Dance! Dance! Dance! (Protect your costume in a great Garment Bag!)

With the end of the School year approaching, many activities are wrapping up their season too.  Ballet and Dance classes are just a couple of them.  There are many extra practices and rehearsals that go into a Dance Recital.  As parents of Dancers & Ballerinas know, a lot of expense goes into a Recital.  Often, the costumes can be the most expensive.  If you have invested in a Dance or Ballet Costume, protect it with a great Garment Bag!

Arrive at the Recital with your Costume in style!  Garment Bags protect your Costume and are certainly more attractive than a clear plastic cleaner bag! The Crazy Dazy offers Garment Bags for all size of Dancers and Ballerinas!  Horizon Dance, Sassi Designs, and Travel Bags by Sandra are the great brands that we offer in teen and adult size Garment Bags.  For the younger Ballerina, we offer garment bags from Buckhead Betties and Stephen Joseph.

Consider giving a stylish Garment Bag as a Recital Gift!  Everyone likes to get a gift early!

Don’t get Soaked! Protect yourself with the Sozo Weeblock!

My life has been full of baby boys! With only one of our 4 sons married with children, I am sure that there will be many more baby boys in my future!  One thing for certain, changing their diapers can be a challenge!  Just when you think that you have them clean and dry, they decide it is time to give you a shower!  A shower of pee that is!  Tide hasn’t gotten me yet, but I am sure the day is close!  At The Crazy Dazy, you can get Weeblockers!  These are sponge filled 2-ply jersey cotton covered cup shaped Wee Wee covers!  They absorb the surprise shower so that you don’t get soaked and so that it doesn’t run back on your clean baby.  These are available in Football, Lil Squirt, and Wee Wee Man themes! You can also get a Sozo Sports Pack which includes  Baseball & Basketball Wee Blockers.  If you are looking for a cute unique baby gift for a boy, give the Sozo Weeblock!  The new mom won’t know what she missed!  There is nothing like a Wee Shower!  Order today at www.thecrazydazy.com

Sports Pack Sozo Wee Blockers

Sozo Wee Blocker

Sozo Cap & Gown

I know that most of us have schedules that make us feel like time is flying by!  Tide is already 10 weeks old!  We are in the middle of Drew’s Senior Baseball Season.  It is already the middle of April!  Yesterday, I realized that Drew graduates in 4 weeks!  I haven’t planned his graduation party or sent his announcements!  We are so wrapped up in Baseball, that time has gotten away from me!  Here it is almost Cap & Gown time and I need to get ready!

The Crazy Dazy now has cap & gown sets for babies!  No, I don’t mean Graduation cap & gowns.  LOL!!  I mean adorable themed cap & gowns.  Sozo Baby Cap & Gowns come in several different themes. Tide gets his name from the University of Alabama’s Football “Roll Tide”!

There is an adorable Football Cap & Gown set that would be great for him!  I can even have his name Personalized on it!  If you are looking for a great unique baby gift, check out The Crazy Dazy‘s new Sozo Baby line!  There are Cap & Gown sets for boys and for girls!

We also offer adorable Swaddle Blankets with matching Caps!  Check out all of the new items on our new website at thecrazydazy.com!

Rain Rain Go Away, Come Again Another Day!

Carthage High School Baseball Team

With baseball season in full swing, we are not enjoying all of the rain!  Today, however, was a beautiful day!  It was a wonderful day to be outside and a great day to be at the ballpark!  Our High School team played in the Bill O’Dell Tournament Championship game this afternoon. Carthage has hosted this tournament for 39 years.   A Carthage team hasn’t won this tournament since 2002.  Today, our team won!  The team record is 9-0 now.  They are hoping to get their 10th straight win on Tuesday.  It looks like rain is coming tomorrow and our games next week may be postponed, but what a great day today was!

Outside of sports, playing in the rain can be fun!  When my boys were younger, they loved to go out in the rain.  After the rain came, we would float little foil boats down the edge of the street on the water.  It was always fun to see how far they would go before they crashed or sank!  When they got big enough to play baseball, my husband loved to teach them how to slide in the mud!  There is a reason to hang on to old clothes that you want to get rid of!  LOL!! The boys always loved learning to slide!  Bronx has an umbrella that he loves to play with!  Most kids love umbrellas even without the rain!

If you are like us and you are having more rain than you really want right now, find a way to enjoy the rain with your little ones!  You can find adorable Stephen Joseph Umbrellas in many different themes at thecrazydazy.com.  There are great boy umbrellas and girl umbrellas.  There are also umbrellas that will work for both!  Next time it rains, make some memories!

Stephen Joseph Sports Umbrella

Watermelon Umbrella

Spring has arrived!

Spring is here!  I know everyone doesn’t feel this way, but I love Spring & Summer!  I love watching the plants and trees that have been dormant all winter show signs of life.  It is great to see green grass and some flowering plants pop up through the soil.   I am anxious for the warmer days to arrive.

Carthage High School Baseball season opened this past weekend.  Our team won the Springdale, Arkansas Tournament!  Way to go CHS!  Friday was beautiful and Saturday equally so!  Some of the Fans had shorts and flip flops on!  Today, we need our winter coats again!  Spring weather is unpredictable in this part of the country!

Easter is a week from Sunday!  It seems so early this year!  We usually have a big family Easter Egg Hunt on Saturday before Easter.  There are usually around 40 of us.  It is so much fun to watch the kids run all over the yard searching for the bright colored Easter Eggs.  Some of them have to stop and check out the prize inside before they look for more Easter Eggs.  Others want to gather as many Easter Eggs as they can and then see all of their prizes at once. Whichever way they decide, it is fun to watch their faces light up with their new found treasures.

If you are looking for a creative Easter Basket, check out the adorable Stephen Joseph Quilted Backpacks at The Crazy Dazy.  There is time to order and receive them before Easter!  You can make the backpacks extra special by having them Personalized.  Kids love seeing their Name on things.  The backpacks can be stuffed with Easter Basket Goodies and then reused after Easter to carry their toys, clothes, or papers. I love giving a unique gift!  While you are checking out the backpacks, be sure and check out the other Stephen Joseph items you can use to fill your Baskets.  The Doodle Dudes and Snappy Notes are sure to be a hit!  Whatever you choose, all of us here at The Crazy Dazy wish you a very Happy Easter!

C-A-M-P-O-U-T!!!

Before our third son was born, my husband wanted to start a special tradition with our kids..  At the time, our oldest son was 4 and our second son was 2. We decided to make Friday nights our Family ‘Camp Out Night’.

Every Friday night we would drag out the sleeping bags and pillows to our living room floor.  The boys picked special movies and games that they wanted to watch and play.  I usually made a special snack to eat while we watched the movie. As a baby, our third son joined family Camp Out Night’s in the Pack-n-Play.  The boys loved Camp Out Night and never wanted to miss it!  Sleeping on the living room floor wasn’t easy, but I wouldn’t have missed all those giggles and games for anything!

As the boys grew, when they reached special goals or achieved certain things, we wanted to reward them.  The boys got to choose, within reason, what they wanted as a reward. That usually meant pizza.  It didn’t take long, before they realized that they would like to have an extra ‘Camp Out Night’ as a reward!  Imagine, trading in pizza for sleeping on the floor!

There are 10 years between our oldest son and our youngest son (4 boys).  When number 4 was born, he also enjoyed Camp Out Nights with all of us. Sometimes in the summer we would drag the sleeping bags out to the trampoline and all 6 of us would sleep there.  Needless to say, when one of us rolled over, everyone else knew it!  We have a sleeping porch off of our Master Bedroom.  When the weather was warm, we would drag the sleeping bags and fans out on the sleeping porch and have ‘Camp Out’ there.  We would lay out there and listen to stories that the boys would tell.  Sometimes we would break out into song!  We certainly weren’t a choir, but we had a great time.  I am sure that the neighbors wondered what was going on when they could here us giggling and singing, but they couldn’t see us.

Our boys enjoyed family Camp Out Night’s so much that they looked for reasons to be rewarded with extra nights!  As the older boys grew up and moved out of the house, the youngest still wanted to have Camp Out Nights. We have so many great memories from our Camp Out nights!  Our boys are old enough that the really cute sleeping bags weren’t easily available then.  Today, there are so many cute ones on the market.

Horse Nap Mat

Check out the adorable Stephen Joseph Nap Mats at The Crazy Dazy and start your own family Camp Out tradition.  There are Boy Nap Mats and Girl Nap Mats and there are also Nap Mats that work for both like the Monkey and the Horse.  Stephen Joseph offers may great designs!  You can make the Nap Mats extra special by having them personalized.  Whatever you choose, enjoy making special memories that will last a lifetime!

Pink Turtle Nap Mat

Bunnies and Baskets

Usually when I take down my Valentine’s decorations at the end of February, it is too early to put Easter decorations out.  Not this year!  With Easter being the end of March, I brought out the Easter stuff as I put up the Valentine’s. To decorate the Dining Room,  I scrunched a pretty yellow piece of fabric down the middle of our table as a runner.   In the center of the runner there is a large bright yellow and pink flower arrangement.  Going down the table on each side of the flower arrangement are crystal candle holders topped either with pretty candles or with decorated artificial eggs.  Then I set the table with our wedding china.  The buffet has glass jars filled with bright plastic eggs and pretty ribbons, along with Spring colored what not dishes. Our Entry Way is filled with trunks, baskets, and buckets of bright colored eggs surrounded by stuffed and ceramic Bunnies.  On top of our Fireplace is a Plastic Bunny that my Grandparents gave me for my first Easter many years ago.   I love decorating for Easter and knowing that Spring is on it’s way!

If you have Easter Baskets to fill, check out The Crazy Dazy for unique gift ideas!  We offer several small unique affordable gifts that are a great size to add to Easter Baskets.  There are Wallets, Clip Boards, Large Paper Clips, Pencils, Zipper Pulls, Water Bottles, and many other gifts.  Find just the right things for the kids in your life!  Order them now so they will arrive in plenty of time for Easter!

 

 

Cooking Comfort Food

I am one of those people who love summer and would just as soon skip the winter weather.  I do know that it serves a purpose, but that doesn’t keep me from wanting it to get warm!  We had 2 snow days last week and another snow day yesterday.  Snow days make me want comfort food.  Although it isn’t the healthiest, it sure does taste great!  So for dinner last night, I made Southern Chicken Biscuits!

Fried Chicken Tenders

I thawed out skinless boneless chicken breast and cut each into 3 nice size tenders.  In bowl number 1, I put about a cup of flour.  In bowl number 2, I combined  2 large eggs and a tablespoon of water.  In bowl number 3, I combined about 2 1/2 cups of Italian seasoned bread crumbs, 1 teaspoon black pepper, and 1/2 teaspoon ground cayenne pepper. I preheated oil in my deep fryer to 375*. I dipped the chicken in the flour, then the egg mixture, and then rolled it in the breadcrumb mixture.  I placed a few chicken tenders in the fryer basket and fried them for about 7 minutes.  I hardly ever fry food, but when I do, I like to wear an apron.  It helps keep the popping grease from splattering on my clothes. While the chicken was frying, I baked grand sized canned biscuits.  I like to make biscuits from scratch, but I had two cans that were about to expire, so I used those.  When the chicken is finished cooking, turn the basket of  tenders out on a plate layered with paper towels so the excess oil can drain off.  When the biscuits are ready, slice them in half.  Add butter to both halves and drizzle with honey.  Put a chicken tender on one biscuit half and top with the other.  The little bit of spice that the cayenne pepper adds compliments the butter and honey to make a great tasting sandwich!  Needless to say, my guys love these!

When my kids were little, they liked to help cook.  Bronx likes to help me cook now, when he is here.

The Crazy Dazy offers adorable kid sized aprons.  There is even a Monkey apron for boys!  Stephen Joseph offers many great girl apron designs.

Stephen Joseph Monkey Apron

Check out the Ice Cream Quilted Apron and the matching Ice Cream Play Cooking Set.  The cooking set comes with a kid sized bowl, wooden spoon, oven mitt, and rolling pin! Check them out today and get started cooking with your young one!

Stephen Joseph Cupcake Kid’s Apron

Stephen Joseph Cupcake Cookware Set

Western Horse Rodeo Birthday Party

The Rodeo

Bronx had a great Western themed birthday party last Saturday!  On his birthday, we celebrated with a small family party.  His new baby brother had just came home from the hospital 3 days earlier, so we kept it small.  His mom was anxious to have his big birthday party as soon as she felt up to it.  Last Saturday was the day!  She had such cute themed ideas!

We gathered several rocking horses and stick horses to make a “Rodeo” area for the kids to ride.  They had a great time playing in this area!  I watched many riders get bucked off of their horses!  The drink table was labeled “The Watering Hole”.  The snack table was labeled “The Eatin’ Place”.  On that table, Rice Krispie treats were labeled as “Hay Stacks’, Party Mix was labeled “Happy Trail Mix”, Pretzels were labeled as “Salty Straw”, and Texas Caviar Salsa was labeled as “Cowboy Caviar”.

Cupcake Bonanza

The birthday boy LOVES cupcakes!  He had an “Elmo” party for his 2nd birthday with really cute Elmo cupcakes.  He has talked about those Elmo cupcakes all year!  His mom knew that he would much rather have cupcakes instead of a regular cake. Granny (my mom) used her Cricut to cut out 50 Paper Horses and then glued them to toothpicks for the cupcakes.  We made Chocolate Cupcakes with chocolate icing, White Cupcakes with cream cheese icing, and White Cupcakes with chocolate icing.  The cake table was labeled “Cupcake Bonanza”.  The herd of Horses looked so cute on that table!  I used my Cricut to cut out the letters for the signs from brown paper sacks.  Then I added twine to complete the “Western” look.

Bronx ran off when we started singing “Happy Birthday” to him!  I am not sure if we sounded that bad or if he was embarrassed, but it was too cute!  He did come back and blow his 3 candles out!  It was a lot of fun and a GREAT birthday party!

If you are looking for Western themed party favors or birthday gifts, check out The Crazy Dazy!  We offer great Boy and Girl Western items!  Check out the Horse Backpacks! Stephen Joseph has more than one Girl Horse design.  There is a matching Girl Horse Backpack and Girl Horse Lunchbox.  They make a really cute combo!  There are plenty of Boy Horse items too!  For cute Party Favors, check out the Horse Doodle Dudes.  Whatever you pick, the kids are sure to love their Western themed gifts!

Life Lessons through Sports!

Earlier this week, I was posting our son’s High School Baseball schedule on my calendar.  We are all excited for this season.  We have a large group of Senior guys who have played as a team together since they were 10 years old.  There are also several Underclassmen who will help support the team this year.

Sports can be such a great way to teach children many life lessons.  Self Control, How to Treat Others, to Listen and Follow Directions, Competitive Skills, Teamwork, Sportsmanship, and Courage to name a few.  With good coaching, they can learn to win or lose gracefully.  Life comes with many ups and downs, as do sports games.  This group of boys won State Championships as 11 year olds, 12 year olds, and 14 year olds.  Those are great memories!  They all have great pictures and trophies to remind them of their accomplishments.  Their 13 year old year was a growing experience!  They learned important skills during that challenging year.  They don’t have trophies to show for the things they learned during that season, but they do have experiences to draw from. The experiences will help them this year as they face challenges during the games. However this season turns out, we are proud of this group of boys and have enjoyed all of the fun times that they have led us through! Tryouts are next week!

It is great for children to learn about teamwork.  The Crazy Dazy offers several Sports items for your young player!

Stephen Joseph Sports Growth Chart

The Stephen Joseph Sports Growth Chart will be a great way to keep track of their physical growth through the years.  The Growth Chart also has places for photos! From Backpacks to Water Bottles and Bookmarks to Luggage, check out all of the Stephen Joseph Sports items that are offered at The Crazy Dazy.