$1 off coupon for Huggies Little Swimmers

It is officially summertime which means the kiddos will be spending a lot of time in the water. What does that mean?! Lots of fun and little swimmer diapers of course. While you are buying your little swimmer diapers, don't forget to print this $1 off coupon to save on Huggies Little Swimmers.

Vegetable garden update!

I haven't written an update on our garden in awhile, so here are some pictures to go with the update. We have gotten a ton of strawberries, green beans, cucumbers, and tomatoes growing.  Just yesterday we actually had our first red tomato. We picked it, washed it, split it between the two of us and it tasted delicious. I can't wait for the rest of them to be ripe.

Paul and his brother strung up the tomato plants {they got hit by a recent thunderstorm we had} and those are doing great.  Our sunflowers also start sprouting finally, after growing 7-8 feet tall -- wow! We've definitely discovered that fresh vegetables from your own garden taste 1000x better than the vegetables sold at grocery stores. The green beans are my favorite, I am a green bean lover! The cucumbers are great as well, we love to soak them in vinegar. 

How to say "I love you" without spending money!

There are many ways to show your significant other that you love them without spending money, buying a diamond ring, and without even saying the actual words "I Love You."  Here are 5 great ways to show that special someone that you care about them!

1. Breakfast in bed
Breakfast is a pretty important meal, so who wouldn't love to be presented with breakfast while still in bed? One morning {randomly, not a holiday!} surprise your honey with a plate full of goodness; they will be pleasantly surprised!

2. Give a massage!
What woman or man doesn't LOVE getting a massage? Especially when   it is the person you love giving you one,  It is even better than having a professional give you one.

3.  Movie night IN.
Have a date night without even leaving the house!!! Pick a night to just enjoy a great movie, cuddled on the couch with popcorn & just enjoy each other's company.  A movie night IN can be just as great as a movie night out - or even better!

4. Take a hot bath together!
Most women and men alike enjoy hot baths/showers. Often couples, especially families lead busy lives so pick a night and take a nice, relaxing hot bath with your significant other. It is a great way to wind down, and be close! You could even add some wine to your bath date.

5. Take a stroll together

Especially after a hard day or even week, a walk can be very relaxing and therapeutic. Not only that but it is also exercise! While walking you can enjoy a nice conversation about your day, plans for the weekend, etc. Walking is a great thing all around!

Free International Delight Iced Coffee Giveaway

This stuff is OH so good! My favorite is the mocha flavored, if you haven't tried it then this sweepstakes is the perfect opportunity. International Delight is giving away 1,000 free ice coffees per day until July 5th; which means your chances of winning are high.

Click here to enter.

Recipe: Stuffed bell peppers

So I love trying new food and I really enjoy bell peppers, which prompted me to try and make stuffed green bell peppers. It was pretty easy and delicious, had lots of leftovers for the next day of lunch as well. Here is the recipe I used, along with some pictures.

Ingredients:
4 large green bell peppers
1 cup of cooked brown rice
1 lb ground turkey
2 garlic cloves
1/2 cup chopped onion
2 diced tomatoes
1 can of tomato sauce
 2 tbsp canola oil

Directions:

•  Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. 
• Prepare bell peppers by cutting them in half {lengthwise} & getting rid of the seeds/membranes
• Cover the bottom of a casserole dish with a light layer of tomato sauce, and add the bell peppers. {You can also add tomato sauce into the bell peppers if desired}
• Start your pan w/ the canola oil & sautee the onions for about 7 minutes. Next add minced garlic and cook for 2-3 minutes. 
• Next add the ground turkey to the pan and cook until browned.
• Dice your tomatoes {2-3 tomatoes depending on your preference}
• In a large bowl, combine the cooked ground turkey, brown rice, and diced tomatoes. You can add salt & pepper if you desire.
• Scoop the mixture into each bell pepper half. 
•  Bake, covered, for 30 minutes. Add parmsean cheese and cook an additional 5 minutes uncovered. 

They came out pretty good, and not too bad for my first time making them.

Happy Father's Day!

Happy Father's day to all the great daddies out there who love their children and are there for them :). A special Happy Father's day to my boyfriend who is a wonderful father to our son, and to my dad :). I love them both!

Free smoothie from Tropical Smoothie!

Today is National Flip Flop Day which means starting at 2pm until 7pm when you wear flip flops to Tropical Smoothie Cafe you’ll receive a FREE 24 oz. Jetty Punch Smoothie!

Yum! Definitely going to get mine tonight, they have the best smoothies.

Review: Lancome Pure Focus Exfoliator

I am a member of the L'Oreal panel & recently participated in their study and in return I was given a beauty gift for my time. Well, this Lancome Pure Focus Exfoliator was one of them and I have officially fallen in love and had to share this product with ya'll.

I have fairly oily skin but it isn't often I find a project that won't dry my skin out or make it feel even more oily; Lancome's exfoliator seems to do the trick. The first time you begin using this product you can see results and you will not want to stop using it. I use it about 3 times a week!

Immediately after using Lancome's Pure Focus Exfoliator you can feel the soft micro beads scrubbing away at dirty and clogged pores. Your face will feel SO unbelievably soft -- only thing I can compare it to is a newborn babies butt (haha). As a matter of fact as am I writing this I can feel how soft my face is even though I used the product 3 hours ago. My face feels so much better after using this exfoliator and it is definitely anything but oily.

I promise you -- your face will thank you -- it has never felt more soft than you will feel after using this scrub.  The scrub retails at Lancome for $26. The only con I can think of is that I wish it came in a bigger bottle because I will definitely have to buy more after I run out!!

Giveaway: Kevin Hart's "Laugh at my Pain" DVD!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Here is a giveaway to kick off your Friday! Enter our giveaway to win (1) copy of Kevin Hart's Laugh at my Pain DVD. It is the thatrical version of his 2011 LAUGH AT MY PAIN comedy tour that swept the nation and earned more than $15,000,000 in ticket sales.

This is great for any movie collectors, or maybe for a dad or brother who loves Kevin Hart. Good luck!

Sloppy Joe Sliders ~ easy recipe

Tonight we cooked these easy sloppy joe sliders for dinner! We didn't have to run to the store for ingredients and felt like having a lazy night of cooking. I decided to share with ya'll because it was such an easy one to do; perfect for those busy/lazy nights with the family.

Ingredients:
1 cup chopped onion
1 lb ground turkey
1 cup bbq sauce
1/3 cup Heinz Ketchup
1/2 cup French's yellow mustard
1/4 cup French's worcestershire sauce

Cook the onion in a non-stick skillet topped with 1tablespoon of hot oil
Brown the beef in the skillet; then drain the fat
Stir in the remaining ingredients; allow them to simmer for 5 mins
Serve on rolls or sandwich bread

Dress your keys up!

If you have a million keys on your key ring, or just don't like the look of your plain ole silver key then here is a quick and easy solution. I saw this on Pinterest and had to try it for myself! Instead of buying a fancy one at the store, you can paint the key yourself with nail polish.

I just chose the color green {one of my favorite colors} but you can get fancy with it and add polka dots or whatever else your heart desires.

Last minute Father's Day craft idea!

Father's Day is this Sunday June 17th, 2012 and if you need a last minute craft idea, here is another one. Today Sabrina {She is 5 years old, and one of the sisters I nanny for} and I made a "I love you -- this much" craft for her daddy. It was simple but very cute.

We first traced Sabrina's hand and then cut her hand prints out & on one we wrote "I love you..." Next we cut a slit of paper out and folded it accordion style and wrote "this much <3".  Lastly we simply glued the slit of paper to both hands! You can fold the inside message up and the two hands will touch, once you open it a cute craft will pop out.

Easy as 1..2..3.. huh?!

Teacher appreciation gifts.

Summer came quick, which means it is the end of the school year for your kids. That is the perfect time to show your child's teacher how much you appreciate them with a special homemade gift. After all great teachers play a big role into your child's life & education. Why not make them something special as a token of your appreciation for what they do?

Here are a few cute simple ideas that any teacher would love to have, I'm sure! Most of these gifts are fairly inexpensive, and definitely crafty. Enjoy!

Secret lunch message for your kiddos!

Via Starsandsunshine

Oh this is just an awesome idea I came across. Show your kids {or significant other} how much you love them by leaving a secret lunch message. The picture above was done with a banana, and to write a message on it you will want ot use a sharp object but not something so sharp that it pierces the banana.

How will the secret message appear? Well, by lunch-time the banana will ripen making the message appear darker. Definitely a great idea for school-aged kids, and I will try this myself as Brody gets older. May even have to do this for the boyfriend one day :)

Brody's first time fishing!

Last week was National Fishing Week, and I had been wanting to go fishing for awhile now {haven't been in a couple years :)} so Paul's dad invited us over & it was a great time. It was also Brody's first time fishing -- well more like him watching us fish but what more could a 9 month old do anyways?! But, we caught a few fish mostly bass, and little cat fish {there aren't a huge amount of fish in his dad's backyard}. Brody was even dressed in his best camo onesie and was all ready to go.

I've caught fish before but I haven't been fishing in a good couple of years, so I was surprised when I caught the first fish out of everyone. Catching a fish is such a rush! I even got stabbed by one of the catfish and that was definitely not fun, who knew how much pain a little fish could cause? Our son definitely was interested though and as you can see in the picture below he tried to grab the fish several times.

I think we have a future little fisherman on our hands?? He is definitely all boy so I can see him getting into some fun as he grows up.

Picture idea for Father's Day!

via CraftYummyHome

Isn't this just beyond cute? Father's Day is coming up soon & what more could a father love than a great homemade gift from his kids! It's a simple but sweet idea and won't break your bank either.

Have your kids hold up a "bubble" and write a cute thing they love about daddy. Even cuter? If they can write have them do the writing themselves. Next have the picture printed out at Walmart and frame it. Wa la, you will have an easy and thoughtful gift.

We picked our first fresh green beans

I just had to share these pictures, Paul was so excited to pick our green beans. Yesterday we picked our first bowl of fresh green beans out of our raised garden. Wow, the fresh green beans tasted so much better than store bought and they looked so nice too. It is crazy to be able to pick these, and think we grew these from seed. It definitely saves you money, the seeds cost $1 {for a big packet} and we have a ton of green beans to pick.

We ended up steaming them and eating them that night, there weren't even any leftovers they were that good. No seasoning either, I actually prefer my green beans plain without any butter or added salt. 

Enter to win name brand shoes from Foot Locker!

Foot Locker is giving away a bunch of name brand shoes in their new sweepstakes! All you have to do is click here enter your information, and everyday after that you can sign in with your email address for your chance to win.

Good luck!

Veggie garden updates.

First ripe strawberry on our hanging plant! So good

Our garden is doing oh so good! We have tomatoes {a couple different types}, cucumbers, strawberries, green beans, carrots and peppers growing. This is the first garden we have ever done and so far everything is going good. Some plants were planted a little too close though and we did have to move some into pots & we even planted some upside down Topsy Turvy tomato plants.  Today I picked the first ripe strawberry off of our hanging plant and ate it; it tasted good. So neat to walk into your own backyard and pick fresh fruit to eat. Paul has counted over 50 strawberries between the two plants. 

Grape tomatoes

Green Beans 

Cucumber plant! Flower = cucumbers soon :)

Topsy Turvy

We started the garden back in April, but we were a little late on transferring them into a raised garden but all of our vegetables seem to be thriving. Paul is super proud of the garden and we both can't wait to be able to pick all the fresh vegetables we will have. We are also planning to do a winter garden so check back for that fun stuff, as well as a herb garden {basil, thyme, etc}. Since this was our first year we are also in the learning process, so next year I would expect us to do more.

We are also thinking about growing some pumpkins, wouldn't that be neat!? Hmm!

Free cup of Edy's slow churned ice cream

Hurry and go here! The first 25,000 people will score a FREE cup of Edy's Slow Churned ice cream {in the form of a coupon}. I scored mine and it says to allow 3 weeks for delivery.

Also take a picture of you cracking a smile & your Edy's Slow Churned, and for every picture posted Edy's will give $5 to Operation Smiles to provide surgeries for children in need.

We have a water baby!

I think it is official; we have a water baby. Not all babies enjoy the water but Brody seems to really enjoy the water whether it be the bath, pool, or the beach. Whenever we take him swimming as you can see in the video below, he doesn't want to be held!!! Brody would much rather kick his feet and hands :). As a water lover myself I am so excited that it looks like our family will have lots of beach trips this summer with our little swimmer.

He has no fear of the water whatsoever! Soon I plan on taking baby & mom swimming classes to further his swimming that he seems to enjoy so much. Do your children love the water? If no, how did you get them accustomed to swimming?