PLEASE HELP!

BIG FAVOR!

I entered Buggie's room in the Small Kid, Big Color contest from

ohdeedoh & Dwell Studio last week.  While her room was accepted but I did not

get the email until this morning.  You know I have been a little busy, but the voting is 

only activate until 10am this morning!

Please go vote right now!

I would love for her room to move on to the next round...

Thanks soo much for your help.

DRUM ROLL PLEASE....

Jellybean

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BOY!

Nolan (NOE lan; champion of the people; Gaelic) David (DAY vid; beloved; Hebrew) was born on 11/6/2009.

Weighing a whooping 8lbs 4oz.!

Thats a full pound heavier then Buggie, geez no wonder I felt SO big.

We are adjusting to our little family of four.

Buggie is doing as great as I thought she would.

For her little 3 year old mind things happen in the short term.

So if Mommy can not get up from feeding Jellybean to go play tea party, she

does not hold it against me an hour later.

Hubby is nothing more then my soul mate from God.

He is so attentive to all three of us.

Today, when I was crying feeling tired & to be honest a little

freaked out at having two little people to care for, he just looked at me 

and said "You are ok and everything will be ok."

Then added "Make sure you talk to me about how you are feeling, you promise?"

Please do not mind my fat face in this picture. Oh and let me tell you how excited I was to get all my wrist jewelry off!  

Jellybean was a little jaundice, so he had some light therapy in the hospital.  And we are continuing it at home right now.  Which is not making sleeping easy.  Hubby and I are having to trade off watching him and since I am breastfeeding it makes my turn a little longer.

So I might be a little off the blog-o-sphere here and there, as I try to operate through my

day.  But I wanted to thank all of you for your well wishes and thoughts, they were

all greatly appreciated!

Winner of this weeks lil boo & co giveaway is SoBella Creations!

And the winners of this weeks mini giveaway is EVERYONE who entered!

So please email me your addresses so I can mail you your Clippies!

amyholgersen@hotmail.com

(give me a little bit to get these out to everyone, thanks)

Sorry...

I know I have a mini giveaway to announce the winners for but

yesterday got away from me and this morning I think I will be heading to the hospital!

I will keep you all in formed...

SO EXCITED!!!

My fav. gift to give & a mini Wednesday giveaway...

Do you have one of those standby gifts, that is your go to in

time of need?

I do.

Wether it be housewarming, wedding, holiday, or birthday you name it

this little beauty is my fall back.

I received my own about 5 years ago from my Mom.  After eyeing hers, she

was afraid very afraid it would show up missing.

We call it the sombrero, but over at Napa Style they call it the Cocorico Roaster

Since I received mine they have added a extra cone for larger birds, bummer!

But I have given this a number of times, and it gets rave reviews.

You do not need to be a cook to use it, just purchase a popper chicken stick it on the 

cone and cook.  Pretty darn simple.

Oh and the clean up, easy peasy.  The glaze on it makes it basically a simple wipe.

I was going to use mine this week and take pictures of how I do it, but I have not

been in the cooking mood at all.  Sorry.  

But my favorite way to cook on it, is to take a lemon and thinly slice it.  Then I layer the

lemons up the cone and stick the bird on it.  Gives the chicken a fresh lemon taste.  Then 

throw some veggies around the base and the lemony juice just do their job.

Any who just wanted to share this great gift (and very reasonably priced) during the turkey eating gift giving season.

Now the mini giveaway:

Since I am on vacation mode over at True Love Found, I have some extra Christmas Tree Shabby Chic Snap Clips to giveaway today.

But now tell me, do you have that perfect gift for all occasions? 

Just leave one comment sharing your go to gift, with the holiday season upon us

would love to see other gift giving ideas. And please share links if possible.

I will pick a winner (or maybe more) tomorrow morning, using random.org.

Open Nov 4 through midnight Eastern time and US residents only.

PS 

Do not forget to enter my current giveaway.

South Africa in my heart & on my mind (take me back Tuesday)......

About 3 years ago my parents went to South Africa on vacation, after years of

begging from my Dad's business partner to go, with the promise that 

they would love it.

They went for a month and of course loved it, but to my surprise much more then

we ever thought they would.

They had fallen in love and came home to announce they had

bought a HOUSE!

Since then they go back about every three months and stay for a month or so.

We went at Christmas in 2007, traveled for a full 24hrs, 3 planes, 20 hrs in the air with a

18 month old.  But Buggie did AWESOME!

Their house is in the beautiful valley of Franschooek.

The sky is a shade of blue, Crayola could not duplicate. 

It is wine country, which makes for some wonderful

wine and food! 

We took a short flight to the Kalahari to go on safari.  And 

 stayed at Tswalu Reserve, it was AMAZING!  

They were so family/kid friendly. 

So kid friendly they had a high chair and kiddie silverware all setup before we got there!

(Buggie was so little looking back at these pictures!)

 It was what our family affectionately calls

Africa HOT out, so we took full advantage of the pool.

They have the reserve divide with two sides, this was the predator side (Buggie stayed back

at the room with my Mom for this ride!) And let me just mention I was not

happy about turning my head on these guys!

We did many other cool things (Great White Shark diving included).

But for me one of the best things was meeting some fantastic people. 

One of which was a friend my parents had come to know over their trips, Frances Kendall.

She is by far one of the most talented, accomplished, and genuine people I have met. From Politician, Noble Peace Prize nominated writer and accomplished painter, I mean seriously! If you go check out her website you can read her whole story, plus see the portraits of our family and her other amazing pieces of work.

My parents had commissioned Frances to do an oil painting of my Mom, which hangs in their home in South Africa (see below hanging over the fireplace in their bedroom).

So with us kids together they knew that they wanted her to work her magic on our family.  This painting is stunning, not just cause I am in it, LOL!  But to see it up close is eye popping, gasping, and beyond stunning.  This beauty hangs in their home here in the states.

And to my surprise my parents wanted Frances to paint a portrait of Buggie for us!  It is gorgeous.  I love and cherish it ooooh so much.

With Jellybean coming (any day now 3cm!) we are not going to South Africa any time soon.  But we are planning a trip for next Christmas, I really can not wait. It is a place I never

imagined going and now can not imagine not going back.

Hello Monday and Yippie Giveaway!

I heart crayons, I mean I really HEART crayons.

There is nothing like the smell or feel of a new crayon on paper.

I bought some A*DORABLE pumpkin shaped crayons from lil boo & co for Buggie to 

give her class in their Halloween goodie bags.  They were HUGE hit.

So when Nicole from lil boo & co reached out to me about a giveaway

I could not reply fast enough to say "YES PLEASE".

Nicole has much more then her awesome crayons.  Another favorite item is her mini chalkboard mats, I mean come on what a great idea for little gifts or even party favors!

Her Rainbow Ring Crayon (TM) is genius!  Perfect for young and old...

Her designs show her background in childhood education. They fun, innovative, and stimulating for little minds.

She has tons of shapes already, but has plans to add many many more!  I love that she offers packaging and personalized tags.  I have to say it is funny I am doing this post right now since I just got my second order from Nicole today in the mail!  I ordered the turkey crayons for Buggie to give out at Thanksgiving to her classmates, I had the tags say "Giving thanks for my friends".

Ok so here is the good stuff, Nicole is offering a $10 store credit and she will also cover shipping (store will expire by 12/31/09)!

As always you have a few ways to enter, please leave a separate comment 

per entry:

1. Become a follower of my blog. Then head on over to lil boo & co and come back to leave a comment on your fav item.

2. Become a fan of lil boo & co on Facebook &/or follow on Twitter.

3. Blog, FB, &/or Twit about this giveaway

4. Make a purchase from lil boo & co. (5 extra entries)

Giveaway will be open until Nov 8th at midnight eastern.  A winner will be

chosen via random.org on Nov 9th.

Good luck my fellow crayon lovers!

Your guess is as good as mine (& a winner)...

First sorry for just putting it out there but the belly is HUGE!

Just wondering what you think, boy or girl?

Now I did not know with Buggie and the only person who thought

girl was my Dad.  He is saying girl again, so we shall

see if he will be two for two...

Added a poll on the side, I am curious.

Oh click here to find out if you are the winner of Max and Ellie Itty Bitty Boo Boo Kit.