Summer Fun at the Park!

We've been a bit quiet over here because we have been playing hard this past week!  We have been enjoying this somewhat mild weather and been trying to get outdoors as much as possible.   Therefore, I haven't been keeping up with the housework, so blogging has been shoved aside.  I had a little time this morning, so I thought I'd share with you some fun pictures from our trips to the park this week.

On Monday, we enjoyed a hour or so running around our local park.  It's in the perfect location, at a dead end street and right next to my brother's house.  The kids had the park to themselves which was nice for mommy.

Little Bro in the Big Boy Swing

Baby Sis loves when Big Bro pushes her

Don't look down...

Weee!

Uh-Oh!  Traffic jam!  

Drink Break!  

Tuesday, we met up with some cousins and friends at a bigger park and enjoyed chasing the ducks, catching fish, swinging and playing! 

Baby Sis made a new friend with this little girl.  The little girl followed her everywhere she went.  

She LOVED the water and wanted to walk right in!  

My nephew caught this fish with his bare hands!  His excitement was priceless!  

 The big kids...

and the bigger kids!

What summer activities have you been enjoying?

Whatcha Eatin'? Monday, August 13th

Wow...we had a wonderful break from the heat this weekend!  We were able to enjoy a nice cookout with family Sunday night.  I got a break from cooking a big meal and brought Cheesy Potatoes.

 My favorite! 

Monday night after our dinner of Chicken Tortellini Alfredo & a Dinner Salad, we enjoyed the cool weather with a little family time playing football....basically we chase the person with the ball.  It was so cool that I even put long sleeves on the kids.  Crazy!

This rest of this week is going to be a simple menu.  I am trying to eat using things I already have in the pantry, so we aren't getting too creative.

Tuesday:  Salisbury Steak, Mashed Potatoes, Corn, Rolls
Wednesday:  Creamy Italian Chicken, Rice Green Beans
Thursday:  Dinner out
Friday:  Tacos, Mixed Fruit
Saturday:  Grilled Cheese & Tomato Soup 

Enjoy your week!  I am linking up at Organizing Junkie's Blog...join me! 

Family Night with Kroger

This is no secret...I love Kroger.  I have been shopping for groceries from Kroger since I was married seven years ago.  One thing I have noticed is that the Kroger brand is almost always as tasty as the name brand products. Therefore, I was really excited to have the opportunity to try out some new Kroger brand products for being a Bzz Agent!  I was also super excited to have our first official family night!

As a Bzz Agent, I was sent this awesome kit filled with great information about four fabulous new products that I would be reviewing.  It also included a full size sample of the product or a coupon to purchase the full size product for free.  Talk about awesome!!!

This arrived...and then I bought these with my coupons...

With our little children, I knew that our family night may not turn out the way I had planned it, but I knew that we would have fun.  

We started our family night out with a little appetizer....Layered Taco Dip!  This is one of my favorite taco dips that my sister-in-law shared with me.  Usually I would buy the Tostitos Scoops chips, but we were able to use the Kroger brand Cupz for our dip.  The chips do not taste a bit different from the name brand and they were perfect for scooping up the delicious dip. 

 While we munched on the dip, I cooked the pizza in the oven.  As A Frozen Pizza Kind of Mommy, I was completely excited to try out the new Truly Awesome Pizza with a Multi-Grain Crust!  I usually serve frozen pizza to my lovely family once a week. We all love pizza and love trying new brands.  We have purchased the self-rising crust Kroger brand pizza and love it, so we had high hopes for this.  Maybe I overcooked it, but we were not thrilled with the taste.  The crust was a bit too dry and grainy.  The cheese, although "real cheese, it tasted a bit funky.  We must be used to the "fake" stuff.  We think that we will stick to the self-rising Kroger pizza for now on. 

However, the other Kroger products did not disappoint!  The Zero Calorie Vitamin Water was tasty!  The boys enjoyed it so much, that I was only able to get a couple of swigs before it was gone.  We followed up our dinner with a REAL Fruit Bar outside in the heat. I even let Baby Sis enjoy her very first official sweet treat.  I love the fact that these bars are truly real fruit. They were delicious!

Boy, am I glad that we were outside!  Although the strawberry fruit bars were delicious, they were messy and melted very quickly.  So instead of going inside to play puzzles with the kids, we decide to switch things up a bit and let the kids get cleaned up in the sprinkler,  What a perfect way to end the almost perfect night!  

We can't wait to enjoy another family night and I am sure we will have plenty of Kroger Brand products there! 

Note:  I was given the products in this post to try for free for being a Bzz Agent.  All opinions are truly my own and no compensation was given. 

Our Menu This Week

My $1.99 flowers that still look great a week later!

I debated on whether I would share our menu with you this week since it is a Wednesday and I am way late, but our meal last night was so delicious and simple that I thought I'd share!

My hubby was awesome and made dinner all weekend and gave me a break.  He made one of my favorite meals on Sunday:  Stirfry.

We had some of the meat left over so I made Country Fried Steak with Mashed Potatoes and Corn on Monday.

Yesterday (Tuesday) I wanted something easy so I went through my stack of recipes to try and pulled out this delicious Slower Cooker Salsa Chicken.  This was so simple to make and the entire family LOVED it!  I ate mine on tortillas, my husband made a big nacho plate with his, and the boys ate this with tortilla chips.  This was definitely a keeper!!!

This is what the rest of our week looks like:

Wednesday: Spaghetti, Salad, Corn, Garlic Breadsticks
Thursday: Meatloaf, Party Potatoes, Green Beans
Friday: Make-your-own-Pizza, Veggies & Dip
Saturday:  Cheeseburgers, Cheesy Potatoes, Baked Beans, Veggies & Dip

We will be enjoying our Chocolate Zucchini Bread for dessert this week!

I am linking this up with other bloggers at Organizing Junkie's blog.  Join me!

Chocolate Zucchini Bread...DELISH!

If you are looking for a way to use up Zucchini from your garden, you HAVE to try this delicious bread.  I literally can't stop eating it.  I have convinced myself that it is healthy...which it is...kind of.

Chocolate Zucchini Bread

Beat 4 eggs together and then add:

3 cups of Sugar

1 tsp. vanilla

1 1/2 cups of Oil + 3 Tablespoons

3 cups of grated Zucchini (pack it in)

Set aside.

Then mix together:

3 Cups of flour

1 ½ tsp baking soda

1 ½ tsp baking powder

1 tsp. salt

9  Tablespoons of Cocoa

Then mix the Zucchini mixture with the flour mixture and add 1 cup of chocolate chips.

Put in two loaf pans.  Bake at 350 for 1 hr 15 min.  Let set for 15 minutes then turn out.  

Note:  I received this recipe from my neighbor...she rocks!  

The Boys' Favorite Bedtime Story: Goodnight, Goodnight, Construction Site

One thing I adore about my boys is their excitement for big construction trucks and tractors.  I love to see  them play "workermen" and get out their big dump trucks, backhoes, excavators, and cement trucks and create their own construction site while making the "irrrr" sound as if they were really driving the trucks.  So when a close friend gave my "workermen"  this adorable book, I was absolutely thrilled!  I knew by looking at the front cover that they were going to love it!

We started reading Goodnight, Goodnight, Construction Site immediately.  Now...weeks later, this book MUST be read each night before I tuck them into bed.   The boys love it.  In fact, they are beginning to memorize it. With the cute little rhyme pattern, it is easy to do.  If you are looking for a great book for boys who love construction vehicles, this is it!  Learn more about it on Amazon. 

No More Torture!

A little peak into my closet will reveal two things about me...

1.  I do not have a lot of clothes. My children come first.  I would much rather spend money on their clothes than on myself. 

2.  I love to wear black.  Black is slimming, right? 

Therefore, I was thrilled to be able to sample Woolite Extra Dark Care through CrowdTap.  I have seen the advertisements showing the jeans getting tortured.  I completely understand because I have several pairs of jeans that are far from the condition that I bought them in.  I also have several "tortured", faded black shirts.  Woolite Extra Care Dark is formulated to keep your dark clothes and jeans looking new. This made me very excited to try out because just recently I purchased a new black t-shirt.  I also have a favorite pair of capris that I purchased at the beginning of the summer that I would like to keep looking new.  I was ready to take the Woolite Extra Care Dark Challenge.

My favorite items before washing them in Woolite:

This was the first time washing my black shirt, so I was a little skeptical.  I was very happy that Woolite Extra Care Dark would work in my HE Washer and also in cold water.  I can't have anything shrinking!  I washed them exactly as I would have, but used Woolite. I was pleasantly surprised to find my clothes came out exactly as I had put them in, minus the wrinkles.   NO SHRINKING!  NO FADING!

I am sold!  By continuing to use Woolite Extra Care Dark, I am hoping to continue to save my new black shirt from fading and looking old and keep my capris from lightening up.

Want to try Woolite Extra Care Dark for yourself?  Like Woolite on Facebook and request a sample!  

Note:  I was given a free sample through CrowdTap.  I was also given samples to share with friends and family.  These are my honest opinions and I was not paid for them.