Author Profile Page for: tsmommy06

When we first bought our house, I wanted an easy way to pay all or most of our bills.  I figured I would start by having our Nicor (gas) bill come directly out of our checking account.  I went to the Nicor web site and clicked on online bill pay.  Apparently Nicor doesn't directly to online bill pay, they go through mycheckfree.com.  I did some research into mycheckfree....

For my son's 4th birthday we took him to the water park at Grizzly Jack's Grand Bear Resort. Grizzly Jack's Grand Bear Resort is located right near Starved Rock State Park in Utica, IL. We decided to stay in a 2-bedroom villa with my parents and 2 kids.  We arrived at Grizzy Jack's at around 4:30 p.m. on a Friday afternoon. Upon checking in, we learned that the water park w...

My 1-year old certainly knows how to make a huge mess when he is eating. The only problem with his messy eating is that he hates bibs. No matter what bib I put on him, he immediately pulls it off and throws it on the floor. Since eating in just a diaper  or shirtless isn't always an option, I needed to find a good bib that was nearly impossible for him to remove. I was shopping at Babi...

I am currently 12 weeks pregnant with my second child and I am quickly outgrowing my "normal" clothes.  I was too big to button or, if I could button, sit in my current jeans and maternity jeans were just too big.  The rubberband trick just wasn't cutting it.  I needed a solution.  I went to Motherhood Maternity and purchased a belly band, The Tummy Sleeve.&nbs...

My 1-year old son loves to throw things. This is great when it is balls but not so great when it is his sippy cup. He especially loves to throw his cup when we are out to dinner. It is not a very endearing activity - especially for other diners. I needed something to keep his cup close. I was shopping at Kohl's (thanks to a 30% coupon) and I saw the Sippy Pal.The Sippy Pal is a cup strap th...

My youngest son recently celebrated his first birthday. I took my eldest son out shopping with me to buy the baby his birthday gift. After reiterating that we were buying the baby a gift, my eldest son picked out My Pal Scout.My Pal Scout is a cute plush puppy dog made by Leap Frog. It is so much more than just a stuffed animal. My Pal Scout is green and white and super soft and cuddly. He has ...

We recently took a family vacation to the Wilderness Territories in Wisconsin Dells. We stayed for a full week and had a wonderful time. The Wilderness Territories is a huge resort. They have a huge variety of options when it comes to rooms. We stayed at the Glacier Canyon Lodge in a 3 bedroom deluxe condo. We arrived at Glacier Canyon Lodge at the Wilderness at 3:00 p.m. Even though check...

I just love my Saturn Vue.  We decided to purchase the Vue after looking at other small SUVs.  While we liked the gas mileage that the Toyota Rav 4 offered, we didn't feel that it had more room and we couldn't get the price we were looking for.  We drove to our local Saturn dealer and purchased the Vue that night.  I have been happy ever since.  There is a lot o...

My son recently received the VTech Sort & Spin Blender for his first birthday. It is a big hit in our house and both him and his 3-year-old brother enjoy playing with this toy.This toy actually simulates and actual blender and you can push a button and "blend" (spin) the shapes. There are three different songs that play when the toy is on. There is a sound effects button, a blendi...

My husband and I are big fans of Tetris.  Unfortunately our old Nintendo game system doesn't work very well any longer and we were having a hard time playing one of our favorite games.  While I was shopping at Target, I noticed the hand held Big Screen Tetris.  I just had to buy it and I'm glad I did. It is very comparable to the original video game.  One of the diff...

Last Christmas my parents bought my son the Tonka Titans Lights & Sounds Car Carrier for Christmas. This gift was very exciting for my son since my dad (his Papa) drives a car carrier for a living. The Tonka Titans Lights & Sounds Car Carrier is huge. It is over 2 feet long and 8 inches tall. The truck is orage and the carrier is gray. On the truck there are buttons which play real...

My husband, his brother and his father all work in the construction industry. That is why I wasn't surprised when last Christmas my father-in-law bought my son a CAT (Caterpillar) toy Dump Truck. This toy dump truck is from CAT's Junior Collection. The dump truck is yellow and black and looks just like a CAT dump truck. They toy doesn't do anything special other than it functions as...

I'm not usually a fan of a full panel maternity pant.  They usually leave a funny line in the middle of your stomach and everyone can tell you are wearing maternity pants.  That is not the case with the Secret Belly Fit maternity jeans from Motherhood.I'm just entering the 2nd trimester but already showing.  Most maternity pants are still too big, but not these.  (Re...

I had an extremely embarrassing problem, I used to sweat excessively from my armpits.  It simply is not attractive on a women to have big pit stains.  I was embarrassed to lift my arms or wear a solid color shirt that would show wet pits.  I tried almost every deodorant on the market and nothing worked.  I was about to go see a dermatologist when I found Certain Dry.Certain ...

I purchased the Magic Bullet Blender to make baby food for my infant.  It worked wonderfully.  I was able to steam the vegetables in the microwave in one of the cups with the steamer lid.  You then just had to remove the lid, screw on the blender attachment, and blend away.  I was very happy with the product and I still use it today to steam vegetable for my son, even though...

Winter was really beginning to take a toll on me and my son.  My mom suggested we go to the local Rainbow showroom and play on the swingsets.  My son enjoyed playing on all the different swingsets and my mom and I enjoyed browsing.  We quickly fell in love with the quality of the Rainbow play systems.   However, they are a bit out my price range.  The play systems ...

I recently put in Pergo floors in the entire main floor of our house. I love the floors but I hate all the dog hair that collects so easily on them. I have a Labrador that seems to shed her entire weight in hair each day. I was using a rechargeable Eureka stick vacuum or the Dyson. The Dyson was too big and it just works better on carpet. The Eureka was no longer holding a charge (it was over 5...

When I first heard about wipe warmers I thought they were completely useless and I didn't see the point of them.  I did receive one as a gift at my baby shower and never returned it.  I almost forgot about it until the baby arrived.  My son hated cold or room temperature wipes and would cry at every diaper change.  My husband remembered the wipe warmer and suggested we g...

When I was expecting my 1st baby, I quickly became aware that almost every baby product and toy required batteries. In an effort to keep battery usage to a minimal and to help prevent too many batteries from ending up in the garbage, I decided to register for a battery charger and rechargeable batteries. I was happy to receive the Energizer Batteries and Charger. The package consisted of 12 bat...

When my 18-month old ran into the family room and said "Uh Oh Color" I knew it couldn't be good.  I went out into front room/dining room and saw that he had colored on 2 walls and in the stairwell with red and blue crayons.I immediately went into the kitchen and grabbed the Magic Eraser.  I wet it and went to work on the walls.  Imagine my surprise when I didn't...