*** CLOSED***Cloth Diaper Review and Giveaway FOUR WINNERS to be chosen! ***CLOSED***

I was selected by Cozy Kids to review a diaper.  Julie from Cozy Kids has graciously offered FOUR cloth diapers to giveaway!  Cozy Kids is new to the cloth diaper market.  They specialize in cloth diapers

and also in unique baby gifts like this.  (Made up of onesies!)

I was sent the red diaper to review.  It was a one size pocket diaper.  To be very honest, I was dubious about trying this diaper.  It retails for $9.00 and since most cloth diapers are priced a little higher, I was nervous to try it out.  When I examined the diaper though, I was pleasantly surprised.

I am fan of snap diapers, but Cozy Kids has an extra row of snaps that helped us get a good fit on the Professor.  The diaper has been very absorbent even with just using the one insert I was given.  The leg gussets are very well designed and have done an excellent job containing breastmilk poop.   I must compare this diaper with my three favorites...BumGenius, Happy Heiny's and FuzziBunz and  Cozy Kids is right there with them.  My husband, who not aware of this review, put the diaper on the Professor and said, "Wow. This fits him really well.  I like the way these snaps are and it feels really soft for his little bottom."  It really is a great diaper and for $9.00 a piece you cannot go wrong. 

Cozy Kids has offered up FOUR cloth diapers to giveaway!  I will give you many chances to enter and try and win one for yourself.

Mandatory Entry - You must be a public follower of my blog.  Comment that you are a public follower through GFC and leave your name and email.

Extra Entries - (please leave your email address with each one)

1 Entry - Go "like" Cozy Kids on facebook and thank them for this giveaway.

1 Entry - Tweet about this giveaway and link to this post (may do this once each day)

5 Entries - Blog about this giveaway and link back to my blog.

1 Entry - Read another one of my posts and comment here with something you read.

1 Entry - Link to this from your facebook page.  Comment here that you have done so and provide the link. (may do this once daily)

That is a lot of free fluff and a lot of ways to earn entries!  Best of luck!  This giveaway will close Sunday December 19th at 12 p.m. EST. 

The product in this review was provided to me free of cost for the purpose of conducting this review. All opinions expressed in this review are my own and are not influenced by monetary or other means of compensation.

Welcoming Wednesday # 3 - Meet Kathlyn

I am excited about this interview.  Of all the interviews I have done, Kathlyn is the only one I know personally.  I am privileged to count her as a friend.  You can live your whole life and never find a friend like her.  She is absolutely one of the sweetest ladies I have ever known.  Our husbands were stationed together at Ft. Benning and Ft. Knox.  Now, we are FAR away and it has been over a year since I last saw her.  Kathlyn has a cute blog and you will find crafts, a very adorable boy named Caleb, learn about her walk with Christ and also meet her Army hubby Seth.  I hope you will enjoy this interview!  Since Kathlyn is a coffee drinker...why not grab a latte and read on!

Can you tell me about your family?  

I have a sweet little family of 3, although some days they are sweeter than others :)  My husband, Seth and I met in 

highschool and became good friends. 

In college we started dating and the rest is history!

Our son, Caleb is almost two...which is really hard to believe. He is a funny fella and we love him to pieces.

  We are a Christian military family, currently stationed in Fort Benning Georgia.  

 We try to take one day at a time and make the most out of it!

I know you have an Etsy shop, but how old were you when you started crafting? 
 
I think I was crafting in the womb...haha.  
But seriously, I don't remember a time that I didn't enjoy doing something crafty.  
I grew up watching my mom and nanny sew and craft and I am sure that is  where my love interest of crafting came from.    
Crafting for me is like working out for others.
You get addicted and then you can't imagine what your life would 
be like without it!  Now I wish I could transfer that to working out as well :-) 
What is your favorite item to make for your shop?
 
Oooo...well my favorite items to make are the one of a kind, spur of the moment ones.  
Like this teapot for instance.  Seth had left for work and Caleb was still sleeping one morning.  
So, I sat down at the coffee table with my blank slate (teapot) and started painting!  I also love these new juice glasses/votives that are a "one of a kind" item.
 
   

 
What is the most popular item that you sell?
 
By far, MUSTACHE MUGS!  People are realllllly
into mustaches right now!  I'm hoping to stay mustache free 
until this trend blows over, but I don't mind giving a mug a mustache :)
  

Are you doing anything special for the Holidays, either for your shop or for 
your family? 

The holidays are always a great time.  This is the busiest time of the year for my etsy shop 
because everyone is looking for unique giftsfor friends and family...and I must admit I enjoy being busy painting!  
As for our family this year...we are going on a Christmas adventure to Texas.  We are driving from Georgia to Louisiana and staying with some of Seth's cousins 
and then we are driving the rest of the way to Padre Island Texas for Christmas  with Seth's family...we are super excited.  Seth's mom is a fabulous cook and they also live right on the beach.  
Plus, Seth hasn't seen his family in a year and it will be a wonderful reunion.  We plan on eating a lot, taking long walks on the beach 

and spending time talking, laughing and catching up with family :) 

What is your favorite Holiday tradition?

I don't have one but I plan to start one.  For Halloween/Thanksgiving we painted pumpkins as
a family and will continue to do that every year but I haven't thought of a good one yet for Christmas.  
Maybe we will do a cookie bake or some kind of painting craft ....who knows!  We have a super cute "Cookies for Santa" platter
 that I will let him set cookies out on...and maybe a carrot or two for the reindeer :)  One thing I am really excited about is that this year Caleb will be able to sit and listen to the
 story of Jesus' birth.  The night before Christmas we plan on reading him the story of Jesus...which for our family is the most important part about the holidays.  

Now I just have to find a good book that will keep Calebs interest!  

You can follow Kathlyn's adventures by visiting her blog. 

She has some great Etsy Shops too!  I hope you are enjoying this series as much as I am. 
Have a truly wonderful Wednesday!  

What I Want

I am so excited about this blog post.  I have been waiting for several weeks to blog about this.  I wanted to be far enough into the process so I could share how it went.
Ok.  So, I breastfeed the Professor.  I did with the girls too.  I have been so blessed that I make enough milk.  I am also blessed because about 4/7 nights the Professor sleeps all night long (10-12 hours).  But, since the wonderful little man sleeps that long I ended up with this.

It is a huge blessing to have all this frozen milk, but the Professor will not take a bottle.  One night my husband and I were joking about what to do with it.  On a complete whim I googled something like, "Help! Our freezer is overflowing with breastmilk!"  Believe it or not it took me to this site.  My interest was piqued and I began reading.  Helping Hands Milk Bank is looking for milk donors!  When I had the girls, I had checked with our local hospital about being a milk donor and was told I would have to come to the hospital and pump there.  I just assumed that was my only option.  I started reading up on Helping Hands.  I read all about it and requested to become a donor.  They called me that evening and said my package was on its way.  Here is what came to door step a few days after applying online.

My next step was to open this up and inside was a thermometer for our freezer.  I placed it in the freezer and for the next 48 hours I recorded what the temperature was inside the freezer.  After that was approved, I was ready for the next step.  There were two forms to print out and get to our doctors.  Then there was a DNA swab to do.  Today was my final step in becoming a donor.  Blood testing.  This was the only step I did not like, LOL!  But Helping Hands Milk Bank makes it SO easy!  They have someone come to your house to do the test.  Shipping? They have it covered!  My package came with prepaid FedEx envelopes.  So today when it was 7 degrees out, I have my blood drawn from the comfort of my own home! Soon FedEx will be here and my blood will be overnighted to their lab.  Becoming a milk donor would be the best Christmas gift for me!  I am so hoping that I am approved by Christmas.  Truly.  It would be a gift for me to be able to be a milk donor.  If I am approved they will pay to ship my frozen milk (they prefer about 25 bags per shipment and hey, they will even supply me with bags!).  I CAN use my already frozen milk, so once I am approved I will have a shipment ready to go!  As a bonus, for every usable ounce that I donate, Helping Hands will donate $1 to Susan G. Komen for the Cure.  But the biggest reason to donate is for the babies it will help. 

I hope that in a few weeks there will be a post telling you that I am a donor.  Wish me luck!!

Things to Do on a Snow Day

How about some snow art?

Easy to do, fun for hours (or til your kids are too cold), appropriate for all ages from 1-100 and as close to free as possible.  

What do you need?

People who want to play in the snow.  Food coloring.  Water.  And some kind of container.

What do you do?

Fill the container(s) with water and add in food coloring.  Mix it up.  Then head out to show and spray it or shake it on to create your art!  In the past we have old juice bottles, water bottles, spray bottles.  You could use just about anything really.  

Our girls absolutely LOVE snow art!  It entertains them for hours!  They keep coming in for refills and I try to be creative with the colors.  Here are some pics of them enjoying the snow we got last night.

 

Win

Enter this cool giveaway...for yourself or me. =)

Sunday Smiles =)

I took this with my new cell phone!  The cell phone was courtesy of my wonderful sister(in-law)!  She gave it to me!  I had the same ancient phone for like 5 years! 

It looked kinda like this....but it was so old I could not even find a photo of it!

BUT, now  I have THIS.  And I can do cool things like take pictures of the Professor and then email them to myself so that I can post them to my blog.  I can also text words like tonight and about and money.   I no longer have to manually punch keys over and over and over.  I have not even had this phone a week and I am hooked already!  Just had to share.
Have an amazing Sunday!

Activity

Tonight was our regular Friday Night Family Night, but we decided to go mobile.  There was a live nativity a few minutes away and we thought the kids would have fun.  We bundled up and headed out.  We got there and the Genius exclaims, "Here we are at the real alive activity!!!"  So cute!  It was a fun event!  They had cookies and hot chocolate, live music, live animals, a craft and free horse and wagon rides.  We all had a great time and even the Professor had fun.  He was stylin' in his new hat and his "my first Christmas" outfit.