How to Shop Marshalls

Marshalls is one of my favorite places to shop! Having one so close to my house makes it extra easy to pop-in and shop. Since working with TJMaxx and Marshalls on their Back-to-School campaign, I’ve been asked how I shop TJMaxx and/or Marshalls. It’s easy to write out tips… but I thought it would be fun to take you on an actual shopping excursion with me and my 4 sons!

This is how I shop Marshalls… even with 4 boys in tow!

10 Things About Kindergarten

William’s first day of school was today… the BIG Kindergarten!  Drop-off was pretty straight-forward.  William didn’t cry. Shockingly, I didn’t cry either.  It was a big moment for him, but he was ready for it. VERY ready for it… so I think that made it much easier for me.  We took a ba-zillion photos.  I took about 20 minutes worth of video.  And my William took it all in stride… I think he’s finally adapted to this “blogging” thing.

After picking him up from school… and hearing about his first day, I thought of 10 things that I hope William realizes about kindergarten!

1.  Someday he’ll be wishing 85% of his class consisted of GIRLS!

2.  There is definitely recess next year.

3.  He is the only McClelland boy in school right now… enjoy the freedom while it lasts!

4.  The pencil sharpener will work soon enough… the teacher promised.

5.  I won’t ask to hold your hand to the classroom every single morning…

6.  Glad you’re less worried about taking the school bus than I am about you taking it!

7.  Aren’t you glad we packed a big snack?

8.  I’m glad you knew one person in your class…

9.  Sooner or later you will run into Ryan, Carly and Aidan.

10.  Tomorrow I’ll pick you up with your 3 brothers… and they’ll see what’s in store for them throughout the next 3 years.

Kindergarten… My oldest is heading to Kindergarten…

Today William starts Kindergarten. Quite honesty, I can’t believe it. My oldest son is starting school. Real. Big. Boy. School.

He doesn’t understand the rite of passage at hand today. Right now he’s just running around the house chasing Henry… not a nerve in his body about today. He’s ready for it. He’s been ready all summer. He’s excited and has already asked me about 10 times this morning what time school starts. He has been in morning preschool for 3 years, so afternoon kindergarten will be a little different for him.

But this morning, when I woke up… I was thinking. This is where it all begins. These are the kids he will be in school with now… some of them, until senior year of high school! This is where they will meet… this is where friendships will be made that may even last a lifetime. Crazy to think that. I still remember my first day of school. Miss Tragar was my teacher. She had curly hair, a beautiful smile and long fingernails. I really remember her fingernails, they were always polished beautifully. I met Faye Lerish and Kari Molvar that year… 2 girls that I was friends with all through high school… and with the emergence of Facebook, I still can keep in touch with now! This is what William has before him today.

I don’t know how the day will unfold (yet). I don’t know if he’ll suddenly get nervous as Matt and I start to leave the classroom. I don’t know if I will cry (or if Matt will). I don’t even know who is teacher is yet (I’ll find out when we head there). All I know is that he’s ready… and truthfully, so am I. I’m just really, really nervous for him.

Hallmark’s Recordable Storybook – All the Ways I Love You *GIVEAWAY, too!

Hallmark’s recordable storybooks are absolutely incredible!  My newest favorite – All the Ways I Love You – is a book that I recorded for my son William.  I actually had to record it 3 times because I kept crying as I began it… this is why it’s so special to me…

I will treasure this book forever because if why and when I recorded it. I love that I can personalize the story and add in bits and pieces that I want to. This is the most special of gifts and something that I am going to do for all of my sons. Thank you Hallmark for making times like this… memorable through beautiful stories.

**I have 2 All the Ways I Love You to giveaway!! Leave me a comment and tell me who you would record this story for!! I will choose 2 winners Monday, Sept 13th!!

Emmys in L.A… What to wear? What to wear?

I landed in L.A. without a dress to wear for the Emmys. Seriously. (OK, I did bring a back-up dress, the one I wore at my Getting Gorgeous event 3 weeks ago, but I didn’t want to wear something I had just worn; not to mention, it wasn’t “fancy” enough for the Emmys!) I don’t know what I was actually thinking… usually I’m pretty good about this kind of thing… but with August being August, and having been here, there and everywhere over the last few weeks, I knew I wouldn’t have the time to go dress shopping with the boys. And as every mom out there knows… shopping with kids isn’t too easy… now imagine 4 boys, 5 and under. I spend my time saying, “Put the hangers down”… “Don’t look under the dressing room!”… “Don’t touch the clothes, guys!” Enough said, right?

So… as soon as we checked into our hotel in L.A., my mom and I realized we were right next door to a Loehmann’s. Believe it or not, I’ve never been in a Loehmann’s in my life. We don’t have any in Rhode Island and when I lived in NYC, I had never headed to the “famous Loehmann’s” there either.

More to come on our shopping trip… but, long story short, I found my dress! It took 3 hours. It took trying on about 100 dresses. And I didn’t want to buy anything over $100. My options were a bit limited… until I spotted this red Cynthia Steefe dress…

I fell in love with it! I just prayed it would fit… and, oh mama-mia… it fit live a glove!

My final look for the Emmys…

Dress: Cynthia Steefe ($89.99)
Jewelry: Lia Sophia from Getting Gorgeous
Shoes: Nine West ($59.99)
*HAIR… more to come on that, by the amazing Suave Professional – Luke O’Connor!

Carnival Cruise Video Montage

All last week were we cruising around the Eastern Caribbean. It was an amazing trip. Carnival Cruise sure knows how to host a family and make a 7-day vacation an incredible treat for everyone!

My top 5 things about our Carnival Cruise:

1. Our steward, Linda. She was exceptional. Each cabin is assigned a personal steward. They make sure you have everything you need for the 7 days and nights in your room. She made animals every night for the boys out of towels and left them in our room. We started having guessing games as to which animal would show up each night!

2. The Kids Camp. It really was wonderful. The staff was pleasant and patient and kind. There were activities every 1/2 hour of the kids to get involved in. It was run amazingly smoothly.

3. Normandie Restaurant and Luciano (our waiter). This was my favorite part of the trip, dinner together every single night. It was special. Our waiter Luciano, who is assigned to you throughout the week, took extra special care of us. The food was great! And they had coloring activities for the kids each night, too.

4. Water Slide! Our family (just me, Matt, William and Alex) must have gone up and down this slide at least 75 times throughout the week. The boys counted 22 times in just one day! They LOVED the slide. It was a great added “fun” bonus to the trip.

5. Mermaid’s Grille. Located on the 9th deck… the Grille was where we ate all our breakfast and lunch meals. Every day there was a deli, pizza, Asian food, salad bar and dessert bar. In addition, they had 2 different stations that they changed every day – BBQ, Southwestern, Italian, etc. It was a great variety!

And now… here’s our video montage of our trip!

Sprouse Brothers Unveil Milk Mustache Ad

At BlogHer a couple of weeks ago, I had the chance to get my own milk mustache. It was a very cool experience for me… considering we go through a gallon of milk a day (not even close to kidding), it was fun for me to do. The Milk Mustache campaign was excited (at BlogHer) to announce who their latest celebs were to wear the iconic Milk Mustache… everyone was guessing as to who it would be… (or who they would be)!

I’m excited to announce that the Sprouse Brothers – Dylan and Cole – are the latest celebs to wear Milk!

I had the chance to chat with them about their ad and why it was so important for them to be involved with this incredible campaign!

I have to say… as you can see, they were the nicest guys, very down to earth, very funny and very open to sharing. Great role models!

Lifetime’s The Balancing Act “Suave Kids Body Wash” and CONTEST!

I woke up at 5:30AM this morning and couldn’t get back to sleep. My Suave Kids Body Wash segment was airing on Lifetime’s The Balancing Act this morning and I was anxious to see how the segment turned out!

CONTEST TIME!!
Watch me talk about bathtime milestones and Suave Kids Body Washes on Lifetime TV’s “The Balancing Act”, Tuesday, August 24 7am EST/PST. Then follow @SuaveBeauty and tweet your favorite bathtime tip to be entered to win Suave Kids Body Washes and a $100 gift card to a major kids furniture retailer, visit http://www.suave.com/resources/twitter_giveaway.pdf for the official rules.

ENJOY!!

My Suave Kids Segment Airing Tomorrow on Lifetime’s The Balancing Act

Tune in tomorrow to Lifetime’s The Balancing Act at 7AM… my segment that I shot for Suave Kids Body Wash will be airing!!

I’m SO EXCITED!! I had such a blast with The Balancing Act working on this segment, I can’t wait to see how it came out!

If you’re a mom who battles bathtime (like me)… you’ll really enjoy this segment. Learn about the different Body Washes for different stages in your child’s life… from Free & Gentle to Moisturizing to Berry and Strawberry Bubble Washes!

Bring some fun to bathtime with Suave Kids Body Wash… take it from me, you’ll LOVE them!

Last Day at Sea…

Today was our last day at sea… we had no plans, we had no agenda, we had no itinerary… it was just a do-what-we-want-to-do day.  Since it was an on-again, off-again cloudy day, we decided to spend the day exploring the ship more.  The boys were up for the adventure… especially when we enticed them with the promise of finding an arcade (which we did find).

And found Alex this awesome hat!

Then we found some really “cool” windows (exactly how William and Alex described them).

I actually never even got the chance to show off our cool cabins!  Carnival set us up in 2 of them because we have 6 people in our family.  It worked perfectly because one was our “sleeping quarters” and the other was our “dressing suite.” Seriously… I packed like 7 suitcases.

Other view… the boys LOVED the bunk beds.  They took turns swapping the top bunk each night.  We told Benjamin he had to be 4 to be on the top bunk (it worked).

Kids Camp was a saving grace on the trip.  The boys begged to go back every day.  Henry didn’t want to go today, poor little guy cried like crazy when we dropped him off.  I came back 20 minutes later to check on him and he was still crying, so I took him with me and spent the day with just him.  Henry was a little jealous when he caught wind that it was “bunny” day.

William, Alex and Ben hung together all week…

And then… day turned to night. We headed to our last dinner at Normandie with our amazing waiter Luciano. I surprised Alex tonight with wearing a “handsome” shirt, too.

The boys just wanted to play and enjoy their last night aboard the ship. We brought them to the top deck where there wasn’t many people and just let them have some FUN!

And our last sunset at sea…

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