Long time lost

I've been gone for a long time her. I kind of let this blog die in obscurity. I actually really needed to write, but I've just been so overwhelmed that i kept putting it off. So here I am. I'm back.

So much has happened in the last year and change.
  * We moved from Maryland to California
  * Morgen started a new job
  * Tabitha started kindergarten and loves it
  * Eva has started talking
  * I am going back to school after a 5 year absence
  * We are in the process of trying to buy a house.

Its been a crazy busy year. We are still trying to get the girls into ABA therapy, while Morgen has a great job, the insurance that comes with it is awful. I'm also working on getting Eva speech therapy through the school district, because while she has started talking she is still at about an 18 month level and she is almost 3 and a half.
I decided to go back to school this summer. I'm going to Gavalin Community College and working on a triple major in Digital Media, Marketing and Computer Science. I'm really excited about this.
I don't want to say much about buying a house just yet, but we are hoping by the end of the year.

I've been running non stop for about 2 years, and now that Tabitha has started school, I think I may really start to have time to work on some of the crafty projects I have been putting off. Tabitha picked out some cute peacock fabric and wants a poofy late 50's early 60's style dress a la Betty Draper. She also needs a bunch of church dresses, and she only wants to wear skirts and dresses for ply so I'll be working on a lot of those this summer, and hopefully getting those blogged. I am really hoping this won't be the last post for a long time, but that remains to be seen.


Teresa

Long summer break

Hey ya'll! I know its been a while. We've had a long an interesting summer and I haven't had much time to myself lately. At the end of May we moved from Idaho to Maryland, leaving behind all our friends for a new journey. Its been a rough transition. Eva is taking it all in stride being only 18 months old now, but Tabitha has had a hard time. She misses her friends. I've had a rough time as well. I miss my friends. I miss having such an awesome support structure. I also really miss Rexburg. I miss the feel of it. Everyone was a member of the church, you weren't bombarded with inappropriate clothing or language everywhere you go. You didn't have to navigate the hundreds of people smoking at every exit, everywhere you go. There was also the feeling of community. Almost everyone in our complex would spend the afternoons outside chasing our kids together and helping each other out. I really miss that.
Maryland is beautiful. The trees are amazing, I love that there are little ponds everywhere. I love that there is so much historical significance to teach my kids. I love that I can take them to the smithsonian and teach and show them so many things I couldn't have back in Idaho. I have better medical care for Tabitha here. We have started the process to get Tabitha into ABA therapy and into preschool. There are so many programs that will help her that we couldn't get back in Idaho. Morgen has a great job. He just finished his training and will soon be starting actual work, which he is excited about.
I haven't had much time or a place to sew and most of my stuff is still back in Idaho in our storage unit, which is kind of a pain.
I really hope to get back to crafting, and writing soon. I pulled out a dress that I started when Tabitha was 18 months old. I will hopefully finish it soon so Eva can wear it. I have actually made a different version of this dress (its my own pattern) before and I have been wanting to write a pattern for it so you all could make one too so that is my current goal.
When we moved to Maryland from Idaho we couldn't come out first to find a place so we had to hope that we would find something good like we did when we moved to Idaho. Unfortunately it didn't work out that way. We ended up in an awful place that was dirty and starting to fall apart. We were able to move again to a much nicer place but it was a stressful move and cost all we had to make a second move.
We are trying to get settled now and will hopefully get back to our regular routine soon.

Not that this has anything to do with the post, its just a fun picture we took before leaving rexburg. 

Playtime! A WAHM event at EG Baby Design Review and Giveaway!

Do your kids like to play kitchen? I know mine do. Tabitha loves to go into her little kitchen and pretend to make us cakes and cookies and drinks. I remember playing chef when I was little, its an important time n a child's life. EG Baby Design has teamed up with some other awesome WAHM buisnesses and created the event Playtime: In the Kitchen, which will run April 28-May 26th. They have a ton of amazing finds for your little ones.

 Here are some of my favorite items for sale:

The Wooden Cookie Baking set by Kat and Company

The Tiny Breakfast Chef set by EG Baby Design

The Deluxe Sandwich set by Little Picklepottomus. 

The Little Sweet Orange Set by EG Baby Design. 

There are tons of other cute things in this special sale for kids of all ages. And the best part is that the prices aren't out of this world. I've seen adorable kitchen stuff like this before and they were all over priced but these are great quality and an affordable price. 

How would you like to win something from this awesome event? EG Baby Design is giveing one lucky Crafting in My Closet Reader a Sweet Oranges Tiny Chef set of a diaper and a chef hat! 

How cute is this?!

Ready to enter?

a Rafflecopter giveaway

I was not compensated for this post. All views are my own.

What I've been doing...

Hey guys! Sorry its been so long since I've posted. We have had a lot going on. We've been working with Tabitha to try to get her outbursts under control and are trying some aromatherapy with her that seems to help a lot. We've also been experimenting with her diet and have found some foods make her act out more than others.
This is what else we've been up to:

The girls and I have been spending a lot of time together. I've been trying to get us outside as much as possible whenever its not raining. 

Morgen GRADUATED from BYUI (well not technically, he still has to finish his senior project and do his internship, so he technically graduates in July but he walked this month so we wouldn't have to come back)

More playing outside. The girls each got some money from their grandpa Bob so they got new baby strollers, and they love them. 

I've actually managed to get some sewing done but no tutorials. I did come up with a fun new dress that I may do a tutorial for soon, however thats it in the left corner. I wasn't paying attention and I messed up the bubble skirt so I have to take it apart and fix it. 

See that pile o boxes? Its because we are MOVING! Oh my gosh moving stinks! I've been going through everything and we are selling a lot before we move. We are selling all the baby stuff except for clothes, as well as furniture, toys, and a bunch of my clothes. Our house is full of boxes and I am working hard to try to get all this ready before we move on May 25. Thats right we have one month! 

Where are we moving you ask?

Thats right we are moving to Maryland!! 

Why? Because Morgen got a Kick A job! Woot!!! He applied for an internship but was offered an awesome job instead and BYUI is going to count the first few months as an internship!

We are super excited but a little nervous too. I know a friend in DC and my grandfather lives in Maryland, but we don't really know anyone there. But I'm hoping it will be just as awesome as when we moved from CA to Idaho. We were nervous. We knew one other couple. But we made some amazing friends, friends I'm really sad to leave. Tabitha has some Awesome little friends and I've made some Amazing Mommy Friends who I know I will be life long friends with. So here's to new adventures! I hope I will start having more time to blog now that morgen is out of school and has pretty regular hours. My goal right now will be to blog once a week. So I hope you all stay with me! 

Interactive plush pals review

I don't know about your kids, but mine LOVE music. Tabitha sings all day and loves to listen to music. So I was excited to have the opportunity to try the Interactive Plush Pal Freddie Frog from Viatek. These cute animals are a fun new way to listen to music for kids and adults. Tabitha is a huge fan of Phineas and Ferb, so I plugged freddie into the headphone jack of my ipod and put on some music for her. The first time I tried it Tabitha was sleeping and it was just Eva up with me. Eva was freaked out and started crying, but by the next morning she was interested in it and kept trying to make it sing. Tabitha thought it was so funny to see the frog singing one of her favorite songs.

The Viatek Interactive Plush pals come in three varieties, Freddie the Frog, Patch the Dog, and Manny the Monkey. All three are adorable and sure to be a fun way for kids to listen to music. The speaker is really good quality too. You can even plug the interactive pals into your smart phone's headphone jack and watch as Freddie the frog talks for your friends!

There are a few things I would change about this product. First its very top heavy. It falls over fairly easily. So with small kids I had to keep putting it back upright every time they touched it. Its not really a problem if you put it out of small kids reach. Also I would either like it to have a pocket to put your ipod/phone in or a longer cord. The Cord is not very long and as we were trying to let my 3 year old play with it, the 1 year old kept grabbing the cord and pulling the ipod away. It would be nice to be able to put your ipod/phone in a pocket on the back so that there were no cords hanging out to get caught up on. The cord issue aside I think this is a really fun toy and we will definitely be using it for our daughter when she wants to listen to music in the future.

The Interactive pets take 3 AAA batteries which are not included and retails for $39.99.
I received the Viatek Interactive Pal Freddie the Frog for the purpose of reviewing this toy and all views are my own.
This post was originally featured on Mommygaga.com as a guest post.

a range of emotions

When you have kids you start out thinking that your kid will be president or a Dr and all you see is endless possibility. Babies are endless possibility, they are joy, and love and passion. They are dreams come true and all you want is for their dreams to come true. All you want is for your children to be happy and fulfilled. Every parent thinks their kid is specials and gonna change the world. I've always known Tabitha was special, every time she did anything new I always thought she was the smartest kid in the world. She was the best kid ever and after waiting for her for so long she was the perfect kid. Tabitha is my sunshine, she is the light that came from darkness. She is what I waited so long for. But for the last year her light has had a cloud over it. One I had a hard time dealing with. She has had violent fits, crying outbursts, she changed from my happy sweet girl. I took her to the dr time and time again, but they just said moodiness was normal, she was fine. They blew me off time and again. But I knew something was wrong. Every day I watched her grow further and further away from us, that she was changing.
We dealt with the fits and the violent outbursts, we started pulling away from our friends. We stayed home and stopped doing play dates for fear that Tabitha would hurt someone with one of her fits. We started noticing that when someone got hurt she showed no empathy, she would say sorry and give a hug out of some sort of memorized protocol. We noticed that she wouldn't look people in the eye and when she did catch their eye she would freak out. A few months ago she was tested at preschool, and she was tested at an almost 9 year old receptive vocabulary, but she can't use it, and she gets very frustrated when she can't express herself.
There are other things that we noticed, and we tried talking to drs about, but it was just the same old song and dance from them. I finally decided to switch drs. About two weeks ago I took Tabitha to our new dr to talk about what was going on. Things had been getting worse with her for some time. I had bruises, bloody noses, and dislocated fingers to show for it. I'd had enough, I needed answers. I was tired of being afraid of my child, and afraid for her. I needed help.
I sat down with her dr and discussed my concerns and fears.I finally found someone who would listen. I finally found someone who agreed that her fits were not that of a normal 3 1/2 year old. Then he said what I feared he would say. Tabitha is on the autism spectrum. I think I knew for a while, but I had convinced myself it was something else, maybe bipolar or something like that. Something that can be "fixed" with medicine. I wasn't surprised, but I did cry when I got to the car with the girls. I had a hard time not believing it was my fault. With all the junk science, blaming mothers for having epidurals, and c-sections, and vaccinating their children. Even though I know its not my fault, I still blame myself. I think its natural for parents to think anything that happens to their kids is their fault. But while we have been waiting to meet with the therapist and get some diagnostic tests done on Tabitha, I finally stopped thinking that this was something that "happened" to Tabitha, and started realizing that there's nothing "wrong" with my daughter, her brain just works different than other kids.
For the past two weeks Morgen has been trying some tactics he learned from ABA therapy when he used to worked with a friends son who has autism. They seem to be working. Tonight we met with the therapist, he asked lots of questions and listened to our concerns. He stopped short of saying she is autistic, but said he believed she is on the spectrum. She is high functioning, and he said she seems like with the right interventions, she will be ok. We will go back next week for more evaluations, and to talk about our next steps.
I have a range of emotions going through me for the last two weeks. I'm scared, I worry that people wont be accepting of Tabitha, that she will be shunned because shes a little weird and she freaks out at things most kids would let roll off their backs. I'm happy that we are on a path to helping her. The only thing I want in this life is for my children to be happy. I will do whatever it takes to make my children happy. Now that i have some sense of how to help her, I know we will all be ok.
Over the last few weeks, we haven't told too many people about whats going on. But of the few people we have told almost all have been really supportive. They have been true friends. They have been there for me, and they have loved Tabitha and they have been a shoulder for me to cry on. I'm thankful for our friends who have helped us. I'm thankful for the friends who helped me talk through this, who have shown me what real friends are. There are a lot of emotions going though me, there are a lot of unknowns in our future, but one thing I do know, is that Tabitha is loved.

Tommee Tieppee Review

Last month I was sent some awesome Tommee Tippee products for Eva to try out. We already knew my kids were Tommee Tippee fans. Tabitha would only take their binkies when she was little and when she started taking sippy cups I could never find any that she couldn't bang on the floor and make a mess with. Until we found the Tommee Tippee explora straw cups. Tabitha loved those cups and so did I. No matter how hard she banged on the ground with them, they didn't leak. They were easy to clean by popping out the inner seal and putting the small pieces in the basket in the dishwasher.

When Eva came along I tried every bottle I could with her and like Tabtiha she was not a fan. I finally got her to take a bottle when we tried the Tommee Tippee Sensitive tummy bottles. She is not a fan of any binkies except the Tommee Tippe ones so when I got the box of items from Tommee Tippee I was excited to see what they had sent me.

 In the box where two kinds of sippy cups, the truely spill-proof trainer cup girl cups, and the closer to nature first sips weaning cup. We hadn't used any sippy cups up till 10 months because Eva had no interest in sippys. Eva loves both of these cups. We started with the first sips weaning cup because it seemed to be the easier for Eva to use. She took to it right away. She loves these cups. The closer to nature first sips weaning cup really is a non spill drinking cup. Even with everything Eva can throw at it it doesn't leak. The first sips weaning cup is designed to ease the transition from bottle to cup drinking (although Eva is breastfed, it was a great first cup for her). It has a patented advance-flo technology for easy drinking, with ta super-soft and sensitive spout with flexible ribs. It has a 5 fl oz capacity. This cup is BPA and Phthalate free. The awesome part is the cup base is interchangeable with closer to nature nipples. And the best part it has a hygiene cap that will cover the spout when it falls on the floor! This cup is recommended for babies 4 months +.

 As far as the Truely Spill-proof trainer it took a little longer for her to warm up to this cup. This cup being a truly spill-proof cup is harder to suck out of so its not for young babies or for babies first sippy. Its best if they know how to use a sippy for this one. But now that Eva has the whole using a sippy down she loves these cups. I fill one half way with water every day and just leave it for her. She likes to crawl over to it and take a sip every once in a while, she also loves to carry it around with her around the house. Tommee Tippee is our go to sippy cup around here. Until Tabitha stopped using straw cups we only used Tommee Tippee cups for her. The Truely Spill Proof Trainer holds 9 fl oz. It has a dura spout: a soft touch spout for younger teeth. Its guaranteed easy to drink and hold. The lid is interchangeable with all Easiflow cups specifically for baby's age and stages. These cups are for babies age 6 months +. They are super easy to clean and are dishwasher and microwave safe. I will continue to use Tommee Tippee cups for Eva as she gets bigger.

The other thing that was included in the package from Tommee Tippee were two different Chewthers. First was the Closer to Nature Chewther stage 1. This is a really cool Chewther/teether. The Chewther Teether stage 1 was scientifically developed in association with a leading authority in pediatric sedentary. It is designed to support lip, jaw and muscle development. Chewther teethers are supposed to help with the pain associated with teething, and I think they do a pretty good job! Eva loves this teether. I didn't even realize she was getting a tooth in till I thought about the fact that she has had this thing in her mouth non stop for a few days. She hasn't been fussy but she has just been happily chewing on this Chewther.

Here's some of the features of the Chewther stage 1 teether:

Helps prepare baby for thicker liquids
Supports jaw, lip and muscle development
Supports oral development
Self soothe - sized and shaped for your baby to stimulate and develop gums
Speech development - helps develop lip seal and muscle coordination for speech development
Progressive feeding - encourages jaw and muscle coordination appropriate for each feeding stage
Tooth care - textured surfaces help care for fragile new teeth
BPA free

With Tabitha I tried a ton of different teethers and none of them worked. With Tabitha we mostly used teething tablets and that worked well but I could tell she wanted something to chew on and none of the teething rings or anything I could find worked for her. I'm so happy I have these new Tommee Tippee teethers for Eva to try.

The second teether they sent us is the Closer to Nature Dual Ended Teether. It has two different shaped teethers on each end to sooth the pain associated with teething. Eva likes to hold on to one end while she has the other end in her mouth as she cruises around the living room. This teether is must for long car drives too. Eva Loves it and so do I. Some of the benefits of the Closer to Nature Dual Ended Chewther are:
Helps prepare baby to chew pureed foods,
Supports jaw, lip and muscle development.
Suppoorts oral development
Self sooth-sized and shaped for baby to stimulate and develop gums.
Speech development- helps develop lip seal and muscle coordination for speech development.
Progressive feeding- encourages jaw and muscle coordination appropriate for each feeding stage.
Tooth Care- textured surfaces help care for fragile new teeth.
And its BPA Free!
The Tommee Tippee Closer to Nature Dual Ended Chewther is recommended for babies 4+ months.

This is yet again another win for Tommee Tippee! I've yet to find a Tommee Tippee product that hasen't totally nailed it! Tommee Tippee products are sold at Babies R Us and Target.

The Tommee Tippee Closer to Nature Dual Ended Chewther retails for $6.99.
The Tommee Tippee Explora truly spill-proof trainer  retails for $8.49 for a 2 pk.
The Tommee Tippee Closer to Nature Stage 1 Chewther retails for $6.99.
The Tommee Tippee Closer to Nature first sips weaning cup retails for $6.99.

I received these products free in order to facilitate my review. I would never recommend a product I myself would not use for my children. 

Thankful Thursday: Morgen

There are a lot of things I am thankful for, but this week I have come to the realization of just how thankful I am for Morgen. Morgen has been gone for a week for interviews, its been pretty rough on the girls. Tabitha is such a daddies girl and she is having a hard time with him being gone. I have been really sad without Morgen here. He comes home tomorrow night and I couldn't be more excited. Saturday is Evangeline's birthday and I am looking forward to spending time with my family. I Love my family and my husband more than anything and I'm so very thankful for him.

 

 

Thankful Thursday. 9 pm

Today I'm thankful for 9 pm. Tabitha is in bed at 7:45 most nights. Then I come down and nurse Eva on the couch. This is my time to spend with just her. I also get to watch something that isn't animated which is awesome. Morgen and I get to talk without hearing "mommy! Mommy! Mommy! I'm trying to talk to you!" The second we open our mouths. It's not that we don't love talking to Tabitha because we do. It's just nice to have adult conversations too. So today I'm thankful for 9 pm. Tabitha is asleep in her room. Eva is asleep on my chest and I get to lay on the couch and watch alias. Not bad at all. Oh and I get to watch morgen do a little dance to the end credit music which is awesome ;)

Thankful Thursday! 1/10/13

So I missed last week. Its not that I wasn't thankful, but I was having fun playing with the girls and forgot what day it was! so that was last week.
What am I thankful for this week? BYUI R School Preschool. That's Tabitha's school and it has been such an amazing blessing to our family. Tabitha is growing so much and is totally thriving there. the teachers are wonderful especially Tabitha's head teacher this last semester miss Valerie. She was one of Tabitha's teachers her first semester as well and Tabitha really bonded with her. We are sad that she won't be teaching Tabitha this semester, but know she has a higher calling now. She will be serving her mission for the church, and Tabitha is very excited to write to her on her mission.
This Tuesday some of Tabitha's new teachers are coming over to meet us and get to know Tabitha. We are excited for this semester to begin for her. She loves preschool and we are looking forward to how much she grows this semester. I'm sad that this is our last semester at R school because we are leaving after this semester for Morgen's internship. I will always treasure Tabitha's time at the R school preschool. It has been a major blessing for us and I am forever grateful.

Tabitha with her teacher Miss Valerie during their concert with their instruments they made in class.

memorable wedding moment? Win a 2nd honeymoon

Do you have an awesome wedding moment? Do you have it on tape? Well its your lucky day! Moderngreetings.com is giving one lucky couple a second honeymoon! This is their 4th second honeymoon contest, and this time its all about those of you who videotaped your wedding! (don't worry if you didn't tape your wedding there is still a chance for you to win, read on to find out more)

How to enter: Contestants must upload a video of your most memorable wedding moment OR (if you don’t have a video from your wedding) you can create a video where you explain your most memorable wedding moment. The winner will be decided on votes this time, so you are encouraged to share your entry and encourage your friends and family to vote for your video.

The contestants will enter and upload their videos through the contest tab onMdrngreetings.com's facebook page. If you choose to create a video, Moderngreetings.com suggests you use a smartphone or webcam for ease of shooting and uploading…they don’t expect them to be cinema quality videos.

Contest runs January 4- January 10th! So get to it!

Disclosure: I was compensated by moderngreetings.com for sharing this information with you. I wouldn't share anything spammy or that I didn't think was worth your time. 

Thankful

Happy New Year!
I Hope you all had a wonderful holiday and life is calming down after the rush of the holiday season. We went to Arizona for Christmas to spend time with my family which was fun and stressful going to see family always is. My tire poped on the way down and we will need to have some work done but I'm very thankful to my parents for all their help in dealing with our car issues.
Every New Years you see everyone talking about their resolutions and then a month or two later breaking those resolutions. I'm guilty. I have all these plans every year about what I want to accomplish but never follow through. This year I decided to focus on one thing. I chose a word. One thing I could focus on all year. My word of the year is Thankful.
Its so easy to be negative. Its easy to forget to count your blessings, Its easy to get caught up in what you don't have, whats gone wrong or whose wronged you. But If you can remember to count your blessings, even in hard times, you will be better for it. So that is my one goal for this year. to be Thankful. To count my blessings when things are going wrong. To remember all I have and be grateful for what God has blessed me with.
I have an amazing husband who loves me and who I love more than anything. He is funny and smart and sweet. He loves me despite my major flaws and works hard to take care of me and the girls. I am so very thankful for him.
I have a crazy, sweet, funny, outgoing three and a half year old who drives me crazy and makes me laugh more than anyone ever. We waited almost 5 years for her and she was worth the wait. We went through testing, rude drs, fertility treatments, a phone nurse who told me I had miscarried when I hadn't and all of it was worth it. I couldn't imagine my life without that crazy girl. She is my Sunshine, she lights up our home with her infectious laughter. She is incredibly smart, she is inquisitive, brave, loyal, funny, beautiful, and loving. I Love Tabitha and I am so grateful that I get to be her mom.
I have a sweet, inquisitive, happy baby girl who loves to cuddle. She is smart, and inquisitive. She Likes to wait till Tabitha makes noise to distract us and and she will quietly move like the wind and get what she wants. Shes our little stealth baby. She brings us so much joy and her laughter is beautiful. We had to use fertility treatments for Eva just like Tabitha. We were told we were losing Eva at 7 weeks because they thought she should be bigger. Yet again the dr's were wrong and we have the opportunity to be her parents.
I am thankful for the knowledge that we will be a family forever. That because Morgen and I got married in the Temple we are sealed for time and all eternity. I am thankful for the gospel of Jesus Christ. That he sacrificed for us and we have all that we do because of heavenly Father's love for us.
I'm Thankful for the fact that we have 9 am church this year. I know its early, but it will make it so Eva can still take her naps and that is great.
I am Thankful for my family.
I am Thankful for my friends.
I am Thankful for all of you who read my blog. You all are the reason I am here.
This year I am going to try to write a post every Thursday about what I'm Thankful for that week. Some weeks it may just be I'm thankful for a full nights sleep. But its important to remember the little things too.
If you want to join me each week I would love to know what you are thankful for too.

What I'm most Thankful for is my Forever Family. 

Lucky 13 Giveaway hop

Welcome to the LUCKY ’13 New Years Giveaway Hop hosted by BloggerPR! In order to kickoff 2013 with a BANG, BloggerPR has organized an event to celebrate the new year with some amazing prizes! Each of our amazing  bloggers are giving away a prize valued at $20 or more.  This event will run from December 29th until January 12th, which gives you plenty of time to hop down the linky list below. Good Luck & Happy New Year!

I am excited to be providing the winner of the Lucky 13 giveaway on Crafting in My Closet a pair of Sarah boots from BearPaw!! i love these AWESOME boots! Oh my gosh so freaking warm! These boots will be staying on my feet all winter here in Idaho! These boots are so soft, so warm and so comfortable. I love these boots. I have snow boots, but thse are so amazingly warm and I never want to take them off. 
The Sarah boot retails for $84.99. 

I got these boots in charcoal grey and seriously I don't want to take them off! These boots are 10" tall, made from cow suede upper and have 3 toggle buttons on the ankle. The lining is made of sheepskin and wool blend, and they have a classic low profile rubber wedge outsole. 

Make sure you like bearpaw on facebook for all the information about their awesome shoes.

Disclosure: I received a pair of Bear Paw Sarah boots in order to facilitate this review. All views are my own. I was not compensated in any other way for this review. All views are my own. 

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Make sure you enter the other great giveaways! <!– start InLinkz script –> <!– end InLinkz script –>

Modern greetings second honeymoon twitter contest.

Hey all, Remember a few weeks ago when I told you all about the second honeymoon contest on moderngreetings.com? Well guess what? They are doing it again! How exciting is that? Moderngreetings.com is doing a great contest this time. For all you twitter lovers here's what you need to do, tweet to @moderngreeting (no “s” at the end of the twitter handle) about how your significant other proposed to you and hashtag it with #MGTakeUsAway, then you must go to the moderngreetings.com facebook page and complete the submission form. It’s important to note that you MUST also fill out the submission form on their Facebook page to be eligible to win. Moderngreetings.com will then pick their favorite proposal story tweet and the winner will be awarded the Second Honeymoon Trip to the destination of their choice. Moderngreetings.com is also asking that all of you encourage your friends and family to retweet your proposal story tweet to increase your odds.

Hurry you only have Till January 4th to enter!

Disclosure: I was compensated for this post by Moderngreetings.com

Review: John Deere by Uncle Milton

Do you have a little one who likes to get dirty, collects bugs and rocks, loves animals? Well Uncle Milton has you covered. Uncle Milton has a great new line of John Deere toysfor the little farmer in all our kids. Uncle Milton sent me 4 products to try out from the new John Deere toy line.

First they sent me the John Deere BugJug. This is a cute little jug that you can use to catch bugs and look at them with a magnifying glass. Tabitha not being a huge fan of bugs was excited to use it to look at ladybugs. Tabitha and her friends had fun collecting all the bugs and watching them walk around the bug jug. The bug jug was easy to put together and would be a lot of fun for a child who likes nature and bugs and wants to get a closer look. After trying it out with Tabitha I gave it to my 5 year old niece who is really into nature and I hope she gets more use out of it in LA than we would in Idaho (where it snows 6 months out of the year). (unfortunately I took a bunch of pictures of Tabitha playing with this then my computer crashed and now its too cold for bug catching)

Next we got to try out the John DeereFarm Dough. This was Tabitha's favorite toy that we got from Uncle Milton. It comes in a yellow container that is covered with a rubber tire tread. It comes with some brown Farm dough, a chicken and pig toy and some vegetable toys. This thing is great. It keeps Tabitha entertained for hours on end and she is always asking to play with it. It is recommended for children 4+ (Tabitha is 3 ½ ). Keep an eye on those little tiny vegetables that come with it, they are small and can cause a choking hazard. I make Tabitha play with it at the table with some paper or the cheap table cloth under it. The smell of the dough is a little off putting. But it doesn't seem to bother Tabitha at all.

Next we tried the John Deere Mini FarmProjector. Tabitha my little flashlight obsessed kid who is also a huge fan of animals thought this was an amazing little toy. She enjoys switching the lenses so that she can see all the different animals. She is having a lot of fun playing with it, but because there are so many different pieces I have taken to making her put them all in a plastic bag when she is done so that she doesn't lose any pieces and her little sister doesn't put them in her mouth. The Farm Projector comes with 6 different farm animal images, and needs 3 button batteries that come with it. It says it is best for 4+ but Tabitha has no problem working it.

The last item we were sent is the JohnDeere Chick hatchers. Now these I was not a fan of. They say you put the egg in a cup of room temperature water. The egg is supposed to crack and let out the chick fairly quickly. I put the egg is slightly warmer than room temperature water. It sat there for over 18 hours, before I got annoyed and put it in hot water because the egg hadn't even cracked. After putting it in very hot water the egg started to crack after an hour. The chick began to expand, but it really smelled awful and was slimy. When the chick looked to be done expanding, I took it out of the water but the smell of formaldehyde was so strong that I couldn't give it to Tabitha. We tried washing it to get the nasty smell off but it wouldn't come off and Morgen and I weren't comfortable giving that to Tabitha.

The John Deere line also has an ant farm for kids 6 and up.

I Love Uncle Milton products and with the exception of the egg hatcher I would buy all of these products again.

Disclaimer: I was provided these toys for the purpose of this post. I was not compensated in any other way. All views are my own. 

Little break

Hey all, I'm taking a little break. Things are very crazy with hubby in school and trying to get Christmas stuff done. I will be working on the girls dresses this week and some presents and will hopefully have some tutorials up next week!

See you all soon!!

Win a second honeymoon from Moderngreetngs.com

Where did you go for your honeymoon? Morgen and I went to Hawaii and it was Amazing. We got married in November (our anniversary is today actually) but we went on our honeymoon in January. It was awesome. Not tourist season, and we had so much fun. I would love to go back. If I could go on a second honeymoon now, I would probably go to Lake Tahoe, or Disneyland. Both are a lot of fun and both are perfect for us.

So how would you like to win a second honeymoon? Well thanks to moderngreetings.com you can! Now through December 6th ModernGreetings.com is holding a Facebook photo contest for a funny wedding photo. The winner will be the photo that gets the most likes. Go here to start your entry. Once you enter your email address you will be automatically redirected to the contest app on their facebook page which will have all the directions and terms and conditions. To enter the Facebook photo contest. Upload the funniest picture from your wedding, Caption it with the story behind the photo and why you deserve to win, submit your photo, share your photo with family and friends to get them to vote. Its that easy.

This is the first of 4 contests (I'll be telling you about each of the other 3 contests as they begin so keep an eye on the blog,) and each contest will have one winner who will win a second honeymoon valued up to $3000! You may enter all 4 contests but can only win once. Each contest you enter will award you with one $5 voucher for moderngreetings.com, so if you enter all 4 contests you will have $20 voucher to moderngreetings.com.

So what are you waiting for? Hurry and go enter to win your dream second honeymoon!

I was compensated to write this post. All views are my own.

Foodie Friday: moms casserole

So I know I'm kind of late for foodie Friday but well life gets in the way and I'm gonna do it on Saturday.

Growing up my mom made this great easy casserole. It was all stuff she had in the pantry usually (well a few fridge items as well) and it was quick and easy. Since we have been trying to east less caned food and more fresh food I've updated my moms recipe using fresh foods.

Chicken casserole

2 large boneless skinless chicken breasts
1 package of waky Mac colored spiral pasta. I've found a few versions that have a full serving of vegetables in the noodles which is awesome.
1 package fresh sliced mushrooms
1 bag frozen organic mixed veggies (carrots, green beans, peas, corn and potatoes)
1 can olives (large)
1 can cream of mushroom soup (or if you make your own that's even better. I plan to start making my own)
8 oz sour cream
1 cup bread crumbs
1/2 cup Parmesan cheese
2 tablespoons of butter

1. Cook the chicken and cut it into cubes
2. Cook the pasta according to package directions
3. Mix pasta, vegetables, chicken, cream of mushroom, sour cream, and olives and spread in 9x12 pan
4. Melt butter
5. Mix butter, bead crumbs and Parmesan cheese until completely coated and lumpy.
6. Spread bread crumb mixture over pasta mixture
7. Cook at 350 for 45 minutes

This is one of our go to fall/winter meals. It's filling and oh so good

Enjoy!

Sickness

The plague seems to have invaded my house again. I'm totally sick. Eva is sick. Morgen is sick. And Tabitha, well Tabitha is trying her best to convince me she isn't sick. She doesn't want to miss story time and preschool tomorrow. We shall see. But today, she spent the day crying over nothing, or curled up on my lap while we zoned infront of the tv.
I had a total crappy mom day where I let her watch wonder pets and eat dry cereal all day. I then made hotdogs for dinner. Just hotdogs. No buns. No vegetables. No salad. Yea. I'm awesome like that. Tabitha asked for more chex with her hotdog. Sure why not.
Then about an hour and a half before bedtime I lost it. Tabitha had hit me in the stomach with some grabbing toy and I had had enough. He had been trying to force me to play some game as I was trying desperately not to puke all over the living room. I told her to go to timeout. In the span of 5 minutes, Tabitha refused to go to timeout, lost all three of her stories, hit me again and got taken to her room. I got her ready for bed and she passed out. That is how I know she's sick. An hour before bed she was out cold with no fight. Although she woke up at 9:30 (my bad, I went to check on her an accidentally woke her) and she started asking to come to my bed( nope once you get your own bed there is no coming back to mine). We got her back to bed, but I think we will be containing the plague here in our own home tomorrow rather than preschool and story time.
But at least some of us are cute when we're sick. ( I mean Eva, because its definitely not me!)

Out and About Giveaway!

Welcome to the Out and About Giveaway Hop, Hosted by Crunchy Farm Baby and Crafting in My Closet!  This fabulous group of bloggers has put together some awesome prizes, all consisting of items that are great for mamas and daddies when they're out and about with their little ones!  Our hosts are offering two grand prize packages that you can enter to win on their sites.  Here at Crafting in My Closet, you can enter to win a grand prize pack full of items for babies; and at Crunchy Farm Baby, you can enter to win a grand prize pack full of items for toddlers!  After entering my great giveaway, make sure to head to the linky at the bottom of this post to enter all of the other giveaways!

So What is in the Grand Prize for babies? Let me tell you is is AMAZING!!
Starting with a diaper bag from BabyCake Boutique (My Etsy Store) (Picture coming soon) a $50 value
Then we have an Amber Teething Necklace of your choice from Teething Tots a $23 value

Next we have a New Original ErgoBaby Carrier in Night Sky! a $120 Value (review coming soon)

and Finally we have an Entire Stash of Glow Bug Diapers in winners choice of boy or girl prints! Thats 24 Diapers, 24 inserts and a Wet Bag! AMAZING! (review coming soon) a $300 value!!! 

The baby Grand Prize has a $493 value! 

The Grand Prize package on Crafting in my Closet is open to residents of the US and Canada 18 or older. 

This event will run from November 10th at 12:01am and will end at 11:59pm on November 20th.  Unless otherwise stated on the individual blogs, all participants must be 18+ and live in the US.  

Please make sure to join us for a Twitter Party on November 21st from 9:00-10:00pm EST!  We will be giving away some great prizes during the event, as well as announcing our grand prize winners!  To RSVP to the party, simply enter either one of the grand prize giveaways and more info will be sent to the email address given.  See you there!

This contest is now over! congratulations to our winner Allison Charnesky!