Mom Knows Everything

These are a type of Black Eyed Susan in one of my flower beds. My father loved these flowers and planted these ones. My father taught me about flowers and how to take care of them and I'm teaching my kids about them. So far Aidan only likes to pick flowers, but Aurora actually knows quite a lot about flowers.

Camera Critters is a weekend meme, about what else but critters, created my very own BBFF, Misty.


When I was a kid whenever my mother saw crows she would say the old poem....

Storm clouds coming? Actually no, but it is such an interesting picture. I love interesting sky pictures! I'm actually thinking about getting a digital frame to put all my sky pictures on it. That way every time some one looks at it there is a different picture on it. Isn't technology cool sometimes!

To check out more 'Looking At The Sky On Friday' pictures or to join in on the fun yourself simply click the Looking At The Sky On Friday badge at the top of the post.

Everyone hates eating leftovers, but by throwing them out you are basically throwing money away. There is lots of things you can do with leftovers to create a new meal. With leftovers you can create soups, casseroles, and meat pies. For soup simply use your leftover meat and vegetables, add them to a pot with stock and heat. For casseroles add your leftover meat and vegetables to pasta and cream of mushroom soup, put in a casserole dish, top with some grated cheese and heat. For meat pies add your leftover meat and veggies to cans of gravy and pour in a pie shell and top with pastry. By using your leftovers you can save yourself some money.

Stop by next week for more thrifty hints on how to save money!

My four year old son loves playing video games. The only problem is that the video games were just a form of entertainment and not educational, that is until now. JumpStart Pet Rescue is a new Wii video game that is not only fun, but also very educational. It is the first education video game on the Wii system for it's age group.

JumpStart Pet Rescue starts off with your child creating their own character to what they want it to look like. You then can start your missions to rescue the lost pets and take care of them by washing them, feeding them, and teaching them new tricks. The more missions you complete the more pets you rescue.

Sounds like fun doesn't it? It is, but it is also very educational. Along the way in missions you visit the learning center where you child learns matching, numbers, letters, colors, and much more.

My son loves to play it and plays it every day. Not only does he have a character on it, but so does my 5 year old niece and even my 15 year old daughter who enjoys playing it as much as the younger kids. One of my sons favorite part of the games is the theater where there is songs that play, like 5 Little Monkeys Jumping On The Bed. He loves watching all the different songs and sings along with them.

JumpStart Pet Rescue uses the Wii remote to control the characters. Aidan found it really easy to use the remote and because it's cordless it allowed him to move around the family room while playing instead of being stuck sitting in one spot the whole time.

JumpStart Pet Rescue is rated "Early Childhood" by the ESRB and is designed for children ages 3 to 6. It has over 30 games and adventures, over 50 learning lessons, and over 75 fundamental skills in it. Release date for this game is September 1st at Walmart and September 2nd to Best buy, Sam's Club, Fry's, and other retail stores. The price for JumpStart Pet Rescue is only $39.99 which is a great price as most video games run way over $50.

I think JumpStart Pet Rescue is definitely the best video game for preschooler. For more information about JumpStart Pet Rescue go to http://www.jumpstart.com/aboutus/wii.aspx.

The wonderful people at JumpStart are holding a contest and giving away 25 copies of JumpStart Pet Rescue. If you would like a chance to win one for your kids simply click here and leave a comment telling them your best covert parenting tactics like how you get your kids to eat their veggies or brush their teeth.

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This week's theme/prompt is - HEADS - "Steam". Make any kind of post using any form of the theme/prompt "Steam."

Every since Aidan was about 2 he LOVED Thomas The Tank Engine. In Thomas The Tank Engine there are different kinds of engines, diesel and steam engines. The diesels are the bad guys and the steamies are the good guys. Here are some of Aidan's favorite steam engines.

I am very late posting today. It's been raining all day and with a houseful of kids rain is not the best thing. I've spent all day keeping two 15 year old's, a 12 year old, a 10 year old, a 5 year old, and a 4 year old busy. Or well at least trying to while I cleaned, caught up on bills, and looked for some rv insurance. I'm hoping that tomorrow will be sunny out so the kids can go outside to play because my list of "To Do" things is even longer tomorrow.

As mothers we all know how important it is for our kids to have clean hands. A lot of the times soap and water isn't available so at those times we use a hand sanitizer on our kids. The problem with hand sanitizers is they are full of alcohol which we all know is bad for kids. Even when there is soap available people tend to think that anti-bacterial soap is good, but it's not. Anti-bacterial soap is bad for the environment, bad for your skin, and has been linked to the creation of 'super germs' that are resistant to them. Luckily I have found the perfect solution to this dilemma, Clean George Hand Purifier.

Clean George Hand Purifier is an organic hand purifier made with ECOCERT and is 100% environmentally friendly. Clean George uses natural antibacterials like tea tree oil and manuka oils instead of the harsh alcohol to kill the germs while leaving your skin feeling soft.

The founder of Clean George, Tracy Miller said this about the product -
"As my interest in natural alternatives to traditional medicine grew, I became aware of how often parents slather their child's hands with alcohol hand sanitizers. I had recently read about how these sanitizers were leading to alcohol poisoning in children. Kids would lick or breathe into their hands after the sanitizers were applied. Planning to have my first child a the time, I just knew there had to be a gentler and more natural way to clean hands in a pinch-away for home or in our car."

I am very impressed with the Clean George Hand Purifier. Not only is it eco-friendly, more importantly it is kid friendly. Clean George Hand Purifier is a safe and effective way to clean your child's hands. The bottles are small enough to fit into your purse and with a lock feature on the caps you are sure that they won't leak in your bag. They dry very quickly after applied so you don't have wet sticky hands and they leave you hands feeling soft and smooth.


Clean George Hand Purifier comes in three scents, Lovin’ Lavender (lavender is good for keeping things calm), Mint-Alyptus (invigorating and good for the mind), and Grapefruit n’ Sage (uplifting and refreshing). A 2 oz bottle (400 squirts) costs only $9.99 and you can purchase them at www.cleangeorge.com or at select Whole Food Stores.

Here's a picture of two cats....okay maybe it's only one cat and a very cute little boy pretending to be a cat.

This isn't the prettiest sky or the prettiest scenery, but this spot does hold a special place in my heart. This is the view from the ferry which I have to travel across and in the distance you can see the church I was married in and where my parents are buried at.

School is starting very soon and for some kids it has already started. This means one thing, it's time once again to make school lunches for our kids. Instead of buy those little packets of individual serving cookies and snacks buy a regular size box of them and simply put the cookies in a baggie or even better a reusable container. Those small individual packets costs a lot for the amount of food that is in them. Save some money and make them yourself. This also goes for drink 'n' boxes. Instead of constantly buy drink 'n' boxes simply purchase a jug or can of your kids favorite fruit drink and a refillable drink container. You will be surprised how much money you will save simply by taking a couple of extra minutes each day to make your kids lunch doing this then by buying the individual items.

Stop by next week for more thrifty hints on how to save money!

We had a freak storm the last week. There was thunder, lightning, pouring rain, and hail. That's hail you see coming down in the picture.

1. There is no such thing as child proofing your house.

2. A four year olds voice is louder than 200 adults in a crowded restaurant.

3. If you hook a dog leash over a ceiling fan, the motor is not strong enough to rotate 42 pound boy wearing pound puppy underwear and a Superman cape.

4. Baseballs make marks on ceilings.

5. A ceiling fan can hit a baseball a long way.

6. The glass in windows (even double pane) doesn't stop a baseball hit by a ceiling fan.

7. When you hear the toilet flush and the words "uh-oh" it is already too late.

8. Brake fluid mixed with Chlorox makes smoke, lots of it.

9. A six year old boy can start a fire with a flint rock even though a 36 year old man says it can only be done in the movies.

10. If you use a waterbed as home plate while wearing baseball shoes, it does not leak...it explodes.

11. A king size waterbed holds enough water to fill a 2000 sq. ft. house almost 4 inches deep.

12. Legos will pass through the digestive tract of a 4 year old.

13. Duplos will not.

14. Playdough and microwaves should never be used in the same sentence.

15. Superglue is forever.

16. VCR's do not eject PB&J sandwiches, even though TV commercials show they do.

17. Garbage bags do not make good parachutes.

18. Marbles in a gas tank make lots of noises when driving.

19. You probably do not want to know what that odor is.

20. Always look in the oven before you turn it on.

21. The spin cycle on the washing machine does not make earthworms dizzy.

22. It will, however, make cats dizzy.

23. Cats throw up twice their body weight when dizzy.

24. A good sense of humor will get you through most problems in life (unfortunately, mostly in retrospect).


*Credit www.thejokejukebox.com.

Where I live you have to take a ferry boat to basically get anywhere. It's a pretty ride, except when one of the two ferries are down and it's hot outside. With the humidity the temperature is 37 Celsius and we had to wait for 30 minutes at the ferry today to take Aidan to the doctor before we were able to cross the river. Unfortunately there isn't any stores or anything nearby the ferry so we sat and sweated. I really think they should build a store there or even a small business that sells pop and ice cream. Even with the overhead of supplies and business insurance a person could make a lot of money especially in the summer time.

This week's theme/prompt is - HEADS - "Pail" *OR* TAILS - "Pale". Make any kind of post using either theme/prompt. You can even use both.


I am very pale and so are my kids, and we remain so even during the summer months. A lot of people think dark tanned skin is beautiful, but the thing with tans is that they are not healthy. UV, ultraviolet light, from the sun is the main cause of skin cancer. The more exposure to UV the greater the risk for skin cancer. My father worked out doors for most of his life and as a result always got a dark tan. Later in his life he developed skin cancer. Luckily they were able to get it all, but it was a long painful process that he went through. Because of this I always make sure that my family always uses a high SPF. Whenever you go out in the sun make sure you wear sunblock.


Click on the Heads Or Tails graphic above to find more Heads Or Tails posts or to join in on the fun.

The only fruit my kids will eat are apples and bananas. Because they have such a limited taste for fruit I'm always buying apples and bananas a couple of times a week. If I want to make banana bread I have to actually buy over-rippened bananas solely for that purpose because even though they only like apples and bananas they eat them all the time.

This little guy was trying to hide from me, but I found him. Actually, I think he was trying to hide from Aidan who loves to catch frogs.

I've been having a really hard time getting to sleep at night lately. I don't know if it's the heat or what, but I just can't seem to fall asleep at night. I toss and turn until the wee hours and then in the morning when I have to get up I'm a zombie, but that night I still can't seem to fall asleep. I'm going to have to get some sleep aid if this doesn't end soon because I can't keep going on a few hours of sleep a night.

I love how the sun is peeking out behind the tree and shining so bright.

I wanted to give you all a heads up that there will not be a Thrifty Thursday post tomorrow. No I'm unfortunately not busy checking out orlando florida hotel packages, I have a virus. I do feel better today then I did last night, but I'm still not up to my normal self. I will be taking tomorrow off and trying to get better. I will resume regular posting hopefully on Friday. Until then, thanks for stopping by!

Everyone knows exercising is important and SEGA has recently released Daisy Fuentes Pilates interactive exercise program for the Wii game system.

Daisy Fuentes Pilates Wii program is an interactive pilates exercise program that features 10 core strengthening pilates exercises. It has three different levels, beginner, intermediate, and advanced, so that no matter if you are new at pilates or if you regularly do pilates exercises this program is perfect for you.

Daisy Fuentes Pilates Wii program features ten pilates exercises using the Wii remote and balance board. It has customizable workout routines and five pre-set workout routines. A fitness tracker that lets you track your results in five day increments based on the amount of exercises completed or by how well you have done them. It also features health and fitness tips from Daisy Fuentes.

My teenaged daughter and myself have used the Daisy Fuentes Pilates Wii program and are both extremely impressed by it.



Not only does it give you a good workout in an exercise program that is fun and easy to use. The Daisy Fuentes Pilates Wii program has lots of helpful hints and advice for you. This isn't like any exercise DVD you can buy, it's interactive. It lets you know when you are doing it wrong and how to do it right. It requires the Wii remote, that comes with your Wii system, but also uses the Wii balance board if you have it.

Being a busy mom I don't have time to go to the gym and Daisy Fuentes Pilates Wii program is the perfect solution. I get a great exercise program with the info and feedback I need to exercise right.



For more information about Daisy Fuentes Pilates Wii program you can go to www.nintendo.com and www.sega.com.

This week's theme/prompt is HEADS - "Note".

Aurora has been learning to play the guitar. She knows a few notes already. Her father is teaching her and his father taught him on this exact same guitar. I guess it's turning into a family tradition.





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Aurora is very protective of her little brother and always keeps a very close eye on him in the pool. I'm pretty sure he likes all the attention his big sister gives him.

The winner of The Worst-Case Scenario Survival Handbook: Parenting contest is justicecw. Congratulations! I will contact you shortly for your shipping information.

Camera Critters is a weekend meme, about what else but critters, created my very own BBFF, Misty.


This is one of my neighbors cows. Actually I think it's a bull, or maybe it's a steer. Steers, I think that's what they call male cows isn't it? So what's the difference and what exactly is it, a bull or a steer or do you call it something else. Hmm...Misty has cows on her farm so maybe she can answer this one for me.

Aidan and J.T. enjoying some watermelon on a hot day!