I get to spend every Monday thru Friday with my nephew DJ.I take care of him while his parents are at work. I don’t get to spend as much time with my other nephew AJ. He is in daycare now . I miss him all the time so whenever I have the opportunity to spend time with him and DJ I am beyond happy.

A few days ago I was able to have both of my nephews over. It is so much fun watching how they interact with each other.

AJ is really growing up fast. He does not like to take pictures anymore. If I ask him to say cheese his face goes blank, lol.  He is talking a lot and his favorite word is no. He loves to ask questions too. Whenever AJ comes to my house he is a ball of energy and I love it!

DJ was having a great time playing with his cousin, he was full of laughs and smiles.  He is seven months now. He is super active and tries to get into everything!

My plan is to spend more time with both of them once school lets out. Schedules will be a little more flexible and it will be nice to take them on outings.

My kids love this day. We already like to play jokes on each other and we love to have a good laugh. As long as no one gets hurt and it is good natured I don’t mind pranks.

I used to participate in April Fool’s Day when I was younger, but now I leave it to the kids. Of course I forgot it was April 1st so the kids got me a few times. The washing machine hose came off and water is going everywhere, someone is at the door, someone called. Stuff like that.

I don’t even think my kids thought to search the internet for some prank ideas:

• Family Fun Go: everything from April Fool’s Day printables to recipes
• She Knows: Offers classic pranks like putting sugar in the salt container and vice versus. And let’s not forget making a cake out of sponges!
• Parenting.com: Family friendly  jokes including adding food coloring to milk, freeze a bowl of cereal and taking a screenshot of a website (when someone tries to click on it, they will think the computer is frozen).

Earlier today, I came across a site that lists the Top 100 April Fool’s Day Hoaxes. I live in Wisconsin and it was interesting to find out that back in 1933  a newspaper actually printed an article that the Wisconsin State Capitol Collapsed.

Do you pull pranks or have you been pranked today? Do you have a favorite prank?

I have been offline for 3 months. Between health problems and major computer problems, I honestly was not sure if I would even be coming back to blogging.  I am so happy not to be M.I.A anymore.  The only downside is I have a lot of catching up to do. I am going to just take it one thing at a time.

I am looking forward to jumping back in, I definitely missed blogging. During my absence I learned a lot about what I want to do and not do when it comes to blogging and life. There’s going to be a few changes. I am ok with that though. I am trying to learn how to be content with the here and now. Sometimes I am such a rush to be a part of the next new thing, I am forgetting to be present for what is going on now.

Christmas is almost here!! I love this time of year. There is something about all the colorful lights and decorations are just beautiful.  This year it feels like Christmas just snuck up on us. We put up our Christmas tree just last week. Next year I am going to be sure to put the tree right after Thanksgiving. I want to make sure it is up long enough for us to enjoy it.

I am happy to say I am almost done Christmas shopping. My goal is to be completely done by Wednesday. I am talking about having all the wrapping done too. I already have presents for all my in-laws. The kids helped a lot by making a wish list. My husband is the hardest to shop for. Every year he says he doesn’t want a gift but I get him a few anyways. This year I have no idea what to get him. I am hoping the kids can give me some idea.

Have you heard about the Fairy Hobmother? Well the Fairy Hobmother is  from Appliances Online, and she is spreading  joy around the blogging world by granting wishes. I happened to make a wish on another blog and it was granted! I was sent an Amazon gift card to make my wish come through.

When I left a comment with my wish I really thought I did not have a good chance of being chosen. It was hard for me to make a wish because my list is long. I have been saving for new appliances, something like what  Hotpoint offers. It seems like everything is breaking down at the same time. I am hoping to start replacing my appliances in 2012.

Back to the Fairy Hobmother. She told me to tell you guys that she might grant your wish too. All you have to do is leave a comment telling me what your wish is.

Good Luck!

It is easy to get caught up in what’s going on in your life and sometimes forget the little things, like checking your battery on your smoke alarm. An easy way to remember is to test your batteries when it is Daylight Savings Time. For everyone except the residents of Arizona and Hawaii, we changed our clocks back one hour on November 6th.

““For 23 years, Energizer, the IAFC and more than 6,200 fire departments have partnered to educate communities on the importance of home fire safety and having working smoke alarms,” said Michelle Atkinson, Vice President of Marketing for Energizer North America. “By having parents and families actively pledge to change the batteries in their smoke alarms and carbon monoxide detectors, we are hoping they will share the information with their network of friends and hopefully help other families do this simple and life-saving task- now that’s positivenergy™”

The Giveaway

Smoke Alarm and a pack of Energizer Batteries (2 winners)

The prize for this giveaway was provided from the company or its PR agency.

On October 23, 2011, my youngest nephew was born. DJ arrived weighing 8lbs, 5 ounces.

You see all that hair and those eyes? He is so handsome! Both of my brothers have a son named after them so I have an AJ and a DJ!

On October 28th, I reviewed a pair of Fauvette chicBuds. I also mentioned an upcoming giveaway for my readers to win their own pair. Well, today is the day!

The Giveaway

Pair of Fauvette chicBuds

“For more free products and giveaways, go to http://www.facebook.com/chicbuds“ I would greatly appreciate it.

Dreamworks is releasing the movie Real Steel in theatres on October 7, 2011. I saw an advanced screening and it was great! (My review is coming up soon) I am very happy to be hosting a giveaway of a few Real Steel goodies. The goodies are:
- REAL STEEL t-shirt in adult sizes of S, M, L, XL
- REAL STEEL bottle opener
- REAL STEEL stickers
- REAL STEEL temporary tattoos

I don’t think there is a person anywhere who is not familiar with Sesame Street.  My grandmother still mentions the memories she has  of me eating my snacks and watching my favorite characters Big Bird and Mr. Snuffleupagus. I continued the tradition with my own children once I became a mother. Of course by that time a few new characters have been added which include Zoe, Benny Rabbit and Rosita. Without a doubt the love was still there for the residents of Sesame Street.

On September 12th, a new cookbook was released called Sesame Street B is for Baking: 50 Yummy Dishes to Make Together by Susan McQuillan. As a parent, I could not wait to see what was inside, of course Kayla beat me to it. As soon as the book arrived, she grabbed it and started looking through it.

B is for Baking is a cookbook which helps families to bake together.  Each and every recipe provides at the very least, one step that your kids can do. These steps are highlighted with a red circle and a picture of Elmo. I thought that was pretty creative and a great way for kids to spot what they are able to do to help.

Each recipe includes the name of one of the beloved characters of Sesame Street:  Elmo’s Pizza Party, Cookie Monster’s Cookie On a Stick, Ernie’s Corny Corn Pudding and Rosita’s Skillet Cornbread. That would be fun for kids to make something named after their favorite character.

This cookbook covers a lot when it comes to kids and cooking. One part of the book give parents an idea of what type of skills kids in different age ranges should be able to complete.  While this is different for every child, it is a good starting point. Baking safely is also mentioned in a easy to read format for kids. I liked that some how to’s were included like how to cut butter into flour and separate an egg. Kayla learned what it meant to fold ingredients. She had read those words in instructions before but was not sure what that meant. Ingredient and pan substitutions were explained too. It is not something I expected to find but definitely good to know.

B is for Baking breaks the recipes into six different categories:

• Breakfast Bake-off
• Quick Breads and Biscuits
• Main Dishes and Sides
• Puddings and Pies
• Cookies and Bars
• Celebration Cupcakes and Cakes

Every recipe includes a color picture of the finished product. There were also cooking tips and a little information mixed in. For example, there is a recipe for Elmo’s Berry Delicious Blueberry Muffins. One of tips that is shared is about berries. If you use frozen ones, don’t let them thaw. You should toss them with a little flour before adding them to the batter. Elmo even gives examples of animals that eat blueberries; birds, deers and bears.

We liked this cookbook. It has a nice variety of recipes which give you the opportunity to bake something you might not have had before. The ingredients include things like wheat germ, fresh basil, carrots, zucchini, brown rice and soy milk. I have to admit I don’t use foods along these line a lot. B is for Baking makes it easy to introduce healthy options and a variety of flavors while teaching the versatility of different foods.

You can find Sesame Street B is for Baking: 50 yummy dishes to make together for $11.55 over at Amazon.com.

A copy of this book was provided for review purposes. The opinions given are 100% my own as always.

It is time to share details about the inside of the Ford Flex. I am not going to get into all the technical stuff because you can easily visit the Ford website to see all that.

When it comes to the interiors of cars I like dark colors that complement each other. No matter the ages of the children there will always be smudges, stains and spills. Easy to maintain materials that are comfortable is what I look for.

The seats were trimmed in black charcoal leather with grey suede inserts. Not only were the seats sturdy enough to provide me with enough support while driving, they warmed up. The first and second row of seats warm up on the bottom and back. I can only imagine how good that would feel during these Midwest winters.

Having everything at your fingertips is one of the first thing I noticed about the Flex.

• Easy to reach knob to control the outdoor side mirrors ( which heats up automatically)
• Power windows and locks ( the one touch button on the driver’s side took some getting used too)
• Storage space in the lower part of door
• Control for power adjustable foot pedal
• 2 cup holders near the gear shift

Right side of steering wheel

• has controls for volume
• with one press of the media button I was able to dial and make phone calls, change between radio, cd, dvd or mp3 with my voice
• button to redial or answer phone

This is where all  the action is. A touch screen greeted me when I turned the Flex on. Then I was saw a split screen showing me where I was located on a map, what form of media was active and the inside climate.  Please excuse all my fingerprints, as you can see as was throughly testing out the touch screen and all of its features.

When it came to setting up all the tech stuff (syncing my phone, using the navigation system, programming different media, etc) it was so easy, I could not stop showing everyone how to do it. You can sync up to at least four different phones to use with bluetooth. I set it up the first time I tried.  Whenever I got in the Flex, it synced automatically. I did not have to mess with anything after the initial set up.

As far as media you have a lot of options. There is Sirrus Satellite Radio, you can hook up a mp3 player or listen to a cd. The system even has a hard drive. I grabbed  my Mary J. Blige cd, and an option came up on screen to record it. Of course I pressed record. It copied the entire disc to the Flex! That means no flipping through cds anymore. I like all of the options because not everyone has a mp3 player, but they still want to listen to their own music.

Another feature of the Flex that I absolutely love is the rear view camera. When you put the Flex in reverse, the screen automatically shows you the area behind the vehicle. I had no idea how much I needed something like this until I used it. I would never rely on it 100% but it does help. I have a tendency to question myself when I going in reverse, because I think I am not seeing something. This camera helps to put me at ease.

The Ford Flex can easily fit six people. I was expecting the third row of seating to be more like a bench seat. If it was I could squeeze in another person I think. As it is set up everyone had enough room. I am not just talking about seat room, but leg room too. Especially in the first and second rows.  When I sat in the passenger seat I was able to stretch my feet out ahead of me without really touching the floor. My brother is over six feet tall and he was even able to sit comfortably in the back. My husband agreed with him. Both of them did not feel like they were missing out on anything by not sitting in the passenger seat.

The third row of seating is super easy to access. With a push of the button, which is located near both doors, the seat automatically folds and moves. The movement is a little sudden so you need to make sure you are out of the way. It also helps if you do not have anything in front of the seat on the floor. It will get in the way.

Kayla’s favorite spot was in the third row of seats. You could tell we were not used to the button because we all kept forgetting to push it when whenever we got out of the Flex.

There is a lot of storage around the second row of seats. Cup holders are on each of the doors, in the middle console and directly in front of the seats. The inside of the console goes pretty deep, so it can store a lot. My kids would have no problem filling up all that space with their belongings!

If you are sitting in the second row of seats you can control the temperature back there and heat your seats. Everyone that sat in the Flex had to test that out! It is no fun sitting on icy cold seats during Wisconsin winters so this is a nice perk! There is also a power source if you need it to plug up something like your laptop. I tried it when we took the kids fishing. While they fished I worked, when my battery started to die, I was able to plug right in. Talk about nice. Usually by this time I am ready to go back home. Everyone was able to have more time doing what they enjoyed.

Up next…… Our Ford Flex Titanium Experience wrap up.

I was not asked to post about my experience with the Ford Flex. I wanted to. As always all opinions are 100% my own.