Cyber Monday 2

Well apparently today is Cyber Monday 2, which means more great deals online! And since I have only purchased 2 Christmas gifts actually at the store, I love this news!

I am just about done shopping, so I haven't searched through all the deals, but I did find some great deals on Living Social.

**UPDATE: Use Promo Code ELLEN at checkout to get 10% off Living Social Deals. Can only use the code one time!

If you are local and have kids, these are just a few of the great deals:

$5 monkey Joe's pass
$25 for 8 weeks of music classes
$35 for a family 4 pack to the zoo

And of course Ebates is offering 4% cash back at Living Social! And if you have other shopping to do they have double cash back at over 500 stores! Follow this link to sign up and tell them I sent you!

Happy shopping! And Happy Holidays!


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Cyber Monday at Kohls and Ebates!

Since online shopping is pretty much the only way I shop anymore, I spent some time this weekend scoping out the Cyber Monday deals.  I found that Kohls started their Cyber Monday sales today! Which of course led to me spending way to much time on their website picking out Christmas gifts! And of course plenty for myself.  But they have some great deals for Cyber Monday, their prices weren't super low on big ticket items, but they had great prices on some of the things that I needed and some other ways to save...

Get 20% at Kohls.com using code CYBER20
Get 15% off slippers using code SLIPPER15

You also earn $15 in Kohls cash for every $50 you spend.

And of course I buy just about all my online purchases through Ebates, and they are offering 6% cash back at Kohls!

Not familiar with Ebates, I suggest you check it out! I am so thankful for my friend Christina's blog and her introduction to Ebates! Love getting my ebate's checks in the mail!

Drugstore.com Review

I made my 3rd purchase from Drugstore.comyesterday and I have to say, I was a little skeptical with each one. The prices seemed just to good to be true. I was scammed on another website last Christmas, so I was a little nervous about ordering.
The first 2 orders were successful, great deals, free shipping, and arrived within 2 days!
Once again I am completely impressed! I ordered my new ErgoBaby Carrier (woohoo! more on that later) at 2:00 pm on a Thursday and it was on my doorstep Friday at 3:00! They even sent a few little free samples in the box! I am completely impressed at how fast they process and ship their orders! Makes me wonder what takes other companies so long sometimes!!
I also was able to use my 15% off rebate they had sent me via email after my previous order, so I got an AMAZING deal on the Ergo!
I definitely recommend Drugstore.com!! They have so many different products to choose from (not at all what its name implies) and fabulous prices. They also offer drugstore dollars for most purchases that you can use on future orders!
Check it out!
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Halloween Fun with your Preschooler!

As I mentioned in my post about the Letter of the Week, we are taking a break from the alphabet this week and have a week of fun Halloween activities planned! And it seems to be perfect timing, since we will be stuck in the house for a few days thanks to Hurricane Sandy!

I wanted to share some of the activities with you in case you are interested in doing any of them with your kiddos too! I can't really take credit for any of them, I found most of the ideas on pinterest, through internet searches, and in magazines.  But here are some links to some of the crafts, games, and learning activities we will work on this week!

You can check out my Pinterest Boards for some other Halloween and Fall activities. But here are a few that we hope to complete this week:

Rip and Glue Pumpkin Craft

Surprise Pumpkin

Candy Corn Counting

Roll A Pumpkin Game

Swab Skeletons - From FamilyFun Magazine October 2012

Coloring Pages (We will probably use paint too)

Dress Up Jack-o -Lanterns (Found a prepared Foam dress up craft at Wal-mart)

H Is for Halloween Packet (this is an AMAZING especially if you have a toddler!!! I will probably pick and choose a few activities from here if we have time)

Halloween Pre-K Pack (another AMAZING resource, this one geared toward preschoolers, might pick a few from this pack as well)


Just a few ideas if you need some indoor activities this week! Please Link up if you have any fabulous Fall/Halloween activities! I am sure we will all be looking for something to keep our kiddos busy this week!

Letter of the Week: UPDATE

A few months back I shared this info about the "Letter of the Week" program I planned to start with my preschooler!

So here is a brief update on how it's going!

I started the program with her at the beginning of October, the same week she started preschool.  She only goes to school 2 days a week for an hour, so I decided to do some more work with her at home (and I secretly love doing this stuff, it's the one part of being a teacher I miss, TEACHING!)

We have almost made it through all the vowels so far and she is really enjoying it! She loves the excitement of finding what new activities are in her bin each day. And she has completely amazed me with how well she can do some of the activities.  Here she is enjoying a few of the Letter A activities:

Cutting Practice
Check out www.confessionsofahomeschooler.com to print 

Do a Dot Letter A

Eating Apples while matching Capital and Lowercase letters

Letter A craft at the end of the week

I will admit, I wish I had a little bit more time to sit down and really work with her on some things.  But I have been trying to keep it fun for her, and well frankly, keep myself sane.  I usually have time to talk about the weather, review our Bible verse and Day of the week, explain to her what is in the bin each day, get her started, and then I'm usually off feeding the baby, making breakfast/lunch, or finishing up another chore.

It has been fun so far, and yes its a little bit of work and planning on my part, but since I had most of the materials prepared (up to letter F anyway, still have to work on the rest), I usually spend about 30 minutes on a Sunday night prepping all the bins for the week and there really isn't much work to do during the week (besides catch up on preparing materials for the rest of the alphabet).

If you have any questions about the materials or how we do "Letter of the Week", feel free to email me!

Most of the materials seen in the pictures along with more info about letter of the week can be found at www.confessionsofahomeschooler.com

We are taking a break next week and we will be doing "Halloween Week" with Fall/Halloween Activities in our bins! Stay tuned as I hope to share some of the activities with you this weekend if you are interested in doing any of them with your kiddos next week!

Recipe of the Week: Cauliflower and Sweet Potato Soup

Need a great fall soup? This one is fabulous! After fighting colds for 5 days, when I finally had energy to cook I thought soup would be a great idea! And I actually had all the ingredients for this one in the house.  I found the "idea" for this recipe on pinterest, but it seemed a little to plain for our family. After a google search I found this great recipe on www.tastykitchen.com

Cauliflower and Sweet Potato Soup 

The full recipe can be found here. I used a slightly modified version.  

Ingredients 

• 1 Tablespoon Olive Oil


• 1 whole Small Onion Chopped


• 2 cloves Garlic, Minced


• 1 pound Sweet Potato, Peeled And Chopped


• 4 cups Chicken Stock


• 1 cup Water


• 1 head Cauliflower, Cut Into Florets


• 4 Tablespoons Cream Cheese 


• 1 1/2 cups Shredded Cheddar Cheese


• Salt And Pepper, to taste

Directions: 

Heat oil in large soup pan over medium-high heat. Add onion and a sprinkle of salt and sauté until onion is fragrant and translucent, 3-5 minutes. Add minced garlic, chopped sweet potato, and sauté an additional 2-3 minutes, stirring frequently.

Add chicken stock, 1 cup water, and chopped cauliflower and bring to a boil. Reduce heat, cover, and simmer for 15-20 minutes, until vegetables are tender.

Remove from heat, add cream cheese, and purée with an immersion blender or in batches in a regular blender. (If you want to keep some chunks, reserve 1 cup of the cooked cauliflower before puréeing the rest of the soup). (I pureed everything) 

Return soup to heat, add cheddar cheese, and stir until cheese is melted and soup is heated through, 2-3 minutes.

Season with salt and pepper to taste, garnish as desired, and serve.

I thought this soup was delicious! I used less chicken stock then the original recipe and subbed a little water since I only had 4 cups of stock. But I am glad I did because I like thicker soup.  I also added a little more cheese, which I do to almost every recipe.  Not great for the waistline, but our family loves our cheese! :) It could maybe use a few spices, but overall was creamy and yummy!  

Corona and Lime

So as I'm cutting up lime to make Garlic Lime Fajitas in a completely quiet kitchen (both kids are sleeping at the same time!!!) I start to daydream about drinking a corona and lime at the beach listening to the waves crash at my feet....

(kind of like this OBX vacation 2011)

when all of a sudden.....BEEEEEEPPPPPP!!!!!!!!!...... Laundry's done! And I'm sure that awful noise just woke at least one of my children!

Just another day in the life...

Pantry Perk Up

A few weeks ago I decided our messy pantry needed a little TLC. I am definitely not a very organized person and tend to just throw things in cabinets and close the door before they fall off the shelves! So, as a result, this is what our pantry looked like...




With the purchase of a few bins and shelves from Walmart and some stick on tiles from Lowes it now looks a little bit better...








Still could use some work...anyone have any suggestions for more storage solutions? Especially for bags of chips/pretzels?
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Remembering...

Daddy,
   I love you and miss you.  As this day comes and goes, I hope not to dwell on the events that happened on it 8 years ago, but rather to remember the words you once wrote to me,

Cadi,  
   I'll be with you in heaven- just in case you ever wonder!

I will always love you, 
Daddy 


I am so thankful to have those words to read and always remember. I don't think you knew how much meaning they would have and how much peace they would bring for years after you wrote them. Need that reminder today, and everyday!

Thinking of you today and always,
Cadi

True Blue

Breaking News: My hubby and I went on a date!!!! Yup a whole HOUR without kids, eating a meal at the same time, while its still hot, and could actually talk for a whole hour without being interrupted, feeding kids, or changing diapers?!?!
True story, this actually happened! First "date" since March! We had to deliver a bed to my Mom's, so while we were visiting, we asked if she'd stay with the kids for an hour and we went to a cute little restaurant for lunch.
We intended on going to a little deli, but walked past True Blue Mediterranean Cafe and it looked perfect (and smelled amazing). We had a latte, some really yummy gyros, and amazing hummus!




Perfect little hour together! Hopefully we can do it again soon!
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Recipe of the week: Pumpkin Cream Cheese Bars

I love finding awesome Pinterest recipes right as I am walking out the door to the grocery store! Got to try This one right away!

Pumpkin Cream Cheese Bars

Here's what you'll need:
Angel Food Cake Box mix
Cream cheese
Water
Pumpkin purée
Cinnamon

Here's what you get when you mix all that together and bake!




Pretty much that easy! These turned out fabulous! I maybe should have baked them a few minutes longer and not covered them so soon, they got a bit mushy. But overall, I'd recommend them! Perfect for a cold, rainy Fall day!
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"You gotta see this!"

A phrase that can be so innocent, unless it's coming from a 3 year old who has had the run of the house for 10 minutes while you were feeding the baby!

My cute, wonderful little 3 year old came running to me as I walked out of the baby's room yelling "Mommy, you gotta see this!!" I held my breath and many thoughts flashed through my head...nail polish, soap, flour, paint, what could she have done in 10 minutes?

This is what I just HAD to see...



Her counting bears organized PERFECTLY! :)

Why do I have a feeling my son will not be organizing counting bears in his free time?


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1st Day Jitters!

Yesterday was my baby girl's 1st Day of Preschool!! And 1st time away from Mommy when she wasn't at home or with family! She did great at the Meet and Greet we had last week, so I went in feeling pretty optimistic!

Of course she woke up really grumpy (I think we all did, it was a miserable REALLY rainy day!) and as I tried to get her excited about going to school she says "but Mommy, I never did this without you before!"

As if the day wasn't hard enough for me already, I almost broke down in tears thinking "it's been a really long time since I've done this without you either"

Despite BOTH of us having 1st day jitters, I knew I needed to stay positive for her! So we got dressed, packed her backpack, and tried to talk about all the great things about school and ignore the fact that Mommy wasn't going to stay there.

Although drop off in the pouring rain was a little chaotic, the 1st day went well, she walked right in and didnt even look back. I didn't know if I should be happy that she adjusted so easily or sad that she wasn't clinging to Mommy. But we made it through with no tears from either of us :) and she keeps asking to go back!

My baby girl is growing up :(



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Photo Book

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Shutterfly allows you to customize your photo book just the way you want.

Recipe of the Week: Asian Turkey Lettuce Wraps

My Brother-in-law, Dr. Ben Lerner, along with other great chiropractors and nutritionists, has created some great healthy living books as well as cookbooks.  While we were visiting my sister and family in Florida we tasted one of the great recipes from one of their cookbooks, Maximized Living Nutrition Plan.
My sister had some leftover Asian Turkey Lettuce Wraps when we got to FL. And well after traveling with 2 kids from PA to FL, we were starving. I am not going to lie, I ate 5, yes 5, of these wraps when we got to my sister's house. So of course the first meal I made when we finally got home, you bet ya, Asian Turkey Lettuce Wraps.

Ingredients:



1/2 cup water
3 tablespoons organic almond butter
1 lb. ground turkey
1 tablespoon sesame oil (I used olive oil)
1 cup shiitake Mushroom caps, chopped
1 tablespoon rice vinegar
1 (8 oz.) can water chestnuts, drained and chopped
3 cloves garlic
2 tablespoons fresh ginger(I used 1 tablespoon ground ginger)
1/2 cup soy sauce
1/2 cup green onions (optional) (I used 1/4 cup)
1 head lettuce, separated into leaves

Directions:
Cook Turkey in skillet with oil about 5 minutes, stirring until turkey crumbles and is no longer pink.  Add mushrooms, and next 5 ingredients.  Increase heat to medium-high, and cook, stirring constantly, 4 minutes.  Add green onions if desired, water, and almond butter and cook stirring constantly, 1 minute.  Spoon mixture evenly onto lettuce leaves; roll up.  Serve with extra soy sauce if desired. 

Tips: You can replace the lettuce with all natural whole wheat tortillas as well.

Source: Maximized Living Nutrition Plans By: Dr. Ben Lerner, Dr. B.J. Hardick, and Kimberly Roberto

Doesn't look fabulous, but if you could smell it you'd want to eat it! 

These, IMO, are AMAZING! We ate ours on flour tortillas with some spring mix on top.  But I have had them served in romaine lettuce and they are just as amazing that way! I could literally eat these for every meal of the day!




I actually bought everything to double the recipe and freeze 1/2 of it for later, leave it to me to open the second can of water chestnuts to realize they are bamboo shoots (cans look exactly the same). So hopefully I will get the second batch made tonight!

Scavenger Hunt

We've been staying with my mom for the past week since the hubby is back in FL for work. We've been having a great time visiting with family and relaxing a little.

Since the weather is GORGEOUS today we decided to take a little walk downtown and also go on a scavenger hunt!

Last minute plans led to a quick search on the Internet for a printable scavenger hunt page! Most of them I found were for long trips in the car, but I found one that worked out great for our little walk.




As you can see, I found this one at Momsminivan.com

We packed a snack, loaded up baby brother, got her a marker to fill out her paper, and we were off.

Made the short walk to CVS meaningful and kept her busy. We would never have been able to use this scavenger hunt at our house, we'd pretty much be searching for houses, trees, and maybe a bird there. I have to say I enjoyed walking in the busy little town today and REALLY miss being able to walk to the grocery store on a beautiful day!

If we ever use this again, I will probably add/remove a few things depending on where we are! Would love to make a color, letter, number hunt which would have been fun too!

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The Children's Place Sale!

We were so busy this weekend, I completely missed the 25% off email for The Children's Place. Just in case you did too, you can still get 20% off your order online and free shipping! Use the promo code SHOP20 for the discount. I am pretty sure the shipping is automatically deducted!


Hurry, promo code expires tomorrow, Monday, August 27th!


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Recipe of the Week: Peach-a-Berry Pie

This week was "peach week" at read and pick storytime. So after a long morning of peach picking with a 3 month old and an almost 3 year old (Fun!) we were left with this...




So I began a search for a good, but easy peach recipe. Found Peach-a-Berry Pie on www.allrecipes.com. Looked simple and yummy and had good reviews.

Not being much of a baker, especially pies, I bought some frozen pie crusts and fresh raspberries to get started.

That brought me to peeling and cutting all the peaches... After trying one I realized it was not like cutting and peeling apples and I had no clue what I was doing. (I have since googled the easy way to do this!) So I recruited some help, my wonderful husband to peel all the peaches while I fed baby boy, who conveniently decided he was hungry as I was starting this task! :)


He's the best! After letting the fruit dry out for a few minutes, you simply had to mix sugar, flour, and cinnamon and then toss the fruit in!



Pour this in the pie crust, put a few pieces of butter on top and cover with another pie crust!

Make sure to place the pie on a cooking sheet while baking, mine leaked like crazy(as you can see)!!!



Not the prettiest thing in the world, but it tastes amazing, especially with a little whipped cream on top!


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A Sunday of Pinterest!

Since I spend alot of time everyday breastfeeding, I usually "pin" while nursing! I have been pinning so many great things lately, but haven't had a whole lot of time to actually try any of it. So today was designated as a Pinterest Project day.

Of course after very little sleep, I got a late start and decided to do a quick shopping trip before starting any projects.  Headed out with my baby boy, while baby girl went grocery shopping with Daddy.  

First stop...Marshalls! Pretty uneventful trip, other than my baby screaming the whole time and of course parking right next to Kate Gosselin and her twins! Not sure why that was so exciting, but for me it was. I happen to love Kate! :)


Sent a very detailed shopping list with my husband so that I could prep some crock pot meals for dinners the next few days/weeks.  I found the 1 hour, 1 mess = 5 Crock Pot meals on Pinterest. I loved that the recipes had natural ingredients and didn't use a whole lot of canned soups and other packaged stuff.  And they all sounded fabulous! And now we have 5 meals ready to throw in the crock pot! I will admit it took me more than an hour to prep everything.  I didn't have everything real organized when I started and was also not familiar with the recipes, so I had to keep rereading everything to make sure it got into the right bag. I think it will be easier the next time around.  But I now have, Garlic Honey Chicken, Beef Burritos, Chicken Fajitas, Hawaiian Chicken, and Teriyaki Pork chops in the freezer!

While I was prepping these dinners, I decided it was time to clean out our top loading washer.  So using another Pinterest Find, I got to work on that.  Pretty much just use bleach and vinegar. Let the bleach soak in hot water for an hour, then run a cycle.  Then let the vinegar soak for an hour, and run a cycle. Not sure how great it worked, but it definitely needed to be cleaned!

In between all this work, I also found some time for a good laugh! Roller skating with a 3 year old! :)


And we also had fun dancing in a small summer shower that passed through!



And after dinner we made our last Pinterest find, Hawaiian Blizzard. I had some pineapple leftover from the dinner prep, so we created these for dessert:

They were pretty good, but of course I thought they could have been a little sweeter :)

Find me on Pinterest to find these recipes and all the other great ideas I have pinned!

Recipe of the week/month/year: Garlic Lime Fajitas

Ok, let's be honest, I have no idea when I posted my last recipe! But here is a REALLY good one (IMO).  After making these for the first time a few weeks ago, I have been craving them everyday! And they are healthy!

The recipe is a McCormick spice packet recipe, so it is really easy to make! If you don't want to buy the package, here's what you'll need!


Ingredients:
1 1/2 lbs. boneless skinless chicken, cut into thin strips
1 green or red bell pepper ( I use 1/2 of each for more color)
1 medium onion (I used 1/2 of the large onion I had)
8 flour tortillas
1/4 lime juice
1/4 cup orange juice
2 tbsp. olive oil
1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. minced garlic
1 tsp. minced onions
3/4 tsp. cumin
3/4 tsp. oregano leaves
1/2 tsp. cilantro leaves
1/2 tsp. black pepper
Directions:
1. Mix juices, oil, all of the spices, and salt in small bowl.  Reserve 1/4 cup of the marinade. Place chicken in large resealable plastic bag.  Add remaining marinade; turn to coat well. Refrigerate 30 minutes or longer for extra flavor.
2. Cook and stir chicken in large heated skillet, 3 minutes or until lightly browned.  Remove from skillet.  Add pepper, onion, and reserved marinade.  Cook and stir 5 minutes or until tender.  Return chicken to skillet until heated through.




3.  Spoon chicken mixture into warmed tortillas.  Serve with assorted toppings if desired. We only used some shredded mozzarella, but cheddar would probably work great too!




These turn out amazing, at least we think so! And we have been using the leftovers to make quesadillas the next day!
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Playdoh Letter Tracing

We've been looking for some new activities to do on these hot summer days, so where better to look than Pinterest!
We found this fun/educational activity the other day and thought we'd try it out!




All you need is playdoh and some straws cut into approximately 1 inch pieces. Use your finger or some other tool to draw a letter in the playdoh and let your little one "trace" it by sticking the straws along the line.
****note: small playdoh pieces get stuck in the bottom of the straws, my idea was to blow them out, which worked fine. Your toddler will probably copy you (mine did) and try the same thing! However, since my daughter is used to sucking on a straw she did that instead which may lead to a not so tasty snack! :) It's non-toxic right???

Think we made it through 4 letters when she decided she wanted to do her own pictures! But it was a quick and easy activity that allowed me a few minutes to feed my baby boy!

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Transitions

When I was pregnant with my daughter, and for almost 2 years after she was born, I had made up my mind that I was only having 1 baby. Ok, so I did that superstitious "ring game" (where you hang a ring above your wrist and it tells you how many kids and what sex) the day before I found out I was pregnant, and it said "one girl". So, there it was written in stone, one and done! After the rough labor and delivery and a rough transition into Mommyhood, I really decided we were only having one! My daughter rarely slept, breastfeeding was difficult, we had just moved and really had no social/ mommy network close by, and my husband was working crazy hours at his new job! It was really a depressing/trying time for us.
However, close to my daughters 2nd birthday, once we had molded her into well-behaved toddler (haha) we started having second thoughts about another baby. We decided to "pull the goalie" and see what happens. And the rest is history! We have been blessed with the ability to get pregnant very easily and we were announcing our pregnancy by my daughters 2nd birthday.
I will be honest, I had terrible feelings about the pregnancy at first, "what have we done, life was finally calming down, finally had some sort of schedule after 2 years of chaos and now we are starting all over again!?!?" I spent 9 ( I guess 10) months bracing myself for another c-section, a 24/7 screaming baby, sore nipples, no sleep, and a cranky, attention deprived toddler.

Needless to say, I have been completely surprised at how easy the transition from Mommy of 1 to Mommy of 2 has gone. Yes, the first 2 weeks or so were a little difficult, but once we got through those it was smooth sailing (knock on wood). My daughter seems to be adjusting well to having her brother around, and this baby actually SLEEPS!!! He rarely cries, only if he gets really hungry, and the breastfeeding has been easier (after a tough patch in the beginning).

I'm pretty sure I barely left the house for the first almost 3 months of my daughter's life, at least not by myself. When my son was 6 weeks old, I was already lugging both kids to my daughters swim lessons EVERY morning, read and pick storytimes, the library, hour drives to the doctor and to visit my mom, and it has actually been pretty easy...well it's exhausting, but both kids have been really great, so far.

I attribute the easy transition mostly to having 2 really great kids that amaze me everyday, but also to a change in my mindset. With my daughter, I would almost panic when days got rough, screaming In the grocery store, poop/spit up flying everywhere in my house, baby not sleeping. Pretty sure I cried almost as much as my daughter sometimes! Now when I'm in those situations, although they aren't easy, I try to stay calm, "laugh it off", and remind myself they grow up to fast that I need to enjoy EVERY minute with them. 3 years ago when my baby pooped up her back and out very crevice of her diaper I could probably be seen frantically trying to change her and get her in the bath. Now the baby poops up his back and around the corner, and my toddler and I have a good laugh about it, clean him up and move on with our day.

It's amazing how things change with your second child! So thankful for such an easy transition so far and my 2 beautiful happy babies!
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40% off at Educational Insights

Educational Insights makers of The Sneaky, Snacky Squirrel Game and Hot Dots, is having a great sale! Use the Promo Code 40JULY12 to save 40% already discounted prices! Check out all their great products! And check out the links for more info on some of our favorites! But hurry sale ends today!

4th of July Fun!

Yesterday was our annual 4th of July bash! It is the one time a year that we entertain! (ok we entertain a few other times throughout the year, but not as big as the 4th).  Although the weather (105 degrees and thunderstorms) was not really in our favor, we still had a great time celebrating inside with friends and family! Thanks to everyone who came out for some food, drinks, and fun! 

My little family! Don't mind baby girl's crazy bouncey house hair! 

So much food! 

We had so much great food, and a huge thanks to everyone who pitched in to help! Here are links to some of the recipes for desserts and other treats from the picnic! 

White Strawberry-lemon Sangria (not pictured, but very yummy...Don't recommend using Fresca)

Berry Trifle (shown above, but not nearly as pretty as the one pictured with the recipe..sigh)

Strawberry Icebox Cake (shown above, Thanks Olivia for making this awesome dessert!)

Zesty Slow Cooker Chicken Barbecue (made with fresh, not frozen chicken) 

"Free" baby stuff!

Need a nursing cover, carseat canopy, or sling? Or maybe a gift for an expectant mommy! Get them for free (just pay shipping) from these sites:

Carseat canopy

Note: only the canopy is free, but I ordered the whole set for a discounted price

Udder Covers

Seven everyday slings


Pick a website and Click "shop now" at the top.
Use Promo Code FAMILY2012 or FAMILYBUMP at checkout

I intended to only order the carseat canopy, of course they sucked me in with their "free" offers after each purchase! I'll let you know what I think of each one when they arrive! Happy shopping!


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Recipe of the week: Energy Bites

Since having our baby boy, I have been trying to cut dairy and gluten out of my diet as much as I can to help with our breastfeeding.  I never realized how many snacks and meals I eat that have dairy and gluten in them until I did this.  Pretty much everything I had been eating was either dairy or gluten.

So of course I decided to browse through Pinterest for some healthy snacks without dairy or gluten and found the recipe for these no-bake energy bites.

Ingredients:

1 cup oatmeal

1/2 cup peanut butter (or other nut butter of your choice)

1/3 cup honey

1 cup coconut flakes

1/2 cup ground flaxseed

1/2 cup mini chocolate chips

1 tsp vanilla

*Makes 18-20 bites*

Just mix all the ingredients together, put in the fridge for 30 minutes, then roll them into small balls. Store in the fridge and you can refrigerate them for up to 1 week.  

I have made these several times over the past few weeks and they are slightly addicting! Probably not going to help me much with the weight loss, but they are yummy! 

Happy Father's Day!

Happy Happy Father's Day to all the awesome Daddy's out there!
Happy Father's Day to my hubby who is such an awesome Daddy to our beautiful babies! Thanks for all your hard work and everything you do for our family!

And Happy Father's Day to my Daddy in Heaven! Here is how I remember my Daddy most....

My Birthday Party, always made sure that everyone had a great time!  

Camping vacation

Always having fun! 

Always smiling

So I will smile today watching my babies make memories with their Daddy and because of all the awesome memories I have with my Daddy!  I wish I was able to share so much more in life with him, but I know he is smiling down and watching over us everyday!

Closet cleanout

Thanks to my sleepy babies, I had 2 hours of free time today! They are rarely asleep at the same time, so when I finally got them to sleep, I tried to take advantage of the time!

Although I would have really loved a nap, my closet was in desperate need of a cleanout and some organization! Still had all my maternity clothes thrown all over the place and I was really ready to see those disappear! (at least for now ;) )

2 hours later...



I was finally able to part with ALOT of clothing! (even a pair of eeyore pj pants i had from 8th grade, haha, guess I decided with baby # 2 it was finally time to "grow up")

And none of this is maternity! That's in a whole different pile in our guest room!

Anyone have suggestions for donating or selling any of this? Some is pretty old, but I still have some things with tags on them?!? eBay, garage sale, Goodwill??

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My birth story!

Well, as I sit down to write this, I realize I should probably preface this with my daughter's birth story from 2009.  I will give you the abridged version.

Went into labor with my daughter around 2 AM, stayed at home as long as possible.  Made the 45 minute drive to the hospital with contractions really close together around 7 AM.  I was 8 cm. dilated when I got to the hospital, but my water hadn't broken.  So after waiting it out, getting my dose of group B strep antibiotics, I decided to opt for the epidural.  Waited a little while for the doctor on call to arrive to give the epidural, and it was probably close to 10 AM by the time I actually got my epidural. After some more waiting (luckily more comfortable at this point),  The baby didn't really seem to be dropping so my midwife decided to break my water around 4 PM.  Turned out my bag of water was what was dilating me, so I then went down to only about 2 cm. dilated.  Did some more waiting to see what would happen and also added some pitocin to my already packed IV of antibiotics, pain meds, and epidural.  And around 8PM decided I would try pushing to see what happens.  And pretty much all that happened was I pushed baby down far enough to get completely stuck.  Called in another doc to try a vacuum, but he decided it would be best to do a c-section.  Not really having any idea what was going on at this point, 9:30ish, I cried my tons of tears and said ok.  Had a catheter put in, which is fun when you are trying to push a baby out whose head is completely stuck in your cervix.  I had also realized that through all the moving while pushing, my IV that had (not sure what its called) but epidural drip in it had come out.  So I was now starting to feel everything that was happening.  Got wheeled down to the OR, but for some reason they couldn't get the door opened (WHAT??) So I laid in the hallway screaming that I wanted to push and feeling all the contractions, while they found someone to open the door to the OR! (We were at a small, rural hospital in PA, pretty sure I was the only one there having a baby at the time).  Then little did I know I had to wait for the anesthesiologist to come back to give me the spinal for the surgery since all these people were on call at this time of night! Waited I think a good 20 minutes for that.  C-section went well, for a c-section, and of course I got a quick glimpse of my baby girl, who was then sent upstairs with my husband, while I was sent to a recovery room, where  I pretty much laid by myself shaking for an hour.

So needless to say when I found out I was pregnant with baby #2, I knew I wanted things to be different.  I started by finding a new set of midwives, who deliver at a different hospital, are pro-VBAC, and have a great relationship with the hospital staff!

My baby boy was due on May 9th, and I knew exactly when I got pregnant, so I really thought he would be born fairly close to the 9th.  However, my 20 week ultrasound put my due date at May 18th.  Throughout my pregnancy, my belly measured a few weeks smaller than where it "should be".  I am rather petite so this made sense to me.  But my midwives monitored closely.  Between my size and the fact that the ultrasound said May 18th, my husband and family were pretty certain that I was not going to have this baby until mid May.  But towards the end of my pregnancy, I "knew" that he was coming sooner rather than later.

Saturday April 29th, I started having some early signs of labor and spent most of the day preparing for the birth of our baby.  I really thought it was happening.  But when Monday rolled around and I still wasn't in labor, I shrugged it off as gas pains, or just being tired.  I started feeling a little better by Tuesday and had so much energy.

Wednesday May 2nd,  Had a regularly scheduled midwife appointment for my 39 week check up.  She first asked me if I have any questions for her and I asked her "Is it time yet?".  I am not sure what the procedure normally is, but I never had a vaginal exam at the end of either pregnancy to check if I was dilated, etc.  So we went through the motions, checked the baby's heartbeat which was great, checked to make sure the head was headed the right direction, and measured my belly, which was way smaller than the last measure ( I think I measured 33 cm and the week before I was 35 cm.)  So she knew that the baby had dropped, but she didn't really make it seem like baby was coming anytime to soon.  She also gave me my paperwork for my induction if I would need one on May 24th!!! I politely told her that if I was still pregnant on May 24th I may lose my mind :) and we went on our way.

Baby girl and I went to the grocery store and with this energy I had all of a sudden, I decided to buy tons of meat and produce to make some meals and freeze them over the next week before our baby boy arrived.  We also stopped at Chick-Fil-A to fulfill the pregnancy craving, yum.

When I got home I unloaded the groceries, and then it was nap time for baby girl.  Took her up to bed, laid with her and read stories, and tucked her in.  I went into my bedroom and sat down at the computer, and all of a sudden felt so exhausted.  I sent a text to my husband that said something along the lines of "my head is telling me to do a million chores, but my body is telling me to nap."  So I napped.  Probably for about 2 hours.

Baby girl woke me up around 4:30 and I went to go to the bathroom.  Had some spotting of blood when I peed, which I had never had before.  So being a little paranoid I decided to call my midwife at 4:45.  She told me that if I wasn't having any contractions and it was only a little blood that it was normal.  And at 4:45 PM I still wasn't feeling any contractions, I just felt really really tired.  My husband came home from work around 5:45 PM and I think baby girl and I were still snuggling in bed.  But we decided to get up and go downstairs to find something for dinner.  We heated up some leftover pasta casserole, but I couldn't even eat any of it.  As I sat with my family for dinner around 6:00 PM I decided that maybe I was having a few contractions, but they were pretty far apart and not very strong.  Since I had some spotting, and was feeling contractions I started really thinking that labor was happening.  So I headed upstairs to pack my bag for the hospital, tie up some loose ends, and clean up. I called my midwife back to let her know I was in labor, and she told me that whenever I felt ready I could head to the hospital and she would meet me there.  I called my mom to give her a heads up that I thought I would probably need her help in the morning. My contractions still weren't very strong and if I was in labor it would probably be morning until I headed to the hospital, because that's how much time I had with my first baby....should have known better!

39 weeks, contractions were just beginning 

Within 15 minutes of that phone call my contractions were all of a sudden much stronger and about 5 minutes apart. So I called my mom back to have her start making her way to our house to watch our baby girl.  As my contractions got very painful very quickly, I decided to hop in the bathtub to help with the pain while we waited for my mom. (she lives an hour away and wasn't at home when I called her).  In the meantime my husband was taking care of my toddler, getting the car seat in the car, packing his bag for the hospital, and freezing the pounds of meat I had just bought at the grocery store, and pretty much paying very little attention to me or the fact that labor was happening really fast!  After about 5 minutes in the bathtub, I yelled to my husband that he should call our friends to come over and watch our daughter because I was already feeling an urge to push.  As fast as I could blink, I felt as if I was barely going to make it out of the bathtub, get dressed, get in the car, and drive 20 minutes to the hospital.  I couldn't believe how fast everything was happening.

Around 7:30 PM, My hubby put a movie on for our baby girl and tucked her in bed so we could run out the door as soon as back up arrived. My mom was still 45 minutes from our house at that point! So thankful we had some good friends close by to come over and help out!

We pulled up outside the hospital at 8:30PM. Someone brought a wheelchair out to the car and wheeled me inside, while my husband parked the car.  So there I sat in the lobby of the hospital, feeling very ready to push a baby out while a nice receptionist kept asking me questions to make small talk, not realizing that I really could not talk at that point.  After about 5 minutes, but felt like 20 minutes, they pushed me up to the labor and delivery floor where I then had to get out of he wheelchair and head into a "waiting room" to get checked in.  I tried to stay calm, but I don't think anyone, including myself realized how far along I was. Thankfully we only sat there for a minute or two when they WALKED us to a delivery room and got us all set up. (that was a really LONG walk down the hall)

As much as I had told myself I wanted to be mobile during the labor in hopes of avoiding another c-section, the second I saw that bed to lay in, that was all I wanted to do. So I laid down and hung on to the railing for dear life during my contractions.  The nurse of course had a million questions for me, that I could barely answer, I finally remembered that I had my birth plan written out in my bag and motioned for my husband to get it out.  I don't think I opened my eyes at all during any of this.  I do specifically remember the nurse asking which doctor was going to see our baby when he was born, and I thought I had worked that all out before we got there.  I was told there were doctors on call that would see the baby, however, apparently that wasn't the case. So as I am ready to push the baby out my husband is on his phone with the insurance company finding a doctor that is in network to see our baby when he is born since our pediatrician is to far away to come to the hospital.

I laid through the contractions for quite awhile while they hooked up monitors and gave me an IV for my group B strep antibiotics. (which I still regret getting).  My midwife was in and out of the room for the first hour we were there, and I just labored it out through the contractions (and listened to my husband on the phone with the insurance company, not exactly the background noise I wanted during my labor).  After about an hour of answering questions, squeezing the railing, sucking on some ice chips, my midwife came back into the room.  She had read my birth plan and asked the nurse to unhook the monitors so that I could move around a little bit and possibly start pushing.  I tried to change my mind, but being the awesome midwife that she is, she reminded me that I wanted to be mobile and it would help get baby moving in the right direction.  Well all she got out of me was a roll over to my hands and knees to try laboring that way.  After about 2 minutes I decided to lay back down! My midwife then left again for a few minutes and I continued to have really really strong contractions.

I hadn't opened my eyes much the entire time we were there, so I didn't really know who was in the room (hoped my husband was still there), but I was kind of waiting for someone to tell me it was time to push.  At around 10:00 PM (ok I really have no idea what time it was but that sounds about right), after some really painful contractions, the nurse finally said to me, let me know if you need to push. I immediately yelled "I need to push!" So she called for my midwife to come back in along with some other nurses, again didn't open my eyes have no idea who was there.  And the pushing began.

After a few pushes, I could definitely feel things moving along.  I pushed through maybe 4 or 5 contractions when my midwife told me reach down and touch my baby's head.  Not having that experience with my daughter, it made things much more real for me and I guess you could say I kind of "woke up" a little. I feel like I had been in the room hearing everything that was going on around me, but was sort of in a state of delirium.  I think I also had "c-section" in the back of my mind.  I was confident in myself, but really wasn't sure I would be able to have a vaginal birth, so I was waiting for them to tell me it was time for the section.  So once I felt his head, I knew it was "go time" and really began pushing...and yelling.  My midwife told me several times that yelling was not going to get the baby out, pushing was.  :)

Ok, the rest of the story is a little graphic, but hey its all part of the story right!

My midwife realized I was tearing, kind of in the wrong places, and had torn my urethra.  Still not sure what that means or how that works. In my birth plan, I had stated that I didn't want an episiotomy, but when she realized where I was tearing, she recommended making a cut so that I wouldn't tear more "up top".  At that point I really just wanted the baby out, so on the next contraction she made a cut.  And if I wasn't awake before that, well I was definitely awake now...Just a reminder since this is a long story, NO epidural! On the next contraction, I pushed my baby boy's head out and they told me reach down to help pull the rest of him out.  It was really an out of this world experience that I can't put into words.

And as soon as I pushed him out I helped pull him up to my chest.  Completely different experience than simply catching a quick glimpse of your baby before they whisked her away like with my daughter's birth.  And of course he started screaming, pooping, and peeing all at the same time.  That's my boy! I still felt like I was there in the room taking everything in, but it was such a surreal experience that I didn't really move or say anything for awhile, just held my baby.  I do clearly remember my hubby looking at me and saying "You did it babe!" I think he was as surprised as I was that I didn't need another c-section!

A few minutes after everyone was cleaned up (and stitched up in my case), we began our new breastfeeding adventure! So amazing how they automatically know what to do!

(And on another note, it has taken a lot of courage for me to decide to post this photo, I am very self conscious, especially with breastfeeding, but have learned so much through my breastfeeding experience with my daughter.  And to help take the "uncomfortableness" out of breastfeeding I decided to post this amazing, God given experience to hopefully help "normalize" breastfeeding and not feel so ashamed to feed my baby!)

Our Baby Boy, 6 lbs. 12 oz. 18 1/2 in., just minutes old :) 

Baby Blake and his Daddy! 

Although there were a few tiny bumps in the road during this birth, I am so thankful for an awesome midwife who guided me through this experience and made it almost enjoyable.  I never thought an epidural free birth would be enjoyable, but it really was the experience of a lifetime.

Can't wait to do it again...hahaha j/k