We play with Legos a lot, and that means that there are legos EVERYWHERE. I looked online to see what other moms do to combat the land mine field that stray pieces turn into late at night.
I found this Lego sack on Amazon, but I didn’t have any Amazon Credit, so I decided to improvise.
I pulled out a top sheet. Because, really, how many of us use topsheets on our kids beds? In fact, this top sheet was once part of a set that belonged to hubs as a child. The fitted sheet has long since passed on, but the top sheet lives on, since we never use it on the bed.
I poured out the box of Legos onto the sheet. After we played and built for a few hours, I gathered up the corners, so all of the legos were snug in the center of the sheet and deposited the sheet full of Legos into our 12 gallon plastic tote (like this one). It is the tote that has housed the Legos for a while.
Now when it’s time to play, all we have to do is lift out the bundle, lay it on the floor and spread out the sheet.
I am so glad that I no longer have to chase around stray pieces, and there are no more late night swearing sessions when we step on one in a darkened room.
The mail man just brought us another bag of goodies from Schoola yesterday! I’m loving the high quality clothes I can get for the kids (and myself) for such low prices. And it gives me warm fuzzies that I’m helping schools at the same time!
Today only,when you spend $11 or more you’ll receive $11 to spend on Schoola. Credit codes are sent on 12/1 and limited 1 per person. For a limited time we have free shipping with no minimum site wide and $20 referral credit rewards for you and anyone you refer!
Here is Birdie is a dress that I got from Schoola!
I had a can of pumpkin open the other day and I decided to make cookies. Part of the show that hubs is in has a scene where all the characters eat cookies on stage. They had been eating Madeline’s, which are super tasty, but high in calories.
So I opted to bake something a little lower in calories. I also made the cookies quite small (1 tablespoon, instead of two), to cut down on calories. I added pumpkin instead of the eggs and some of the fat to lower the calories and add fiber and fruit.
In keeping with the spirit of using up what we have in the house, I also used only brown sugar, as we were out of white sugar.Lil’ Man was a big helper- He added the chocolate chips and helped scoop the dough onto the cookie sheets. He’s going to be a Master Chef yet!
Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies
Ingredients:
1/2 c butter (or use vegan margarine if vegan), room temp
1 15 oz can of pumpkin
1 cup brown sugar, packed
1 tsp. vanilla
1 1/2 c flour (I used AP, but feel free to use wheat or even 1 for 1 gluten free)
3/4 c. almond meal
1 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
dash salt
2 c. chocolate chips
Directions:
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
In a large bowl, cream the first 4 ingredients until smooth using a hand mixer on medium.
Add remaining 4 ingredients until a soft dough forms, using hand mixer on low, or by hand with large wooden spoon.
Stir in chocolate chips.
Drop spoonfuls onto greased cookie sheets. Bake for 9-13 minutes.
Makes 3-4 dozen cookies.
Variations: This recipe is east to make as vegan, just sub out butter for the solid fat of your choice. To make GF, sub in GF flour of your choice. To make it nut free, omit the almond meal and increase the amount of flour to 2 cups.
Well, they’ve merged withNews America Marketing, the brand behind SmartSource, and according to their press release email, “we’ve been working on some big things for your offer list.” What does that mean, exactly? I’m not too sure, but I’ll keep my eyes open and we’ll see.
Hopefully it means better offers, or an option for paypal as a pay out. Right now you have to cash out and wait for a check.
Hubs got one of these awesome Obol bowls a few years ago for Xmas, and they are super awesome! I can’t wait to get one and let Lil’ Man try it out!
Cereal Never Gets Soggy (important if you have kids and never get to finish anything in 1 sitting)!
Obol “The Original Crispy Bowl” made in the USA is the favorite for cereal
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I’m on a new recipe kick right now. I don’t often get inspiration from Pinterest recipes because they are either things we don’t eat, or are overly complicated or cutesy. Instead I draw ideas from cookbooks, magazines, stuff I see at the grocery store while I cruise the aisles, and Buzzfeed’s Tasty Videos that are all over Facebook. I was jonseing for Olive Gardens now defunct Spinach Artichoke dip the other day, so imagine my surprise when I stepped foot into my local 99 Cents Only…
I found a jar of this Bruschetta at 99 Cents Only the other day and small jar of Artichoke dip. I knew I had to take them home and concoct something delicious!
I set to work in the kitchen to find some other ingredients that would pair well to I could whip up something fabu for a meatless meal. I pulled out a bag of frozen spinach and cheese to compliment the flavors of the dips.
We had a spaghetti Squash on the counter, so in order to keep the dish healthier and full of veggies and fiber, I opted to bake up the squash and use it instead of the traditional noddles or pasta in a casserole. If you’ve never cooked with spaghetti squash, I posted a tutorial here.
After rummaging through the freezer and fridge, I assembled the ingredients and got working! There is no photo of the finished product because it got eaten up quickly.
Clean and bake the spaghetti squash. For info on how that’s done, check out the tutorial here.
While the squash is baking, mix together the two dips in a large mixing bowl.
Add the spinach and half of each cheese. Stir until completely mixed.
Prepare a 9×9 glass pan with spray release.
Place all of the spaghetti squash shreds/”noodles” in the bottom of the baking dish, and smooth down to create an even layer.
Pour the dip mixture over the top and smooth to evenly cover the squash.
Top with the remaining cheeses.
Bake at 350 for 20-30 minutes or until the cheese has started to brown and bubble.
This dish is gluten free and vegetarian. To make it vegan, use dairy-free cheese! If you HAVE to have meat, this would be great with grilled chicken, or Italian sausages mixed in or served along side.
This recipe serves 2 as a main dish or 4 as a side dish.
We eat a lot of veggies. That was one of the huge lifestyle changes we made a few years ago that has helped us maintain healthier weights.
One healthy swap we made was to spaghetti squash instead of pasta. A lot of healthy/food swap websites like Hungry Girl tout Spaghetti Squash as a good substitute for carb-y noodles.
Here is a quick tutorial on making spaghetti squash.
Select a squash that is firm and unblemished. Not sure what they look like? Here is the wikipedia article all about the vegetable with a few pictures.
Chop the end with the stem off. You’ll need a good sharp knife. I love our Henckels Meat Cleaver.
Chop the squash in half. I do it length-wise, so it takes less time to cook in the oven.
Take a spoon and scoop out the stringy guts and seeds. Discard them.
In a large glass baking dish, place the squash halves cut side down. Pour a 1/2 cup of water into the bottom of the baking dish.
Bake at 350 for 30-45 minutes or until the squash are fork tender (about the same feeling as a baked potato).
Remove baking dish from oven and set the squash halves on a cutting board. Allow to cool for 10-15 minutes, or until you can comfortable handle the vegetable.
With a fork, “rake” the interior of the veggie. The “meat” of the interior should flake off in long strings that resemble broken spaghetti.
Once complete, discard the exterior of the squash.
Toss the “spaghetti” with the sauce of your choice.
1 medium sized spaghetti squash serves 2-3 people, with a serving size of about 1 1/2 cups. It’s yummy with sauce (Spaghetti/red sauce, pesto, or even a cheesy sauce), or just a little butter and herbs. It’s a great way to get extra veggies into your diet, or if you’re Gluten Intolerant, it’s cheaper (and tastier) than GF pasta.
Later today, I’ll be posting a recipe that uses spaghetti squash as a main ingredient! With winter veggies starting to make an appearance in grocery stores and farmers markets, you’ll start seeing more and more squash!
Today is National Sandwich Day, so that means a few BOGO Offers! Before heading down to your location location, call ahead to make sure that your preferred location is participating!
Togo’s is offering a FREE 6″ Regular Sandwich with purchase of any 6″ regular or large sandwich, chips & 20 oz. fountain drink. This deal may be limited to those in the Togo Tribe (Their Loyalty club). I received this offer via email.
Have the McDonald’s App on your phone? Open it up to to find a BOGO Chef Crafted Sandwich coupon. There may be other coupons available to you too.
Subway is offering a free sandwich with the purchase of any sandwich and a 30 ounce drink. (Source Twitter)
If you know of any other free or BOGO Sandwich deals, please leave a comment!
It’s finally here! Coupons.com is offering printing from your Smartphones! It’s easy!
You can print directly from your Android and iOS devices to a WiFi connected printer. Coupons.com will automatically detect a user on their mobile device and guide you through printing. Users will be texted an authentication code before they can print and must be connected to a wireless network with an AirPrint or Wireless enabled printer. Click here to get started!
A few weeks ago I went to the Moms Meet Wow Summit and learned a lot of ways that any family can start their journey to going green. And it is a journey. It’s not something that you wake up one morning and think, “Today we go green!”. Or at least it shouldn’t be. Think about how much stuff you’d throw away: Cleaning supplies, food, household goods. That woud make a lot of trash all at once, and that’s definitely not the direction you’d want to go in.
Here are 5 steps to start your going green journey (all of these we’ve implemented at our house):
Reduce: In order to reduce our carbon footprint, we re-use as much as we can. For me the first step was to reduce the number of cleaners we had in the house, since a lot of them aren’t too environmentally friendly.
Re-using packages helps the environment!
I made up some of the Dr. Bronner’s All Purpose cleaner (¼ c. soap in a quart of water in a spray bottle. Add ¼ tsp. tea tree essential oil if desired.) using a sample of the Baby Unscented Pure-Castile Liquid Soap, and I put it into a bottle that used to hold another cleaner. I washed the bottle thoroughly before mixing up the new cleaner. It REALLY gets the kitchen clean and because it’s an all purpose cleaner, I use it in the bathroom too! I really like that Dr. Bronner’s products are biodegradable, organic and are safe enough that you can brush your teeth with (but, yes, it does taste like soap!!).
Sturdy Thirty-One bag and the Banana Box!
Re-Use: I re-use as much as I can around the house. We’ve got re-usable lunch bags for Little Man (and that classy banana box too- keeps the bananas from getting beat up in transit), and one for the car (it’s replaced our car snack box). I cut up old beat up bath towels and use them to clean up around the house. I re-use containers as well. I cleaned out an empty formula canister and put Nesquik powder in it instead. I even re-used the formula scoop (since it’s smaller than the usual portion size, we use less each time!).
Recycle: We have a recycling bin with a lid on the patio and we put our recycling in it. Once it’s full we take it to our local Re-Planet Recycling center. We earn a little money and help the planet- nothing better! It’s a great teaching tool for Lil’ Man!
Walk: We are fortunate to live within walking distance of a grocery store (which is closing soon, but will re-open as a Smart and Final soon), as well as a park, and a few other places that we like to go. When it’s possible (aka not 100 degrees), I put Birdy in the Stroller, and we walk as a family to pick up whatever we need or to go have an adventure. There is a second bonus: When we are shopping, I am limited to what we can carry in the undercarriage/storage area of the stroller. It really helps me stick to my shopping list! Not only are we getting exercise, but we’re leaving our car at home and that cuts down on the pollutants that are in car exhaust.
Replace non-green stuff with a green counterpart as we can: When we finish up with a non-green product, I replace it with a green version. Like the cleaner above, once I used up the last of the Windex, I replaced it with the Bronner’s recipe for cleaner. We ran out of paper towels a few weeks back, and in it’s place, I’ve been using lint free cloths instead. I just wash them with the other towels when I do the laundry each week. I picked up AmazonBasics Microfiber Cleaning Cloth – 24 Pack for only $14.99. A few towels added to a load of laundry doesn’t cost anything extra either.
I poured out the box of Legos onto the sheet. After we played and built for a few hours, I gathered up the corners, so all of the legos were snug in the center of the sheet and deposited the sheet full of Legos into our 12 gallon plastic tote (like this one). It is the tote that has housed the Legos for a while.
I am so glad that I no longer have to chase around stray pieces, and there are no more late night swearing sessions when we step on one in a darkened room.
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for only $14.99. A few towels added to a load of laundry doesn’t cost anything extra either.
Hewes Family Fun 