100 Sign up bonus for new Swagbuck Users!

If you haven't tried Swagbucks yet, what are you waiting for?! You can earn giftcards (I always choose Amazon) to lots of great retailers just for searching the web! I average $300 or more a year just for web searching and there are options for doing surveys, tasks, and you can even earn when you buy groupon and living social deals! Why not get paid for something you're already doing?

Right now there's a special holiday bonus of 100 swagbucks when you join and enter the code HOLIDAYSWAG at sign up. All you have to do is click the banner below and you'll be on your way to earning your giftcards!

Happy Holidays from Life Unexpected!

Hey guys just wanted to stop in and let everyone know that we're still living! I've been a busy week for us with a trip to Sea World, My niece Amelia Grace being born, Willow's 3rd birthday and Christmas on the way. We'll be back with everything in full swing next week but for now here are some pictures of what's going on in our lives.

The Amelia Monster on her birthday.

Wednesday the  twins ditched their "baby" seats and moved on to "big girl seats" Thanks Target's baby clearance for $70 Britax Roundabouts!

All of us at Hollywood Studio's to see the lights

Willow waiting to see Santa

Madeline and Ella waiting to see Santa

HAPPY HOLIDAYS! 

Found on the Internet - Men-Ups

When you sit back and think about it, how silly are pin-up poses? Women laying on the floor with their legs straight up in the air, or cooking  in the kitchen with their booty sticking out and a "naughty" face on? I mean really who does that? Would it be just as sexy if a man did it? Men-Ups is a hilarious photo set of men doing pin up poses!

Oh look at me, I'm a sexy lumberjack, sitting on my stump.

Taking a break from shoveling to show you my sexy legs.

Oh Noes! I knocked over my grill!

Rock Star Women of Klout

LaDonna from Mom Blog Society just did an awesome article on the difference between Klout and PeerIndex and I'm included in her "10 influential and fabulous ROCK STARS" section! The article explains how Klout and PeerIndex figure out how "influential" you are in the blogging world. I'm so excited to be included in this awesome group of women!

Check out the PeerIndex Vs Klout article to see what other fabulous female bloggers were included!

Hartstings Children's Clothing Review

We were recently given the opportunity to visit our local Hartstrings Children's Clothing store at the Outlets in Orlando Florida. Since the outlets are packed in the weeks leading up to Christmas we packed the girls in the car and headed over on the day before Thanksgiving. Our outlets are usually open until 11pm, but we were a bit shocked when we got there and found out that they were closing at 9pm because of the Thanksgiving holiday. We walked around the outdoor plaza for a bit looking for Hartstrings and when we finally found it we headed in
.

 After we admired the beautiful holiday clothing in the store for about 10 minutes we realized that not one of the sales associates had even acknowledged that we were in the store. We're not exactly hard to miss trying to maneuver 2 strollers with three little girls under three through their narrow aisles (our double stroller got stuck a few times and we couldn't fit down some aisles at all). At first we thought that maybe they were busy helping a customer in the back of the store but after looking around a bit it was confirmed that we were the only ones in the store. We found the two sales associates talking to each other behind the register and actually heard them swearing. When we walked by they started giggling and apologized. I had never purchased clothing from Hartstings so I was concerned about sizing on some of the pieces. While they did have a fitting room, I knew that trying to drag all 3 girls in to try on clothes just wasn't going to work with the time constraint we had so I asked one of the associates how their clothing ran in comparison to the other brands we usually buy and she told me she "didn't know if their clothes ran big or small, they go by age". She suggested a size 6-9 months for Ella and Madeline and a size 3 for Willow. I chose to size down to 3-6 for Ella and Madeline because they're in a lower percentile in both height and weight in comparison to other babies their age.

I was on a real mission to find at least one outfit for each of the girls in our budget so after looking at the holiday clothing (which we decided wasn't within our budget) we spied a HUGE clearance section in the back with clothing in that was 60-75% off. At this time one of the sales associates was able to break herself away from her conversation and informed us that they were having a Pre-Thanksgiving sale and that our entire purchase would be an additional 20% off, so we went to work looking through the racks to find things in the girls' size. We ended up finding a total of 5 outfits for the twins, two matching outfits and one single, as well as an outfit that Willow picked out. All for a total of $97.XX and a savings of over $250 from their original price.

Our Hartstrings Fashion Show

Madeline in the single outfit we purchased.

Madeline in the pink flower dress

Ella and Madeline in the pink flower dress. They like each other I promise.

Ella in the black and white tiered dress.

Madeline and Ella in the black and white tiered dress.

Willow in the plaid skirt and hot pink cardigan she picked out.

This is her new "smile". I love the rhinestone buttons and beading on this cardigan!

Our Overall Opinion

I think that Hartsings offers great quality stylish clothing for children of all ages. Their regular prices are defiantly out of our budget, but they seem to have some great sales that make their clothing affordable for everyone. Other then the customer service we received (or didn't receive) we had a positive experience with Hartsings and their clothing. We'd defiantly shop there again and recommend Hartstings to our friends. Just leave your double strollers at home! You call find more information about Hartstrings and their clothing on these sites:  

Website http://www.hartstrings.com/

Facebook http://www.facebook.com/hartstrings 

Twitter @Hartstringskids 

I partnered with MomSelect and Hartstrings review. I received a gift card in order to do my shopping but received no other compensation for this post. All opinions are my own, please see our disclosure policy for more details.

Perplexus Original Toy of the Year Contest and Giveaway ends 12/16

I recently shared with you guys how much we loved our Perplexus Original from PlaSmart. Evidently a lot of other people love their Original Perplexus too, because it  has been nominated as Educational Toy of the Year by the Toy Industry Association! Educational Toy of the Year is like the “Oscars” for the toy industry AND it is voted on by the consumer! 

To celebrate their nomination PlaSmart would like to give one lucky Life Unexpected reader their own Perplexus! All you have to do is enter using the Rafflecopter widget below and make sure to show your appreciation to PlaSmart by voting for them for Educational Toy of the Year.