Family Archives | Page 48 of 76 |

Five on Friday

1. I know I’m a crazy person and keep changing my blog design. I am legit cray cray!

I bought this “FAMILY” sign while in Arkansas and just love it….hoping to find a place to put it soon!

2. I’ve been using the ItWorks! Hair, Skin, Nails vitamins for about a month and 3 weeks ago I had NO roots. Seriously this stuff works. My hair has grown at least a couple of inches. I’m trying to grow it out as much as I can before my sister’s wedding.

3. I’m seriously addicted to sno-cones right now. I don’t like syrup though….too much makes me gag. So I get mostly ice with a little bit of strawberry on top!

4. My favorite color is green. I found these cute flats that feel like slippers the other day at Steinmart. SO COMFY!

5. Today is my 33rd birthday (or I’m 30 again…ahem….) I am so blessed and thankful for another year of life. My sweet boys made my day and got me a pretty necklace and tonight we’re going out with friends. It’s gonna be a good year 🙂

HAPPY FRIDAY Y’ALL!!!

Finish This Link Up: Week 21

Welcome to Week 21 of Finish This! If you’re new to these parts, welcome. This link-up is hosted by NICOLE (Three 31) LISA (Coastlined), JEN (The Arizona Russums), & me aka BECKY (The Java Mama) and we’re so glad you’re here. If you’ve joined us before, thanks for returning! Be sure to add your post to the link-up. If you don’t have a blog, don’t worry. Simply answer the prompts in a comment.

The best mistake I ever made … was getting married young. Looking back I don’t think Terence or I had a clue what we were getting in to. But I’m thankful God has allowed us many more years on Earth together than most and that we found each other when we did. I don’t regret any of it. Of course we struggled…but we wouldn’t be who we are today without leaning on each other during those difficult times. We will celebrate 13 years of marriage this August.

From this mistake, I learned … Life is what you make of it. Keep working and trying hard. If you get knocked down then get back up again. If you put your mind to something and make goals work together to achieve them! Nobody got anywhere by sitting around wishing they were some place else….you have to at least try! Try….and if you don’t succeed try again….eventually someone will give you a chance 🙂

When I’m anxious, I tell myself … take a Xanax. No really! Ha ha! Take a deep breath and relax. What’s the worst that could happen? This Earth is only temporary.

All I really want to do is … HAVE A MAID. Gaaaaahhhh…..I get overwhelmed a lot. But I push myself. AndI’man OCD neat freak darn it!

In other news did y’all hear about that guy that ordered the world’s most expensive Starbucks drink in Dallas this morning then used his birthday reward to pay for it??? OMG. Seriously…60 shots of espresso!!! I would have a heart attack. You can read the article HERE. I like my coffee, but DANG.

LINK UP HERE!!!

Prompts for WEEK 22 (June 4) are:
I conquer fear …
I follow my heart …
I feed my soul by …
I used to worry about ____ but then I …

Week 25 Surprise coming soooooooooooon!!!!!

A Day Made for Lemonade

Connor and his cousin Ellie have wanted to do a lemonade stand since last summer. Earlier this year I found this cute stand at Ikea for only $14.99! I thought when the day came we could use it and the kids could finally have a lemonade day.

On Memorial day they finally got the chance to sell some lemonade. Well, to a few people anyway. They weren’t so much interested in selling it as they were drinking it 🙂

But it’s all about memories and fun right? These two just adore each other and I’m glad we had a nice day to set up a fun little lemonade stand.

CaringBridge #TheOther364

“I participated in an Influencer Activation on behalf of Mom Central Consulting for CaringBridge. I received product a promotional item to thank me for my participation. #MC ”

CaringBridge exists to connect people with their community of support in times of need. In anticipation of Father’s Day, CaringBridge created #theother364 campaign and needs your help!

They want help catching dads in action—not just on Father’s Day, but #theother364 days a year too—whether making breakfast, packing lunch, helping with homework, taking on light saber attacks, building awesome forts, or otherwise being great dads by:

Take a quick (under 30 seconds) video of Dad doing an act your family appreciate
Submit your video here by May 29^th, 2014 https://theother364.strutta.com/about
CaringBridge will select their favorites, and edit them together into a Father’s Day tribute to Dads — celebrating them on #TheOther364 days of the year in their announcement of the final video.

My M&M’s Wedding Creation #MC

“I participated in an Ambassador Program on behalf of Millennial Central for MY M&M’S. I received product samples to facilitate my review and to thank me for my participation.”

When my sister was living in Vegas years ago one of the first places I wanted to go was the M&M store. It was AMAZING! You can find anything and everything M&M related and it’s like a rainbow exploded in there 🙂 In a good way!

I remember seeing how you could create your own custom M&M’S. I have some friends who have had custom M&M’S made and been very happy with it. My M&M’S is a great addition to a wedding, birthday, anniversary, or any celebration!

My twin sister, Bonnie, is getting married in less than a month. I ordered some custom M&M’S in their wedding colors (Gold & Fuchsia) and added a picture of her and Vinny to one side of the M&M’S. They turned out amazing!

MY M&M’S offers a unique opportunity to add a level of personalization and customization to chocolate and gifts. MY M&M’S® is an exclusive online custom printing solution for personalizing an event or occasion. The collection consists of 25 vibrant colors, 20 of which are available for adding custom printed messages and images.

Ordering is quick and easy. Visit mymms.com to upload a photo portrait, type a printed
message and choose from among 25 MY M&M’S colors, including 20 customizable color
options that can feature your photos, images and messages.

MY M&M’S offers the following products, and more, that are perfect for weddings and
special occasions:
o Silver Favor Tins
o Elegant Lace Favor Bags
o Party Favor Packs
o Bulk Products

I will be posting one more time over the few weeks and show you exactly how I ordered and used the custom M&M’S at the wedding. I’m so excited about these and they’ll be the perfect personalized touch for the wedding!

I Need to Check Myself…and Friday Fives

I posted something on Instagram yesterday about how much I missed the “personal feel” of blogging. I used to go and read everyone’s blog and comment. It felt like I knew them and I built so many great relationships over the years. I have to be honest, I don’t do it as much as I should either. Life gets busy and everyone moves into different stages in life. Life gets FULL. Yet, I still miss the feeling of togetherness I once felt while blogging.

Someone left a comment on my blog yesterday too….

It said that they missed what I used to write about. That my blog is primarily sponsored content and it’s not attractive to readers and not what they want to read. I get it. I do.

I don’t want this to become a review blog and I’m guilty of letting it slowly shift in that direction. It’s hard for me to say “No” to opportunities that seem like fun. And let’s face it getting free stuff is pretty cool. STILL-I don’t want this to become a place where I’m not authentic. Product reviews are not why I started a blog, I do enjoy doing them….but I need to find a balance.

I need to get back to reality and write about valid topics. That’s why I started this journey. I’m not perfect by any means. I will finish up some reviews I’ve had in the works for awhile….but I’m going to try and slow it down a bit. I need to focus on why I’m here. What do I want to say? Sometimes it’s easier to do a review because you don’t have to “think” and just get to write about something someone else has given you.

I hope you don’t resent me for it. I really do value every single person I’ve met through blogging and I truly care about your life too 🙂

Anyway….just wanted to clear the air a bit and I promise things will get a bit more REAL around here!

Linking up with my favorite Friday gals: Darci & Lauren

1. There’s a fun little project going around on Instagram right now where you can share your favorite coffee mug and talk about why you love it so much, or just why you love COFFEE! Use #PCMugshots & find out more HERE

2. Connor got a torch. He is obsessed. He is “hunting” for everything with it 🙂

3. Happy Memorial day weekend! I am personally looking forward to a 3 day weekend with my boys! Here’s a flashback of my Ter-Bear in Iraq 2003. We love our soldiers!

4. I received this Pixi Shea Butter Lip Balm in my monthly Birchbox. I LOVE IT! It’s super soft and a subtle hint of color.

5. Hope everyone has a good weekend. This Friday has been CRAZY so far! Whew!

Tyson #MealsTogether Photo Contest

I participated in this sponsored campaign on behalf of Tyson. All opinions stated are my own.

Tyson is one of my favorite companies. We eat a lot of chicken and it’s one of the only things I can get my 4-year-old to eat too! Tyson is launching a contest showcasing your family meals together. They want to see how you celebrate meal time. Do you sit at the table or on the sofa? Do you discuss your day together? What makes your meal time special?

All you have to do to enter is go to Tyson’s Facebook page and post a picture with hashtag #MealsTogether.

I try to make meal time fun for Connor. I bought these dinosaur shaped chicken nuggets. He ate (and played a little) with them ;-).

Dinner time is especially important to us because it’s the one time all three of us are together after a long day. We talk about what Connor did at school and how the work day was for Terence and I. It’s a chance for us to connect and be together.

Go enter today on Tyson’s Facebook page and post a picture of your family meal time with hashtag #MealsTogether.

Copywright The Java Mama/Becky Branch 2014