Third Birthday Party at Chick-fil-a

I wanted Jack to feel like he got a big kid birthday party compared to Annabelle's at home. I thought long and hard and realized that it's considered a treat at our house if we dine in and play on the play place at Chick-fil-a. We normally hit the drive-thru on our way home from somewhere else. So, to party and play inside Chick-fil-a was a big winner.


This boy is growing up so fast. We're so proud of him and of how much he's growing and learning. He was a wonderful two-year-old. Even with all the changes we had at home this past year, he took it all in stride. I can't wait to see what his third year holds. I love him so much!


More people showed up than I expected, but it was easy enough to add a few more kid's meals. They all had a great time playing in the play place, which is perfectly geared for kids his age. One exit and easy to watch them all while parents visited with one another. He had a blast!



His invitations were done by 3 Little Monkeys Studio on Etsy and printed by MPix. She also did the favor tags, which I printed at Office Depot on 100 lb card stock. I thought CFA lended itself well to a western theme because of the Cow and chicken. Our favors were cowboy hats.

I want to say a lot about throwing a party a Chick-fil-a here, because I didn't find much online when I googled it.

Our local store has party packages, customized to the number of party guests and the number of nuggets you want in the kid's meals. The package even includes nugget trays, fruit trays, and tea for the parents attending. SOLD. The Cow made an appearance for an extra $10. Can't beat that!

They invited me to drop off any party decorations the night before, and their wonderful Marketing Coordinator had my banner up and tablecloths out before we arrived. All we had to do the morning of the party was show up with balloons. She even unloaded those from my car and placed them on the tables! She also kept the pace of the party going, getting drinks for each child, letting me know when the Cow was coming, time to open gifts, and eat. It was so nice to have someone else watching the clock.

By the time it was over, she already had leftover cake, nuggets, and fruit boxed up, my cake knife and server washed, and the trash was cleared away. It was all done while I was thanking people for coming and passing out favors. In short, it was awesome.


If you've ever dealt with Chick-fil-a, you know that everything is "their pleasure." They are absolutely fabulous at Customer Service, and this was no different. Our experience was so good that I sent a hand-written thank you to our local Store's Owner, complimenting his staff on a fine job.

Note: I was not compensated to say these wonderful things about Chick-fil-a. I just really appreciated their service.

Mama Monday: Review of the BOB Revolution Duallie

Last week I sold my practically brand-spanking-new BOB Revolution Duallie. The reason? I straight up was not using it.

I bought it back in April, about a month before Pure Barre opened here in Fort Worth. With Pure Barre, I've found a workout I love, and all that running I envisioned to chase away the baby weight went by the wayside.

Here was my experience with it while I had it:

Pros: It is a fabulous, smooth ride. Great suspension and lots of mesh pockets to store stuff: toys, sippys, etc. It folds up easily, and unfolds fairly easily as well. It's incredibly sturdy and well made--like the Hummer of strollers. You could run over anyone on the trail in this thing. You can purchase a baby carrier adapter, separately, and still have a preschooler in the second seat.

Cons: It's heavy, weighing in at 34 lbs before you add two children to it. (Of course, if you're getting in shape after baby, this might be a pro for you!) By the time I got the kids ready and loaded into the car, plus the stroller loaded into the back of my SUV, I had already gotten a workout and was worn OUT. This really discouraged me from hitting the trail to run on a whim. Also, being a side-by-side double stroller, it's incredibly wide. I would like to take this opportunity to educate the mommies of America that this is not a stroller to take to the mall. Stores in the mall are not set up for side-by-side double strollers. Please and thank you!

(If you're looking for a great mall stroller, catch my review of the UppaBaby Vista here!)

Retailing around $500, it was too expensive of a stroller to continue to let lay in my garage, dejected and unused as I stepped over it on my way to Pure Barre. Thankfully, it resells quite nicely.

I love doing reviews of products because usually I take to the Internet to read everything about something before I purchase. I hope you find my personal experience helpful!

Dr. Smith's Diaper Ointment at the Ritz

I'm late reporting back on this one, but two weekends ago, I headed over to the Ritz-Carlton Dallas for a national launch party of Dr. Smith's diaper ointment.

Now if there is anything I can step on my bully pulpit about, it's sunscreen and diaper ointment. I re-apply diaper cream at every diaper change. You know what they say, "An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure."

Was Ben Franklin specifically talking about baby rears with that one?

Anywho, the nice folks at at Mission Pharmacal who make Dr. Smith's were kind enough to invite me to their truly lovely launch party at Fearing's. I learned so much about Dr. Smith's that morning, and the food was delicious! Mission is a generational family-owned company, based in San Antonio. They bought the Dr. Smith's brand several years ago, and until recently, their product was only available locally in the south Texas area. (Those South Texans--holding out on us. My friend Deanna who lives not far from San Antonio was all, "Oh yeah, we've been using that for years.")

With their national launch, you can now find the product everywhere. Just this week I spotted it next to the other big brand diaper creams at HEB and Wal-mart.


As part of the celebration, they had the beautiful Ali Landry in to host the event. She has a 10 week old baby herself and was so kind and friendly. Just another mom--a gorgeous one, at that!


With Ali and my friend, Becky

Pic courtesy of Dr. Smith's Facebook page.
I asked my doctor a few months ago what diaper cream she recommended, and all she said was "something with zinc." Well, this product fits the bill. We've been using what Dr. Smith's gave us, and I'm sold. I love supporting families, the Texas economy (I know, lots of Texas pride here), and just good people. I can't tell you how moving it was to hear the Leadership of Mission talk about how excited and yet humbled they felt to take their product to the next level. Those folks appeared to be the salt of the earth-type of people that you'd love to do business with.

Disclosure: I must tell you that I was by no means obligated to post this on my blog. I had such a fun morning and was inspired by their commitment to helping moms. I received a tube of the product for free, but I wouldn't have posted on the subject if we hadn't had a good experience with it.