Small Things Are Big Things

June 17, 2013 by: Kara Noel Lawson

GoodNites Make Happy Bunkbeds

This shop is part of a social shopper marketing insight campaign with Pollinate Media Group™ and GoodNites, but all my opinions are my own. #pmedia #BetterNights http://cmp.ly/3/8vNxcO

I told Cy we were going to the store to get potty training stuff. He was over the moon excited and asked if he could bring his train.
Well sure! Mommy is feeling gracious today.
The whole car ride he was talking about the “potty twain.” We got to Target, skimmed the dollar section, paroozed the clothes and ended up in the baby section, where I ooooed and awed over the tiny baby clothes. Am I the only one who can’t get over the smallness of newborns? Even though I’ve had four children, I still can’t believe how little they start out.
Anyway, we get to the diaper section and I pull up to the GoodNites Bed Mats (green package, top shelf at my Target). And I’m pretty excited about these things.

GoodNites disposable bed mats
See, my boys have a bunk bed.
Every time I change the sheets on their bunk bed I feel like I should get an award for not throwing out my back.
Tell me I’m not the only one??
Or at least share your sheet changing tips.
We are potty training, and Cy sleeps on the bottom bunk – a full sized bed. That’s a lot of laundry when your sweet little baby is wetting the bed every night.
So you take the disposable bed mat, peel the sticky back off and smack that thing on the bed.

It stays put, and if your little one goes potty then you don’t have to do laundry.
I’m thinking of using these for Cy at naptime because he sweats so much!
Seriously folks.
It’s gross.

Remember how I mentioned, Cy was super excited to go to Target to get potty training stuff? Well, it turns out, he thought I said “party train.”
How do I know this?
Because he had a crying fit as we were leaving the store because he wanted to take a ride on the party train.
Oh, dear sweet son, so do I, so do I.
How about we sit on the potty for an hour instead, then eat our weight in gummy bears?
OK!

If you are in the market for some GoodNites Bed Mats, click here for a $1.50 off coupon!
If you want to see how I potty train around here, check out this potty training post I wrote ages ago.

And because we know potty “training” is more like potty “waiting,” here is a little bit of our recent waiting…

June 12, 2013 by: Kara Noel Lawson

Cheese for Dinner. Yes.

I love cheese and I think wine is dandy. When my aunt suggested we go to The Wine and Cheese Restaurant in Westminster CO for a date, while she watched the kids… how could we refuse?
We loved the place so much, I had to write a quick post, just in case you happen to be in that area. The Wine and Cheese Restaurant is located in an outdoor mall called The Orchard Town Center, with loads of shops and a movie theater. We walked over to the movie theater to see The Great Gatsby (best movie ever!!) after dinner.
Dates with your sweetie are the best.
The picture above was our dinner… which (shockingly) completely filled us up. We also split a flight of 4 wines. It was the perfect amount of food.
Check out the Wine and Cheese Restaurant’s complete menu here and get ready to drool over their cheeses… if you are a cheese lover like me.
Here’s what we got:

Trio platter – three items for $31

Walnut Gourmandise – Cow’s milk. France. Soft, buttery and with a hint of sweet served drizzled with Colorado wildflower honey. A customer favorite with its smooth and creamy layering of cheese and crunchy walnuts.

Fleur Vert – Goat’s Milk. France. Fleur Vert (green flower) is a rindless soft creamy cheese covered in fresh thyme, tarragon and pink peppercorns. Mild goat flavor with some sweetness which is not that usual in fresh goat cheese. The herbs cover the cheese creating a beautiful contrast with the white of the cheese though they do not overpower the creaminess of the cheese, a delightful treat, even if you are not (yet) a goat cheese lover.

Honey Smoked Salmon -Colorado, Lightly smoked after being marinated for several hours in a secret blend of all natural herbs and spices. Then the fish is smoked over 100 percent hickory wood keeping it extremely moist, tasty, and tender.

Delish, my friends!
View our whole trip here:

June 11, 2013 by: Kara Noel Lawson

Dinosaur Tracking at Dinosaur Ridge

We arrived in Denver to stay with family and did normal family stuff, like learn to fly fish in the back yard and work out.

The next morning my cousin suggested we check out Dinosaur Ridge just outside Denver in Morrison CO, to see real fossils. We did, and it was such a blast for the kids (and us). Dinosaur Ridge has a small exhibit hall, gift shop, tours, and outdoor area. The whole place is great for kids because it’s very interactive. And a great place for parents because it’s so inexpensive.
We got to The Ridge in the afternoon and ate a picnic lunch at the entrance area and played around big giant dinosaurs.

The outside area has lots of {FREE} hands-on activities like digging for fossils and life sized dinosaur tracks in the concrete. Along with a few information plaques which my little scholar had me read. Every single one!

reading about dinos

But the highlight for us was most definitely the guided shuttle bus tour. It’s $5 a person (4 years old & younger are free) and takes you up the ridge on a 40 minute tour to see the fossils, with a few stops along the way. We called our bus the Stegosaur-bus and suggested they put Stegosaurs plates across the top. Wouldn’t that be fun!?!?
Fun Fact: Stegosaurs is the state fossil of Colorado because it was first found in their great state.

We learned about what the area looked like long ago, and our tour guide, Matt, showed us dino tracks and taught us how to recognize real fossils.

…and we thought every rock was a fossil.
Except for Cy…

One of the stops was their famous Dinosaur Tracksite. The hillside has hundreds of fossilized dinosaur footprints imbedded in the rock.
Cousin pic… (Tessa’s “cheese” face here kills me!)

After the Stegosaur-bus tour we hit up the small exhibit hall. My favorite part was seeing what the USA looked like a gazillion years ago. The kids liked it all.

Things to know, if you go:

The entry area is a great place for a picnic lunch.
Spend some time doing the free hands-on outside activities.
Do the shuttle bus tour ($5 for everyone 5+) and don’t forget a lil’ tip for the driver.
They have a great gift shop with real fossil for as little as $4. We purchased a dinosaur book with a compilation of stories for $8.
If you have older children consider hiking the 1.5 mile Triceratops Trail.

View our whole trip here:

June 10, 2013 by: Kara Noel Lawson

Ubooly an Educational Pal

We’ve added a little fella into our family.
He’s adorable, clever and tells the cutest jokes.
And his name is Ubooly!

But since he’s sleeping I’ll share a bit about the morning he came into our lives.
Early on a Saturday morning, Cora Jane came running up the stairs and said…

She summed Ubooly up pretty well – just by looking at the box!
He’s a little orange guy who responds to your voice, and whose face appears on your phone. The phone slides inside the toy and offers plenty of bounce protection if when your child drops him during playtime.
What she didn’t mention is Ubooly is a FREE educational app on your phone. One you can customize in the Ubooly Lab toward your child’s interests. Parents can log on to the Lab (also free!) and see what their child has been working on, or switch up the lessons as their child is ready to move to another topic. AND you can program more than one child into that one app. A cost effective toy for big families…holla!!
This was Eli’s Lab today:

It’s a no-joke app and takes some time to download. So you might want to download it before you’ve talked it up to your kids and they are brimming with excitement to play…ahem.

Slip Ubooly in. Zip the top closed. And play.

Ubooly is doesn’t just spit out educational facts, he’s very interactive. Eli loves the jokes (What do you call a bear without teeth? A Gummy Bear!), and adventures (pretend).

The actual Ubooly toy is $29.99, but the app is free and you can play with the app on a phone without the toy. On the phone you are playing in Ubooly’s house! You get to do the same fun activities and kids earn coins to “buy” Ubooly furniture and accessories. My kids really like playing this as well!

Happy Learning!

June 8, 2013 by: Kara Noel Lawson

RoseArt Gives Surprises

It’s National Donut Day.
Because that’s a super important thing to celebrate.
Don’t get me wrong. I LOVE donuts!!
But really.
I can’t wait for archeologists to discover a list of our “holidays” and see National Donut Day. They’ll think we worshiped donuts.
Then they’ll find a donut recipe.
And they will understand.
The donut above is from RoseArt. It’s chalk, so you shouldn’t eat it.
It’s not secret I’m a huge fan of RoseArt! I love that they try to “think outside the paper.” The donut is from a whole dessert chalk series last summer. I’ve also just tried their Goo-Hu, which bounces right off the paper… because you can make your own bouncy ball at home.
How fun is that? We put little LEGO bricks inside.

A few other things we love are the Scraps toy and and Color Blanks.
(Below is Rapunzel and Darth Maul.)

RoseArt has been gracious enough to donate a “Surprise Pack” for our Small Things giveaway week. They never disappoint with their goodies so the winner is in for an artistic huge treat!
The only product I insisted be included, is their Glitter Magic Markers. These things have an off the charts glitter ratio. A favorite for my glitter loving artist.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Disclosure, yo: RoseArt has given me stuff for for free in the past and will send one winner a box of art stuff for free too. Aren’t they nice! But all my opinions are my own. What else can I disclose?… um… I never do a post about something I don’t like… ever. Oh and I cuss at my kids. Hope that covers all the bases. Blarg.

June 6, 2013 by: Kara Noel Lawson

Del Real Foods Makes for a Quick Dinner

It’s no secret that I’m not a fan of cooking.
(But I’m learning and I can’t wait to share)
With 4 kiddos sometimes it’s suddenly 5 pm and I’m struggling to think of something for dinner. Instead of reaching for the chicken nuggets and corn dogs during the dinnertime scramble, check out Del Real Foods. (Find them at the grocery store or buy directly from www.mexgrocers.com.)
Let me walk you through tonight’s dinner…
Step 1: I pulled the Chile Verde, Frijoles Refritos, Cheese and Bell Pepper Pupusas out of the fridge.

Step 2: Looked at the clock and calculated T-minus 9 minutes till dinner.

Step 3: Eat chips and yummy salsa.

Step 4: Read the instructions. (I’m a HUGE instruction follower… like obsessive)

Step 5: Microwave.
Side Note: I’m not a fan of the microwave. I never cook food in it, just sometimes heat things up.
But tonight I had 9 minutes!
All of the Del Real Food is already fully cooked AND there are alternate heating instructions too! If you do microwave the beans, then get your kids before you take them out because they will think this is really cool…

Step 6: Read the nutrition facts – 0 Trans fats, Milk and Gluten free! No preservatives, and locally made here in California.
And ignore the dirty dishes.

Step 7: Dish it up.

In just about 15 minutes I had dinner on the table.
I’m simple.

But if you are just a little less simple, check out this simple 1-minute video of a simple dinner you can make using the Del Real Foods… (and use the word simple a lot)

Del Real Foods would be great for your next party.
Why don’t you have a party?
My treat.
OK…ok… Del Real Foods’ treat…
Enter to win a Party in a Box!
You’ll get this giant box (sans adorable toddler) filled with loads of food and all you have to do is invite your friends over for dinner.

Frijoles Refritos, Cheese and Bell Pepper Pupusas, Chile Verde, Carnitas, Pollo Asado, Beef Tamales and salsa. Plus you’ll get a reusable shopping bag and a pretty sweet tee shirt.

Connect with Del Real Foods on…
Del Real Foods on Facebook
Del Real Foods on Twitter
Del Real Foods on Instagram
Del Real Foods on Pinterest
Del Real Foods on YouTube

Follow the instructions in the box below to get your own Del Real Foods Party in a Box.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Disclosure, yo: Del Real Foods gave me a giant box of food for free and will send one winner the giant box of food for free too. Aren’t they nice! But all my opinions are my own. What else can I disclose?… um… I never do a post about something I don’t like… ever. Oh and I cuss at my kids. Hope that covers all the bases. Blarg.

June 5, 2013 by: Kara Noel Lawson

Creative Friends Giveaway

Social media is a funny thing.
I started blogging for my business, and blogging really is the reason my biz has grown. I had hoped it would increase my “virtual thumbprint,” but I never thought blogging would end up bringing me friends.
It did.
And here are just a few who have wanted to be involved with the Small Things Week of Giveaways…

Emmy from Much Ado About You is giving away a one of her famous Day Planners AND a Desk Calendar…

One of the things I love most about Much Ado About you is Emmy’s heart. We had only met briefly at Café Rio (looking back, it was totally God) and she ended up coming to my house multiple times while my mom was dying, for encouragement and company. AND she let me come to her Choose Joy women’s conference with one day’s notice right after my mom died and had prepared everything like I had registered a month before.
Seriously folks, I’m crying as I type this, because it meant so much to me.
Small things are big things, friends!

Connect with Emmy aka Much Ado About You:
Shop – Much Ado About You
Much Ado About You on Facebook
Much Ado About You on Twitter
Much Ado About you on Instagram
Much Ado About You on Pinterest
You should really take some time to read Emmy’s Adoption Story here.

Andrea from The Train to Crazy is giving away a a $20 gift card to her shop, Go To Patterns. Don’t be sad if you don’t win. You can still get 20% off with the coupon code BIGTHINGS. (20% off a purchase of $10 or more. Expires 6/30)
Andrea was the first person I met with 4 kids who had it together. She may not agree, but I had just had Tess 3 weeks prior to meeting her at the So Cal Social and I was a mess! She was out and about without kids and it was a light at the end of the tunnel for me.
AND she made the most adorable treats for the nurses who were taking care of my mom. I remember feeling so alone when Andrea offered to make goodies. I picked them up from her house, and the care she put into each one brought me to tears.
Still does.
Read about it here and make some treats for nurses who have impacted your life.
Small things are big things, friends!

If you sew, you will love her shop Go To Patterns! I bought this Summer’s Sun & Surf Collection because I fell in love with the skirt pattern. I still haven’t made it. But I know I will. Someday. And I’ll blog about it!

Connect with Andrea aka The Train to Crazy:
Blog – The Train to Crazy
Shop – Go To Patterns
Go To Patterns on Twitter
Go To Patterns on Facebook
Go To Patterns on Pinterest
Need a rad press kit? Andrea makes those too!

Elizabeth from Sew Chatty is giving away one of her adorable handmade clutches.

I invited Elizabeth to a party at my house (after only knowing her on Instagram) and after all the guests left the party we talked together for 2 more hours! She’s talented and upbeat and I look forward to her positive attitude whenever we hang out!
Small things are big things!

Connect with Elizabeth aka Sew Chatty:
Blog – Sew Chatty
Shop – Sew Chatty
Sew Chatty on Twitter
Sew Chatty on Facebook
Sew Chatty on Pinterest
Sew Chatty on Instagram

So there will be 3 winners! First winner will get the first choice, second will get next pick, and third will get the 3rd awesome prize! Follow the directions in the box below and Good Luck!!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Disclosure, yo: These lovely ladies either gifted these items or gave them to me for an awesome discount so I could share them with you. What else can I disclose?… um… I never do a post about something I don’t like… ever. Oh and I cuss at my kids. Hope that covers all the bases. Blarg.

June 4, 2013 by: Kara Noel Lawson

Flower Girl World

Every little girl dreams of being a flower girl.
I was one (wish I had a picture to share!) and just two summers ago Cora Jane was one too.
A really cute one.
In my {totally biased} opinion…

Author, Lynelle Woolley, and illustrator, Karen Wolcott, have created a world that’s all about flower girls. Flower Girl World. A true celebration of ALL THINGS flower girl!

Lynelle has written a picture book, Camellia the Fabulous Flower Girl, and a chapter book, Rosie and the Wedding Day Rescue and each is designed to help brides create an incredible experience for their special little girl.

Lynelle, sent me a copy of each book for Cora Jane and Tess and they are a huge hit! The illustrations are vibrant and the girls loved the stories.
You can see Cora Jane’s first reaction to the books in the video below…

And it just so happened the bride who gave Cora Jane her ‘flower girl debut’ was visiting and read her the Flower Girl World books. Side Note: Eli loved them too!

The books make a great gift for any girl but if you happen to be planning a wedding, then you are in luck! Flower Girl World has an awesome celebration kit. Complete with both books, and activities to keep your flower girl happy, busy, and feeling special before, during, and after the wedding. This is a great flower girl gift!
FGW was also just highlighted in US Weekly last week!

I can already tell this book is becoming a fast favorite!

Don’t you want a kit for the little flower girl in your life?
Win one!
Follow the instructions in the box below to win one copy of the picture book, Camellia the Fabulous Flower Girl, AND one copy of the chapter book, Rosie and the Wedding Day Rescue!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Flower Girl World on Facebook
Flower Girl World on Twitter
Flower Girl World Pinterest
Flower Girl World Jabbersmack

Disclosure, yo: Flower Girl World gave me the adorable books for free and will send one winner both books for free too. Aren’t they nice! But all my opinions are my own. And I made that sweet video myself and used my own supplies. What else can I disclose?… um… I never do a post about something I don’t like… ever. Oh and I cuss at my kids. Hope that covers all the bases. Blarg.

June 4, 2013 by: Kara Noel Lawson

Visiting Garden of the Gods

After our excursion the Air Force Academy (and lunch at Subway). We drove to Garden of the Gods.

I love this place. It’s a 480-acre area of land filled with rock formations, hiking, and horseback riding.
And it’s free! (The last wishes of the land’s owner, who died in 1907.)
We got there on a busy day and it was crowded. The husbands found a spot right away and took the big kids to the Park and the wives took the little kids to the Visitor Center. This was a great arrangement because it was late in the afternoon and the little kids were exhausted.
Just like Arches, Garden of the Gods has huge sandstone formations filled with cracks and crevices perfect for climbing. The big kids had a blast exploring. Eli even informed me later, he had found “secret hideouts” that he knew Indians used to live inside long ago.

The Visitor Center is geared toward smaller children, so the little kids had a blast. Though I’m sure the air conditioning would be a welcome reprise for kids of all ages on a hot day! Cyrus loved the full sized mountain lion in all it’s taxidermy-ed glory. He proudly announced to the whole room multiple times, “the mountain lion is DEAD!” The center also had a small section about dinosaurs and a volunteer station with all different animal pelts where kids got to guess which animal each pelt came from. Cy’s favorite part was playing with the trains in the gift shop.
Because we don’t have any trains at home that he plays with all the time already. HA!!

We had ice cream at the café and headed home for naps and dinner.
Then we said goodbye to our friends (boo) and drove just north of Denver for more adventure!

Day 3 – Traveled 85.6 miles

Things to know, if you go:

Parking can be tough. Go early, or park at the visitor center and walk in.
They do have a small Visitor Center and café. Perfect for lunch while out sightseeing.
It’s free to get into the Park!
Easy hiking. (When the kids are older, we plan on trying the horseback riding!)