Thursday, February 17, 2011

My son can make me smile


 

I had just dropped A & B off yesterday for gymnastics and was leaving with C & D in the car.  D made some sort of animal noise or growl at C.  "Dorothy, you are so complicated!" said C.  At just 3 years of age, my son has it figured out.  Girls are complicated.  Wise beyond his years.

Wednesday, February 16, 2011

Birthday Freebies That We Love

I have been meaning to do a post on this for awhile.  Everytime we have a birthday around here (which happens frequently) we always get some great coupons/freebies so I wanted to share them with you as well.  These are promotions that we currently do!

Great American Cookie Company: Join cookie-mail and receive a free cookie on your birthday
http://greatamericancookies.fbmta.com/members/UpdateProfile.aspx?Action=Subscribe&InputSource=W

Fuddrucker's: Join the Fudd's Club to receive a free burger on your birthday
http://fuddruckers.fbmta.com/members/UpdateProfile.aspx?Action=Subscribe&InputSource=W

ToysRUs: Join geoffrey's birthday club and recieve birthday cards, coupons, phone call and sometimes my kids receive toys r us dollars
http://www.trubdayclub.com/

Krispy Kreme: Join the birthday club and get a free doughnut on your birthday
http://www.krispykremetexas.com/birthdays/birthdayclubform.php

Souper Salad: Join the Souper Fresh Club and you will receive discounts and a special treat for you birthday - I received a free buffet for my last birthday.
http://www.soupersalad.com/

Jason's deli: Join their Real, Good List and you will receive $5 to their store on your birthday (usually in coupon form)
http://www.jasonsdeli.com/subscription

Schlotzky's: Join the bun and fun eclub and recieve a coupon for an original sandwich on your birthday!
http://schlotzskys.fbmta.com/members/UpdateProfile.aspx?Action=Subscribe&InputSource=W

Dairy Queen: Join the blizzard fan club and receive coupons.  Usually you will receive a buy one get one blizzard for your birthday.
http://www.blizzardfanclub.com/join/

Baskin robbins: join the birthday club and receive a free scoop on your birthday.
https://www.baskinrobbins.com/bdayclub/RegisterInfo1.aspx

Tuesday, February 15, 2011

Winner Chosen

Congratulations to TiffanyLeigh!  You are the winner of the $20 cash.  Please contact me within 48 hours or another winner will be chosen (I sent you a message!)  I look forward to my next giveaway...stay tuned!

Monday, February 14, 2011

Happy Valentine's Day and a Reminder

Happy Valentine's Day Everyone!  Hope you are enjoying your day and find a little chocolate for yourself.  My husband had a big box waiting for me this morning :)


And a friendly reminder that my first giveaway will end tonight at midnight, so if you haven't entered go enter!  All you have to do is follow and leave a comment on the giveaway post.  I will announce the winner tomorrow.  Good luck!

Friday, February 11, 2011

Book Review #2: Lioness Arising

 

Alright, my second review for the blogging for books program. I read Lioness Arising by Lisa Bevere, which I would classify as Christian inspirational.

Bevere challenges women to wake up and change their world. This book is a call and challenge to Christian women to pursue more! Bevere had a vision years ago when she was pregnant with her 4th son. In her vision she came face to face with a lioness and was never the same. Throughout this book Bevere compares Christian women to the lioness. One who is powerful, passionate, and purposed.

I think this could be a really good book for a women's Bible study. Reading it on my own I found it difficult to really stay engaged all the way through to the end. There is a lot of "meat" in this book to be devoured and some controversial topics come up like women's roles in the church and submission. While I don't agree with everything Bevere says I did really enjoy this book and would recommend it.

Wednesday, February 9, 2011

Spring, Cheerios and French Toast

Spring is right around the corner.  Can you feel it?  It is hard for me with the temperatures outside below freezing but it is nice to start thinking ahead.  When I think of spring I think of: cleaning, flowers, picnics, kites, and so much more.  With spring on the brain, it was a great time to pull out my Christmas present from David, an herb garden.

Here is the kit I received.

The kids and I went straight to work.  Here we are mixing water with the pellets to create dirt.  It was actually a fun experiment.

 
A filling in her pots with soil.

And then, her seeds.

 
C sprinkling his seeds.

And of course, B too!

The finished Herb garden.
Hopefully in a few short weeks our basil, parsley, cilantro, chives, spearmint and oregano will have started to grow.

I was recently asked to create a breakfast experience using original cheerios.  I must admit that my first attempt failed miserably (note: Cheerios are *not* a substitute for flour!) but if at first you don't succeed try, try again and that I did!

So, my family made French Toast Casserole with Cheerio Streusel Topping.

What you will need.

Cut the Texas toast into four triangles.

 A did about 75% of the cutting.  I love including the kids in cooking.

Neatly arrange in the bottom of a deep baking dish.
Cut the bread however you like - we did triangles because we thought it was fun.  C arranged the slices above creating a puzzle.

C with his finished two layer bread puzzle.

 D climbed up into the booster seat and started helping by trying out the bread.  Quality control is important and she verified that our bread was indeed fresh.

The remaining ingredients (except the topping).

 
We always have lots of helpers when we need to crack eggs.  And believe it or not, my children can usually crack eggs better than I can.

Daddy helping out.  Notice C getting in on the quality control :)

Layer the liquid mixture onto the toast.

Cover the dish with foil and refrigerate overnight!  Easy peasy.

Now on to the cheerio streusel topping.

 

First we crushed enough cheerios in our food processor to make 1/4 cup.

Then we mixed the remaining ingredients into the food processor.  Add the crumbled topping to the casserole and bake at 350 degrees for 40-45 minutes!

The finished product.

I ate mine with a little syrup and powdered sugar.

And the big question, how did D like it?  She loves it :)

David liked it, too; but he says it's not as good as Mema's legendary french toast.  And there you have a breakfast option with a spin on cheerios!  Enjoy!!  Feel free to let me know your thoughts, I would love to hear them.

Saturday, February 5, 2011

Our Winter Wonderland

Living in Texas it does not snow very often; it is a rare occurrence.  But yesterday it did!  

 Our front yard in the morning.

 And our back deck, isn't the snow awesome?

The kids had so much fun playing in the snow and building a snowman, which later turned out to be a snowwoman when we named her Sasha.  David had the day off and we just has so much fun as a family being silly and enjoying the unpredictable weather.  David jokes that Texas has two kinds of weather: hot and really hot.

D, C and B.  Not sure why B's coat is unzipped.

A and B posing with Sasha.

B, C and I walked to HEB to get a few groceries yesterday and to check out the neighborhood filled with snow.  It was such a fun time of exploring.

 B on the way to HEB.

C with his awesome football gloves.  He is ready for Sunday!

Yesterday afternoon a neighbor's house also caught on fire!  I have never been so close to a live fire.  The house is going to be a total loss.  The firefighters were able to keep the fire from spreading too much.  The house next door has minimal roof damage but it could have been worse.  It got me thinking, what would I take if our house was on fire and we had to get out.  Of course, my family comes first but after that.  And the only thing that kept coming to my mind were pictures.  Pictures hold so many memories to me and they mean a lot so that is what I would want to salvage.  In the end, everything is just stuff.  There is an old bumper sticker that says you can't take it with you to heaven - and yesterday was a reminder of that to me.