worst, but trying to get an appointment at the pediatrician’s office that doesn’t run into lunch, nap, school pick up, or a time that has you waiting in the “sick kid” section of the waiting room longer than you were in labor with your sick kid, means you better get those fingers ready and dial the pediatrician’s office the second they open up!

Your turn! Share when you were feeling the pressure!

How to Turn A Scary Storm Into a Camping Adventure with Duracell

June 30, 2014 by amushro

*This shop has been compensated by Collective Bias, Inc. and its advertiser. All opinions are mine alone*

#PrepWithPower #CollectiveBias

I love everything about my neighborhood: my house, the street I live on, the neighborhood pool, the dozens of playgrounds, walking trails, and lakes that fill the spaces between houses, and the downtown with coffee shops, restaurants, and a movie theater all in walking distance. Yes, I love my neighborhood. But the one thing I don’t love about my neighborhood is that when a summer storm comes sweeping through, our neighborhood is pretty much guaranteed to have no power. Sometimes its just for few hours, but with severe summer storms, the power outages can last a lot longer. When you’re a mom, you have to be prepared for everything, and I’ve gotten really good at being prepared for these storms. With a little help from Duracell batteries, I’ve found ways to turn a scary storm into a fun camping adventure.

Preparing for a storm for myself and preparing for a storm for my kids is very different. For me, I need to make sure we have lots of light, power for my cellphone, a radio to hear weather updates, and backup batteries for everything. So if I know a storm is coming, I check to make sure I have everything in my Mom’s Storm Safety Kit:

The kids are a different story. Storms can be really scary for little ones. Actually, they can be scary for all of us. So we turn power outages into camping adventures! Because I’m not really the “outdoorsy” type, the closest my kids will make it to camping is in our basement, and they are perfectly happy with their makeshift campsite (for now,at least!) Here is what they need for their camping adventure:

If the lights go out during a storm, we grab our Storm Kits and head to the basement. During those hot summer months, our basement stays nice and cool and is a perfect place to wait out the storm. With their little camping lanterns in hand, we put up the their tent and roll out their sleeping bags. Their silly little giggles crack me up, and even though they probably won’t stay in those sleeping bags too long, I can’t imagine two cuter campers.

Since we’re all a little uneasy with severe storms, we just skip the scary stories, and we try to make each other laugh with the silliest story

Inside the tent we play card games by the light of our lanterns. I wonder who is winning this round of “Go Fish”?

Now I might not be an expert camper, but I do know you can’t camp without S’mores! No power? No problem! Because I was sure to add a Sterno canister into the kid’s Storm Kit we have some yummy S’mores to devour. Now if I could just get the kids to stop touching each other’s marshmallows…

Once our bellies are full, we play a few rounds of hide-and-go-seek with our lanterns, make shadow puppets on the wall, and use that battery-powered radio for a dance party with our glow sticks and necklaces. If the power comes back on, great! If not, no big deal because we are having too much fun to care if we have power or not! Good thing Mommy stopped at Walmart and stocked up on Duracell batteries because we have a lot more “camping” ahead of us!

It all comes back to 90210–Meeting Tori Spelling & Jennie Garth for a Mystery Girls Viewing

June 27, 2014 by amushro

Everyone has a talent and mine, friends, is drinking wine. Just kidding (no not really). My talent is Beverly Hills 90210 trivia. Go ahead, hit me with your best questions. I’m sure you can’t stump me! Since I spent so many years in front of the TV watching the Beverly Hills gang grow, make horrible decisions (fashion and in life), and find themselves in unrealistic situations, it’s no wonder that so many times in my own life it all keeps coming back to 90210.

It all started when I wrote this little gem about life lessons from 90210. It was featured on Scary Mommy when I was just a little baby blogger and the adorable Jason Priestley retweeted it on Twitter and called it

It could have been because I wrote this:

And really, have truer words ever been spoken?

Even when the show went off the air and the reruns were harder and harder to find, my love for 90210 never went away. The same was true for the actors on the show. I’ve followed their careers as they’ve played out on television shows, reality shows, their own books, and the tabloids.

Years later I still really love Tori Spelling and Jennie Garth, and when I got an invite from the fabulous women behind The MOMS to head up to New York to catch a viewing of Tori and Jennie’s new show Mystery Girls, I about DIED! Then I panicked because I needed something to wear!

A few days later, I was in NYC with my favorite traveling partner, my mom, and ready to meet the gals behind my favorite show

While waiting in the small theater with about 30 other women, I was ridiculously excited. Sort of like Brenda Walsh before Spring Fling.

We watched two episodes of Mystery Girls and, let me tell you, I’m hooked! The jokes were smart, the ladies looked beautiful, and watching Tori and Jennie perform physical comedy was such a change from their 90210 days and super entertaining. After the giggles died down and the viewing was over, it was time for a Q &A with Tori and Jennie.

Here was my chance! While there were a lot of the warm up and general questions, I totally took over the Q&A (I’m ridiculously pushy). So here is me talking to Tori. (Eekk!)

After the viewing and my line of questioning, surely Tori and Jennie wanted to be my new BFF–probably not but a gal can dream.

The event was a blast, Tori and Jennie were smart,funny, and ridiculously beautiful in person, and NYC remains one of my favorite cities in the world. I’m so thrilled The MOMS asked me to attend this event and I wanted to hum the Beverly Hills 90210 theme song all week. You’re humming it now, aren’t you?

You can catch Mystery Girls on ABC Family on Wednesdays at 8:30!

Three Steps for Mom to get Perfect Summer Legs!

June 23, 2014 by amushro

#SummerizeYourLegs #CollectiveBias

Summer, summer, summertime. Time to sit back and unwind. Wait, sit back and unwind? Clearly they don’t have kids because as every mom knows, summer sunshine means your kids are on the go from sun up until that late summer sun sets. And that means you are on the move too! In this house summer is splashing in the pool, riding waves and building sand castles at the beach, and spending every last minute outside taking in every bit of this glorious season. With Fourth of July right around the corner, I need to get my summer prep started early and I’m not just talking about breaking out the bathing suits (Yikes!). No friends, it’s time to get those legs out of hiding. It’s not winter anymore and you can’t hide behind yoga pants this time of year. But don’t fret, because I’m sharing my three steps for mom to get perfect summer legs!

Believe me, I get that the days of long, luxurious showers are gone. GONE! However, you don’t need a long shower (without small children knocking on the door) to get great summer legs. You just need the right tools. OK, maybe you need some level of privacy, but I can’t help you with that. But I can help you find what you need to get those legs ready for summer fun.

Just like a chef needs great tools in the kitchen, you need great tools in the shower! Before I started to shake off that winter blahh from my skin, I popped over to the shaving aisle at Walmart and got everything that I needed for my three steps to perfect summer legs: Prepare, Shave and Protect. I grabbed Skintimate Skin Therapy Sensitive Skin shave gel, Schick Hydro Silk Sensitive Care razor, and Hawaiian Tropic Sheer Touch Ultra Radiance SPF 30. I love having new shower products and I was ready to put these three to good use!

Now, let’s talk about those three steps, I know you have to be fast because as soon as you turn that hot water on, someone in the house will come looking for you so here is what you need to know:

1. Prepare- It was a long winter and skipping regular shaving, forgetting to put lotion on and the winter chill probably did a number of your legs. I know you are in a hurry but don’t skip this step! Start with an exfoliating shower gel to wash away dry and dead skin. Then apply a moisturizing shave gel like Skintimate Skin Therapy Sensitive Skin to protect and prepare your legs.

2. Shave- Any old razor just won’t do! You need something that is designed to be gentle on your legs but grab even the tiniest of hairs. You are less likely to have irritation in your bikini area if you are using a razor like Schick Hydro Silk Sensitive Care razor because the water activated moisture serum in the razor gets the job done and keeps your skin feeling super smooth.

3. Protect- We all know how important protecting our skin from the sun’s harmful rays is, and we would never send our kids out in the sun without protecting their skin. So don’t forget about your precious skin, Mamma! Not only does Hawaiian Tropic Sheer Touch Ultra Radiance SPF 30 smell amazing, but the SPF keeps you save, the moisturizer keeps your legs feeling soft.

Now you are ready for anything that summer throws your way! Bring on the Fourth of July and everything we have on our schedule.

Like a little sidewalk art…

A stroll on the beach…

And being on lifeguard duty…

You can win your own Summerize Your Legs Prize Pack From Walmart to get everything I used plus a few more summer goodies! And check out the “All You” ad for Prep, Shave, Protect because it includes money-saving coupons on Schick and Skintimate products.