Free Printable Potty Chart- For Boys!

I am determined to get Little E potty trained! He will be 3 on April 11th and I would like to see him out of diapers soon! Tonight I have been searching the web for a decent potty chart. I was looking for a chart I can print for free and found a great one! Many of the potty charts online are boring or list the days of the week which I feel is a bit unnecessary. First of all, toddlers cannot even read...what do they care if it is Monday or Friday!!

I finally found what I was looking for and thought I would share in case any of you have been looking for the same thing. This potty chart has 4 rows. First row is for pulling down pants, second row is for sitting on potty, third row is for going potty and last row is for washing hands. I like this because your child can be rewarded for his/her efforts and not just going potty (because that can be discouraging). There are no days, instead there are pictures to go along with each task and stars to be colored in (or you can put stickers on). I really like it!

I know this is hard to see, I couldn't get a good image of this. Check it out full size at the link below. It is Boys Potty Chart 2 (You can choose between white or black toddler boy).

You can find this potty chart as well as the girl versions at freeprintablebehaviorcharts.com

Makeover your child's room in a day- My Wonderful Walls Review and Giveaway!

Have you dreamed of having a colorful, fun, themed bedroom for your child?
Do you not have the finances to pay a professional artist to paint a custom wall mural?
Lack the talent to paint one yourself? I have the answer!

Let me introduce you to My Wonderful Walls. Created by graphic artist and industrial designer Michael Goins, My Wonderful Walls offers wall stencils and nursery art to transform your child's boring bedroom into a place of imagination and adventure ! You do not have to be an artist to paint beautiful wall murals for kids, nor break the bank to pay for it!

My experience:
I was excited when My Wonderful Walls contacted me about a review. I had recently talked with a friend who wanted to redo her son's room. She mentioned she wanted to paint a wall mural, but didn't think she could do it herself. I am fairly artsy and told her I would help out. Shortly after our conversation an email came from My Wonderful Walls! I thought of my friend right away. I had no need for my own children's rooms as we are wanting to sell our house. But this opportunity worked out perfect for my friend.

We picked the Jungle Safari Theme Stencil Kit along with the coordinating acrylic paint set for my review. Everything was shipped to me quickly and was well packaged. The stencil kit came with very helpful and thorough instructions as well as several foam paint brushes for completing the project. The paint kit came with an ample amount of paints perfect for creating the Jungle Safari room.

Here is the room before the transformation. Very dark and lot's of damage to the walls.

To prep the room for the wall stencils, my friend painted the walls and ceiling in a sky blue color. She then painted green hills all across the room. She also painted the closet doors which I thought really added a nice effect.

Before we got started we first taped stencils around the room to figure the desired layout. This was very helpful. I highly recommend taking the time to do this extra step. It will help you avoid cluttering the walls. It gives you a feel for the final design.

Once we got started, peeling and attaching the wall stencils to the wall was quite simple! You will need two sets of hands to attach the stencils evenly, so don't try and tackle this project alone.

The painting process went great! The stencils held tight and did not allow the paint to bleed whatsoever! I was very impressed by this. Removal of the stencils was a cinch as well. Obviously it was so easy we let the kids get in on this part!

Some of the stencils in this kit such as the Zebra and Giraffe require layering. This was actually a lot of fun and so simple!

Most of the animals in this kit only require 2 paint colors with the exception of a few. We added in grass elements ourselves and I hand painted all the animal eyes. The stencil kit does come with a special eye kit if you need it.

The Finished Room:

We were very impressed with the final results. In only 1 short day we transformed an ordinary boy's bedroom from blah to fabulous! The process was simple and minimal cost was involved.


BUY IT- You can purchase wall mural stencil kits and accessories at MyWonderfulWalls.com! Click here to shop. Remember! You will receive FREE SHIPPING for every $90 or more purchase made.

WIN IT- My Wonderful Walls is giving one lucky Happily Domestic winner's choice of any one My Wonderful Walls product (up to $100 Value)

Here is how to enter:

First Mandatory entry:
Visit My Wonderful Walls and tell me your favorite stencil kit, then tell me if you have ever painted a wall mural before.

*Remember to leave your email address in your comment! YOU MUST DO THIS TO WIN*

After you have completed your first entry you are eligible for additional entries. *See my giveaway instructions here for more information. * *Remember to leave a separate comment for each additional entry and include your e-mail address.*

• Follow my blog publicly through Google friend connect (can be found at my right sidebar.) - current follows count too! Counts for 3 entries. Please leave separate comments per entry!
  
• Subscribe to my blog emails via Feedburner. Sign up box on my right sidebar. Counts for 2 entries. Please leave separate comments per entry!
• Blog about THIS giveaway between and February 28th and March 10th and gain TWO entries!!! link back to my site- leave the URL where you blogged. Please leave separate comments for each entry. Example "I blogged about your MWW giveaway@ #1" then "I blogged about your MWW giveaway@ #2".
  
• Grab my Happily Domestic button! (found at right sidebar)- Leave the URL where it is posted.
• Follow HappilyDomestic on Twitter and tweet about this giveaway (counts as 1 entry)- after this you may "tweet" daily and gain an extra entry each day that you tweet-limit one per day. Leave your tweet status.
• Like Happily Domestic on Facebook. Click here. Leave a comment saying that you did this.
• Enter any of my current giveaways, leave a comment and tell me which giveaway you entered. Counts as 1 entry per giveaway entered. Please leave separate comments per giveaway you entered.
• Go to My Wonderful Wall's blog and leave a comment on any of their posts. Leave a comment here saying you did this and tell me which post you left a comment on.
• Like My Wonderful Walls on Facebook. Click here. Make sure you tell them Happily Domestic sent you! Leave a comment here saying you did this.
  

Giveaway ends Tuesday, March 15th, 2010 at 8:00 p.m.(MST). Winner will be drawn by the random number generator at Random.org and will be notified by email. Winner will also be announced on this blog. Winner will have 48 hours to respond or a new winner will be drawn.
*This giveaway is open to USA and CANADIAN residents ONLY. Must be 18 years old or older to win.*

Thank you to My Wonderful Walls who provided me with the products for review.
All opinions are my own and no other compensation
was received to conduct this review and giveaway.

Project 365- Week 8

I am surprised I remembered to take any photos this week. Influenza hit our house and all 3 of my boys were so sick. Little E was hit with the worst of it. He ran a high fever for 2 days, followed by low grade, got an ear infection and basically laid on the couch all week whining and crying for a "hug". Poor guy! He lost some weight and now weighs 2 pounds less than Baby J!! Not good. If any of you have tips on helping a toddler gain weight, please share!

2.20.11
E was so tired after his bath, he climbed up in our bed and fell asleep!

2.21.11
Playing with brother's Legos (which is NOT allowed)

2.22.11
Gigantic Pancake! As big as a dinner plate :-)

2.23.11
I finally sat down and organized my coupons into my coupon organizer. Of course I procrastinated so long that over half of them were expired.

Here is the front of the organizer. I purchased this from an ETSY seller. I love it because you can carry it to the store like a purse, it has plety of room for the checkbook and calculator and it can hook to the cart!! I am really trying to get back into couponing. My husband and I are trying to pay off all our medical debt and so have cut back our grocery budget as it was the only area we could cut back. It's very hard, but the coupons help.

2.24.11
Little cereal muncher!

2.24.11
Hiding in the curtains

2.25.11
BEFORE

Awhile back I bought a bunch of skirts and dresses at Goodwill. I found some real cute items that just needed a bit of alteration. This halter dress I turned into a skirt! I removed the gather in the chest and the straps. It was so simple and now I have a fun skirt for the spring! I think it cost all of $3.00. Can't beat that!

AFTER

2.25.11

I love the fabric on this dress, but the dress itself is not anything I would wear. Totally immodest looking! I decided to convert it into a skirt. I removed the entire bodice and now just need to put in an elastic waist (will share the finished picture when It's complete).

2.25.11

This skirt is HUGE, but I LOVE the fabric. This weekend I ripped all the seams and removed the waistband. There is probably close to 4 yards fabric. I will be making skirts for both my daughter and I. :-) Total cost $4.00.

2.26.11
C and I at a LEGO building class

Doll Clothes Party Extended!!

A few days ago I invited you all to join me for my online doll clothes party. I want to let you know the end date has been extended to March 5th. No orders have been made and this will allow a few extra shopping days for those of you who may not get paid until the first of the month.

This is a great deal and I hope you will take advantage of it! Remember to use coupon code BethsParty at check out for your 10% discount. Not only will you receive 10% off, but will also earn 5 extra entries into my Daydream Doll Boutique doll clothes giveaway! (Remember to leave your entry comments).

Here is a taste of what you will find at Daydream Doll Boutique! Click here to shop.

Taco Pizza Recipe! (This is GOOD stuff)

TACO PIZZA

1 lb. ground beef ( I used ground turkey)
1 med. onion, chopped
2 1/2 oz. sliced, ripe olives, drained
8 oz. can tomato sauce
1 pkg. taco seasoning mix
10 oz. corn all ready pizza crust
( I made a homemade WW pizza crust as my hubby is allergic to corn)
1 cup shredded cheese
shredded lettuce
shredded cheese
chopped tomatoes
sour cream

Heat oven to 425 degrees. Brown meat and onion; drain. Stir in olive, tomato sauce and taco seasoning mix. Prepare pizza crust. Spread ground beef mixture over crust. Sprinkle with cheese. Bake at 425 degrees for 15-20 minutes. Top with lettuce and tomato. Serve with sour cream. 6 servings.

Project 365- Week 7

Sorry! I usually post my Project 365 photos on Sundays, but I was so busy with my Daydream Doll Boutique review that I ran out of time. Here they are:

2.14.11
J and E having fun at the indoor playground

2.15.11
Diaper stuffin time! Almost a daily occurrence around here.

2.16.11
Apple and Raisin filled Cinnamon Rolls
They were a bit dense as they were made from 100%WW flour, but it was my first try too.

2.17.11
Mr. C and his Star Wars Legos
"Battle Scene"

2.18.11
The snow melted and the kids enjoyed the warmer weather.
Yay! Spring is in the air.

2.19.11
The couch we gave away. So long old pal.

Home projects have begun!

If you remember awhile back I told you how we would be moving all 3 of our boys into our room. My husband and I will be taking the 10x10 bedroom. Before we can do this, we have quite a bit of work to do! Yesterday we gave our living room's sectional couch away to a family in need. It was an old couch and we need something smaller for that room. Now that the front room is empty we will move all the contents of our bedroom out into the living room (that should be fun, not!). Next, we will be scraping the popcorn ceiling off. We will re-texture the ceiling, paint, put up new baseboards, add a new ceiling fan, new blinds, closet organizer and lastly move the boys in! They are going to have an outer space bedroom. So fun!

If this doesn't sound like enough work, we will then tackle their old room. Same things have to be done in there. Finally, we will move into the small room and then tackle our living room! It needs the ceilings scraped, new paint (walls and baseboard), new curtains and of course we now need a new couch! I wish we could get hardwood floors as our carpet is pretty shot, but there is no money for that at the moment. One step at a time!

Wish us luck, for the next couple months we will be sleeping in our family room amongst the school desks and office furniture! I'm sure my back will hate me for it.

I will be sure to take before and after shots to share with you. I really am excited to start working on this!

It's a Doll Clothes Party and You're Invited!!!

My baby girl is turning 9 in three short weeks! I can hardly believe! If you read my Daydream Doll Boutique review (below) you learned of my daughter's love for American Girl dolls.

In honor of my daughter's birthday, I am extending a very special invitation to you my readers to join me for a Daydream Doll Clothes Party! Here's how it works: Make a purchase between today and the 28th of February using coupon code BethsParty and receive 10% off your entire purchase!! Not only will you receive 10% off, but will also earn 5 extra entries into my Daydream Doll Boutique doll clothes giveaway! (Remember to leave your entry comments)

At the end of the party all sales will be added up and my daughter will earn credit towards free doll clothes. Let's make this a birthday to remember! Start shopping now! Click here.

Thank You!

Daydream Doll Boutique Review and Giveaway!

My daughter LOVES American Girl dolls. Saying "loves" is some what of an under statement. You might say she is a bit obsessed!! We gave her an American Girl doll 2 years ago at Christmas. She squealed with excitement as she had been wanting one for sometime. Every since that day, Ruthie has been her favorite toy to play with. She faithfully plays with Ruthie everyday and loves to dress her in cute outfits. My daughter drools over the doll clothes in the American Girl catalog, but to be honest they just aren't affordable.

My daughter was beyond thrilled when we were asked to review a couple 18" doll outfits from Daydream Doll Boutique. I was beyond thrilled to actually find quality doll clothes without breaking the bank!!

Daydream Doll Boutique is a Mom run business that specializes in doll clothes, shoes and accessories for your 18" dolls. They offer a huge selection of stylish and fun outfits every girl can appreciate! You will find everything from doll party dresses, loungewear, swimwear, doll costumes, coats, hats, and lots of adorable doll shoes to complete your outfits! All doll outfits are under $20 and shipping is a low flat rate of $2.49 no matter how large your order!

We were sent the Ice Skating Outfit with Shimmer White Leggings and Ice Skates as well as the
Glitter Heart Outfit with Red Trench Coat and Ruffle Boots. Right away I was impressed by the quality of these outfits. I have purchased lower cost doll clothing in the past and have been disappointed by the poor workmanship and overall quality. This was not the case here!

The Red Heart Outfit comes with glittered heart tee with rhinestones, denim skirt, white panties and a matching red hair tie. I love the glitter heart embellishment on the t-shirt, so pretty! This outfit is a lot of fun and the denim skirt is perfect for mix and match styles.

The Red Trench Coat comes with a red hair tie and small notebook to write in. This Trench Coat is fully lined and made of soft knit fabric. It contains 2 patch pockets on front, snap buttons and a belt tie. As you can see it goes along perfectly with the Red Heart Outfit.

The Ice Skating Outfit comes with matching blue panties and sequence hair clip. My daughter has been having so much fun with this set. She loves to make her doll "skate" across the kitchen tile and says the skates really sound as though they are going on ice! The White Ice Skates lace up and have real metal blades. Don't worry, they're not sharp!

I am very pleased with my experience at Daydream Doll Boutique. I received kind, courteous customer service and everything was shipped quickly. I am one happy mama and will certainly be a repeat customer from now on!

Now, want to win some free doll clothes???


WIN IT- Daydream Doll Boutique is giving one lucky Happily Domestic reader a doll outfit of their choice (including shoes) from their New At Daydream selection! You can also enter to win a beautiful spring outfit for your doll at Day Dream's blog. Go here to enter.

BUY IT- Purchase the adorable outfits I featured here as well as many more at Daydream Doll Boutiques online store! Click here. Enter coupon code BethsParty at checkout for an additional 10% off your entire purchase! Offer expires 3/1

Here is how to enter:

First Mandatory entry:
Visit Daydream Doll Boutique and tell me your favorite doll outfit!

*Remember to leave your email address in your comment! YOU MUST DO THIS TO WIN*

After you have completed your first entry you are eligible for additional entries. *See my giveaway instructions here for more information. * *Remember to leave a separate comment for each additional entry and include your e-mail address.*

• Follow my blog publicly through Google friend connect (can be found at my right sidebar.) - current follows count too! Counts for 2 entries. Please leave separate comments per entry!
  
• Subscribe to my blog emails via Feedburner. Sign up box on my right sidebar. Counts for 2 entries. Please leave separate comments per entry!
• Blog about THIS giveaway between February 20th and March 3rd and gain TWO entries!!! link back to my site- leave the URL where you blogged. Please leave separate comments for each entry. Example "I blogged about your doll clothes giveaway@ #1" then "I blogged about your doll clothes giveaway@ #2".
  
• Grab my Happily Domestic button! (found at right sidebar)- Leave the URL where it is posted.
• Follow HappilyDomestic on Twitter and tweet about this giveaway (counts as 1 entry)- after this you may "tweet" daily and gain an extra entry each day that you tweet-limit one per day. Leave your tweet status.
• Like Happily Domestic on Facebook. Click here. Leave a comment saying that you did this.
• Enter any of my current giveaways, leave a comment and tell me which giveaway you entered. Counts as 1 entry per giveaway entered. Please leave separate comments per giveaway you entered.
• Follow Daydream Doll Boutique's Blog! Click here. Leave a comment saying that you did this.
• Make a purchase at Daydream Doll Boutique using coupon code BethsParty between February 20th and March 5th and gain 5 extra entries!! Leave 5 separate comments saying that you did this. *ALL purchases will be verified.
  

Giveaway ends Saturday, March 5th 2010 at 8:00 p.m.(MST). Winner will be drawn by the random number generator at Random.org and will be notified by email. Winner will also be announced on this blog. Winner will have 48 hours to respond or a new winner will be drawn.
*This giveaway is open to USA and Canadian residents ONLY. Must be 18 years old or older to win.*

Thank you to Daydream Doll Boutique who provided me with the doll outfits for review.
All opinions are my own and no other compensation
was received to conduct this review and giveaway.

Homeschool Valentine's Party 2011

On Monday my kids attended a Valentine's party at an indoor play area. A couple moms and I put this together, it ended up being a lot of fun.

My daughter climbing up high

Baby J lovin' the ball bath!
I don't even want to think of the germs!
Yesterday and today he has been running a high fever. Ugh!

Cute cupcakes one of the moms made

The girls

The boys
(well, one girl ended up in the picture)

The whole gang!

Someone needs to teach this boy some manners!! ;-)

"C" made all the Valentine boxes for our family.
His was a Lego theme.

"I" and her Love Boat made by big brother

Another Love Boat
Little E is saying "cheese" in case you are wondering!


I hope you all had a wonderful Valentines Day!

Hayneedle- DaVinci Alpha Mini Rocking Crib Review and Rocking Bassinet with Storage Baskets Giveaway!

*THIS GIVEAWAY HAS ENDED*

Living in a small house with 4 children and 2 adults, space is limited. I would love to sell our current home and buy a much bigger place, but with the current real estate market it is not looking hopeful. Meanwhile we learn to maximize the space we have. One way we are making our limited space work for our large family is by putting all 3 of our sons in one room. This is our big winter project! We will be moving all 3 boys into the master bedroom. To make the boys more comfortable, we decided to try a mini-crib for our baby instead of having a full size crib in the bedroom. I think it will work out great!

Hayneedle has a large variety of products from over 200 specialty stores, anything you could possibly need or want! One of the areas they specialize in is baby cribs. I recently was given the opportunity to try their DaVinci Alpha Mini Rocking Crib. This mini-crib is awesome! It is not your usual fold up porta-crib. This crib has the quality and features you expect to find in a full size crib, only smaller. This mini-crib is made of sturdy hardwood construction, adjusts to four heights, is JPMA Certified to ensure crib safety (no dangerous drop down side!) and comes in 4 beautiful finishes.

The DaVinci Alpha Mini Rocking Crib came to my house neatly packaged without a dent or scratch! It came with instructions and even the allen wrench needed to put the crib together.

My husband and son looked perplexed in this picture, but don't be fooled it was actually quite simple to put together!

The completed crib
Dimensions: 40L x 26W x 35.5H inches

This crib is approximately the size of a "Pack and Play" only taller. If you remove the wheels, this crib becomes a rocking cradle for infants! I love the versatility of this crib and the fact it can be used from birth to toddler-hood just as other full size baby cribs.

My 1 year old taking a snooze!

The mini-crib comes with a 1-inch Foam Mattress Pad. Pictured above is a 3" compact crib mattress I purchased separately. The 1" pad is fine if using this crib at Grandma's house, but if you will be using this on a day to day basis for your baby I recommend investing in a thicker more comfortable compact crib mattress for your child.

Another great feature on this mini-crib is the teething rails, ensuring teeth and wood are protected! Every mom can appreciate this.

Now I just need to buy some cute boy baby bedding and finish up the boys room so baby J is not surrounded by pink walls in his big sister's room!

To sum things up, the DaVinci Alpha Mini Rocking Crib is the perfect sized crib for grandparent's house, church nurseries, and for anyone in need of space! I am absolutely thrilled with this crib and don't think I will ever purchase a full size crib again. It is way too convenient to have the extra space.

BUY IT- You can purchase the DaVinci Alpha Mini Rocking Crib for only $164.99 at Hayneedle.com, shop online here.

WIN IT- Because we love babies here at Happily Domestic, we have teamed up with Hayneedle to offer my readers a chance to win a beautiful rocking bassinet! This will make a perfect gift for that new mom. This bassinet comes with wicker bassinet, liner, cloth hood, pad sheet, 2 baskets with liners, and blue and pink gingham ribbon (can be used for boy or girl). $85 value

Here is how to enter:

First Mandatory entry:
Visit Hayneedle.com and tell me your favorite baby product and what you like most about it!

*Remember to leave your email address in your comment! YOU MUST DO THIS TO WIN*

After you have completed your first entry you are eligible for additional entries. *See my giveaway instructions here for more information. * *Remember to leave a separate comment for each additional entry and include your e-mail address.*

• Follow my blog publicly through Google friend connect (can be found at my right sidebar.) - current follows count too! Counts for 3 entries. Please leave separate comments per entry!
  
• Subscribe to my blog emails via Feedburner. Sign up box on my right sidebar. Counts for 2 entries. Please leave separate comments per entry!
• Blog about THIS giveaway between and February 15th and February 25th and gain TWO entries!!! link back to my site- leave the URL where you blogged. Please leave separate comments for each entry. Example "I blogged about your Hayneedle giveaway@ #1" then "I blogged about your Hayneedle giveaway@ #2".
  
• Grab my Happily Domestic button! (found at right sidebar)- Leave the URL where it is posted.
• Follow HappilyDomestic on Twitter and tweet about this giveaway (counts as 1 entry)- after this you may "tweet" daily and gain an extra entry each day that you tweet-limit one per day. Leave your tweet status.
• Like Happily Domestic on Facebook. Click here. Leave a comment saying that you did this.
• Enter any of my current giveaways, leave a comment and tell me which giveaway you entered. Counts as 1 entry per giveaway entered. Please leave separate comments per giveaway you entered.
• Sign up for Hayneedle's emails for savings and updates. Click here (sign up box is at bottom of page). Leave a comment saying that you did this.
• Like Hayneedle on Facebook. Click here. Be sure to tell them Happily Domestic sent you! Leave a comment saying that you did this.
• Follow Hayneedle on Twitter. Click here. Leave a comment saying that you did this.
• Subscribe to Hayneedle's Blog. Click here. Leave a comment saying that you did this.

Giveaway ends Monday, February 28th, 2010 at 8:00 p.m.(MST). Winner will be drawn by the random number generator at Random.org and will be notified by email. Winner will also be announced on this blog. Winner will have 48 hours to respond or a new winner will be drawn.
*This giveaway is open to USA residents ONLY. Must be 18 years old or older to win.*

Thank you to Hayneedle.com who provided me with the crib for review.
All opinions are my own and no other compensation
was received to conduct this review and giveaway.

*THIS GIVEAWAY HAS ENDED*