Mommy Octopus

I told you guys a few weeks ago that we were moving.  Don’t worry Athenians, I’m still in the area!  We are finally getting settled in our new house, which means all the essentials are unpacked and the rest will just have to wait.  The kids are doing great with the move and are excited to be meeting new neighborhood friends.  No worries about switching schools (hooray for homeschooling!).

On many of our trips to the old house, I brought along our german shepherd.  She fell asleep like this in the front passenger seat and I thought it was so cute so I took a photo.  My husband says she’s praying for my driving! LOL!

Now that things are calm again, I plan to bring ya’ll more fun posts and activity ideas along with the deals.  Of course, family and homeschool come before the blog, but I will be around!

Yesterday my bestie and I spent about an hour in the local Family Christian bookstore.  I wanted to find some new reading material for my avid 10 year old reader.  I came across a series called Sisters in Time.  They seem similar to the American Girl books only with a Christian perspective, which is important to my family.

There are 6 books and each book is a 4 in 1 book.  Meaning each book has 4 stories in it. The books are quite thick and over 500 pages each so it will definitely take my daughter longer than an hour to read!  Some story lines:

• Sarah’s New World by Colleen L Reece is a story about John and Sarah Smythe and their voyage to America on-board the Mayflower. In search of a country that will allow them to worship freely the Smythe family leaves Holland and faces the dangers of a sea voyage. After 2 months of struggle and hardship the Mayflower reaches the New World and begins the Plymouth colony.
• Rebekah in Danger by Colleen L Reece begins in late 1620 and is the story of Rebekah and Will Cunningham and the settling of New Plymouth. After the dangers and trials of a sea voyage new troubles await the Pilgrims. Who will survive till the spring? But help comes from an unexpected source – Indians. Through it all Rebekah and Will grow in wisdom and understanding.
• Maggie’s Dare by Norma Jean Lutz takes place during the height of America’s Great Awakening period (1744 -1745) and is Maggie and Evan Baldwin’s story. In the changing Boston society Maggie is caught up in her confusion of where she belongs and her feelings about slavery and the Revivalists. But when she meets Jonathan Edwards she sees herself as she really is and Boston society loses it charm while Boston’s poor and needy call to her heart.
• Lizzie and the Redcoat by Susan Martins Miller takes place around 1765 and is Lizzie and Joshua Murray’s story. Boston is in a time of upheaval and anger at the King over the Stamp Act is causing Boston’s citizens to take up arms and anyone sympathizing with the British soldiers in America was in danger. Amid the turmoil that is Boston Lizzie must decide where she stands.

So as you can see, definitely a great series for young girls.

As always, I try to look for a great deal.  I shopped around and found that Walmart.com is the cheapest place for this series right now, priced a little over $6 for each 4 in 1 book.  I went ahead and grabbed the other ones that I didn’t buy yesterday and I plan to give them to my daughter throughout the year.  Definitely pleased with this series.

Just wanted to share in case anyone else is looking for some great books for your preteen.

I’d also love to hear more suggestions on great books for young girls or boys.  Leave a comment and tell me what your kids like!

I love making Chex Mix.  It’s super easy, fun, and tasty.  My friends at Platefull Co-op send me a goodie box filled with everything needed to make Tropical Island Chex Mix.  I took about 15 minutes yesterday and now we have a yummy snack!

With all the fun tropical ingredients, it takes you to those fun summer days filled with lemonade, ice cream, and laughter.  With the warm winter weather we’ve been having lately, I’d say we aren’t too far from summer anyways 😉

Ingredients:

• 8  cups Rice Chex® cereal
• 1   cup shredded coconut, if desired
• 1   cup dried banana chips
• 1   package (7 oz) dried tropical fruit mix
• 1   jar (3 oz) macadamia nuts
• 3   tablespoons butter or margarine
• 1/4    cup packed brown sugar
• 1/4    cup frozen (thawed) pineapple or orange juice concentrate

Directions:

In microwavable measuring cup, microwave butter uncovered on High about 30 seconds or until melted. Stir in brown sugar and pineapple juice concentrate. Microwave uncovered on High about 30 seconds or until hot; stir. Pour over cereal mixture, stirring until evenly coated. Microwave uncovered on High 6 to 8 minutes, stirring every 2 minutes, until mixture just begins to brown.Spread on waxed paper or foil to cool. Store in airtight container.

OR

Oven Directions: Heat oven to 300°F. In ungreased large roasting pan, mix cereal, coconut, banana chips, tropical fruit mix and nuts. In 1-quart saucepan, heat butter, brown sugar and pineapple juice concentrate over medium heat until hot. Pour over cereal mixture, stirring until evenly coated. Bake uncovered 30 minutes, stirring after 15 minutes. Spread on waxed paper or foil to cool, about 15 minutes. Store in airtight container.

Interested in making some?  Stop by Publix for the ingredients and grab this coupon:

11/14—12/31: Save $1.00 off 2 Chex cereals, find coupon in the “All The Trimmings” coupon booklet, available now until 12/31/13 in Publix stores.

* Disclaimer: The recipe and ingredients for this yummy snack were provided by General Mills through Platefull Co-Op.

If you have a twitter account, did you know you can make money with sponsored tweets?  You’re able to accept or decline opportunities.  So far I’ve had one for Otterpops and another this morning for Beggin’ dog snacks.  Nothing to get rich on, but a nice little extra every once in a while!  If you have a twitter account, give it a try and see what opportunities you can score.

• Sign Up
• Pick Your Price
• Tweet
• Get Paid via Paypal

On Tuesday, December 10th, The Cheesecake Factory will be opening at the Mall of Georgia in Buford.  They had a test run this past week and invited me to come in and check them out.  I had never been to The Cheesecake Factory before and my husband is a huge fan of cheesecake so we gave it a try.

Once inside, the kids all wanted to stop and stare drool over the variety of cheesecakes.  And yes, hubby and I were admiring them as well.

We were given menus to choose from and I chose the Crusted Chicken Romano.  So super tasty and there was so much food, I took most of it home for another day!  My husband had the Bang Bang Shrimp entree and he loved that as well.  Kids gobbled down some macaroni and cheese, which was also very tasty!

Now for the part I know ya’ll are wanting to hear about.  The Cheesecake.  We chose the TOASTED MARSHMALLOW S’MORES GALORE™, REESE’S® PEANUT BUTTER CHOCOLATE CAKE CHEESECAKE, and the CHOCOLATE TUXEDO CREAM® CHEESECAKE.  Oh my stars, they were fantastic!  The Tuxedo one was our favorite out of the 3 that we tried.  The chocolatey goodness cannot be described!  Then next was the S’mores one.  The Reese’s was a little rich for my tastes, but my husband enjoyed it.

It was such an incredibly fun outing and we can’t wait to go back.  We definitely plan to go back after the grand opening.

If you plan to go to The Cheesecake Factory, or plan to give a giftcard as a gift, be sure and head to their website to take advantage of this hot deal.  For every $25 in giftcards that you purchase, you get a free slice of cheesecake!  I just bought a $50 giftcard to give as a gift and we scored 2 free slices!  YAY!  The free slices can be redeemed 1/1/14-3/30/14.

Have you been to The Cheesecake Factory?  What were your thoughts?

I love making gifts in a jar for friends and family.  It’s a nice way to give a heartfelt gift without breaking the bank too much.  One that is simple to make is this Peppermint Hot Chocolate Mix.  You can put it together fairly quickly and make several at once in order to have plenty of gifts to go around.    It’s a simple way to show your loved ones that you care!

Supplies needed are powdered milk, cocoa powder, sugar, salt, chocolate chips, candy canes, and mini marshmallows.

Once made, you can even print the little gift tags HERE to label your jars so your friends know what to do with the mix.  One jar approximately 6 servings.