Tiny Prints ~ Valentines Day Cards

I'm SO excited. Like REALLY excited. Probably more excited than I should be.

Valentine's Day is in almost 2 weeks and so is my 4 year old son's very first Valentine's Day preschool party. And you know what that means, right? He gets to hand out valentines to all his little classmates (and girlfriends.....yes, he has more than one! heehee).

I have seriously dreamed of this day. Watching him pick out his valentines. Stuffing them in tiny little envelopes. Hand writing all his little friends names on each one. Sticking stickers and decorations, or maybe even a cute little lollipop to each one. These are the moments a Mom watches and stores in her heart for the rest of her life. I'm SO excited.

But to add to the excitement, I also have been given the chance to allow Jonah to pick out his cards from the huge array of valentines day classroom cards from Tiny Prints. We have always loved Tiny Prints for their Holiday and Birthday cards, so I am happy to add more favorites to my list with them.

I had Jonah browse through and he picked out a few he loved (gonna be hard to narrow down to just one!).

Jonah had a lot of fun picking out his cards! He was concerned about the girls not liking the rocket ships and footballs, so he picked out some cute girly cards too. I think these are the times he is happy he has a little sister who has taught him about princesses and all things pink!

And of course, this sweet day isn't just for kids, you can find amazing Valentine Cards for your grown up sweetheart from Tiny Prints too. I'm thinking about browsing through and finding the perfect one for my hubby before I submit our final order. Here's a quick few that caught my eye....

This day isn't a Hallmark holiday, Valentines Day Greeting Cards are enjoyed by everyone! Young and old, male or female, grandma's or grandpa's.....everyone deserves a Valentine! And Tiny Prints is the place to go to find them!

WANT IT?

Tiny Prints is currently offering 20% off any order (or 25% off any order of $125 or more) with code "tp25, but that code ends TOMORROW (1/31), so get ordering now!  They are also offering FREE SHIPPING, with code FREESHIP12, so don't miss out on that one either! But the big V-day is only two weeks away, so hurry and get your order in! If you are in need, RUSH shipping is available as well!

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Tiny Prints on Pinterest

Samples Provided

Trop50 True Resolutions ~ Whats your resolution for 2012? #GIVEAWAY

I'm not one for New Year's Resolutions (obviously, since I am writing about this over THREE weeks already in to the new year!), but this year, I knew I had one. I HAD to have one, because it's TIME. My kids are almost 3 and 5 and I believe it's time to take MYSELF back. Time for ME and time to figure out what it is I am passionate about and what kind of things I want to spend my time doing, outside of being a Mother.

You see, before I became a Mom I knew what I wanted to do with my life. I wanted to go to Law School. I loved shoes and purses and wearing earrings and perfume. I was a girly girl. I loved it. I loved me and my husband loved me. Now, I'm not saying that I'm no longer a girly girl or that my husband doesn't love me anymore, I am and he still does. But it's not the same, Priorities have changed. Times have changed. And I have changed. You know, that old saying about "She let herself go"? Well, I've let myself go. I can see it. And I'm sure others can too. So for me, 2012 is about taking ME back.

I want to do thing's like:

~Get my hair cut on a regular basis.
~I want to be dressed for the day, with my hair looking presentable BEFORE preschool drop-off.
~I want to wear pants that fit and not ones that fit me two years ago.
~I want to wear shoes that make me a few inches taller.
~I want to wear a dressy-dress at least once a month.
~I want to read a book.
~I want to watch a movie, from start to finish and I want to start it before 11pm at night.
~I want to spend more quality time with my husband on a regular basis.
~I want to bake more.
~I want to learn how to cook good quality meals for my family.

They say that a happy mama makes a happy home. And I can see that if I am more comfortable, confident, and feel like there is more to me than being a Mother and a Wife, then in turn the entire house will be more calm and content.

In 2012, I want to make more time for ME in order to make the time with my family more enjoyable.

I was asked to blog about the juicy truth behind my resolution for 2012 for the Trop50 True Resolutions project by Tropicana. I posted my juicy new years resolution on the Trop50 Facebook page, and you should too! Tropicana Trop50 juice beverage offers fruit juice goodness with 50% less sugar and calories, and NO ARTIFICIAL SWEETENERS (which is a big deal to me)! And by sharing your resolution, you earn yourself a coupon for $1 off Trop50 for yourself and 50 cent off coupons for up to 50 of your friends. Whether you submit a resolution or not, you can also enter to win one of four $1000 gift cards, just by visiting the Facebook page!

WIN IT!
Trop50 wants to give one Mommy Instincts reader a $25 Visa Gift Card and coupons to try Trop50 for yourself! Just head on over to the Trop50 Facebook page, submit your resolution, then come back here and share that resolution with me as well. Be sure to leave a valid email address so I can contact you when you win!

WANT EXTRA ENTRIES?
~ Follow "Mommy Instincts" via Google Friend Connect (on right hand side bar)
~ "Like" Mommy Instincts on Facebook
~ "Like" Trop50 True Resolutions Facebook page
~ Follow Mommy Instincts on Twitter
~ Follow TropicanOJ on Twitter
~ Tweet this!! Send out this tweet, letting other know about this giveaway. Be sure to leave the link to your tweet along with your comment. This can be done once a day!

#Win a $25 Visa Gift Card from @TropicanaOJ and @MommyInstincts! Ends 2/6/12 #Trop50 #giveaway http://tinyurl.com/8xf97mn

Fine print:

~Please be sure to leave a comment for EACH entry and be sure to complete the MANDATORY entry first.
~Contest is open to bloggers and non-bloggers alike, but you MUST make sure there is a way for me to contact you easily available. If I can't contact you, then you can't win!
~Contest ends Monday February 6, 2012  at 11:59pm.~Winner will be emailed and given 48 hours from initial congratulatory email to respond. If winner does not respond within that time a frame and new winner can be chosen and original winner forfeits prize.

~Winner must be USA only.

~In respect of full disclosure, regardless of compensation or products provided, you can rest assured you will always get an honest review from Mommy Instincts. All thoughts and words are my own.

~Compensation Provided.

I'm Here.....

Well, hi there. Long time no...."chat"?

Yeah well, I think that we should be allowed a month off from blogging, that month being DECEMBER to be exact! Who's with me? How many of you spazzed out and rushed posts and freaked because the month of December nearly steals every single bit of energy you can possibly muster. I just don't think it's fair to end it with the SHE-BANG of the Christmas Celebrations. Because really...I can't be the only one carting cranky kids around to a million relatives houses in order to stuff my car full of toys that clutter up my dining room and living room for weeks and weeks! Don't get me wrong, I am grateful for the loving families we have and the way they spoil the heck out of our kids. But man, I'd love to see Christmas spread out over the course of the year. I vote to have the THREE Christmas celebrations we had spread out over the year...break them down into quarterly celebrations (the fourth quarter can certainly be the one with the birthday's in it).

But, to keep it real here. I must say, I tried to sneak at least a few un-opened toys/games into the closet/basement to pop out later in the year, when they can appreciate them more.

Atleast I did a major purge of toys the few weeks before Christmas, donating them all to our local Goodwill. It makes the organization process so much easier once all the old toys are gone, and there is that week before Christmas when the house is only HALF filled with toys, instead of overflowing.....I really love that week.

Anyhow, here I am....I dug my self out of the toys and rubble of a holiday-ridden house, and am now buried in 6 inches of snow and ice outside my door. But yeah for all these toys/games/DVD's, because atleast it keeps the children busy and entertained, and I can enjoy MY new toy....my Keurig! YAY!

Our Very Own Elf

They are 2 and 4, yet it seems as though these two children of mine have been here for an eternity. I can't remember life without them, and am grateful for their faces (smiling or angry) every single day.

Life with my 2 year old daughter has been a rollercoaster. One moment she is happy and dancing and giggling, and the very next screaming "NO JONAH NO!" and running off to pout and be grumpy. The mood swings are intense, for all of us. I am not saying SHE is the root of the arguments, we all add our own unique tension to the situations.

Christmas is coming and they both know it. I have in the past used the "Santa is watching" technique, but this year is different than years past. Each year the children understand more and more, about life, love, and particularly, one another. They know how to love on one another in a way only a young brother and sister can. They stick up for one another, think about one another, and obviously, know how to push each other's buttons.

In the last few years, I have seen a few Mom's here and there talk about their Elf on the Shelf. At first, I had no idea what it was, until Stephanie started blogging about their elf, Chazz Star. But this year, CBS aired a 30 minute movie called Elf on a Shelf: The Elf's Story and after a single viewing the kids were asking when OUR elf was going to arrive.

The movie laid out the entire idea of the Elf on the Shelf. Where he comes from, how he gets there, how he needs a name before he gets his magic, how he reports back to Santa, and how you cannot touch him, or he will lose his magic. Yes, the book does this well too, in a classic, bedtime story kind of way, but in today's age of visual learning and technology, this made it easier for my little ones to "see". Of course, we can all advocate the importance of imagination, but if it weren't for the movie (it's only 30 minutes, INCLUDING commercial breaks), our Elf, Dazzle McNoodle would never have come to be known as ours.

The Matuska Family Elf ~ Dazzle McNoodle

thankful

the rain drops trickle down the window in front of me, as i tap, tap, tap away on the computer keyboard. i do my best to avoid medical websites, and as of late, it has been a slight struggle, but my will power is winning. i am thankful we have an appointment with a specialist in 2 weeks for lily, and answers will be revealed. a stack of bills sit beside me that i am thankful we have the funds to put some money towards, i just have not set aside the time to get them taken care of. huge stacks of laundry wait on my bed wait to be put on hangers, put in drawers, possibly even worn before we get that far. yet i am thankful we have those stacks of clothes, it means we will be warm and dressed daily. i hate the idea of going to work a lot over the next week, all the while my husband stays home with the kids. but i am thankful to have a husband, that will be able to spend some quality time with the kids, even if i am not hear to be a part of it. i am thankful for the life i have, no matter how tough the struggles may be.

~just write~

Chicago Toy & Game Fair Coupon

Heading to the city for the Chicago Toy and Game Fair this weekend? Here's a coupon! Enjoy the savings and hope to see you there!

Revert and Retract

The sun shines brightly through the slats of the blinds in my bedroom. I sit. Nearly upright, with a congested & coughing 2yo girl on my chest. I breath in rhythm with her. I sometimes count the breaths, decipher the sounds of them, the length, the depths. A few large bath towels are always within reach in situations like this. I have caught more phlegm/puke in the last week or so then I have ever, in all my 4+ years of being a mom. And this is 'normal' for lily. Heck, maybe this is normal for some other kids out there. But this is certainly foreign territory to me. It's anxiety ridden, poison for my brain.

It's times like this I revert and retract, from life, from love, from everyone and everything....except her. And sometimes, my diseased mind thinks horrible things like "it was so much easier before I was a mom" or "I miss being able to worry only about myself". Running away is so tempting, yet not an option. I would never abandon her. Even though giving up sounds so tempting sometimes.

Would I change my life? Hell, no. I'd like a healthier child, that's for sure. But her conditions come with the territory of being a mom, of being HER mom.

I try my best. I try to be strong and calm and in control. I try to go on with every day life. I try to trust and have faith and believe the doctor's. I try to not doubt. To not doubt the doctors and not doubt myself. Because doubt gets me nowhere....or atleast not anywhere good. It rips up my sole, more than usual. My strength is stripped of me in these moments and no matter how hard I try to revive it, I simply am lost.

But this? I am this way over this? This is going to be ok. And yes, she may (WILL) get sick again shortly after she gets well. But how many kids a d parents out there are living tougher, harder, more challenging lives? Or fighting for there's? And I am a mess over a cold/cough/bronchitis.

I have a love/hate relationship with myself and my ever messy mind. I love how much I care and fear and stress. Because I feel like I am observant enough to see everything going on that I can. But damn, I hate me too. Because why is it so damn hard? Hard on me, but mostly...hard on her? Why us? And what do I have to do to make it all better? I'll do it. Anything. Anywhere . Anytime.