Freebie Alert!

This is for all you Scrappers out there.... Its a little belated Mother's Day Present!

Free Mother's Day Scrapbook Kit Download at Little Miss Crafty Pants!! 

Enjoy!!

Family Fun Friday!!

Go see UP!!!

They even have it in 3D, I can't wait to take my kids this weekend!! :)

**Sorry I've been on hiatus, my computer crashed and my kids aren't really the "cooperate at the library while Mommy blogs" kind of kids! I'm BACK with a new MAC now though!! So, watch out!

Freebie Alert!!

Get your free PF Chang's Lettuce Wraps HERE!!!

(you must purchase an entree and be dining in, but how hard is that??)

Thanks to Linda for the heads up!

Freebie Alert!!

I got an email from Shutterfly today saying that they're giving away 25 free prints! They are charging for shipping and tax, but they'll give you free shipping if you spend over $50 along with your prints....

Anyways, codes are: PRINTS for the 25 freebies, and SHIP50 for the free shipping. The prints deal ends tomorrow, so hurry up! :)

Book of the Week

I'm going to veer from my usual here since I read this on vacation this last weekend and it was a bit of light reading for me (is there any other type on vacation with two toddlers?? I mean, really....) 

Synopsis:

Wedding photographer Mackensie "Mac" Elliot is most at home behind the camera, but her focus is shattered moments before an important wedding rehearsal when she bumps into the bride-to-be's brother...an encounter that has them both seeing stars.

A stable, safe English teacher, Carter Maguire is definitely not Mac's type. But a casual fling might be just what she needs to take her mind off bridezillas. Of course, casual flings can turn into something more when you least expect it. And Mac will have to turn to her three best friends—and business partners—to see her way to her own happy ending.

Review:

I usually enjoy Nora Roberts' romance novels as some light reading, but this surprised me and read much more "chick lit" than trashy romance. There were, of course, the requisite trashy romance scenes, but they were well placed, tasteful (meaning non-raunchy), and not done in the usual (within 4 minutes of meeting the star-crossed lovers) way. The book is the first in a new series by Roberts and I think she's turning a "new page" in literature. Personally, now I can't wait for "Bed of Roses" due out in December....

Family Fun Friday!

Growing Up Wild 

(3 DVD Set!)

This week is going to be another movie post, my kids love our Family Movie Nights and I have a few saved up still to watch with them. This is a great set that I found at National Geographic's website. They have some great stuff, plus they're my outlet for the Toot and Puddle books that Harry LOVES (and I love too because it's great for cultural awareness and love of travel- two things I really hope to inspire in my kids!).

We record this series on our DVR as well (its listed as Growing Up...), Emma loves the baby animals especially!!

I also subscribed to their Little Kids magazine for Harry, I love that he's learning so much about the animal world. He's even started picking out books about animals at the library lately- this is a BIG change, normally we're a straight dumptruck-train-car book kind of a family. :) The magazine is shaped just right for little hands and has LOTS of gorgeous NG quality pictures. Both kids love it!

Freebie Alert!!

KFC- Free 2-piece Meal, must print today, good 5/6-5/19 (except Mother's Day)

Go HERE

Walgreens- Free 8x10 picture, Today ONLY!!

Go HERE and use the code MOTHER.

Thanks to Mandee and Brandee for the Freebies!!

Also, Free Dunkin Donuts Iced Coffee on 5/15!! We don't have them in Spokane, but for all of you lucky enough to have one near you, ENJOY :)

Recipe of the Day

Since as you read this, I'm going to be winging over the skies and seas on a wonderful Southwest jet headed to LA for a long weekend, I figured I'd cheat on my recipe of the day as well. Plus, its super yummy and I'm dying to try it myself. Maybe someone could make me one and have it waiting in my freezer when I get home?? hint, hint, nudge, nudge....

This recipe is from Cathe Holden at Just Something I Made. I love her blog, she has great tips and tricks and funny little anecdotes. :) 

Anyways, check out her recipe this week:

Ice Cream Cake

Book of the Week

Synopsis:

As any reader of The Mosquito Coast knows, men who drag their families to far-off climes in pursuit of an Idea seldom come to any good, while those familiar with At Play in the Fields of the Lord or Kalimantaan understand that the minute a missionary sets foot on the fictional stage, all hell is about to break loose. So when Barbara Kingsolver sends missionary Nathan Price along with his wife and four daughters off to Africa in The Poisonwood Bible, you can be sure that salvation is the one thing they're not likely to find. The year is 1959 and the place is the Belgian Congo. Nathan, a Baptist preacher, has come to spread the Word in a remote village reachable only by airplane. To say that he and his family are woefully unprepared would be an understatement: "We came from Bethlehem, Georgia, bearing Betty Crocker cake mixes into the jungle," says Leah, one of Nathan's daughters. But of course it isn't long before they discover that the tremendous humidity has rendered the mixes unusable, their clothes are unsuitable, and they've arrived in the middle of political upheaval as the Congolese seek to wrest independence from Belgium. In addition to poisonous snakes, dangerous animals, and the hostility of the villagers to Nathan's fiery take-no-prisoners brand of Christianity, there are also rebels in the jungle and the threat of war in the air. Could things get any worse?

In fact they can and they do. The first part of The Poisonwood Bible revolves around Nathan's intransigent, bullying personality and his effect on both his family and the village they have come to. As political instability grows in the Congo, so does the local witch doctor's animus toward the Prices, and both seem to converge with tragic consequences about halfway through the novel. From that point on, the family is dispersed and the novel follows each member's fortune across a span of more than 30 years.

The Poisonwood Bible is arguably Barbara Kingsolver's most ambitious work, and it reveals both her great strengths and her weaknesses. As Nathan Price's wife and daughters tell their stories in alternating chapters, Kingsolver does a good job of differentiating the voices. But at times they can grate--teenage Rachel's tendency towards precious malapropisms is particularly annoying (students practice their "French congregations"; Nathan's refusal to take his family home is a "tapestry of justice"). More problematic is Kingsolver's tendency to wear her politics on her sleeve; this is particularly evident in the second half of the novel, in which she uses her characters as mouthpieces to explicate the complicated and tragic history of the Belgian Congo.

Despite these weaknesses, Kingsolver's fully realized, three-dimensional characters make The Poisonwood Bible compelling, especially in the first half, when Nathan Price is still at the center of the action. And in her treatment of Africa and the Africans she is at her best, exhibiting the acute perception, moral engagement, and lyrical prose that have made her previous novels so successful. --Alix Wilber, courtesy of amazon.com

My Review:

I loved this. I first read it in high school, and have re-read it every year or two just because it speaks to me. I switch off identifying with each of the girls depending on what phase of life I'm in at the moment, or what mood I'm in as I sit down to read. Kingsolver does an excellent job of describing the political situation of Africa at the time, plus the girls' third culture and how they deal with that, both as children visiting home and as adults and where they choose to make their final homes and lives. The way the girls relate to their parents, especially their mother, was eloquently narrated and I felt as though I was a part of each character at one point or another. 

This was featured as one of Oprah's Book Club Picks in June of 2000. I don't always agree with her picks, but this one I whole heartedly supported and enjoyed. Even my husband has read it and enjoyed it, but don't tell anybody!! :)

Family Fun Friday!

I found this great recipe for on the same blog that's doing the hair clippies giveaway. I think they're my new obsession... Anyways, check this out! I'm just hoping that the weather warms up a little and decides to be sunny so that we can try it out. I can just see Emma coated in this stuff, but it'll be super cute and we'll have a pretty driveway. Take THAT, base housing!! :)

Homemade Sidewalk Chalk Paint!!!