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Lands’ End Starfish Collection Giveaway #8

I can’t believe we’re almost to the end of our Lands’ End Starfish Collection giveaways!  The winner of giveaway #7 was our pal Cortney.  Congrats!!  Keep being persistent and entering EVERY giveaway if you want to win!

There’s another new Starfish item I just received and I ADORE: The Starfish Quilted Jacket.

I happen to be wearing it right. this. second.  Even though I am indoors!  Because it’s so cozy, I don’t want to take it off!  It’s lined with soft jersey, has a roll-sleeve which is ever-so-convenient, and the quilting is just so cute!  This is a great addition to your Starfish wardrobe or ANY wardrobe!  It’s a fabulous fall jacket. I have this bright berry color and it’s so pretty.  But there are several more neutral colors available, too.

So now it’s time to enter to win FIVE pieces of this gorgeous, comfy Starfish collection from Lands’ End!  Here’s how to enter:

1) Go check out the Starfish Collection and leave me a comment letting me know which piece you think looks the best. If you can’t pick one, that’s ok, just tell me what you love!

2) “Like” our facebook page and leave us a comment on this post telling us you did our already do

3) Tweet about this giveaway “Win 5 pieces of the #landsend Starfish Collection from @jennyitup & @momminitup http://bit.ly/scvuEq ” then leave us a comment with your tweet URL.

4) Subscribe to our feed, then leave us a comment on this post letting us know you did or already do.

This giveaway will end Friday, November 25th at 8 pm EST!  Good luck!!

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Thankfulness

There are many things that I am thankful for – too many to count.  I am thankful every minute of every day, and yet, I am certainly guilty of not being thankful, too. I know that doesn’t make any sense.  But it’s true. I am always thankful for my husband, my children, my home, my van – and yet, sometimes I forget that I am thankful.  I don’t stop and think about it, because I am either plowing through life just trying to get to what’s next, or I am drowning in the mess of having young children instead of celebrating the beauty of it.

Thankfulness is a state of being but it is also a choice.  And it is my goal, starting now, to be thankful in all things.  For awhile last year I was practicing this pretty well.  We were having all kinds of trouble with our health insurance company denying stuff they should have been paying (I almost wrote our stupid insurance company; then I remembered that I am thankful that I have health insurance.)  Anyhoo, everytime I got an estimation of benefits that said what we OWED (read: what they wouldn’t pay that per our policy, they should have paid) or every time I got a bill from one of the  various and sundry medical providers that we (read: our insurance company) owed, I would have a mini-breakdown.

Until I read one day in I Thessalonians 5:18, “give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.”

And so I started thanking God for those stupid bills and statements coming in the mail.  It wasn’t that I was happy about getting them, but I somehow managed to muster up thanks.  Thanks that I had this “first world problem” and a God I trusted to provide for my family’s needs.  Sometimes I had to drag myself kicking and screaming to the threshold of thankfulness, but mostly I managed to get there.

Eventually, our insurance company did the right thing and paid all that crap. Six months later, I might add. But they paid, and I am thankful.

Now, though, that all that stuff has passed, I realized today that I have forgotten to be thankful in all circumstances. Or to be thankful for a blissful LACK of “circumstances”.  I’ve started to let the big stuff as well as the small stuff get to me again, in big ways.

So tomorrow, it’s Thanksgiving Day, and I’ve been reminded again that I need to truly be thankful in all things.  And to be intentional about it. So, here I go again, being thankful for the beautiful and the fugly. I imagine there will be plenty of times when I’ll have to drag myself kicking and screaming again, but I will do my best, and though I will surely fail at times, I am going to try hard to keep it up.  Which reminds me of something else I’m thankful for: second, third, and fourth chances!

Happy Thanksgiving, friends! I’m thankful that you read these words of mine today.

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Family Review: CoCo Key Water Resort in Cincinnati

To celebrate Sophie’s 5th birthday, Bobby and I really wanted to do something special.  We took Joshua to Entertrainment Junction for his 5th, so we started thinking of somewhere that would really excite Sophie but that would also work for us as an entire family.  We wanted a little getaway but didn’t want to go too far from home.  Bobby came up with the idea of an indoor waterpark, because Sophie had loved the one we visited last June. After looking around at the options, we decided to try CoCo Key, just north of Cincinnati.

When we told the kids, they were *so excited*!  And when we got there, CoCo Key did not disappoint!  Joshua and Sophie had an amazing time.

Even Jonah enjoyed himself immensely!

Here’s what I really loved about CoCo Key:

  • Gates!! There were gates closing off the little kids area from the seating area and also gates closing off the main part of the waterpark  – they were easy to open and close for adults, and for older kids, but they made it very difficult for smaller kids to get away from their parents. 🙂
  • Smaller kids area: my kids had a blast in this area that was just for them.  Of course they could go off and enjoy slides in the main area, also, but it was great for them to have somwhere to relax and just play together.  There was a LOT of room for them to move around as well as do the slides.
  • Convenience: Food & drink were available to purchase poolside so you never had to be far from the action.
  • Lazy river – who doesn’t love one of these?
  • The main area was lots of fun, too.  Sophie, my adventurous child, spent just as much time going on all the slides over there as she did in the kids’ area.  And Bobby assured me (I didn’t try) that the slides for only those over 4 feet were screamin’ fast and lots of fun, too!

We did stay one night at the Crowne Plaza, the hotel that is home to CoCo Key.  It was very nice and comfortable, and we all slept great!  Even Jonah, which was totally unexpected!

We really had a wonderful time celebrating our girl, and CoCo Key was the perfect spot to do it in! We will DEFINITELY be back!  If you are traveling to the Cincy area and are looking for a fun family place to stay, I highly recommend it!  Check out all CoCo Key has to offer on their Facebook page.

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The good folks at Crowne Plaza/CoCo Key gave me a reduced rate for my stay to help facilitate my review, but the opinions are all mine and are not influenced by the facility.

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