Product Review: My First Book Series

Books are big in our house.  Addie has an entire bookcase full of them and she does not share well when it comes to her books.  If there was one thing she had to pick out of all of her toys, she'd likely choose her books.  I think this comes from me being a big reader when I was younger.  I could sit and read an entire book in one day, when I was 10.  It's what brought me a lot of joy, the imagination I got to experience with each book I read.  So books are important to me and to my kids.

So when Sophie Helenek reached out to me to see if I had interest in having Graham review her books I was all over it.  The My First Book series is fantastic for babies because each page includes some great contrasting images.  Those black and white pages for younger babies who see only in black and white.  There are also pages full of color and along with each image is a word the parent can say aloud to help baby to recognize the images by your voice.

The books are great!  Graham loves the eye catching pictures.  There are really so many great features to the books that a parent may overlook.  The black and white pages, the eye catching color pages, the line that borders each page to help draw babies attention back to the subject and each letter of the word is in a different color. 

They're the perfect size for babies little hands and are a sturdy board book for that teething stage that Graham is currently in.  Even at nearly 4, Addie is also digging the books but she is my bookworm!

Check out Sophie's page on Amazon where you can purchase these books.  They make a great baby shower gift to start out new babies book collection.  You can also keep up with the My First Book series via Twitter.

-stephanie

Open Face Meatball Sandwich

These days, I rush out of work to pick up the kids and then I'm thinking, what's for dinner.  I need something fast and easy so I'm always looking for recipes to keep it simple.  This is the recipe and it's so good.  I love a good meatball sub.

Ingredients

Texas Toast

Pasta Sauce, warmed

Meatballs, cooked through

Mozzarella Cheese

Seasonings - oregano, italian, garlic, etc

Set your oven to the temperature on the garlic toast instructions.  Place them in a baking dish and toast slightly while prepping the rest of the food.  Load up the toast with meatballs, pasta sauce, seasonings & top with mozzarella.  Cook in the oven for approximately 10 minutes.  Set broiler to toast the tops slightly.

done.

-stephanie

Chicken Avocado Pita

During the summer, I eat a lot of avocado, tomatoes & fresh mozzarella.  Any way I can, by itself, as a dip on a chip or like this below picture.  In one big pita of fabulousness.

Ingredients

Avocado

Grilled chicken, diced or sliced, or sliced & diced if you like it like that

Cilantro, chopped

Tomatoes, diced or cherry tomatoes halved

Fresh mozzarella, shredded if you don't have fresh

Lemon juice

Salt & pepper

Pitas

Combine the cilantro, avocado, lemon juice and salt & pepper in a bowl.  Prep everything else and assemble your pitas.  Eat & enjoy!  It's that simple and so good!

-stephanie

Strawberry Picking

A couple weeks ago I saw that a local farm was promoting their u-pick strawberries so I packed everyone into the car at 8am to race over before the fields were picked over.

Addie was in heaven.  Hardly any strawberries she picked made it into the basket.  Most made it to her mouth and that was it.

Strawberry picking is hard work when you're baby wearing so I highly suggest bringing along a friend or a husband to help out.

I also highly suggest wearing closed shoes.  Flip flops + itchy pokey hay = not a happy girl.

Graham did pass out briefly.  The reflection in my sunglasses is so pretty.  Fields of green.

Addie finally filled her basket full of strawberries.

The farm also had fresh made, warm strawberry donuts.  I'm sort of a plain jane girl when it comes to donuts but omg, the strawberry donut was amazing!

Blackberry picking is next on our summer to do list!

-stephanie

Quirkie Kids

Growing up I was always the quiet kid who didn't make friends easily because I was always in the background.  I nearly won the title 'Most Shy' in my senior yearbook because of it.  I wasn't very confident in myself and a lot of that is because I was super aware of everyone else around me being criticized for what they said, who they hung out with and what they were wearing.  Because of this, I tried my hardest to wear what everyone else was wearing, never standing out and being subject to mean remarks.

As many people do, I grew up and learned a lot about myself.  Looking back, high school was a tough time but I now realize, it was a tough time for nearly everyone for one reason or another.  We're all the same, we put our pants on one leg at a time even though they may be different sizes.  Being more confident and comfortable I've been able to try new things, wear clothes I wouldn't normally wear and enjoy it.  I hope I can pass along the same message to my kids and luckily there are companies like Quirkie Kids who can help.

QUIRKIE KIDS is a line of pink tees for girls AND boys.

Our tees feature playful designs of things not typically associated with the color pink.

We believe that ALL kids should be free to wear pink regardless of their gender.

Some kids like green. Some kids like blue. And some kids like pink and we say: why not?

Let me first say it's really hard to snap a good picture of an 8 month old and a 3.5 year old who doesn't like her brother touching her.  :)

Back to the stuff you want to know about Quirkie Kids...

I love, love, love these tees & onesies.  You can find the tees in sizes 2, 4, 6, 8 and 10 and the onesies in 0-3, 3-6, 6-12, 12-18 and 18-24 months. The soft tees are proudly made in the USA.  You can follow Quirkie Kids on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Pinterest for all the latest updates.

I seriously cannot  get enough of the cuteness with both of my kids but Graham and that rhino onesie.  dead.

Check them out and tell them I sent you!

-stephanie

Product Review & Giveaway: Matilda Jane Clothing

Over the past 7 or so months, I've fallen in love with Matilda Jane Clothing.  I had a chance to review some of their clothing (or Addie did) back in the fall here and again earlier this year here.  So when they reached out to me again to check out some of their newer items I couldn't resist.  Right now I'm dying over so many cute looks they have to offer.  Some of my favorites are the Ladybug Bubble for the itty bitties and I really like the All a Flutter Peasant Top for Addie.

Addie is wearing the Cloudy Puffer Tee, the Love Bug Knot Top and Sweetheart Ruffled Leggings from the It's a Wonderful Parade collection.  It's all so cute!

One of our favorite things about Matilda Jane Clothing, other than the fabulous quality, is that you can take any item and easily mix and match within the same collection. That means dad doesn't have to worry about matching up your girls.

Giveaway  The great people at Matilda Jane are offering one of my readers the chance to win a $50 gift card to Matilda Jane!

How to Enter  Just follow the instructions in the Raffelcopter widget below.  Make sure you complete the first task as it is a mandatory task.  Once you complete the mandatory task, all other tasks are optional but do increase your chances to win!  The giveaway is open to US only and will close at midnight on Wednesday, June 4, 2014.  Good Luck!

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DIY: Dollhouse for Addie

This year for Addie's birthday I knew I wanted to give her a dollhouse but I didn't want to just buy a dollhouse.  One, they're super expensive for a nice one and two, I wanted her to have something she could keep forever that I built her. So I scoured Pinterest to find ideas on what other people did.  I realized I had the perfect starting piece.

This cheap bookcase that I purchased probably 15 years ago from Target when I was 17 living with my parents.  It had sat in our office filled with books we never read until we switched the office into Graham's nursery.  After a little cleaning, painting and "wall" additions, we had a dollhouse in need of furnishing.

I added scrapbook paper that I found at Hobby Lobby & Joann's to each of the back walls with spray adhesive.

The bunting I made out of a piece of fabric and paint cards I got from Home Depot and then cut up into triangles.

This room was intended to be the playroom.

This room was intended to be "Graham's room but that ugly painting needs re-painted.

This room was intended to be "mom & dad's" room.  I made the painting on the left from mini canvas' at Joann's.  

The picture on the back wall was from a frame I found at Hobby Lobby then painted black and inserted the Mr. & Mrs. sign.

This isn't the clearest picture but the little mirror was found at Hobby Lobby.

The fun bathroom.  I found the wooden furniture through Overstock which I would not recommend.  It took me forever to pop each piece out, sand it down and then paint.  Not fun.

I'm planning to keep my eye's open this spring at yard sales to find old dollhouse furniture I can spruce up.

The kitchen is one of my least favorite rooms but again, once I find that furniture it may help out.

This is my favorite wall.  A fun sparkly scrapbook paper with lots of glitter to it.  Furniture sucks but I'm working on that.  The photo here is again one I made.

I found Addie some "people" for her to play with at Hobby Lobby. They're in desperate need of a makeover but that's on the bottom of my list.  I can't wait to see how it all evolves.  Addie isn't really big into it at this point but I think she'll enjoy it more once I get better pieces for her to play with.

-stephanie

Recipes: Bacon & Broccoli Quiche

Last week I posted about all the food we made at the baby shower for our friend Katie.  I hate when blogs don't share recipes so get yourself ready to save these.  So yummy and so easy.  Do we notice a trend there?  I'm all about easy recipes.  This one boggles my mind because the quiches are so good and seem like they would be a lot of work and a lot of ingredients when they're not.  The bacon was the worst part.



Bacon Quiche
1 sheet refrigerated pie pastry
1/4c sliced green onions
1tbs butter
6 eggs
1 1/2c heavy whipping cream
1/4c unsweetened apple juice
1lb sliced bacon, cooked & crumbled
1/8tsp salt
1/8tsp pepper
2c shredded swiss cheese

Broccoli Quiche
1 sheet refrigerated pie pastry
1/4c sliced green onions
1tbs butter
6 eggs
1 1/2c heavy whipping cream
1/4c unsweetened apple juice
1 10oz bag of frozen broccoli
1/8tsp salt
1/8tsp pepper
2c shredded swiss cheese

Line pan with crust.  In a small skillet saute green onions & butter. In large bowl, whisk eggs, cream & juice.  Stir in bacon or broccoli (or bacon & broccoli if you're crazy), salt, pepper and onions.  Pour into crust & sprinkle with cheese.  Bake at 350 for 45-60 minutes until clean center.

Enjoy friends!

-stephanie

Breakfast, MMM, Breakfast

So apparently this week I'm all about recipe posts.  I made this breakfast casserole and it's ah.may.zing!  I actually made this Christmas morning and forgot to capture any pictures.  Probably because I was so caught up in Addie's excitement.

Ingredients

Crescent rolls

3 - 4 eggs scrambled

4 oz cream cheese

1/2 pound sausage

Cheddar cheese

Start by cooking up your sausage so it's ready.  While that's cooking, roll out your crescent rolls and lay half of them in the bottom of an 8x8 baking dish.  Spread your cream cheese, layer your cooked sausage, scrambled eggs, and shredded cheddar cheese.  Apply the other half of the crescent rolls on top.  Bake in the oven at 350 for approximately 15-20 minutes or until the top is browned.

You could easily add in some veggies or any other ingredients that would be a good addition. This makes enough for 4 people if you're serving with a side of fruit or yogurt.  If your serving to guys, you may need more.

-stephanie

S'mores Dessert Pizza

With everyone in my house sick with a cold we spent all weekend lounging around and enjoying some quiet time in.  Last night was the last of those nights before another crazy week started so we decided to make it a pizza night.  Addie made her own little cheese pizza and I made a pizza for Rick and me to share.  We had a little leftover pizza crust so I made a fun dessert pizza with all the toppings for a s'more!

This looks pretty prior to cooking, but still tastes heavenly!

Ingredients
Pizza crust - we use Jiffy
Chocolate of some variety - I used hot fudge sauce
Graham crackers - crumbled up
Mini marshmallows

I highly suggest making your pizza crust and cooking it partially before loading your toppings.

Spread your chocolate around the pizza, then top with graham crackers & mini marshmallows.  Bake in the oven at approximately 425.  Toast the rest of the way until marshmallows start browning.  Cut & enjoy!

-stephanie

Product Review: Little Pim

NOTE:  I received this product free of charge in exchange for my honest opinion.  All opinions are mine and not influenced by the promotional value.

Exposing my kids to different languages and cultures has been important to me.  I feel like children who are exposed to different languages and cultures, grow into respectable, more intelligent adults.  So Little Pim reached out to me recently to review their product and I was excited!

Little Pim is a foreign language company that introduces children betwen the ages of 0 and 5 to a foreign language using DVDs, music CDs, flashcards, and books.  I selected Spanish because both Rick and I took Spanish in high school and we've both been to Mexico several times and will continue to travel there.  

The DVDs arrived in a 3 pack set focusing on different areas children commonly deal with.  Addie loves the little Panda that pops in throughout the show and is now repeating words from the DVD.

The other day she said, "Hola!" to me and I thought, where did you pick that up.  She promptly asked to watch the panda show and started repeating, "los platanos" (bananas).

When you check out the Little Pim's website, a customer service agent chat box will appear to assist in your questions and/or purchase.  There are a wide variety of languages you can purchase from, check out some samples here.  I highly suggest you try out some of their products for your little ones.  This age group is very important for learning new things and we know how "spongelike" their brains are!

-stephanie

Product Review & Giveaway: Matilda Jane Clothing

I enjoyed the Matilda Jane clothing giveaway so much last time that I decided to do another one for you!  I know how much each of you appreciated the opportunity so here it is again!  Addie received so many compliments on her outfit from the last giveaway and when she got the next outfit, we enjoyed it all over again.  

As mentioned in the last post, each item in the collection is meant to be worn interchangeably with the other pieces so you never have to worry about matching items.  

Addie's wearing the Stippling Tee, Gallery Leggings, and the Turtle Dove Knot Top.  I just can't get enough of their clothes!

Giveaway  The great people at Matilda Jane are offering one of my readers the chance to win a $50 gift card to Matilda Jane!

How to Enter  Just follow the instructions in the Raffelcopter widget below.  Make sure you complete the first task as it is a mandatory task.  Once you complete the mandatory task, all other tasks are optional but do increase your chances to win!  The giveaway is open to US only and will close at midnight on Tuesday, January 14, 2014.  Good Luck!

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I Love Ree Drummond

Can we all agree that Ree Drummond is amazing?  I love that she makes fabulous food but it's all so simple and typically very quick to make.  When I stumbled across her recipe for this Sour Cream Noodle Bake I knew I had to make it.

Of course I substituted the ground beef for ground turkey.  We really don't purchase ground beef anymore to try to save on calories and fat.  I still love ground beef but ground turkey substitutes well in every recipe I've tried it in.  

I love a meal I can bake and just leave alone while I clean up the rest of the dishes and set the table.  Cooking, cleaning, and setting the table at once just doesn't work well especially with Addie running around and Graham inevitably crying as soon as I start dinner.

This one is a keeper!

-stephanie

PS.  Don't forget to enter the Made with Love giveaway here.

Single Serve Cookies...All for Me!

 When the kids are sleeping, it's my time to relax and sometimes that involves a snack just for me.  It's always when they're sleeping when I crave a cookie but I never want to make an entire batch.  Finally I found a single serve cookie recipe that is actually very good. 

 Ingredients

2 tsp light butter
2 tsp packed brown sugar
2 Tablespoons flour
1/4 tsp baking powder
8 chocolate chips (Or m&ms if you're like me)

Slightly melt butter in microwave. Stir in brown sugar. Mix in flour and baking soda then chocolate chips. If the batter is a little too thick add a couple drops of milk. Bake on a cookie sheet at 350 for 9-11 minutes.

I'll be honest, I would have prefered these with chocolate chips however, I didn't have any on hand and I have bags and bags of m&m's from Halloween so it makes sense.  In fact, any of your leftover Halloween candy could be used in this recipe.  Also, I doubled it to make 4 cookies. 

PS.  If you didn't notice this recipe is eggless which means a couple things, I don't have to attempt to split a single egg and pregnant ladies & children could eat this raw!  Of course as an adult you should probably also avoid eating batter with egg in it but who follows that rule?!

-stephanie

Product Review: Dr. Scholl's Active Series Inserts

I recently had the opportunity to try out the Dr. Scholl's Active Series inserts for your running shoes. We all know that running can be really tough on your body. Your knees, shins, joints, etc. It's tough on all of you so adding the Dr. Scholl's Active Series inserts into your shoes it provides ample cushioning for your run or workout.

 

 

You'll notice my Mizuno's in the picture above with and without the inserts.  On the left is no insert and the right is the Dr. Scholl's Active Series insert.  They actually blend really well into my shoes with the pink lining! 

 

The Dr. Scholl's Active Series insoles are designed with three areas of protection:

- ball of the foot padding

- reinforced arch support

- deep heel cup absorbs impact

 

These shoes are a lifesaver for any runner or individual doing high intensity workouts!

 

Note:  I received these products complimentary from Influenster for testing purposes.

 

-stephanie

 

PS. Don't forget to enter the $50 Matilda Jane giveaway here.

Mmm, Lasagna

Lasagna.  Seriously it's one of my favorite things to eat.  And this girl is not a fan of Italian food.  There's just something about all that pasta, sauce and cheese.  Oh goodness, the cheese.  Ricotta, mozzarella, Parmesan.  The list could go on and on. So, last week I whipped this up for dinner and it was heaven.  Pair it with a tasty garlic bread and a fabulous salad and you're done.  You'll have dinner and leftovers for a couple days.  Unless you're feeding a group of 8, then you'll have just enough for dinner.

 

Ingredients

1 box oven ready noodles

1 lb ground turkey, chicken, beef

1 - 12oz ricotta

1 - 12oz cottage cheese

pasta sauce

1/2 cup Parmesan cheese

1 1/2 cup mozzarella cheese (reserve 1/2 cup)

Cook up your meat.  Add your pasta sauce.  Let it simmer for a few minutes until warmed.  While that's simmering, mix the ricotta,cottage cheese, Parmesan and 1 cup mozzarella cheese. Scoop out just enough meat sauce to barely cover the bottom of a 9x12 baking dish.  Lay out enough pasta to cover the sauce.   Spread 1/3 cheese mixture across the pasta, scoop out more meat sauce to just cover cheese mixture.  Do another two layers of pasta, cheese, meat sauce.  Lastly cover it up with the remaining 1/2 cup mozzarella cheese.  Toss it in the oven covered on 350 for 30 minutes.

 

-stephanie

 

PS. Don't forget to enter the $50 Matilda Jane giveaway here.

Product Review & Giveaway: Matilda Jane

I recently had the opportunity to try out Matilda Jane clothing and fell in love.  I absolutely love Matilda Jane for their unique clothing options for kids.  How cool is it that you never have to worry about matching up an outfit because all of their clothes are designed to be interchangeable and match up with any item.  This is especially awesome in our house because Rick doesn't know which shirts go with which pants in her drawer.  Let's be honest, the guy asks me everyday what color shoes he should wear with his black belt!

When Addie received her package she couldn't wait to try on the clothes.  In fact, she wore the outfit on my discharge date from the hospital for our first family photo!  Super cute!  We got to try out the Skyview Puffer Tee, leggings and Turtledove Knot Top which are all part of the Paint by Numbers collection.  I actually didn't realize Matilda Jane also sold women's clothing and am loving that Addie and I can coordinate outfits without completely matching.

Ignore the shoes, remember Rick is dressing her.

Giveaway  The great people at Matilda Jane are offering one of my readers the chance to win a $50 gift card to Matilda Jane!

How to Enter  Just follow the instructions in the Raffelcopter widget below.  Make sure you complete the first task as it is a mandatory task.  Once you complete the mandatory task, all other tasks are optional but do increase your chances to win!  The giveaway is open to US only and will close at midnight on Monday, August 4, 2013.  Good Luck!

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Hearty Vegetable Soup

The weather has turned again here in Ohio.  With temperatures in the 40s this week it's time to break out the soup recipes to stay warm.  I wanted soup that screamed fall weather soup and my mind kept coming back to vegetable soup.  I thought, how difficult can it be?  It's in fact, not difficult at all and anyone can do it!

Ingredients

4 cups hot water

4 beef bouillon cubes (vegetable if you want to keep it vegeterian)

1 large can whole tomatoes, pureed

1 tablespoon minced garlic

16 oz frozen mixed vegetables

2 cans diced potatoes

 1 can kidney beans

1 can white beans

Toss everything but the beans in your crock-pot on low for 6-8 hours.   The last hour toss in your beans.  Salt & pepper to taste and serve with your favorite crackers!

-stephanie

Product Love: FabKids

I recently found FabKids and am loving it! It's a monthly subscription where you get to choose outfits for your children based on their style profile.  So the first thing you do is complete a style profile quiz, based on the results, FabKids will show you what fits that style as well as all the other style options for the month.  If you like what you see, you purchase your months subscription!  Here's one of Addie's outfits.

It also came with a skirt but it has been a bit chilly to rock the skirt look.

FabKids will cost you $39.95 per month for the outfit you choose.  If you decide you don't like the months options or just want to hold for a month, you simply go into your account and skip the month!  Best part of all, your first order is 50% off!  That means you can get an entire outfit for $19.95.  You should totally sign up at least for the first month since it's such a great deal.  Read more here. 

-stephanie

Caramel Popcorn

Growing up, my family went camping nearly every weekend throughout the summer and several weekends in the spring and fall months.  One of the earlier campgrounds we'd visit would make homemade caramel popcorn in a big kettle every Friday night.  It was heaven.  I would look forward to the sun going down and everyone in the campground gathering around that kettle.  It's always been something I crave, not too sweet but not too salty.  I've finally figured out a great recipe for my craving.

Ingredients

1/4 cup corn kernels

2 tbsp oil

1/2 cup butter

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/4 cup corn syrup

2 tsp salt

Start off by popping your kernels over medium high heat as the package suggests.  Pour cooked popcorn in a bowl and set to the side.  Set oven at 300 degrees at this point and spray a cookie sheet lightly with nonstick spray.  In a saucepan, combine butter, brown sugar, corn syrup and 1 tsp salt over medium heat.  Mix well and bring to a boil.  Once it boils, don't stir and let boil for approximately 4 minutes.  Give it a good stir and pour over cooked popcorn.  Mix well and spread on cookie sheet.  Sprinkle with remaining tsp salt and bake for 30 minutes, mixing throughout the bake time.  Allow to cool, you may have to break pieces up. This makes about 8 cups cooked.

This is such a good fall treat and would be great for fall parties or tailgating!  Enjoy!

-stephanie