You've Got Mail!

This is what happens when Mommy leaves Daddy and the girls unsupervised for 10 minutes while I did something on the computer. That's a roll of 1,000 postal stickers for packages.

Nice, responsible parenting.

Get ready for a random tangent....okay, have you ever tried the Nilla Cakesters?? When I first saw these I gagged a little bit. I love me some Nilla Wafers and turning them into cake seemed to upset a very good thing we have going. But they're delicious! I've been munching on the strawberry filled ones and it's almost like a strawberry shortcake party in my mouth. Yum-O! I haven't tried the Oreo Cakesters yet, for the same prejudicial reasons (as the Oreo and I have a very special relationship...), but I'm dying to now! Has anyone had them? Are they delicious as well??

Remember when I vented here? About the Crayola baby markers that oozed on my Ava? Ironic, I think, that I just won a fabulous giveaway of Crayola products here. I'm so excited and can't believe I actually won! I'm just not one of those people who win things. Unless you count this. And the time I won a giveaway on Mama Hen's blog.

Ahem.

Anyways.

So yesterday while I should have been cleaning my house I started entering random blog giveaways I found on Prizey.net. We'll see if my luck continues enough for me to win this fancy stroller I'd die to have. Not really die you know, just being annoying enough to enter the contest 8 times. I told Hubs about it, and about how fancy and neat the stroller was, and that it's a $659 stroller and he almost fell over. Then he said we'd sell it and down grade to a $200 stroller. Which would be better than the junky double I have now.

Either way. I'm good.

Happy almost-Friday ya'll!

The Easiest Dinner Ever. Ever.

Greetings from a very full soon-to-be Soccer Mom! Okay, ladies, I made the easiest dinner ever tonight. Maybe I've been out of the loop the last 5 years that I've actually been cooking (since being married, before that it was mac & cheese!) but I just discovered cooking in a foil pouch. I've also never been camping (gasp!)otherwise this would probably be second nature to me.

I signed up for e-mealz.com this week and this was one of the sample meals...but I altered it to use what I had on hand...

In 3 foil pouches I put 1/2 chicken breast, a handful of chopped up new potato, carrots, zucchini, & mushrooms. Drizzle with olive oil, sprinkle with garlic salt, italian seasoning and salt & pepper (we like seasonings...). Bake at 450 for 45 minutes. Enjoy.

The e-mealz recipe called for 1/2 a corn on the cob, beans and bbq sauce, which would also be yummy!

The pouches were so filling and we all enjoyed it. I'm hoping the rest of the e-mealz dinners are just as yummy!

I'm just thinkin' how easy this would be to prepare in the morning and just pop into the oven before dinnertime, or how this could serve a large group of friends, or just me and my girls. Ahh...quick,easy dinners, there's nothin' better!

Nifty New Finds

It's been a while since I posted on anything new and fabulous I've found, not that I haven't found anything fabulous, it's the new that's been missing!

Yesterday at MOPS we had a wonderful speaker/performer, Jana Alayra. She has such a powerful testimony and had the entire room of mommies in tears. I, on the other hand, had a heart of stone. Which is weird for me because I'm totally a crier! Anyways.

She performed for our kids at the end of the meeting and she was amazing! I'm always looking for Christian children's music that doesn't make my brain numb, and she definetly did not! My heart of stone melted away when I watched Chloe singing songs to Jesus. Nothing more precious than your child praising God! So we bought the cd. And the DVD. Chloe, and Ava Joy, watched it twice after naptime and were thoroughly entertained. I loved it because: 1. it kept both of their attention, 2. it was a decent length (about 45-50mins) 3. there's a great song at the end that will melt any heart of stone, Child of Mine. So precious.

Okay, one more review....
I made this great soup yesterday in the crock pot and it was sooooo yummy. I got it from a cookbook I borrowed from my sweet friend, but unfortunately I do not remember which one! Here's the recipe:
Italian Bread Soup
2 cans chicken broth
4 cans roasted, diced tomatoes (I only had 2 cans of "flavored" ones, so I used to cans of just diced tomatoes and it turned out fine)
3c caesar croutons
1 7oz pack of italian dressing mix
salt and pepper
parm cheese to put on top

Mix it all together in the crock pot and cook 4-6 hours on high. We ate it with my favorite garlic cheese biscuits (like the ones at Red Lobster) and now I cannot wait to have the leftovers for lunch! This recipe made a huge amount, I could probably cut it in half for my family of 4.

Mommy Cocktail

Here's the wonderful recipe for my absolute favorite drink! Anyone who has delivered a baby at Rancho Springs or Inland Valley has probably had this as the nurses serve it up fresh in a lovely hospital-printed water bottle.

In a tall glass (because it's that yummy!):
1/2 full 7-up (not sprite, it really makes a difference)
1/4 full apple juice
1/4 full cranberry juice

You can play with the proportions to find your own fav flavor, but this is so yummy and refreshing!

You know you're a mommy when...

You get way too excited over a new vacuum. I'm a self-admitted clean freak. I finally broke down and bought....drum roll....



Normally these babies are pretty expensive but Big Lots was having a sale today...yay for me! I've been coveting this Roomba for about a year and now I am covetous no more!

My secret fascination....

with the Duggar family has brought me great joy! I was looking on their website(www.duggarfamily.com) just now and found that they are going to have a book published on December 16. ( cough...*Christmas gift*...cough cough).

I'm so fascinated by large families, especially ones that raise God-fearing children. The Duggars are a perfect example. Granted, somethings they do I find a little....strange (umm...super long hair and a "different" style of dress), but they still amaze me.

Their site is really fun...you know you want to look....

Nifty New Find

Silicone baking cups!! Saves time and money! Cleans easily and comes in fun colors! On sale in the dollar section of Target! What more could you ask for??



Why has it taken me so long to find you, oh saver of time and trouble??

Nifty new find....

The sippy leash! Gone are the days of cups getting lost in the car. Gone are the days of Ava Joy throwing her cup 18,000 times during one meal! Gone are the days of the cup falling out of the stroller (don't judge me because I gave it back after it hit the ground, a mommy's gotta do what a mommy's gotta do!). Love love love this product!! Probably really easy to make your own....but you can buy it, or a similar product here: www.sippyleash.com or at Target!

Nifty new find....

So I'm going to try and post one fun,new find each week. Today it's a fabulous remedy for diaper rash but poor Joy had to suffer a sore bottom for me to discover this! Mix Maalox with corn starch to form a paste and apply liberally to sore area. This is better done when baby lays still instead of screaming and rolling all over the carpet, spreading her Maalox/cornstarch love all over my green living room carpet. ALL. OVER. THE. CARPET. So good luck with that! It's almost healed her poor little bottom in a just a few hours.