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My Arla Dofino House Party

My latest party from House Party was for Arla Dofino cheese. Honestly, this has probably been my favorite house party so far! I got accepted as a host, sent out my invites, and reviewed the list of items I would be receiving. Insulated lunch totes and cheese. So, I’m expecting cheap lunch totes with the Arla Dofino logo, nope, they were nice Thermos insulated lunch totes in pink, blue, or black. Everyone who came to the party thought they were awesome. Sometimes at these house parties I have trouble giving away the favors (not everyone wanted wooden spoons at one party) but I had no problem getting guests to take these. Everyone needs a new lunch tote!

The cheese shipped directly from Arla Dofino, and I was really impressed with what was inside. Three different rounds – Gouda, Smoked Gouda, and Edam, two packages of sandwich slices – Gouda and Havarti, two triangles – fontina, and gouda, and five blocks of Havarti – Dill, Lite, Creamy, Smoked, and Jalapeño. There was lots and lots of cheese! I was expecting a couple of blocks so I was trying to plan what other things to serve with my cheese, but when my cheese arrived I realized that there was so much cheese, I could focus everything around the cheese.

We had a cheese tray, I cut the cheese in little blocks for easy eating. I did dill and cucumber sandwiches with the havarti dill, these were awesome! I made little cheese crackers with bacon bits on top, warmed them in the oven till the cheese started melting, these were gobbled up first. And the rounds, I set out on the chopping block with some cheese knives. I had pears and apples chopped in squares, and pepperoni and sausage as well as four different kids of crackers.

I’d never tried Arla Dofino cheese before – normally I purchase the store brand from the fridge section – and it was very delicious. Even the jalapeño cheese wasn’t overpoweringly spicy, it was just right. I’m always trying to figure out a good cheese try for holiday parties and after trying out all these cheeses, I now know what cheeses make the right variety cheese tray! Which means, I’ll be buying more when the holidays get here!

This was such a fun laid-back house party, everyone ate cheese, and hung out and chatted for hours.

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Our First Pagent

A few weeks ago my 5yr old tried out her first pagent. If you’re looking for a pagent, National American Miss (NAM) really wasn’t bad. Everything starts and ends on time – and since I love schedules, this was awesome! Everyone’s polite, the kids are nice, etc. I had read up on some reviews before deciding to actually do this, so I wasn’t expecting “Toddlers and Tiaras”. Overall, the pagent is run professionally.

Most importantly, my 5yr old had fun. She’s already talking about going again next year.

Here’s the thing, it’s about $500 just to enter the pagent, plus you have your hotel and food on top of that. However, if you actually want at chance at winning the pagent, you have to enter all the “extra” activities, so the total pagent cost is closer to $1,000 just to enter. The winner does get a modeling contract, so this kind of makes sense. They say all over the place that the extra activities are not required to win, but really, there wasn’t a single girl up there in the “queen’s court” who hadn’t done every single extra activity. So, if you’re going to go, you kinda have to do it all.

Then, you add outfits on top of all this, and things start really getting expensive! They do do a professional photo shoot in the girl’s formal gowns, which is really nice (of course that’s extra).

It was a little tough having the younger kids along – really just the 1yr old was tough, the 3yr old would have had way more fun if I wasn’t keeping up with the 1yr old the whole time. If we do it again I may have to figure something else out for the little kids.

My opinion, it wasn’t nearly as bad as I thought, I’m glad my 5yr old enjoyed it, I’m not sure if we’re doing it again, I’m going to have to think some more about that. The thing is, if you want to win, you really do have to focus some more on modeling and acting and I have to decide if that’s a route we’re willing to let our girls pursue.

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Free Date Night

If you don’t know about it already Bing rewards you for searching using their site. (sign up using my link and I get 500 points) You can earn up to 30 points a day for online searching and 10 points a day for mobile searching for a total of 40 a day, plus they have bonus points and double point days and such, so points add up pretty quickly. Every 450 points I redeem a $5 Groupon credit. There’s other things on there, like Xbox credits and Amazon gift cards, but groupon is my favorite.

So, last month, I had $20 in Groupon credit sitting in my account. I like to spend it on restaurant discounts and then me and my husband go out to dinner or lunch for “free”. WooHoo. So, Groupon e-mails me a discount, if I spend $30 and purchase a groupon through their mobile app (which is already on my phone) I get $10 off. The math is pretty easy, $10 off a $30 groupon = $20, which is the amount of my current Groupon Credits.

I go search Groupon for anything $30 to $40 and see if there’s anything interesting. For $30 I can get a groupon for $60 at the Tennessee Riverboat Company. Not bad, Dinner cruises are $25 to $30 a person so I go ahead and get it. Now, I have a free $60 to spend at the Tennessee Riverboat Company. Of course, we pick the Mystery Cruise because it sounds like fun.

So, the mystery was pretty much what I expected, not that entertaining but still fun, and I think they just threw all the names in a hat and pulled out out and that was our murderer for the night.

Plus you get a 2 hr cruise down the river on a little riverboat. – to put little in context, I’ve been aboard some of the larger old Ohio riverboats like the Delta Queen when it was still operating as a riverboat. I think one paddle-wheel is bigger than the boat we were on for our cruise. Anyways, little riverboat, it was a very nice 2hr ride. It rained the first 20 minutes, but we were inside eating – and the food was DELICIOUS! – so it didn’t matter. After dinner we went up on the deck and the weather was perfect. Saw some really pretty houses – we’re house hunting currently so it was fun to see some of the large houses on the river.

It was fun to do something different for a change (we left the kids with my MIL) and get some time to ourselves. Not sure I would actually pay $60 for the dinner cruise but if you like being out on the water, it’s lots of fun and the food is good.

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Coppertone Clearly Sheer Sunscreen

With summer here my weekly blog post is turning into a bi-weekly blog post. We’ve been spending so much time at the pool that I just haven’t had time. Speaking of pools, thanks to bzzagent for another great Bzz Campaign! And this one was just in time for summer! I received a free bottle of Coppertone Clearly Sheer SPF 30 Lotion for Sunny Days and two mini bottles of  Coppertone Clearly Sheer SPF 50 Sunscreen Spray for beach or pool.

With it being summer me and the kids have fully tested both formulas. (the baby even tried a small taste-test and decided that sunscreen is not good for eating…)

My 5yr old and 3yr old love spraying on their sunscreen, so when we’re at the pool there’s no lack of sunscreen on their skin.

The top features that I love:

1. Non-oily formula – I don’t usually bother with makeup when I’m at the pool so I haven’t actually tried putting on my makeup over the sunscreen, but I’ve put plenty of sunscreen on my face and after application it’s almost like I put my usual face lotion on my face. My face isn’t sticky or greasy feeling, it just feels normal.

2. Light scent – I love that the Coppertone Clearly Sheer Sunscreen has very little sunscreen smell. There’s just something I don’t enjoy about sweaty little kids that smell like a whole bottle of sunscreen, so very little sunscreen smell is sure nice for the drive home from the pool.

3. Doesn’t irritate my skin – back to my face, some sunscreens cause my face to breakout (breakouts are pretty rare for me so I’m never happy when this happens) I’ve been using Coppertone clearly sheer all summer without any breakout problems. Plus, I don’t feel like I’m wearing it even after lathering on a pretty heavy coat!

I’m really liking this new Coppertone Clearly Sheer Sunscreen line and if you’re looking for a light-feeling non-oily sunscreen that actually works, this is a great sunscreen!

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Mom’s Night Out

Does your kitchen ever look like this? I know mine has on many, many occasions! I like to bake, my kids like to bake, and then I get to clean up the mess! This picture is from one of my favorite scenes in Mom’s Night Out.

Looking for something to do for your Mom for Mother’s Day? Take her to the theater to see Mom’s Night Out! I got to see a pre-release showing of this a while back and it’s awesome! It’s the best comedy I’ve seen in a really long time! Hilarious, and heartwarming at the same time.

Unfortunately, I have something every night this week for my oldest’s ballet performance this weekend (I’m not sure who thought that having the ballet performance the day before Mother’s Day was a good idea…) so I won’t get to see it on Opening Day – May 8th. But I’m working on plans to see it with friends next week.

Mom’s Night Out is family friendly, so if you can’t find a babysitter, bring the kids. It’s funny, and it’s a movie that everyone (even Dad’s ) with kids will enjoy.

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Kroger Low Fat Icecream

For my latest Bzz Campaign I got to try a free box of Kroger Yogurt Smoothie Bars. I tried the mixed berry variety (they also have a banana strawberry kind as well but I’m not personally fond of banana or strawberry icecream so I haven’t tried this one). They are delicious. My kids love them as well. I think the girls think they’re cool because they’re pink but they also really like the flavor, and I really like the creaminess of these yogurt smoothie bars.

The Yogurt smoothie bars are Kroger’s latest addition to their low fat and sugar free frozen treats. They also have Fudge Bars, Fruit Bars and Ice Cream Sandwiches.

We tried the ice cream sandwiches as well and while they’re a little big for the kids to eat a whole one alone (which means that I get all the leftovers!) the kids love them. The cookie part is just crunchy enough to not be gooey like a lot of ice cream sandwiches. So the kids don’t end up with all the sandwich part all over their hands.

The Kroger brand ice cream novelties are all very tasty, and they come in regular varieties and sugar and fat free varieties. Plus I’m always looking for the cheapest ice cream to purchase for the kids since they eat through ice cream all summer long. I’ll be purchasing more of these next time I go to the store.

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Morning Star Farms Veggie Burgers

Thanks to bzzagent.com I got to try Morning Star Farms veggie burgers for free. I tried the Grillers Original variety but they have several different flavors. I really wanted to try the Black Bean burgers but since they’re Spicy Black Bean burgers and I’m not a big fan of spicy I didn’t want to ruin my first veggie burger experience with a too-spicy burger.

I was really surprised, the Grillers Original tastes just like a regular hamburger. It’s a little thinner and a bit less filling than the burgers I usually make but put it on on bun with some mayo, tomato, lettuce, and cheese and you can’t even tell that you’re eating a veggie burger.

I think the texture is a little softer than a regular burger and these veggie burgers would be perfect for when my next baby is almost ready to eat meat. These burgers would be easy to chew and still provide a great source of protein for a toddler.

I also tried one of the burgers my favorite way, just cooked and cut up with a little bit of ketchup on the side. On a sandwich I didn’t notice the texture difference but just cut up and eaten plain I did notice that the veggie burgers is a little softer than a regular burger. It wasn’t bad, just a little different than what I was expecting. I may try it with mushroom gravy over mashed potatoes next time, that would be pretty tasty, and the potatoes and gravy would compensate for the texture difference!

I haven’t tried their veggie bacon yet but this recipe for a BLT and avocado looks delicious!

I love BLTs and I’ve never thought of putting an avocado on before.

Morning Star Farms has all sorts of great veggie recipes on their website!

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Premama Prenatal Vitamin

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I received a free 30 day supply of Premama Prenatal Vitamins to try and review. I got signed up for this a little late and they wanted a review by today so I’m going to review my 3 days of using the vitamins so far and then post another review the end of the month when I’ve had more time to try this.

First of all, I have a really hard time with prenatal vitamins. I’m currently pregnant with my third child and up until now (I’m 19 weeks) I have avoided anything but the occasional children’s vitamin. I tried so many vitamins with my first two and every one of them made me sick. I have morning sickness the first trimester and if you add nausea from the vitamins as well (I actually feel better when I’m NOT taking them) I just couldn’t do it this time.

I have heard that a liquid vitamin is a lot easier on your stomach than a pill but I really hate the taste of vitamins – I don’t even like the chewable vitamin C’s I prefer to swallow them whole and then drink something right after to get rid of the taste.

All that said, I was really excited to get to try the Premama Prenatal Vitamins. They’re a powdered drink mix, which is pretty close to a liquid vitamin in my opinion and supposed to help with nausea. I’m currently in my second trimester and don’t have nausea anymore so I can’t really say if the vitamins help with this or not, I am planning to have a fourth though so I’ll give these vitamins a try then and see what happens.

On my first try, I didn’t mix the mix with quite enough juice (they recommend that you mix it with juice) and I didn’t stir it in very well so it was rather gritty. My second try I used more juice and stirred it longer and it worked much better. Just make sure you stir the mix well in a full 8oz of juice and you won’t have any problems.

I was very pleasantly surprised that this drink mix has no bad taste! I completely expected my juice to taste nasty and that I would have to somehow choke this vitamin down. Definitely not the case. I’m so pleased!

They use a special iron blend (you can read about it here) which is supposed to be easier on your stomach. My iron levels are always really high (still normal, but on the high side) so I was so happy to see that they are using iron that’s easier to absorb and less likely to build up and make me sick. After 3 days of taking this I still feel great and if the vitamin was going to make me sick it probably would have done so by now.

My opinion, I really like this vitamin so far. A pill is more convenient, but since this is easy to get down and doesn’t make me sick I can deal with having to mix it every morning. I’ll do another short review the end of this month after I’ve used the vitamin longer but I’m pretty confident that I’ll continue to like it.

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Comforts for Baby

I really enjoy trying new products, and my favorite product review site is BzzAgent. I get to try out real products for free and leave my feedback.

My latest campaign was from Kroger’s line of baby items. Comforts for baby.

I received a free box of diapers (96 diapers in the size that I got), a free container of baby wipes, and two free sippy cups.

1. I loved the baby wipes, they’re store brand so a lot cheaper than a name brand but they’re still thick and soft. Walmart’s baby wipes are really thin so I don’t use them, I’ve been using pamper’s instead. But I think I’ll switch to Comforts. I like them just as well as pamper’s baby wipes and Comforts are a lot cheaper!

2. The diapers are ok, they’re a little smaller than the same size in Pampers so I wish I’d gotten one size larger. The weight limit was the same on the size 3 comforts and the size 3 pampers so I expected the same size diaper. They still fit my toddler but a slightly larger size would have been better.

I think they’re a little rougher feeling than Pampers but my toddler doesn’t notice the difference. They always seem more saturated to me when I change my toddler but I haven’t had any diapers leak or any rashes on the toddler.

They’re cheaper than Pampers and work as well even if they seem less nice to me. I still have half a box of diapers to go through before I have to decide which I’ll purchase.

3. I did not like the cups. My kids don’t like cups with the rubber stoppers so I had to pull those out. Which wouldn’t have been terrible, but the cup is tall and skinny so it tips over easily, and without the rubber stoppers, they spill everywhere.

I liked the flip lid that is on the cups, it’s a great idea, but the cup still leaks when it’s on if I don’t have the rubber stoppers in. If you have a child that drinks out of cups with the stoppers in it, you’ll probably like this cup, but it just doesn’t work for me.