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Messy Mommies In The City

Life is messy. Find joy in the mess!

My Cheesy, Awesome, Behind the Scenes Day with Kraft

10/28/2016

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​My Cheesy, Awesome, Behind the Scenes Day with Kraft (& Keep Your Fingers Crossed!)
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​It All Started With A Simple Facebook Post By Kraft Natural Cheese.

It all started with a simple Facebook post by Kraft Natural Cheese: "Attention all you cheese-lovers out there: what’s the most recent challenge you’ve faced in the kitchen at breakfast, lunch, or dinner? Unexpected guests? Boring routine? A Kraft Cheesemaker might take on your challenges. Reply with #ChallengeACheesemaker"
 
It Sounded Like A Good Idea
I immediately thought about how much we love Kraft cheese! In my mind, it sounded like a good idea to answer the question. Maybe we’d win some free cheese. So I typed my challenge. “With four-year-old twins, we make a lot of grilled cheese! How do you jazz up a grilled cheese? #ChallengeACheesemaker.”
 
I checked a few of the other challenges posted but didn’t think much more about it. I was busy chasing after Stella and Sophia. I received a reply from Kraft to message them if I was interested in talking about my cheese challenge. I thought that was interesting and next think I knew I was emailing with Riley from Leo Burnett about possibly being in a Kraft cheese video with or without the girls. I like a good adventure and we love Kraft cheese so again, I thought this was a good idea. I responded that I was interested and would be delighted to bring the girls should everything work out.
 
A short time later I was so excited to find out that Sophia, Stella and I would be in a Kraft #ChallengeACheesemaker video. My husband, Tony was intrigued and wanted to know if I thought Sophia and Stella would actually do it. I felt confident on my outgoing Stella would like being in the video but was not so sure about sweet Sophia.
 
Riley and I talked on the phone and I shared that I was a little worried that Sophia might be glued to my hip the whole time and she assured me that they were looking for real and authentic. I laughed and said we sure had real with our crew. I also asked if I could bring my mom as I wasn’t quite sure how things would go with the girls and she said of course. Riley sent me details on what to wear, logistics, and to plan for about 2-3 hours the afternoon of the video shoot. 
Grilled Cheese Day
The morning of the video filming my mom and I wanted to help get the girls in the spirit of grilled cheese. So, we create an opportunity to talk about Kraft cheese, play with Kraft cheese, and get them fired up about doing the video. I told the girls we were going to make a cheese video like they see on YouTube. Stella loved making grilled cheese with the Kraft Big Slice and Sophia loved the Kraft shredded cheese. I think she ate more than she put on her sandwich. We created some funny videos and ate a bunch of Kraft cheese.
 
We changed into our cute outfits. Thanks Stitch Fix and the so cute Target Cat & Jack! I did sweet pigtails for Stella with darling bows while Sophia boycotted any type of bow. We loaded up into the minivan and did a quick video. I asked the girls if they were excited for the Kraft cheese video and Sophia yelled “No!” Thank goodness Stella was excited. As Sophia giggled, I wondered if my good idea was really a good idea!  

​Real, Authentic, & Natural
On the way to the Chicago video location Stella’s bow popped out of her hair and broke. I realized we didn’t have a back up bow. Luckily we found a kid’s hair boutique on the way as I was still going for perfect!
 
Upon arriving at the video location, we were warmly greeted by Riley from Leo Burnett and the Kraft team. Stella and Sophia were a bit quiet as they took it all in. We settled into the Green Room and Riley brought over crayons and construction paper. Good call by Riley and put to good use.
 
I knew the plan from previous talks with Riley – paperwork, hangout in the Green Room and then video shoot. Glen helped us with our paperwork and took wardrobe pictures. Sophia was boycotting and Glen assured me we could try again later. The girls loved hitting the snack table and we munched on fruit, cheese, and other snacks. Riley shared that the videos were running a little behind and I told her we were fine, and had no other plans for the day. From my past jobs in events and public affairs I well knew that even the best plans often took longer than anticipated. I knew life can be messy.
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​As they changed out cheese challenge video setups, we met members of the awesome Kraft team like Anne and Jonathan. We also chatted it up with Riley and her co-worker Rachel. We talked about the Facebook posts, our videos and other “real” people shooting that day, and of course Kraft. We talked about which Kraft offices they were working in and the commutes around the city. What struck me though is that we talked about a lot of other things that afternoon. We talked about Halloween costumes for all our kids, about Jonathan’s niece from the East coast and Facetiming with far away family, and going to visit family in Indiana and road trips. The thing is the conversations were so real, authentic, and natural. When you have a chance to see behind the scenes of iconic brands it can tell you a lot about the real deal of the company. I’ve been fortunate to interact with many iconic brands and companies over the years and the awesomeness my mom, the girls and I were experiencing during our Kraft cheesy day is not always the case. This was awesome.
 
Headlines about mergers, jobs, and office locations can be a distraction for big companies, especially when they have big, positive change happening. But what I experienced were people passionately focused on their consumers and extremely excited about their emphasis on being real, honest, and natural with their valued customers. It was awesome because we experienced this all day and their passion and exceptional interactions with the Tortorello crew never changed.
 
To be honest, we did have to wait about three hours to shoot our video and Sophia, Stella, and my mom were amazing. Rachel offered to take us to a park but I knew if we left there was no way I’d get the girls back in the studio! We hit the snack table a bunch of times, colored, and played games on our iPhones. We were able to checkout the interesting pre-setup in the hallway and watched the chefs prep for the various videos. We peaked into the kitchen video studio and waved at the Kraft and Leo Burnett teams watching the filming on giant TVs in the monitoring rooms. Stella’s pigtails dropped and I asked if I should fix them but was assured they were happy with the real look. At one point the girls wanted to leave so I shifted into bribery mode with the promise of a new toy. The girls became super comfortable in our surroundings and at one point Stella was bouncing across a row of ottomans. And, we talked and talked with our new pals from Kraft and Leo Burnett. 
​Lights, Camera, Action!
Then it was our turn! We were ushered onto the kitchen set and the engaging director worked with us on where we would stand in the background. Stella got to climb on a quarter apple crate and I held Sophia. It was so interesting to watch the talented team position the cheese and other sandwich items and set production. The camera folks worked with our cheesemaker, Doug and a group sat in high chairs behind the camera’s armed with laptops and notes. I encouraged the girls to smile which only made Sophia hide her head in my shoulder. We started filming and Stella was ready to go! If you know my energetic gal, you can imagine how the beginning went with filming. Cheesemaker Doug talks about our Facebook post and is supposed to turn around and look at us. Stella keep smiling and was doing crazy eyes so every time Doug turned around he burst out laughing. It took about four tries to get the opening shot! We continued filming and Sophia started twirling my hair and swinging her legs. Sophia started pulling on my shirt so I tried to hold her hands in a loving looking way to avoid a wardrobe malfunction. They wanted real and they sure were getting it! It was a little hot under the lights as we moved into the second jazzy cheese sandwich. As they started filming the director laughingly shouted, “We lost the talent!” I looked down to see Stella sitting on her apple crate. I bent down and whispered, “You can get two toys if you stand up!” She jumped up and on we went. We continued on and the girls were champions. I was so proud of them as the director worked with Doug on his lines. We were in the final stretch working on the ending when Sophia decided she was done. I knew we were all in and needed to finish so without batting an eye I whispered to the girls, “Three toys!” They rallied and we were soon finished. 
 
Back in the green room we met up with my mom and I was so appreciative that Riley had brought her into the viewing room with the Kraft and Leo Burnett teams. I was anxious about what Riley and Jonathan thought and they assured me it was great. My mom shared that everyone was cracking up at Stella’s funny faces and that Sophia was sweet. I just hoped that the video would be ok and what they were looking for in a real, authentic campaign!
 
We were given an awesome Kraft cooler goodie bag and Stella quickly put on her Kraft shirt! We were loaded up with Kraft cheese, a so cool cheese board (thanks Rachel!), Kraft aprons and water bottles, and so many fabulous Kraft treats. (More about the goodie bag in another post!)
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We thanked the awesome team for an awesome day and loaded up the girls in the minivan. My mom is a saint as we next went to Target. The girls worked hard that day and deserved some treats.
 
After our tired crew went to sleep I had a few minutes to think about our cheesy, awesome, behind the scenes day with Kraft. What I thought might be a good idea ended up being awesome. I’m so thankful we had this unique opportunity and all from answering a Facebook question. This iconic company is working really hard to be honest and real with their customers about their ingredients and their values. I’m really proud to be a part of this #ChallengeACheesemaker campaign and hope you check out the latest from Kraft! A huge thanks to Anne, Jonathan, Riley and Rachel and all the others that made us feel so special. We love Kraft!  
 
And, what you will see in our Kraft #ChallengeACheesemaker video is authentic Sophia and Stella so I’m keep my fingers crossed that it will be cheesy, awesome and perhaps funny! Go to Facebook and search Kraft Natural Cheese to find the #ChallengeACheesemaker posts! The first video is already posted and you can find a great game day snack! Not sure when our video will be live but I will share the link when it is posted! 

I'd also like to share a huge thank you to my mom, Bev Murer for joining in this cheesy, awesome day! Mom you were a giant help with Sophia and Stella and I'm grateful for all your help!
 
I can’t reveal how Doug solved our #CheeseChallenge but if you have ideas on how to jazz up a Kraft grilled cheese please share in the comments below!

Happy cooking!
Cheesy Meg 
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How the #ChorePal App Helped Save My #MomFail

10/17/2016

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​I have no idea how we suddenly ended up in an epic 4-year-old meltdown. I’m talking the screaming, crying, and running around the house like an upset tiger kind of meltdown. Stella and her twin, Sophia had been discussing what type of baby dolls they were going to get that afternoon as a reward. They were happy and chatting away. Suddenly, Stella said she also had to have a baby stroller for her baby. I tried to explain that no, we were only going to get one toy each. No matter what I tried I could not calm her down for a good 15 minutes. I tried to explain that if she kept crying and screaming we would not be able to go get any toy. As you can imagine, I made the situation worse. Her sweet twin tried to calm her down by bringing Stella one of her favorite bears. That didn’t help either.
 
From my stack of parenting books, I pulled out some tricks. I encouraged Stella to take deep breaths as I tried to as well. I asked if she wanted to go to the cool down corner or stomp her feet.  I was in a #MomFail moment and I knew I needed to change course quickly. 
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​I told Stella and Sophia that we could take the change from their chores jars and use that money to buy the baby stroller for them to share. That stopped Stella in her tracks and she wanted to know what I was talking about. I brought the girls into the kitchen and pointed to our waterpark chores jar and our Build-A-Bear chores jar. I explained that we could take the money they had saved from doing chores and see if we had enough money to buy the baby stroller. While still weepy, Stella was intrigued as I gave the girls zip lock bags. They liked dumping the change into their bags and said it was heavy. I quickly packed us up into the minivan and headed to Jewel.
 
Stella was still fussy in the car and wanted to go right to Toys R Us. Once in the Jewel parking lot I explained that we needed to trade in the change for paper money. The girls wanted to know what I was talking about so I pulled out a dollar bill to show them. The girls loved dumping their change bags into the coin machine and receiving the voucher. They were so intrigued as we exchanged the voucher for $65.43 from customer service. Stella and Sophia were much happier as we headed back into the car.
 
The girls raced into Toys R Us and quickly found their baby dolls. We also picked out an awesome baby stroller. At the register I had the girls pay with their money and they loved it. We left the store with happy campers and clamors for doing more chores to earn more money.
 
While I was happy that I was able to calm Stella down and worked on a money lesson with the girls, I realized from my #MomFail moment that I needed to do a lot more about teaching the girls the value of money. But, I wasn’t sure how. 
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​A few days later I found a tweet on Twitter about a Chore Pal app from my friends at COUNTRY Financial. I quickly registered and downloaded the Chore Pal app. The app is great! I set up profiles for Sophia and Stella and went to work on creating chores and rewards. I realized five things along the way.
 
We Need More Structure
When you create chores in the app you identify which days the chores should be completed. As I was setting up the chores I quickly realized we are a little loose in our household chores structure. I get caught up in the busyness of school, the girls activities, and other things we have going on. When things are hectic, I sometimes let the chores slide. Just setting up the app made me realize we need a better plan and I know that regular chores help the girls learn responsibility and the lessons about the value of money. 
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​I Need to Think More About How We Reward the Girls
I had to laugh at myself as I started setting up the rewards. Please don't judge me! I clearly need to think more about how we reward the girls. Again, life is hectic and I sometimes go for easy. The first rewards I entered were for ice cream and toys. Our family loves ice cream and we have a dollar store a few blocks away. We had fallen into some bad habits. As I looked at the list I realized I needed to do a better job of talking with the girls about some goals and healthier options for our physical wellbeing and our wallets. I added going to the park and playing miniature golf. The app has some cool backend technology as the healthy park reward turned green with a “Pick me!” tag. While we had previously talked with the girls about long term goals like saving to go to a water park versus saving for a small toy, I still need to work on good short and long term reward planning for the family! 
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​The Girls Like Being a Part of the Family Team
As we upped our chores activities in our home I noticed that the girls were enjoying being a bigger part of the family team. They would call out for me to come check out what they were doing and had huge smiles. Stella loves to sweep the porch and Sophia loves to clean up toys. Sophia likes to help set the table and Stella likes to help fold towels. I need to work on including them more in our home jobs as their smiles of pride melt my heart and help them learn and grown.
 
We Need to Have More Financial Conversations
Sophia, Stella and I have some good financial conversations while grocery shopping. They know I love coupons, sales, and a good deal. The Chore Pal app reminded me though that we need to have a lot more conversations about earning money, saving, setting goals, and helping others. Even though they are four, they understand a lot and we need to get going on better financial planning!

​Chores Can Be Fun
So COUNTRY Financial knows that kids like technology and created a great, parent and kid friendly app. Sophia and Stella are amazing with my iPhone. While they can’t read yet, I was able to talk with them about the chores and they hit the right buttons on the app to earn rewards. They also thought the badges were fun and like that they have a green piggy bank. The Chore Pal app is easy to use and fun for our family. 

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If you have kids, you should check out the Chore Pal app and tell your friends about it too! The structure, ease of app, and fun features have helped us improved our chores game in our house and the app has helped us have better financial security conversations. Check it out today!

(Disclaimer – This is not an ad! I worked in the insurance industry for almost nine years and I had the opportunity to work with many amazing insurance companies. I know many of the awesome people at COUNTRY Financial and follow them on Twitter. I stumbled upon the Chores Pal app and decided to use it. They do not know I’m writing this post but I’m going to tweet about it! COUNTRY Financial does an outstanding job of encouraging financial security conversations and I hope you check out the Chore Pal app.) 
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