The universe is telling me to get a Wii!

I'm not even kidding.

So several months ago, I got an e-mail with the opportunity to host a Wii Play Motion party. So fun, right? The only problem was that we don't own a Wii. No worries, they said, can you borrow one? Of course!

I decided it would be selfish super-fun to make it a ladies-only night. I mean you know that if the guys and kids were there the moms and ladies would get NO playing time. Am I right?

Nintendo and their pals at Brand About Town sent me two HUGE boxes which were, essentially, a party in a box. Seriously. The only thing I had to do was use the generous Cold Stone gift certificate to actually go purchase the ice cream.

(Don't you just love my table scape above? I was so proud of it!)

Oh? A close up? Here you go!

Yes, the jars came pre-labeled. And yes, I saved them for a future party.

Man, those sundae's were delish! But, of course the most fun was an evening with some of my favorite ladies and having a TON of fun playing with the new Wii Play Motion!

And did I mention the favors? Everyone went home with an ice cream bowl and scoop and one lucky lady went home with a copy of Wii Play Motion and a controller!

 
My generous fist-pumping friend, D., let us keep the Wii for an extra week or so and Lucas, Abel and I LOVED playing. I may or may not still be obsessing about Pose Mii Plus. (Not surprising since Tetras is my first and true Nintendo love!) Oh, and ladies, Abel and Lucas figured out Skip Skimmer in about 2 seconds -- it is super fun!

So after a few fun nights of gaming with our 5 year old, Abel and I started to think that maybe a Wii should play promently on our Christmas List this year.

But, wait! The story doesn't end there!

Fast forward a few weeks to Blogalicious (totally. amazing. more coming soon!) and WHOOOO gets her card drawn to be part of the Sears & KMart Winter Wonderland Dirty Santa gift exchange?

MEEEEE!!!!! (And 24 other lovely ladies!)

I know my good friend Thien-Kim at I'm Not the Nanny won't mind me stealing this pic. That's the awesome Lindsay Maines of Rock and Roll Mama but I'm on the floor on Lindsay's left.

Man, they had some amazing gifts. And you know how this game goes -- you can pick a gift from under the tree or steal from someone else. You know the moment one of the bloggers ahead of me opened up a Wii that I was intent on stealing it. But, alas, I got caught in the 3 steals max rule and lost it. However, I did score a Wii Fit Plus!

So, let's add this up: I now own a Wii Motion Plus game, 3 Wii motion remotes and a Wii Fit Plus. What's missing? An actual Wii!

Yeah, it's on the top of our list!


Of course the disclaimers: Nintendo supplied me with the game and remotes and sundae fixings and ice cream gift card (whew!) but all opinions are my own and those of the fun ladies at my party. I paid for Blogalicious with my own dime(s) and had a grand time and totally lucked out on getting to play in the Dirty Santa game (THANK YOU to the MANY bloggers who dropped your cards but weren't "present to win" as they say). No compensation was provided for this post.


Original post by Smiling Mama. Thanks for reading!

Free TinyPrints Card from Santa for All PLUS Giveaway!

Lucas has already started hoarding holiday toy catalogs and is circling and pointing out ALL the toys he wants (note: just about every single item in the catalogs!).  And Monday night he wore his robe to bed "to be ready in case the Polar Express comes tonight."

So while I may not be ready for Christmas, HE certainly is! One of the absolute best things about his age (he'll turn six right before Christmas!) is that he's so smart and grown up in so many ways but still has this amazing sense of wonder and excitement. I mean, he was really and truly serious about the possibility that the 'ole PolEx might rumble in front of our house that very night!

So imagine how excited he'll be to get personalized card from Santa in the mail soon!

Today only, visit the Tiny Prints Facebook page to find out how to personalize either the Checking It Twice or Santa’s Scroll greeting card for FREE!! {Hurry! Offer ends 11/9/11 at 11:59 pm (PT).}

And...even better...one lucky reader will win 50 free TinyPrints cards this year! Just head over to http://www.tinyprints.com/shop/picture-christmas-cards.htm to check out this year's selection and leave me a comment with the one you'd choose! (I know it's hard to narrow it down, so feel free to mention your top 3!)

The giveaway will close in one week, on Wednesday, November 16. One comment per person, please and I'll randomly draw one winner.



Disclosure: I was offered free address labels for giving away 50 free cards to a reader. Sounded like a win:win for all of us! All opinions are my own.

Original post by Smiling Mama. Thanks for reading!

Christmas Cards

Before we leave the holidays behind completely, let's talk Christmas cards for a few minutes.

First, if you don't already read Swistle, you must click over to read her Christmas Card Scoring System post. It is great. (Also read her post about actually scoring a card. It is hysterical.

Second, I'm so curious how many cards other people send and receive. So, I've opened up another little poll on the side (see right or click through if you're reading this through a feed). My bra poll was so fun and enlightening, I hope you'll take a moment to fill this one out--estimates are fine--and I'll post the results after a few days.

Here are my answers: We sent out 78 Christmas cards. We received 45 Christmas cards. That includes one political card/donation request which I displayed because I thought it was pretty (I threw several more away), a card from Ohio State requesting a donation which is so beautiful I'd consider ordering it to send as our Christmas cards and one card from our insurance company which was also nice enough to display.

This isn't part of the poll, but as an aside, I ordered our cards from Vistaprint this year. They were very inexpensive and I was very happy with them. However, we received about four cards which had been printed through tiny prints and those were all my absolute favorites. So, next year, I will consider spending a bit more to order through tiny prints. Or, I won't and I'll simply enjoy the tiny prints cards we receive.

Thanks for playing along!


Original post by Smiling Mama. Thanks for reading!

Christmas gift list - Eric

It was so fun to post the items we are getting for Lucas that I thought I'd post a few more.

But then I realized that certain people who read my blog would then find out what they are getting. I am 99.9% sure that my brother doesn't read this so it is safe to post his gift.


ERIC - if you are reading stop now.
















I mean it!














I'm determined that this is going to be a surprise and if it isn't then I'll know and you'll be in big trouble!!!
















Okay. Coast is clear. Here's what we've ordered for Eric:




Isn't it cool? Ork Posters has several cities for sale. While Eric now lives in Philly, he used to live in Brooklyn and really loved his neighborhood (Park Slope). When it arrives, we'll get it framed and I'm sure he'll hang it proudly. Thank goodness Abel agreed to this idea of mine in just one day and got his order in before they all sold out!

Practically all done

So my last post mentioned that I am practically all done with my Christmas shopping.

Who remains on our list?

Anyone that Abel is responsible for.

I start making a list of gift ideas around Thanksgiving. I take charge of my parents, Lucas, whomever I've received in my family's gift exchange (this year that's my brother-in-law). On Abel's side of the family I can generally get away with taking charge of his mom, our sister-in-law and niece.

So that leaves whomever Abel has in my family's gift exchange (this year that's my brother), Abel's dad and his brother.

Every year the process of buying gifts for Abel's dad and brother has driven me CRAZY. Here's how those gifts usually go:



Thanksgiving-time...
Smiling Mama: How about if we get your dad A and your brother B.
Abel: I'll think about it.

A few days later...
Smiling Mama: Oh, your dad would love C. Let's get him that.
Abel: He hasn't given me a list yet.

A week later:
SM: Oh, let's get your brother D--he'll love it!
A: I don't know what he wants.

A few days later:
SM: Let's get your dad E.
A: I'll ask mom what he wants.

A few days later:
SM: Did you find out what your dad wants?
A: I'll ask him.

A few hours later:
SM: Did you ask your brother what he wants?
A: He doesn't want anything.

A few days later:
SM: Okay, let's just get your Dad F and your brother G.
A: Let me think about it.

A few days later:
SM: Okay, seriously, we have to ship presents and I want them to get to Ohio before Christmas what are we getting your dad and brother?
A: I'll find out what they want.

A few days later:
SM: THIS WEEKEND WE HAVE TO GET PRESENTS. What about A and B.
A: Okay. Fine.

An introduction to Christmas

This will be Lucas's third Christmas. In many ways, though, it feels like it is really his first.

On his actual first Christmas, Lucas was only 3 days old! We came home from the hospital on Christmas Eve. What a wonderful Christmas gift he was to us! On his second Christmas, Lucas was 1 year, 3 days old. We were at my in-laws that year and he loved the tree and decorations but of course didn't really understand any of it.

Over the past week we've introduced Lucas to Santa and baby Jesus. He is excited about both of them. Introduction to Santa came through watching The Polar Express. We watched it over the course of two days and Lucas just loved it. He was riveted. Introduction to baby Jesus came through an Advent gift from my parents (actually given a little early, though, at Thanksgiving) of the Little People Nativity. We talked about baby Jesus, His mama Mary and dada Joseph. We also gave baby Jesus kisses!

Last night after Lucas went to sleep, Abel and I put out all our decorations (except the tree which we will hopefully do this weekend). I love decorating. So many of my decorations have very sentimental meaning to me.

This morning when Lucas came downstairs he looked around and said "wow".

I am so excited about this season of Advent and the opportunity to share it with Lucas!