Dunking your way: How we dunk or Oreos

Official rules can be found here: bit.ly/OREOSweepsRules

Hi, we are the Estrada's and we love OREOS.
Let's just start with that and get it out of the way because if you have visited our home you know this. You know that every time you come we will always lay out a plate of OREOS. OREOs just make you feel welcome, and loved!

And if you are anything like us you understand the comfort of one 13 OREO cookies in your tummy, and even more cookies and milk!

We were recently challenged by OREO to show how we dunk, and even though we are a small family all of us do it, oh so differently.

Daddy, Lester, is more classic. He dunks the regular way but if he can get a double stuffed OREO in his life he is more than happy.

Bella, well Bella does it her way, She dunks every cookie and eats them soggy. She is such a funny girl. Ever since her first OREO, this girl even knows what the packet looks like and will request it multiple times.

I'm the most different one, I, unlike everyone in the world take the cream off, put in my milk, my chocolate because like I said above, we are chocolate lovers!
Sadly with my wisdom tooth being pulled out, I couldn't enjoy the fun, but even better I will get to buy a pack just for myself later. 

Now is your turn.
How do you dunk?
Take a picture of your family showing your style of dunking and you could be one of  40,000 lucky finalists with a chance to win one (1) of our five (5) VIP Grand Prize trips to a Celebrity Dunking Event in NYC or Los Angeles, plus $2,000!  

You can visit your local WALMART to purchase your favorite kind of OREO's and start dunking! You can enter to win daily for more chances to win.

Click here to enter

So now that you have seen our style of dunking show us yours!  We would love to hear how you dunk your OREOs!

Educational Tools for Toddlers

As parents, our goal is to teach and instruct our kids in their life. We buy books, invest in time and everything around us to help them succeed.
I remember when Bella was born, how much I use to worry about her. If she was at the same level the babies around her age were or if she was accomplishing the same milestones as them, and as much as I tried to let her grow and reach her milestone at her own time as a parent did I worry, as  most of those milestone she had to achieve by herself with no help from us.
Now that she is older I still worry a little but not as much as I know she will kill' it when she is ready.
We help her in what we can as her parents and understand when she is not ready. As she reaches the toddler years we are now implementing a little more education but still doing it through play time.

Here are some of the things we are loving now with our almost 2-year-old.

Melissa and Dough puzzels: I've been a big fan of their puzzles for years and now with Bella even more. She gets to work on her motor skills and learns to build. Check out the ones with sound as well.

Playskool Flash Cards: These are great as a learning tool and entrainment. I can't tell you how many times we used these on our trip. I had 2 zip locks bags and she would take them out of one, say their name, and put them in the other one. Entertainment for hours, or at least 30 minutes which is a lot in toddler time.

ABCmouse: I know many parents are against screen time but in our house, this works and is a learning tool for us. She can color on the iPad or I can print them out as an extra activity for the day. the best part is she is learning and letting mama drink her coffee while still hot. If your kid is like mine, she needs music 24/7 and we can get it through here as well.
The best thing about ABC mouse is that they are now offering it for 2nd graders as well, and if you click the link below you have the opportunity to try it out for 30 days free of charge.
Guys, as a home daycare owner this works! the kids love it. Most of the time they don't even know they are learning! IT WORKS!

Legos: This is every moms' night-time worst nightmare. Have you ever stepped on one at 2 in the morning?! Ahhh! But as an educational tool, they are great! we build towers as Bella counts the "bricks" and separate them into groups according to their colors as well.

The most important thing to remember as parents, is that our kids learn through play-time. Letting them play is the best learning tool ever created.
So keep playing and teaching them and remember you, as their parent, are their first educator and teacher, if you set a path for them the first years you have to strengthen and straighten a tree that is in its first crucial years!

SoCozy Hair and Bella

  This post is sponsored by SoCozy but as always all thoughts and opinions are my own

When I was pregnant with Bella I was the queen of heartburn. I had it all day and sometimes has to sleep sitting up to avoid having it all night, and I remember our moms used to tell us that In the hispanic community if you are pregnant and have heartburn means you'll baby will have lots of hair.

I would crack up to this as I was the baldest baby in my family of 6 cousins and Lester was the baldest baby of all his siblings as well.

And my response to it all was that if heartburn was an indicator I was sure I was going to give birth to a  monkey.

Low and behold at 38, Bella came in this world with a full head of black, as can be, hair. The cutest little girl in the world that surprised us all with that head of hair. 

At the beginning it would stay down but as she got older so did her hair and the more it grew the more it stood up. We came up with way to have it down but he was cute anyways so we just ignored it.

Now days we have a toddler with her hair on her eyes constantly and by 12 am you can find any kind of food in it from her pushing away from her face. So when SoCozy contacted us to work together I was beyond thrilled. 

Now, lets get to the basis. They have a whole set of products to choose from. They have been in the Today show and we honestly just adore them. They are safe, no harsh chemicals included, and smell A-mazing. Even after running outside with the dog.

 My favorite is definitely the de-tangler. Bella hates her hair being brushed, maybe because we didn't have this product her first year of life, but the de-tangler she loves. She grabs it and pretends to spray it, and the best part is I get a drama free morning, which us mamas can totally agree is the best thing ever, and a just plain out cute.

Wanting to Try SoCozy?

All you have to do is head to your nearest CVS, Walgreens and of course Target and if you buy between now and February 13 you can enter for a chance to win their Family Vacation Sweepstakes . Just be sure to save your receipt as you will need to upload a copy to enter. The total value of this prize is $10,000 imagine that and you can read more about it here.

Keeping up with your Children's room

When we first moved into our house we had ridiculous requested white carpet all over the house with the idea of leaving it for a few years and exchanging for tile. The carpet quickly turned beige and no matter how many times we would scrub it was just not what we wanted. Within the first 2 years, we put tile all over the house except the rooms. 

We know tile would make the room too cold and not pleasant when getting out of bed but ugh we needed to get rid of the carpet, so we choose wood floors. Little by little Lester did each room and they turned out amazing. 

One of my favorite rooms in the house is Bella's room but in all honesty is one of the rooms that gets used the most and the messiest room because girlfriend can make it messy, but every inch of that room is used on a daily basis. Even though she doesn't sleep in her room just yet it her go-to place.

 We sit on the floor, read books, color, have tickle fest and even have a fashion show every once in a while so being clean it a must. 

So how do we maintain it clean?

1. Baskets: Baskets are the secret tool of each and every mom. Everything goes in it and it hides every possible mess.

2. Laundry and Toys: We have Bella put her laundry and toys away. Ok, this is a work in progress. We try daily but it's important for her to know that she has to be organized.

Messy but she gets the point. Hopefully haha

3. Bona Microfiber floor mop and PowerPlus Bona Hardwood floor cleaner. Like I mentioned above we pretty much sit on that floor daily, but alway walk in it so Bona PowerPlus lifts the dirt easy and fast, no scrubbing or sitting needed. 

Before

After

After

The first time we tried Bona you could tell the difference from a mile away and now we use it to maintain it clean and dirt free. We also use it in our bedroom and office and it does the same amazing job in each room.

We have also been using our bObi classic to pick up the small pieces of goldfish and cereal so in combination with the Bona mop cleaning Bella's room and the other two rooms with hardwood takes less than 10 minutes. This is every mom's dream and because we love you and Valentine's day is coming up we have a gift for you. 

A $3 coupon for your Bona Power Plus purchase. If you have hardwood floors believe me you won't regret it.

Have you tried Bona PowerPlus? What do you love about it?