Mom 4 Real: Snow Man Glass Ornament

Found a great craft idea for the Christmas tree! I am always looking for and thinking up great crafts for the kiddos and I decided to share a recent find with you guys! It is adorable and definitely one that I recommend. Visit the link below for how-to make your own!

Wordless Wednesdays

Tis the season for Gravy, caramelizing foods, and marinading meat!

Ah, tis' the season to cook fatty wonderful foods!  I love the smells and tastes of the holiday season!  As much as I love good tasting food all of you know that I love even more multi-purpose items.  I recently stumbled upon a product which can be used to spice up any dull meal.  It is called GravyMaster!  You can use it on turkey or mashed potatoes for your gravy or you can use it in a ton of other recipes!  One idea that I had was how to get kids to eat their veggies when there are so many sweets just lying around!  Why not make the veggies a sweet treat themselves!  You can use this product to caramelize the veggies!  Add some caramelized veggies to some pan fried fish or BBQ's chicken and you have Master the meal!  (they have a great recipe on their site for some ways to use this to BBQ as well!)  I don't know about you but I think caramelized anything sounds amazing!  

Ho-Ho-Holiday Cards

The mailbox becomes a favorite place during this time of year.  We watch for things ordered, gifts sent, and the cards from friends, families, and oddly the dentist. (not sure why but I always seem to get a nice hallmark card from a doctor or dentist that I only see once a year) The holiday cards get displayed around the house in a variety of ways as reminders of loved ones who are unable to be close or who just want to share their love with us during the holidays.

Dead TIRED!

All that turkey and it's lethargic chemicals is enough to put us all in a coma for the winter.  No hibernation here though!  We just got back from a trip to Oregon to see some of my family and we are all exhausted.  We left early Thursday, dropped fur-babies off at our across town pet sitter(we do not trust just anyone with the babies and even with her I still worry about them because they are my fur-babies), then back across town to the airport.  Unload the car of our carry-on's, monster luggage and two babies and we are off.  Crowded flight later, on the last changes of clothes for the baby boy(he was having blow out diarrhea on the plane, let the awesomeness begin!) and the second to last for the baby girl (she had a blow out and a pee out, yeah thought that was odd too?).

Super Food Snacks Chocolate Review!

I love chocolate!  Really is there anything better? OK, maybe there is, but chocolate is definitely up there in life!  How lucky am I to get to review some chocolate?!!  I was sent two flavors: Brazilian Chocolate Ecstasy and Chocolate Cherry Qi!  To do this review properly I got myself all set up.  I poured a glass of red wine.  Pinot Noir is my favorite so I ignored the wine pairing suggestions of the wine sites out there.  I set out three of each onto one of my nicer plates which rarely get brought out.  A little background music, a pad and pen for notes and I was ready to review some chocolate!

Thankful

This Thanksgiving I would like to share with you what I am thankful for!  We have had a crazy month with issue after issue, stress after stress, and at the end of the day I realize I have a lot to be thankful for.  For starters, if you have been reading our random updates of our fur-babies you'll know that, our youngest fur-baby had surgery for a lump which luckily was not cancer.  More recently he was diagnosed with Valley Fever and is now on meds.  So, to start off the thanks I am thankful for fatty deposits, medication to keep ancient spores at bay, and healthy fur-babies!

Pine-cone Turkey!

Turkey in the oven, roasting away!  The smell is everywhere on Thanksgiving Day!  Little one’s are waiting for their turkey dinner delight!  If you can keep them busy it will make for a peaceful Thanksgiving Night!  Let’s keep out little one’s busy this thanksgiving with a fun craft!  Sorry spouses but I’m going to put instructions to DVR the game for this one! 

Start by bundling the kids and spouses, set the DVR, hand them some bags and head them out the door to find pinecones!  Fill the bag even though you’re only going to need a few for this craft. (HINT: I will be talking about making scented pinecones next month, so you will use the rest of what is gathered then!)  While they are gone enjoy the cooking peace and set out the supplies.

Wordless Wednesday!

Toes?Paint?Mommy Toes?

Well, Hello, Pilgrim!

Thanksgiving time is here and there are lessons to be learned!  Chances are your kids know about the Turkey, football, and all the family gathering round to eat way too much food, but do they know why you’re having all that?  Why not have them do a fun craft and talk about it!  The best part is this craft can either be a decoration, snack holder, or dress up hat!

Let’s get started!

Puppy's vs Babies!

Ah, the age old question, Are puppies or babies cuter?  This question is particularly difficult for me.  I am the mom of two human babies and three fur babies!  So, how does a mom say one is cuter than the other?!  There are pro’s and con’s to both in their cuteness factor.  Let’s outline them both.Puppies vs. Babies online contest
This post brought to you by Puppies vs. Babies. All opinions are 100% mine.

Christmas Weight Watch: BEWARE!

Tis’ the season to eat too much, drink caloric beverages, and fill in those winter sweaters with weight we all will make resolutions to lose come January 1^st .  Knowing all this, why not add something a little special to our Christmas lists to help us get a jump start on our Christmas resolutions.  Eating all that fatty food means you will need an Extreme Body Workout in order to reverse the calories you take in this season.  I know some of you will be using the “But baby it’s cold outside” and a little weight helps keep a person warm excuse, however muscle actually keeps you warmer than fat.  The better shape you are in the more you’re able to increase your metabolism thus increasing your bodies ability to maintain it’s desired body temperature.  

Kid's Stories

I have hopes to one day write. I hope to write and publish a crafts books (if you didn’t notice, I love creating kids crafts) and to write children’s books. My mind goes off sometimes into stories/adventures that I think kids would love and when I can, I jot them down with hopes to one day really polish them for public viewing. While, I seem to have a great ability to relate to a child’s imagination sometimes I get stuck. When a kid asks a question and I can’t think up a creative way to explain it or describe the answer. In those moments I turn to books, stories written by other people who found the description I lacked in that moment. But what do you do when you don’t have a book that fits the question? The answer was writing in front of me hidden in the dull roar of giggles and babble that fills each day.

Shopping Woes!

SHOPPING FOR THOSE HARD BUY FOR!

Christmas shopping, honestly is there anything more annoying?  It’s not getting gifts for others and spreading cheer, it’s the lines, what to get those who get themselves everything during the year, finding the right size/color/style, fighting the crowds, and that there is always someone willing to dispense the perfect gift advice which is never actually helpful.  My current dilemma?  

Chocolate Delight Giveaway!

We Have A WINNER! JENNIFER DOOLEY has been notified of her win and has 48 hours to claim her prize Congrats! Jennifer Dooley!


Our Chocolate Delight Give Away comes to you from: Super Food Snacks!!! 

You can find them at: http://www.superfoodsnacks.com/

This Giveaway is to win two of their amazing chocolates! Brazilian Chocolate Ecstasy and Chocolate Cherry Qi!

See the product descriptions below along with how to enter!!!! 

Wordless Wednesday!

Leftover Pie

Halloween has been over for a while, but the reminisce of the holiday still remains.  Left over candy plagues us sitting on a bowl on our counters each day saying eat another piece, we do but the taste can wear on our taste buds and lose their normal flare.  The pumpkin has been chopped up steamed and blended into paste which sits in our freezer waiting for us to finally do something with it so we didn’t just waste money on something that we cut a face into for one night.  Oh Halloween, why do you stay around for so long is killing my taste buds, waistline, and food storage space?

Abby Cheese Steak!

I had a craving and no I’m not pregnant, but I seriously wanted a hot sandwich of some sort. I looked in my freezer and got very excited when I saw some Jenny’O’s Smoked Apple Chicken Sausage!

Giggling with glee I grabbed the sausage, a pan, onion, red pepper, green pepper, pepper jack cheese, and hamburger buns. I sliced up the onions, peppers, and sausage and put them in the pan with a splash of olive oil.

Now, some dishes to cook on!

You can’t have dinner with out a dish to eat on! Let’s make some dishes!

You need:

Balloon
Newspaper strips
Paper Mache

Everything and the Kitchen Sink!

Every cook knows you have a ton of dishes after cooking a feast! So, the kids will need a place to put and wash their dishes! One kitchen sink coming right up!

An Oven To Roast In!

Cardboard Oven

Hey! Good Looking!  What you got cooking? Why not create a fun place for your bunch of good looking kids to make their Thanksgiving treats?  After all, you can't have Thanksgiving with out a ton of things baking and brewing on the oven!  Where else do you get the amazing smells?

Wordless Wednesday

Fall day at the park with our daycare kids!

Kodak Easyshare Sport Digital Camera Giveaway

by PAMELA MAYNARD on NOVEMBER 5, 2011

Moms' are always snapping pictures.  You never know where a perfect moment or memory will need to be recorded and having a light weight camera that literally goes anywhere is perfect for the mommy on the go!  Check out the details for how to enter this giveaway and your chance at this awesome camera! 

Keurig B60 Giveaway

by LADONNA DENNIS on NOVEMBER 2, 2011

The WINNER isDarlene Elmer 
As you know if you've read my product review page, I love coffee and tea. I start the morning with coffee and end my day with a good cup of tea. I am lucky enough to be a moderator for Mom Blog Society where they are hosting this give away which I have recieved permission to put up here and offer to you my readers! So, coffee lovers rejoice the first giveaway here at mommy moments is for a Keurig Specail Edition Coffee maker!!!! Just follow the links and instructions below to enter!

Freezing Fridge!

Fridge!


Take your fridge box and tape it shut. Tape it well to avoid issues down the road. Now, decide where the door will be. Take a zacto-knife and cut out the door leaving 2 inches between the door and the top edge, side edge, and bottom edge of the box. Just fold back the flap so the door opens away from the fridge. Tape along the edge well to help reduce tearing. Now, tape along the cut to reduce the chance of tearing.

Take your diaper boxes and open them up! Cut the flaps off. On one end of the open diaper box hot glue it to the side of the inside of the fridge at the bottom up to its natural fold. Fold down the diaper box and glue it to the other side of the fridge to create a shelf. Use tape to secure the glued sides. The flaps to increase the strength of the shelf. Continue this process starting where the first shelf ends to create your fridge shelves all the way up!

Kids' in the Kitchen

Thanksgiving is coming! Everyone loves the smell of the meal cooking all morning while the kids pretend to cook or wait for a scrap! This year why not give the kids something to pretend to make their own meal on! You can either go shopping and spend a few hundred dollars on a kitchen set or visit back over the next week as we make our own kitchen with a kid flare!

Stuffed Meatballs! A Meaty Surprise

Dinner is so Boring! Some weeks, we make the same things over that we made the week before and while we make them because they are eaten, they definitely don’t bring any cheers of Yummy from the table. It was spaghetti night and to twist it up sometimes I make meatballs instead of frying the meat into the sauce. Yeah, I know, I’m getting crazy with that one! If that blows your mind then my next decision will put you in a coma, why not change the meatballs? I wonder if anyone will notice? Hmmm, my devilish smile snuck on my face as I decided to add a surprise to the meatballs and see what the crowd would think/say!

Crown Magnet!

Kids love to draw and pretend. Why not let them help decorate their room or kitchen with their own chalkboard? Let the kid pick out their own fancy high quality paper and their own design. In my case the kid picked out a crown design which I cut out for them (they were too young for scissors). I then measured out the size of chalk board needed to fit on their design choice. I cut out the chalkboard and traced where it would go on the design. Then, talk to the kids about not decorating the area you have crossed out and outlined in pencil or red pen as the chalkboard will go there. Put down the markers, fabric, sequins, and whatever else you have for them to put on their personalized chalk board. Watch them go nuts! Once they are done, attach the chalkboard to the design either by its own self sticking back or with hot glue. Let it dry! You can add a string to hang it from the wall or glue on a magnet to attach it to the fridge.

I am a contributer on Arizona Moms Network!

Recently I found a great way to connect with local Arizona moms and mom bloggers! I found a great network to do both on and met the owner! She is adorable and amazing since she not only runs a network, blogs, and helps local businesses or bloggers out, she also is supermom homeschooling her boys! I recently donated a free day of care from my daycare and now am writing some daycare geared postings for her network! Check out my first on the Top Ten Questions to ask when you interview a home daycare! Click below to check out the network and my article!

Wordless Wednesday!!!

Halloween!

Jealousy in the form of invitations?

Jealousy hits me sometimes when that elegant envelope sits in my mailbox, reminding me of someone’s upcoming nuptials and that I’m still (2 ½ years into my marriage) just starting to work on the ceremony ideas and reception.

Let me start over with the back story. My husband and I decided to get married in a court house. We loved each other, decided we wanted to start a family together. So, it was either wait, do all the planning for the wedding, or take advantage of a plummeting housing market and just get married, start the family, get a house at an amazing price, and do the wedding stuff later. We weren’t getting any younger and weddings will always be there, housing prices may not. So, we got married in the courthouse, got the house, had the first baby, then set about planning how I could stay at home. Surprise! We were blessed with package number 2 (didn’t find out till about 20 weeks), and now the finances are more stable (still working on making sure it stays that way with me at home with the kids), but finally able to start looking around, cutting out pictures, and playing wedding what if.

Rick Rolled!

So, my little baby boy aparently loves the old school music!  We were getting ready the other morning and my hubby had on a pandora station that played some oldies but goodies!  Now, who remembers Rick Astley?  Well his song came on and my son started bobbing his head to it!  He was just jamming out to it and then he just lost it when the song was over!  I put it up on youtube for you guys to watch my song bringing theRick Roll style back!  Here is the link:Baby gets Rick Roll