Another product testing website

I recently had a correspondence with Procter and Gamble. At the bottom of their e-mail they advertising a website Vocalpoint.

I received a free product yesterday to test. I'll let you know what it is after I try it and I have $4 off coupons for it. I didn't have to do anything to get it other than sign up.


If your interested, give it a try!

What's Cookin' -- 3 Envelope Crockpot Chicken

I've seen this one all over the place lately. It's really easy and good, however I only use half of each of the envelopes because it seems too salty otherwise.

3 Envelope Crockpot Chicken
1 envelope dry ranch dressing mix
1 envelope dry Italian dressing mix
1 envelope dry chicken gravy mix
1 cup water
Boneless, skinless chicken breasts

Directions:
1. Put the chicken in the crockpot.
2. Add dry ingredients and water.
3. Cook on low 7 to 8 hours, or high 4 to 5 hours.

Fall Activities for Toddlers (Part 3)

This is the final part of a series. (Part 1 and Part 2).

For each project I will highlight several developmental skills it enhances. Often we do things, but don’t think about the reason why. And sometimes we don’t do things because we don’t think they will make an impact. Now every kid is different and what one gains another might not. But that’s okay. It’s most important to present the opportunity for our children and let them tell us what they learn from it.

Felt, Felt and more Felt

Felt is cheap and easy to use. Kids love to play with it. It is easy to use for enhancing stories or songs. I used separate pieces for the Jack-O-Lantern to give my daughter a chance to make a face on the pumpkin. This however is a situation where you need to know your toddler. My pieces for the face are small, but my daughter hasn't even tried to put them in her mouth. If she had I would have made it much larger or not used it at all.

Materials: Orange, red, white, black, green, yellow felt. Patterns for leaves, bat, ghosts, pumpkins, apples.

Directions: Trace pattern on felt and cut out. Make as many of each as you want. The Jack-o-Lantern face I did free hand. Use a felt board, or make your own wrapping felt around a cookie sheet or cardboard. I taped felt to the wall. You can sing songs or tell stories with the felt.

Language used: pumpkin, bat, face, ghost, apple leaves, red, orange, green, white, black
Fine Motor: Place felt on felt board and putting it in various locations. Puzzles are hard for toddlers, but this gives a similar challenge..
Creative: Put in any spot
Sensory: Felt is soft.
Cognitive: Learning that felt can stick to the board. Trying to make a face is a challenge.
Enjoyment: It is fun to use different textures of familiar items.
Social: We work together to make the face or put the felt pieces up.

Fall Tree
Materials: Paper, orange paint, washcloth

Directions: Make a tree trunk on the paper. Let the child paint with brush or finger. Cut out to look like a tree.

Language used: paint, art, tree, orange
Fine Motor: Using hands and fingers to paint refines fine motor
Creative: Tree can be any size and colors can go anywhere
Sensory: Feeling the paint and watching where it goes when spread
Cognitive: Memory from painting before.
Enjoyment: Painting is fun.
Social: We worked together to create the tree.

Painted Leaves
Materials: Paint, paper, pattern, washcloth
Directions: Paint paper with brush or fingers. When paper is dry cut out into leaves.

Language used: paint, yellow, leaves
Fine Motor: Using hands and fingers to paint.
Creative: Paint can go anywhere
Sensory: Feeling paint
Cognitive: Reinforces leaves in other projects we have done.
Enjoyment: Painting is fun
Social: We worked together to create the leaves.

Ghosts and Bats
Materials: Black paper, chalk, Kleenex or tissue paper, marker, string, rubber band, paper clips.
Directions for Bat
Trace bat pattern,
Have child use sidewalk chalk to decorate
Cut out.
Put paper clip on top
Tie string to paper clip
Hang from doorway or ceiling

Directions for Ghosts (I did this while my daughter watched)
Wrap Kleenex or tissue paper inside another one to form a head
Use rubber band to secure
Make face with marker
Put paper clip around rubber band
Tie string to paper clip
Hang from doorway or ceiling

Language used: ghosts, bats, chalk, black, white
Gross Motor: I let her touch and swing the bats and ghosts.
Fine Motor: Using chalk to decorate refines fine motor.
Creative: When I made the ghost she watched me create something. Chalk can go anywhere on bat.
Sensory: Feeling the finished products and the chalk.
Cognitive: Everyday the bats and ghosts are the first thing my daughter looks for.
Enjoyment: She enjoys looking at them
Social: We did them together

**Remember these are just ideas. I hope you can build on them and use them for more than just Halloween**

Unity Candle

I'm breaking away from my normal "Organizational Monday" to write about a memory from our wedding.

This weekend we went to a wedding and they had the unity candle lighting portion. I am always reminded of how the lighting of our unity candle went with a slight problem during our wedding ceremony.

The conditions of our wedding day: 1. It had been a heat wave the week before -- in the upper 90s and lower 100s. The day of our wedding was had cooled down to 89 degrees in August. 2. The church had no air conditioning. 3. Large fans were strategically placed to blow on the wedding party. 4. Our unity candle was placed in front the pew my parents were sitting on. The candle was behind us

So before the wedding, my sister-in-law (to be) came and asked if the candles for the unity candle should be lite before the wedding. I said yes. The wedding ceremony was about 30 minutes into it before we turned around to light the unity candle. Except all I saw was my mom laughing. The side candles had burned down to about an inch because of the heat and the fans. The embellishments we decorated on the candle slightly burned the side of the candle. There was no way we could pick up the candles and do the lighting. The pastor went and got the what they use to light the candelabra on the alter. It was large and awkward. But it did the trick. One at a time we light our unity candle. It made us smile.

But the real symbolism for is this: You can't plan everything. Parts of life will go wrong and how you deal with it is the key to succeeding in marriage or life. We didn't stress over it. I wasn't sure what to do, but it didn't upset us or anger us. And that really makes me realize this was just the beginning of situations we will have to overcome in our lives together. Our themes in the wedding were love, kindness, patience, compassion, and "real" love. We made sure to enjoy the day and really didn't put that much pressure to make it perfect. I couldn't find a good picture of the burnt candle -- maybe the photographer thought we would want to remember that. But I think it is one of the best parts of the wedding. I have saved the candle and will always remember that no matter how hard you try, life never gives you what you expect. You just gotta go with it.

Lucky Winner

Congrats to Lori for winning the Diaper coupons. Thanks to all for participating!

Pssst Yogurt Coupons Giveaway

A while ago, I joined Pssst. It has savings and products to try for General Mills products.

The latest product is Yoplait Yogurt. Classic cake-inspired flavors available in Yoplait Light yogurt -- Strawberry Shortcake, Raspberry Cheesecake, Pineapple Upside-down Cake. Each serving contains 20% daily value of calcium and vitamin D, 110 fat-free calories



If you would like to receive a coupon via e-mail for this yogurt, leave a comment or send an e-mail.


PS I still have Pillsbury pizza crust coupons, too.

What's Cookin' -- Cream Cheese Chicken

This was so good, I thought it was restaurant quality. Okay, well we don't have a great restaurant selection where I live so maybe that's a stretch. But this is really easy and one of the best chicken recipes I've tried in a long time. I found it on www.cooks.com.

Cream Cheese Chicken
4 chicken breasts
8 oz cream cheese (I didn't end up using that much)
chives (I didn't use these)

Coating Mix
1 cup breadcrumbs (I used crushed saltines)
1 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp dried basil
1/2 tsp dried oregano leaves

2 Tbsp melted butter
2 tsp grated Parmesan cheese

Directions
1. Flatten chicken breasts.
2. Place a tablespoon or desired amount of cream cheese in center of each piece.
3. Roll chicken breast up so cream cheese is in center.
4. Mix breadcrumbs, garlic powder, basil and oregano together.
5. Roll each chicken breast in coating.
6. Place in baking dish.
7. Drizzle with melted butter.
8. Shake Parmesan on each.
9. Bake 375 degrees for 40 to 50 minutes.