4 Ways Babies Are Like Fruitcakes

1.  The minute they enter the room, they start getting passed around from person to person.

2.  They're incredibly sweet-and consider yourself warned, also can be slightly sticky.

3.  Eighteen years later, they're often still found just sitting around your house.

4.  Everyone compliments everybody else's but secretly thinks they made the best one.

I found this in Parents the Early Years Dec/Jan issue and just had to share.  Plus my baby is turning 2 this week and I needed a reason to look through pictures! 

Enjoy your little ones!

Swagbucks!

So if you are not using Swagbucks yet, here is another reason to sign up, they give you 50 FREE Swagbucks for your birthday!  Yep, mine got automatically added to my account today!  You only need 450 Swagbucks to score a $5 Amazon gift card!

If you are not familiar with Swagbucks, it is simply a search engine that awards you points or Swagbucks every couple of searches.  You can then turn those points into prizes!  I have already earned multiple Amazon gift cards, great for the holidays.  The will occassionally post codes for FREE points also.  It is so easy to do and earn FREE stuff!

Go here to sign up now and start earning your Swagbucks!

It's My Birthday!

It's my birthday today!  Where does the time go, it is hard to believe another year of my life has quickly flew by!  This was an amazing year for myself and my family.  We enjoyed a great summer vacation at the beach with our 4 year old and 1 year old boys.  I cannot believe how quickly they have grown!

So today, I am taking the day off of work just for me!  I will be spending the afternoon being pampered at the spa, just for me!  Later tonight my kids and wonderful husband are treating me to a dinner out, I just hope everyone behaves!

So I am, Out of the Office, for today! :)

Menu Plan Monday – Week of 11/29/10

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving last week and I hope you all did too! Luckily the boys came down with colds and fevers early in the week and were all better to be able to enjoy dinner with family on Thanksgiving. We had a wonderful celebration at my sister’s house and all the kids had a great time playing with each other as usual. On Friday, my oldest son and I had a date afternoon and went to see “Tangled”, great movie and I highly recommend it. We got to enjoy popcorn and each other’s company which made the day extra special! Hey it starts Birthday Week around here and I am so excited for the festivities!

Monday – It’s My Birthday and I am picking our dining location!

Tuesday – Orange Crock Pot Chicken (courtesy of A Few Shortcuts!)

Wednesday – Skillet Lasagna (recipe to follow)

Thursday – Breakfast for Dinner – French Toast & Sausage

Friday – Chicken Breast Divine

Saturday – My Son’s 4th Birthday Party (I’ll share the party plan & menu with you later in the week!)

Sunday – Turkey Roast


This post is linked at MPM on I'm an Organizing Junkie!

A Cup of Kool Aid…

…Makes the Medicine Go Down


Is this wrong? I have a child that hates; I mean absolutely hates taking any type of medicine. It is a battle every time we have to give him something. When he needs antibiotics I literally have to ask the doctor, “how does that one taste?” The doctor even has a note in his chart that he is not a good medicine taker!

We have tried, forcing it down him; believe me that does not work. More often than not there are consequences for Mom & Dad for those attempts (I’ll spare the details). We use to use yogurt which worked for awhile. Then he figured it out and flat out refused to eat it! We were then on an orange juice kick and once again that worked for awhile and now the child refuses to drink orange juice.

So awhile back, my husband attempted to mix it in Kool Aid. I thought it was a bad idea, but it worked! It has been working for a while now. The child loves Kool Aid. It sounds really bad when I tell him he has to drink his Kool Aid! This past week he had a fever and we mixed grape flavored Motrin in his grape Kool Aid. It went down so nice and easy and he never knew what hit him. But you do have to be careful and not let him see you sneak it in, he is on to us!

He is now at the age now that I could actually start to buy chewable Tylenol and Motrin. That is going to be my next test. I sure hope he will chew them; it would make my life easier! So for now we are sticking with the Kool Aid, it is the only thing that works for us. I dread this winter season, because I know he will need antibiotics at least once, and giving a child medicine who hates to take medicine for 10 days straight it just pure torture on his well-meaning parents!

Do you have medicine issues? How do you handle them?

Bed and Breakfast – Free Bonus Gift Card

Do you need a unique gift for someone who enjoys traveling? Well HomeAway has a new site Bed and Breakfast. This sites gives you an alternative over hotels. It lists over 11,000 bed and breakfast properties. You can give the perfect give this year and give a gift card to Bed and Breakfast. When you order a $200 gift card, you will receive a FREE $75 gift card, with promo code BBHA75. Hurry because this offer ends 11/30/10.

I have personally never used this site, but I have used HomeAway several times for rentals for vacations. I am always impressed with the properties and their owners!

Chicken Cheese Rice Soup

Sorry, no picture, but this is a really good recipe.  You can even substitute your left over turkey for the chicken!

Ingredients:
1/2 onion diced
1 cup shredded carrots
6 tbsp butter
1/2 cup flour
4 cups milk
2 cans chicken broth
2 cups diced chicken (or turkey)
2 cups shredded cheddar
1 tsp Worcestershire sauce
1/2 tsp pepper
1 cups cooked rice

Directions:
Saute onion and carrots in butter for 10 minutes until tender not browned.  Stir in flour, add milk, broth, Worcestershire sauce and pepper.  Cook and stir until thickened and bubbly, about 10 mintutes.  Stir in chicken and cheese, cook and stir over low heat until cheese melts.  Add rice and serve!