I WON!

I won my second BLOG contest - Do I hear a shout out?

What did I win?  a $40 gift card with Expressions Vinyl ( their button is on the right)!  LOVE IT- LOVE IT!
I actually had an order in the shopping cart there.  I am SO SO SO excited.  Baby G was laughing at me as I was reading the email on my phone as I was making something for the school with my Cricut!!!
I wasn't just reading...I was SCREAMing!!!

I was just telling the hubster about this lady who I read in blogland won a $5 trip to Paris.  She was taking a class at a college, and a club booster was hosting a fundraiser and she bought a raffle ticket for the trip-Holy Smokes- can you imagine?

Well, I'm not going to Paris, but I feel like I am in Heaven just for winning the vinyl! Can't wait to CREATE!

Thanks  Kari at Ucreate who hosted the contest!!!  She has great contests and GREAT project ideas for everyone!  Check out her blog!

Some Cricut Samples-I'm proud of for a beginner

Okay so most of you know that I got a Cricut Expression for my birthday from my dear hubster.  I got the amazing pink one you can see in a previous post that came with 3 cartridges.  WHA HOOO! if you know anything about Cricut. :)  Anyhow-here are a few samples I have played with.  I made monogrammed clipboards for the teachers for Teacher Appreciation Week, a banner sign that reads: PINK (for a Breast Cancer Tennis Tournament I volunteered at, personalized candles using vinyl, which have been a lot of fun (Mother's Day I had the mother and mother in love -design their own with the Cricut), and the cute picture of gorgeous Mother and the adorable birthday Babe below-show a snipit of a Celebrate Banner I made for our Maynard Celebrations!  I will keep adding as I dream or borrow projects.  I have yet to scrap with my Cricut--because the crafting has been so much fun!

-Menu Plan Tuesday-

It's Tuesday-I know, but this was on the computer before today-just getting on the blog now~ Thanks for the reminder Jill P..

Here is my menu plan this week!

Monday-Garlic Beef Stir-Fry/Wide Noodles (I haven't used that pan in a few years and it sounded so good-and was!

Tuesday-Grilled Mahi Mahi-green beans-fresh fruit-baby salad greens

Wednesday-Deli Night (sandwiches on Rye), chips, fruit

Thursday-Chicken Cutlets with lemon butter sauce-mashed potatoes-fresh fruit

Friday-Make Your Own Soft Tacos, corn on the cob, fresh fruit

What is a Mom?

All week long, I have received cards, emails, updates, deals, contests, discounts, giveaways, freebies, e-cards, and so on...but there is no greater feeling-than that of being a mom.  I have two AMAZING kiddos, did I say AMAZING!

They give me enjoyment EVERYDAY!  Even those not-so-fun moments are terrific when you realize your a mom.  I thought age 4 was my favorite...but age 5 has been amazing...the compliments I receive are what make it worth it. :) as well as the kind-behaved-loving-Godly personality features on my boy  The Babe-well he keeps me on my toes AT ALL TIMES!  I look at him and KNOW-miracles are from God-and having kids is just that!  You know-God picks us out to be moms-there is no greater gift!  And behind all of it-I thank Him each day and I thank hubster too-without him-well we all know how that works~

Happy Mother's Day Family, Friends and Readers! 

Random Mother's Day Wekend Pictures

Mother's Day Art Show at school, pool fun, and breakfast with all my boys!

Mother's Day Giveaway ($30 Rusted Chain Gift Certificate)-check it out! WHA HOO!

Blog Party - Pampered Chef Pink Party!

It's that time of year again!

My Annual

Pampered Chef

Pink Party!

Did you know that 1 in 8 women will get breast cancer?
Do you sit on a committee or work in an office or have a Bible study or something where there are 8 ladies- look around? who might it be or perhaps maybe already someone has been diagnosed- With early detection and regular screenings and mammograms, the 5 year survival rate is improved to 98%. That is a great statistic, but this is SCARY people!!


Right now you can get several special Pampered Chef products that are "PINK" and at the same time help contribute to Breast Cancer Awareness and Early Detection Programs. 




Every year, The Pampered Chef joins the American Cancer Society to raise funds for this effort through their Help Whip Cancer campaign to date already 7.9 million has been raised through this 31 day program-That is AMAZING!. There are specific items designated for this cause that are only available in May and for each one purchased, $1 will be donated to the American Cancer Society. 


I am hosting a 10 day online fundraiser to promote the Help Whip Cancer campaign. Rather than collect the rewards for hosting the fundraiser, I am giving them to one of my lucky readers that orders from my blog party! The winner will be able to choose from Pampered Chef products from the catalog (amount depends on total sales). What’s really cool is that everyone has a chance to earn something free! Anyone ordering $60 or more (before the discount, tax and shipping) will receive two Help Whip Cancer reusable shopping bags.


Instructions on how to order:
Go to:  www.pamperedchef.biz/cookwithbarb
Click on:  Shop Online
Add Host Name: BLOG PARTY
 and begin shopping.  Check out the specials (PINK stuff) and all the rest of the hundreds of terrific products Pampered Chef has each season!


Think you may want to host or collect some orders {traditional & pink products}?  Not only are you getting rewarded for your efforts with these incentives - average host gets $140 in FREE shopping, up to 3 half price items, up to 30% off EVERYTHING else, FREE Shipping, 10% off for an ENTIRE year, and specials EVERY month (just for you)!! - you are also HELPING the American Cancer Society!
Thank you in Advance!!! This is a program special to me and our family!

Any additional questions?  Email me at cookwithbarb@aol.com!

Don't forget to leave comments!  I love comments!

Di

** Menu Plan Monday **

Okay here I am again... It's time to post my weekly menu.
I won't tell you as much as I did last post on Menu Plan Monday-so if you want some good tips check a few posts ago...

Here are my Five Menus for this week!

• Monday- 30 minute Roasted Chicken with gravy, mashed potatoes, green beans
• Honey Baked Ham :) carrots, fresh fruit
• Mahi Mahi over salad greens, fresh fruit
• Grilled Italian Chicken Sausage with Pasta and Marinara, fresh fruit
• 10 minute Honey Mustard Roasted Pork Loin. salad greens, corn on the cob, fresh fruit

Happy Mother's Day to all this week!  I hope all of you readers have someone to cook for you or take you out for a well deserved meal!  I am treating my mom and mother in love to a beautiful home cooked meal!  I haven't finished my menu yet, but will post when I do~

Check out http://www.orgjunkie.com/ and see all the great menu's this week-grab some ideas-to help your family planning!

Springtime Fun! Random Pics

~ Some great random pictures ~

My beautiful orchids for my birthday from good friends Lori and Jane!

~ My precious littlest boy~

This was at our pediatric dermatology office vist last week!

Funny story-Male nurse arrives to do vitals, etc...he leaves says doctor will be in - in a few minutes here is a gowna nd please have baby naked.  Shyly- I said okay - in my mind I was saying " ARE YOU SERIOUS DUDE?"  A one year old in a paper gown for a few minutes NAKED?  I went with the program-3 minutes later the gown was in SHREDS (should have captured that on film) and doctor arrives and let's me know we will be signing paperwork after the appointment for America's Funniest Video's  {laughing out loud-hyterically} - LOVE LOVE LOVE our newest specialist for our littlest boy~ he has a sense of great humor and he is a native Floridian - LOVE THAT!!!  No sooner did we check out and he was fast asleep in the nurses arms~ can we all say -"AHHHH"

Princess Sophia 5th Birthday!

Sophia is a special friend to our family, always lot's of laughs- posed with her sweet mom and dad!

Don't you just love that smile!

Menu Plan Monday

Join me and HUNDREDS of others who post and share great menu's for the week!  Check it out at Organized Junkie!

You can go back a few menu's and see why Menu Planning is so important! 

Here are just a few thoughts to get you started.

SAVES TIME!!

SAVES $$ MONEY!

IMPROVES NUTRITION!

Start Simple-Write down 5 meals your family likes-or-

5 meals you can start to plan with the ingredients you have in your icebox/pantry

-use your sale ads from the paper or online to create your menu/shopping list (this is the part that saves you $$)-be flexible {plan 5-7 meals and pick from those-instead of saying you will have ___ on Monday-that may throw people for a loop and then not continue}-continue once a week to set aside time to do this-take input from your kids and family members-if you don't blog and you need accountibility to do this EMAIL your menu's to me (cookwithbarb@aol.com)- I would be glad to praise you for your efforts-help you with recipe ideas or give your resources-and overall be your cheerleaderto help you stop asking yourself

at 5 PM "What's for Dinner?"

Here are my 5 menu ideas for the week!

• Southwestern Beef Soft Tacos with all the fixin's/Corn on the Cob/Deviled Eggs
• Grilled Mahi-Mahi over Salad Greens/Fresh Fruit
• Parmesan-Garlic Shrimp over Angel Hair Pasta/**Caesar Salad/Fresh Fruit
• 10 minute BBQ Roasted Pork Loin/Buttered Egg Noodles/Mixed Veggies
• Marinated Chicken Breasts-Grilled/Green Salad/Fresh Fruit

What's on your Menu?

Comment below and let me know!!

** Some of my readers have often asked -"why do you eat so much Caesar Salad?"  Well-that is the hubster's only salad dressing choice-so I have searched HIGH and low for a "healthy" alternative to the original and I found it!! Thank you Publix Market!  Found in the Produce section of refrigerated dressings Bolthouse Yougurt dressings are DE-LICIOUS!  I linked to their site above so you can see!

Did someone say S-L-A-C-K--E-R?

Yes, Yes!!! I am the ultimate slacker in the last few weeks-at least for my upkeep of my blog!
We have had event after event, birthday after birthday and yes...NONE of these have really been documented! UGH!!

We go back as far as...MARCH-Griffin celebrated his 1st Birthday-truly a MIRACLE!  I did write a little about it a few posts ago.  Check it out~  Then a day later was my mom's 70th Birthday which Pop and I threw a HUGE party for the event-it took up a whole lot of extra time for planning and making sure she was surprised with some out of town visitors, and getting everything together for that day.  It was about a week of recovery time and time spent with out of town family-Oh yes, I still have my job with the government school program and Pampered Chef-both busy as ever-church activities-MOPS ministry, and then there is the housework-and all the things that need attention from the Stay at Home Mom-WHAT? I mean WORK AT HOME mamna!!  Enough-complaining!

Asides all that...[I am sure your exhausted just reading about it]-I am excited about my new Cricut and learning Digital Scrapbooking and trying to keep up with crop time for both-what is cropping? Well that is time spent "crafting" as I put it. 

I am going to try to keep up this week-little by little!  I promise!

Menu Plan Monday

I know, I know- I have been a slacker AGAIN!! the second week of the month is always a busy week for me amongst the regular to-do stuff.  I did get to enjoy though three "girls night out's" one on Monday and one on Thursday nights and then most of the day on Saturday at a great craft crop.  Much needed for the busy schedule during the day/evening!!

Here is my 5 meals we have available! This week we have a few evening events so I will have to pick and choose!

• Grilled Pork Tenderloin with a Melot sauce (Tastefully Simple), corn on the cob
• Breakfast for Dinner - scrambled eggs, sausage, fresh fruit, biscuits
• Chicken Cutlets, pasta with a lemon-butter sauce, green beans
• Steak Fajitas with tortillas and the fixins
• Grilled Chicken Ceasar Salad, fresh fruit

Visit ORG JUNKIE to see lot's of menu's and get ideas for your meal time routine!  If you blog-link up, keeps you accountable!

Menu Plan Monday

It's Monday morning and I am hoping this week won't be quite as busy as the last!

Here is what is on my menu this week-what's on yours?

Just a little about menu planning if you don't do it already-start!

It saves TIME!

It saves MONEY!

It saves CONFUSION!

to just name a few-

I link up with http://www.orgjunkie.com/ along with hundreds of other's to post menu's, recipes, and meal planning ideas!  Check it out-you won't be sorry-who knows-maybe you will be linking up too!

Monday:  Grilled Chicken/Mahi-Mahi over field greens, fresh stawberries, and herbed cornbread (thanks mom!)

Tuesday:  Spinach Salad with the works (me) - parmesan penna pasta/fruit (kids) (dad's night out!)

Wednesday:  Caribbean Grilled Boneless Pork Chops, corn on the cob, fresh fruit

Thursday: Swedish Meatballs (thanks IKEA), mashed potatoes, green beans, fresh fruit

Friday:  Grilled Flank Steak with Ceasar Salad

Yes- it's been a while...

I know... I know... the chores had to be done, the paperwork filled out, the shopping and cooking and cleaning....it never ends does it?

Yes-thank you to many emails of...What's for Dinner? this week!  I have not flown by the seat of my pants, but definately had to put my blogging on hold so I could get my first priorities done or at least caught up since 3 family birthdays, two sets of out of town guests, soccer spring season opener and a few events at the club!

My menu this week has consisted of the following:

Monday: family night we went to Brett's softball championship-they lost :(, then out to Hooters for some wings!
Tuesday: formal at the club - as well as a date night with hubster
Wednesday: Crustless Spinach & Feta Pie (recipe to follow), Roasted Asparagus with Garlic
Thursday:  Grilled Chicken Asian Salad
Friday: family is on their own - I have a Pampered Chef trunk show in Boca
Saturday: charity event at the club for Breast Cancer - "Playing in Pink"
Sunday: Old Fashioned Sunday Dinner - Roasted Chicken, Potatoes, Greens, and fresh fruit

Recipe: Crustless Spinach & Feta Pies (a quick take on Spanakopita)
courtesy of Food Network Kitchens Cookbook

1 T extra-virgin olive oil
1 10oz package frozen spinach, thawed
4 scallions, thinly sliced
3 eggs
1 T bread crumbs
2 t dried mint
1 1/4 t kosher salt
fresh ground pepper
pinch of cayenne
1/2 cup Feta cheese

Preheat oven 400 degrees.  Heat oil in skillet, and add drained spinach and scallions and cook, stirring until dry, about 4 minutes.  Transfer to colander and squeeze out any additional mositure.  Brush 4-6oz ramekins with olive oil and place on baking sheet.

Transfer spinach ingredients and rest of ingredients except Feta to a food processor-pulse until finely chopped.  Remove blade and stir in Feta.  Bake until edges are set, but slightly soft in center-about 20 minutes.  Turn oven off and leave for 5 additional minutes.  Invert onto plate and serve with a veggie salad or Tazatiki Sauce-Yum!

My variation:  I added a bit more Feta on the top, and a few cloves of garlic.  I also made mine in a 9x9 and doubled the recipe to have leftovers to share with my neighbor and have for breakfast!  I cut it into 12 pieces and served two per person.  :)

Happy Birtday to my Miracle!

It is so hard to believe that the first year of Griffin's life has passed so quickly.  I know the age-old "unsolicited" advice from EVERYONE- say's... "They are only small for a short while"... is so sadly true!  Being a mom second time around I cherished the time a little more intimate since I think my factory is closing for more children. :(  I always wanted three.  But on a happier note-I can't thank everyone near and dear, close and miles between, friends, family, church leadership, and those I don't even know by name for ALL the prayer and support that came to our family during this year from hot meals to hospital visits to just sitting with me.  I thought I would never see an end to the year or for that matter and end to the endless journey Griffin has endured.  We recently finished our taxes last month and 117 medical appointments for this little fella! WOW!  But I am estatic to report he is doing fantastic, growing by leaps and bounds, and eating us out of the house!  A real change from a year back! 

GOD is so faithful, so good, and such the perfect healer!  If Griffin's testimony from the very beginning of life in the womb with news of a possible brain injury to his prematurty to now a thriving baby isn't a song in GOD's book I don't know what it is that folks don't understand about GOD! 

One of Carter's favorite songs to sing while in the house, in the car, wherever he is to himself is "God is so good, God is so good, God is so good, He's so good to me!"  And yes He is!!!

I love you my son! We love you Griffin Cooper Maynard!!

MOPS Easter Egg Hunt-Lot's of Friends-Lot's of Eggs

Did Someone say Eggs??

So many smiles when you hunt for CANDY!

Papa always saves the day with the Babe!