The busy life plus three: October 2016

Monday, October 31, 2016

Luke's First Year Recap with Shutterfly





As a mother I take hundreds of pictures of my kids, obviously my close friends think I am crazy and tease me all the time as they tell me to put the camera down. My little sister hates sometimes being stuck as my "photographer" for the day when I ask her to snap a couple of photos of the kids and I when we go out. And well...my husband already knows he has no other choice, and besides he enjoys being on the other side of the camera. Which is why I love him even more, he totally gets me because you can never have too many pictures of your family! I mean how can you not have all these cute photos of your little ones? I can't be the only one..right?

I just love capturing moments of my kids whether if it's simply at home, playing in the neighborhood park, hanging out at the mall, going out for dinner with friends or any special family gathering I tend to snap a few photos when I can get the opportunity. Which is why my iPhone is overloaded with all my photos taken with my Canon Rebel and using up all the little available storage space that's left. And honestly many of my photos just stay there and I tend to forget to share them with family and mostly never get to upload them on social media nor send them to get printed. I guess I keep them for my own self, as I get to look back at how much my kids have grown. I tend to do that quite often. 


With that being said, I've realized that soon the holidays will be here now that the Halloween festivities are coming to an end. And as sad as it is to admit to myself my baby is already ONE, as a matter of fact he is going on a year and a half soon and I have yet to print out his first year photos. Two weeks ago I hadn't even started on his first year book like a typical good mother should and I felt terrible about it. I remember with my first child I started a scrapbook way before he was born, by the second month I was halfway done with it. Back then I had so much more time and a routine. Fast forward to now I'll admit that being a mom of 3 kids is overwhelming, chaotic, and there is always so much to do and so much going on that finding time to work on one can tend to feel time consuming. Which makes me put it off even longer, no wonder I procrastinate on a lot of things. I am kinda ashamed to admit we have no photo books in our home, although I have always loved the thought of making one. And that is why I turn to Shutterfly.

To my surprise Shutterfly's Make My Book service made this process so easy and enjoyable. With Shutterfly you save all of the time in creating your photo book because you basically have someone else do all the work, it's like a dream come true. No need to spend hours and hours customizing a book. With this service of only a small fee of $9.99 a Shutterfly rep will professionally begin to design your photo book. Within a few days you will be sent a preview of the book and you can edit any changes if needed to. 



  
The process is extremely quick, in my own personal experience getting the photos uploaded was the longest  process only because I had so many pictures still on my SD card and others that needed to be uploaded to my desktop although you can get them directly from your Facebook or Instagram if you choose to. Once you picked out all the photos you'll like to use and arranged them accordingly to how you'll like them display along with a book theme you'll be all set to go. I used Shutterfly's "modern white" and made it out to be focus on Luke's First Year with all his milestones and special occasions that our family had together as we have become a family of five. I also added a story tell to it by including a small part of his birth story to his book along with an update of month by month counting to his first birthday. 





I'm a bit of a perfectionist when it comes to my personal projects and how I want things to look a certain way so I was a bit nervous on how the book will look overall but had high hopes that I would be pleased by sticking with an all white modern look to my book. 




I waited patiently for my book and once it arrived I was more than pleased with it. The moment I began to go through it I was ready to cry, it was like going back to the morning Luke was born. I was stunned with the quality of the book. It was way bigger than I had imagined, so I was glad I went with am 11x14. All I can say is I am in L O V E with it. The book turned out to be more than I expected it to be. The page and picture quality is amazing and I have no words to thank Shutterfly for such a beautiful book and for making a book full of memories that we will treasure forever. If anything it provided a story my kids look forward to reading to their baby brother. I know for a fact that I will continue to add more photo books to our home and start a collection that my family will cherish forever.






Friday, October 7, 2016

Keeping it clean with HEFTY Ultra Strong


If you are anything like me you know kids and their dirty mess drive us moms CRAZY. When it comes to cleaning the kitchen I absolutely hate doing it. If there is anything about motherhood that I constantly dread is poopy diapers and cleaning my kitchen once the kids are done eating. I don't think anyone knows what I mean until you share a kitchen table with my youngest. That child will make sure all the food hits the kitchen floors, walls, and the glass table before it gets to his mouth. And no I promise I am not exaggerating. He's at the age where he wants to feed himself with no help, does not matter if he cannot hold his spoon or fork correctly because he does not mind dropping all his food. With all this chaos I am grateful to have a product like Hefty that brings some strength to my tough days. It's like having John Cena here being my helper when carrying out the trash, his strength sure could be needed in my household everyday. But if anything, I can count on Hefty when cleaning up and throwing away all the plastic plates with the remaining uneaten food that the kids might have left, for example the excessive ketchup always left behind. Along with all the juice boxes, bulky boxes after shopping at Costco, empty food jars and cans. Their exceptional performance  makes my cleaning so much easier. 




 I can count on the active tear resistant technology for superior strength because I am guilty of letting my trashcan overflow to the top just like the dishes pile up in my sink (GUILTY). I don't have to worry about the bag tearing when its filled up, even on the days that it's super heavy the drawstrings don't break because of their resistant grip. And I cannot forget my mornings followed after our breakfast, when baby Luke lets that diaper bomb explode with the most disgusting smelly diaper you can imagine. 

YES this is the ugly truth of motherhood! 

But this is when these trash bags come to my rescue big time! Not only does it keep trash in but it keeps the smell in too! Hefty Ultra Strong Kitchen trash bags have Arm & Hammer patented odor neutralizer. Meaning no stinking up my garage or outside trash bins while we wait for trash pick up days.


These trash bags are already at a great new price compared to other brands, but to make it even better I am sharing a $1 off coupon with you guys! Trust me these bags get the job done, I have now found the right brand and a product I can rely on without a doubt.