Come Join The Mommy Reality Challenge



Three blogger friends are setting out to change the way the world views the reality of motherhood. Today, we are proud and positively ecstatic to announce the launch of the #mommyreality Blogging Challenge!

Meet The Mommy Reality Team:

Carolyn of A Lavender Life *Jen of JENerally Informed * Celeste of Leapfrog and Lipgloss


Our Mission:

We want to provide an honest glimpse at what being a mom is all about and capture the real unedited moments on our blogs and social media accounts to spread the word. Lets remind ourselves and each other that Pinterest projects fail, milk spills, bathtub grout builds, and sometimes the kiddos have Kraft Mac and Cheese for dinner.

We don't want you to worry about your pictures being posed or perfect or that your posts are making you sound a certain way. The object of this challenge is to capture the imperfect in our lives. You will be trying to connect to your blog readers by capturing and sharing real, honest and unstaged family moments.

Our Vision:

We want to inspire both our fellow mommy bloggers and our blog readers. We want to spread the word that there is no perfect mom. That we all struggle every day to do the best for our kids and that life is full of little accidents, messes, mistakes, and mishaps and that’s what makes it interesting! We are sick of going it alone and want to join forces with other real moms out there!

The Anatomy Of A Viral Post

About a week ago I was invited to attend a mini Bloggy Boot Camp put on by the SITS Girls and Invisalign. Last week here on the blog I covered 5 important points that every blogger should know.

Holly (Quirky Momma) from The Kids Activity Blog was also a featured speaker at the Boot Camp. Holly is amazing and her story is inspiring. She grew her social media presence to the hundreds of thousands in just a few short months.

Holly instructed us on the important elements needed to create a viral post and I would like to share this information with you.

Dealing With Milestones

This week we are heading into some BIG milestones for our family, a kindergarten graduation and a graduation from elementary school.

First let's talk about my kindergartener, Rebekah. I cannot believe that an entire school year has passed, It seems like just yesterday that I dropped her off for her first day of school.


Man-day Post: Happy Mother's Day!

It's time for another installment of Man-day from Jensguy.

I'm going to keep this post short, because I have quite a few things going on today.


To my late mother:  Thank you for raising me, mostly alone.  That took strength that can't be measured and I hope to continually live up to your sacrifice.  I miss you every day and I wish you could be here to see that the little family you saw before you left this earth has now become much larger.  Each of my children have characteristics that remind me of you. Know that your legacy lives on each day and the lessons of life and love you taught me are now taught to my children.



Five Things I Learned At Bloggy Boot Camp Every Blogger Should Know


This last Sunday evening I was invited to attend a Bloggy Boot Camp sponsored by the SITS Girls and Invisalign.  I have never been to one of these before and was ready and excited to learn as much as I could.

There was a lot covered in a very short period of time and I took a lot of notes. In order to share the information in the most concise manner, I will focus on five points. There is much more to cover, but this will start the conversation rolling.

Sometimes Being A Mother Stinks

Yes, yes you did just read that right.


Wait, isn't this the week that we celebrate all things wonderful about motherhood and are supposed to walk away with warm and cuddly feelings?

Man-day Post: Is the Jungle Book Racist?


It's time for another installment of Man-day by Jensguy.

Generally, when I see entrainment reporters trying to "bring the history," I have to shake my head and bite my tongue.  However, in this case, I think I'm going to say something.

Yahoo entertainment reporter Amanda Bell writes an article talking about the upcoming live action remake of "The Jungle Book," full of a-list stars, which is exciting because then they can remove all of the racism from the movie.

The Easiest and Best Sopapillas You Will Ever Make


I have already covered that my mother is from Chihuahua Mexico and my family has a long standing tradition of fabulous Mexican food. Mexico is a very big country with many regions and each region has it's signature dishes which vary in both ingredients and cooking styles.

Disney Infinity Just Got A Whole Lot More Awesome

Last week I discussed with you the Disney Infinity gaming system. Yesterday Disney just announced a new addition coming this fall, and it includes Marvel characters:


Hey, recognize these guys? Just like a mirror.  Nailed It!



So back to the Infinity release, it looks like the Black Widow will soon be teaming up with Elsa from Frozen on the JENerally Informed living room television.

How to MakeYour Own Sugar Body Scrub

As we are getting ready to head into summer, at least here in my neck of the woods, my skin is feeling dry and rough.  On a recent trip to the mall to pick up some sugar scrub to counteract this problem, I had the epiphany that I could make this myself. Now we all know that not all of my DIY projects turn out exactly as planned, but this one is easy, fabulous and I highly recommend it to everyone.


Jen Nails It Southern Pinterest Challenge

A few weeks back I introduced a new Jen Nails It Pinterest Challenge, wherein I was going Southern.

I, the little Hispanic girl, was going to try and make fried chicken and the whole enchilada. Um, make that grits casserole?

Here was the recipe and picture I snagged from Pinterest.
















I also decided to make this cheesy grits caserole.














As the coup d'etat I pulled in this recipe for collared greens.















Man-day Post: Red Pill Mommy Blogging

It's time for this week's edition of Man-day by Jensguy.

*Note from Jen- This is a pretty amazing post. Most bloggers won't share this info with you, but my husband wants to make sure every Mommy Blogger is rewarded for their hard work.

So what if I were to tell you that much of what you thought you knew about building a blog wasn't so.  What if developing your content while slowly but surely building a community of readers wasn't the way to gain advertisers and sponsorships?  What if there was a system where you were immediately judged and either dismissed entirely or let into the "Cool Kids Club?"

I certainly didn't like the sound of something like that and was very invested in the natural way of blog building where your social networking was the driver to the content of your blog.  I wouldn't blame you if you dismissed these ideas as rubbish and continued on as you have.  I felt that way even a couple of weeks ago.  For that we can offer the Blue Pill.


Take the Blue Pill and you will go on as normal, which isn't a bad place to be.

Now if you wish to take the Red Pill. . .

Review: The Disney Infinity Game System


For Christmas this year the JENerally Informed children were surprised with a Disney Infinity game system. The hubs and I did our research before buying and all of us have been really happy with it.  The gist is that the game allows you to purchase finely crafted figurines that enter the actual game when placed on a pedestal. By themselves, the figurines are awesome, but the fact they are actually playable video game characters, makes the whole concept just special.

My First VoxBox: Sargento Ultra Thin Cheese

About a month ago I signed up with Influenster and was pleasantly surprised when I received an email saying that they had selected me to receive The Sargento Ultra Thin Cheese VoxBox. Woo- hoo I LOVE cheese!

I have been to Europe twice and also lived there for a semester for school. I am a cheese connoisseur and take my cheese very seriously. I can make whole meals off just cheese and bread.


Here's a picture of the VoxBox.



Word Is Getting Out About My Blogging

So last week one evening around 7:30 p.m. my doorbell rang. I was a little slow getting down there, but when my husband answered the door no one was there, just a single stapled together craft idea sitting on my doorstop from another blog.


No note, nothing. Hmm, this is very curious. Well alrighty then, is it a challenge or a desire to help inspire a new blogger? I suspect the person had internet access in order to print it, but didn't perhaps want to be identified. This could have been A LOT worse. Oh well, I 'm up for trying anything!

Anyway, how hard can this be and peeps are like 10 cents now that Easter is over and I have most of the other stuff hanging out in my cupboards.

Here we go:

 

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