Wordless Wednesday- Jump Rope

Jump roping

Or 'mountain' climbing

You can link up for WW over at 5 Minutes for Mom and Wordless Wednesday

Post-It-Note Tuesday... Getting Old, WTH!

If you've never linked up for PINT- what the heck are you waiting for?!

No Seriously, it's lots of fun... you can join in over at SupahMommy's.

   

Happy PINT everyone!!  :D

I Won an Awesome Giveaway!

Wanted to give some bloggy love to Cari from This Little Family... I just won her awesome Seventh Generation All Natural Baby Starter Kit giveaway!  How lucky am I?!  :D

Go check out all the other giveaways she has coming up too!

Also wanted to let you all know that I have some upcoming book reviews- children's and adult novels- so watch for those soon.

Hope everyone else is having as awesome a Monday as I am!

We're headed to the Y-M-C-A!

Every time the kids want to go to the YMCA, it’s a big ordeal.  Before we head out the door there’s just so many things that need to be done first.  Get the youngest 2 in lil swimmers, and then put all of them in bathing suits… but wait, did the oldest use the potty one last time?  Then there’s packing the extra garments in the backpack, remembering the lock for the locker, oh and don’t forget the membership ID cards.

Then we get there, and there’s unloading them, getting checked in, grabbing towels for everyone and heading to the locker room.  But in order to get in, you need your ID card, which was thrown in the bottom of the backpack.  If only I had one of those fancy, shmancy things that go around your neck and hold your ID card. Hmmm, what are those things called anyway… a lanyard.  Genius- you can have it around your neck and then just stretch it out to the ID card swipe pad.

I actually used to have one of these before, I just didn’t know what it was called.  And you generally only see hospital workers wearing them… or according to the movies anyway.  But really, having one of those for when we go to the Y would really make my life easier.  They actually make some pretty cool ones now, they even have beaded lanyards!  So you can look like you’re wearing a necklace- stylish yet functional.  Or you can get a ribbon lanyard to show off your personality.

In any case, when juggling kids & gear and trying to get us all into the locker room quickly, having one would definitely come in handy.  *sigh*  The kids are still saying ‘can we go swim now?’.  I’m thinking, maybe tomorrow… mommy’s tired just thinking about it!  But, I'll get off my behind and get everything and everyone loaded into the van... now where is my ID card??

This was a sponsored post written by me in my own words.  All opinions are 100% mine, yours may differ.

Truvia Nature's Calorie-Free Sweetener {Review & Giveaway}

**CLOSED**

Truvia is a natural, zero-calorie sweetener made with rebiana, the best-tasting part of the stevia plant. Truvia offers consumers a new, natural way to reduce the number of calories in their diet. It is 200 times sweeter than sugar; one packet of Truvia provides the same sweetness as two teaspoons of sugar. Not only can Truvia be used to sweeten tea, coffee, cereal, fruit, etc., but you can also cook with it! You can also check out great recipes at their website.

Prior to trying Truvia, I was a Splenda girl all the way.... but since trying it- I think I'm a new fan!  Truvia looks, feels, and tastes more like real sugar to me.  Whereas Splenda is more powdery almost, Truvia is like sugar granules.  One of the small packets was PERFECT for my 14oz. coffee mug!!  I really enjoyed the taste- sweet but none of the 'after-taste'.

My daughter (5 yrs. old) seen the box and how it showed some on the strawberry, and wanted to put it on her fruit too.  She absolutely loved it, and then wanted to put it on just about everything (I had to draw the line when she asked if she could have some on her hotdog)... needless to say though, I will be buying this again!  Edited to add:  My hubby just told me he didn't like it.  He said it didn't taste like sugar & had a weird taste.  He used it in his coffee- black w/ just Truvia... so I guess we will still be buying Splenda for him & Truvia for myself.

Celebrity Chef Sam Talbot, best known as a semi-finalist on Season 2 of Bravo's "Top Chef," uses Truvia instead of sugar as an easy way to reduce the numbers of calories in his recipes without giving up sweetness or flavor. Diagnosed at a young age with juvenile diabetes, Sam's cooking is a reflection of his insistence on fresh, healthy and natural ingredients.

Check out Sam's recipe for a Blueberry Mojito that uses Truvia instead of sugar. This is the perfect summer cocktail!

Blueberry Mojito
Serves 4

Ingredients

4 lemon wedges

4 lime wedges

16 blueberries

20 mint leaves

Crushed ice
1 ounce fresh lime juice
2 ounces fresh lemon juice
8 ounces of your favorite rum (aged)
16 packets of Truvia(tm) natural sweetener

Directions
In a cocktail shaker muddle the blueberries, mint leaves and lemon- lime wedges. Add the crushed ice, lemon and lime juice and Truvia(tm) natural sweetener and shake well. Stain over cubed or crushed ice and garnish with lemon wedge and mint sprig

Now for the giveaway... one of my readers is going to get their own box of Truvia to try for themselves.

Mandatory Entry:  Visit Truvia and tell me a store in your area that sells it.

Extra Entries (only count if mandatory entry is done, leave a separate comment for each one that you do):

• Follow my blog publicly via Google +2 entries, leave 2 comments
• Subscribe to my feed via email or reader (located on the right sidebar) +2 entries, leave 2 comments
• Add my button to your blog
• Follow on Twitter and Re-tweet (can be done daily)-
" RT Win a box of Truvia Natural Zero-Calorie Sweetener from @susiebhomemaker & @truvia http://bit.ly/dmRlxp (ends 7/11) US/CAN #Giveaways"
• Like my Facebook page
• Follow truvia on Twitter
• Become a fan of Truvia on Facebook
• Blog about this giveaway (leave link to post) +5 entries, leave 5 comments

US & CANADA


This contest ends on 7/11/10 at 11:59 pm EST. U.S. & CAN residents only. The winner will be drawn via random.org and will have 48 hours to respond to winning notification email before I draw another winner. Please make sure I can find your email on your profile or leave with your comment(s).

Disclosure: I received a sample for the purpose of this review but no other type of compensation was received. This has no bearing on my completely honest review above. The opinions and experiences I’ve shared with these products are my own and yours may differ.

Brugo Mug Winner!!

Congrats to Amber, comment #60.

Thanks to all who entered and Good Luck in my other giveaways!!

"13 Weekends of Summer" GIVEAWAY Blog Hop... Weekend #1

<a href="http://www.susiebhomemaker.com/search/label/WWD" target="_blank"><img border="0 /" src="http://i831.photobucket.com/albums/zz236/sbottone/WWDSummer.jpg" height="160" /></a>

We're starting our "13 Weekends of Summer" Weekend Wind Down blog hop & giveaway contest this weekend!!

If you've never linked up for the Weekend Wind Down before, here's how you can join in the fun:

• Become a follower of both hosts
• Write your blog post on the theme or copy and paste the question listed. Make sure the “Weekend Wind Down” Button is visible somewhere in the post
• Link up your “Weekend Wind Down” post using the McLinky on Sat. or Sun. You will only need to link up once to be seen on all the Blog Hops. (Please link to your actual “Weekend Wind Down” post, NOT your main blog page)

So when you link up, not only do you get to blog hop around and meet, comment, & follow other blogs (and get new followers for yourself)... but you also get an entry into the giveaway contest at the end of the summer... win/win for everyone!!

For the "13 Weekends of Summer", each weekend that you link up is an entry into the giveaways at the end of the summer.  After the last weekend in summer (weekend #13- Sept. 18/19), we will draw 2 random winners for the giveaway prizes (we'll be revealing them soon...)!  Read full giveaway rules.

Without further ado, here's the question for weekend #1:

Are you going to, or did you already, take a summer vacation this year... to where?

My answer:  Our summer vacation plans aren't anything very big this year.  Next month we'll be heading a couple hours up north for a 3-5 day stay, relaxing and enjoying nature.  And then later in July or maybe August we'll be 'camping' in my dad's backyard (he lives out in the country).   :)

Now it's your turn...

---

1. New To Mom 2. My Little Apricot 3. This Little Family 4. Traci66 5. Crazy Life with 4 Girls

This linky list is now closed.

Social Parade... Follow on Fridays

I love doing these Social Parades hosted by Smart and Trendy Moms... they are always so much fun- going around and meeting new bloggers. If you've never been to my blog before.. Thank You so much for stopping by!! I have a giveaway that's ending today!!! LOW entries... so odds of winning are good. (And you get extra entries if you enter my other giveaways, list is located on the top, left sidebar.) And if you come back tomorrow for my Weekend Wind Down, we're starting the '13 Weekends of Summer' Giveaway Contest... each weekend you link up is an entry into the giveaway!! Thanks for stopping and I hope you enjoy my site and come back soon!
 

Uneaks/ CSN Stores Review

You may or may not have seen my sneak-peek for this review, but here is my actual review now...

I was given the opportunity to review a product from CSN Stores and since my daughter needs new shoes, I decided to go with a pair of Uneaks.  I've been seeing these around the web and have been wanting to get a pair for my daughter for awhile now.

I went with the Uneaks Paris shoe in Pearlized Pink and was super excited to get them.  The navigation of the website is easy and the ordering process is simple.  Though I did have to call CSN customer service because the Uneaks description was a little unclear for some of the shoes & socks (ie. it showed x # of socks in the picture, but said it was y # of socks in the description).  And the picture it shows of these shoes is this:

When really they look like this:

Once that was figured out, I placed the order and it arrived quickly and with no issues.  When my daughter opened the box she loved the look of the shoes and the cool, colorful socks.  However, when she tried them on, she said they hurt her feet.  When I asked her if her toes hurt, she said no, but the sides of her feet did.  So the length/ size of the shoe was the right fit but these shoes were too narrow for her.  And my daughter's feet are fairly small & narrow- she's 5 yrs. old and wears a size 9 1/2.  So my final assessment of these shoes is that they run very narrow.  They do have other styles of the Uneaks shoes to choose from so they may not all be like that, but for us the Paris style was too narrow.

In the end, I returned the shoes (free return shipping) and opted not to try another pair.  I'll just stick to buying my daughter shoes from the store so she can try them on beforehand.  The customer service team was super friendly and helpful every time I called though and went the extra mile to help me.  The one rep even called the warehouse to double check what exactly gets shipped with one of the sock packages.  So even though I was disappointed that the shoes didn't fit, I was very happy with the CSN Stores shopping experience and will actually be trying another product from them in the very near future.  I haven't decided what yet but will share when I do.

Wordless Wednesday- Family Portrait...

This was drawn by our now 5 yr. old daughter @ 4 yrs. old... and hanging proudly on the fridge!  :D

Our Family of Five

Daddy, Mommy, and our 3 Girls- A, K, & J

Post It Note Tuesday- My Day

I can't believe I am so late linking up for Post It Note Tuesday this week.... well wait no further, here it is:

SpaghettiO's Recalled

Have you heard the news- Campbell's has issued a recall on the following 14.75 oz. cans:

• SpaghettiO's w/ Meatballs
• SpaghettiO's A to Z w/ Meatballs
• SpaghettiO's Fun Shapes w/ Meatballs (Cars) 

Visit the website or call 1-866-495-3774 for more info... and check your cupboards!!