Fall Ya'll Giveaway!

If you haven't already, head on over to Bloggy Giveaways and check out the Fall Ya'll Bloggy Givaway! There is a list of over 500 people who are just giving things away! All you have to do is visit their blog and leave a comment.

Go! Hurry! You have until Friday, in most cases, to enter! Oh, and make sure you have gone to the bathroom and have a drink before you start. I'm sure you'll be at your computer for a while!

A Wiggly Contest!

I stumbled across this contest this morning from 5 minutes for Mom. They are giving away 5 new Getting Strong DVD's, the newest release by the Wiggles. I couldn't pass this up, especially since we just saw them in concert on Tuesday. If your kids are Wiggles fans, go here to enter. Drawing will be held November 2nd.

She's My Hero

A friend of mine from one of my online baby boards (whose daughter and Bug share the same birthday) recently participated in the 3-day Breast Cancer Walk in Atlanta, GA. She works for CNN and did a little video diary of her journey.

Jessica is a wonderful woman (and Mama) who, despite having broken her ankle in January (during a terrible sledding incident) and having a metal plate and 10 screws installed, was able to support the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation, along with 25oo other men and women by walking 60 miles in 3 days. She has, thankfully, not been personally affected by cancer, but was courageous enough to get out there on a rebuilt ankle while 15 weeks pregnant and make a difference in the lives of others. She truly is a superhero. I can only hope to be like her one day.

Click here to watch her story. Don't forget to read the article she wrote at the bottom. It's a touching story.

Food For Friday

So this week I'm having recipe block. I don't want to keep using the same recipes I have been using. I want to try a few new ones, but I can't find anything that's really appealing to my tummy today. (I guess I should do this on an empty stomach!) Nothing is jumping out from the grocery store flyer either....Anyway, here goes!

Monday - Hamburger Helper
Tuesday - Bourbon Chicken with Rice served with broccoli
Wednesday - Mini Octopus Mac Wiggle - A variant on my tuna mac wiggle, but with a hot dog octopus. (based on this recipe) Something Bug should enjoy, plus it's Halloween-ish and a very quick dinner so we can hit the mall for some Trick or Treating fun!
Thursday - Game Night - dinner to be determined later
Friday - Homemade pizza in less than 30 minutes

Monday - Barbers Chicken Cordon Bleu or Sweet Italian Sausages with fries (Darling Hubby's choice)
Tuesday - Turkey Chili
Wednesday - Easy Pleasing Meatloaf (made with ground turkey) - served with mixed veggies and scalloped potatoes
Thursday - Beef Stew
Friday - left overs or Sloppy Joes (Bernie Style)

Ok, so that's what I've been able to come up with after scouring the Kraft website and my recipe box...Sounds like a decent 2 weeks to me!

It's Wiggle Time!!!

As a perk from Darling Hubby's place of work, they have a few seats at the local sporting arena that they will give away via lottery for those that put in for them. Darling Hubby put in for Wiggles tickets and by luck of the lottery gods, Tuesday night Bug went to his first ever concert, The Wiggles Racing to the Rainbow Show.

At first, he was a little unsure of what was going on and why we were at such a big place with so many other people. It was so cute how he handed his ticket to the ticket lady so she could scan it as we entered the arena. So sweet. When we found our seats, each one had a little package neatly placed in the center of the chair. Inside was a paper wiggles photo frame with crayons for coloring. Bug had a lot of fun scribbling away on his photo frame. Hey, it kept him occupied before the show actually started and I can toss it in the scrapbook, too.

(I want to apologize for the lack of quality of my photos this time around. I was unsure of the camera policy for the show (the venue website said the rule was generally no digital cameras, but the tickets only said no audio/video recording) and I didn't want to take my expensive camera and risk having to leave it in the car in the parking garage so I dug up my old first digital camera and smuggled it in inside my purse.)


While we were sorta patiently waiting for the show to start, Bug noticed many other kids his age, all happily munching away on bags of popcorn and, of course, had to have his own bag. When the show started he sat happily nibbling on delicious buttery kernel after buttery kernel. He still didn't know what to make of the whole stage scene until the Wiggles came out and started singing and dancing songs that he knew. That's when he got excited. When they played one of his all time favorite songs, "Hot Potato," he happily did all the motions and sang along with them.

He was really impressed by the version of "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" they did half way in when they had all the parents turn on their cell phones to use as starlight. (We, unfortunately, left our cell phone home so Bug was unable to participate in the fun, but he was content just to watch.) They had a disco ball projecting "stars" all over the arena and there was even a moon. Bug loves Twinkle Twinkle (it's generally the only lullaby he will allow me to sing at night) and the display was really awe inspiring to a 2.5 year old.

One part of the show really made us all laugh, but I didn't get any decent pictures. They had 3 ducks come out (one of which was Captain Feathersword dressed as a duck). The Captain Feathersword duck was cock-a-doodle-doo'ing instead of quacking and Anthony (blue) was trying to prove that it was Captain Feathersword and not a duck and he made the Captain do all sorts of silly walks and Anthony spelled out Quack while walking funny and made the Captain spell cock-a-doodle-doo while doing the same walk. Course, he didn't spell it very well...which made it all the funnier, and all anyone on stage (including the Wiggly Dancers) was laugh at all the silliness. It was obvious it wasn't something that was rehearsed. You really had to see it as my description just isn't doing it justice.

Here are some pictures of the rest of the Wiggles show.

Dancing with the Wiggly Dancers at the start of the show.
There was one Wiggly Dancer that was cracking me up. He had this funny head move that he did ALL. THE. TIME. It was his signature move and it was so funny. Made my night. He's the blurry dancer between Sam (yellow) and Murray (red).

Dancing in front of the Murray balloon that was having issues standing up and staying up. It fell on Jeff (purple) and Captain Feathersword several times before standing upright.

Performing "Hot Potato" with Henry the Octopus, Dorothy the Dinosaur and Wags the Dog.

Murray testing his guitar out by playing Stairway to Heaven.
(a little something for all the adults in the room)

There was only one minor mishap during the show. The young boy behind me ended up getting sick about 30 minutes before the end of the show. His mom said that she thinks he gagged himself on a piece of popcorn which made him throw up. Lovely! She did a decent job of diverting the flow of puke, but unluckily a little got on the back of my shirt. It wasn't the end of the world (what was I going to do, get mad at her or her kid?) We had talked at the start of the show and her husband took her oldest son to confirmation so she had the 3 youngest all alone. I felt bad for her being alone with 3 kids and one of them sick. They ended up staying through the rest of the show and after she gave me a couple baby wipes and I used some hand sanitizer, I was all well and good and enjoyed the remainder of the show. I'm not sure if I would have stayed through the end of the show had Bug been the one to throw up. I think I would have gone home right away. What would you have done?

Anyway, overall, the show was a success. Darling Hubby and I were worried how Bug was going to be with all the people, noise, and waiting at the beginning, but he did great. I was very proud of him.

Oh, and the first thing he said to me when I walked into his bedroom Wednesday morning:

"Wiggles were fun, Mommy!"

I guess they made a good impression on him, too.

Craftiness Fun And An Update

Wow, it's been a long time since I've post anything other than posts about food or blog contests. It's sad really. I have all sorts of ideas for things I want to blog about, family, friends, random thoughts in my brain, but I never seem to have the time to actually sit down and flesh them out. I've been known to "compose" entire blog entries in my brain (generally in the shower where I have free time to think) and they never make it to the computer, either because I've forgotten what I'd "written" about or it was just past when I could have posted it. But, I digress.

I wanted to post about the art activity that Bug and I did last week on Wednesday. It was his first day of fingerpainting. Yep, Mommy let him fingerpaint...although I dreaded the mess that could be made. He had fun, but he was hesitant. Was Mommy really going to let me make a mess? Yep, I did. After putting Bug in an old t-shirt I wasn't concerned about getting dirty (yeah, it was white...lol), laying down a protective layer of newspaper on my kitchen floor and taping together some computer paper to make one big sheet (I don't have any big painting paper so I had to make due) we opened the brand spankin' new case of fingerpaints, which came complete with fingertip brushes, a paint roller with interchangeable heads and a paintbrush.

He was hesitant to get his hands dirty and mainly used one finger to spread the paint around.

He did eventually get more than just one finger dirty.

I brought out the roller brush and squirted some new paint on the paper and he rolled it around making lots of multicolored streaks and rainbows. The paint started to get sticky so it was time to clean up. He didn't really want to, but he did want to wash his hands. And apparently, this fingerpaint will stain skin for a short amount of time. It took nearly all day for the paint to wear off his hands. At least he didn't get any on his face. lol

So Thursday night we had 2 full cords of firewood delivered. I had to stack some of it Friday before it began to rain. I ended up hurting my back and I'm still in pain (it's now Monday). Our next door neighbor, Scott, came over Saturday afternoon to give Darling Hubby and I a hand stacking it. Bug was a big help. He had so much fun bringing small pieces inside and putting them on the pile. Unfortunately, I didn't get any pictures of him being a big helper. To bad this helpful streak won't last forever.

Sunday, we ended up needing to purchase a new television for our living room. Our other one went on the fritz and the remote wasn't working. Now before you say something like, " Why didn't you change the batteries or get a new remote?" let me tell you that we did all those things and more. The remote had been quirky for a little over a month, only working when it really wanted to. It had been dismantled and we attempted a repair with no luck. We tried all kinds of new batteries and even new remotes. We had an old universal remote, but that failed to run any of our electronic devices so that one ended up in the trash. The new one we bought only worked for the DVD player and VCR...still not what we were looking for. Turns out that the sensor for the remote on the TV itself ceased to function. Now, we aren't lazy and can get up off our duffs to change the channel (or just run it through the VCR on those lazy days), the problem is that we use the closed captioning so the volume doesn't need to be cranked to maximum and we can only control the CC with the remote...stupid...therefore, we needed a remote that functioned and a TV that could receive a signal. Therefore it was, in essence, a necessity to purchase a new TV. In turn, Bug and Baby Girl got a fun new toy...the box the TV came in. I cut out a couple windows and a door and they had fun coloring it and crawling in and out of it. I have pictures, but I don't want to post pics of Baby Girl without permission and I'm being lazy today and don't feel like uploading them from my camera....

So, that's what we've been up to lately. Off to get the kiddlets some lunch and then it's naptime for everyone, which equals quiet time for me! Woohoo!

Food For Friday

It's Friday and I'm scanning the grocery store flyer and coming up with this weeks menu. I think for these two weeks we'll do good ol' family favorites and comfort food.

Monday - Hamburger/Tuna Helper
Tuesday - Tacos
Wednesday - Oven Baked Chicken Fingers and Fries (This one is a recipe box keeper)
Thursday - Game Night. Dinner to be determined later.
Friday - Pepperoni Pizza


Monday - Velveeta Easy Chicken Primavera
Tuesday - Spaghetti and Meatballs (with homemade sauce and meatballs)
Wednesday - Tuna Mac Wiggle - If you've never made this, it's easy and yummy, and kid friendly. If you want the concoction, just ask.
Thursday - Rotisserie Chicken
Friday - Homemade Chicken Pot Pie

Bloggy Giveaways for This Week - Updated!

I will continue to add giveaways to this post, so check back throughout the week for more fun and interesting contests!

If you get a free moment, go check out 5 minutes for mom and enter their drawing for Kukunest bedding. They have some pretty cool bedding sets and if you enter, you could be the lucky winner of a set of your choice. I'd love the Intergalactic set for Bug.

Also, check out their giveaway for the book Queen of the Castle. It looks like a must for all stay at home moms. It even has chocolate recipes.

ETA on 10/11: Here's some more great giveaways you must check out. Head on over to Bloggy Giveaways and enter the Chocolate Cake Club drawing. No, you aren't going to get any actual cake, but check out all the fun kids and adult things that the Chocolate Cake Club has for sale. The winner gets a $25 gift certificate. Comments open until 10/15.

Also, go over to the Warm Biscuit giveaway (do you see a trend here?) to enter for your chance to win a $50 gift certificate to spend at the Warm Biscuit Bedding Company. Comments open until 10/14.

ETA on 10/12: Here's one more great giveaway from Bloggy Giveaways. Check out the Colour Me Family giveaway then head on over to the Colour Me Family website and design your own address labels (Christmas or Everyday) with your own family front and center. Two winners will be chosen to win a set of 60 lables (a $19.99 value). Comments open until 10/16.

5 Minutes for Mom is holding a contest and giving away a Tonka Truck! How could you resist that? Just go here and leave a comment about how Tonka trucks have affected your life. Comments open until 10/20.