Thursday, April 29

YooHoo & Friends Giveaway!!

Princess G received her Pink Happy Birthday YooHoo & Friends we won in the Earth Day contest I posted about here. It is just so cute. When its tummy is squeezed a musical version of Happy Birthday is played and it does plays three verses.

Don't forget the Design a YooHoo & Friends is still open for entries (the girls still need to design there's!)

If you have not seen these oh so cute YooHoo & Friends you need too. They are just the right size to carry around, so snugly and they make the cutest sounds when squeezed. Each YooHoo & Friends is based on an endangered animal so they are not just cute they also promote knowledge of endangered animals. Now that being said it is subtle nothing is mentioned on the actual hang tag about endangered animals but the information is on their website. They also have a fun website for kids that is free and no codes are needed to play any of the more than 15 games you also can adopt and raise YooHoo & Friends.
You can order YooHoo & Friends directly from them or search for local retailers (for my area they are available at the local zoos and other small retailers.)
Now for the giveaway!!
Two of my lucky readers will each win one 5 inch YooHoo & Friends plush (the Graduation YooHoo & Friends would be a great gift for your little graduate, be it from college or preschool!)

To enter just leave a comment with your favorite YooHoo & Friends .

(If your email is not available on your blog please include in comment.)
US only
Ends 5/12/10 at midnight PST.
Extra Entries: (please leave a comment for each extra comment)

1.Follow my blog (button on side of blog)
2.Follow me @SillyMommy on Twitter (leave your twitter name in comment)
3.Blog about contest (2 entries, leave link in comment)
4.Tweet about contest (leave link in comment, may tweet once a day)
5. Enter another of my giveaways (listed on right near top, one entry per giveaway entered)

YooHoo & Friends plush were provided by Aurora World to facilitate a review.
Opinions stated are my own.

Wednesday, April 28

31 cent Scoop Night at Baskin Robbins!!!

I told the girls we could have ice cream for dinner and Princess G said "No, we need to have a healthy dinner!!" So we had English muffin pizzas at 3:30 for a really, really early dinner. We arrived at Baskin Robbins about 5:15 pm and the line was out the door and around the corner. The line took a little over 15 minutes. Princess G only wanted one scoop: Rainbow Sherbet, even though I tried to talk her into at least two scoops.
Princess A wanted three scoops of Pink Bubble Gum. she thought about two scoops of bubble gum and one mint chip but at the last minute decided on all bubble gum.

I ordered Mint Chip, Chocolate Peanut Butter and Daiquiri Ice on top (I know the combo sound a little gross but it was really good if you eat the first scoop without licking the other ones.)

Princess A is a slow ice cream eater so she still had some by the time we got home (we stayed for a while but the girls wanted to come home.)

Princess G finished hers before we even left. She informed me "One scoop was perfect for my tummy!" She then looked at mine with longing. I handed mine over and she had a little. She handed mine back and asked if she could have some of her sisters. Princess A was pretty generous and shared the rest with Princess G. Princess A did ask if I would make her sister get more scoops next time so she wouldn't have to share so much of hers!
Are you going? It lasts until 10pm so you might have time to make it.

Tuesday, April 27

Wordless Wednesday: Caught in Photo

I was going through our pictures when I noticed the kid in the background.
(We don't know him he was just walking by.)
Here he is picking his nose.


Now he is eating it!!!!
I am going to have to crop him out of the pictures, the girls do look sweet.
Princess G loves Jessie and we chased her down to get this picture!

Simply...GoGurt Review and Giveaway



My girls have always enjoyed GoGurt frozen so when I heard about Simply...GoGurt I could wait for them to try it. Simply...GoGurt "contains no high fructose corn syrup or artificial colors or flavors." I love that. I really don't know why they have to use so much dye in foods so the fact that artifical colors or flavors are not used makes me happy. I usually bought the regular GoGurt to freeze for special treats but know I will be buying the Simply...GoGurt even more. We tried the mixed berry flavor (they also have strawberry which we are going to try next!) The mixed berry was very yummy, I even had most one all by myself (the girls caught me and 'helped' me finish it.)
Would you like to it yourself. The first 30 people to click the link below will be able to print a coupon for a free package of Simply...GoGurt. After the first 30 the coupon will be for $1.10 off. There is also a $1.00 off coupon here (near the bottom of the page.)




UPDATE: the link for the coupon for a free package of Simply...GoGurt is not working. New code is being created and I will post it when I receive it from MyBlogSpark.

I was also sent a "Simplfy Your Life" gift pack which includes a mini Etch a Sketch, weekly planner (very pretty) and a seat back organizer. One of my readers will also receive the same gift pack (pictured below.)




To enter just leave a comment with which Simply...GoGurt or GoGurt flavor you would like to try.

(If you email is not available on your blog please include in comment.)

Ends 5/10/10 at midnight PST.
Extra Entries: (please leave a comment for each extra comment)

1.Follow my blog (button on side of blog)
2.Follow me @SillyMommy on Twitter (leave your twitter name in comment)
3.Blog about contest (2 entries, leave link in comment)
4.Tweet about contest (leave link in comment, may tweet once a day)
5. Enter another of my giveaways (listed on right near top, one entry per giveaway entered)
The Simply...GoGurt, Simplfy Your Life gift pack and prize for my reader been provided byYoplait through MyBlogSpark. Opinions stated are my own.

Day in Seattle

We took a day trip to Seattle and it was very blustery, sunny and even rainy! The girls really wanted a picture in front of the FedEx truck.
We wandered around Pike's Market and a block away we found a cute store full of stuffed animals. Princess G fell in love with this Hippo, I found out later it is the same company as the YooHoo & Friends, Aurora. She put it on her list of possible birthday presents.

As we were leaving the girls talked Daddy into stopping for doughnuts (well we wanted to try beignets but no one sells them in the area). The only place Daddy gets doughnuts in Seattle is from TopPot! The girls each picked out their own and my husband and I shared an apple fritter.
We just missed them but the were also filming Chef versus the City. We saw them just as we were driving away. I wish we had stayed just a few more minutes. We love watching that show so we can't to see that episode.

Sunday, April 25

Breyers YoCrunch 100 Yogurt Giveaway



I was sent a package of the new Bryers YoCrunch 100 Yogurt. I was able to try the Vanilla yogurt with Chocolate Cookie Pieces!
From Breyers YoCrunch website:
We’ve used nonfat yogurt sweetened with a blend of sugar and the Truvia™ sweetener to create this 100 calorie treat. The Truvia™ sweetener is an all atural zero-calorie sweetener that is derived from the Stevia plant. The Truvia™ sweetener is used in place of sugar to reduce calories without adding artificial sweeteners. Creamy non-fat Vanilla yogurt topped by crunchy chocolate cookie pieces in a perfect sized, 100 guilt-free calorie serving. Who knew that 100 little calories could satisfy in such a big way?”

I was not sure what to expect as I had not tried YoCrunch yogurts before. I liked it! Princess G helped me eat them though she did like the chocolate cookie pieces the most. Do you want to try these yourself?

10 winners will be sent a coupon for 1 Free YoCrunch 100 Calorie Pack (US only).

To enter just leave a comment with your favorite yogurt flavor.

(If you email is not available on your blog please include in comment.)


Ends 5/7/10 at midnight PST.
Extra Entries: (please leave a comment for each extra comment)

1.Follow my blog (button on side of blog)
2.Follow me @SillyMommy on Twitter (leave your twitter name in comment)
3.Blog about contest (2 entries)
4.Tweet about contest (leave link in comment)
5. Enter another of my giveaways (listed on right near top, one entry per giveaway entered)

The Breyers YoCrunch 100 Yogurt was provided to me to facilitate a review. Opinions stated are my own.

Saturday, April 24

Picking Out Plants!

At the end of the summer last year we ripped out a few plants so we needed some replacements. While we were looking the girls wanted to pick out their won plants.
We bought two rose bushes and two bushes with yellow flowers and smells like lemons (I forgot the name.) The girls got to pick out one plant each (the small ones on the right). Princess A picked the yellow one and Princess G's is red (the bud was just starting to open).
As soon as we got home we planted the bushes. The girls' still need to be planted but the yard is looking better already!

Friday, April 23

My Slow Cooker Died!!

I woke up early this morning to start a family favorite, Beef Curry, in my slow cooker.
The house smelled so good as I browned the meat before I started it in the slower cooker. When I got home from picking up Princess G from school it was off. At first I thought it might be the outlet so I moved it to one with the phone so I know the outlet is working. It still did not work.

The best part (sarcasm) is when I turned back I saw this on my counter top. Not only did it stop working it also scorched my tile! To say I was not pleased is and understatement. I decided to call Cuisinart and see if anything can be done. The machine has a three year warranty but only if I can find the receipt. As it was a gift from my husband and he never saves receipts I am not hopeful. I do know that he bought it from Macy's, so the nice lady on the phone said that if I can find a bank statement (if debt was used) or a credit card statement with right amount they will take that. I still don't know if we can find it. The part that is annoying is that according to the serial number it is from 2007, therefore the only way I have had the slow cooker more than three years is if I received the machine as a gift in January, February, March or April and the only gift giving would be for Valentine's (which I did not, we only exchange modest gifts and this cost about $100.) My birthday is in October and our anniversary and Christmas are in December. I know the machine is less than three years but I might not be able to prove it!!

Also even if I can prove it I have to pay to ship the machine back to Cusinart.

Celebrated Earth Day at the Park!

We were coming home from school and decided to stop at the park.
Princess A loves twisting on the swings!

The girls wanted to see if they could hand at the same time.
As soon as I took the picture Princess G wanted help getting down.

A sunny but cool day. A great way to celebrate Earth Day?
Did you do anything to celebrate?

Thursday, April 22

Another Trip to the Tacoma Art Museum

We took another trip to the art museum and the girls had so much fun. They knew about all of the art projects they could do in the art room so they went through the exhibits even faster than last time. Princess A even made a watercolor she later entered in an art contest.
After the art room Daddy and his girls went in the next room and read some books. They have a large selection of books doe children and even more for adults about art.

Just like last time we went to the Spaghetti Factory for lunch. The girls took along their new dolls (Cinderella and a bride doll) they picked out the day before at the Goodwill. All Princess A wanted to do over Spring break was to go to the Goodwill and pick out her own books and a toy. In addition to the dolls we also found two Disney Fairy chapter books, it was the perfect find!

Tuesday, April 20

We Ran a Family 5K Race

Last month we ran a 5K together as a family (well Princess G rode in the jogging stroller.)
Princess A was so excited to run in her first 5K.
Previously she has run 1 mile races and a 5K is about 3.2 miles.


Princess G was so excited that Daddy was going to push her in the jogging stroller.
Daddy even let her wear his race number.

I was excited too, I have not run a race since high school (Run to the Farside, a race in San Francisco and track.)

The plan was that we were all going to race together and that is how we started the race. After less than a mile my husband just could not run that slow so he started speeding up a little.

Princess A and I will still doing well when at about half way I had a sharp pain in my knee. I had to slow down and walk a little. Princess A kept wanting to run but I couldn't let her run off without me. I ran a little but the pain was intense. At this point Princess A was ahead of me, I could still see her but she could not hear me call out to her. I had to keep running just so I could see her (she was about 50 yards or so in front of me.)
Finally I could see the finish line so I motioned for her to run ahead. I knew her Daddy was waiting for her (he placed 3rd in his age group, only 10 seconds behind 2nd and he was pushing Princess G!) Princess A did so well, 36:09, and she would of finished so much fast if she hadn't had to keep stopping and waiting for me.

My knee was still hurting me but I still ran across that finish line (37:18).
(Plus I wanted to make sure Daddy was really waiting for her!)
I did alright considering how much pain I was in. My knee actually hurt for over a week with limping. I am not sure that I am a runner. I ran track in high school so I can do it, maybe I just need more training or more likely Daddy needs to run with Princess A. I enjoy swimming more as my knee doesn't hurt afterwards. I need to find a place with a pool that I can do laps during the day.
After the race we had some snacks and discovered a great yogurt (Yami) and the girls got to explore a firetruck.
They both received a fire hat and stickers. We stayed until they announced the winners (they kept delaying the time over and over) but it took so long to get started we will never do that again. The one nice thing was that one of the raffle winners gave his prize to Princess A (a t-shirt from a previous race). So may people cheered her on and were impressed by her running. More that one person said she would one day win the state championship. Who knows if that will happen but lots of people think it is possible!
We all had lots of fun but I am not sure when I will try a 5K again. I might just run a 1 mile with Princess G.

Monday, April 19

YooHoo & Friends Contests!



Right now YooHoo & Friends are hosting two contests, a picture/video contest and the other, a design contest. Everyday from now until Earth Day (April 22) they are giving away one plush YooHoo & Friends to one random winner, all ages and countries are eligible to win. To enter the Earth Day Giveaway you have to
  1. Become a fan of YooHoo & Friends on Facebook and post your photo or video on the wall. We will include the photos in an Earth Day photo album and notify each winner via their wall post.
  2. Follow Yoohoo & Friends on Twitter and link to your photo. You must include “#yoohoofriends” in your tweet to qualify.
The second contest is Design YooHoo's Next Friend for children ages 4 to 12 years old.

I am planning on having the girls design new friends for the contest. The picture I posted above was actually the first winner for the Earth Day contest. I sent the picture of Princess G via twitter and we were picked as the winner (she already picked out the pink birthday YooHoo as her prize.) The Earth Day contest is only a few days longer so I suggest you enter quickly!

Sunday, April 18

Brownie Swim Party

Yesterday Princess A's Brownie troop celebrated their cookie sales with a swim party. We went swimming for a whole hour. Princess A is ready to take swim lesson, she was doing really well. After swimming we had a pizza party, with cupcakes after! The girls also earned two fun patches and a t-shirt that reads "Brownies can do anything!"
I miss swimming! I am going to try to find a pool I can do laps at, well a place that has swimming during the day instead of at night.

Thursday, April 15

Hippo's Birthday

All day Princess G said that it was Hippo's birthday (the 5th time this month)! The night before Princess G wrapped the gifts for Hippo from us and other dolls/stuffed animals. Right before bed we had Hippo's surprise birthday party. We all had to hide and them jump out and yell "Surprise!" Hippo was so excited he started doing flips and making hippo noises (according to Princess G it is kind of a loud humming noise a little like puppies, hippo has been making that noise since he came home with us). Hippo loved all of his presents (wrapped in blankets behind Princess G) and after 'cake' it was time for bed. Princess G can't wait for Hippo's next birthday, this time she is throwing him a tea party.

Wednesday, April 14

Feeding the Ducks

Near the entrance to our neighborhood there is a small pond with ducks (and sometime geese and seagulls.) We drive by here every time we leave our house and we kept meaning to stop and feed the ducks. Four and a half years later I finally did! For Princess A's party I made way to many scones and we just could not eat them all. I saw them sitting on the counter and as I was leaving to pick Princess A up from school I just grabbed them. The girls were so excited when I stopped at the pond.
Princess A and Princess G just had a blast throwing the scones and bread scraps to the birds. We tried to give most of the food to the ducks but the geese and seagulls were much more aggressive.

The longer we stayed the braver and braver the geese became which meant they got closer and closer. The girls were a little nervous but thought it was funny to throw the scraps at my feet, the geese were eating the food off of my shoes!

When we finally finished our supply we headed back to the car. The geese started following us and honking, at first they walked slowly but as we got further away the sped up and hinked louder. As I was strapping the girls in the car we found one last scone. I threw as far as I could at two geese kind of close to the car. The geese were too slow and the sea gulls got it.
The girls can not stop talking about taking Daddy to go and feed the ducks so we will just have to go back soon. (I have been freezing the bread scraps as they get stale so we will have some when we finally go.)

Tuesday, April 13

Wordless Wednesday: Reward for Cookie Booth Sales

After Princess A sold Girl Scout cookies at a booth in front of Walmart I rewarded her with an ice cream cone. She ate about half of the cone by the time we got home and gave the rest to her sister.

Monday, April 12

Princess A's Birthday

On Princess A's birthday (the day after her birthday party) Princess G and I picked up Happy Meals and surprised her for lunch at school.
Princess A was so excited when she saw us. She knew I was coming to hand out cupcakes but she did not know I was bringing lunch (I sent her to school with and almost empty lunch bag, it just had her water bottle). She was also excited because for the first time I got her the big kid Happy Meal (6 nuggets instead of the usual 4 and a bigger drink.) She felt so grown-up. All of her classmates were happy to see us too because we had cupcakes!!!

When Daddy got home it was time to open gifts (Princess G also got two gifts so she would not be left out.) Princess A received a My Little Pony Bakery, a Ken doll (her first boy Barbie), Fancy Nancy puzzle and the Tinkerbell Hot Air Balloon (with the boy fairy, Terence I think). Princess G received a Princess puzzle and a Strawberry Shortcake mini doll.

My baby is now seven years old.

Happy Birthday!
Princess A picked out the colors for the frosting and the fancy flowers I made myself.
She told me that it was the best birthday ever!!
What more could I ask for?

Sunday, April 11

Princess A' Princess Birthday Tea Party

Princess A wanted a real tea party for her birthday. To her that meant fancy teacups, loose tea, over the cup tea strainers, scones, brownie hearts, lots of other treats and sugar cubes (served with sugar tongs). I scoured thrift shops for fancy tea cups, got some teapots via Freecycle and ordered the tea strainer and sugar tongs online. When the guests first arrived everyone made candy necklaces (a Valentine kit I found at JoAnn's in January). After the necklaces everyone decorated a glittery crown just like the one Princess A is wearing (I forgot to get jewel stickers so we used regular stickers.) Once everyone finished the crafts we sang 'Happy Birthday' and had the tea party. I served two kinds of tea, peppermint and fairy tale tea. Each princess tried the tea though not all of them liked tea (I had apple juice for them.) I did get a few who had never had any tea that was not ice tea and they really liked it. After much giggling, talking and eating the girls were done.
Princess A wanted to teach everyone how to draw Micky Mouse and Minnie Mouse. When we were at Disneyland we attended the Animation Academy for the first time and in two different sessions learned how to draw the characters. Princess A repeated the lesson almost verbatim.
Princess G and Hippo did not want to draw so they just watched.
After the drawing lesson they opened gifts. Princess G gave her sister a Breyer Circus City set. Unfortunately one of the horse's legs broke within the first 20 minutes (I let her open it after all the guest had left). I tried to glue it back together but it just didn't work. She was very sad her horse broke and I was very disappointed it broke so fast. From her friends she received a pink Zhu Zhu pet (she was so excited to get a pink one), a check and art supplies!
We still had a few minutes left so the girls played poison apple (just like hot potato but is a poison apple from Snow White and if you have it when the music stops you take a bite and fall asleep). After that they practised walk like a princess with a book on their head. Princess A was really good, and was able to walk for a long time with that book. The party was lots of fun and the girls can't wait for another tea party with some of the friends who could not attend.