The survey is going great and we can’t wait to do a fun drawing for the winner of the iTouch on the 19th.  Heather and I plan to film the kids doing the drawing and post it to our YouTube link so make sure you visit on the 19th to see who the big winner is!

To everyone, thanks so much for helping us spread the word about The Last Straw.  We really appreciate all of your nice comments and emails.  Let’s keep it going and make the whole map green by year end!

Thanks again,

Robert and Heather

This is a post written by one of my close friends.  She has 3 children and this is one of her experiences of juice box messes.  Thanks Rebecca!

Oh No you didn’t!!

Those were the exact words out of my mouth when my 6 year old squeezed juice box all over our class room and his sisters too. As a homeschool mom to 3 kiddos, my time is very valuable and cleaning up unnecessary messes is not at the top of any wish list I have. However, I could see the shocked expression on his face and immediately knew why he had done it. He was spoiled! No, not spoiled rotten, but spoiled by the fact that he is friends with the Last Straw family!

Every time Brooks Austin goes over to their home, he relishes getting to have a juice box with his favorite “no mess” straw. This is a treat to him, and his sisters, because juice boxes are heavily rationed at our house because as I mentioned before, I really don’t enjoy cleaning up after the juice box mess.

After everyone got cleaned up,I could tell that he was still a little embarrassed by his mistake. I opened my arms and my little boy crawled up in my lap and said, “I’m sorry, Mommy. I really didn’t mean to make a mess, I just forgot that we didn’t have the good straw.” After I loved on him and told him that I understood that he had made a mistake, I could see a puzzled look come across his face. “Mommy,” he said, “why don’t all of our juice boxes come with the good straws? That way I wouldn’t make so many messes.”

That is when I realized the absolute brilliance of the Last Straw. Sure, I knew that it was a good idea. Sure, I knew that it would cut down on messes. But I never realized the most important aspect of this product. The Last Straw actually makes kids feel better about themselves by making them feel a little more independent and grown up. Wow! Sometimes I am amazed by what we can learn from our children.

I know that the next time we visit the Stribling’s, we are definitely coming home with our own set of the “good” straws!

Our school strongly discourages parents from walking their child to their classroom on the first day of school, “as this will cause mass confusion.” Since I wasn’t allowed to get out of the car with my youngest on his very first day of big boy school, Robert and I chose to hold up the entire car pool line while we snapped more pictures and took more video. Not one bit embarrassing for us, however, all we captured on film of Jessica (our 6th grader) was the back of her perfectly styled blond head running quickly and furiously into the school. I’m confident that if I were able to see her face she would have most certainly been rolling her eyes. Little does she know that middle school will be full of more embarrassing moments!

.

I use to roll my eyes when my grandmother would say, “Oh, they grow up sooo fast.”  It hit me today as Sam sat pouting on the steps how true that old saying really is.  There are so many moments with my kids that I wish I could freeze in time not wanting them to get any bigger.  But it happens regardless of what we want.  On the other hand I feel so blessed to see them grow and learn and change each and every day.  So I’ll try to loosen my grip a little (just in time to wipe my tears) and let him be the little man he wants to be.

Since then I’ve learned more about tooling, manufacturing, patents, etc. than I thought I would ever need to know. The best part has been all the wonderful people we have met and the life long friends we have made along the way. All that’s left to do now is to convince the big brand companies that moms want a better product for their families. That’s why we’re reaching out for your feedback. 

I guess we compliment each other that way. I listen, in amazement, to all of his ideas. Some great, some not so much. And I’m sure he’s equally amazed at how many loads of laundry I can actually do in one day. Occasionally, I’ll see the smoke, or that crazy look in his eyes, and run the other way. But for now, I’ll keep polishing that light bulb over his head and hope it never goes out.

I’m a full time mom. I used to be a neat freak. After my 3^rd(and last) was born I realized that Leggos in the toilet and grape juice stains on the carpet (on a daily basis) is really not that big of a deal. My husband, on the other hand, is a clean freak. The difference is – I keep things picked up (no matter how dirty the baseboards may be). My husband bleaches everything. Including the grape stained carpet. So now where there was a faint purple blob on the bedroom floor lies yellow streaks of bleach stains. But hey, at least he tried.

That leads me to the reason for this blog. My very intelligent husband has invented a juice box straw. Insert the straw into the juice box and squeeze (because isn’t that what most kids do) and no juice squirts out. Sip on the straw and VOILA… you get juice. Hello?? How great is that??!

Wouldn’t you like to see these straws on the juice boxes you buy? My husband joins me in this blogging adventure. We would love to hear from you. Until next time, I’m off to fish leggos out of the toilet.