Thursday, June 30, 2011

Wednesdays Wine

I know today isn't Wednesday but here it is anyway;)


About a month ago Ryan and I were at the store picking up a few things for dinner and of course I needed a new bottle of wine. So we were browsing the wine aisle looking for Middle Sister {our local store is constantly rearranging the wine aisle.....drives me crazy!} Ryan found it and grabbed a bottle and a lady looking for her wine....said, "Thanks", because the wine she was looking for was right next to the bottle he picked up. Anyway she suggested Cupcake Vineyards Red Velvet and so we gave it a try and it's super yummy! Our local grocery store only carries a couple different bottles. I will be on a mission to find more because I absolutely love them and want to try them all.







ENJOY!!!!



Saturday, June 25, 2011

Saturday Sweetness.

I don't know if this is a "real" recipe or not but it's my recipe now. It's so freaking good. I could eat it by the spoon fulls {and sometimes do}. It's great with strawberries and raspberries. It's cheap to make and would be great to serve at a summer BBQ. 
We had it at a baseball get together one of the parents had and I couldn't remember what the heck was in it but I think it was just cool whip and marshmallow creme. So one day I decided to give it a try..............and it actually tasted good, still not sure if that's really what was in it. Now it's a must have anytime we have strawberries, especially for my husband;)









You really should give this a try this weekend. I promise you will not be disappointed. 


Fruit Dip


8oz.cool whip
7 oz. marshmallow creme


Let cool whip sit out and defrost. Combine and enjoy;)
If you don't let the cool whip sit out for a while it will harden the marshmallow creme. Just put in refrigerator for a while and keep stirring, it will eventually smooth out.


Ok on a side note......I am loving the blog hops have I joined the last couple weekends. Last weekend was he first time I participated and came across some great new blogs and in return I have lots of new followers.....WELCOME! I never thought I would hit 50. 
I hope everyone has a great weekend. The weather here is supposed to be nice, well that means no triple digits and next week I think I saw high 80's in the forecast so that's even better;)

Wednesday, June 22, 2011

Wednesdays Wine


Lately I have had an obsession with trying new wines. And I just love all the Middle Sister Wines. Target actually as a really good selection of them. I think they might just have about all of them. They are usually around $8.00 or $9.00, not too bad. 
Anyway.....I absolutely LOVE their wines. 





Anyway.......let me know if you give them a try;)


And for whatever reason Blogger was having some issues with uploading pictures or else this would have been posted this morning. 



Thursday, June 16, 2011

Potty Training.

FINALLY.....I think we are in full potty training mode!!!!!!! 


A week after Cameron's second birthday he started saying "pee" and would go pee in the toilet like a big boy and I thought to myself, oh this potty training thing might not be so bad after all........yeah right. All last summer he was going to the bathroom inside and outside, so I thought by the time he was 3 we would be good and done with potty training and he would have it down like a pro. Well he is almost 3 1/2 now and I finally think he is getting it! We haven't really forced it on him, kinda just went with the flow because every one kept telling us one day he will get it. We tried treats and a potty chart and nothing really worked.


He has been wearing underwear for a week now and has been doing GREAT! Saturday he had a bad day and had a few accidents {boys are just lazy sometimes}. Now he just goes in the bathroom pulls down his pants and pees.....I am so proud of him! 


Last week he started wearing underwear to the baseball games. I figured that was a good place to start. I take him back behind the fence and he pees on the foul pole;) It's so cute, all the boys know he is wearing underwear and they praise him and say "cool" and "good job".  


Going #2 might take a little more work, one thing at a time I guess.  He will go on the toilet but the past few days he has had some tummy issues and has had a couple accidents. 
One of those accidents was at Chilli's the other night. It wasn't a big deal. The only people who knew what happened were our friends we were there with, no biggie. Dad took him out to the truck and got him cleaned up {the Lightening McQueen underwear didn't make back inside, dad tossed those once we got home}. 


So the only time he has had on a diaper the last week or so was at bed time. I am thinking we need to go get some Goodnites underwear. He keeps asking to wear underwear to bed, sorry dude...not yet. 




And here he is in the backyard;)


I will be so glad when I don't have to ask him a million times a day if he needs to pee!

Tuesday, June 14, 2011

Come On Over for a Recipe Party!!!!!

In an effort to help me get back into planning out our dinner meals each week and help inspire me in the kitchen I am going host a recipe party. Not only will this help me in the kitchen but I am hoping it helps all of you. 


I feel like we are having the same old meals every week.  I love trying out new recipes, especially when they are easy and don't require a million ingredients, but feel free to share whatever you would like.  


You can post anything from desserts to side dishes to casseroles. Since we are heading into the heart of summer it would be awesome to see some new ideas for summer salads.


I am sure most of you have posted a recipe on your blog, so this will be easy. Just leave a comment with the link to your recipe post and in a few days I will put together a post with all the recipe links and hopefully it will be a great resource we can all use. And if you haven't posted a recipe on your blog before you can just leave your recipe as a comment.
If you have any great cooking tips or know of some great food blogs, I would love to hear those as well. Anything to help us all get inspired in the kitchen!
Hope this makes sense, I haven't tried doing anything like this before so I hope it will all work out;)

Tuesday, June 7, 2011

Grocery Shopping HELP!

OK folks.......I might need a little help with something. Last week I finally got around to adding some of our accounts to Mint.com. For those of you that don't know what mint.com, it's a financial website that helps you manage and budget your monies. It takes everything you spend and categorizes it into categories like, groceries, gas, home, shopping, and etc. It's actually pretty cool and now I think I might be addicted to it {Thanks Cynthia for telling me about it}. The only bad thing is seeing how much debt you really have. It includes mortgage, car loans, student loans, and credit cards. Once you add your mortgage account it really sucks seeing how far in the red you are.




Anyway my point is I finally have a rough figure on the amount we spend on groceries. Everything from Walmart, Target, Costco, and Raley's get categorized in the Grocery column. So not only is that grocery items but also diapers, laundry soap, cleaning products, toothpaste, bath soap, and other personal care items for us and the boys. The amount was a little over $1000.00!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Crazy!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Maybe this is good.......I don't know but to me it seems kinda high for a family of 4, which 2 are just toddlers. 


I go to Raley's at least 3 times a week for milk, fruit, vegetables, yogurt, meat, and anything else we might need for dinner. I love using coupons but at the most only end up saving like 5 bucks on a $125.00 grocery bill. 


I would to hear any grocery shopping tips you have that might help me out. How do stop from going to the store every couple of days? We go through like 4-5 gallons of milk a week, our refrigerator only has so much space. And your fruits and veggies usually don't last for more than a couple days without going bad. For a few months I was planning out dinner every week {helps out during baseball season} and that helped a little because I knew what I needed on a weekly basis and shopped for the entire week. But haven't done that for a few weeks or so. 


I would absolutely love to hear whatever helpful info you can give me;)
Thanks a bunch!

Thursday, June 2, 2011

New Shoes

Check out my cute new shoes! I just wish I had more places to wear them. Chasing the boys around the baseball field isn't exactly the best place to wear them. 
I finally made it to DSW, Designer Shoe Warehouse, a couple weeks ago and oh my.....it's like a shoe orgy. So many to look at and pick from. By far my new favorite shoe store.  


I tried to find these on their website but it looks like they might be sold out and I couldn't find them online anywhere else either. But I did find some that are very similar, Moda Spana Heloise Wedge Sanda




Coconuts Howell Wedge Sandal 


Do you like?! Aren't they cute?! They are pretty comfy, they left no blisters and I didn't trip or fall down in them which is always a plus;)

Wednesday, June 1, 2011

Super Yummy Dessert.

Last week one of the blogs I follow posted this ridiculously looking delicious brownie cookie Oreo dessert thingy. It looked so good and irresistible I just had to make it. 


If you are not already a follower of Kevin & Amanda you should check out their blog and follow them. They always have great recipes and interesting reads. For all my scrapbooking buddies you have to check out her scrapbook room.


OK........so this super yummy dessert is called: Ultimate Chocolate Chip Cookie n' Oreo Fudge Brownie Bar. I made it over the weekend but forgot to take pictures but if you head on over to their blog Amanda has posted some awesome pictures {she takes great pictures and her food always looks amazing}. It's so good when it comes fresh out of the oven, it's all warm and gooey inside...........it's so freaking yummy;)


Please give it a try......I promise you won't be disappointed.....ENJOY!