Wordless Wednesday

Part-Time Contributor Kelly

First Day of School

Grammie's Broccoli Soup

This post was written by Kelly, a part-time contributor

My mother-in-law usually makes this for Thanksgiving. It's one of those special occasion soups. It's not very diet friendly, but it's so delicious.

Here's the recipe for Grammie's Broccoli Soup

6 cups chicken broth
Head of broccoli or frozen broccoli
3/4 cup finely chopped onion
2 cups shredded American cheese
1 1/2 cups shredded Swiss cheese
1 cup mozzarella cheese
2tsp salt
2tsp pepper
1tsp garlic powder
1/2Tsp basil
1cup light cream or more
3 cups half n half or more
1/4 cup to 1/2 cup butter
1/3 cup flour
Juice of one lemon

Place broccoli In a large bowl and cover with cold water. Add lemon juice and let stand one hour.
Drain and chop broccoli. In large saucepan bring water to a boil add broccoli and onions. Boil till tender. Drain.
Large saucepan medium heat add chicken broth, broc.,onions,salt, pepper, basil, garlic powder. Mix well.
Still on medium heat add creams, stir well, add flour. Mix well.
Add cheese. DO NOT LET SOUP BOIL. Add more cheese and cream as needed.

Add the Mozzarella Cheese

Time to add the Swiss Cheese

Oh my! Look at all that cheesy goodness.

My tester for the day couldn't wait to try it.

"Yum! This tastes just like Grammies." Yay! success.

Target Toy Clearance - January 2012

*This post was written by Kelly*

The Target toy clearance sale came a day earlier than I expected. Thanks to The Coupon Goddess I found out about the sale. I made some quick schedule changes and ran to Target right after work. I only had 30 minutes to shop. It's amazing what you can accomplish in 30 minutes! I was in such a rush, I forgot to get a picture of my carriage before I went to the register. I guess I did pretty well. I overheard a little boy say to his mom "Wow! that's a LOT of toys!"

This first picture is what I picked up for a friend who was stuck at work. She's hit the Target sale in the past and knows how quickly the shelves get cleared. I grabbed everything in the first picture below for her. The retail price was $486.00. Her price was $186! This included 3 Lego sets which were 50% off. Hopefully she's all set for birthdays for the year.

This cute little Strawberry Shortcake doll will make a nice Birthday gift.











Here's what I purchased for myself. I also got lots of Lego's. You can never have too many Lego's in this house. It's the one thing that my kids will spend hours playing with. I also picked up a few things for Toys for Tots for next Christmas. My heart broke reading about the low donations this year.

Alll of these toys will have a nice home in my attic awaiting birthdays and Christmas next year. Did you get to the sale? How did you make out?

MommyParties sponsored Oral-B Pro-Health for Me

*This post was written by Kelly, a Part-time contributor on this blog*

I recently hosted an Oral-B Pro-Health FOR ME party. My party pack was geared toward the 8+ group. This worked out for me with a teenage daughter and her friends, most of whom are wearing braces. Oral health is even more important when wearing braces. The kids really liked the toothpaste. It's minty without being overpowering. One step closer to using regular minty toothpaste. Crest Pro-Health FOR ME toothpaste is now my daughter's favorite toothpaste.

In my party kit I also received a few toothbrushes for the younger children and these were perfect for our friends siblings. Also included, the movie Cars 2, popcorn and popcorn holders. These were great for the younger ones. They watched the movie and ate popcorn, while the Moms and teens chatted in the kitchen. We talked about healthy foods vs not-so healthy foods. We also talked a little about foods to stay away from when you have braces.

Harry and Brennan played the game of yucky mouth vs healthy mouth as our guests were arriving. This game helped get the younger kids talking about what you should and shouldn't eat to stay healthy and to have a healthy mouth.

Everyone enjoyed going home with a goodie bag of their own.

Each bag contained:

An Oral-B toothbrush

A full size tube of Crest Pro-Health FOR ME toothpaste

A sample of Cars Gummies multivitamins

A package of Floss Picks

A balloon

An information sheet for the parents about the different Oral-B Stages products

Coupons for future product purchases.

If you're on twitter you can follow Oral-B and Crest and MommyParties

Facebook can follow here Oral-B, Crest, MommyParties

*Disclosure: I received a party kit containing everything pictured above to host my Mommy Party. All opinions are my own.*

So Much to Talk About. Nothing to Say.

Well, this week we saw Tropical Storm Irene. I was very fortunate that I only lost power for about 10 minutes. There were some big branches down in my neighborhood, but nothing too exciting.

Kelly lost power on Sunday during the storm. They finally got it back today (Wednesday). To help ease the burden, I took her kids on Monday & Tuesday nights. I watch them on Tuesdays and Wednesdays anyway, so it wasn't that big of a deal...or so I thought. The redhead decided that he "wanted Mama" at 2:45 Tuesday morning. He whined and cried for about an hour before finally falling back to sleep. The teenager was just plain cranky. The middle was fine, just a little antsy. Oh and the aunt (that would be me) she was pretty cranky too. I love my alone time and I get a wee bit crabby if I don't get it. Being in close quarters with three other little people makes me stabby, if you know what I mean.

We did manage to go on a hike yesterday. There is a little rocky beach where we went, so the kids had fun skipping rocks and searing for crab body parts.

I'm hoping next week gets back to normal.

How did you fare in the storm?

The Nestea Plunge

The post was written by Kelly. Part-time contributor to this blog

Remember the Nestea Plunge? Here's my little guy taking the plunge. Stay cool everyone.

Trip to New York City

*The following was written by Kelly, part-time contributor to this blog and Loopy's sister*

Meg's 8th grade class went to New York City and Philly for a four day field trip. It was a little bumpy for Meg at first. She got a little sea-sick on one of the tour boats that took them around Manhattan. After the first night she was feeling much better and had a great time. Their first stop was Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty. Meg did a great job taking pictures.

I think her favorite part of the trip was Madame Tussaud's Wax Museum. As you can see from the picture above she had her picture taken with her biggest crush! **swoon - Justin Bieber**

At night Meg would call and tell me all about her day. I kept asking her if she picked anything special up for herself. She had plenty of money to buy souvenirs and her lunch each day. She kept saying she would get something.

When we got home and unpacked everything, she gave me the extra money back. I counted it and did some quick math. She was gone for four full days and spent a total of $64.00! When I asked her why she didn't get an "I love New York" sweatshirt or t-shirt her response was, "Mom - why would I spent $40.00 on a sweatshirt that I know you could buy me for like $5.00?"

I guess my frugal/couponing ways have rubbed off on Meg. I'm not sure if that's a good thing or not.

The 5 Year Old Philosopher

As you may know, my nephew comes up with some wild things. His 5 year old brain seems to be in overdrive sometimes. Lately I've been noticing that he's a pretty philosophical kid. Here are some of our recent conversations:

B: Auntie Laura, can you BUY friends?

Me: Well, no, because then you would never know if they liked you for you or if they just liked the money that you gave them.

B: Does it really matter?

Brief pause

B: Do ants like peas?

B: Auntie Laura, is there a ruler of the world?

Me: No, each country has their own ruler.

B: There IS a ruler of the world: God

Brief pause

B: Can I have another Hoodsie?

Happy Birthday Kelly!

Today is Kelly's birthday. I think she wishes that it would just pass by without a word from anyone about it. Well, that's not my style. I'm thinking of hiring a plane to fly over her house with a banner that reads "Happy Birthday Doggie" (that's my nickname for her). But, planes are expensive to hire, so I thought I'd say it here....where it's free.

Happy Birthday to the best sister:

Kelly, Essie, Laura, Tommy

Laura, Kelly, Essie

Kelly, wearing her favorite green outfit

Mom:

Aunt:

And friend:

If you see her today, or even if you don't, please be sure to give her some birthday love. I know that I'll be reminding her that it's her birthday, over and over and over and over....

Fun Summer Things To Do For Families in the Boston Area

Last year, I sat down with my niece and nephews and did a spreadsheet of all the fun things we wanted to do that summer. I printed the list and my nephews (ages 4 & 5 at the time) loved crossing things off the list after we did them.

One of our favorite things was taking the boat into Boston. It was a perfect day for it; not too hot and not too cold.

Kelly and the kids on the boat ride in.

When we got to the city we walked around Faneuil Hall and got something to eat. After doing some shopping and watching the performers we headed to the fountain. The kids had a great time splashing around.

Another favorite thing that we did in the spring was visit Southwicks Zoo in Mendon, MA. It's my favorite zoo in the area. Franklin Park Zoo is closer to us, but I, personally prefer Southwicks.

Speaking of Mendon...another really fun thing that we did was go to the Mendon Drive-In. I don't know about you, but I haven't been to a drive-in since I was little and we all piled into the station wagon with my parents. We had a blast!

We made this mistake of doing a day trip on one of the hottest days last year. We headed down to Plymouth to do some sightseeing and go on a pirate cruise. Plymouth Cruises does an AMAZING job with this. All three kids loved it, including my 14 year old niece. The captain does a great job of entertaining the kids the entire time and the hour long cruise is just long enough to hold the kids attention.

Do your kids love baseball? Do you feel like shelling out about $300+ for an evening at Fenway? If not, check out a Brockton Rox game. They really cater to the kids and the seats start at just $5.

On one of the days where it was just too hot to be outside, we went to the Museum of Science. Be sure to check your local library for discount tickets before going.

One of my 6 year old nephews favorite things that we did last year didn't cost us a penny. We went for a picnic at Castle Island. We packed a lunch and wore our sneakers and we walked around and checked out the planes taking off and landing, ran on the pier and even rolled down the grassy hill. Moms-don't forget to bring your camera!

Some of the things on our list to do this year include:

• New England Aquarium. We're dying to see (and touch) the new Shark & Ray Touch Tank.
• Bowling
• Buffy's pool
• Aunt Joan's lake house
• Our family cottage in Hull
• Beach
• Riding the Go Karts at Starland
• And to repeat the day trips mentioned above.

Phew! Looks like we have a busy summer ahead of us. It's a good thing we have a friend with a pool (hi Buffy!). By the way, if anyone wants her phone number it's 508-555-1234, just tell her Loopy sent you.

Do you have any fun summer plans?

5 Things We Learned at Bloggy Boot Camp.

Kelly & I had the opportunity to attend the SITS Girls Bloggy Boot Camp at the Seaport Hotel in Boston this past Saturday. Tiffany and Francesca put together a great one day conference. It's now Monday and I'm still trying to sift through my notes and figure out what the first step we should take to get our blog to the next level.

Here are 5 things that we learned on Saturday:

1) You can never have too many business cards. Kelly thought she had plenty, but she quickly ran out.

2) Be prepared with a notebook. You'll be taking a lot of notes. The speakers are going to give you a lot of information. You'll want to take down as much as you can so you can refer back to it later.

3) Get a Social Media Kit together. If you want to work with brands you'll need to have something to give to the brand to let them know a little bit about you.

4) Remember the Mom Test. The internet is forever. Whatever you put on your blog be comfortable with the content if your Mom decides to read it.

5) Tiffany Romero is very pretty.

If you're a blogger and you have the opportunity to attend a Bloggy Boot Camp, I highly recommend it. You'll be so happy you did.