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Week #7 Saturday Top Five Laughs – Join the Blog Hop!

Posted by html404 on December 7, 2013
in Animals, Blog Stuff, Family Stuff, Fun Stuff, Humor, Kids Stuff, Saturday Top Five Laughs, Uncategorized

I think I did better writing down funny things as they happened this week so it is officially time to laugh with the Goulds again! We have joined The Mommyhood Chronicles for Week #7 – for us – in the Saturday Top Five Laughs of the week.

5. We were talking about the Prince and Duchess of Wales and our Amelia Bedilia said, “They live in whales?” I believe she knew what we meant but was trying to be funny because she repeated it to her brother next to her and then they high-fived.

4. Love the honest laughs of my children. Nothing makes us smile more than to hear their genuine laugh.

3. The kittens were their playful selves again. Our three year old son was told to clean the crayon off the patio door and while he was wiping, Freckles was trying to grab Jr.’s cloth!

2. We had one of our sons get sick yesterday, which made our older son paranoid about getting sick. My son applied DiGize essential oil to help ward off a tummy ache. My husband pulled a fast one on him by asking him which way he applied the DiGize clockwise or counter clockwise. My son replied, “Counter clockwise.” My husband proceeded to tell him if he circled counter clockwise everything would come up, but if he had of applied it clockwise everything would stay down. My son goes, “Arghhhh!” And my husband comes in our bedroom laughing that he couldn’t believe he fooled our son. I chuckled and told him to go tell him the difference before he thought he’d be sick!

1. Last night while I was working on my laptop our children were all watching the movie “The Croods” next to me. I loved hearing them all burst out laughing. I was listening to their laughter more than the movie so now I have to watch it for myself! Gotta love the sound of children laughing! This is kind of a repetition of #4, oh well! I was doubly blessed this week to think of it twice!

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Wool Dryer Balls – Dryer Sheet Alternative

Posted by html404 on December 5, 2013
in All Natural Products, Animals, Eco Friendly Products, Family Stuff, Farm Stuff, Gift Ideas, Handmade Items, Health, Parenting, Safety, Saving Money, Uncategorized

About a month ago my 14 year old daughter “B” and I went to a Green Expo to promote our farm. We collected a few business cards, one of which was a local sheep farmer. I finally got around to visiting their website and discovered they sold wool dryer balls. These wool dryer balls are handmade by M.

When my older girls were little I had to stop using dryer sheets because a couple of them broke out with rashes. I never liked the expense of liquid fabric softener so we’ve basically gone without. I have used a rag with vinegar on it to get rid of static cling.

That’s why I was excited to try the wool dryer balls come in as an alternative. We have been using them since the weekend and they are working. We do not seem to have to turn the dryer on for a second cycle on our larger loads so it is doing what I hoped they’d do in reducing dryer time by soaking up extra wetness. No one has said anything about static cling yet so I am hoping that will be rectified as well.

I think I’ll get my mom a set of dryer balls the next time she comes to visit.

Do you have any dryer sheet remedies?

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Pampers Celebrating Firsts & Giveaway

Posted by 278Wife on December 1, 2013
in Baby Products, Diapers and Accessories, Family Stuff, Kids Stuff, Parenting, Uncategorized

“This review was made possible by Double Duty Divas and Pampers. I was provided the featured product free of charge to facilitate my review, but all opinions are 100% mine.”

As a stay at home mom I have been absolutely blessed to witness all of my babies’ “firsts” first hand. These moments I will never be able to get back and I cherish & hold them close to my heart. I will never forget the first time she smiled at me or her first word, “MaMa.” From the moment I laid eyes on her in the hospital, I knew I was the luckiest mom ever. Pampers has been there every step of the way with me.

Pampers Celebrating Firsts

As a newborn, through her infancy, and now into her “walking” stage, I have always used Pampers diapers. My favorite feature is the color-changing wetness indicator, which lets me know in an instant when my baby needs a diaper change. The elasticity around the legs keeps leaks in, all while still being very comfortable for my daughter to crawl, sit, stand, and attempt to walk. Pampers Swaddlers are Pampers softest diapers ever from newborn all the way through size 5. Imagine a pillow for your babies’ butt! As Annabelle takes on her next challenge, her “first steps,” Pampers will be there keeping her dry and comfortable. Here is Annabelle taking her first steps with her push toy. I couldn’t be more proud!

From your baby’s first smile to their first step, Swaddlers can now be there for many more firsts to come! To celebrate Swaddlers sizes 4 & 5, Pampers has 30 days of incredible giveaways and a grand prize of FREE Swaddlers diapers & wipes for a year. Join the celebration and enter our 30 days of sweeps on the Pampers Facebook page:
https://www.facebook.com/Pampers/app_1426402564246361 where you can win daily prize bundles, plus the grand prize of free Swaddlers diapers & wipes for one year!

Check out Pampers at http://bit.ly/18psPH0

Pampers Facebook http://on.fb.me/1eWzMVD

Pampers Twitter http://bit.ly/1brDKYn

Be sure to join the #SwaddlersFirsts Twitter Party on Thursday, December 5th at 9pm EST. You can RSVP at http://twtvite.com/SwaddlersFirsts

Twitter Party prizes include:
Prizes include:

3- Celebrating Firsts Gift Packs, which include:

· Baby’s First Friend Plush Doll

· Baby’s First Tooth and First Curl Treasure Box

· Baby’s First Words Book

· Baby’s First Steps Push Toy

· $50 Shutterfly Gift Card to celebrate all “firsts” moments

· Baby’s First Bath Robe

· Pampers Swaddlers

Grand Prize: Canon EOS Rebel T3 DSLR camera worth $450!

Pampers Giveaway

As a part of the Pampers Celebrating Firsts, we are hosting a giveaway for the following package:

· Baby’s First Friend Plush Doll

· Baby’s First Tooth and First Curl Treasure Box

· Baby’s First Words Book

· Baby’s First Steps Push Toy

· Pampers Swaddlers

Enter below:

a Rafflecopter giveaway

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Week #6 Saturday Top Five Laughs – Join the Blog Hop!

Posted by html404 on November 30, 2013
in Animals, Family Stuff, Fun Stuff, Home, Humor, Kids Stuff, Uncategorized

Ha! Getting into the habit of keeping track of our family’s funnies! These are not all necessarily from this past week though. Can’t believe I made it to six weeks of participating in The Mommyhood Chronicles Saturday Top Five Laughs! I think I’ve made it a habit or at least I hope so!

5. My husband was doing laundry and came out of the laundry room holding a skirt saying, “Really, we are keeping this?” It was “B’s” black skirt. It has a rip down the side. See the photo below. B said, “Yes, I need it” laughing. Then he proceeded to go on a tirade about how I throw out his holey clothes (I don’t throw them all out), but he’s right that I have literally ripped one of his old, holey t-shirts off of him in order to prove my point that it needed to be thrown out. Let’s just say B and I were more humored about the skirt than he was! He thinks it’s ridiculous that B wants to keep the ripped skirt.

4. I forgot this one on one of the other Saturday Top Five Laughs post. Padfoot, our dog, was barking so my husband went to the window of our room to see what he was going on about. Turns out Padfoot was barking at a caterpillar! The caterpillar was just out of his reach and he wanted to get it. Silly dog.

3. My husband has this particular way of raising and wiggling his eyebrows when he’s being goofy. Our youngest has started doing it. It’s very cute, though because his eyebrows are not as dark as his daddy’s it doesn’t have quite the same affect.

2. Our daughter “B” posted the above notice on a couple of our bedroom doors.

1. Bear in the house! We have a couple of those adorable animal hats with the mittens attached and my little guy kept coming up to us with it completely over his eyes growling at us.

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Happy Thanksgiving!

Posted by html404 on November 28, 2013
in Animals, Family Stuff, Farm Stuff, Holidays, Seasonal Stuff, Uncategorized

Just wanted to wish you all a very happy Thanksgiving! We are chillin’ at home as a family. We cooked our turkey overnight now we are in the throws of washing potatoes, making pie dough and preparing veggies. Robert is carving the turkey (which was homegrown and is so yummy!), I’m making cinnamon rolls and dinner rolls and the girls divided up the rest of the work among them and the younger ones.

Things I am thankful for this year are:

Family – near and far – miss those of you in Canada!
The ability to work from home and be here for our children.
God’s provision – financially during this time of unemployment for my husband, leading us to the animals we have (I think we have awesome animals!), giving us solutions to life’s problems
Living our dream. Living in the country, growing our own food, giving our children the privilege of raising animals. I was telling someone this week our children spend more time with our animals than with toys most days.
Our health. So very grateful we are all healthy.
Being nearly a week ahead in blog posts, thanks to my contributing writers’ help!
Time with Friends. I went out with a friend yesterday to look at a Dutch Belted cow for a friend of hers at my neighbor’s (a new friend) and we had such a fun time with stimulating farm conversation! 4 hours worth! Grateful for my farm friends especially this year because they “get” us and what we are trying to do. They also lend a hand and are there for us. Makes me feel like we are finally a part of a community and it’s been a long time since I felt that way, since leaving my native Nova Scotia.

Wishing you a very grateful 2013 Thanksgiving!

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Holiday Craft Ideas from Kid Made Modern

Posted by 278Wife on November 28, 2013
in Family Stuff, Fun Stuff, Gift Ideas, Handmade Items, Holidays, Kids Stuff, Reviews, Seasonal Stuff, Shopping, Uncategorized

Arts and crafts projects are always a big hit in our household with my four year old son. They are even a bigger hit around the holidays, since we like to give homemade gifts to grandparents, aunts, and uncles. Kid Made Modern collection is a great affordable option for kids and parents alike, plus they have great holiday craft ideas. Sold exclusively at Target and target.com with nothing over $20! They offer everything from crayons & markers, to craft kits like tie-dye & ornaments.

My son had a blast using the Double-Pointed Crazy Crayons, Mini Colored Pencils, and Washable Markers to color a birthday card. The crazy crayons were nice and thick so they were easy to hold, and had super vibrant colors. My son loved how “crazy” he could color.

I loved how the mini colored pencils were packaged. They came in a tube where the cover easily comes off and you can choose your color. It was way easier for him to get them out of the tube opposed to the traditional box where they are all aligned in a row.

The markers were very unique, too. They had ridges on them like a pencil, but they still felt smooth. It made it very easy to hold and color. Any of these would make great stocking stuffers!

We also had a chance to try one of the Kid Made Modern Faux Stained Glass Ornament Kits. Even though the age on the box says 6+, I figured my four year old could do it with my help. It contained all of the supplies to create six ornaments including the directions.

My son had a great time painting the ornaments and waiting patiently for them to dry so he could see them finished. Each ornament was individually wrapped with a plastic film to protect it from getting scratched. I found this to be very difficult to remove. It took me a couple of minutes for each ornament. I wish I would have removed all of the plastic films before I had my son sit down for the project. I loved how many different color paint choices came with the box as well as two different sized paintbrushes.

It even included string to hang each ornament. We made one for each set of grandparents and a few for some other family members.

Kid Made Modern kits would make great holiday craft ideas and gifts for children this Christmas season. Check out their array of products at

www.Target.com

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Silly Kittens! – Wordless Wednesday

Posted by html404 on November 27, 2013
in Animals, Family Stuff, Farm Stuff, Fun Stuff, Home, Humor, Uncategorized, Wordless Wednesday

In light of Saturday’s Top Five Laughs post, thought I’d share this photo of Freckles at the beginning of her climb and Selene as she looks on because I think they look adorable!

Today the kittens were out in the snow for the first time and they batted at it! Sadly, I didn’t get a photo of it.

The kittens climbing all over the garage and my husband says they think it’s their own jungle gym and I tend to agree.

This week’s Wordless Wednesday is almost….wordless!

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Waiting Again….Miss Moo

Posted by html404 on November 26, 2013
in Animals, Family Stuff, Farm Stuff, Fun Stuff, Home, Uncategorized

Last Monday we had Miss Moo AI’d (artificially inseminated) again. We are hoping it sticks this time. Our vet told us if we see any signs of heat to call him to come back not rather than wait the 60 days, so we’ll do that. “B” is usually pretty good at telling when Miss Moo is in heat, thankfully.

For example, last weekend we had those huge storms with about 70 tornadoes being reported across Illinois. On Sunday, Robert had taken the four older ones to the Chicago Field Museum for the day. That left me with four children 10 an under. Robert had left our son in charge of chickens but we also had to get Blaze in because he does not like to be out in the elements. Remember he’s old. However, when I called Robert to get him to ask about “B” about Miss Moo, “B” told me she’d be fine. And she was. She just stood there chewing her cud in the wind and rain, not bothered at all. However, she did run around a bit kicking up her heals. Something she does when she’s in heat. There were other signs “B” said Miss Moo was exhibiting before they all left for the day too.

So we are anxiously waiting again to see if Miss Moo will be with calf. That means a 2014 late summer or early fall calf. As long as she calves before winter, I’ll be happy.

As a side note, our horse and cow have bonded. It’s been so sweet to watch Blaze follow Miss Moo in the pasture or hear the children tell me one or the other won’t go out or come in without the other one.

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Calzones Recipe

Posted by html404 on November 24, 2013
in All Natural Products, Family Stuff, Food and Treats, Home, Organic, Recipes, Uncategorized

A couple of weeks ago I was adventurous and decided to make our calzones recipe, except I couldn’t find it. So I did a quick search to see what ingredients I’d need and then made them my way.

Making Bread Dough in a Bosch Mixer

I made our calzones out of homemade bread dough. In the past I have used the frozen bread dough at the store for quick preparation, but now we have a Bosch and mixing up bread dough is a piece of cake!

Warm water, yeast, sugar, oil and salt.

Then add unbleached white flour.

We know the bread dough is ready when it no longer sticks to the side of the Bosch bowl, as shown in the photo below.

Homemade Calzones Recipe

After I make the bread dough, I spread the balls of dough out. You can also roll them to make nicer cirle-ish shapes.

Then I added toppings of sauce, mozzarella cheese and ricotta cheese. I should have added some broccoli but I didn’t.

I usually top them with more sauce but my daughter took some of these photos for me. We divided up tasks so we could feed our hungry crew!

Calzones Recipe

Now for the actual recipe which is a little “rough” because so much cooking that I do doesn’t follow a recipe. Sorry!

Calzones Recipe

Print recipe

Ingredients

Bread dough (I make a large batch of homemade, enough for 3 loaves of bread to feed our family..)
2 - 28 oz cans Organic tomato sauce (We add our own oregano, basil and a little sweetner to our taste.)
1 packet Organic pepperoni
16oz Organic ricotta cheese
1 Large Farm fresh egg :)
16oz Mozzarella cheese

Directions

Step 1
Divide up the bread dough into equal parts. Then roll or pat the balls out into a small circle-ish shape to create your calzones. Put on greased cookie sheets and put to the side to mix up other ingredients.
Mix 1 egg with a 16 oz container of ricotta cheese. Set aside.
Step 2
Make sauce by adding oregano, basil and sweetener to tomato sauce. Start with a couple teaspoons of each and taste test to see if you like it. Keep adding oregano, basil and sweetener until it satisfies your palate. Set aside with rolled out bread dough.
Fold over dough from corner to corner and press to close. Optional: Paint tops of calzones with melted butter and put slits in the top of your calzones for decorative puposes.
Step 3
Go back to rolled out dough and spread tomato sauce out on the dough. Add pepperoni followed by the ricotta cheese mixture and top with a sprinkle of mozaralla cheese.
Step 4
Put in the oven for approximately 30 minutes or until bread dough is cooked through. They should be a golden brown and the inside should be heated. Top the calzones with a couple of spoonfuls of sauce. Serve with a side dish or salad. Voila! Your masterpiece is served!

Do you play with recipes or create your own? Do they turn out?

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Week #5 Saturday Top Five Laughs – Join the Blog Hop!

Posted by html404 on November 23, 2013
in Animals, Family Stuff, Fun Stuff, Home, Humor, Uncategorized

I was a little lax this week with writing down funny things as they happened, but then Thursday and Friday I hit the “jackpot” so to speak and several funny things happened! So are you ready to laugh with the Goulds again? Once again we have joined The Mommyhood Chronicles for Week #5 – for us! – in the Saturday Top Five Laughs of the week.

5. I do ask my older children if it’s ok to share their funnies in my Saturday Top Five Laughs. They have even been known to say, “You know that’s going in mom’s blog post!” Hey, I’m making this my number 5 this week!

4. My daughter “B” came into my room on Thursday morning saying she had a bad dream. She called it a nightmare. She started by saying she dreamed she slept in until 9am. I interrupted her to say that most people would not consider that a nightmare, let alone a bad dream. But I knew where she was going because she’s our dairymaid and does the milking so sleeping in until 9am is definitely a bad thing, considering it’s 3 hours past milking time! Then “B” went on to say that wasn’t the worst thing, that I told her she couldn’t have chocolate forever!

3. Our kittens are getting big. Need another photo shoot. Anyhoo….They were up to their cute antics again. Freckles actually climbed the wall of our brick house! They tried during our SHEBA photo shoot but did not succeed. On Thursday, Freckles succeeded. I think her motivation was her mama, who was perched on the kitchen window sill, which is on that wall. The cats like to sit on the ledge and perch or watch whoever is working in the kitchen. Hoping for handouts!

2. We were having sandwiches for lunch the other day and my daughter, “Amelia” or “O”, informed my husband that she liked IF’s (grocery store in the town we use to live in) deli meat better than the stuff he bought at the “Pig” (Piggly Wiggly in our town). Then she said, “It smells like gas (but she used another term).” Sigh. Manners seems to have flown the coop with that child.

1. This one is just plain goofy. I’ve had a pain in my left arm pit most of the week. One day I blurted out, “Does anyone care that my arm pit hurts?” I was answered with a bunch of giggles. Then I said, “So no one cares if my arm pit hurts? Hmpfh.” They all proceeded to state they cared. Like I believed them. Hmpfh.

Guess that’s all I could come up with for laughs this week!

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Archive for Family Stuff

Week #7 Saturday Top Five Laughs – Join the Blog Hop!

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Wool Dryer Balls – Dryer Sheet Alternative

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Pampers Celebrating Firsts & Giveaway

Pampers Celebrating Firsts

Pampers Giveaway

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Week #6 Saturday Top Five Laughs – Join the Blog Hop!

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Happy Thanksgiving!

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Holiday Craft Ideas from Kid Made Modern

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Silly Kittens! – Wordless Wednesday

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Waiting Again….Miss Moo

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Calzones Recipe

Making Bread Dough in a Bosch Mixer

Homemade Calzones Recipe

Calzones Recipe

Ingredients

Directions

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Week #5 Saturday Top Five Laughs – Join the Blog Hop!

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