Build a Bear Winner

Here are your random numbers:54
Timestamp: 2009-06-29 20:57:32 UTC

The winner is Her5Boys and she actually did a lot of those bonus entries, which helped ensure her spot. Take a look at these:

My 7 yr. old son really wants the Brown Sugar Puppy and he wants to dress him in a Laker's Uniform!

# posted by her5boys : 10:06 AM
I follow you on Twitter!http://twitter.com/her5boys480
# posted by her5boys : 10:08 AM
Tweet http://twitter.com/her5boys480/status/2279904340
# posted by her5boys : 10:09 AM
I'm now a fan of Build a bear on facebook!
# posted by her5boys : 10:12 AM

Thank you for your support and readership Her5Boys, if you could email me your address I'll have this out to you. homemom3@gmail.com Have a great day and congrats!

Wordless Wednesday: Loves Yogurt

This picture was inspired by a product review and giveaway coming up in my next post. My son absolutely LOVES Yoyo Baby and walks around saying "yo-yo baa-by." Happy Wordless Wednesday!

Tuesday Toot MeMe

Earlier this week I decided to go back to my all positive posts and no negative. Pretty much that'll be easy but after looking at Toot MeMe and reading all those other entries I think looking at even the smallest things for accomplishments can improve one's image or thoughts. We all know that we attract what we put out there so there is no way I want to attract those awful things. So I need to sign back up for the 100 Day Challenge.

But first things first, for this post I must say one thing I accomplished (big or small) so that one is pretty easy. This past week I finished my 6th college class. For those that don't know I decided to go to college in January and I'm taking both online and at the college classes, to be honest I think for a while I'll stick with online classes. We've got four kids that are cooped up in the car while I'm in class and the hubby is great but they can only stay entertained for so long and now the college has announced they aren't allowed to come in during my break to have a potty break. Oh well, life goes on and I'm already signing up for my next classes. The one thing I hate is having to wait for responses and grades. I've checked like 15 times for my current grade. Talk about funny. But the good TOOT for me is keeping on this, even when times get tough. I'm proud of myself and think the kids and hubby are too.

Happy Tuesday! (I'll be posting a giveaway soon)

Ruby Tuesday: The Red Sleeper

I'm new to Ruby Tuesday, I've only posted one other time. Here's my Ruby Red post. Oh look at the two of them. As you can see, it was still a bit nippy in the air so Little A was constantly in sleepers but this was such a great shot of him and his sister, BabyGirl running around and playing soccer. Remember those sleepers? Oh the days when we were younger and could get away with wearing them all day. It was so much easier getting them dressed back then, I'll miss this time with him. I loved keeping them in their sleepers. His sister does look much cooler though. Happy Tuesday ya'll!

Smucker's Has New Toppings

It's an ice cream type of day here in Missouri. Why? Oh ummm, because the weather is 92-101 and we deserve a cooling off. So what better way to cool down? Have an ice cream party. Thankfully Smucker's recently sent us a few of their delicious products. We got the Smucker’s® Apple Cinnamon, Smucker’s Special Recipe® Dark Chocolate, and Smucker’s Magic Shell® Vanilla Cupcake and I went and got tons of ice cream just for this review. Hey a girl loves her chocolate and the kids love ice cream. My favorite is the Special Recipe Dark Chocolate, especially heated up and poured over Vanilla ice cream or even chocolate ice cream. I also like the apple cinnamon heated up and poured over vanilla ice cream, reminds me of an apple pie.

Now for the kids: (I asked their favorite toppings)

SoccerBoy: apple cinnamon, I liked both the straight on the ice cream and
heated.
BalletGirl: Magic Shell (she says with a giant smile) because it was
cupcake frosting.
BabyGirl: Magic Shell....it's twinkling. (she meant
sprinkled)
Little A: Umm, I think his favorite was both the chocolate and
shell.

I must say that this shell wasn't as hard as the chocolate ones I've used, or maybe we just ate them quicker. But the kids did love it and it did taste like frosting. Smucker's is having a giveaway/contest and the winner will get (not my contest, you have to go there to sign up) $500 in grocery shopping spree. The only thing you have to do is visit Smucker's Your Vanilla is Showing and click on the contest.


Currently Smucker's has 33 products out and a new line of ice cream toppings released this summer:

Smucker’s® Apple Cinnamon, Smucker’s Special Recipe® Dark Chocolate, and Smucker’s Magic Shell® Vanilla Cupcake flavor toppings will be available nationwide starting in June, giving Americans no reason to leave their vanilla showing. To help spark readers’ creativity, encourage them to try mixing custom creations with these tips:

1. Treat yourself to the flavor of apple pie à la mode by spooning Smucker’s Apple Cinnamon topping, made with delicious chunks of apples and aromatic cinnamon, over a bowl of vanilla ice cream.

2. Smucker’s Magic Shell Vanilla Cupcake flavor topping tastes like a vanilla cupcake with rainbow sprinkles. Serve over chocolate ice cream with bananas, peanut butter and whipped cream for a unique take on a banana split.

3. Drizzle Smucker’s Special Recipe Dark Chocolate topping over a slice of cheesecake and top with strawberries for a decadent treat.

Random Picture Weekend

It is the close of the weekend with it being 10:21pm on Father's Day and I thought I'd do a bit of catching up on all the things we've been doing. We had a bit of fun in the pool over the last few days, then we tried moving the pool to a different location because it kept becoming lower and not by splashing.

First lesson- a pool stinks very badly when it is moved after sitting in one location for a while. Ikkk.

Second lesson- bugs love hiding under the pool and water. Tons of worms and rolly pollies. Ikk.

Third lesson- get it right the first time because filling it is a ... pain in the neck.

We also had a BBQ where we had all types of yummy things like Bratsworth, hamburger, cheeseburger and some steak. (yes I actually eat meat nowadays) Oh and some cheesy hotdogs.

Little A also got his head shaved, it's been way too hot lately and I decided he needed it and daddy did it for me. He looks so cute, I think anyways and a lot cooler. What do you think?

What did you do over the long weekend? Have any BBQs? Don't forget to scroll further down and enter to win a $25 Gift card to BuildaBear.

He's Home & I Drove to the Airport

Okay ya'll are probably wondering about that title right? Well for those that know me know I do NOT drive. Okay, I got my license at age 26 and we lived on a base, speed limit is what 25mph on a base? We then moved to Camp Lejeune, NC (jacksonville) and I barely ever left the base, so once again only around 25mph and sometimes 45 when off-base. Like I said, that was rare.

We moved out to Misery, errr Missouri and I stay home. I'm sorry I just can't drive in traffic. I've driven a few times out here in order to go across the highway by my house to get to Starbucks. Yes, I cross the other side of the road to get my coffee. Oh and I drive straight down the road to Wal-Mart to do shopping. As you can see that is very quick drives and I normally do it when there are no cars on the road. I would rather he drive everywhere.

Course he came home, which meant someone had to pick him up from the airport. That someone had to be me and he'd have to be 45 minutes to an hour away. I got in the car, buckled up the kids and told the Universe to protect me. I would be going speeds I've never driven before. EEEK! I did it though, even drove over a darn bridge with lots of water under it and I had to keep my eyes open the same time. Course this also meant I took on a semi (well a bread truck) he decided at the last minute he wanted ahead of me and I had no space. I had to speed up as I just got to the bridge. NEVER AGAIN. I made it to the KCI Airport and waited.

First the kids and I parked in the wrong place. Did ya'll know going to the airport is like entering a new city? This place was huge, people could live here. Thankfully a nice couple told me I was in the wrong parking area and I'd have to walk a pretty distance to get to the airport drop-off area. UGH. I debated on the walk, I mean it did mean I would have to drive again. I hate driving. I got in and drove a bit more and backed up against a wall and got out. Yes I parked at the top, there was no way I was driving down into a parking garage. Dark places, earthquakes, haha not happening. My luck I'd back into the wall and the whole place would fall on me.

Once inside we went to the bagging area (where the bags come back) and sat by a window and watched as the planes came in. Hope you enjoy the pic, yes one did fall asleep, the other just about did. Oh and if you notice Little A was hugging his sister to sleep.

Build a Bear Gift Card Giveaway

Build-a-Bear sent us this adorable puppy and Endless Summer of Hugs beach towel, which he's sitting on in the picture. They also sent us a $25 Gift Card to Build-a-Bear that one lucky reader is going to get. This little guy hit the stores on June 12th (my brother's birthday). The beach towel has already been poolside, but not to worry puppy stayed in the coolness of the house.

Isn't this puppy just so Patriotic? Now we thought of Puppy, American and even Sparkles but we decided to stick with the name on the site (BuildaBear) which is Patriotic. The girls call him Pat for short and they love patting and loving on it too. I've already been informed that this little guy MUST go with us when we watch the 4th of July Fireworks. After all he is very PATRIOTIC. Don't you think?

RULES: Visit http://www.buildabear.com/ and tell me what guy/girl you'll be getting with your $25 gift certificate if you were to win. You can pick from clothing, accessories to of course the bears/dogs/animals. There are a ton of items there, here's a few:

- zoo animals such as gorillas, kangaroos, turtles, etc
- Beary limited edition: Happy Go lucky Frog (he's so cute)
- Best Dad Curly Teddy: Great for Father's day!


Extra Entries: (remember you must do the thing and post a new comment letting me know)

follow my blog
follow me on twitter/homemom3 (let me know if you already do with your twitter name)
follow build a bear on facebook
tweet about this giveaway
blog about this giveaway

Deadline: June 27th, 2009. I'll announce the winner that afternoon.

Wordless Wednesday: My Office

I moved my office from upstairs to downstairs and have lined my wall in the basements with nothing but books and plants. What do you think? Now I can see everything the kids are doing and when they are playing outside. Happy WW!

Top 10 Family Friendly Restaurants

Parents Magazine recently did a survey asking what readers thought the friendliest family restaurants were and here's the list:

#1 Cosi
#2 Jason’s Deli
#3 Noodles & Company
#4 Fazoli’s
#5 Panera Bread·
#6 Zpizza
#7 Atlanta Bread
#8 Corner Bakery Café
#9 Taco Del Mar
#10 McAlister’s Deli

Each restaurant answered a 25-question survey and submitted nutritional information for all of the items on their kids’ menus. Parents then examined the calories, fat and sodium in each dish on the menu. Healthfulness and range of choices on the kids’ menu made up 70% of each restaurant’s score. The survey, which made up the remaining 30% of each restaurant’s overall ranking, included questions about family conveniences, value promotions, and kid-friendly features.

I'm not going to lie to you, I've never ate at a single one of these places. I do have a Fazoli's down the street but due to all the construction on that street I've never went there. Plus there are barely ever any cars there which tends to put off that first time customer. Here's a list of places I do frequent, however they do NOT have a changing table:

- Habanero's (my favorite)
- Chili's
- Longhorn's Steakhouse
- 54th Street Bar & Grill
- Red Robins

Psst, they also all have margaritas and chocolate shakes.

He Stuck a Bead Up his Nose

Yes, you read that right. Little A decided to do some exploring to see what all he could fit up his nose. All I know is I was sitting at the computer finishing up my last paper when he came walking in the room repeating, "Nonio, Nonio" it's what he calls his brother. I told him just say yeah, he insisted on his nose but we couldn't figure out what he wanted. He just kept saying "Nose" and touching it.

I thought he was done but instead went on a search of the Q-tips. I normally keep them in the drawer nearby and he knew it. I looked down to see he had one in his hands. This is normally an indication he's going to put it in his ear or nose. There's no telling so you have to encourage him to hand it to you and you'll clean his ear. Since he kept insisting on his nose I figured he might have a booger in it. Lifting him up I noticed something weird looking up his nose. I couldn't make it out and noticed his right nostril looked overlarged. Quickly I realized I'd went back into the past about ten years ago. Yes, this wasn't a first for our family, 10 years ago, SoccerBoy did this with a lego. Same nostril even. Only this time it was an orange bead. Thankfully it came out, I won't say it was simple or hard.

Oh and get this, because he was still insisting I realized something might be further up or in the other. I checked, he somehow had a rice crispy (cereal) stuck up the other one. This makes no sense but okay, I guess boys will be boys. Not to worry the house is now getting a good cleaning.

Get this, he went right to sleep a few minutes later. I guess he was really worried about it and exhausted himself. He allowed me to hold him until he fell asleep. I did ask if he'd put anymore beads in his nose and he shook his head no. Guess we'll see.

Farmer's Market and Garage Sales

It was a day of thrifty shopping, well I guess I can't totally say that. Ya'll knew how much I wanted to go back to the Farmer's Market and due to my burn and the rain I never did go this past Wednesday, so the kids and I went today instead. It seemed like the same people there with a few different types of fruits and veggies. But here's what I bought:

Farmer's Market:

- Apple Butter from Blackberry Hill Farms

- Honey Wheat bread & a giant cinnamon roll from The Mixing Bowl (tastes great with the apple butter)
- Blueberries (some are sweet, some are sour)

- cucumbers (3 large ones)

- 3 geraniums (pink, red and a white)
- Apple mint herb
- 2 large cuts of beef (the hubby loves to BBQ and hoping to convince him once he gets home)

After that we went straight home and put it all up and then went back out to look at the garage sales in the area. I was secretly trying to find a sewing machine and books, hey I just love books and can't seem to get enough. I couldn't find either one but did pick up a collection of 60s music (It's my Party, My Boyfriend's Back, etc), a few video games, a sim's city pc game, a t-ball thingy (not sure what they are called) and finally an Elmo that holds a guitar and plays music. All in all it was a good day and I'm noticing the kids are eating more and more fruits and veggies. Funny that they won't eat the store bought but will eat the farmer's market bought. They are also noticing certain types of hens, they had pictures of the hen's that laid the fresh eggs.

Someone Tried Breaking In....

Just a little update on our life at the moment, while everything seems fine and hokey pokey all is not as it seems. Sure the family life is great, but its those things that go bump in the night that are scaring me now. It seems that on Wednesday Night someone tried to break into the house, I won't lie I did hear something that night at the front door but due to the storm I just ignored it and blamed it on the wind. Only problem is since he (hubby) has been gone I've been locking the screen door completely shut.

Thursday Morning we went to take the trash out and found the above picture. Now at first one would thing, oops screen door didn't shut all the way. Right? Wrong! If you look at the next picture you can see that the possible intruder (I'm saying possible as they didn't come all the way in) tore up that lock. See underneath that lock there? It has nothing there, they ripped that whole thing off and I couldn't even find it in the grass. Oh and the other side of the screen you can see they had used like a screw driver or something. Now what I hadn't realized until Thursday afternoon (yes I know that was yesterday) was they apparently attempted the backdoor too. There are still indentures there from what looks like the same shape. Thankfully they couldn't come in for whatever reason. Maybe the neighbor turned their lights on for something, maybe they heard one of us walking or maybe they just couldn't get in. Whatever the reason I'm glad.

Yes, I did tell the husband over the phone. This is probably one of the worse ways to tell someone about something like this. See what ya'll may not know is back when we were first married he was in Japan and I was in the states and got stalked. Absolutely nothing he could do to help, the man would come by all the time, tried blowing up a car I was in and yet the police couldn't do anything unless they caught him. I'd have to die or get hurt for them to do an arrest. I ended up leaving the whole state to get away, but I've always had this fear of it happening again. Has this ever happened to you? What did you do?

I guess for a while now I'm going to be jumpy, oh and this isn't the first time...our next door had the same thing happen so we'll be on the lookout now.

The Anniversary Dinner

Well I haven't told ya'll this but the hubby had to go off to Arkansas for two weeks due to military training, which also meant he'd be missing our 13 year anniversary (June 7th). Hey, being military you get use to these types of things, to be honest the military has taken him for more anniversaries than I can count. But he'd be doing more of a work out then I would be on this particular anniversary.

SoccerBoy (age 12) wanted to make sure mom didn't stay home on her anniversary and went to work for a neighbor to get some money. Knowing I would NOT take myself out and just stay home he asked me if he could take us all out for pizza. His response was "Well it is your anniversary and dad isn't here." I explained yes but that was more dad and me not for them. He quickly objected explaining that if it wasn't for us getting married or having anniversaries none of them would be here. Wow!

We went to the kids '(and I) favorite pizza joint, Minsky's. He told me he did NOT want me paying for any of it, seeing that he was serious I went ahead and allowed him to do this. The waitress overheard and got us to talk about it. Hey, we have two little girls that'll spill the beans about just about anything but ya gotta love them for it too. She heard we'd been married 13 years and he was away (I did stress it was just to school not overseas). We found out the special of the day was buy a large pizza and get one free (large was around $13-15). Next up was debating how many drinks he'd get, she overheard and told us...drinks were on her and she'd be getting us a pitcher. Talk about a sweet thing to do right.

Before the pizza came we played a few of the games and then sat back down and dreamed about our future farmhouse. You know more and more the kids and I have been discussing this and now I want one even more. The pizza got there and quickly got ate up, next up was one more round of games and to leave. But the waitress whispered something to him and next thing I know is he's walking out with a candle in a piece of cheesecake. All on the house, talk about sweet. Thank you to this darling waitress and to my son for making this such a special day for me. It'll be an anniversary to remember.

How long have you been married?

Wordless Wednesday: The Storm

It got really dark right after this and it was only noon. Yesterday we had a bunch of storms come through the Kansas City area and with some hail, winds, lightening and tons of thunder. We did not have to deal with any sirens thankfully, but I did have one baby hiding under the covers. Happy WW!

Ruby Tuesday: Farmer's Market

I learned about Ruby Tuesday through another blog I read called AskewtoYou (Hi Michelle), apparently every Tuesday you post a picture of something red. This should be fun especially since we have a ton of little red fruit at our house this week.

I told ya'll we stopped at the Farmer's Market section of the Carnival because someone (a little girl that I won't name) couldn't pass up her strawberries. Those were filled up to the top with strawberries and cherries, but someone got to them before I thought of taking a picture. So far they've been used in popsicles and by themselves....next up with shortcake and cool whip. Now doesn't that sound like a yummy summer treat?

Weekend of Carnival Fun

Over the weekend we stopped over at our local downtown to have a bit of fun at the carnival. On Friday we went with a neighbor and her two boys and rode all types of rides. Here's a list of some:

BalletGirl- Carosel, slide, pirate ship, boat spinners
BabyGirl- Carosel, slide, pirate ship, airplane
SoccerBoy- slide, boat spinners
Little A- Carosel

Oh and yes I rode the carosel with Little A and the neighbors two boys. It looked like everyone was having fun. We ended that first night at Sonics where everyone ate dinner and ended up walking in the front door (oh we walked down there too) at 10:30 pm. The following day was basically a rest and relaxation day if ya know what I mean.

Sunday (yesterday), I took my crew back down there where we'd walk the entire thing and look at each and every booth. I knew this could be too timely for some but mine really love it. We decided on a few games we wanted to play and ran to get money out of the ATM. Ooops it was broke, well not really but it was out of money so we were about to head for home. But kids spotted the farmer's market and even though we didn't have the funds they still wanted to take a peek. We did get to go over and the Kansas City Chief's were there and called the girls over to get posters with signatures. They were so excited to get these, next up was a very nice farmer that gave each child a free sample of his strawberries. SoccerBoy didn't take any but the rest of us did. I felt worse not having money and as we walked down we stopped to watch the train and someone overheard us talking and told us about another atm nearby which worked. Woo hoo!

So once we had some cash we hopped on back to the Farmer's Market where BalletGirl insisted on buying her own batch of strawberries and I got a thing of cherries. After that we hit the games, grabbed some cotton candy and headed for home. BalletGirl did end up winning a fish, but it died two hours after we got home. :( It was very sad. We stopped at Sonics before going the rest of the way home for something cool, I decided on Ice cream...which had no complaints. In the end they had a ton of fun and I had a sunburn. Before anyone says anything I did use sunblock on all of us, but it didn't matter for me.

Beef Winner

Congratulations to the lucky winner, there were only two entries this time. (I think next time I'll do it for anyone that lives near a Hy-Vee) I used Random.org to pull my number and the lucky winner is....

I really like the Beef Kabobs with Parmesan Orzo recipe from the Beef it's what's for dinner website. We love to grill in the summer and my husband would love Kabobs for Father's day! from, Lynette.r.ward@dfas.mil

I'll be emailing you later so watch out for it. Congrats again.

Table Gating Party Winner

Wow there were so many inventive ways to convince those kids to eat those veggies. Course for me it would be to get the hubby to eat them. Some of these I've never tried myself and will have to do, others I have and loved. But I know ya'll don't want to hear what I've tried doing to get the kids to eat veggies. Right? Hmm? Oh you do, well I've tried hiding it in the food by mixing it in, getting dad to eat it because if dad does they all do. What haven't I tried? The shredding it and baking it into it. I never thought about it.

The winner of the Libby's Tailgating Party is.....

Random Integer Generator
Here are your random numbers:54
Timestamp: 2009-06-05 02:38:02 UTC


Askew To You said...
My favorite veggies are avocado spread on toast or I grill zuchini. Take the zuchini, slice in half, brush with olive oil, sprinkle with salt, pepper, garlic, then grill. Yum!

Congratulations! Please email me at homemom3@gmail.com with your mailing address.

Wordless Wednesday: KC Zoo

We had a fun weekend, check out the picture of the elephant. This is BabyGirl's Favorite zoo animal.

Happy WW!