Free Samples for March 31

 

Samples	Website
Taster’s Choice coffee (choice from 6 flavors)	Taster's Choice free sample
SofLense daily disposable sample	Contact Lens Sample

Enjoy these free samples!! Updating again soon!!

Count your blessings

Each day I take for grantided the wonderful things that have been given to me by God; my amazing husband, my precious children, an awsome extended family I joined when I married my husband, not to mention the countless other things that my husband has provided for our children and myself.

But still I haven't realized how blessed I have been! Not until seeing the devistation caused by a fire, causing a family to loose their home, cars, everything they had in their home, and their business. I am currently praying for this family and hope that they may soon be able to get back on their feet and return to a somewhat normal life. Something similar to what they once had.

Count your blessings because it can all be taken away in an instant! Be thankful for what you have and thank the ones that have helped you along the way!

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Cream Cheese Filled Jalapeños

8 jalapenos

1 pkg. of cream cheese; softened

1 pkg. of bacon

First, prepare your barbeque grill as you normally would and using hickory flavored charcoal gives the peppers a great flavor. Cut tops off of jalapenos and cut slit down one side to remove to seeds but keep intact to later add cream cream. After you have removed all the seeds, fill each jalapeno with  about a teaspoon of cream cheese  and wrap each one with a piece of bacon. Add all of them to the grill at one time. Cook on each side until bacon is thoroughly cooked.

New Samples for the Last Few Days in March

As I posted earlier I find most of my samples from freestuff.com, but just incase you haven’t checked it out yet, here are a few more FREE SAMPLES!

Samples	Website
Fiber Choice Chewy Tablets	Fiber Choice Samples
Maven Shampoo Sample	Maven Beauty - Sign up for samples
Free Pouch of Uncle Ben’s Ready Rice	Sample from Smart Source Coupons!!

This is only a few new ones…. I’ll try to update again tomorrow!!

The Free Sample Website

There is a link further down my page for the website freestuff.com. This is a great website to sign up for. Each day they send you an e-mail with a sample of the day. The samples are usually from the manufacture’s website and it doesn’t take but a few weeks to get your samples. Sign up with this website!! After looking through many sites, I think this is the best one. I have found others but they just aren’t as good. New stuff is added all the time and there are several different areas in the site to find places with the best priced items, codes for special promos for different brands, ect. Most all of the samples that I have found have been from this site!

Tips for Babies getting Vaccines

Well it was that time again for my 6 month old son. Oh how I hate taking my children in for shots. It is so pitiful to see my poor baby going from a big beautiful grin thanks to all the smiling faces and sweet voices to being completely terrorized and afraid. But these tips always help me to make the best of a bad situation.

First, always make sure that you give your baby a dose of Tylenol before you leave for the doctor or in the car before going in to the appointment. By the time your baby gets his shots the Tylenol should be working strong and should relieve some of the pain from the initial prick. Tylenol should also help with any small reactions after the shots, like fever, irritability,  or soreness.

Also, if your child has a favorite item such as a pacifier, blanket,or  stuffed animal make sure you have it handy during and after the shots. I unfortunately lost Dylan’s pacifier before we even made it in the office. This was horrible!! I knew I had an extra in the car, but after the shots they have to stay in the office for 10 minutes and the nurse observes the child incase of any severe reaction…. he screamed the whole time and I couldn’t calm him down.

Finally, if at all possible schedule a feeding for right after or even during the shot. The nurse always says this is fine and if he is ready to eat it will give him something else to concentrate on while he is getting his shot!

I hope these tips help to make your baby’s doctor visit just a tad bit easier!

A Day in the Life of a Baby

I love to sit and watch my baby play. It is so funny to watch him get so excited over to smallest thing. Maybe just daddy bending down and kissing him on the cheek or him touching his face to his favorite blanket. He will began to laugh histerically and throw his arms and legs up and down.
Everything is new to a baby! There are so many “firsts” in such a small amount of time, and it makes me so happy to be there to see them all. Each look of bewilderment when he tried baby food, each look of amazement as I blew bubbles for him and his brother.
I wish that I could get that happy about something! Something so simple as a funny voice! A baby’s innocence is a beautiful thing.

Newborns turn into Toddlers so fast!!

Oh how I miss those days when I was able to just lounge around the house with my sweet tiny bundle of joy. I never in my wildest dream would have thought two years later I would have two boys!! But those days of peace and quiet with my little miracle and long gone and now my life is filled with so much more excitement!! Now with a two and a half year old and a 6 month old, I rarely do much else but clean and care for my babies. Not that I don’t love this, I’m just saying that the days fly by and before you know it your little newborns are walking and talking!!
My 6 month old is now starting to crawl and sitting by himself. He is still very dependent on me but I know this will soon change when he begins feeding himself and walking.
NEW MOMS – Just enjoy those first months! Those moments are so precious and if you don’t take time to appreciate the small things and the special times you will really miss them when they are gone.

Mac N Cheese

1 box of macaroni pasta

1/2 container Velveeta

1/4 tsp salt

1/2 pkg cream cheese

1 Tbsp butter

Boil pasta  as directed on pkg and drain. Put back in pot and add all the ingredients. Turn heat on low and stir until well blended and hot.

March curricular activities for two year olds–Gardening

 

March is a great month for gardening so why not involve your two year old as well. They will love to dig in the dirt, dig holes, and look at the pretty flowers you are planting. Watering the garden every evening seems to be something my son really loves.

Gardening is also a great way to introduce new veggies into your child’s diet. Knowing they helped to grow the veggies may help persuade your child to try something new. Show your child when you use veggies or herbs in your food. Let them know they are eating something that they grew!

Try teaching them about a different step in the growing process each week. Let the favorite color of the week be the color of the flowers you planted that week. Even try letting your child have their own plant that they can care for. Show your child how different plants have different shaped and colored seed, blubs, ect.

Even plan indoor activities that have something to do with the garden. Have your child help you prepare an indoor herb garden. The kitchen window seal is an ideal place for a few of your favorite herbs. Have your children decorate the clay pots for your indoor herb garden. Painting with a brush works best on clay pots.

Home-Made Mashed Potatoes

8 large potatoes

1 small container of sour cream

1/4 block sharp cheddar cheese

3 Tbsp butter

1/2 tsp of salt

1/2 pkg. of bacon; crumbled

1/4 cup fresh chives

1/4 cup milk

Peel and cube potatoes. Boil in a large pot on high heat for 30 minutes or until fully cooked. Drain water from potatoes and mash. Add sour cream, butter, cheese, salt, bacon, chives, and milk. Put mashed potatoes on low heat to finish warming thoroughly.

Activities for Bored Toddlers–Indoor Sensory Table

So it’s raining outside. Your toddler just doesn’t seem to understand why it may not be the best idea to go play in the rain. Why not bring some outdoor fun indoors!

Water/sand/sensory tables are great ways to bring outdoor fun, indoors! Instead of the same old sand… you can put cut up pumpkin chunks on the table, around fall holidays. During the summer you could put sea shells with different textures and colors on the table. Name the different types of shells, show pictures of different animals that live in the shells (crabs, clams, ect.) Has your child ever seen a pineapple? Cut one up and add to the table and be sure to save some to sample.

Don’t have a sensory table?!? Line your sink with heavy plastic if you are worried about clogging it up and add whatever. Just pick up plastic and discard it the trash when finished.

The possibilities are endless!! Keep adding new things; different and usual things that your child usually doesn’t see.

Southern Style Green Beans

2 cans of green beans; partly drained

1 Tbsp bacon grease (optional of you are worried about the fat)

1Tbsp butter (if you don’t use bacon grease)

3 or 4 sliced of bacon; crumbled

1 small onion; diced

1/4 tsp salt

Saute onions in butter or bacon grease for 2 or 3 minutes on med-high heat or until onions are transparent and tender. Add bacon crumbles, salt, and green beans and continue a heat for 4 or 5 minutes.

Louisiana Gumbo

This is a recipe my grandfather gave me a few years ago. I make it all the time now because it is probally the best gumbo I've ever had. You can use chicken or any kind of seafood (shrimp is the best). Smoked or home-made sausage is also really good.
      (Roux)
1/2 cup crisco shortening; melted.
Brown on Med-High heat in the large pot. Slowly stir in 1 cup of flour and continue stirring until the roux becomes a medium brown color. (The color of peanut butter) You must stir continuously to keep from burning or sticking .
Once browned, add in:
3 small onions; finely chopped
2 bellpeppers; finely chopped
1 cup celery; finely chopped
2 garlic cloves; minced
3 Tbsp Worsechestershire sauce
1/4 tsp cayanne
1/2 tsp salt
Saute for a minute or two and add 1 pitcher of hot water; pour slowly and mix completely.
Cover and let this simmer for about 20 minutes; stirring occasionally.
You will need a pound of whatever meat you decide to use. (If using chicken, cook and cut in chunks before adding since it takes awhile to cook. If using sausage, brown and cut up before adding. If using seafood, you may add it raw. Shrimp or scallops should only take 3 or 4 minutes to boil and crab may take a few minutes longer.
At this point, after you know your meat is done, you can take it off the heat.
Pour over rice and serve.

5 years since we met!

So, I've always heard you should never meet people on the internet. They are all stalkers and pedifiles. And I even had a few friends that thought I was crazy for meeting a guy on the internet. Well 5 years ago, I began talking to a guy on myspace and after a few weeks we went on our first date. Three years later we were married with a beautiful little boy. Now, after 5 years we are still happily married with two little boys and a wonderful life. Now I know that this is usually not the case with someone you meet on myspace and maybe we are the exception but it goes to show that it can happen!! He found a picture of me after doing a search for people with common interest in our area...(playing the guitar and same taste in music).  Thank you myspace!

My 2 year old golfer.

I'm so proud of my two year old golfer. He has taken up the same interest as my husband and is actually pretty good. From the time he could walk, he started trying to golf like daddy. And now he is 2 years and 5 months old and he is really very coordinated. He walks up to the golf ball with his little club and lines up the club to the ball and swings. He hits it almost every time. I'm so thrilled he likes it, because my husband goes a few times a week and pretty soon he can start taking our son with him!! Yay!! My hubby has already went and bought him miniature clubs, so next will be his golf bag. If he stays interested in this, I think he will be amazing by the age of 10 or so. I'm just happy he found something he really likes doing!

My First Blog!

  Finally, I can create my first blog! I just recently purchased a new computer now that we can get decent internet way out here in the country. You would think anyone could get good internet service anywhere now days, but this is not true! Anyhow, now my new computer is all set up!
  Wow what a busy week with so many things going on right now. Just finished up all the flower beds last weekend, planning to put up a new fence next weekend, then on to the next project which will be remodeling the kitchen and living room.

  Well, time to feed the kids, get them ready for bed, and do some much needed cleaning! -Peace