Happy Birthday!

Free Glitter Graphics, Happy Birthday Glitter Graphics

Well we have gone from this:

To this:

In 13 years!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!

And yes I'm going to drop the moniker now. Since she is now 13, and can (and is excited to) sign up for sweepstakes on the internet for goodies for herself, and give out her name, and because in June, I will have a very exciting announcement to make in regards to her (in which her name will be visible), Genius is no longer.

HAPPY 13th BIRTHDAY AMBER!!

Welch's Aqua Juice

Well I've finally done it. Mom Select and Newbaby.com gave me the push I needed to vlog. A movie star I'll never be, and I think I may have given a not so nice look at Genius while she was filming, because she was snickering at me. That being said, here is a vlogging review of Welch's Aqua Juice

If you want to try Aqua Juice for your family, it has an approximate retail value of $3.99. If you head on over to Welch's Aqua Juice website, for a limited time you can print off a buy one get one free coupon!

If you are interested in this product please read **About Reviews at the bottom of this blog page.

Easter Nostalgia

I was surfing all my favorite sites the other day, and came across these cute, cute Easter templates from Christina Brown Designs.

So I pulled up some pictures from Easter past and digi-scrapped them.

Photofunia

I first read about Photofunia at my friend Nikowa's Blog. She had taken some of her pictures and gave them very neat effects.

After cruising around the blogosphere, I realized that many people were doing this, and so had to check it out.

This is what I was able to do...

I have the Jedi one as my desk top now. Genius wanted to get chosen for the Jedi Academy training when we visited Disney Hollywood Studios, but alas was not. Now she can see herself as a Jedi everyday!

Wordless Wednesday - 12 Year Old Lifts Car!

Amazing what a lever can do!

Wordless Wednesday - What Is It?

Hey little girl - do you know what the purpose of this mine cart was?
Well why don't I give you a closer look....
That's right, it's an original Port-A-Potty!!

Cookies Anyone?

Well we're rounding out that time of year. Girl Scout Cookie Sales that is.

I'm just glad that Hubby Genius sold her quota at Hubby's work this year. That means we don't need to have a plethora of boxes around our place. Those cookies aren't the healthiest of snacks, although I do enjoy a Thin Mint once in a while.

Here are a couple of pictures of Genius and her best friend Smart Girl at the kick off rally a few weeks ago. I laugh, because they gave Genius the "Shortbread" costume -- she is somewhat tiny! They made sure that everyone knew the "Cookies Were Here" (yes that's a snow bank).

Incredibly Responsible & Reliable....Or Not

Our church has two Sunday morning services, one at 8:00 and one at 10:45. We alternate between the two, depending what our day has in store for us. The Sunday School hour is between the two, and we always attend that. I serve in the church nursery that hour every week.

Last Saturday evening, we stayed up late. Too late. We also stayed up far too late on Friday also. As I was going to bed (too late), I set my alarm for 8:00 am, plenty of time to get ready for 9:30 Sunday School. Or so I thought.

Genius comes into my room Sunday morning at 9:39 am saying "Mom, were we going to church this morning?" YIKES!!!

This incredibly responsible and reliable 12 year old, got up, dressed, made herself breakfast, and then decided to find out why I was still asleep. I guess I still have some work to do on her, lol! I asked her why she didn't wake me first. Her response,"I thought I'd be nice, and let you sleep a bit longer". What a sweet idea ...any other morning.

When I came home from church, I checked out my alarm. Seems I set it for 8:00 pm...sigh.

Wordless Wednesday - The Victorious Knight Chooses His Queen

CoreFX Review

I've shared in so many posts already how Genius just loves to draw. Both on paper and on the computer.

Doug Hatch of Core Learning so generously sent us Corefx Three Level and the Crayola Art Studio to enjoy and draw with!

Corefx Three Level is a graphic design program that has three levels to learn and play on. Crayola Art Studio was released in November and it has the first two levels from Corefx plus some additional art images supplied by Crayola. Crayola Art Studio is great for young children who art starting to work with digital art.

Level One is pretty basic with little children in mind. It has a crayon, marker and brush for manipulating colors to draw with.

Level Two is more advanced than the first level. Though not difficult to understand. It has a wider variety of textures to use and clip art to add more options to create.

Level Three is what Genius declares is "a winner". She stated that Corefxhas a lot of feature that for her make it better than Photoshop.

Different textures and types of brushes you can use.
You can create a picture using pixel by pixel (or manipulate an already created picture).
It has a straight line tool (very important for drawing).
It is much more user friendly and very easy to use and understand, than other graphic design software.

For me as a mom, I think it is a great program because it is very versatile to use with many ages because of the three levels. It is also a more affordable option than most graphic software available, the cost of it is $59.95. It has been awarded a number of accolades as well, which to me shows that others also think it is a quality product.

Here is a picture that Genius created using CoreFX.
She used the following tools to create this image:

• Felt brush
• acrylic paint
• fill button
• pencil
• smearing & darkening
• highlighting edges

See how many options there are to this program! And there are far more! Besides, drawing, painting and photo editing, this program also does animation.

Core Learning provides more than Corefx and Crayola Art Studio though. They offer Math, Health, Language, and Critical Thinking software as well.

Head over to Core Learning to learn about all their products. There are 3 day download demos available for both the Crayola Art Studio and Corefx, as well as screenshots of some of their other software. All of the products sold have a detailed description of what they entail, and make sure to check out their Current Specials page in order to get the best deal possible!

Wordful Wednesday - Lunchtime at Chili's - Review

I don't know if you recently read the Washington Post article that featured Drew Carey, but when asked what he would be doing now if acting had not panned out for him he replied "managing a restaurant. ... I'd be at a Chili's near you. I'd be the boss that everybody liked." In response to that Chili's president Todd Diener invited Drew Carey to work at a Chili's restaurant for a day, in the L.A. area. How fun would it be to visit Chili's that day, if Drew Carey took him up on the offer?

Well we don't live in L.A. and I'm sure that we will never get Drew Carey to any restaurant here in the Northern Plains in January. But if it's fun to work at Chili's, I guarantee you it's even more fun to eat at Chili's!

Thanks to Nicole; Chili's Media Manager, I was able to take my family for lunch at Chili's.

There are a number of great reasons to eat at Chili's. In no particular order they are:

• Very reasonable cost - It isn't at very many restaurants these days that you can have a sit down meal with your family for less that $35.00 (tax and tip included).
• All of their menu items can be seen online at Chilis.com. You can view the nutritional facts of their meals and the cost too.
• They support the St. Jude Children's Research Hospital. Go to Createapepper.com and check out how you can partner with Chili's to help fight childhood cancer.
• They are always offering new menu items to tempt you!

We were greeted with a smile, and seated promptly. Our server was pleasant and attentive (which always makes dining out a pleasure). After perusing the menu; we made our decisions, and were not disappointed.

I chose one of the new offerings on the menu the Crispy Chicken Crisper Tacos. This is only one of many new choices Chili's has on their menu. And check out how yummy it looks....I assure you it tasted just as good. (The menu serves this with black beans, I chose steamed vegetables to replace them, because I'm not terribly fond of black beans).
Genius ordered their famous Original Baby Back Ribs. A lover of ribs this girl is, and she declares Chili's as having the best ribs. She has tried ribs at just about every restaurant we have gone to, and she still says Chili's has the best!

Hubby being the boring guy he is opted for a burger. Oh but he mixed it up a bit by ordering a Bacon Burger! Woot! In any case he declared it cooked perfectly, and very good.
So now that I'm finished this wordful post, I'm sure you are salivating now, and singing the jingle...I want my babybacks....so "Pepper in some fun" and head to Chili's!

Wordless Wednesday - Let Me Out!

Surf Sweets Organic Candy Review & Giveaway

When I encountered Surf Sweets on the web. I was so impressed with their ingredients and their commitment to healthy, natural snacks for families, I needed to contact them. Bert Cohen, (the president himself *blush*) generously sent me some of their products to try. (Thank you so much!)

Folks the truth is, unless you look at the ingredient label on these sweet treats, you would NEVER be the wiser that they are all natural and organic. I would put these up against, the sugar, corn syrup and hydrogenated palm kernel oil, in the candy most Americans let their kids eat any day. (Ick, did you read that list....can you believe we eat that, and say we enjoy it?)

So then let me enlighten you on the basics of Surf Sweets. The main ingredients in their Gummy Swirls....Organic evaporated cane juice, organic tapioca syrup and tricalcium phosphate are the top three. Doesn't that sound healthier to put in your body and those of your children?

With all of the varieties providing 100% of Vitamin C and the Gummy Swirls having also 100% of your daily Calcium (bring those on!!), it's hard to believe there are even more reasons to be allowing your children to eat this candy! But there are!

With no added flavors or coloring you can be assured that your children aren't ingesting any chemicals or dyes. They are made in a peanut-free facility and are free from other common allergens (wheat, dairy, eggs, and others), and so you can feel safe letting your children eat them, or bring them on playdates or social events.

On top of all of that, the candies are gluten free, casein free and and Stage 2 Feingold approved. Many of the varieties are vegan and/or vegetarian also.

My personal favorites were the Jelly Beans, as you can see from the pictures, I ripped the bag open and started eating them, before I thought of taking it. So I thought I'd share some with you!

Genius liked the Gummy Worms the best. She was eating them for a snack while at the computer one evening, and I heard a huge gasp. I asked her what was wrong with them, and she replied "They're all gone!!" Hee hee.
So because of what Surf Sweets don't have, I feel the need to boast about them, because if we want healthy, natural children, we need to feed them healthy natural snacks.

Surf Sweets are available at a number of retailers, including 250 Toys R Us stores across the United States. If you can't find them at a store near you, don't worry they are also available online.

Surf Sweets has generously donated a prize package for one random entrant who fills out the form! The prize will consist of a Gift Pack of Products (similar to the top picture on this post), a Surf Sweets t-shirt and a $20 gift card to the www.naturalcandystore.com.

The winner will have 5 days to respond to the email or another winner will be chosen. This giveaway is open to US residents only. The giveaway will end on January 25th at 10:00 am cst.

Here's what you need to do to win: (by filling out the form you agree to my Privacy Disclosure and Rules)

1. Head on over to Surf Sweets and then fill out the form letting me know what variety of Surf Sweets your family would most enjoy, and why you want to try this snack out.

2. Follow or Subscribe to my blog and leave a note in the extra entries that you did so.

3. Blog about this giveaway, leave a link with where you blogged about it to get another entry.

Pizza Hut Natural Pizza Review

Perhaps you've seen the commercials for it? $9.99 for a one topping pepperoni pizza on a multi-grain crust. But I know what you're thinking...yeah, but how does it taste?

My family can not be bought off with bad pizza. (If I don't have to cook, I might be persuaded...) They know good pizza. They won't touch frozen pizza (unless I make them....). So when I was approached to try the new Natural Pizza from Pizza Hut, I think they were more excited than I was. Well all except Genius, you know she's 12. Hearing "Natural" pizza + 12 year old = expression of distaste.

It was astonishing to me, to put the pizza on the table, turn around to get a drink from the fridge and come back to this: (that's my pizza on the right, it was a complete piece before I turned around)

Another sign of how "natural" ingredients can still taste good, and your children are never the wiser that they are eating something healthy! (Check out the nutrition facts here).

In their Natural line of pizzas, Pizza Hut is committed to all natural meats, tomatoes and cheese to provide only the best for your family. The crust is made from multi-grains too, which we know is so much better for us than processed white flour.

As for the taste, there is no lack of it. Along with the Natural Pizzas we ordered a regular hand tossed pizza from Pizza Hut at the same time, just to compare, and you know, we all liked the Natural one better. The crust was perfect, a little chewier than a regular crust (but we liked that!), the sauce was not as tangy and the cheese and pepperoni was delicious.

This picture proves it : You can see the smile right through the pizza! It gets Genius's "Stamp of Pepperoni Pizza Approval". Now that's an award!

Pepperoni is only one of the options that Pizza Hut offers on the new line, sausage, beef and a variety of vegetable options (all natural) are also available. Or of course, just plain cheese!

So if you are committed to eating healthier this year, like my family is, you don't have to give up pizza, just go Natural!

Thank you to Pizza Hut and their marketing group for allowing our family the tasty pleasure of trying this out. Our local carry out location will see us often!

Wordless Wednesday - Youngest Astronaut Ever