The Winner is :

#17 Anonymous said They like the crayola website, the glowboard looks cool.

I will make contact with you in the next day to send Crayola your shipping info.

Congrats!!!

Inspirational Quote Of The Day

I do not wish you joy without a sorrow,
Nor endless day without the healing dark,

Nor brilliant sun without the restful shadows,

Nor tides that never turn against your barque.

I wish you love and faith and strength and wisdom.

Goods , gold enough to help some needy one.

I wish you songs but also blessed silence.

And God's sweet peace when every day is done.

Almost there

So its been a few weeks now since Alan was let go, although we have gone through so many emotions, I have to be honest and say its been rather nice having him around, I cant remember the last time I have had him around to not only help with the kids but also enjoy them, we are finally getting that opportunity to not only connect as a couple , but to enjoy our large family and really appreciate the reasons why we chose to have 7 children . In the midst of packing and organizing we have been able to sit down and watch movies of the children when they were younger, look through the baby books and see how many fun and happy times we have had being the parents to a great bunch of kids, It has truley been an eye opener for us both. We know that this is a new beggining for our family.....we had a short stay here in Georgia, but look at it as an "adventure" the kids got to see another part of our great country, we were able to take them to places that they might not have seen, Its been fun but its time to move on.
Alan has 4 interviews set up for when we arrive back into Massachusetts, he has had nothing but support from the people who he has previously worked with many of them wanting to re-hire him and we have NO doubt he will find somthing and be able to do a great job at it, however with a much different approach, Its been such a huge transformation and SUCH a nice one for him to see that although he has to work, he does not have sacrifice his family life for it. I have not seen him so relaxed about going back to the corporate world as he is now.

We have also along this journey know the people that are really truley there for you...again another lesson learned. And for the friends who have supported us and are heartfelt over him losing his job I'am thankful.

The house is 75% packed, my father arrives next week to help drive one of the rental trucks back to Ma for our 20+ hour drive. I swear if we get through this I'am going to write a book.

I'am so proud at how the kids are all taking this in stride, granted some days do have the challenges more so with Melissa as she is really starting to make some good friends, she made the girls basketball team so for her its going to be the hardest.

Jordan is very happy to see all his old friends but has also gained such confidence this year being on the High honors list for second term is HUGE for him, and he has worked and focused hard to get there and I feel for him and hope he can maintain that once he starts back home.

The younger children they are pretty go with the flow, Mallory is going to miss the neighbor girl across the street.... but is going back to her Best Buddy back home and thats ALL we have heard about for weeks now.
Makenna also is really anxious to see her friends and Jarrett I'am such an emotional wreck over as he has grown SO much since starting Pre-K , his teachers adore him and I'am going to be so sad to leave them for taking such good care of my little guy.

But I cant tell you how excited I'am to see our oldest daughter Meghan and our grandbaby!! I think it must have been a sign when I would have daily dreams about waking up and driving to all the places I used to have to go everyday....maybe it was Gods way of telling me that we should not have left.

We are spending Thanksgiving over our friends house whom also moved down here in Georgia from Massachusetts to work and we are really going to miss them. They are cooking dinner for us and its going to be a nice day.

As difficult as things seem at times I'am very Thankful and wish all my family and freinds Wonderful Thanksgiving Holiday. I hope everyone takes a moment to really think about the people they have in their lives and be truley grateful.

Just figured I would post some pictures of the kids enjoying the Crayola Color Explosion Glow Dome. As you can see they had a blast!!!

My Very FIRST Giveway from CRAYOLA

I'am so excited as I'am finally able to offer my very first Giveaway.

Last week Crayola contacted me to review 3 of their new products.
As a mom of seven all my children have grown up using and loving Crayola products, so for me this was such a fun opportunity and my children were anxious for that box of colorful goodies to arrive.

We excitedly opened this great big box full of terrific crayola products. The first one that caught their eye was the " CRAYOLA COLOR EXPLOSION GLOW DOME " I even had the two children I watch in the afternoon over ....so 8 kids sat eagerly awaiting me to read the directions, put the batteries in and get started.

The verdict.....THEY LOVED IT!!!!! everyone from my 2yr old to the 14 year old

It comes with 4 bright colored markers, and a handfull of templats to trace on the dome, a plastic insert to trace on that goes inside the dome. The children each picked a color and doodled all over the globe ,some of them used templats some just drew free hand. My daycare child Abby drew on the insert ( which happend to be a scuba diver) we then placed the dome over the insert and hit the series of buttons, and WOW it was a MAGICAL animated underwater light show!!! There are different setting for how fast you want it to turn, how you want the lighs to strobe. It was a true hit!!!

My kids have used it daily as a night light and change the "design" each night.

So now its my turn to offer YOU one for yourself. What a great gift this would make with Christmas and the Holidays around the corner AND it retails for $29.99

I will pick one winner and this CRAYOLA COLOR EXPLOSION GLOW DOME will be shipped directly to you from Crayola.

There are four ways to enter. Heres how......( just be sure to add all entries/comments below the my original post)

1. Visiting http://www.crayola.com/gifts/vacation
They are having a FANTASTIC sweepstakes right now....just come back and post which gift of creativity you would choose.

2. become a follower of my blog

3. post this link to my Crayola giveaway on Facebook

4. What is your favorite Holiday Tradition to do with your children.


-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Note: winner will be selected by random name generator
Contest ends midnight November 26, 2009, winner will be announced November 27th

Moving on......

Yup....we are officially moving on. House in now on the market, I have been selling off some furniture, we are ready to move back home. I have missed my family and friends dearly. I can't begin to tell you how ready we are for this. Granted this "new" adventure of moving down south was pretty exciting...we enjoyed seeing a new lifestyle, and another part of the country, but I KNOW things are going to be a much happier ,much less stressful way of life now ...and that is totally off setting all the stress and anger of him losing his job.

Learned a big lesson and I think more so for him....he gave his all for 27yrs and it goes to show you such a large Corporation all you are is a number, you hold no real value no matter how many hours a day you put in or how many years you have committed to them....at the end of the day it is what THEY will gain...not taking care of people.

So Tonight I'am putting up my first official Giveaway from Crayola...so stay tuned!!!

A Very Bittersweet Day Here

Well we found out Alan lost his job today. The man has spent 27yrs working for McDonalds putting in endless hours sometimes being gone for days at a time to find out that His pay ended today........ here is a trash bag go take everything out of your car and here is the cab fair for your ride home.....all I can say is WHAT THE HELL!!!!!!!

I'am disgusted how they handled it, and even toss around flaming them, but I also look at it as this is a new chapter....there have been more times than I care to count that he has not been able to attend a school functions,sports, field trips, the birth of his grandaughter...ALL because he worked to hard to get somewhere that was just not meant to be.

We are sad that we will be leaving some wonderful friends behind, and that is a part he is struggling with as well. But we are able to try and go back in hopes to re-build a small portion of what we left behind. I will get to Hug my daughter and tell her how proud we are of her, I will get to squeeze my grandbaby who breaks my heart that I have missed some milestones in the short 6 months here, My children will be able to see their great grandmother who we missed her 90th Birthday....I have lots to go back to despite how TOUGH its going to be....I dont even know how we are going to do it not only financially, but emotionally and physically.....but I have faith that God will lead us in the right direction.

When one door closes another opens.....I'am a true believer of that.

So please wish us luck as we start again in the packing process and our long trek back up to Massachusetts we will deffinetly need it.

MassMoms.com

MassMoms.com

What to do what to do???

Just a quick little blup here as we are trying to sort through what we need to do, but a brief rundown is

After being moved to Southern Georgia, it looks like my husband is going to lose his job. Hopefully we will get the word on Tuesday.

Sooooo do we stay here and have him find a new job

Or do we move back to Massachusetts to be back with my Family & freinds and see what he can find up there.

So many decisions to make.....the two of us are "fried" right now.

Wish us luck and keep us in your prayers.

Everything is meant to happen for a reason ....so we shall where we end up.

http://www.classymommy.com/giveaway_new/contest2/vote.php?

SUPER stroller giveaway from CLASSY MOMMY

http://www.classymommy.com/giveaway-new/contest2/vote.php?contest=mutsy_transporter&nam=Julie+daoust

5minformom.com/10697/150-shopping-spree-in-our-two-stores/#coment 1769825

http://dealseekingmom.com/new-walmart-sample-dentek-floss-picks/

I can feel it coming

A cold that is.... maybe I'am just exhausted from running a busy household, adding 2 extras after school mon-fri or maybe its the persitant worring about Alans Job. This 80-90 hr work week is just not cutting it, not only is he stressing him self out right now but its trickling on down. I do my very best to stay upbeat no matter what situation is thrown at me....I just roll with it all. But recently I just feel he is nothing more than a # in a company that he has given 27 years of his life to......guess it is what it is. He is home this week and I plan on taking advantage of it,and hoping to enjoy the week with him. In the meantime I'am going to take some Nyquil....drink some tea with raw honey and get a GOOD night sleep :)

Back to blogging

O.k Yes I have not been here in a while...guess I just find that I post so much on facebook that what more is there to know :) but recently I had NEW BALANCE as well as CRAYOLA contact me to do reviews on their products, so I figured I better start getting back into the swing of things. So please stay tuned as one lucky reader will win a Crayola Color Explosion Glow Dome....More details to come.