Cover Reveal and GiveAway

I'm so excited that I get to do a cover reveal and giveaway post! I've loved to read for as long as I can remember. I read my first novel by Danielle Steele when I was in 6th grade and I was hooked. Reading opened up a whole new world to me and became a huge part of my life, a favorite way for me to relax and escape to a better place with happy endings and gorgeous heroes.

If your like me, your always looking for new authors and exciting new books to get lost in. I'm so happy I get to share this cover reveal and excerpt with all my readers!


Saving Tatum by Micalea Smeltzer

Micalea Smeltzer is a bestselling Young and New Adult author from Winchester, Virginia. She’s always working on her next book, and when she has spare time she loves to read and spend time with her family.

Follow Micalea:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MicaleaSmeltzerfanpage?ref=hl

Twitter: @msmeltzer9793

Instagram: micaleasmeltzer

AVAILABLE SEPTEMBER 18th 2014

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Even tough girls need saving.

 Jude Brooks is bad news. He’s the kind of guy that leaves behind a string of broken hearts and Tatum O’Connor is not about to be one of those girls, despite all of Jude’s advances. They have a past, and Tatum’s determined to make sure they don’t have a future.

Unfortunately for her, “no” isn’t a word in Jude’s vocabulary.

The more she backs away, the more he pushes.

But what if he pushes too far?

Tatum’s hiding a pain that no one sees and holding on to a hurt that may never heal. Letting Jude into her heart could shatter her completely—and what if she opens up to Jude and he can’t handle her baggage?

Love is never easy—especially when the person you’re falling for is the person you blame for the worst event in your life.

Love, heartache, and despair.

That’s the name of the game when you’re Saving Tatum. 

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I can't wait until September to read the whole thing!  Want more? You can read a whole excerpt here.

Now for the big news, the cover reveal! The cover of a book says so much about it, and this one is amazing!

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Whats that? Why yes, I did mention something about a giveaway! Click below to enter the rafflecopter giveaway and win some great prizes!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

You can pre-order now on amazon for the amazing price of $1.99!

http://www.amazon.com/Saving-Tatum-Trace-Olivia-Book-ebook/dp/B00MQ99B3K/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1408060682&sr=8-1&keywords=saving+tatum+micalea+smeltzer

If your excited as I am about the release of Saving Tatum in September, make sure you follow the author on her social media and show her some love!

What your daycare provider wants you to know....

I've been a home daycare provider for a long time now. When my kids were 1 and 3, the daycare where they went closed and I was stuck trying to find someplace to send them.  They went to the only big center in town and when it closed all the little home daycares filled up fast. Being the awesome procrastinator that I am,  I waited so long that the only ones left with openings were kind of scary.

That's when I decided to start my own home daycare. I've had many years of experience dealing with children and parents. I know how hard it is to find someone you can trust with your child's safety. I also know when you do find someone, parents generally want to stick with that provider as long as possible.

I'm having kind of a bad day today, so I thought it would be fun to share a little PSA for parents to help with building a great relationship with your daycare provider.

So without further ado, I give you my top 5 things every parent of a child in daycare should know.

Be respectful of your providers opening and closing times.
Know what hours you need daycare for so when you are meeting new providers, you can find one that meets your needs. Don't choose a provider that opens at 7 am if you need a 6:30 drop off time. Her hours are generally chosen with her family in mind, so it's always important to be there on time. Dont' ask her to stay open late, or worse, don't just show up late.
On the same thought, let your provider know if your child won't be present when they are expected to be at daycare. Respect your agreed upon hours of operation and everyone will be happy.

Keep your child home when you can.
Its important to have back up for when your child is sick. Don't send your child to daycare if they are sick because you really don't want to be responsible for giving 6 or so other people the flu.
If you take a week off for vacation, keep your child home with you. Despite what some parents think, your child will not have more fun at daycare than they do at home with mom and dad. Pick them up early when you can. Parents have no idea how excited children get when they know their parents are coming to get them early. Don't be the first to drop off and the last to pick up if you can help it. Kids notice these things, surprise them with a half day off once in a while.

Remember, your child is not the only child in her care.
Yes, your child is special to you, and I'm sure your provider really enjoys them too, but remember your child is only one of 6 or so children. Your provider will probably do all she can to accommodate your child's special needs, but there are some things that are just not doable. Special meals can't always be made because your child only eats chicken. Or nap time can't be skipped because your 2 year old is on a sleep strike. Kids tend to follow what their friends do, and your provider can't have 6 kids wanting 6 different things for lunch because your child won't eat whats served.
Think long and hard when sending toys from home. In most cases, your child will be expected to share and that's not always easy for little ones. Most toys from home here end up back in cubbys until pick up time because they just cause tantrums. That's never fun for your provider or your child.

Pay day means the same to us as it does to you.
This one is common sense. Pay your provider on her payday. You knew how much your provider charged when you signed up with her, and she depends on that money to pay her bills. Her bills include food for your child, heat, lights, supplies...ect. When you don't pay her on time, she may not be able to pay her bills on time, and she will activity try to fill your child's spot. If you like your provider, pay her on time or she might just find someone else who will.

Your daycare providers only human.
Be nice to your provider. Say please and thank you. Not only is it a great lesson for your child to learn, but this is the person who cares for your favorite people in the world, why would you not want to be extra nice to her? A few nice words can really go a long way. Tell her thank you, let her know you appreciate all she does for your child. Sometimes providers have bad days too. We have personal problems just like everyone else. But we try to put that all aside to care for your children.

So there is my PSA for parents who use daycare. Yeah, there's a lot more, but these are the first 5 that came to my  mind.

My main point is, be nice, be respectful, and remember this is the lady that takes care of your kids. You want her on your side.

Kids and Childcare

I've been around children for as long as I can remember. My  little brother is 8 years younger than I am and I was babysitting him all summer long from the time I was 13 until I got a job. I have two kids of my own and I run a small daycare. I've pretty much seen and heard it all.

If I had a chance to give all the parents I know a few words of advice when sending their children into the care of others, I already know what I'd say.

For the love of all that is holy, watch what you say and do in front of your children. Kids repeat EVERYTHING.

Just because they can't speak doesn't mean they don't hear. I can't even begin to tell you how many different children I've had here that say things they really shouldn't.

Recently, I had a child here who used to say t-w-a-t  all. the. time. He was only 1 and had no idea what it meant of course, but it got a reaction. That was fun. Taking a child to the park to play and having him call other kids words that you never want to hear from a child. Good times.

Yesterday, the same child  called his mother a different very bad word. He's 3 now. He knows better, but he heard it somewhere, and like I said, kids repeat EVERYTHING!

Kids don't just repeat words, they repeat actions too.

I have a 2 year old here who picked up a Nerf dart while ago. He held it between his fingers and said, I'm smoking. And he was. He's also picked up a toy phone, pretends to smoke while talking in mostly fast baby gibberish but every once in a while he'll throw in a colorful word to mix it up.

Its not always bad things. Kids are super funny, anyone who has ever spent time with the under 5 crowd knows this. I've had a potty training child tell me his pee-pee was like a squirt gun and he had to shoot the potty with it. Hey, what ever works!

It can be fun to watch kids in the dramatic play area because they come up with some of the most random and silly things. I never really know what they are going to say, but you can sometimes get a sense of what goes on at home by the way they play.

The kitchen center for example. One child with be the mom and pour herself a glass of wine and then bring me a glass with pretend beer because I'm the dad and we've both had a hard day. Or a child will pretend to be mom while cooking dinner and mumble something about not being a restaurant. Things that I know all moms have said at one time or another.

So just remember, kids will copy you. They will act like you. And that's not always a bad thing really. Because you want your kids to follow your good example, right? That's what we strive for, raising children who use manners and are polite.

I'm just saying, if your going to smoke while talking on your cell phone using your sentence enhancers, remember your kids will repeat you.

And hopefully who ever watches your child for you has a sense of humor because sometimes all you can do is laugh.

A fun giveaway

This is one of my favorite giveaways to enter. I haven't won yet, but I love a good party theme, and they have tons! They have a new contest almost everyday, and that makes momma happy!

This is a Facebook post, you may have to like them to enter, but I've found that some of the best contests to enter are on Facebook!

Over the winter, I won $400 in Spafinder giftcards from a Pricechopper facebook contest! It definitely pays to enter as many contests as you can!

Good luck!

Post by Nicole Marie.

Summertime and Getting Ready for School

Hello lovely world of bloggers! I'm baaaaaack!

Ok, so its not really that dramatic, but I decided I wanted to write again. I deleted my other blog, so this one is missing way to many pictures.

Please excuse the mess around here.

So, summer is almost over here and I'm getting ready to jump headfirst into our preschool routine. I run a small daycare and this year I will have the perfect age group, I hope, to have a fun and creative year! I'll have one 1 year old, three 2 year olds and a 4 year old who will be at a school centered preschool during our main learning time.

I'm really looking forward to using MotherGoose Times again for our curriculum. I've tried a few different ones over the years, some cheaper ones, some more expensive ones, and this curriculum seems to work the best for us. Plus it comes in a cute school bus box that the kids think is just the coolest thing.

So we have that to look forward too. Lots of posts with our projects coming soon!

What's that? What have I been up to? Why thanks so much for asking :)

I've been entering a lot of giveaways lately. I search everywhere for the best ones I can find, with low entries and fun prizes.

I'm sad to say, I've almost giving up on my  beloved twitter parities. This makes me sad because I really enjoyed them for a long time. But, they have become almost repetitive lately, seeing the same names come up as winners over and over again. No, its not jealousy on my part because I've won my fair share of great prizes, and I do win still. It just seems lately that you can guess the winners before they are even announced, and that just gets old.

<<<Huge sigh>>>

I've been catching up on my shows instead. But I do miss seeing the UPS man out front so I've been searching out more online giveaways to enter.

And of course there is my cooking and gardening. I've been trying tons of new recipes and I hope to be able to share them on here too. We just picked our first cherry tomatoes over the weekend and we are waiting patiently for the big ones to turn red so I can start to can them.

That's about it. Thanks for reading.

It's that time of year again...

Monday night I went grocery shopping with my daughter, and came home to a Christmas tree in my living room.Yay! I had been asking the hubby when we were going to get our tree this year, but he likes to wait until the last minute for things. I like to get my tree as early as possible. It just doesn't feel like the Christmas season until the tree is up.

So Tuesday night, this momma had a glass(or two) of wine and decorated the tree. Every year I get sentimental over the ornaments that the kids have made. I snapped a few pictures of my favorite ones. A photographer I am not, so these pictures are not the best. I snapped them quickly with my Ipad, so the quality is poor, I'm aware of this. I just really wanted to blog about my favorite holiday decorations. Clicking on them will make them bigger.

I have a thing for snowmen. Ever year I pick at least one new snowman ornament. This is my absolute favorite snowman.



I have 3 of these guys, fun little snowmen playing in the snow



This is my newest snowman, bought last year at Kohls.I absolutely love Kohls Holiday selection, I can always find something that I need there!



Of course, I love all the homemade ornaments from the kids over the years. A few of my favorites...

My daughter in 2nd grade. She's 14 now.



My son made this in Kindergarten. I love it, mostly because it looks like you would expect an ornament a 5 yr old made to be.



I made this one with the kids in 2005. It was such a fun project, I have made it over the years with my daycare kids.



I love this one, it was a gift from one of my favorite daycare moms years ago.



Did I mention my love for snowmen?

I need a reason to dust, I admit it!

I'll admit it, I hate to clean. I hate dusting and mopping and scrubbing fingerprints off my walls. I'm not saying I don't clean, because i do, but its not something I look forward to doing.

I had a call last night for someone looking for daycare and they'll be coming to meet me tonight. I am almost embarrassed to admit this, but my first thought was "Gee, I really should dust before they come over". Yes, that right, I need a reason to clean. Please don't judge me.

One thing I don't mind doing is mopping because I have a really great Freedom Mop from Libman. So when I do have to clean, the first thing I do is mop. But when the floors are clean, I notice how there are dirty finger prints on the walls, so I'm forced to scrub them. Surprise! I don't care for that either, but its something I try to do every time I mop. Mostly because I have kids here all day and they are messy, and we have light colored walls.

I'm not a slob, really. I do my basic everyday cleaning with vacuuming(easy!) and sanitizing toys for the daycare. My kitchen counters and dishes(I hate doing dishes too by the way, thank God for the dishwasher!) are cleaned through-out the day and sanitized too. I'm kind of a germaphobe when it comes to cleaning the kitchen.

I don't know what it is about the dusting that I don't like. I will swipe the top of the TV and notice how dirty it is sometimes, and think again, "Wow, I really have to dust this crap soon". But then the thought fades when a kid yells or needs something. The dust is always there when I get back, waiting and taunting me.

I'd love to be more on top of all this housekeeping stuff. My grandmother would roll her eyes at me if she heard me say any of this out loud. I have memories of being a child, walking into her home and the first thing you could smell was lemon pledge. The smell still reminds me of her. She was always cleaning something it seemed like.

Sigh, maybe for Christmas, Santa will bring this busy mom a cleaning lady!

Back to blogger

I just spent an hour of my life switching all my recent blog posts from wordpress.com to this blog on Blogger. Why? I don't really know. I used to blog a lot before, and I always used Blogger so I thought it would be a better platform for me. I couldn't figure out how to add content on the wordpress.com blogs. I could add a post, but I couldn't figure out how to add images anywhere. It really frustrated me, so I came back here.

So here I am.

I am a PR friendly blogger, I like to blog about my life, write reviews and recipes. I also love to be able to recommend great products to my readers. I have a review coming up that is very interesting, and I have a great giveaway opportunity to go with it...just in time for the holidays!

I'm also a mom of two kids and I blog about what its like to be a thirty-something mom to a tween and a teen. I'll give you a little spoiler..it doesn't get any easier as the children get older! Being a parents is ever changing, with every stage coming with its own set of challenges. Sometimes a mom just needs to vent and ask "Why me?!"...

I also like to enter contest and win things. Coming soon, I'll be posting daily deals and easy to enter contest that I find online that anyone can enter. Entering and winning contest seems to be my addiction. The very first thing I won online was back in 2006, when I won a $150.00 gift card on blingo.com. 

After that, I started entering every contest I could find. I found a great website, sweepsadvantage.com where they have a great list of tons of contest. I also won $1,000 from gsn.com radio a few years ago. Anyone can win! You just have to keep trying.

So that's a little about me. Stick around, I promise you won't regret it :)

Black Friday Shopping....Online!

I'm a big fan of Black Friday shopping. I love getting the good deals on what I want to buy for the holidays. What I don't like is the crowds. I hate how rude and pushy people can be. And don't even get me started on finding parking in the crowded stores! I've been staying home more and doing a lot of my shopping online.

A lot of my favorite places to shop online have some great deals this year. Some are even getting a jump start on Black Friday and starting their sales early! I can't even explain how excited this makes me, because its almost embarrassing.

A great website that has everything I need in one place, mygofer.com has thier Black Friday adds online already. This year, their sale start on Thrusday with site busters that run from 6am to 4pm, while quantities last.

Click here to see the mygofer.com Black Friday add!

Some of the great site busters include:

Paula Deen 15-PC cookware Set for $89.99
$100 off LG 47" LED 108P HDTV $599.99
9" Multi-touch Android Tablet for $89.99
50% off Vivitar DVR 508 HD Camcorder for $19.99
Fujifilm FinePix AX550 Digital Camera - Black $49.99

How great are those deals!??

They also have some great Black Friday deals that are on sale from Thursday through Saturday! These deals include:

Samsung 32" LCD TV just $329.99
50% off Craftsman Tools and Christmas and Holiday Items
Craftsman C3 2-Piece Lithium-Ion Drill and Impact Driver Kit just $89.99
Garmin Nuvi 40LM 4.3" Touchscreen GPS w/Lifetime Maps just $89.99
Essential Home 5 PC Dining Set just $99.99
Medal Sports 48 In. Air Powered Hockey Table just $39.99
57% off Northwest Territory 10 ft. Screenhouse just $29.99
BBQ-PRO 4-Burner Gas Grill just $139.99
Android 7” Galaxy Tab 2 with Wi-Fi (Titanium Silver) just $177.99
Activision Skylanders Giants Starter Packs just $49.99
50% off Jaclyn Smith Rocker Recliner just $149.99
50% off Northwest Territory 20in Firepit just $37.50
Call of Duty - Modern Warfare 3 - Xbox 360 for $29.99

There are so many great deals, and the best part is you can shop from home! I don't know about you, but I love shopping in my PJ's.

If you aren't familiar with mygofer.com, you need to check them out! They are a website where you can get everything you want in one place, from baby items to grocery items and everything in between. You order online and you have the option of having it delivered or you can pick it up at a Kmart near you. How great is that? Most of these Black Friday deals have free shipping too, which makes shopping online so much better.

Happy Shopping!

Wordless Wednsday

Gobble Gobble

Happy Thanksgiving!

Homemade pie crust, with pictures

Yesterday, I made my pie crusts for Thanksgiving and then threw them into the freezer until Wednesday night. Pie crust is so so so easy to make! Here is a step by step guide, with pictures(click to enlarge). Yes, I took pictures every step of the way, as I made pie crusts...don't judge me ;)

First things first...the ingredients. There are 5 simple ingredients in a pie crust. I use butter, but you can use lard instead.

• 1 1/4 cup of flour, plus extra for rolling surface
• 1 teaspoon of sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon of salt
• 1 stick of cold butter, cut into 8 pieces
• ice water

Mix the dry ingredents into the food processor. Pulse a few times, and then add the cut butter.



Pulse a few more times, until the butter is cut into the flour mixture. Then slowly add ice water, until it looks wet and crumbly. Don't worry if you add to much, you can just add more flour, but pour the water slowly.



Dump out onto a floured surface, and form the dough into a ball.



Now roll your dough. Make sure your rolling surface is floured, and you may need add extra as you roll it out. Start at the middle of the ball and roll outwards.



Now place your dough into your pie tin. An easy way to do this is to roll the dough onto the rolling pin...



...and unroll it into your pie tin.



Crimp the ends with your fingers and trim the extra dough. Poke with a fork a few times to give it some air holes and your done!



Cook at 350 for about 20 or so minutes, until its golden brown. Cook a little longer if you are making a crust for a cream pie, to make sure its cooked all the way.

This is really so simple and takes minutes to make. The worst part is the clean up.



I make these ahead of time and freeze them in plastic bags. Then I'll pull them out the day I want to make a pie and they will taste like I just made them.

For the top crust on the pie, make the crust the same way. Before you roll your top crust on top of your pie, brush the edges with water. Crimp the top crust onto the bottom on before cooking. Cut a few slits on the top for air holes and brush with egg whites for an egg wash. This will make the crust golden brown. For an apple pie, I add a little cinnamon and sugar on top of the egg wash before baking.

Enjoy!

My favorite side dish recipe, broccoli casserole

Thanksgiving is just a few days away! Yippee! I've already got my menu planned and one of the side dishes I'm making is broccoli casserole. This is so freakin' yummy, I'm looking forward to it almost as much as the turkey.
What you need for this recipe is:

• broccoli, steamed
• croutons
• butter, melted
• cream of mushroom soup
• cheddar cheese

This is so easy to make. I usually make it the night before to save time on the big day. First thing you do is steam the broccoli. While it's steaming, melt just enough butter to coat the bottom of a casserole dish. I do about 2 tablespoons. Next add the croutons on top of the butter, in a thin layer.

On top of the croutons, add the broccoli. I usually add a whole bag of broccoli. Put the cream of mushroom soup on top of the broccoli. I use condensed soup from a can, and don't add any water...just the soup. Then put a layer of cheese on top. You can either use shredded or brick cheese, both work really well.

Cook at 350 for about 30 minutes, or until its hot and bubbly. I keep it covered the whole time I'm cooking it, but you can remove the cover and put it back in for a 5 minutes to brown the top.

This such a good dish. I make it every year at Thanksgiving and I make sure to make a big dish so I have leftovers!

Green Mountain Coffee® Wellness Collection

I love to try new things, and one the best ways I've been able to do that is by being a bzzagent. I've been a bzzagent since 2006, and I've been able to try a bunch of new products, for free!

The newest campaign that I have joined is for Green Mountain Coffee^® Wellness Collection. This collection is really neat. It features two new coffee blends, an Antioxidant Blend and a Focus Blend. They are both have a medium-roast-taste, which is just perfect for me! The Antioxidant Blend is a good source of antioxidant vitamins C and E, while the Focus blend^™ contains 50mg of L-Theanine per serving.

 

I was excited to try these because I am a big coffee drinker. I have at least 3 cups in the morning, and often more throughout the day. I thought this was a great idea because I'm going to be drinking coffee, so I might as well get some extra benefits from it...right?

In my bzzkit, I was lucky enough to get 3 packs with 4 samples of the coffees! Today I sampled the focus blend. It was really good, with no bitter aftertaste. I'll admit I was a little worried that these would taste different, but they really didn't. I love Green Mountain Coffee, they never disappoint! 



You can visit Green Mountain Coffee website to learn more about these new coffee blends.
If you are interested in becoming a Bzzagent and be the first to know about exciting new products, check out Bzzagent.com!

Disclosure: I am required to tell you that I am a BzzAgent. I received free products from bzzagent.com to test and review. All opinions in this blog are my own :)

Wordless Wednesday

Uh oh, someone's busted.

Who keeps playing with the water, I asked myself.... Not even potty trained and already causing a mess in the bathroom :)

Another weekend gone, but there was pie

Ahh, its Monday again! November is already almost half over. Somebody please tell me, where did the year go?!

This weekend went by way to fast, like most of them do. Friday was my birthday, but in all reality, it was just a normal Friday. Saturday, we had a nice big dinner and Sunday I did pretty much nothing. It was nice to get caught up on some reading and I finally got to watch Magic Mike, so it had it high points.

Laundry was done, dishes were cleaned and floors were mopped. That was the extent of my weekend. I did make a yummy pie on Saturday. Apple pie is a favorite here, but we aren't having it on Thanksgiving, so I made one on Saturday. I have a great recipe for apple pie, I'll share it below.

I like to make everything home-made when it comes to pie. Crust is super easy. The easiest way to make a crust is to use a food processor. If you don't have a food processor, it's still pretty easy. For the crust:

• 1 1/4 cup flour, plus extra for rolling dough
• 1 stick of butter, cut into 8 pieces
• 1 teaspoon of sugar
• 1 teaspoon of salt
• ice water

In a food processor, mix the flour, salt and sugar. Pulse it a few times. Add butter and pulse until it's all incorporated. Add water slowly, until a dough forms. Use a bowl and a pastry or dough cutter if you don't have a food processor. Put the dough on a floured surface, and make a ball out of it. Throw it in the freezer to get cold while you work on the rest of the pie. Make two if you plan on making a pie with a top crust.

I like to use two different kinds of apples for pie, just to switch it up a little bit. I like to use a sweet kind mixed with a more tart one. I usually use a few Fuji or a Gala apples and a few Granny Smith. That's just what we like, experiment and find what works for you.

For the pie, peel and core the apples. Cut them into slices and put them in a big bowl. Add 1/2 cup of white sugar and 1/4 cup of brown sugar. Add 1 tablespoon of cinnamon, 1 teaspoon of nutmeg and 1 tablespoon of flour. Toss it all together and let it sit for about 15 minutes. While it's sitting, I roll out the dough

On a floured surface, roll out the dough and add it to the pie tin. Press down gently and poke a few holes in it with a fork. Now to pre-cook. There are a few ways to pre-cook a pie crust so it doesn't poof out of the pie tin. You can use beans to keep the crust in place. If you don't have beans(I never do), you can use an oven safe dish or pot that fits into your pie tin. Anything oven safe that fits works. Cook at 350 for about 15 minutes then add the apples.

Dab the outer pie crust with water. Add the top crust and press the edges together either with a fork or with your fingers to seal the pie. Add a little egg wash on top to make the shell nice and brown. I add a little cinnamon and sugar to the top crust too and then cut out a few steam wholes. Cook at 425 for 15 minutes, then at 325 for about 45 minutes or until the crust is golden brown and you see the yummy goodness coming out of your steam wholes.

A crumb top is easy and good too. For that I use:

• 1 cup of flour
• 3 tablespoons of melted butter
• 1/2 cup of brown sugar
• 1 tablespoon of cinnamon

Mix all of them together in a bowl with a fork and add to the top of the apples. That's all. So easy, and so good!

I have a lot more recipes coming up for the holidays. This is defiantly one of my favorite times of the year!

And then, my kids grew up

I was looking at baby pictures today and a thought hit me. My kids are growing up, and they are doing it way too fast!

When you are a new mom, its hard to imagine your child as a teenager. You anxiously await that first smile, the first tooth, first steps....ect. You can't wait for them to sit up on their own, or to start to walk and talk. But what you don't think about when your child is up all night crying from teething, is how your going miss this time so much. Sleepless nights, tantrums, potty training...its not always fun that's for sure.

When you have babies, you hear so often to cherish this time when they are young. They grow up fast, its true. Too fast in fact. You'll miss the days when mommies kisses made the boo boos better or just a cuddle made the tears stop.

My babies are 12 and 14. I have no idea how that happened because I'm pretty sure I  was just a teenager myself and now I'm attempting to raise 2! And let me tell you....its rough! If you thought being a teen was hard, wait until you are trying to raise one.  I was a horrible teenager, given way to much freedom and way to little supervision. Now I'm trying to raise my kids to be productive members of society that will grow up, get great jobs and be able to survive on their own.

Somehow along the way, my oldest got the idea that its OK to blow off homework if you don't feel like doing it. And my youngest seems to think being a hoarder is a great way to live his life, and refuses to throw out anything when he cleans his room. I have no idea if I'm making the right choices when I discipline them. I can only hope they grow up with a minimal amount of scaring from my parenting mistakes.

Now that they are getting older, nothing is getting easier but it is changing. My oldest babysits, so sometimes she's responsible for other little humans...kind of scary. My son still needs a lot of help with his homework, but he's at the age now where he will start to want to do more of his own thing. Its hard to let go, that's for sure.

I still remember taking each child home from the hospital. Of course I knew they would grow up, but I didn't think it would happen this fast. Time flies people! I know you hear this way to much, but don't take a single moment for granted. One day you'll blink and your 8 pound baby girl will be taller than you and thinks she's has the answers to everything. Sigh...

I'm just feeling a little nostalgic today I'm afraid. Looking at baby pictures will do that to a person. And while I do miss my kids being little, and as hard as it is sometimes, its great to see them grow. To see them mature and make good choices. I just sometimes miss when a hug and band-aide made all the pain go away.

Sunday Breakfast, Homemade Cinnamon Rolls

Weekends are a great time for baking. One of my favorite Sunday breakfasts has to be homemade cinnamon rolls. They are pretty easy to make and taste so much better than the ones that you pop out of a can. They do take a little practice and a few hours from beginning to end, but they are well worth it.

I've been making these a few times a month lately. Not to long ago, I won a great prize pack from @RedStarYeast that included 36 packets of yeast, so I've been doing quite a bit of baking!

For these cinnamon rolls, I use:

• 1/2 warm tap water
• 1/2 cup warm milk
• 1/4 cup of sugar
• 1 stick(1/3 cup) butter, melted
• 1 teaspoon of salt
• 1 egg
• 3 1/2 cups of flour, plus extra kneading surface
• 1 packet (1/4 ounce) of yeast

Working with yeast can be tricky. I think a lot of it has to do with having everything warm. I use hot tap water, and that works well for me. For the milk, I scald it and let it cool until feels warm to the touch. Neither the water or milk should be cold.

First thing I do is dissolve the yeast in a small bowl of warm water. Stir it until all the yeast is dissolved, you will see bubbles start to form...this is what you want to happen. Next, in a large bowl, mix milk, sugar, melted butter, egg and salt. Add 2 cups of the flour, and mix until smooth. Add the water and yeast mixture, then the rest of the flour. Mix until the dough is easy to handle. On a lightly floured surface, knead dough for 5 to 10 minutes. This is the fun part! Kneading dough is easy, but if you don't know how to do it, YouTube has a bunch of great videos. If the dough becomes to sticky, add more flour and keep kneading. Place dough in a well greased bowl and cover it with either plastic wrap or a cloth, or even a paper towel. Leave in a warm place and let it sit until it doubles in size. This can take an hour to an hour and a half.

When its done rising, pour dough onto a lightly floured surface again. Punch it down and roll it flat into a rectangle shape. I use a pizza cutter to trim the edges so it's a perfect rectangle. Now for the filling. I use:

• 1/2 melted butter
• 3/4 cup of sugar
• 2 tablespoons of cinnamon
• raisins or walnuts

Spread melted butter on the dough. Sprinkle with cinnamon and sugar. Add raisins or walnuts if you want them. I personally love raisins in my cinnamon rolls. Starting at the long end of the rectangle, roll the dough tight and press ends together to seal. Cut into 12-15 slices and place them in a buttered 13 x 9 inch pan. I sprinkle some left over cinnamon and sugar on the pan before I add the dough.

Let them rise again, in a warm place for about an hour, or until they double again in size. Cook at 350 for about 1/2 hour. Cool completely then frost with a homemade glaze, that I make while they are cooking. Glaze is so easy and so much better than anything you buy in a store. What I use is:

• 3 tablespoons of butter, softened
• 2 cups of powdered sugar
• 1/4 cup of milk, plus more as needed
• 1/2 teaspoon of vanilla extract

Put the softened butter in a mixing bowl(I love my Kitchen Aide mixer for this!) and add the powdered sugar. Mix on low-speed until is well incorporated, then add milk slowly until it looks wet and shiny. Whip on high-speed for a few minutes then add vanilla. Keep mixing until all the sugar lumps are gone. If glaze is to thick, add a little more milk. This is also makes a great butter cream frosting, you just add less milk for a thicker frosting. Once you make this, you'll wonder why you ever bought frosting at the store!

I make these the night before for breakfast. These are perfect a lazy Sunday morning breakfast that everyone will love.

Copy-Kids DVD, a Review and a GIVEAWAY!

I recently got the opportunity to review a really neat product. Its called Copy-Kids and its a DVD series designed to get very young children excited about eating fruits and vegetables in a really fun and neat way. I decided to watch it with the younger kids in my daycare during snack time.

Yesterday during snack time, I put in the DVD and watched it with a few of the children. I wasn't surprised that they really enjoyed it. They giggled and laughed and when they saw all the different foods the children were eating, they asked for some too. We had a snack of apples, blueberries and cucumbers ready as we watched. I think that the best part was watching the children get excited to eat the same foods that they saw on TV.

When I told the parents about our snack time entertainment, they were all supportive and excited themselves to learn new ways to get their kids excited about healthy eating. I'm pretty sure I'm going to loan this out to a few different families.

All in all, I thought this was a cute and entertaining DVD. The kids I had here loved it! They watched it and pointed at the TV asking for apples and cucumbers when they saw the other kids eating them...mission accomplished! I also recommended to the parents of my most picky eaters, becuase we all know someone with a picky eater, don't we?

More about Copy-Kids: Not only is this a fun DVD for kids, it's also won three awards in children's excellence from Dr. Toy , MACT and from Parent Tested, Parent Approved. For the parents, it also features an interview with pediatrician Dr. Jay Gordon, MD, FAAP, author of Good Food Today, Great Kids Tomorrow. He talks about childhood obesity, suggests ways that parents can get their children to make healthier food choices, and explains why Copy-Kids is such a powerful idea.

Copy kids is such a great learning tool, it been approved by the USDA and added to their Education and Training Materials Database for pre-school nutrition! You can watch a preview of the DVD below or by going to the Copy-kids website.


Seriously, how cute is that?

Want to buy your own copy?

It's available for sale at http://www.copy-kids.com and it's priced at $19.95. The running time is 115 minutes. You can also connect with Copy-kids on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and you tube.

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disclaimer: I was sent a complimentary DVD for review purposes, but all opinions in this blog are my own :)

Being in Hurricane Sandys' path is not fun!

I was born and raised in New York state. No, not NYC...but a very rural part in Upstate Ny. A little fun fact: I've only been to NYC once in my whole life and I was to young to remember much about it. I just have small memories of two tier red buses, and I'm not even sure if that's something I remember or something my mom told me about. I'd love to someday go back. Anywho...

The news of Hurricane Sandy has been pretty scary. We live far enough upstate that the flooding wasn't an issue for us, but we were being told our city was in a state of emergency. We were expecting high winds that could knock trees down, falling on power lines and causing wide-spread power outages. The winds would be coming from a different direction than our area is used to, causing stress on the tress. This would make them more likely to fall when the huge wind gusts hit. Scary stuff.

So being the responsible mom that I am, I made sure we were stocked up on the essentials: bread, milk, water, and wine. Check! All stocked up and ready to go.

School was let out early yesterday. My son came home, and played outside with friends for 2 hours. The weather didn't start to get bad until closer to dinner time. We did get the huge wind gusts that they called for. My whole house was shaking and rattling. It was pretty scary, if I'm going to be honest. But we didn't lose power. We did however, lose a shutter.



Our only casualty of Hurricane Sandy

I was sitting here, playing on the computer, when I heard a big ripping sound and a crash. My first thought was my stroller that I had neglected to put away had flown over the fence, and hit something. When I looked outside, I see a lone shutter sitting by my van. I wasn't sure if it came off of our house or a neighbor's at first.

Where I live, we the worst weather we get is snow storms and ice storms. We don't normally get hurricanes this far up north. We get the tail ends with rain and some wind, but never before have we had a state of emergency before the storm even hit. I'm glad it's over, that we are all safe, and the only casualty we had was one very old shutter.

We are praying for those affect much worse than we were. NYC and every other place affected are in our thoughts and prayers today as they start to clean up and survey much worse damage than I even want to imagine.

Sunday Dinner, Yummy Pot Roast

I love Sunday dinners. When the weather cools down, I always get the urge to bake yummy desserts and cook big warm meals. One of my favorite meals to cook is pot roast. I have a few secrets that I've learned over the years to make it fall apart tender and oh so good!

First thing you need is a cut of beef. I usually buy a chuck roast at the grocery store. This works great for pot roast because you cook it of a long time, so it breaks down the fibers in the meat and makes it so tender. Its also not an expensive cut of meat, so it can be budget friendly too.

Here's my secret ingredient: onion soup mix. Sounds simple right? It is. Put the roast in a big pan with a cover, or use a crock pot. Fill the pan water, about half the roast should be in water. Then sprinkle with the onion soup mix(which is just instant beef bouillon and dehydrated onions) on top, with some salt and pepper. Then add carrots, potatoes, celery and onions to the water around the roast.

Here's another secret. Cook the meat at a high heat. I start the roast at 450(yes, 450) for one hour. Then, shut your oven off. Let the roast sit for 1 hour. Flip roast over, and cook again at 450 for about 45 minutes. Again, turn off heat and let sit for 1 hour. Flip the roast over again, and cook at 300 for another 2 hours. I like to flip my roast over, to make sure both sides are getting cooked in all the good liquid. You may have to add more water during the cooking process.

If you use a crock pot, I do the same thing, but I keep it on high for hours, and near the end, turn it down to low for a few hours. This roast does take all day to cook. I start at noon and we eat at 6 pm. But it really is worth the wait. Your house will smell so good and I may or may not pick at the roast while I'm flipping it...shhh!

I usually serve this with mashed potatoes and gravy made from the dripping in the pan, along with homemade sweet rolls. Perfect Sunday dinner.