Simple GAB

My boys get very excited when they see either the mail carrier, the UPS guy or the FedEx guy come down our road…and since there are only three houses down our road the odds are pretty good that the truck will be  stopping here! This time it was indeed for us and we received another fun package from MyBlogSpark!

Inside was a box of the new Chocolate Cheerios®!

The boys were pretty excited because

A) they love Cheerios®

B) they love chocolate

C) they knew they could eat some right away

D) they knew  something else fun was sure to happen

So yes I let them hurry up and grab their favorite cereal bowls and dig right in. (I had to join them of course)   The Cheerios® were a big hit!  All of us thought that the chocolate flavor in these was better than some other chocolate cereals we have tried. Although I love chocolate, I have never found a chocolate flavored cereal that I like. These Cheerios®  seem to fill the bill.  Also I was happy to see that they only have 9g of sugar. (remember my recent post on Children’s cereals? )

A little more about the cereal from General Mills:

Chocolate Cheerios is low in fat, heart healthy*, has 100 calories per serving, contains at least 8 grams of whole grain per serving (at least 48 grams recommended daily), and is a good source of calcium and vitamin D. Made with real cocoa, Chocolate Cheerios can help your family start the day off right with a delicious and nutritious breakfast that is sure to make you smile!

*Diets low in saturated fat and cholesterol may reduce the risk of heart disease. Chocolate Cheerios cereal is low in fat, saturated fat free and naturally cholesterol free.

Along with this box of new Chocolate Cheerios we were given some recipes that use the new Cheerios®.  They are all fun things you can make for Valentine’s Day!

Chocolate Cheerios® Marshmallow Hearts

Chocolate Hazelnut Marshmallow Balls

Strawberry-Chocolate Cheerios® Parfaits

Chocolate Peanut Butter Cereal Bars

They all sound good, but we chose to try the Chocolate Cheerios® Marshmallow Hearts first.  Oh how I wish I had thought of buying those Strawberry flavored Marshmallows that Bubba has been begging me for!

image courtesy of Cheerios®

Next we will definitely try the Strawberry-Chocolate Cheerios® Parfait!

image courtesy of Cheerios®

If you want to see even  more recipes using  Chocolate Cheerios® click here for the Chocolate Cheerios® site, and also you can find a coupon to save on your purchase!

Now all this cereal talk and making goodies was great fun for the boys, but MyBlogSpark also included some fun Chocolate themed goodies for Mom, too.  Check this out, there are some Chocolate themed bath products and a decorative chocolate brown bowl to store them in!  So Mom needs to head off to relax with some Chocolate bath salts and body wash.

Do you love Chocolate, too?

Does  a fun new cereal make you smile?

Need some relaxation?

You can win a Chocolate Cheerios Gift Pack courtesy of MyBlogSpark and General Mills.

Just post a comment below telling us about what you  and your families do to start your day off with a SMILE!

Deadline to enter is midnight EST on Monday, February 15, 2010.

Winner will be selected by a random drawing on Tuesday February 16, 2010

**Truth in Blogging Disclaimer:  We received a FREE box of Chocolate Cheerios® and the Gift Pack pictured above courtesy of MyBlogSpark and Cheerios®. As always we will provide you with our honest opinions of any product we review, no matter how we obtained the product.  See our About tab above to read more about Truth in Blogging.

To leave a reply when on the main page,  and the “Leave a reply” box below is hidden,  just click the green post # count button at the top left of the post.

Now that Christmas has come and all the presents have been unwrapped, it’s time to review that list of presents to see what was worth it, what did not pan out as expected, and what was a surprise favorite.  Maybe that will help any of you thinking of buying some of these goodies in the future!

So here’s the roll call of gifts (links provided for your convenience, and not my gain!):

AJ:

Insignia flat screen HDTV/DVD combo:

Smokin’ hot favorite…bonus being it has an antenna and brings in 7 channels to the room without any cable hookups! Well actually for him 6 channels because he won’t be watching the Worship channel anytime soon.  WORTH IT

Guitar Hero World Tour Band Kit for the Wii:

This one was really a family gift, but AJ is rockin’ out on the bass and hoggin’ the mic! Guess the apple does not fall far from the tree. G-Man is a natural on lead guitar, and Mr B&W can bang those drums.  WORTH IT

Gap Trapper hat:

Well his is actually blue striped…but you get the idea. I think he loves it because it is like one “the Chief” wears.  SURPRISE FAVORITE

Card full of money from Grandma:

Definitely a bigger hit than a box of random stuff from the dollar store or a sweater 3 sizes too small.  When you are far away it is hard to get a pulse on the wants & needs of the grandchildren.  So in this case, having money to help get that new catcher’s mitt is WORTH IT.

Bubba:

John Deere Gator:

Number one item on his list was something from John Deere…I think this was a big surprise, and  as you can see he had fun with it! Who cares that the ground is covered with snow and ice?  We thought he could fill the back up and sand the road for us.

Santa really got a deal on Craigs list. WORTH IT!

LEGO® Road Construction Set:

Legos were another list item, but it is not Lego CITY, so minor disappointment. What were you thinking, Santa?  The box has yet to be opened, so we will see about this one.  This may have to fall under NOT AS EXPECTED.

Wii Fit Plus:  

Ummm not his gift, but he has played it far more than the intended recipient (although she loves it too).

So for him this is definitely a SURPRISE FAVORITE.

Also he got a Trapper Hat, and has been wearing it out and about as well.  His is fleece with faux Sherpa inside.  Another SURPRISE FAVORITE.

Mr. B & W:

Roku HD Digital Video Player:

When he saw  the plain box simply sporting the word ROKU he had no idea what it was, and the picture of popcorn on top made him think he just got some yummy Japanese popcorn…big surprise when he saw what it really was.  Being able to watch Movies and TV shows downloaded from Amazon Video on Demand or streaming  Netflix makes this a great gift. Getting a free $30 in Amazon Video on Demand credits makes it even better! (I am sensing a future review post on this one ) Definitely WORTH IT for me and for him,  a SURPRISE FAVORITE!

There are plenty of other gifts that sort of fell into the middle of the road category…but AJ is away for a few days, so not everything of his  has been thoroughly inspected. I am sure we will soon have another list of Faves & Duds after the tree is gone and the dust settles.

What were the favorites, duds or surprise hits for your family this year?

Other than clothes that did not fit, do you do returns for gifts?

Here’s hoping you and yours have a very Merry Christmas!

Whoah where has all the time gone?  I start counting down to Christmas and next thing you know 2 weeks out has suddenly turned into 2 days out! YIKES!  Today I hit that on Vacation button to my Amazon store and took a deep breath, knowing I did not have to ship another last minute Christmas gift and sweat whether it arrives on time.

Now I think I have all my shopping done, but then again Mr B&W present is the only one not yet in my possession.  Needless to say I am now obsessed with the “track your package” button on Amazon!

How is your shopping going? Are you done?

How about wrapping? Please do not tell me you were done with that weeks ago.  I sort of enjoy the last minute Christmas Eve wrapping where I sip my eggnog (spiked of course) and debate with Mr B&W which gifts were Santa’s and which were ours.  The big guy (meaning Santa   ) cannot get all the credit.

Once the holiday weekend has passed I have a couple reviews and giveaways to post…think shopping and kids food!

Have a wonderful holiday!

As if the 12″ of snow this week was not enough to get us into the Christmas spirit, baking coolies sure sealed the deal.

It all started a few days ago when Bubba wanted to make “Stoplight” cookies.  So we whipped up a batch of dough, rolled it out, cut into circles and sprinkled some red, some yellow and some green. Then lined them up in a row like a stop light before we could eat them.

AJ, being a little grumpy the next day said we should have made Christmas cookies, and said he’d  help make some.  Lucky him, we had saved some dough in the refrigerator!

Fast forward to the next day when we suddenly get dumped on with a foot of snow! Perfect day for making cookies.  Bubba was happy to help, AJ suddenly found that playing FIFA soccer on the Wii was far more exciting.  (ha you think you are getting any cookies now mister?)

Behold the final product, beautifully decorated as only a 5 year old can:

Christmas Ornament Cookies

(adapted from Treasury of Christmas, 3 cookbooks in 1)

2 ¼ cups all-purpose flour

¼ teaspoon salt

1 cup sugar

¾ cup butter, softened

1 large egg

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 teaspoon orange extract (recipe calls for almond, but the boys don’t like it)

assorted sugars, candies or decors

Place flour & salt in medium bowl; stir to combine. Beat sugar and butter in large bowl with mixer at medium speed until light and fluffy. Beat in egg, vanilla and extract. Gradually add flour mixture and beat on low until well blended. Divide dough in half, cover and refrigerate 30 minutes or until firm.

Preheat oven to 350° F. Take one portion of dough and roll out onto lightly floured surface to ¼ inch thickness. Cut into desired shapes with floured cookie cutters.  Reroll the trimmings and cut out more shapes. Place cookies on ungreased baking sheet.  If using sugars, decorate cookies before baking (if using icing or frosting decorate after baking)  To make cookies into ornaments for the tree, take a drinking straw and cut a hole near top of cookie so that later you can insert a ribbon for hanging.

Bake 10 -12 minutes until edges barely turn a light golden brown. (cook them any longer than that and they will be best used as ornaments & not eaten!) Let stand on cookie sheet 1 minute to cool, then remove to wire rack.

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I will try to post a recipe as we work our way through our holiday baking.  I have a few favorites I make only at this time of year.

Do you have a favorite cookie recipe that you like to make for the holidays?

Well here it is Black Friday and I am sitting home cozy and warm enjoying my hot coffee and a slice of Pumpkin Cranberry bread.

How about you?

Do you brave the crowds for the hot deals?

Is there a must have item on your list?

Do you prefer to sit home at your computer and shop online?

Well it is raining here and I don’t like long lines or crowds, so  despite the begging from the 11 year old to go out shopping, I will sit here and let my fingers do the walking and see what we can find online.

Hope you all had a Happy Thanksgiving!

Hope everyone had a Happy Halloween!

Did you get a lot of Trick or Treaters?  Not here….we had 2, yes you read that correctly, just TWO.  We would have had ZERO except Bubba accosted a girl trick or treating at the neighbors and said are you coming over to my house…then asked the 13 year old boy across the street if he was coming over. Fortunately they both obliged and Bubba got the thrill of passing out some candy. Then we waited, and waited, and no one else came…well except Daddy came home and took him out for more trick or treating! Whoo Hoo Dad’s rock.

Here is after the haul:

This year Bubba was so into the Halloween activities. He has had several parties to go to, and has now been dubbed Mr. Social!! We get to the school Halloween dance and he says “I have to go find  my girls”…so he could ask them all to dance!  I cannot wait to see how that plays out in the future.

Thanks to M’s mom for giving us this shot from the dance

A Firefighter & his Princess

Here are a few shots from his school party:

Donuts do not get past this boy!

With so few Trick or Treaters we have plenty of candy left…how about you?

Here’s hoping you all have a wonderful Fourth of July!

©Scott Bulger Photography

We are expecting rain…surprise, surprise…so that will put a damper on the fun. Many places have already rescheduled their fireworks displays. At least that means more opportunities to celebrate and enjoy the fun.

I am really hoping the Fireworks over the lake are still on for tonight, as that is my favorite setting to view them.

Please stop by Frugal GAB for a link to get a free Star Spangled Banner mp3 download!