Happy Easter!

Happy Easter! 

Hope you have a wonderful day hunting for easter eggs and enjoying time with your family!

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Happy Valentine's Day!

Hope you have a wonderful Valentine's Day!  Whether your celebrating with your sweetie or your friends, may today be happy!

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Starting the year on a clean slate...and what's to come!

If you've read my blog for very long at all, you know that I typically post Finding Me Mondays every Monday, but I haven't for the past couple weeks...that's more because I was frustrated with myself for not making changes.  I haven't decided exactly how I will continue, but I think I will make a monthly summary of my weight loss goals and how things are going in 2011.

Every Thursday, I write about Logan, our great dane, his antics and personality!  If I've got great pet products for review and/or giveaway, I try to feature those on Thursdays as well.  Don't worry, Logan loves to be talked about so he'll stay here!

Every Friday, I write about Cooking with Kids and try to feature kid-tested recipes.  I hope to continue this in 2011.  I know I've been bad about posting this the past couple of weeks mainly because I've been exhausted with the holidays and trying to make everything just perfect at home.

Saturdays I co-host Surfin' Saturdays and this will continue in 2011.  It's always fun, so if you haven't joined, feel free to join us!

I'm still hoping to feature other bloggers every week, but had some trouble with my previous form so I'll be reaching out to some of those that entered information to start featuring bloggers weekly.  Don't know which day, but this will start hopefully by February!

I'll continue reviews and giveaways as I get them and hope to have some great feature events as well this year!  If you have any amazing products you think I should review, let me know!  Thanks for your continued readership and following and looking forward to an amazing 2011!  Let me know if there's anything else you'd like to see....I'll try to answer some questions I've received in the past over the next couple weeks too!

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Happy New Year...and a few New Year's Resolutions too!

We've managed to come up with a few New Year's resolutions...what about you?  Have you given up completely?  I used to never make resolutions because I never kept them, but decided that this year would be the year that I would take the time for myself and my kids to make sure I follow through with them.  It's only fair!  So what are they?  Well, I won't tell you all of them (you'd get bored), but here are the highlights....

I will put a stronger focus on losing weight...I tried this past year, but didn't put enough effort into it and stayed pretty much at the same point so I will be exercising more and making a dent in the numbers.  We will be inviting friends over the house more often!  When my husband and I first married, we had friends over almost every other night and at least weekly but since we moved to Texas it just hasn't been the same (so watch for the invites, or remind us to invite you over more).  With our schedules and crazy life, we neglected that, so this year it will change!  First off, that means cleaning and organizing the house!  We will be starting a family game night each week so that it becomes second nature for our boys as they grow up! 

My youngest (age 2) said he wants to learn to ride his bike better and move up in swimming classes.  My oldest (age 4) said he wants to make sure we take the dog on walks each week and be able to swim the length of the pool!  The list goes on and on, but I won't bore you with the details.  We tried to make quantifiable goals that once they were completed, we could check them off so it's more of a 2011 to-do list.  It seems manageable, it seems doable, and really, that's what counts!

So Happy New Year to you!  May all your resolutions be kept this year!

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Merry Christmas Eve!

Taking a couple days to spend with family!  Hope you enjoy Christmas Eve and Christmas Day with your families!  I'll stop in to wish everyone a wonderful holiday, and I'll be back soon with some great reviews and giveaways (and announcing winners)...but today it's all about making Muddy Buddies Chex Mix, Chocolate Dipped Pretzels with all the toppings, sugar cookies, chocolate chip cookies, fudge, divinity, and just making a mess of the kitchen because you never know what Santa's favorite treat will be!

We'll be leaving a plate full of goodies along with hot chocolate and we can't forget the reindeer...so Oatmeal on the lawn (eventhough it's forecast to be raining, the kids are insisting) and carrots with the cookies!  Have a wonderful holiday with your family and friends!  I'll be back online soon!

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RAZ reminds us to remember to give this holiday season! (Random Acts of Zhu)

Sometimes as a blogger I am given the opportunity to participate in some really amazing projects, and Random Acts of Zhu was definitely one of those amazing projects this year!  Cepia, LLC, the makers of Zhu Zhu Pets wanted to reach out to local communities in the most amazing way by distributing 10,000 Zhu Zhu and Kung Zhu pets nationwide this holiday season.  In order to reach the most deserving charities and kids in local communities, Cepia, LLC reached out to bloggers it had worked with in the past and sent them each 104 hamsters to share with their charity of choice!  Like I said, sometimes as a blogger, I get the most amazing opportunities, and giving back to the community is definitely the best!  It's always a great reminder to give to others this holiday season, so let me tell you a little bit more about my charity of choice in North Texas!

Trinity Kids touches the lives of abused, neglected and abandoned children of North Central Texas by providing FREE activities that are designed to provide fun, safe and positive memories.  Every summer, children ages 7-11 attend a week-long residence (overnight) camp for FREE and several times each year teenagers enjoy FREE one & two day events with caring adults. Local social service organizations and their appointed foster families refer children to Trinity Kids for each event.

Trinity Kids volunteers demonstrate Christian love and care, modeling non-violent, positive ways of life as an alternative to the negative and hurtful experiences of abused children.  I'll be writing more about Trinity Kids and their camp program and ways to donate and volunteer soon!  Here's what it takes to wrap 104 little hamsters for a holiday party for the kids of Trinity Kids!

Disclosure:  I did not receive anything personally for this post, only the ability to choose a deserving charity to distribute 104 Zhu Zhu pet hamsters to deserving kids this holiday season!

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I'm looking for sponsors for the Holiday Gift Giveaway Hop!

I am participating in the Holiday Gift Giveaway Hop this year and will be hosting my own giveaway on my blog as part of the event. The event runs December 1 to 5th and there’s over 200 blogs participating so far! It is going to be so much fun!

The giveaway theme is cash and gift cards/gift certificates. I am currently looking for companies who wish to sponsor my blog giveaway for this event with a Gift Certificate from their business. It’s up to you the amount and who can enter (US, Canada or worldwide).

How will this help your business? We are expecting this to be a high traffic event and the buzz is already building online about it. Your company will gain exposure and I am offering a few Sponsorship Packages to give you more incentive to sponsor my blog giveaway!

The Sponsorship Packages are:

Gold Package- Donate a Gift Certificate of $100 and up. You will receive:

• Company or Product Feature Post: 300+ words, up to 4 keyword links of your choice, pictures, links to your site and Social Media sites. (This post is in addition to the Holiday Gift Giveaway Hop Post which will include all sponsors)
• Sidebar Button Ad (your choice of November, December or hold until 2011). You must provide me with the picture for the button or a 125x125 pixel ad.
• Facebook Post about your company on the Two Monkeys & a Washtub Facebook page.
• Weekly Tweet to my Twitter followers about your company and a link to your site. (Starts November 1 to December 5).
• Description of your business with a link to your site and a picture on the Holiday Gift Giveaway Hop post.

Silver Package- Donate a Gift Certificate of $50 to $99. You will receive:

• Sidebar Button Ad for the event (December 1 to 5). You must provide me with the picture for the button or a 125x125 pixel ad.
• Facebook Post about your company on the Two Monkeys & a Washtub Facebook page.
• Weekly Tweet to my Twitter followers about your company and a link to your site. (Starts November 1 to December 5).
• Description of your business with a link to your site and a picture on the Holiday Gift Giveaway Hop post.

Bronze Package- Donate a Gift Certificate of $49 or less. You will receive:

•  Facebook Post about your company on the Two Monkeys & a Washtub Facebook page.
• Weekly Tweet to my Twitter followers about your company and a link to your site. (Starts November 7 to December 5).
• Description of your business with a link to your site and a picture on the Holiday Gift Giveaway Hop post.

Please email me at baileypoo@gmail.com if you are interested in becoming a sponsor or if you have any questions.
 

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