Reviews

A Visit to Kuipers Family Farm

November 9, 2013 by Sandra 3 Comments

My family and I had a special time at Kuipers Family Farm thanks to the tickets I received to facilitate this review.

A few weeks ago, we drove to a local family farm and spent the day enjoying pumpkins, fall treats, and so much more.

I took a superabundance of pictures to remember the day. It was great.

Kuipers Family Farm
The farm we visited is named Kuipers Family Farm, and it’s located in Maple Park, Illinois. I could describe everything Kuipers has to offer, but I think it’s best to show you.

Picture Places Everywhere
To start, there are plenty of areas around the farm where you can snap fun pictures to remember your day. Isaac, my six-year-old, is not camera shy and getting to take pictures with all the different displays was fun!

David had to keep his mask on most of the day to protect himself from germs, but he loves to be in pictures when he’s feeling well.

It was cloudy on the day we visited the farm, but we managed to get tons of fantastic pictures anyway.

Fun for Older Kids
At the farm, there’s a looong slide that put grins on the faces of my older kids. This slide is known as “Slide Mountain.”

Seriously, they loved the slide and went down a few times before we had to move onto something else.

A short distance from Slide Mountain is “The Maze” — also known as the corn maze. On this particular day, we decided not to try the corn maze. 😉

Instead, we opted for the beginner maze (perfect for us).

The kids loved it.

And rather than getting lost in a corn maze with five kids, we let them play in corn instead. Corn is so much easier to get out of your shoes and clothes than sand.

Next to the The Maze is Squeelington Park where you can watch pig races (not something you get to see every day) or a cowboy roping show. Show times are posted outside of the park.

If your kids want to test their own roping skills, they can do that too.

Fun Things to do All Around the Farm
My kids also enjoyed playing on the huge tractor tires. If you can believe it, we used to have a tire like this in our backyard when I was a kid. Don’t ask me where my parents got it from. I have no idea. But these huge tires at Kuipers Farm certainly bring back childhood memories.

Next to the tractor tires, you’ll find an actual tractor where kids can use their imagination.

Besides everything I’ve already mentioned, at Kuipers Farm, you can also pass the time tossing bean bags, getting to know farm animals, picking pumpkins and a whole lot more.

We wrapped up our time at Kuipers by searching for the perfect pumpkin and then headed across the way to buy a dozen of their awesome donuts.

Overall, it was a day to remember.

Have you visited a pumpkin patch or family farm this year? Does your family have any Fall traditions?

You can find a coupon to visit Kuipers Family Farm and coupons for corn mazes, pumpkin patches, and farms across the country in my blog post here.

DIY Hair Tutorial: Using the Infiniti PRO Conair Curl Secret

November 6, 2013 by Sandra 3 Comments

I am a member of the Collective Bias® Social Fabric® Community. This shop has been compensated as part of a social shopper insights study for Collective Bias® and their client. #ConairCurl

Let’s talk hair today.

I tend to straighten my hair when ~~I’m going out in public~~ I want to look put together.

I don’t immediately reach for my conventional curling iron to curl my hair instead, and that’s for a few reasons. For one, it doesn’t always create the type of curls I want, and secondly, it gets insanely hot, and I often have little ones in the vicinity when I’m fixing my hair in the morning. I don’t want them to reach for a hot curling iron. And finally, it just plain takes too long to curl my hair with a regular curling iron.

A New Way of Curling Your Hair
It’s 2013, right? And that means that things have changed when it comes to curling irons — a lot. I’ve found a revolutionary new curling iron that has changed my perspective on curling my hair. This new iron is the Infiniti PRO Conair Curl Secret…and it’s amazing.

For these reasons:

It literally does the work for you.
It’s a time-saver and easy to use.
It creates long-lasting curls.
It doesn’t burn you! Even young teenage girls can use it on their own.

DIY Hair Tutorial
I created a video tutorial to show you just how easy it is to use the Curl Secret to create a simple, yet elegant hairstyle. (Side note: When you’re watching the video, you’ll notice a long streak of gray in my hair. Sometimes I forget that gray streak is there, but I hardly ever dye my hair anymore, so it’s here to stay. ;))

Here’s another shorter video that shows you how to use the Curl Secret:

Where to buy the Curl Secret
If you’ve just watched the videos and are wondering where you can find the Curl Secret, you can purchase it at Walmart for $99, which is a deal compared to what you’d pay if you purchased it online for $150.

Do you curl your hair on a regular basis? What’s your favorite way to style your hair?

Connect with Conair
You can find even more hairstyle inspiration when you follow Conair on Pinterest. You can also follow them on Facebook and Twitter for their latest updates.

Sleep Tips for Babies, a Pampers Overnight Diaper, a Twitter Party, AND a Giveaway!

November 6, 2013 by Sandra 50 Comments

This review was made possible by Double Duty Divas and Pampers. I was provided the featured product free of charge to facilitate my review, but all opinions are 100% mine.

I love the one day of the year when I truly get an extra hour in my day.

It makes such a difference when I’ve stayed awake until 3:00am the night before desperately trying to finish a blog post before the deadline.

IT MAKES A DIFFERENCE. 😉

But while I benefit from the end of daylight savings time, my baby girl can get thrown off when it comes to her sleep schedule. Maybe you have the same problem with your little ones.

If so, you’re not alone. Over half of moms (52%) feel that their baby’s sleep patterns are thrown off when the clocks fall back and daylight savings time ends.

Pampers, a popular diaper brand, wants to help.

An Infographic Inspired by Moms
Pampers actually interviewed over 9,000 moms about what was important for their baby and found that over and over moms mentioned that they needed a diaper that allowed their baby to sleep through the night by providing exceptional overnight protection.

This infographic explains how a dry diaper helps baby sleep through the night, which, in turn, means mom can sleep through the night.

That’s always good.

Pampers realized that when daylight savings time ends and sleep schedules go out the window, moms need one less problem to deal with, so they designed a diaper that offers up to 12 hours of overnight protection.

This means that pretty much no matter what time baby falls asleep, her pj’s should be dry in the morning.

A Few Sleep Tips

Here are 3 tips to help make the transition even easier:

Make sure that your children know when it’s time to sleep; rely on your normal bedtime routine.

If you have a child who starts getting up before 6:00am, make sure that you respond to the early risings quickly and consistently.

Make sure that you watch your baby for sleepy cues carefully, and be sure to change your baby’s diaper right before a nap or bedtime.

And now for the Giveaway!
ONE very excited reader will win a Pack of Pampers Baby Dry Diapers and a pair of Children’s Place PJ’s. The winner will be able to select their preferred diaper size (2-5) and the gender and size of the Children’s Place PJ’s. 🙂

How to Enter the Giveaway

Simply enter this giveaway using the Rafflecopter below. I’ve included options for extra entries, too!

This giveaway will run from now until – November 14th at 12:00am. The giveaway is open to US Residents only, ages 18 years old and above. The winner will be randomly chosen. I will promptly send the winner an email notifying them that they’ve won, and the winner must respond within 48hrs. of the giveaway’s end, otherwise I will have to draw a new winner.

Enter Below
a Rafflecopter giveaway

A #PampersSleepChat Twitter Party!
I love Twitter parties, and Pampers is going to be throwing a fun party tomorrow, November 7th, at 9:00pm EST.

We’ll be chatting about how the end of Daylight Savings Time can affect sleep patterns and The Sleep Lady, Kim West, will be sharing tips on easing the transition.

You can join in the fun and RSVP here.

Twitter Party Prizes include:

$50 AMEX Gift Card, $25 Children’s Place Gift Card, Pampers product and book by Kim West.

$100 AMEX Gift Card, Pampers Product, series of books by Kim West

Grand Prize: $500 AMEX Card to purchase sleep items such as a new crib, video monitor, etc.

To participate, follow your hosts @DoubleDutyDivas, @BridgetteLA, @CeceliaMecca @AngieKcom @WhatMommiesNeed @RamblingChick, sleep expert @TheSleepLady and our sponsor @Pampers.

Do your kids transition well when the time changes? As a mom, do you look forward to the time change or dread it?

The Wondrous 1893 World’s Fair Exhibit at The Field Museum in Chicago

November 2, 2013 by Sandra 4 Comments

Lately, life has been full of hospital visits and unexpected trips to the ER to get blood transfusions.

If you’re new to reading my blog, I’m not kidding. There hasn’t been a whole lot of fun going on around here — mainly because we have to be careful that my four year old son, David, doesn’t bump his head or get a fever. A bump in the head could mean a ride in the ambulance and a hospital admission. A fever means a hospital admission AND hospital isolation, which is one of the worst things that could happen to you if you’re four years old. When you’re in isolation in the hospital, you aren’t allowed to leave your room, and you aren’t allowed to visit the playroom. It’s terrible.

All that to say, we’ve been living life pretty low key when we’re at home.

However, this week, since David has been fever-free for awhile and his energy level has been up, I decided to plan on making a trip to The Field Museum in Chicago. We had heard about a new exhibit at the museum called, “Opening the Vaults: Wonders of the 1893 World’s Fair.” Then we found out that The Field Museum was born out of the 1893 World’s Fair.

Apparently, if it hadn’t been for the 1893 World’s Fair, The Field Museum would not exist.

I had no idea that was the case. The Field Museum was founded to commemorate the World’s Fair. Now I’m all the more thankful to have been able to visit the fair exhibit because of its history and connection to the museum and the city of Chicago.

1893 World’s Fair Exhibit Highlights
The exhibit itself was amazing, but before I even stepped foot in the exhibit, I installed The Field Museum Tours Mobile App on my phone and had the chance to get a feel for what I’d be experiencing. The mobile app also allowed us to view a spectacular interactive 360 panorama movie of sorts, and it was awesome! Here’s one of the phone screenshots I took of the 360 panorama video.

It’s hard to put into words just what this video is like. I keep telling everyone about it, but you really have to experience it for yourself to get the full effect. The video was wildly popular with my kids, too. They could hardly wait for their turn to experience it…over and over. I love how The Field Museum is using technology to help us understand history!

Besides the app experience, there was a lot more to see in the exhibit itself.

Oh, and if you look up, you’ll see this.

This really is an exhibit for people of all ages.

There’s something for everyone to experience and learn about.

Overall, it was a great day. I’m thankful that we were able to experience the 1893 World’s Fair exhibit as a family, and I’m thankful that it’s a part of Chicago, a city we love a little more with every visit.

Have you ever visited The Field Museum in Chicago? Did you know about the 1893 World’s Fair? Or, what’s your favorite thing about visiting a modern-day fair?

I was selected for this opportunity by Clever Girls Collective, however all content and opinions expressed here are my own.

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