I wanted a place to share topics that catch my eye in a somewhat organized manner, so I welcome you to this week’s edition of Saturday Sharing.

One of my favorite stores, Half Price Books, is having a comic book giveaway. You will be able to get a free comic book with any in-store purchase. This is only good for today and the comic books have been preselected.

Don’t forget that Mother’s Day is tomorrow. You can  visit the Walgreens website and get a free 8×10 enlargement. Use the code FREE4Me. You have to place the order by midnight. In Milwaukee there are plenty of Mother’s Day freebies you can do with the Mom in your life:

• The Milwaukee County Zoo 
• Buy a general admission ticket to The Milwaukee Public Museum and Mom gets in free
• Old World Wisconsin  11am-5pm
• Botanical Gardens 10am-3pm
• Betty Brinn’s Children Museum
• Free breakfast at IKEA

I think it is such  idea to give Mom coupons for Mother’s Day.You can print free IOU coupons at Red Plum. The downloadable coupons include:

• Two Days when I clean my room without help from Mom
• 1 helping of Mom’s favorite dessert
• Three loads of laundry done (love this!)
• One leave Mommy Alone Day and more

Now if you are a child of mine reading this post, I would not mind eating some cinnamon sugar bacon twists for breakfast

When it comes to gift giving, a gift that is personalized  helps to make great memories. Personal Creations does a great job of offering this type of product for every occasion. If you are looking for a personalized gift for Mother’s Day, this is a website you need to check out.

I had the pleasure of choosing a few items to review from Personal Creations. While there a lot of gift ideas, The Baby Shoes Key Ring caught my eye. My nephew’s Mom is a good friend of mine. This year will be her first Mother’s Day and I want it to be special.

These little shoes are just too adorable. They are the color of my nephew’s birthstone. The part I really love about the Baby Shoes Keychain is the engraving on the bottom. Being able to add my nephew’s name and birth date is priceless. This is one of those gifts that can make you tear up. It is simply beautiful.

I have a lot of picture frames, to the point where I am all smiles when I get one as a gift. My next choice was a Rotating Photo Frame.

The frame is a white wood that is distressed. This type of frame is out of character for me because I usually get dark wood frames. Sometimes you have to try something different. I am so glad I did because  I’m really feeling this frame. The Rotating Photo Frame stands out, even my husband noticed it. I decided to have the words “Family Is Everything” engraved. I feel like no matter what happens, the love and support from your family is everything.

My final choice was a Plastic To Go Cup. Kayla has one and I have wanted one of my own for a while. That seems so strange to say but I rarely get anything for myself. I am trying to better with that.

You can choose if you want a name or initials added. I had my name put on the cup in orange. I have already had a few really cold liquids like lemonade in the cup. I like the fact that the cup is insulated so my hand did not freeze. I also like the idea of a reusable straw, less waste is always good.

You can grab a Baby Shoes Key Chain for $9.99, a rotating photo frame for $24.99 or a Plastic To Go Cup for $14.99 at Personal Creations.

The above product was provided to me for free to do a review. My opinions are 100% my own

I love shopping at Red Envelope. I was introduced to the website back in 2009. I was pretty happy when I was recently given the opportunity pick a few items from Red Envelope to review. This is much harder than you think. There are a lot of  Mother’s Day gift ideas to choose from. I decided to pick something that I would want for a gift. After a lot of back and forth I finally made a decision. I chose two items, the first one is:

a Mother of Pearl Purse Mirror

It came in a nice velvet bag. I had my initials engraved on it. I had a hard time getting a good picture with my camera. You can definitely see the engraving in person. I never had a “nice” mirror, my girls have pretty much claimed every mirror I have had.

I like this mirror because it stands out and there is no mistaking who it belongs too. Made of nickel and mother of pearl, I think it so pretty.

My second choice was:

A Photo Collage Tote

A bag that can have a photo on it is something  I have been checking out for years. It just so happens that Red Envelope carries one. There are three different colors to choose from: red, tan and black. I like black so that is the one I picked. When the tote arrived it was much bigger that I thought it would be. It is pretty sturdy, I added quite a few library books as a test. It held up well and the handles don’t bother me. Sometimes I have issues with handles and they hurt my shoulders. This one did not.  There are three frames in front where you can add pictures.  I like this type of tote because the pictures are not permanent and I can change them with my mood. Now I just have to find the perfect three pictures!

You can buy personalized Mother’s Day gifts like these from Red Envelope. The Mother of Pearl Purse mirror is $39.99 and the Photo Collage Tote is on sale for $29.99. Regular price for the tote is $79.99 so this is a good deal.

 The above product was provided to me for free to do a review. My opinions are 100% my own.

I am pretty bad when it comes to menu planning. What’s for dinner is a question asked to often around our house. For the most part during I am good when I remember to cook my crock pot meals. But I wanted to add something else to the mix. A while ago, I decided to try my hand at make ahead meals (a.k.a freezer meals).

The first step I took was searching around the internet. I was looking for recipes that included regular ingredients I would normally buy. What is the use of having a freezer full of premade meals that no one is going to eat?  I also used this time to read the advice of other people who have done freezer cooking quite a few times.

When I found out what I wanted to make a made a big grocery list. It is nice to have everything you need at one time.

This is what we made:

• hamburger patties
• sesame chicken
• honey mustard baked pork chops
• meatball subs
• orange chicken
• cheeseburger cups
• parmesan crusted pork chops
• meat loaves
• taco meat
• honey mustard chicken
• sweet and sour pork
• chicken and bacon subs

I found a majority of these recipes in a book called The Everything Freezer Meals. I got it all the library to see if it would be worth buying.  It is worth it. The recipes are easy to follow and include reheating instructions. I know it is something I would refer back to over and over again.

I have to make a big point of saying that I could not do this without the help of my entire and family. This is no walk in the park and requires different things going on at once and a lot of standing.

I was browning pork chops

pork loin in the slow cooker

cheeseburger cups ready for the oven

Prepped mini french bread pizzas

I got most of my supplies at Sam’s Club. That is where I found the best deals on spaghetti sauce, french bread, pizza sauce and all the different meats. I stocked up on Ziploc freezer bags and plastic gloves there too. I can’t stand it when meat touches my hands.

As I mentioned before this is far from easy but definitely worth it. It saved a lot time, especially when it comes to thinking of something  for dinner or lunch. I also found out that make ahead meals make it much easier to serve a meal because my kids are very picky. If needed everyone could have something different without any extra work from me.

Have you ever tried make ahead meals before?

On more than one occasion I have talked about how I feel about flowers. While flowers are nice to look at, I am not too fond of receiving them as a gift. They are just not “my thing”. Well recently I was given the opportunity to review an item from ProFlowers and I had no idea what to choose.

That is until I had a chance to really browse the ProFlowers website.  ProFlowers offer more than just flowers. I found jewelry and Mother’s Day sweets too. I am talking about gourmet dipped berries, cake pops, cookies, brownies and chocolate covered snacks. ProFlowers is a great place to check out  if you are looking for Mother’s Day gifts other than flowers.

I finally was able to make decision on what I wanted to review. I went for the Mrs. Fields Bites Basket.  It is a great gift to share with the kids.

The basket comes with

• 24 Assorted Nibblers® Bite Sized Cookies
• 18 Brownie Bites
• 12 Mini Muffins

The flavors included were white chunk and Macadamia nuts, semi sweet without nuts,  triple chocolate, butterscotch blondie, milk chocolate without nuts, chocolate chip, blueberry and toffee fudge. A little bit of everything, perfect for me.

What I liked about the Mrs. Fields Bites Basket was it presented the opportunity for me to try different flavors. I was able to taste Macadamia nuts and a butterscotch blondie for the first time. They tasted pretty good. My family enjoyed these tasty sweets with me. I think I fell in love with the butterscotch blondie, it was delicious!

You can buy the Mrs. Fields Bites Basket at ProFlowers for $39.99

 The above product was provided to me for free to do a review. My opinions are 100% my own.

Nannah is 14. In her mind finally! She is getting closer and closer to being 16 . Before I know it she will be 18. But no more of that type of thinking. I am trying to learn how to be in the moment instead of worrying about what is coming up next. There a few requests this year. She “claims” she never had a store bought cake. I think she forgot her dad used to work at an bakery. Luckily there is a Walmart up here at Wisconsin Dells, so we were able to grab her one.  Nannah loves chocolate  and this one has it inside and out.

My baby is obsessed with all things Hello Kitty. So of course this was on her list of must haves. It did not matter what it is as long as it’s Hello Kitty. I think I did pretty good. This is what she woke up to on her special day.

Just a closer look.

 We also took Nannah to have breakfast at her favorite restaurant at the Dells, Paul Bunyan.

We really love Nannah . She is a smart, strong minded sweetheart with a generous and fun personality. Nannah’s smile can light up a room.  She is my movie and video game buddy and I would not have it any other way.

 Happy Birthday Diva!!!

We love you!

I wanted a place to share topics that catch my eye in a somewhat organized manner, so I welcome you to this week’s edition of Saturday Sharing.

I am quite a fan of Shelly from Momfiles. I love everything from the great food pictures and recipes to her cheery attitude. She always makes me smile.  Well Shelly is one of the Cool Whip Real Moms!! That is so cool. I just had to share a YouTube video introducing Shelly.

Shelly shares her recipe for Strawberry Pie over at Momfiles.

I have not been on StumbleUpon in a while. Spending so much time on Pinterest can do that to a person. I thought it was time to see what has been going and found some great stuff.

I am all for anything that has to do with being frugal. On Family Friendly Frugality I stumbled across a recipe for Chocolate Chip Cookie Pie. It sounds like a good dessert and I can’t wait to try it! You will find some great tips there too. I even came across a tutorial for using Google documents for giveaways . I have always wondered how to do that.

Another site I came across is Mrs Happy Homemaker. There is this series she had called Out Of the Box.  She shares recipes that involve different cake mixes. I like the fact that each recipe has pictures (my favorite when it comes to recipes) for each step. The one that has caught my eye is for Butterfinger Caramel Chocolate Cake. It is worth checking out.

Jazz got accepted into the college she wanted to go to! We are all so very happy, especially TJ. He gets sad when he thinks about her going to college. While I encouraged her that if she wanted to, she could go out of state, I am so glad Jazz is going to a college right here in Milwaukee.

Jazz has a good head on her shoulders and has definitely shown how responsible she is. She works two jobs and goes to school and is doing great with time management.

 She is going to try to stay on campus which I think is a good idea. Jazz would experience life outside of our home, but she won’t be far away.

Wow, things are really changing around here.

It is Wednesday and that means it is time for Oh, How Pinteresting. Thanks to The Vintage Apple for starting this. I just love sharing my pins! Here are my picks for this week.

Source: inspiredbycharm.com via Latricia on Pinterest

Source: blog.bitsofeverything.com via Latricia on Pinterest

Source: vittlesandbits.blogspot.com via Latricia on Pinterest

Source: themotherhuddle.com via Latricia on Pinterest

 I’m talking about my nephew Shaun! His name is actually Deshaun Jr(D.J.). But the problem is my son is T.J. and my other nephew is A.J. and I can never say the right one when I am talking to one of them. The last time I uploaded some pictures is when he was 2 weeks old. Now he is 5 months old.

I get to watch him Monday through Friday while his parents work and I just love it. It is so much fun to watch him discover new things every day. Of course he is a little spoiled when he comes over my house. We have six people who love to play with and hold him! Shaun is super ticklish and laughs while you change his clothes. Shaun loves to “talk” all the time. I think it is so cute that when he sees you smile he smiles right back at you!

 Shaun does not have any teeth yet, but I think they going to be coming in soon because he loves to try to bite on any and everything.