Advice day----recipes please

I would really love some low fat recipes for desserts. Anyone got any? I am still continuing to try to loose weight but don't want to give up desserts completely. Anyone got some mouth watering desserts that are low calorie/low fat they want to share?

You may have noticed

I haven't been posting as much this week. My parents are up here visiting this week. I am thoroughly enjoying having them here! Will have more highlights of their visit next week....

We were nominated for an award!

Thanks so much to Pammy dawn for nominating our blog Steals and Deals for the Brillante Weblog Premio Award!! Be sure to visit her blog and her Etsy store to see the beautiful blankets and quilts she has created.Here are the rules for the nominees:

1) Add the logo of the award to your blog

2) Add a link to the person who awarded it to you

3) Nominate at least 7 other blogs

4) Add links to those blogs on your blog

5) Leave a message for your nominees on their blogs

Here are the nominees for the blogs I have chosen

#1 of couse has to be my sister and my adorable nephews and niece at discursively happy. She is the one that encouraged me to start a blog in the first place. Whatever did I do with my creative energy before this? Mandy's blog has the most adorable stories what funny things her kids are up to on a day to day basis. You won't want to miss out on what Lauren says next!

#2 Goes to Emily at Little Window Shoppe. Emily features the most amazing products and artists. Be sure and check back often as she often does giveaways too!

#3 goes to Maren at Zany not Crazy. I got to meet her at a crafty night get together. She is amazingly talented. I love to check out her posts that often have step by step tutorials on how to create beautiful artwork!

#4 Scribbit This lady is FAMOUS in the blogging world so I am sure you have all heard of her. She has a most informative blog with very entertaining stories regarding her family. I really like her crafty ideas and of course her weekend giveaway. Scribbit if you are reading this throw my sister a bone and leave her a comment at discursively happy. She dreams of seeing a comment from you ;)

#5 Munchkins and Music This site is sooo fabulous! It is full of great tips on how to get your kids interested and truly loving music.

#6Karen at The Five Little Lambs. You gotta check out my adorable God Daughter!

#7Prizey this is a must for all bloggers to check out! It gives you a massive list of giveaways you can enter!

My best birthday present!

My dad gave me my best birthday present I got this year! He landscaped my backyard. Its so pretty to look at now. My dad has gotten a real love of working in the dirt and has developed a green thumb ;). Doesn't my yard look pretty?

The fairies all seem to really enjoy their new surroundings!

Thank you so much for my present dad! I love it!

HUGE giveaway on our blog tomorrow!!

We are having a HUGE giveaway on our blog tomorrow! Be sure and check out steals and deals tomorrow. We are giving away $50 worth of FREE Usborne books. Enter for your chance to win!!!

Puppet Show

I got this invitation thrown on my bed by a little girl who ran out of the room giggling. We came downstairs to enjoy this show....


These two dogs came in to say literally 'bark bark' Hope you enjoy the show



Then I'm not quite sure what was going on with the rest of the story line quite a lot of action. The story line was well as Christian said...quite riveting.

Notice the special effects here of the fire drawn in!

Yeah! So glad to see my girls using their imagination!

Pediatric Dentist

Check out how cool the girls dentist waiting room is! They have one of those old school video games like you would find at an arcade, playstation, a big playhouse, and just about every toy a child could imagine to play with! When they went back to get their teeth cleaned the technician put wireless headphones on them while they watched a movie in a TV over their head. I wish I could be a patient at this office!

Cheater Cheater pumpkin eater!

Regan and Erin were playing Hide and Go Seek today. Erin went to run and hide. When Regan came down after her counting she said really loud. Wow look at that I think there is an ice cream truck outside! That stinker was trying to get her sister to give away her hiding spot! Cheater!

Want a chance to win $100 gift American Express card?

Check out this link!

http://therfamilydiaries.blogspot.com/2008/08/one-hundred.html

Here is your chance...

to give me your advice.



Those of you that know me know that my personality is very close to what they say about a traditional Leo I can be a bit of an independant thinker ;) or this could be one of the first born children qualities. Who knows it may be a bit of both which leads to why I can be down right stubborn at times (yes I admit it, but sometimes it actually works to my advantage) I am getting sidetracked though the point being that I am generally not very good at taking other people's advice. Bottom line I REALLY don't like being told how to do something! Not unless I ask for advice. So here I am asking your advice. So this is your chance to give it and I will actually listen! I have decided on Sunday I will post my question of the week on what I would like your advice on. My advice to you is to stay on the subject or chances are I will just skim your response, or read it in my head hearing the teacher from Charlie Brown WA WA WAA WA WA WA. Anyway to make a short story long here is my question.



How do I get my feet to recover from sandal season? First I should tell you I have extremely sensitve skin and often get eczema. Right now my feet are dry and icky from being exposed in sandals all summer. Any good remedies?

Musical painting

I decided to try the musical painting tip given by the lady from the blog Munchkins and Music.

This was what happened at my house. Regan said the rock music made her paint polka dots and the jazz made her paint swirly lines. When I asked Erin how the music made her feel she said (very annoyed) Mom I just need to paint a blue sky and a sun okay? Can you tell she is not exactly the most cooperative child? I have decided to make an effort with her to just let is roll and said okay then its a beautiful sky and sun anyway. She stopped and stared at me I think trying to figure out what to do with that....

**edited to add this** I just looked at this picture again and boy my kids look grimy! It was REALLY hot this day and we have no air conditioning plus they had both just finished a fudgesicle. Messy faces oh well their still cuties in my book ;)

Happy Birthday Gramps!

Happy Birthday to my dad (Gramps) we can't wait to see you next week. I hope you have a itenarary planned all out for us! Also Happy Anniversary to my parents. Yep they got married on my dad's birthday...isn't that sweet?

Conversation between Christian and Regan

As the two of them are watching Modern Marvels on how they sharpen knives

Regan: Hey daddy what would the world be like without knives?

Christian: Dull Regan dull!

We have some exciting things coming up...

On my blog that I co-author with my sister Mandy http://www.stealsdeals.blogspot.com/ we have some exciting things coming up! This Friday we are have our first Feature Friday giveaway! It is from a local artist in my area that I actually got to interview in person! She is quite talented and has made the most adorable little coupon wallet as a giveaway. How appropriate for our bargain shopping blog huh?

We decided that we would like to hear from all our friends within the blogging community. So starting in September we will be starting a new area called Tuesday's Feature Friend. Our friends will get the floor so to speak and share their ideas on anything from crafts, fun family events, tutorials, or their great shopping tips they would like to pass on. I am super excited to see the creativity from our friends! I told each one their imagination is their only limit! Be sure and take a minute to check it out every day of course as we let you in on all the good bargains you don't want to miss out on. But especially each Tuesday and Friday to see our features!

If I were going to write a book...

Christian and I have discussed how we would write one on the joys of adoption. We would love to help others in their struggle to decide if is the right decision for them and all the steps along the way. It is quite the emotional struggle but just as physically having a child is demanding in that aspect so is adoption in the emotional side both are totally worth it in the end!

If you were going to write a book what would it be about?

Milton days

We went on Saturday to the annual Milton days festival here in town. They have a cute little parade. Erin was thrilled to run out and get as much as she could. Regan decided she was too old for that but didn't mind sharing in Erin's wealth!

We also got FREE lunch of hot dog, chips, soda, and a snow cone!

They had fun games like water balloon toss. That Jordan and his friend Rory got first place in! Jordan also took first place in the potato sack race.

Its also a tradition in this town to go sledding down this hill on cardboard boxes. We had so much doing this. We slid until heat exhaustion took over!

Sweet moments...

Don't you just love these quiet sweet moments you get to spend with your babies!

I'll give you one day of the week...

to give me your advice.

Those of you that know me know that my personality is very close to what they say about a traditional Leo I can be a bit of an independant thinker ;) or this could be one of the first born children qualities. Who knows it may be a bit of both which leads to why I can be down right stubborn at times (yes I admit it, but sometimes it actually works to my advantage) I am getting sidetracked though the point being that I am generally not very good at taking other people's advice. Bottom line I REALLY don't like being told how to do something! Not unless I ask for advice. So here I am asking your advice. So this is your chance to give it and I will actually listen! I have decided on Sunday I will post my question of the week on what I would like your advice on. My advice to you is to stay on the subject or chances are I will just skim your response, or read it in my head hearing the teacher from Charlie Brown WA WA WAA WA WA WA. Anyway to make a short story long here is my question.

Any tips on how to get two little girls to actually CLEAN their room? Some days it just wears me out, the arguing and excuses!

Biking it

Jordan actually joined us too. Which is kind of rare as he just isn't interested at 16 in joining us for little outings that often (unless it involves food). I read a book by Dr. Dobson and he said that the teenage years are just like the space shuttle leaving the atmosphere. There is a period of time there is no contact and then it all comes back eventually. I am pleased to say I feel like my Jordan is coming back to me this year ;). We had a great chat in between the having to ask the girls to not go too far ahead of us. He told me all about the latest fantasy book series he is reading right now. What a great kid he is!




Look mom no feet!


Regan ended up way far ahead of us most of the time b/c she is so much bigger than Erin and faster but it didn't help that Erin had to stop and check out every pretty leaf, butterfly, or pebble along the way. What can I say apparently she is one to stop and smell the roses!

10 things I love about my house

I have been tagged by my sister to add the 10 things I love the most about my house. So here they are in no certain order.



10. I absolutely adore this leather couch. It is sooo comfy and best of all spills just wipe right off. Which as you know with kids is needed! Plus how pretty is it?



9. When we first moved into this house one of the things I noticed is that we had no real entry way to put our stuff down. So I stared at this empty space for an hour or so one day and drew up this idea. It turned out pretty cute and useful too I think! I didn't get a very good shot to show the cubbies underneath that Christian built for the kids shoes and a place to sit to put on shoes.


8. Yes I know a lot of my answers are the same as Mandy's. Go figure we're sisters ;). But I do love a front porch! We have never had one before and was thrilled to finally have a place to sit and relax and enjoy the beautiful Washington weather!


7. My addiction. My laptop that my wonderful husband got for me to do my upcoming school work on. (I start Aug. 25th)


6. My side of the bed awwww is there nothing better? Yes I know it looks like a bunch of clutter over there on my nightstand but don't touch anything I know right where everything is! Notice the stack of trivia questions box? My husband loves to be asked trivia questions as he is trying to fall asleep.


5. My scrapbook/cardmaking area. As you can see I am in the middle of finishing a couple of pages. I love it b/c everything is within arms reach. I really enjoy being able to tap into my crafty side!

4. One of my crafty ideas that turned out so well it makes me smile every time I walk past.

3. This beautiful tub is so big the girls feel like they are swimming come back time. Aww it just curves right around your back and is so wonderful to relax in right after Yoga!

2. I know this may seem like a weird one but after a couple years of apartment living and having to pay to do a load of laundry $1 a load you don't take something like this for granted! One of the best inventions I think my biggest luxury especially after reading the book These is my Words. Good grief the amount of work that went into doing laundry in the pioneer days. No wonder they only wore one dress for a week!

1. My girls bunk bed. Its so pretty and femine. My favorite is when they are both tucked in and QUIETLY catching some zzzz's! (yes that is Regan's glasses cases hanging down from the top bunk. She keeps it there so she knows where her glasses are at all times and doesn't have to worry about breaking them)

Conversation with Regan in the car

Regan: "Dad I got a question..."

Daddy: "Okay Regan What's your question today?"

Regan: "You know how we all have to toot every once in a while?"

Daddy:(grinning) "um, I guess so what's the question?"

Regan: "I don't get it how do they hold it in the movies? You never hear them toot!"

Daddy: "That's what you call movie magic Regan!"

Check out our first every FEATURE FRIDAY!

Go to my www.stealsdeals.blogspot.com to see our first ever Feature Friday. We are featuring a new artist or product every Friday. Check back often as there will be lots of give aways, interviews, and reviews of products. We have and will send back any items or products we will not stand behind so you know these are all top of the line items. I love supporting the mom and pop stores so these spots are right up my alley!

Here is a sample of what we will be featuring on Friday