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$50 iTunes Giftcard Giveaway and FREE Download

By: Stephanie15 Comments

This post is sponsored by the band Simple Tenants.

Simple Tenants header 3 

Remember how I told you that my husband’s band recorded their EP? (Apparently that’s music lingo for a small group of songs.) Well….

In honor of their first single, Here to Worship, being released on iTunes this week, the brand new indie Christian rock band Simple Tenants is sponsoring a giveaway on several blogs, mine included. 

One lucky reader will receive a $50 iTunes gift card. No strings attached. You do not even have to use it to download their music, you can use it to download whatever kind of songs or apps float your boat. 

But Simple Tenants would love to have you check out their first single, so they are offering it to all of you for FREE. 

Anyone who signs up for the Simple Tenants newsletter using their Facebook entry form will receive a free mp3 download via email. Just pop over and fill out the form and make sure to like their Facebook page while you are there. 

For your chance to be entered to win the $50 iTunes gift card, fill out the form below. 

a Rafflecopter giveaway

One winner will be chosen at random. Should the winner not respond within 48 hours of being notified, another winner will be chosen. Simple Tenants are responsible for prize shipment. This giveaway is open to U.S. residents only.  

This giveaway is sponsored by Simple Tenants, all opinions are my own.   

 

 

Potty Training Advice From Real Moms With Pull-Ups®

By: Stephanie1 Comment

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Believe me, no one knows better than I do that every kid is different when it comes to potty training. So when Pull-Ups® asked if I would do a post for potty training moms, I was happy to step up.  I have three kids. One of them was asking to sit on the potty by the time she was a year old. One of them, because of some medical issues, was not potty trained until four-and-a-half. I’ve been in the trenches wiping hineys since 2008. If there’s one thing I’ve learned, it’s that- unless you want your own life to revolve around trying to psychically read other people’s bathroom signals- this is the one area of parenting where the kid is completely in charge.    

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I reached out to my Facebook community and asked the moms there for their best potty training advice. Here’s what they said: 

  1.  WAIT. This is what the moms said over and over again. Don’t try to rush your kid. For some reason, we all have a timeframe in our heads of when we think our children will potty train. It almost never matches reality. One of my kids was readier earlier than I thought she would be, one was ready much later, and I’m still busy working on the third one, although she has made a ton of progress! 
  2. CONSISTENCY. Make sure that whatever reward system you decide to use is simple (and affordable) enough that you won’t mind keeping up with it. Also, make sure you are ready to commit to stopping at every public restroom known to man for the next gazillion years. 😉
  3. BRIBERY.  I prefer to call this “positive reinforcement.” Several moms commented that they used food treats such as a small piece of chocolate or yogurt melts. One mom suggested collecting pennies in a jar. I’ve found that collecting fancy stickers in their own notebooks has been enough of a reward for both of my girls.
  4. ATTENTION. My son could not have possibly cared less about any sort of reward system. The one thing that eventually worked for him was an entire weekend of one-on-one time with his dad. We packed A LOT of clothes and and Nick tagged along wherever Eddie went. They went to the town dump and the hardware store and Eddie just kept patiently changing him whenever he had an accident. He had 9 the first day, just a few the second day, and then he was done. I know my girls, and that particular method never would have worked for them (Abby would have been a complete emotional wreck by the third or fourth accident in public), but Nick LOVED getting out with his dad to do “grown-up stuff” and it did work for him. 
  5. ENGAGE. Try to involve their interests in some way. Penny loves Minnie Mouse. So we often find ourselves sorting through our looking for Minnie and telling her to try to keep Minnie dry. When Nicholas was little he was obsessed with the movie Cars, so he was thrilled that his Pull-Ups® featured Lightning McQueen.
  6. BE OPEN.  You probably have an idea of how you want to potty train, and it might not necessarily match the method that works best for your child. Be open to what you find is working and willing to adapt. Use the resources you have available to you, like the . Most importantly, try not to be judgmental. Give yourself, your child, and the other moms and kids around you a little bit of grace and the whole process will feel a whole lot easier.      

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Head over to print a coupon! 

This is a sponsored post written by me on behalf of Pull-Ups®. 

You might also like: How to Create a Simple Potty Training Chart

potty training chart

I’m With The Band

By: Stephanie2 Comments

Ok, so I mostly just sat on the sidelines snapping pictures, but last weekend I got to experience such a cool opportunity with my husband and his band, Simple Tenants!

Simple Tenants at Leaning House Records

First, let me back up and tell you a story about my friend Nicole. We met her a few years ago because she is the Worship Arts Coordinator at our church and she has since become Nick and Abby’s piano teacher as well.

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 A few months ago Nicole came to me and said that she had been signed by an independent record label and would I start writing lyrics with her so that she could come up with some original material quickly? Um…yes! So we started writing together and, not only was it really fun, the songs started turning out really well! (That is thanks in large part to the fact that Nicole has a professional musical background and can play literally any instrument. Well, almost, she will tell you she’s not the best drummer.) 

Then Nicole decided that instead of releasing a CD by herself, she wanted to form a new band. That’s when Simple Tenants was born. They have played together for a while during the worship services at our church, but now they are playing all original material that was written by Nicole -and sometimes by me, which is kind of insane.  

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They are an Indie Christian band based in Central Pennsylvania. Their band is made up of Nicole, her husband Stu, who is a classically trained guitarist with 30 years of experience…

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My husband, Eddie, who also plays the guitar and sometimes sings back-up vocals…

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 Our friend Zane who is a ridiculously talented percussionist…

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And their bassist, Matt, who brings what might be my favorite story ever of how music touched his life. Matt was actually born deaf and had surgery to correct his hearing as a toddler. He tells a very touching story about how his parents bought him a musical toy and his face lit up the first time he heard it. I think it’s just incredible that someone can be born without the ability to hear and wind up as the bassist in a Christian rock band twenty years later!

Matt from Simple Tenants 

Even if they weren’t my friends, I would still be fan girling over Simple Tenants pretty hard right now just because I think it’s amazing that they have a strong female front woman who can play all of her own instruments and they write all of their own music. I seriously cannot wait until you hear some of it. It ranges from the kind of songs that churches can use during their worship services (but slightly less traditional) to using castanets and sounding like it could be on the soundtrack of a Quentin Tarantino movie. Plus, the lyrics to their song “I Spy” are, to this point in my life, my favorite thing I have ever had a part in writing. 

I would love to have you follow along on the Simple Tenants Facebook page so that as their songs are released on iTunes, etc. you can be among the first to know!

Their first single, which is coming very soon, will be the live version of Here to Worship, which you can see in this video. Nicole wrote this one before we started working together. I love this song because it is so mellow and her voice is so sweet and comforting on it. 

You can check it out for yourself on YouTube. And if you sign up for their email newsletter, the band will send you a FREE mp3 download of this song! 

 

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