Tuesday, February 26, 2013

Key Wonder Review & Giveaway!



As a mother of (almost) 4, I am constantly on the go, busy, out and about, and occasionally, losing my mind, among other things. One thing I always can count on losing is my keys! I would either throw them in my purse and then need to dig through an endless mountain of items to find them just to leave the grocery store. Or I'd put them in my coat pocket (that did not zip in y previous coat) and be afraid of losing them. I'd sit them down at home on the counter or table, and the kids would get a hold of them and do God knows what with them!

When I was asked to review a new KeyWonder Automatic Key Holder, I was excited! I have to admit, I was a little skeptical of how good this product would work before I received it.

I was sent several of these Key Wonders for review. I wasted NO time in trying out mine! I got my keys attached and clipped the Key Wonder to my purse strap, somewhere handy and that I was sure to never lose them!


I really was impressed with this product! As you can see from the photo, there are two tiny little buttons to press on each side of the Key Wonder. You push those at the same time, and pull down, and the key wonder comes apart, so you have your keys in your hand for use (driving, unlocking doors, etc.) while the other piece stays clipped to your purse or belt loop or wherever you like to keep your keys handy.


The secret? Magnets! There is a magnet on each piece of the Key Wonder, on the inside, that allows them to seamlessly clip together quickly and stay that way unless the two tiny buttons are pressed in together while pulling your keys away. 



I love that I just press the buttons and pull and my keys are in my hand and every time I stop the van and get out at our destination, I clip the keys back on and they are attached to my purse the rest of my time out, never to get lost in my endless purse again, or fall out of my pocket in a crowded store or doctor's office and get lost. When I am home, my keys stay clipped to my purse there as well, and my purse hangs by our door, so I always know where they are at home too, and can grab them as I rush out the door if I need to!

My husband uses a Key Wonder for his work keys, and he took a couple extras to work to give to his co workers to try out, and I have heard nothing but good things from them either! My husband is NOTORIOUS for losing his keys so this is a perfect solution for him! With the busy-ness at his job, it's essential that nobody wastes time losing keys and searching for them, and Key Wonder assures that will never happen again!

We also gave our friends a Key Wonder to test out, and they were happy with never losing their keys again as well!

All of the skeptism I may have had before getting this product flew out the window after I was able to try it out. I was SOLD instantly and would recommend this product to everyone I know! Key Wonder truly is wondrous! 

Purchase it: You can purchase a Key Wonder of your very own at their website!

WIN IT: TWO lucky readers of Mama 2 Multiples are going to WIN a Key Wonder Automatic Key Holder of their very own! To enter, simply follow the instructions below and fill out the giveaway form!






Knot Genie Review & Giveaway!


As a little girl, I always had horribly snarly and tangled hair, ALL the time! It was horrid to get my hair brushed and I dreaded it every day. I have been fairly lucky with Merasia not having too terrible of hair to brush. It doesn't get tangled too often, but it is getting longer and thicker, so there are more instances now that it's not so easy to brush out, especially after she gets out of the bath at times.

I was asked to review a Knot Genie hair brush, and I was excited to try this out for Merasia's occasionally tangled hair days!

From their website:

"The magic trick behind the Knot Genie™ is one we are happy to reveal. It all has to do with the different lengths of teeth on the brush. When brushing, they bend just right, to gently untangle the hair. And because of this lack of stress, the hair's cuticle stays unharmed... revealing the smoothest, shiniest hair you've ever seen."

I really liked the sleek style and feel of this brush when I first got it and checked it out. It's shaped like a cloud, and fits all hands easily. Sometimes this shape does make it a little more difficult to hold, or get used to at least, but once you get past that, it is very easy and feels natural to hold and use.

I tried this brush for the first time in Merasia's hair after she had a bath one night. This was her hair before we brushed it:


And this was after using the Knot Genie to brush her hair:



Nice, straight, and smooth. :)

Just to get the best idea possible of this hair brush and it's good use, I wanted to try it out on my own hair. My hair gets tangled at times after taking a shower or even just when it's dry. I have to say though, when I tried it out, I was really turned off from how much the bristles hurt my scalp. I like that they are all different lengths and that is the "trick" of the Knot Genie, but it really hurt my scalp while I used it, so I sure hope that is not the case for Merasia. Ever since then, I am very careful when using it for her hair, so as not to hurt her scalp, and of course I think she would tell me if it did hurt, but I'm still very careful.

There have been quite a few times where I did not think the Knot Genie worked well for her hair. Her hair is pretty thick though, so that can contribute to the Knot Genie not working as well as it might in thinner or shorter hair. 

The bottom line though, is it DOES work and do what it says it does, but it's all a matter of personal preference. We still use this brush in our home regularly, I just wish the bristles didn't hurt your scalp and when Merasia's hair is really, really tangled, I wish it worked better in getting through the tangles without pulling her hair.

Purchase it: You can purchase a Knot Genie for yourself at their website!


WIN IT: ONE lucky reader of Mama 2 Multiples is going to WIN a Knot Genie of their very own! To enter, simply follow the instructions and fill out the form below!




Gender Reveal Party!

So, as everyone knows, we had our big ultrasound back in January, and we were not going to find out the sex of the baby. We did have the ultrasound tech look for the gender and print that photo out and put it in an envelope, so our midwife could keep it at her office in our file, and if we changed our minds later in the pregnancy, we could just ask for it and look, since we won't be getting any more ultrasounds. I got weak though, and peeked later that day when we got home. Hubs still didn't want to know, so I told my best friend, who I know could keep it secret, just to get it out of me before I burst! Days went by and I finally convinced hubs to let me tell him. He agreed to look, but we decided we wouldn't tell our families or everyone else, just a couple other friends. We did that and that plan was good for a while. Then my best friend suggested we have a diaper shower, and while researching stuff for that and planning it, she came across a lot of ideas of a gender reveal party, and asked if that was something we may be interested in doing. I was for it, but didn't think hubs would be. I mentioned it to him, and he thought it was a really cool idea, so we set out planning for that! 

We just had the party this past Sunday. It ended up being on hub's birthday, so we combined them all. It was a gender reveal party/diaper shower/birthday party for Frank. We had a smaller turn out than we first expected, but it was still good and there were still 6 or so people there that had no idea what we were having, so that was still exciting! We had a cake made, and the inside was pink or blue, depending on what the baby's gender was of course, so everyone knew when we cut into the cake. It was so fun!

I guess I won't waste anymore time, and will just get to it already!

Here is the cake.................................



YES!! It's a GIRL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 

We had more people at the party who were "team pink" than team blue. Interesting! We told everyone to wear pink if they thought the baby was a girl, and blue if they thought it was a boy. It was so fun to see who thought what! Of course two of our friends there knew what we were having before the party, but it was still fun! We had pictures taken of "Team Pink" and "Team Blue" so we can remember the party and who thought what for gender, etc.
TEAM PINK!

TEAM BLUE! (Only my niece and nephew...hubs was in the pic just to be goofy!)


We had a little area set up for everyone to make guesses as to the date of baby's arrival, her weight, length, and time, and whoever is right on or closest after birth, will get a gift card as a prize. 


Of course there were gifts to open too. Hubs had birthday gifts to open from me and the kiddos, and I had a few baby gifts to open, as well as my first ever diaper cake made for me by my best friend!











It was a very successful and fun party, and it is nice to be able to share all of the preparations for baby now, that everyone knows and can see all the fun girly stuff we already have for her! I am glad we chose to do the gender reveal party, I'd highly recommend it to everyone! It's SO much fun, even if you already know the gender before everyone else, the excitement of sharing it with everyone is SO fun! I would do it again if we ever had another, bu 4 was it for us. :)






Connor & Merasia's 4th Birthday Party!

I just realized that in all of the busy-ness of the twins' birthday party, our big ultrasound, and school starting for the spring for me, I haven't even updated on the birthday party!

We held Connor and Merasia's birthday on January 14th, at a local town hall-like place nearby where we live. First of all, we had a slight cake drama fiasco that nearly caused me to have a nervous breakdown. On Saturday, the day before the party, I was notified by our baker, that she would not be able to make the twins' cake, which was supposed to be this cake:



Needless to say, this set off numerous nervous breakdowns for mama! I called around to the two big grocery stores in the town we life in, and asked if they do specialty cakes (like this one). Both said they could, so when hubs got home that night, I ran out to each store to see what they could do for me. The first one did wedding cakes and tiered birthday cakes, etc., so I was hopeful. But, for some reason they could not make a Dora and Diego cake, or even just copy the one seen in this picture, and advised me to come back at 6 in the morning to talk to the manager and baker for the next day. That was too stressful for me. I needed a solution right THEN and THERE, and knew I would not be able to sleep or relax that night with no solution. I was much more hopeful after leaving the second store, where the associate took me entire order, saw the cakes I wanted, put the order together and everything and said they would be ready the next afternoon for me. I knew it wouldn't be EXACTLY what I wanted in the photo, but it would be pretty darn close so I relaxed and again was happy and excited for the party. The next morning, the day of the party, hubs and I went to the place we were having it at, to set up some tables the way we wanted them arranged, and set up the bounce house to check it out and place that where we wanted it to go. While we were there I got a call from the grocery store that they were very sorry but the associate who took my order the night before should not have taken that order, because the cake was not something they could do. They were willing to give me a sheet cake and two smaller individual cakes for free, to make up for it. But I didn't want that. Sheet cakes are boring, and everyone has sheet cakes. This was the twins' biggest birthday party yet, because they had friends coming from preschool and daycare, and parents that I had yet to meet and get to know, and part of me wanted to impress everyone, but really, the cake is just as important as every other piece of the parties I plan. It's right up there with the kids having fun, and being happy, etc. So this was beyond devastating for me. There was nothing I could do, since it was so late for any bigger bakery to make such an elaborate cake for later that afternoon. I had no choice but to either have no cake for the party, or deal with a stupid, boring ol' sheet cake. If it had not been the day of the party, I would have cancelled the whole thing and rescheduled it for the next weekend, so we could have had the cake we wanted and planned for. So, we ended up with this for cake:




It tasted good, but it's cake. Cake just tastes good, period. Having this happen and having to have these stupid (in my opinion) cakes, ruined the party for me. 

Needless to say, the party went on anyway. The twins had a bunch of friends that came, a couple teachers from their daycare, as well as a couple of our really close friends, both grandmas (my mom and hubs mom), and their aunt (hub's sister). 

All the kids had a blast bouncing in the bounce house and playing on the slides and mats we had set up. I also had a coloring and play doh station set up to keep little ones busy and happy.



After everyone had some chili, veggies, chips, and dip for snacks, it was time for Connor and Merasia to open their many presents!








They got lots and lots of cool new toys and clothes to wear and play with! They were very happy with their goodies! After we opened gifts, it was time for cake!






Connor didn't bother with his fork and dug right in, wasting no time!




This was the aftermath of his cake when he was finally done...


Merasia, always the lady, used her fork and took only a few bites before she decided she was full and didn't want anymore cake. 


Little brother enjoyed lots of cake himself...



After cake was finally done, guests were slowly getting ready to leave and saying goodbye. We cleaned everything up, got everyone loaded into the van, and headed home ourselves. It was a successful birthday party, even though it was ruined for me. I still wish I would have cancelled and rescheduled to get the cake we wanted and everything. Next time, a disaster like that will NOT be happening!

I was never so glad to see the craziness of that party end though. A lot of preparation and work went into it from me, and it was literally exhausting. I felt like I hadn't slept in months by the time it was all said and done! 

Now, Mason's birthday is fast approaching, and yet another birthday party...oy vey! ;)












Sunday, February 17, 2013

Purex Crystals for Baby Review & Giveaway!


I love anything that will help make my job as mom and my mom chores, such as laundry, easier, and of course I love anything that involves my children's clothing and freshness! Purex Crystals for baby is a brand new product just barely being sold in your local Walmart, and hopefully soon, other grocery stores. I was given the chance to review a bottle of Purex Crystals for Baby a few weeks ago, before it even hit stores! (Another lovely perk of being a Purex Insider!) ;) I could smell these crystals before even opening the container! I was very anxious to try them out in my laundry!

They are very easy to use. You simply add your clothes and laundry detergent to the washer, and add in a capful of these crystals to the load too. 




If you prefer more freshness, or have a larger or heavily soiled load, you can add more than one capful. Since I have started doing our laundry at the local laundromat (cheaper than the washers and dryers we have in the building where we live), I manage to get all of our 4 or 5 loads of laundry a week into the one huge washer there, so I add a few capfuls of the crystals to my wash. 



I wish I could add a scent to this post, so all of you readers could smell how amazing our laundry smells after washing it with these added crystals!

The freshness really does last longer than when I wash our clothes with just the detergent, and I have noticed how much more soft our clothing, specifically our towels, come out after using Purex Crystals. The only thing I wish was different, was that these came in bigger bottles, because we use them up so quickly with how much laundry we do regularly, and how large of loads we do. 

I have since purchased a different scent of Purex Crystals at my local grocery store, and was surprised that they really are not that expensive! They are under $5! Very, very reasonable!

I would definitely recommend these to everyone I know, and already have since first trying out this bottle for myself! 

Purchase It: You can purchase the Purex Crystals for Baby reviewed here, at your local Walmart, and other scents at your local grocery store!

WIN IT: TWO lucky readers of Mama 2 Multiples are going to WIN a coupon for a FREE bottle of Purex Crystals for Baby! To enter, simply fill out the Giveaway Tools form below!