Good Earth price list

I recently learned about lots of yummy things I could get at Good Earth. I think I got them for a pretty good. Here are some of my price points. I look forward to going on my March trip to Good Earth

Brown Short Rice .89/lb
Cream O' Wheat Germade .69/lb
Vital Gluten Flour 1.85/lb

Looking forward to making stuff from scratch!

Tot Week - Valentines and Cousins

This Tot Week began with Valentines Day. Tot in hole, as my husband calls in, has come in handy for many breakfasts lately. Just change the shape in the middle to fit your theme! Lily loved eating her hearts for breakfast.

For Valentines Day, I got each of the children a book about love and a new snuggly blanket.

This week, Lily has come up with many of her own activities - which I love! It is fun to see what she comes up with. For this activity, she put all of her feathers in the shopping basket along with her fish magnets. The fish magnets were hidden under the feathers. She would then use her fishing pole to find them. She played this for a long time.

Oranges are a great manipulative, too :). She fit an orange into each slot of our food storage buckets. She also lined them up down the hallway and tried to share them with her little brother.

In our church, it is recommended that you have a weekly family home evening. We had a short message on the importance of preparedness and then went out for ice cream. Hopefully, we will have many more family home evenings to come!

Dress up is still a big hit at our house. Dude stepped on these glasses on accident, but Mini Diva doesn't seem to mind. She wore them just like this all the way to Mom Mom's house. Her princess costumes are also getting a lot of attention.
This is my favorite thing she has taken interest in - the lace up boards! Before she would use them as kites. This week she wanted me to teach her how to lace it through the holes. She did a pretty good job!

Cousin time! We had a lot of time with little friends this week. On Wednesday, we went to a playgroup with friends from our church. We also had our cute little one year old cousin over to visit. Mini Diva loves having the play mates.

One area we are trying to work on more is sharing. Any fun games or ideas that have worked for you?

Bountiful Baskets

I decided to try something new this week. On facebook I've been hearing rave reviews about Bountiful Baskets. So I signed up online with my sister in law. She was kind enough to pick up my basket for me. All this for $15! You don't know in advance what you are getting, but I love the results and look forward to cooking with new things. Check it out!

Menu Plan Monday

Very excited for this week! I visited Smockity Frocks's What's in Your Crock Pot post and found lots of yummy recipes to try! I'll be putting my crock pot to work this week.

But first, what went well last week .... the spaghetti with quinoa meatballs was a big hit with my family. I've been looking for more ways to use quinoa so I will definitely use it again for healthier and more filling meatballs.

The Homemade Cinnamon Rolls from Beauty and Bedlam definitely were VERY close to Cinnabons's. My brother and sister leapt over the back of the couch to get to the last one. Delicious!


Dinner:
1. Cheesy Beef and Rice
2. Ham Cheddar Chowder, Salads, and Rolls
3. Hamburgers with Homemade Buns with Baked Yam and Potato Casserole
4. Crock Pot Black Bean Ham Soup
5. Crock Pot Italian Chicken
6. Crock Pot Macaroni and Cheese
7. Asian Pork Tenderloin with Rice and Broccoli

Lunches
1. Hard Boiled Eggs, Toast, Fruit
2. Burritos
3. Grilled Cheese and Carrots
4. Quesadillas and Broccoli
5. Salads
6&7 Leftovers

Breakfasts
1. Yogurt and Toast
2. Scrambled Eggs and Toast
3. Strawberry Crisp
4. Tote in Hole and fruit
5. Pancakes
6. Oatmeal and Smoothies
7. Banana Bread



For later:
Homemade Apple Sauce in a Crock Pot
Rice Cream
Home made Graham Crackers

Giveaways!

Lots of fun giveaways happening right now!

Here are a few of my personal favorites:

$25 Cheesecake Factory Gift Card from Mommiecheapest.com

Julie Taggert Photo Session in Utah

Melissa and Doug Gear

I'm Booking It!

I just found this great Challenge on lifeasamom.com. Since I love to read, I decided to jump on it - even though I am a month late!

My reading goals for 2010 are:

• 15 minutes inspirational reading every day (scriptures, etc.)
• read to my children every day
• read at least one fun book and one learning book each month

Pretty basic, but with two under two - that's what I got.

Here is what is on my book wish list for the year:

• Women of the Old Testament by Camille Olson Fronk
• The Love Dare by Stephen Kendrick
• The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
• Abinadi: A Novel
• The Amaranth Enchanment
• Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life
• Confessions of a Shop-a-holic
• A Curse Dark as Gold
• English Trifle: A Culinary Mystery
• The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Society
• The Handmaid and the Carpenter
• The Hourglass Door
• In Praise of Stay at Home Moms

More to be added!

What I love about you ...

I love reading and getting ideas from the Tot School blog. Just recently, I discovered that Carissa also does a blog about her youngest daughter. She posts weekly what she loves about each stage her daughter is in. What a fantastic way to preserve the fun of babyhood. So I am starting to do it with Mini Dude as well.

Here is what I love this week!

• I love this sweet in between stage. Not quite big enough to crawl or walk, but getting more and more independent and excited about the world around you every day.

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• I love how very aware you are of what we are doing and how you want to be apart of it, too. You were a little fussy when I was taking down the Christmas tree for your Nana, but when I gave you a flower to hold - you were content as can be. You just held it and looked at it for about 15 minutes.
  

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• I love that you are such a great little sleeper! You have been since day one! So, so, so nice. Swaddled in a blanket with your binkie - you go right to sleep. Love these mid day snuggle sessions on the couch that you have with your sister.
  

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• It is so fun to see you in your walker. A little man pushing himself around the room. This basketball is your favorite toy. It is squishy and you love to hold it - and eat it as well!
  

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• And I love that you are a fantastic little brother! So patient with your older sister, Mini Diva, when she wants to play with you!
  

• Your favorite new thing this week is eating bananas in the little mesh holder. It makes you so happy!