Let's Celebrate Tiny Prints Birthday!

It's Tiny Prints Birthday (this is an affiliate link)! And they are celebrating by giving their customer's 30% off of everything now through March 4th! Their birthday celebration is something that all companies should celebrate, including mine--Melissa Productions (this is my company's Web site, which I hope you will check out. I write and illustrate children's books)!

I usually don't celebrate other company's birthday's unless I work for them. But I love the quality of Tiny Prints cards and I know a lot of my friends use them, so I thought it would be great for me to share why.

Quality (and, I have to be honest, price) is so important to me being a small publisher. And when I get a greeting card or invitation in the mail, I always turn it over to see who printed it. Then I visit their Web site and check out their pricing to see if the quality is worth the price. So far my favorite card company's are Tiny Prints and Shutterfly for quality and pricing. And I know at Christmas time, many of my family and friends use both.

If you're not familiar with Tiny Prints top-notch, classy stationery, you should be. Whether you need birth announcements, graduation party or baby shower invitations, photo iPad cases or notebooks, and any of your personalized stationery needs, Tiny Prints has it all.

What I like most is that all of their products are customized to your needs. You choose the photos and text to add to their awesome designs and then...you impress the recipients.

So far this has been their best deal of the year!

Visit them now (this is another affiliate link) and choose from any of their products and when you check out, use the promo code BDAY10 to save 30%.

Happy Shopping!

Two Year Old Birthday Party and Present Ideas

Today is my sweet little Isabella 's second birthday, although we celebrated it on Saturday! She's at an age where celebrating a birthday party (or any party) is so much fun. And the best part is it really doesn't have to cost you hundreds of dollars to get those precious little giggles, hugs, and I love you's!

So where do you start? Well...having four kids, I've had a lot of experience planning a two year old birthday and I have learned a lot in the process. I've gone from spending a lot of money and inviting every friend and their child, to just having a simple birthday celebration with immediate family. All worked out well. But from a two year old's perspective, all they wanted was to open up a present, eat some cake and ice cream, play with a balloon or two, and then run around and play.

Below are a few suggestions to start with. Have fun and take lots of pictures!

1. Pick a theme. We did Minnie Mouse this time. It was a toss for Elmo or Minnie and because she's a little girl, I thought the Minnie toys and theme would last longer. In the past, I've done Thomas the Train and Disney Princesses. All still a huge hit in my house! With Thomas the Train, I used blue paint tape to create a train track around my house. Then I turned on the song, Locomotion by Kylie Minogue. The kids had a blast dancing and marching to the song around the track. This time, we sang Happy Birthday a few times, opened up her presents, ate some cake and ice cream, and then headed outside to enjoy the beautiful weather.
    
   
2. A matching themed cake is always fun. But truthfully, it doesn't matter what the cake looks like as long as it has some fun kid colors on it and has a candle on top. I couldn't find a Minnie cake that I liked, so instead, I ordered a Disney princess pink cake from the local grocery store and asked them to hold off on the cake toppers, saving me $8. I put a pink kids ring on it. She loved licking and wearing the ring. You can also use small toys that you find online or at local stores. Once I ordered Mario Bros. small toys online and used them as cake toppers.
3. Location doesn't have to be anywhere, but your home. They truthfully could care less. All they want is to be with you, open a few presents, and eat some cake and ice cream. We celebrated Isabella's birthday party at our house with immediate family. I've had friends who have gone to Chuck E Cheese. In my opinion, why spend hundreds of dollars now. They really are content with having a small party at your home with people they know.
4. Balloons are a must. And all you need is one helium balloon for the birthday boy or girl. But if you have other kids at your house, I always order enough, so each child can take a balloon home with a little treat tied to it as their gift bag.
    
   
5. Entertainment is always a fun thing to add. It can be as simple as music, which is all we did this time. And then we headed outside to ride her first tricycle, which is all she really wanted to do. It was one of the most relaxing and fun birthday parties that I could have planned. You can also hire a clown. But again why invest a lot of money right now. I'd go this route when your two year old is three or four. Instead, buy some some stickers, tatoos and face paint, which isn't that expensive. Then play some fun hip hop music and add an outdoor game. That's all you really need.
    
   
6. The best time for the party is an hour or two before your child's nap or right after they wake up. We had ours at 4:00 pm. She napped from 1:00 pm to 3:45 pm. This gave me time to decorate and get everything ready.
7. You don't have to go overboard with presents. Two year olds are happy with a handful of presents. The fewer the better, so they don't get overwhelmed. This year we got Isabella the following gifts:
1. Minnie Stuffed Toy: I purchased a three foot Minnie at Cosco for $19.99. It was perfect! Minnie is now eating breakfast, lunch and dinner with us. LOL
2. Doctor kit: Isabella loves checking to make sure all of her stuffed toys and dolls are healthy. We purchased a Doc McStuffins doctor bag toy from Target. This is her favorite toy! The stethoscope lights up and talks. It is so darn cute. The only thing is the bag is useless. Top won't stay on.
   
3. Minnie plate, bowl and cup set.  I found one at Target. 
    
   
4. Tricycle and helmet: I found one online at Toys R Us. Toys R Us was having 20% off toys and free shipping. I was able to get her a Disney Princess tricycle with matching helmet.
   
8. Other birthday present ideas:
1. Mega Bloks First Builders Big Building Bag 
    
2. Stroller so they can stroll around their baby
3. Tent or plastic house they can go in and play
4. Table and chair set
5. Art easel  
6. Plastic outdoor folding slide
7. Step2 Up & Down Roller Coaster (this was my three oldest kids favorite toy!)
    
   
 
8.  Picture books like Goodnight Goodnight Goodnight Baby Blue (Splatter and Friends) 

Enjoy this special time, have fun, and remember to take lots of pictures!

Have You Ever Had an OMG and WTBleepers Week? I Just Did!

This week has been such an insanely bizarre week for me. It all started on Sunday morning and hasn't stopped since.

Here's my OMG and WTBleepers of a week in a nut shell...

Sunday morning as I was checking emails, I noticed one from a woman who I didn't recognize her name. She was inquiring about my services. The email was one sentence and didn't tell me anything about who she was or how she found me. Not thinking anything of it, I responded back with information that I send to everyone (it contains a lot of legal jargon). In the legal jargon, it mentions that I can analyze her astrology chart if she chooses. She replied back that what I had sent her sounded like a scam, because I mentioned that I could interpret astrology charts. I didn't know how to respond. I've never hidden the fact that I'm into astrology. I've found it to be a great tool in helping determine best time periods to launch a new product, travel and more.

So here's the thing, I've sent the same information to clients for over fifteen years, and no one has ever mentioned being concerned that I do astrology. Her response was so mean, impersonable and secretive. And what really bothered me was that I let it bother me. I don't even know this woman and somehow I let her words make me feel worry and even concern for the safety of my family.

In today's world, there are so many people on the edge. It's so sad that we all have to be careful who contacts us through email. I love meeting new people and helping strangers, but not at the risk of feeling like my family's safety is in jeopardy.

Just be careful. There are people who aren't grounded and other's who are truly sending scams. I actually was being honest. I'm not sure who this woman was or what her intentions were. But I do know I'll never respond to her email again.

That same morning, I also received an email from my son's All Star baseball coach, mentioning that on June 13th he only had nine players and that he would be grateful if a family changed their plans. June 13th we had planned on celebrating my twins ninth birthday at Great Wolf Lodge. But we committed to being part of the team, so I rescheduled my twins two day mini birthday celebration at Great Wolf Lodge till July. I still made their day special! We celebrated their birthday at Sky High for a couple of hours and then came home for some double chocolate fudge birthday cake. It was delicious! The funny thing is in the end, Josh's All Star game was cancelled due to bad weather.

Monday morning at 6:10 am (my kids last day of school) I smelled something burning in the house. My heart was racing! It smelled like a wire was burning. I made my way quickly from the kitchen to where the smell got stronger in the front of our house. I scouted each room and noticed a faint fog of smoke in our paino room. Nervous that our house could be burning down, I shouted, "Something is burning, get out of the house," to my kids who were in their socks and pajama's, enjoying their eggs and bacon in celebration of their last day of school. They ran outside in the pouring rain. I dashed upstairs to get Isabella (my 20 month year old) who was sound asleep. Then I shot into my bedroom, pressed the fire alarm on our ADT security system sounding our alarm, ran down the stairs and started to unplug every plug I could find.

After going through the house unplugging every electrical wire plugged into an outlet, I ran outside to have my kids get a neighbor. They did exactly what I asked. My neighbor ran over with a fire extinguisher. But we couldn't find any sign of a fire. Then my phone rang. It was my husband. He said that ADT had called him and he cancelled my fire alarm request, thinking it was a false alarm because he had left the house not even ten minutes earlier to catch a flight. The lucky thing is he didn't cancel it fast enough so the fire department still arrived.

The firemen were so professional and courteous. They took control of the situation immediately. What put my mind at ease was that they smelled something too. The only thing was that none of us could find anything burning. My gut says that it was my thirty year old pencil sharpener, which I had unplugged as I ran through the house unplugging every electrical cord I could find. It was a scary morning, but one where my kids thought it was such a great way to end the school year! I'm keeping my fingers crossed that their new school year in August doesn't start off the same.

Tuesday my online animation class was rescheduled again. And I got a virus on my computer.

Wednesday at 5:00 pm, I couldn't find my son's baseball bag anywhere. When I asked him where it was, he said, "Dad was supposed to take it out of his car last night." My heart sank. My husband was traveling out of state which meant my son's baseball bag and equipment was probably in my husbands car at the airport. I called my husband, who said in a somewhat worried tone that the bag had to be somewhere in the garage. After about five minutes of me looking around, I asked him if it could be in his car still. He paused and replied that it may be.

I had less than two hours to feed my kids, pack the car (with diabetes supplies, diapers, snacks and more), get to the airport and find my husbands car, and then get to the baseball field for my son's tournament game. And I did it! It was pretty stressful, but my kids and I loved our newest adventure.

Thursday I took my kids and two of their friends to Sky High to celebrate my twins ninth birthday. The kids were bouncing off the walls they were so excited, until we found out that two of them couldn't jump. My stomach turned as I realized I didn't have waivers for two of my children's friends. I immediately contacted their parents. Luckily I was able to reach their parents and they were able to print Sky High's waiver form, fill it out and then fax it back. The bummer part was that the kids had to wait almost 40 minutes for everything to be processed.

It ended up being a great day where the kids spent two hours of jumping, while I spent two hours running around after my 20 month year old! (my kids are in the Orange/black shorts, purple shirt, and blue shirt below).

 

 

 

Friday:
I received an email from my son's coach saying my son's All Star team is out of the tournament because of a run rule. I guess if you lose by a certain amount of runs, you are eliminated from the tournament. We had lost Wednesday nights game by ten runs, mostly by errors. Such a bummer.

Plans change. Things happen. And this week has definitely been a fun, eventful week. But I'm ready to slow things down just a little bit. I hope next week starts off more relaxed. But I doubt my wishes will come true, because Mercury turns retrograde on June 25th. When Mercury goes retrograde, it causes delays in travel, emails to be lost, phone calls to be missed and other events involving communication.

What I've learned is events like the above create great memorable stories and sometimes even books!