Author: Melissa

At one of the parties for the wedding, my aunt made this fabulous sangria. DRINK WITH CAUTION because it is super yummy and packs a punch!

Sangria

1/2 pint flavored brandy (blackberry or apricot – I use blackberry)
1/2 pint peach schnapps
1/2 pint spiced run
1 to 1 1/2 cups orange juice
1 to 1 1/2 cups Sprite
Bottle of red wine

Add orange slices if desired. ENJOY!

 ***This giveaway is now closed. Congratulations to comment #28, Deena! I know you and your family are going to just love the V.Reader as much as we do!***

We have been fans of Family Reading Night for awhile in our house.

In the wintertime, we love to have what the kids call “Family Fire Night.” We light a fire in the fireplace, pop some popcorn and all curl up in the living room, snuggling together to read books, maybe playing a board game, and just enjoying some unplugged time together.

When my husband is traveling for work, the kids and I will often go to the library in the afternoon or after dinner, then come home and read the night away with all of our new books. It’s such a great quiet evening when Mama is a little fried after being with loud, energetic kids all day!

During the summer – especially on summer vacation – we love to read even more. Tonight we’re in Virginia Beach and, after spending an exhausting day on the beach and at the hotel pool, we’re having a Family Reading Night at the hotel: My husband reading on his Nook, my 7-year-old reading a chapter book, me reading picture books to my 2-year-old and my 5-year-old reading a book on her V.Reader. It is unbelievably peaceful.

Well, peaceful for having 5 people in a small room. My Gracie is so proud that she is reading on the V.Reader by herself. Ellie is getting annoyed at her because Gracie is reading aloud so we can all hear that she’s reading. (Just keepin’ it real.) She’s been reading it all vacation and I’m already seeing amazing progress with her. She can even complete the reading comprehension game – which is all reading! I’m so proud of her and I’m so excited to get her a new book.

Do you ever have a Family Reading Night?

VTech and TheMotherhood are giving one lucky Girlymama reader a V.Reader and game cartridge to help with your Family Reading Night! Here’s how to enter:

Mandatory Entry: Leave a comment sharing how you encourage your family to read and if you've tried a Family Reading Night.
Extra Entry #1: Leave a SEPARATE comment telling me you subscribed to Girlymama's feed by email or in a reader.
Extra Entry #2:  Leave another comment telling me in what way you promoted this contest (i.e., posting about it on your blog or Facebook, or  Tweeting about it.

Contest ends Friday, June 16th. Entries such as "Enter me" or "I want to win" will NOT be counted. Winners will be selected by Random.org,
announced back here on this post, and notified via email with
further instructions. If I don't hear from the winner in 48 hours, I
will be choosing a new winner. 

Disclosure: I was provided with a V.Reader for review purposes by VTech and TheMotherhood and was compensated for my time in writing this post and running this giveaway. As always all opinions are mine.

With three small kids, a husband with a
demanding job, running three blogs and my own design  business,
to say that life is busy around here is an understatement.  Recently, several people
have asked me, "How do you do it all?" which just makes me want to
laugh.

Haven't we women figured out by now that NO ONE does it all?

Some of us work full time, some of us stay home with our kids. Some
of us travel for work or have husbands who travel, leaving us alone
with the kids. Some of us volunteer at school or in the community and
really do look like we have it all together and some of us don't.  We
all have to take care of our kids, our homes, our families and
ourselves.   And we all have 24 hours in a day.

Everyone makes compromises. If you are choosing to do something
(working, blogging) then you are choosing not to do something else
(laundry, sleeping).  My friend who works full time in a very
high-profile job has a full-time nanny and a cleaning lady – and she
proudly states that without their help, she'd be a mess! Another friend
home schools her FIVE kids – and she confesses her only time to herself
is reading a single chapter in a book before falling into bed at night.
Another friend works part-time from home while her kids run around, but
confesses that her house is an absolute disaster during the week.

Personally, I may have started working, but I've stopped doing lots
of other things. My house is nowhere near as neat as it used to be, I'm
rarely finding time to exercise or have time to myself and my family has been eating more take
out than I care to admit. Yet I constantly deal with guilt about not
"doing more."

We have a very unhealthy habit of comparing ourselves to each other.

We need to remember that NO ONE "does it all” and no one's life is
perfect.
We should never feel in adequate or inferior because of
something we don't do or don't have.
Life is just too short.

My entire family loves to read. And we all have our favorite little spots to hunker down and dive into a good book.  

For me this is a no brainer. My very, very favorite place to read is laying on the beach, listening to waves. When my husband and I went to Hawaii in April, that is just about all I did. It was heaven! In a pinch, the porch at the beach house we go to in the summer will do on a chilly day.
On a more daily basis, since I unfortunately do not live at the beach, I love to read in my favorite chair in the living room. Every morning, I come downstairs before the kids wake up, grab my cup of coffee and curl up in my chair to read my Bible and enjoy the peace and quiet before the chaos erupts.

Now my girls have taken over the spot. They both love to read there as well. (Notice the rare moment of peace as Gracie shows Ellie her new V.Reader.) During the summer, however, one of their favorite things to do is to drag a bunch of blankets and pillows out of the house into the backyard, grab a stack of books and lay outside looking at books. Even my 2-year-old will go over and join them (even though he makes it through about half a book).

My girls are reading up a storm right now because I was recently provided with the new V.Reader Animated E-Book System for them to try out and review. My husband just got a Nook – which they are NOT allowed to touch. And now they have their own e-Reader, designed specifically for kids aged 3 – 7 years old! And its PINK! (Insert high-pitched little girl squeal!)  The V.Reader does a great job of bringing stories to life. And it works at various ages and reading levels, which is perfect for my two girls.

Despite my family's love of reading, I can totally relate to the Summer Smarts survey which found that most moms believe their busy schedules make it difficult to ensure their kids are reading enough. Its really hard to carve out specific reading time in our summer days. That's where VTech and the V.Reader can help! And you can make the commitment to read together with your child when you take VTech’s Summer Reading Pledge. The first 100 people to do so will get the brand new V.Reader just for encouraging your family to read.

Do you or your kids have a favorite spot to curl up with a good book?

As I'm recovering from my sister's wedding and looking forward to BlogHer, I've been pursuing the Internet and here are a few things I've been eyeing!

A Cute non-black Laptop Bag: I need a new laptop bag, since my old one decided that having straps was optional. In the middle of the airport. So I'm loving this bag by Angie & Lola at Target. The color is too cute!! Way beyond the typical boring black laptop bag!
 

This green one is pretty stinkin' cute too! (For more of a splurge, I'm loving this Blue Winnetka Italian Leather laptop case on Overstock! I wish!) Actually I really like this commuter bag from Vera Bradley – even though its black! That looks so classic it will last for years (and its on sale to boot.)

Cute comfy shoes: An absolute necessity for a blogging conference!! I love Privos, but I think that they're a little casual for the outfits I have planned. And I love heels, but they need to be comfy. I have a pair like these that I can wear all day, but again, a little casual. I want a really, really awesome comfy pair of black heels – any recommendations?
(But I definitely think I need to buy these shoes by Sofft:

I mean, they are over 70% off. So it would be wasting money NOT to buy them! Right?)

A cocktail dress: I have a really cute black one that I just rocked at my sister's wedding. But I'd love to get something a little less traditional. I absolutely love this VP Pintuck neck dress from Shabby Apple's new Skyscraper collection. And remember, just because your little black dress is a classic doesn't mean it has to be boring! Kick it up a notch! And I know black is traditional, but what about pink? Or if that's too much for you, what about grey?

Wouldn't this be so cute with some metallic shoes? And gorgeous blue and silver accessories? YUM!
By the way, most of these cocktail dresses are from Shabby Apple, who is having a super sale – 20% off almost everything with the code SUMMER20!

What are you buying in preparation for BlogHer?

Tonight my mother-in-law said, "Why don't you guys go out on a date while we watch the kids?"

We have so much work to do…

The house is a disaster…

The lawn needs mowing…

We're leaving for vacation soon…

I just showered and have wet hair and no make-up…

And I'm in my pajamas….

He just got home from a trip and hasn't unpacked…

Wait!

A impromptu date with my husband?

How often does that happen?

Are you kidding me?

Time out alone together?

This is awesome!

We're outta here!

Literally. Seeing as it is approximately eleventy-jillion degrees outside. All my flowers, even my hearty hostas, are brown after cooking in this heat for a week. The kids have serious cabin fever, since they're unable to go outside for more than a few minutes, which is not helping Mommy's sanity at all. We're all still fried from the wedding last week.

So… I made a decision. As of tomorrow, I'm off.

Tomorrow I will be packing up our suitcases and we're heading down to Virginia on Saturday for a week at the beach house with most of my husband's family. (My sister-in-law and her husband can't make it. Because they're flying to Ethiopia to pick up my new niece and nephew!! EEEEEEEE!!!!) 

We're going to a house that has no internet.  Darn. I will have to spend a week playing with my kids, reading the stack of books I've been meaning to read, lounging around looking at fashion magazines with my sister-in-law, eating food I did not cook, sleeping in, and generally just enjoying myself. 

I can't wait!