Today I’m linking up with our friend Jeannett from Life Rearranged for InstaFriday – the stories behind the pictures.
Last Thursday at Kate’s swim meet, Sam pitched an enormous fit because he wanted to play games on my phone and I wanted him to play games in real life with the 10,000 little kids surrounding him. Enormous fit. Like, we were that family for a few minutes. So I put him in timeout, and while I was ignoring his screams and the looks of all the people around us, I searched for four leaf clovers.
It is my only talent.
Five minutes after the conclusion of Sam’s fit and subsequent time out, this is what he looked like.
That’s right, judgy people, he was tired.
And BTW, when did his legs get so long and skinny? I don’t know how those little matchsticks of his could even be functional.
Friday night, we loaded up and went to the drive in.
Despicable Me 2 was the first feature, and it was fantastic. Loved it. Monsters U played next but we only made it about halfway through before hitting the wall of tired. As soon as we got in the car and headed home it started pouring down rain, so we were glad that we left when we did.
Saturday, Kate and I went on a date.
Because we are super fancy, we went to Bravo. The boys dropped us off and went on a man date at Fazoli’s, because they are not super fancy. And also because they like plastic bibs. Then we all went to Kilwins for dessert.
Sunday night the kids went to VBS and Andy and I went on a super fancy date to hike at the local nature reserve. I fell in the mud and Andy had to hose me off in the front yard before I was fit to go inside our house. We know how to party when the kids are away.
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Artkive is giving us a complimentary Artkive book of our kids’ artwork as a thanks for writing this post. All opinions are our own.
Several months ago, Emily told me about this great new app she loved called Artkive. And then just a couple weeks later, my boss Shelly also told me about it. Since I never do anything Emily says, I hadn’t downloaded it yet. Since I always do what Shelly says, I got me some Artkive STAT! And I’m so glad I did! Both Emily and Shelly were right – Artkive is an app that has changed my life, in a simple but amazing way.
Artkive allows you to make a digital archive of your kiddos art. It’s that simple! No more agonizing over which pieces to keep and which to throw away, no more trying to hide the ones that didn’t make the cut in the trash can, and best of all : no more pretending the trashing was an accident when your kid finds his or her prized piece of art in the trash. (Not that that’s ever happened to me, 4,000 times.) If you download the Artkive app (which is free, of course) your kids can create art, you can artkive it on your phone, and then you can enjoy it on your phone or by printing it to book form. Awesome!
Here’s my Artkive on my phone:
It’s got some really awesome stuff on it, but it’s about to get a whole lot bigger, because of THESE babies that came home the last day of school:
The dreaded much anticipated end-of-the-year art class folders!
And their contents:
Artkive THIS! (please, I’m begging you.)
There’s also the matter of this wall that needs to be un-decorated to make room for all the art they’ve been creating this summer! We gotsta rotate the gallery before it gets Artkived.
There is clearly some Picasso-quality work here.
Allright, so Artkive RULES! You get it, right? And for all NEW Artkive users, we have a $10 coupon credit toward your first Artkive book! Say what? It’s true! But you gotta act fast – between now and July 16, if you are an iOs user, download Artkive here, then go to the ‘Account’ tab and find the ‘Group Code’ box. Type in the word “momminitup” (no quotes) and your $10 credit will magically appear by July 17, 2013.
BUT WAIT I haven’t told you the best part!!! And no, the best part isn’t that you can print your petite Picasso’s art into an awesome hard-cover book, and the best part isn’t that we’re also giving away $50 credit toward a free Artkive book of your own. The VERY best part is that Emily and I met some of the Artkive guys at Mom 2.0 and they are…wait for it…COUSINS!!!
At first we thought they were bloggers and we were all, “Oh no you dit-int, we got the CORNER on the cousin blogger market, so step off before we hafta get NASTY.” And they were all, “Hold up! Don’t cut us! We’re not bloggers! We’re the Artkive guys!” and we were all, “Yay! We love Artkive! We’ve been using Artkive for months!” And then we did a cousin fist-bump and the rest is history.
So to recap:
A) Artkive is an awesome free app that stores your kid’s artwork B)You can print the awesome artwork to a gorgeous hardcover book C) If you sign up for a new Artkive account now and use the code momminitup you will get a $10 credit in your account D) We are giving away $50 credit toward said book. E) Cousins rule the world!
Here’s how to enter to win $50 credit to make your Artkive book! (books start at just $25!)
1) Leave a comment on this post telling me what piece of your kids art you most want to Artkive.
2) For an extra entry, follow ArtKive on twitter and leave a separate comment letting us know you did so.
3) Readers who like Artkive on Facebook can also earn an extra entry, so if you already do, leave us a separate comment letting us know that as well.
One lucky winner will be chosen Thursday July 18 at 6 pm EST. Good luck and happy Artkiving!
Last week I wrote about words I think should be abolished from the English language, and – hurray! – you all agreed with me! We are one step closer to world domination, my friends.
And not only did you agree with me, but through comments on here and on Facebook, you added a number of words, phrases and activities that should be ILLEGAL. I want to get them down in one place so we can get rid of this nonsense once and for all!
Here we go!
From Jennifer – I would also add blergh, woot, question marks where the don’t belong. Like this? Freaking makes me angry. Also “this is happening”.
From Michelle – The whole “said no one ever” can die a slow death. Hate.
From Emilie – The camera is not a mirror, people. (Jenny’s response: SELFIE!!!!! THE CAMERA IS A MIRROR!!! Actually, I don’t use that word much. But I DO perpetrate the act.)
Jeannett spoke up for the selfies (in a totally serious way, clearly!) – But selfies brought the world the Peace Sign Duck Face Toilet pictures!!! Those are like a newly discovered gem. Like, totally.
From Jenny, queen of the selfie – I also hate “that moment”. And “that awkward moment”. I do enjoy the periods after every word when appropriate. I don’t think I over-use it too much but I could. easily. go there.
From Michelle – Mine? Has started to die out thankfully. My pet peeve is the #FML people with first world problems. Okay, you spilled coffee. That sucks. But really? It deserves a #FML hashtag? Also? 27 hashtags after EVERYTHING. Drives me nuts. One or two – that is fine.
From UP – Mine is calibrate, as in “…let’s get together and calibrate on…”. In reality it means “…we’re having this meeting so you’ll know exactly how I feel about this and how you should as well…”
From Anna – Totes. Karson agrees – That is exactly what I was going to put! Totes! Once again Jenny’s in the minority – BUT I LOVE TOTES! You guys are no fun.
From Emily – “Epic”. Maybe it shouldn’t be erradicated completely but it is definitely overused these days. No, your Starbucks this morning was not epic, neither was your child using the toilet or your trip to the beach. There are plenty of other words in the English language you can use.
And, in honor of Jenny’s trip to the beach (without me), I would like to add one more thing that NO ONE SHOULD EVER DO AGAIN.
I was doing it, I was like, “wow I am such a dweeb!” -Jenny Rapson
