Wubbanub and Padalily – two little life savers!
By Heather Ledeboer | Category: Surprize Me! | Posted Wednesday, December 23, 2009
We love Sara's Wubbanub! Besides being cute, it really helps her when she tries to get the pacifier back in on her own.
Also, when we traveled and the Padalily was not on the baby's carseat, I let me older daughter use it as a pillow in the airplane, which really helped her fall asleep. Since the Padalily is small, but has memory foam, it was perfect to pack in the carry-on luggage. So just another use for a great product!
- Mom 4 Life, Deanna
Heather Ledeboer
I am a Christian, wife, mom and the owner of http://www.mom4life.com. I have a passion for helping moms and encouraging them in their journey through motherhood. I invite you to journey along with me!
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Today.
By Heather Ledeboer | Category: Surprize Me! | Posted Wednesday, December 16, 2009
Today Quinten became 6 months old.
Today Hunter was a King in his play. He said his lines with eloquence and sang with gusto and appropriate movement while trying to retain the small Altoid's tin that was to hold his imaginary "Myrrh" between his bent arm and small body.
Today Ashlyn couldn't hold in her pride for Hunter's performance so she exclaimed out loud "Good Job Hunter!" in a silent moment before the crowd giggled.
Today I beat Trent in a game of darts on our new board in our very almost-finished basement.
Today was a good day.
Heather Ledeboer
I am a Christian, wife, mom and the owner of http://www.mom4life.com. I have a passion for helping moms and encouraging them in their journey through motherhood. I invite you to journey along with me!
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Free shipping – we want it visable!
By Heather Ledeboer | Category: Surprize Me! | Posted Wednesday, December 16, 2009
An update: thanks so much for your feedback, almost everyone liked option B so that is what we are going with!
Thanks again for your website feedback yesterday. Overall you love the new design! However, some of you still felt the free shipping could be more visible than it is currently. We have two options below and I would like to know which you like best.
Please click here to take our poll and let us know! (you can still vote if you like but we have opted for Option B;).
Option A: In this option the free shipping circle would rotate between "free shipping" and "no minimums". You will not be able to see it rotate in this image however so you have to imagine it;). Click the image to see it larger.
Option B: would look as is with the extra shipping info included and no rotating. Click the image to see it larger.
Heather Ledeboer
I am a Christian, wife, mom and the owner of http://www.mom4life.com. I have a passion for helping moms and encouraging them in their journey through motherhood. I invite you to journey along with me!
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Hot by 6–It’s a dinner thing
By Heather Ledeboer | Category: Surprize Me! | Posted Wednesday, December 16, 2009
I love baking and cooking. As I have mentioned in the past, before I was a mom I was a school teacher and on the side (mostly during the summer months) I was a Pampered Chef Director. As such I had home parties cooking and demonstrating quality kitchen tools. As I would demonstrate I would describe myself as a “conditional cook”. What I meant by this was that if all the conditions were right, I loved to cook. My conditions were: a clean kitchen, enough time, and all the necessary ingredients. My conditions have stayed the same over the past 6 years. However as you mostly likely know, it is even harder to get all the conditions in place as a busy mom.
Often I do my meal planning in one of two ways:
A) The haphazard plan: I wait until late afternoon to start thinking about dinner. I will get struck with a brilliant idea but then remember that I would need to thaw, buy or grow something to make that recipe happen. Between my husband and I we figure something out but it is rarely a “balanced” meal.
B) The plan ahead plan: I sit down at the beginning of the week and plan my meals for the upcoming week while creating a recipe list for things that will be needed. The beauty of this plan is that there is no stress throughout the week figuring out what will be for dinner and because I have made a plan ahead of time I am better able to make sure that what we are eating is balanced and healthy.
I recently became aware of a website designed to take my “plan ahead” plan to the next level. Are you ready for this? Hot by 6 has a three step system that they describe in this way:
Step 1 – Create a meal plan for a day a week or even a month! You receive hundreds of delicious recipes to start your collection, with several new seasonal recipes added each quarter. All recipes are great for budget meal planning and full of ideas for planning your family dinners!
Step 2 – Assemble meals on your own, or with a group of friends! Using their invite a friend feature, you can create a shared meal plan and grocery list, helping put the 'budget' in budget meal planning.
Step 3 – All of the recipes are freezable! Prepare your meals each night or assemble meals in advance and place them in your freezer, giving you flexibility to rely on Hot by 6 for easy daily, monthly, or weekly meal planning!
Rachael, one of the owners of Hot by 6 contacted me and was kind enough to offer me a free trial subscription to Hot by 6 (one that is also passing on to YOU – read on for more details). I clicked through the many recipes on their site finding some that either sounded too good not to try or some that used ingredients that I has on hand and needed to use. Once my recipes were chosen, the system consolidated a personalized grocery list for me grouping like items together and categorizing them (dairy, fruit, etc) for ease of use. I printed both the recipes and the grocery list and then proceeded to check off on the recipe list the items that I needed to purchase (since I did have several items on hand already). Once I had the ingredients on hand I was set. At that point I could either assemble the meals ahead of time and freeze them for later use or prepare them as needed. I loved the flexibility of that choice. picked out a weeks’ worth of meals and was pretty impressed at the results. The Slow Cooker Beef Stroganoff was easy but delicious (made in the crock pot) and I have since made it again because we liked it so well. The Peanut Butter cookies (oh did I mention there are dessert recipes too?) are yummy and because I am keeping them in the freezer I can pull out just the amount needed and cook them in the toaster oven ensuring that we don’t over indulge;). The Tortellini Soup with an Italian Kick was a hit with all who tried it . . . I have shared the Hot by 6 website with several friends and family members letting them know how easy an intuitive it is. I would love for you to try it out too (for FREE)! Simply use the promo code: "mom4life" (without the quotes). You will be asked for your credit card number when you sign up for the trail however, it will not be charged unless you do not cancel your account within the 30 day trial. If you decide not to cancel your account there is a $6 monthly fee. This code will expire on 12/23 so don't delay. I hope you try it out and use it to get some great holiday cooking and baking done ahead of time! Speaking of which: want to get an even better feel for how works? Click here to view the TV segment from the Fox 12 station in Oregon or on the video below for another great TV segment!
Heather Ledeboer
I am a Christian, wife, mom and the owner of http://www.mom4life.com. I have a passion for helping moms and encouraging them in their journey through motherhood. I invite you to journey along with me!
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An updated look at our new website layout
By Heather Ledeboer | Category: Surprize Me! | Posted Tuesday, December 15, 2009
Thank you for all who provided feedback on our new website design a few days ago! The feedback was very helpful and identified a few areas that we could improve upon. Some changes have been made to the layout including the way the free shipping is shown and the way the customer testimonials are displayed.
Do you mind taking another quick look and letting me know your thoughts on the changes? Click here to do so.
Also, many of you commented that the new design reminded you a lot of "Gap.com". I want to point out that the main large image of the three people in hats is a "stock photo" which I think really lends itself more to the feel of Gap. When our site goes live the images that would be used in this spot would be the same kind of images that we traditionally use on our homepage. This will make a difference in the overall feel.
Heather Ledeboer
I am a Christian, wife, mom and the owner of http://www.mom4life.com. I have a passion for helping moms and encouraging them in their journey through motherhood. I invite you to journey along with me!
Follow Me:
