Your Picture Could be Worth $1000!

Over at 5minutesformom.com they are hosting a bloggy photo contest that could win someone a $1000 American Express gift card! That would be absolutely amazing for us right now so I am definitely in.



I did have a very hard time picking out a photo that tells a story about what motherhood means to me. I have so many pictures that could work but I think this one is probably the best.

Why do you ask...well because I think this picture demonstrates those moments when you just need to let your kids live. My practical side was telling me that I should really take that hammer away from them...before someone gets bashed in the head. But my gut was telling me that they were just fine. They were taking turns hitting the nail with the hammer and doing quite an impressive job at it. As parents, we are just here as a guide. We are hear to help them as they need us on this journey that is THEIR life. I think as parents we often lose sight that it is their life even when they are little and we are just a tour guide providing them with support, love and guidance. As a mom I try to instill a natural sense of curiosity and an attitude that "I can do anything." And we try to let our kids do as much as they want (safely of course).

So, what does motherhood mean to me? It means being there, as much as I can and finding love in every moment of every day.

Now I will ask you, what does motherhood mean to you? Share with me either in the comments or on your own blog and if you can share a photo and post your like at 5minutesformom.com to try to win that $1000 visa GC.

Blessings!

30 Days to a New Habit

Toblerone over at Simple Mom has asked us to join her in forming new habits. I just LOVE this idea. She is trying to make it a habit to go to bed earlier. I REALLY like this idea. For a short time at the beginning of the year I had made it a goal to be to bed by 9pm and up by 5am. This helped me to get up before my boys and gave me time to be on my own to center myself. It gave me a ton more patience and understanding with my children. However, life got in the way and that ended a few weeks after I started.

But now that I have some support from a few bloggy friends I am going to get at it again!

New Habit for May: Bed by 9pm and up by 5am.

If you are feeling like you could use some new habits please join in on the challenge! Leave me a comment or head over to Simple Mom to join in on the fun!

Blessings!

And the Winner is!

I decided to use a random number generator this time from Random.org. Here are the numbers from Random:

Here are your random numbers:

36
25

Timestamp: 2008-04-28 15:12:11 UTC

#25 is Tammy over at Three Different Directions. She had asked for The Usborne Internet Linked Library of Science Animal World. Congrats Tammy!

And #36 is Genevieve P over at St. Juliana Sisterhood. She did not specify a particular title so she will be getting the In The Castle picture book. Congrats to you also Genevieve!

Does not look like I was as lucky with winning as I was last time around. So far I haven't won anything! Oh well. There is always next time right!

Congrats again ladies and thank you to everyone for all the amazing give a ways! This was so much fun!

Menu Planning Monday

Lasts weeks menu definitely did not go as planned. I decided to not write out my menu plans and to just check in on my blog for that days menu in the morning. Didn't work out so well for me. So...now I know I need to write these things down and put them in a prominent place. We also had a few things going on in the evenings that I forgot about, which made meal time a little more difficult to deal with.

We really didn't do much from the menu other than the cheese pasta. And that was quite yummy! We all loved it. I took rice pasta, a little homemade cheese sauce, a can of salmon and a little brocolli still in the freeze from last season and TADA! It was perfect. Everyone devoured it...except Aiden...but he doesn't eat anything!

And we also did the Arroz Con Pollo over at from mommy's kitchen. That was tonight. It was absolutely fabulous! Definitely something to add to our favorite recipe list.

And I am thinking we will try to make some of these cookies because they had surplus chocolate chips with the last coop order so I took them. Tomorrow is going to be a rainy day so a good day to make cookies with the boys.

On to our menu:

Tueday
B - Smoothies & Muffins
L - Egg Salad (Chicken Salad for me as I don't like Egg Salad)
D - Hamburgers

Wednesday
B - Eggs & Toast
L - Grilled Cheese
D - Grilled Steak, Corn & Potatoes

Thursday
B - French Toast
L - PB&J
D - Goat Roast, Brocolli & Rice

Friday
B - Oatmeal
L - Egg Salad
D - Quiche (that we didn't do last week)

Saturday
B - Eggs & Toast
L - Grilled Cheese
D - Pizza

Sunday
B - Oatmeal
L - Plate of Stuff
D - Leftovers

Not much new this week. We have a crazy week ahead so we are going to keep things a little easy.

Have a great week!!

Bloggy Giveaway Carnival is Here!!

It is finally time again for the Bloggy Giveaway Carnival. I am SO EXCITED! There are already over 400 give a ways posted so definitely head over to bloggygiveaways.com and sign up for tons! I won some awesome prizes last time so it is well worth it.

This time I am giving away two differnt titles to two different winners. I will use a random number generator (depending on the number of entries) to pick a winner. The first title is The Usborne Internet Linked Library of Science Animal World. It retails for $9.95. The second title is the Usborne Picture Book In the Castle.

OK...so here is what you need to do:
1. Leave a comment on this post with your absolute favorite book is and why (I'm looking for new reading material...not that I need more books but I am always looking for a good new read).
2. Please also let me know which of the two titles you would like to win or if it does not matter.
3. Make sure you leave your blog name (with a place where I can find your email address). If you don't have a blog, just leave an email address where I can reach you.
4. The contest will end on April 27th (Sunday) at 12:00midnight (EST). I will announce the winner on Monday.
5. The contest is open to US residents only. I will contact you regarding shipping next week. Books will ship via media mail.
6. If you would like to earn extra entries please set up a wish list on my website, enter to win the $50 drawing, contact me about hosting an eshow or send me an email asking for more info about the Usborne Opportunity (it is an amazing one!), or blog about this give a way on your blog. Please post an extra comment for each of these things...and I will be checking!

I am ALWAYS look to grow my team so if you are looking for a way to stay home with the kids, need a little extra money or just looking for something different I want to talk to you! Usborne has the most amazing opportunity out there (in my opinion!).

Good luck!!

Not Christmas...BUT