Glade Spring

With a couple of dogs and toddlers running around the house, I love finding products that can help my home smell fresh and nice. Along that line, Glade has introduced two new limited-edition home fragrances, Bring on the Blossoms™ and Sparkle of Spring™. I was lucky enough to get to sample two of their products in these fragrances, the premium room spray which retails for $2.99 and the Scented Oil Candle in a decorative glass holder which retails for $3.49. 

The room spray, Bring on the Blossoms, was a unique light floral scent that made me instantly think of warm weather (not that we're having a shortage of that) and enjoying gardens in bloom. I guess it's been a while since I've bought new room spray because aside from the pleasant scent, my favorite feature was the twist and lock nozzle. Dadda monkey likes to leave room spray out where it's handy, but that means the monkeys frequently get their mitts on them. I love how simple the lock feature was and that it was built right in.

The scented oil candle in Sparkle of Spring was my favorite item. I LOVE the scent and the decorative glass holder was beautiful and fit right in with my decor. It's currently in my bedroom because I wanted to enjoy it there while I relaxed, but it's been in the family room for a while as well. The scent is harder to describe, but it's also very light and springy with it's citrus tones. 

It is the perfect time to freshen your home with citrus and floral fragrances and spruce up your wardrobe with new styles that reflect the joy that comes along with sunny, longer days. Entertainment journalist and co-host of E!’s Fashion Police, Giuliana Rancic1 has partnered with Glade® to inspire women to update their look this spring and celebrate the budding season. Rancic is an expert in today’s fashion and shares firsthand how surroundings, especially in the home, can help set the mood and she has a few tips for us.

How to Step into Spring:

In order to help other women rejuvenate their look and surroundings, Rancic shares her top five tips to stay on-trend and feel fresh and exhilarated in time for spring. 

* Reinforce Ruffles. Spring is all about feeling pretty and feminine, and designers are pumping up the volume with ruffles. Whether on a throw pillow, journal or jacket, this season we’ll be seeing gorgeous fabrics and textures draped and ruffled into fabulous creations.

* Revitalize Home Fragrance. Glade® Limited Edition Spring Collection fragrances refresh the home and wipe away the doldrums left behind when winter fades. “I love the Glade® Sparkle of Spring™ Premium Room Spray,” says Rancic, “because the hints of citrus create an energized vibe during the day and the fresh scent is a simple way to make my home more inviting for family and friends.”

* Bright Colors, Fresh Look. Cheerful citrus is perfect for those bright spring days. Take advantage of the season’s uplifting hues and make lips pop with orangey pink lipstick.

* Wake Up Happy. Start the day with colors that awaken your senses. Make your bedroom environment happy with a bright, cheerful new duvet or throw.

* Go for Geometric Jewels. Cool, geometric shapes are everywhere this spring. Clean, straight lines and bold color accents make a perfect pair. Best of all, you don’t have to spend a lot to achieve this look. “I love a good bargain and recently found a pair of bold emerald green earrings for just $8!” says Rancic.

I thought her tips were great and really fall in line with the season and people's optimistic, energized moods. Glade's new products also correlate well with these sentiments. Here's a little more information on these great new products. They've also been great additions to the monkey household.

The Glade® Limited Edition Spring Collection is available now through July in the air-care aisle of food, drug and mass-merchandise stores such as Target, Walmart and many more. The manufacturer suggested retail price for the Glade® Limited Edition Spring Collection is:

* $3.49 for Glade® Candle 4 oz. Jar

* $2.99 for Glade® Premium Room Spray

* $3.49 for Glade® Scented Oil Candle Decorative Glass Holder

* $3.49 for Glade® Scented Oil Candle Refills; contains four refills

* $3.49/$5.49 for Glade® PlugIns® Scented Oil Refills; available in 1- and 2-count

Celebrate the season with these two fresh new fragrances from Glade® in bright, fun packaging that looks as good as it smells:

* Sparkle of Spring™ - Fresh and citrusy with zesty lime, ginger and vanilla notes.

* Bring on the Blossoms™ - Fruity and floral with a medley of jasmine, rose, peony and sandalwood.

For more information about the Glade® Limited Edition Spring Collection, visit www.glade.com.

Thanks to SC Johnson and Family Review Network, I have two of the same products I tried for one of my readers.

How To Enter:
(The first step is required for your first entry. Any steps after that reward you with an extra entry.)
This giveaway, and subsequent shipping, is only offered within the continental United States.

1. Let me know which scent appeals to you more OR what your favorite glade product is.

2. Become a follower of my blog, Mommy 2 Monkeys, and leave a comment on this post that you've done so.
3. 'Like' the Mommy 2 Monkeys Facebook page and leave a comment on this post that you've done so.
4. Follow me on Twitter and leave  a comment on this post that you've done so.
5. Place my button on your blog/website and leave a comment on this post that you've done so.

This giveaway will remain open until April 23, 2011 at midnight central time. The winner will be chosen using Random.org. I will post the winner on my blog and also email the winner (please make sure your email is visible on your profile or post it in your comment). The winner will have 48 hours to respond to my email or I will choose another winner via Random.org. Good luck!

Disclaimer:

Mommy 2 Monkeys was provided with a sample for the purpose of this review and the opportunity to hold a giveaway for my readers. No other compensation was received and the views expressed here are my own.

The Poteet Strawberry Festival

First I'd like to mention that I LOVE strawberries. Since I moved here a few years ago, I'd been hearing about The Poteet Strawberry Festival. I don't know why it's taken me so long to go to this berry special festival. Sorry, I've been on a Strawberry Shortcake binge since Monkey girl's birthday is coming up. Anyways, this year I was determined to go, in part because I actually found out about it before it happened this year. It's only a 3 day event and we decided to go on Saturday. We looked up where Poteet was and low and behold, it's only about 40 minutes from us.

We got there Saturday morning and discovered it's much like a county fair with all the carnival rides and vendor booths. Dadda monkey found a mirror maze, which I also loved as a little girl, and he wanted to take Monkey girl. So the two of them went in there first and they were doing great until Monkey girl paused to wave at me and then plowed right into a glass wall. She was okay, though her nose was a little sore, so Dadda monkey carried her through the rest of it. After that she rode her first solo ride, a bubble whale. After a few times around the circle, she yelled to us that she was done, but she didn't get upset as the ride continued on and she patiently waited for it to come to a stop. We were proud monkey parents. Poor Bro Bro monkey didn't get to do much, but we did find a bounce house that they both enjoyed. Bro Bro monkey also started to get a little fussy. I don't blame him since he wasn't involved in a whole lot there and we were there at his normal nap time.

Unfortunately Bro Bro's fussiness meant that I didn't get to peruse the vendor section much, but we did grab a genuine Poteet strawberry hanging plant on our way out. It already has a couple of strawberries growing on it. Although I guess I'm supposed to pick them off when they just start to turn red because the two that were already red are starting to get a little mushy sitting on the soil.

I'm really glad we decided to go early on Saturday because on our way home, we could see that traffic heading to Poteet was horrendous. It was an enjoyable day and we'll definitely plan on going again next year, especially since we know what to expect now.

Birthday Parties

Monkey girl's 3rd birthday is coming up soon and we've started planning a small party for her. The bounce house I posted about previously just arrived yesterday. Her Strawberry Shortcake party supplies came last week and are very cute. I ordered 18 sippy cups since most of the invitees are also around 3. I figured the sippy cups would be nice because then they can also take them home. Goody bags are also enroute with some small toys and my kids favorite fruit leather and fruit pouches.

I was originally thinking of making Pioneer Woman's Strawberry Shortcake cake, but after a trial run, it's pretty time consuming to make and I'm not sure the kids would be huge fans of it. It was absolutely delicious though if anyone wants to try it. I completely endorse it for consumption, just not necessarily a 3 year old's birthday party. My next thought is to make 3 sets of cupcakes: strawberry, lemon, and lime. I tend to over think things sometimes so it might be wiser to scale that down. We'll see. There are 16 children on the invitee list plus my two monkeys and I'm anticipating that maybe half will come.

I'd also read about a cute game called Pupcake's mess and we were thinking of doing that, but once again, I'm reconsidering that. We'd buy the little strawberry candies, spread them out over the deck and hand each child a bag to collect as many candies as they could and help clean up Pupcake's mess. The party will be two hours. After going to a friend's 3 year old's birthday party, I'm convinced that is a good length of time. It's just enough time to play outside, eat cake/ice cream, open presents, and play a little more before heading home. Now we just have to hope it doesn't rain. Plus we're hoping to get the deck finally finished this weekend. The party's just the little push we need to get us going again.

I'm looking forward to the party and I feel like I'm pretty well prepared for it already. Finishing the deck, picking up a couple of last minute items, and getting carpet cleaners out here should just about round out my to-do list. I think we might take a friend's idea though and only have parties for the kids every two years. In the alternate year, we'd just celebrate with family. Monkey girl is already looking forward to it and talking about it. The part I'm looking forward to is watching her enjoy her special day.

Bounce Houses

We had discussed the possibility of just buying our own bounce house to save money in the long run. Then when I sat down to start seriously researching them yesterday, I came across the Big Ol Bouncer on sale at Toys R Us! It's a larger bounce house with a bounce floor of 12x12, holding 6 kids (100 pounds or less) for a total weight limit of 600 pounds. Dadda monkey was let down when I read the part about each individual weighing under 100 pounds. I guess he thought he was going to be able to bounce with the kids. I looked at several 8x8 and 10x10 bounce houses that ranged from $400 to to almost $1000 before I found this one on sale. I decided not to hesitate on this deal and pulled the plug. I just had to share what I think is a great deal so I hope it helps someone out there.

Obviously I haven't tried it yet, When it does arrive it will probably sit unopened until Monkey Girl's birthday in April. However, I think if you're in the market for a bounce house, there aren't many deals that come along and can beat this. I figured we were going to spend about $100 to rent one for the day and with two kids birthdays each year, this was an easy decision for me. It'll pay for itself by the end of next year. Plus we can use it for other special occasions such as the 4th of July. Who knows, if it's warm enough, it may make an appearance for Thanksgiving!

Gardening Endeavor

Today we're finally going to put the raised garden beds in. Living in San Antonio (or at least our area of it), it's nearly impossible to plant anything in the ground. About 3 inches below the grass is pretty solid rock so raised beds are essential to us getting a garden. I thought if I ever lived in such a warm climate that I'd love my own fruit trees in the back yard, but shortly upon moving here and researching it, I found it wasn't a good option for us because of the rock. I'm still keeping my fingers crossed for container citrus trees when we go out today. They'd be perfect for the new deck.

I think we're going to try tomatoes, cherry tomatoes, bell peppers, summer squash, and maybe cucumbers and snap peas. I know very little about gardening myself so this is a big undertaking for me. The plan is to head to the nursery and get the seedlings and a large shovel (I bought smaller gardening tools last night at Costco). Then Dadda monkey will head out to Fertile Gardens to pick up some soil. I was really excited to learn that you can bag the soil there since we don't have a pickup truck. When he gets home, we'll get the raised beds set up, fill with soil, and get our seedlings in. I know it's likely going to be more work than it sounds, but we're all excited about getting it started. The deck staining, however, is going to have to wait another week.

Taking Longer Than Expected

The deck has been done for a couple of weeks now. Done in the sense that the professionals did their job. We still need to get a second coat of stain on it and work on the sides. However, work days and inconvenient rain keep postponing our tasks. It hasn't stopped us from enjoying it and even eating a couple of meals out there. Hopefully this week we'll be able to get the final stain on.

I also want to get our raised garden beds set up. This will be my first attempt at a home garden. I'm excited and hope I'm not getting in over my head. I really want some tomatoes, cucumbers, and snap peas, but I need to find some place that will tell me step by step what I need to do and when. We bought the raised planters and will set them up (fingers crossed that it'll be this weekend) and then start doing some research as to what to do. From what I gather it's too late to start with seeds so I'll have to find starter plants. Then I have to make sure I'm planting them at the right time and doing it all properly. Monkey girl is very excited to have a garden, but she's hoping for flowers so I may have to find a couple of flowering plants to throw in too. That just brings up another question, can I plant flowers with vegetables? If not, I'll find a little corner she can call her own. Here's hoping for a productive weekend.

Ladies Night

I feel like I'm still brand new to San Antonio still so I'm really grateful for all the wonderful people I've met. There are a couple of girlfriends and I that meet once a week. We usually meet to watch a little TV or movies, but last night we went out to eat at Grimaldi's. The pizza was fantastic and we shared a carafe of their house wine. Between the food, wine, and company, last night was a perfect escape from the house and kids. I can't wait to do it again. One thing that I won't let myself keep thinking about is that because this is a big military town, several of my friends are going to have to move on in the next year or two. Hopefully, we'll all be able to stay in touch and maybe we'll end up in the same areas again later. Until then I'm enjoying ladies night immensely every week.

We've got a lot to do this weekend between finally get a second coat of stain on the new deck and attempting the skirt. I've also got to plan Monkey girl's birthday next month. We'll be running around a lot on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. Unfortunately with Dadda monkey's new schedule, he'll be returning back to work on Sunday, but I'm hoping we get a lot done before then.