Friday, October 29, 2010

Game Review: My Weight Loss Coach for DS

My husband saw this in Game Stop and mentioned it to me when he got back in the car, he thought it would be something I would like. My first question was, "how much is it?". It was only $6, used of course. He described it to me and I thought I could really use it. The amazing thing is it comes with a pedometer, something that I've wanted for a year now! It plugs into the DS and uploads your steps from the pedometer. It has the cutest little stick figure coach you've ever seen! I've had it a couple of weeks now and it really has motivated me to get my steps up every day! Here are some of cool things you can do on it:
*Product Features
-Create your personal profile and evaluate your improvement potential; then set up your objectives following the recommendations based on your personal profile
-Input reward system on a daily or weekly basis, overall, per input category via a pedometer, physical activity and nutrition
-The pedometer - free with the game and easily updated through your DS, it’s the best way to control your daily physical effort, challenge yourself and balance your food intake
-All physical activities you achieve and good nutrition habits you acquire are converted into distance
-Developed in collaboration with a fitness coach and a nutritionist

* Every day I upload my steps and input what I've eaten for the day. It tells me if I'm in balance or not according to my physical activity. It even has nutritional coaching sessions, quiz's and much more!
* I really do enjoy having this game and I would highly recommend it to anyone just for the simple fact that you can keep track of your steps. It records it daily and you can go back to review the different days of the month. It even records and tracks your weight! It's great!

Vicky

Trick or Treat?


That question is a no brainer for me, treat of course :-) It doesn't matter what type of sweet treat it is, I'm not picky with sweets! Unfortunately my sweet Evan isn't picky with his sweets either! At age 4 he is a self proclaimed NandyHolic (I will miss it when he says it right later on!) Last night it was Trick or Treat night in our county and boy was the excitement on an all time high level yesterday! Evan got his costume out the night before and as soon as waking tried to put it on!
Fast forward to trick or treat time! I weighed in at Weight Watcher's (Lost another 2.4lbs!!) and then we took them to a Trunk or Treat at the church where they got lots of candy and headed off for a treat and took them to eat inside McDonalds. I knew they only way to get them to eat was to do it BEFORE trick or treating :) So after dinner we started on our quest! Out of the car, costumes on, quick picture for Grandma, and we were hitting the streets! After a few houses Evan noticed he was only getting one piece of candy at a time so he started to Double trick or treat people! We told him he couldn't double trick or treat, but that just got us more evil laughter and he was wild! A lot of people let him even after hearing us tell him no, hey, it's hard to resist a 3 ft tall cutie that is dressed like Mario! LOL! One house let him triple trick or treat her she said he was so cute!
We came home last night and they ate a little bit of candy before bed. So another Halloween has come and gone, well the trick or treat aspect has! This weekend I have planned to make a Halloween treat with the kids since we haven't done that yet (I've kinda slacked off on baking since starting WW, it's so tempting!) and maybe watch some scary movies with my husband when the kids are in bed! Sounds pretty boring to some, but to me sounds perfect :)

Wishing you all a safe and Happy Halloween!!

Vicky

Wednesday, October 27, 2010

Parent/Teacher Conferences...


I had a parent/teacher meeting last night for my 7 yr old Nicholas. He is in the 2nd grade. I know most of you probably wouldn't agree with me, but I'm one of those parents that just love parent/teacher conference's! It's a time when I get to go here someone else (that is non-family) brag incessantly about my sweet boy! So for 15-20 minutes I hear how wonderful he is, how incredible he is, how perfect of a student he is, how they wish they had a whole room full of students, yep, you guessed it, just like him! This occurs yearly with both of my kids, Nathan and Nicholas. Remember, these aren't my words or their Grandma's words (although we do think it!), this is a teacher speaking so wonderfully about my children. Not to mention he is already reading beyond his grade level and same in math!!

So if you think I'm bragging, well I'm definitely bragging!!

Vicky (a very proud Mommy to 4 amazing boys!)

Tuesday, October 26, 2010

It has happened...


I knew this day was inevitable, me being the only female in a house of 5 males! Normally Scott and I watch TV together after the kids' go to bed. If ever they are up we watch something family oriented, like kiddie movies, stuff about animals, things like that. Tonight Scott turns the TV on and I'm thinking he must want to watch Disney Oceans DVD he got from Netflix, WRONG! He turns it on basketball and the kids' just flock to him like white on rice! They are watching it right now and it's 8 o'clock on a school night! He did ask me if I wanted to watch something else? I do believe that was a trick question, LOL! So in order to save myself from a lynch mob of ankle biters, I said go ahead and watch it :-)

For some of you this may be a normal occurrence, but for us to allow the kids' to watch TV of any type during the school week is odd. On weekends they barely watch it and they are allowed too. I guess basketball is something they can't miss (said with a tiny amount of sarcasm here). But who am I to come between a boy and his sports, at any age??

Fall is here and that means one thing to males- BASKETBALL! They are Louisville Cardinal fan's! Not the kitties (UK), LOL!

While I don't think I will ever love basketball as much as they do, I know I'm totally outnumbered on this one and I happily smile, don't say a word, and go about my business :-)



Vicky

Monday, October 25, 2010

The many different hats we wear...

We've all heard or read this somewhere, but it's very true. Mom's wear many different hats in life, from the obvious hats- Cook, Maid, Chauffeur, Nurse, Teacher, to friend! I was thinking about this yesterday as I was giving my crew haircuts! With 5 boys' (gotta include my husband here too!) I would have to get a part time job just to afford their hair cuts! So naturally with me staying home, I had to put on that hat also and take on the role of barber too! I've been doing this for over 5 years now and I still don't enjoy it, but I do enjoy the savings it provides!!

So until a barber is willing to trade me hair cuts for desserts, I will keep on clipping :-)

Vicky

Sunday, October 24, 2010

Counting down to December...

What does December make you think of? Do you have visions of sugar plums dancing in your head? Presents, Santa Claus, shopping, definitely Holiday baking! I'm thinking of finals, ugh! As some of you may know, this semester I went back to college to work on my Bachelor's degree. Going to school full-time has been extremely hard this time around, much harder than I remembered. Sure I could blame it on my extreme hard nose instructor, but I suspect it's because I have too many irons in the fire! So what's a Mom to do with her little ones watching? Keep on trucking and give it my all, no matter how tough the going gets! So I will be counting down the days to Christmas along with my sweet boys, but I'll have another goal in mind, finishing this semester! Come December I'll be one happy camper :-)

Vicky

Saturday, October 23, 2010

GIVEAWAY: Handmade Toddler Aprons

I've offering a lucky reader a chance to win a handmade toddler apron by me :) You get your choice of either an apron for a boy, or for a girl. Toddler aprons look so adorable on the little ones! Not only can they be used for cooking, but you can also use them for art/craft projects, anything that requires covering for messy things! 100% cotton, just throw in the washer like normal clothes.

For the little boys...


For the little girlsU.S. Only.

If you are interested, please follow the contest rules. Good Luck!
Contest ends on November 12, 2010

*To Enter contest you MUST be a follower of this blog.

*Please specify which apron you would like to receive (Boy OR Girl)

*Please leave all extra entries in separate comments to let me know.

*Winners will be notified by e-mail.

*Email Address must be visible in comment so that I can contact you.

EXTRA ENTRIES:

+1 for following me on Twitter here

+1 for following me on Facebook here

+5 for following my friend's blog Mom's Magical Apron

+5 for following my friend's blog Color's of a Family Heart

+10 for sharing this contest on any social site and leaving the link in your comment

+50 for subscribing to this blog via email.



**To post a comment,(if it's not showing up below), please click on the title of this post which is always in pink.

Thanks!
Vicky

My Disclosure Policy

This policy is valid from 23 October 2010


This blog is a personal blog written and edited by me. For questions about this blog, please contact me at my4pickles@yahoo.com

This blog accepts forms of cash advertising, sponsorship, paid insertions or other forms of compensation.

This blog abides by word of mouth marketing standards. We believe in honesty of relationship, opinion and identity. The compensation received may influence the advertising content, topics or posts made in this blog. That content, advertising space or post will be clearly identified as paid or sponsored content.

The owner(s) of this blog is compensated to provide opinion on products, services, websites and various other topics. Even though the owner(s) of this blog receives compensation for our posts or advertisements, we always give our honest opinions, findings, beliefs, or experiences on those topics or products. The views and opinions expressed on this blog are purely the bloggers' own. Any product claim, statistic, quote or other representation about a product or service should be verified with the manufacturer, provider or party in question.

This blog does not contain any content which might present a conflict of interest.


To get your own policy, go to http://www.disclosurepolicy.org

Friday, October 22, 2010

FREE Lowe's Build and Grow Workshop Oct.23rd


We usually take the boys to this at Lowe's every chance we can. They just love it! All the kids that attend get a free little work apron and project badges after each craft! They have little hammers for the kids to use, it's really nice. It's all 100% free! In our area Lowe's offers it twice a month. All the projects are made out of wood. Tomorrow they'll be able to build a Flapping Bat, complete with glow in the dark stickers!! Sounds Halloweenish :-)


Vicky

Thursday, October 21, 2010

GIVEAWAY- Charm Factory, Charm Bracelet


Fortunately I was a giveaway winner from another blog and got one of their amazing bracelets! I just love it! I think everyone should own one! The folks over at Charm Factory, were nice enough to offer one of my lucky readers a chance to win one of their beautiful bracelets. Please click here to see which one you could win!

U.S. Only.

If you are interested, please follow the contest rules. Good Luck!
Contest ends on November 5, 2010

*To Enter contest you MUST be a follower of this blog.

*Please leave all extra entries in separate comments to let me know.

*Winners will be notified by e-mail.

*Email Address must be visible in comment so that I can contact you.

EXTRA ENTRIES:

+1 for following me on Twitter here

+1 for following me on Facebook here

+5 for following my friend's blog Mom's Magical Apron

+5 for following my friend's blog Color's of a Family Heart

+10 for sharing this contest on any social site and leaving the link in your comment

+50 for subscribing to this blog via email.



**To post a comment,(if it's not showing up below), please click on the title of this post which is always in pink.

Thanks!
Vicky

TGIF!- Let's talk sweeper!




Today I'll be talking about the Cordless Swivel Sweeper.

I received this as a birthday present this year (thanks Dad and Regina!!) and let's just say I have a new love, LOL! For those of you that don't know me, I vacuum obsessively. It's not that I really enjoy it, I do it because I have a pug. If you've ever been around a pug you will know that all that short hair on them is deceiving! They are one of the worse shedding dogs around. *Note, do not say that sentence out loud really fast in public, people will think you're cussing :-)
I can't stand feeling anything underneath my feet in the kitchen, so I have to get the 'ole broom out and sweep, ALOT! I could blame all the dirt on the kids and the dog, but I'm a messy cook and I drop things!

For those unfamiliar with the Swivel Sweeper, it's a cordless vacuum stick. It comes with a re-chargable battery, it's lightweight (2lbs), it swivels and it has a touchless dirt tray that I just adore!!! Yes, I love and adore a Swivel Sweeper! I love how I can just start it up and clean up that spilled flour in the kitchen or those cracker crumbs on carpet! Yes it even goes on carpet! I zoom it through the entire house about twice a day now. Even the bathrooms get swept with this thing! I have found it sucks up things like paper, crayons, pencils, shoe laces! I could go on and on, but you get the point!

So now instead of dragging my big Hoover out, I use this lightweight thing for most occasions! Now if only I could find a machine that would pick up after the kids' :)
Underneath all of my messy house is a clean floor that no one can see, LOL!

Vicky

Wednesday, October 20, 2010

Book Review: A Guy's Guide To Life

A Guy's Guide to Life -How to become a man in 224 pages or less by Jason Boyett is a wonderful resource for teen guys and the people that love them. The book is specifically designed for teen guys and helping them through all the difficulties they deal with in adolescence.

Since I have 4 boys' I found the title of this book very intriguing. So I knew I just had to read this book. I actually enjoyed it! It was humorous and very easy to read. When my kids' are a little bit older, this will be a must read for them!

*Disclosure: I received a copy of this book for free through Booksneeze.com. All opinions expressed are 100% mine.

Vicky

Book Review: The Prophecy answer Book by David Jeremiah

The Prophecy answer Book by David Jeremiah is a pocket size guide that gathers all of answers to common questions regarding Bible prophecy. It covers current events, the rapture, the tribulation, the Antichrist, the second coming, the millennium, and the new Heaven and the new Earth. Each section lists commonly asked questions followed by a brief 1-2 page answer. The answers are often tied to scripture references and historical evidence where applicable.

I really enjoyed reading this book, it is tiny enough that I just stuck it in my purse and pulled it out to read when I was sitting in car-line to pick up my kids' from school!
This would make a great gift for any occasion!

*Disclosure: I received a copy of this book for free through Booksneeze.com. All opinions expressed are 100% mine.

Vicky

Tuesday, October 19, 2010

Review & Giveaway: Ouchies

Bandages that make a fashion statement!
How many of us Mom's only buy certain band aids because of the character or special design on them? I know that is my #1 deciding factor! I looked at all the different bandages on their website and when I saw the ones with the trucks on them, I knew I had a winner!!

Evan (my 4 yr old) could hardly wait for me to get the plastic off this adorable tin of Ouchies! He immediately showed me non-existent boo-boos, LOL! After applying it, he immediately showed his brothers his cool new bandage! He said they were all his, but they could have one :) I placed the Ouchies tin in the cabinet and he wanted to know where his new thing was! So even the tin was a huge hit with him!

I really like how you can do a search by gender on their website (boys,girls,everybody). Since I have all boys' that saves me a lot of time! They even have bandages where you can create your own design on them, how cool is that!

Now for the giveaway! A lucky reader will Win 2 tins of Ouchies Bandages!

U.S. Only.

If you are interested, please follow the contest rules. Good Luck!
Contest ends on November 2, 2010

*To Enter contest you MUST be a follower of this blog.

*Please leave all extra entries in separate comments to let me know.

*Winners will be notified by e-mail.

*Email Address must be visible in comment so that I can contact you.

EXTRA ENTRIES:

+5 for becoming a fan of Ouchies on Facebook here

+1 for following me on Twitter here

+1 for following me on Facebook here

+5 for following my friend's blog Mom's Magical Apron

+10 for sharing this contest on any social site and leaving the link in your comment

+50 for subscribing to this blog via email.



**To post a comment,(if it's not showing up below), please click on the title of this post which is always in pink.

Thanks!
Vicky

Monday, October 18, 2010

Weight Watcher's Points...

Since I started WW a couple of weeks ago, I thought whenever I post a recipe I could also post the WW points, since I'll be calculating for me anyways :)

I've lost 12.6 lbs so far, hoping to lose another 2 this week, we'll have to wait and see on that one! It's Monday, so I'm in crack down mode, like some crazed person drinking water by the gallon, LOL! Thursday will be here before I know it!

If only you could lose weight as fast as you gain it, now that would be great!!

I really should bake a sweet treat for the kids', it will be tempting for me....

Vicky


*If you want to leave a comment, click on the original title of the post, the title is always in pink!

Movie Review...

I'll be doing 3 movie reviews this time. No, I didn't watch them all at once, I barely have time to watch one movie straight through :)
Iron Man 2, I can sum it up in one word- AWESOME!!! I just LOVED this movie! Robert Downey, Jr. resumed his role of the funny, egotistical Stark. After we watched this movie we wanted to re-watch the 1st one again, but time doesn't permit that!

Babies, this was such a cute movie. I was really looking forward to watching this with my kids', but sadly they couldn't watch hardly any of it. It has a lot of maternal nudity in it. I'm just not comfortable letting my 4 boys see that. So if you don't have a problem with your children seeing nudity (mainly African tribal) then you can easily watch it with your kids'. It was really amazing seeing the different cultures. You really see how pampered we are in the States! In one part of the movie a baby poops on the Mother's leg and she just takes a stick and wipes it off, ewwwww! I don't think I could live the tribal life :-)

Furry Vengence
This was a great family movie! In order for us to allow our kids' to watch a movie, it must follow strict rules. No profanity, nudity, a lot of violence, you get the point! Nowadays it's hard to find movies like that, even movies specifically targeted to children! It's really sad! If my kids' will be watching a movie, I always review it at several different sites reading their reviews first. This movie did have one curse word at the end, during a song, it said the word d*mn. Since I already knew it was coming and where it was, I just turned it down low, it was over anyways :)

How will your filled film house the apparent clause?


Vicky

My comment box...

For some reason I'm having problems with my comment box showing up after my post every time. If you want to leave a comment on any of my posts, you must click on the original title of the post, it will then pop up a comment box at the bottom of the post. For example if you would like to comment on this post, click on the title "My comment box..."

Thanks!
Vicky

Friday, October 15, 2010

Raising kids...

My husband said something today that made me think! For those of you that are lucky enough to personally know him, you may think he's a man of few words, but the opposite is true! He got ready for work earlier than usual today, or maybe Nicholas (our 7 yr old) was running late, which probably was the case, since he inherited the slow as a turtle gene from me ;) Anyway, he saw me pull out Nicholas' school clothes from the dryer and heard me tell him to put them on before they got cold. He asked what I was doing, I told him Nicholas likes his clothes to be warm from the dryer when he gets up and it's cold! If your child really enjoys something and you can do it repeatedly, then why not? Right? Wrong! Scott said, "Vicky, think about their future wives!". I seriously doubt a future wife would have warm, toasty clothes waiting for my sons when it turned cold outside! I wouldn't want to do that for my husband everyday, (sorry sweetie)!

So I guess the little things we do now as Mother's could greatly impact the relationship expectations our children have as adults!

If anyone out there is raising four perfect girl's to go with my 4 perfect little men, let me know, LOL!

Vicky

TGIF!!


Thanking God it's Friday once again! This is my motto once the kids' are back in school, I start living for the weekends. My wonderful husband and my sweet kids' are home all day and it's meant to just enjoy the days together! I thought I would start something new on Friday's, since I'm trying to devote more time to my blog. I'll be telling you all about things that I love! So for today I will write about my new toy, it's called a Nook. If you're not familiar with this, it's a Barnes and Noble e-reader. You can download any type of book onto it and take it with you anywhere! Every Friday Barnes and Noble gives you a free e-book. Almost every book published has a free downloadable sample, which is usually the first chapter. You can even upload files you already have on your computer, basically anything that is in pdf form. I even upload some of my homework files on there to take with me and study while I'm waiting on my kids' in car line. You can lend eBooks to a friend also.


Almost all the old classics are free to download for the Nook. I even have several children's books on there so if my kids' are bored they can read it also! We are a family of book lovers and what better way to occupy your time then reading a classic!

Vicky

Thursday, October 14, 2010

My very 1st GIVEAWAY!!

I was recently contacted by CSN stores to host a giveaway on my blog. What fun!

CSN has over 200 stores with some super fun stuff... you can get shoes, dishes, a clock, bedding sets and even a super chic bar stool! So much eye candy that I found myself wanting so many items!!

So, what do you get to win? A $20 gift certificate to any one of their stores!!

If you are interested, please follow the contest rules. Good Luck!

*Contest ends on October, 22, 2010

*To Enter contest you MUST be a follower of this blog.

*Please leave all extra entries in 1 comment to let me know.

*Winners will be notified by email.

*Email Address must be visible in comment so that I can contact you.

EXTRA ENTRIES:

+1 for following me on Twitter here

+1 for following me on Facebook here

+5 for following my friend's blog Mom's Magical Apron

+10 for sharing this contest on any social site and leaving the link in your comment

+50 for subscribing to this blog via email.

*To post a comment, click on the title of this post, if it's not showing up below
Thanks!
Vicky

Wednesday, October 6, 2010

Pumpkin Pie


It's finally cool weather, Fall is officially here and it's time for apples and pumpkins! Okay, so maybe I bake all year long with apples (only b/c we love them!), but pumpkin is a different story! Over the weekend we took the kids' to the pumpkin patch and they each picked out a pumpkin. The only rule we have about that is, each kid has to be able to carry their own pumpkin back to the tractor for the hayride back! It's so cute, this year we had 4 pumpkins, large, medium, small and extra small, LOL! I should take a picture of them lined up and put it on here :)
Back at the farm's store, I just had to buy a pie baking pumpkin to make a pie for the kids'. Evan kept asking me when I was going to make the pie with "my" pumpkin, so today was the day! After breakfast clean up I went to work on my pie.
It all started with this!!

Bake or microwave the pumpkin, when tender, cut in half, scoop out all the pumpkin guts and seeds, then you are left with 2 clean halves. Scoop out all of the flesh and throw it in a food processor, puree till smooth.















*Recipe will be at the bottom*
Now mix in all your ingredients, I didn't take a picture of this, just follow the recipe, if you can read, you can do it :)
You can use a store bought pie crust, or make your own, it's very simple to make. I make mine in the food processor.

After letting crust chill in the fridge for at least 30 minutes in plastic wrap, roll out and then pour filling inside. As you can see from the picture I used my handy dandy Tupperware pastry mat, LOVE IT! It has different measurements on it, I rolled mine out to the 9 1/2" section.

This is the kid version of a slice, a smiley face on top!!

I had an oven temperature mishap, I kept checking the pie and it was still so jiggly after 55 minutes! I thought what is wrong with this thing and realized that I had the oven temp set on 325 instead of 400! I guess it was all the distractions from the kids' bickering and the baby taking his diaper off over and over again :-) But it turned out fine! I did have to shield the crust edges with foil to keep them from burning. The kids' loved it, especially Nicholas and the baby, Evan said it was okay, you'll notice this recipe doesn't use any type of sugar, instead it uses honey as the sweetener. I suspect it wasn't sweet enough for Evan to love, LOL! He's a self proclaimed candyholic! The verdict is still out on whether this will be a keeper or not. Scott will be home from work in a couple of hours and will have a big slice, he was disappointed it wasn't ready in time when he was on lunch break! Now, on to the recipe.

1 medium sugar pumpkin
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1 recipe pastry for a 9 inch single crust pie
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon salt
4 eggs, lightly beaten
1 cup honey, warmed slightly
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup heavy whipping cream
Directions

Cut pumpkin in half, and remove seeds. Lightly oil the cut surface. Place cut side down on a jelly roll pan lined with foil and lightly oiled. Bake at 325 degrees F (165 degrees C) until the flesh is tender when poked with a fork. Cool until just warm. Scrape the pumpkin flesh from the peel. Either mash, or puree in small batches in a blender.
In large bowl, blend together 2 cups pumpkin puree, spices, and salt. Beat in eggs, honey, milk, and cream. Pour filling into pie shell.
Bake at 400 degrees F ( 205 degrees C) for 50 to 55 minutes, or until a knife inserted 1 inch from edge of pie comes out clean. Cool on a wire rack.

I got this recipe, like all my others I try out, from allrecipes.com

A new direction in life...

As I turned 35 years old, I was patiently awaiting the results of a skin biopsy. I'm so happy to report that it was a little benign tumor! I turned 35 on a Sunday, got my results back on Thursday and joined Weight Watchers that same evening! I have decided that enough is enough and I have to change my life before I do encounter some type of medical issue. I make sure my children eat healthy, balanced meals, so why shouldn't I hold myself to that same standard? I want to be around for them as long as possible! Plus having 4 boys the energy level is quadrupled around here, LOL! This has been my 2nd week on WW, the 1st week I lost 7.4 lbs, this week I have done even better, but according to the scale it doesn't reflect it. A girl has to deal with that unwanted "friend" every month and she wrecks havoc on weigh in's, some friend, LOL! But I will bounce back when I'm not bloated like Shamu :-)

This blog won't turn all healthy, just talking about Weight Watcher's stuff. I believe living my life in moderation. I would much rather have a 1/2 cup, 1/2 slice of that unbelievable tasting food, than to have the non tasting low-fat knock off! Many people don't realize that the way they lower the fat in products is they replace it with huge amounts of sodium and sugar, not good! So I still like to eat "real" food, just in smaller portions now!

So a new birthday (I guess I'm technically middle aged now), new outlook on life, a new healthier me :)

Vicky