Sea Life Aquarium At Grapevine Mills Mall

My family had a great afternoon at the new Sea Life Aquarium.  It recently opened, and I was very impressed.  Almost all of the exhibit tanks are open at the top, so you feel like you can just reach right in and touch.  In fact, they do have several tanks where you can touch a starfish, a horseshoe crab, and some other fun stuff.  Their stingray and shark tanks are AMAZING!  If you're interested, you can check out more information here.  We bought our tickets online, which saved us $5 per ticket.  However, the big draw to purchasing tickets online ahead of time is that you get to skip thru the long line of people waiting to buy tixs, and go in a much shorter line of people who already have their vouchers!  We got right in, versus waiting in what looked to be a line that would take at least 20 minutes to get thru.  But the big question is............will you be brave enough for the SHARK WALK???
It was a fun way to spend the afternoon, and did I mention it is air conditioned?!

Laundry Tag

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An Easy Way To Follow This Blog

As most of you know, this blog is an ongoing work in progress. I started it just 9 days ago but have made great strides in figuring out how it all works.  You can see that I've added tabs up at the top with sections for Gift Ideas, Crafts and Recipes.  I'm sure more will be added later, as I organize my thoughts.  

If you have not done so already, you can subscribe to the blog and receive one email at the end of every day that shows just the posts for that day.  To do this just type your email address in the "Follow By Email" space off to the right and hit submit.  If you find that you are not receiving it, check your spam folder or add brendawritesablog.blogspot.com to your address book so they show up in your inbox.

Always feel free to share the site address with your friends and family.  I'd like to generate enough traffic and followers that ultimately I might get a few advertisers on the site to make a little money.  We'll see how that goes!  :)

I appreciate your feedback and welcome any comments you may have on the posts.  I have it set so that I approve comments before they're posted, so they won't show up immediately.  But please leave comments - I'd love to hear your thoughts!

You Could Do This!

Yes, you could!  My boys WILL be seeing this in their lunchbox when school starts up again.  LOVE IT!  The eyes are just cut out pieces of cheese with a little edible food marker (get 'em from Michaels in a pack of all different colors) for the eyeball.  Add some sprigs of parsley for hair, and it's pretty much done.  The shape is easy to cut.  You can do this!  

The Right Way To Serve Milk

I suggest surprising your favorite munchkins with a plate of fresh baked (notice I didn't say homemade?!) cookies and a funky glass of milk like this.  It's so easy, and will brighten their day and yours.  Yep, it might take you 2-3 more minutes to add a fun sprinkles rim on the glass, but you will see a huge grin on your child's face.  So that makes it all worth it.  :)
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Right?

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Won't Someone Please Knit This?

OK, this is hilarious!  I would totally pay someone to knit one of these for my two little guys.  Yesterday they ran around the house all morning with a fake mustache taped onto their faces.  This would be right up their alley!  (although we might need to wait until it's not 10000 degrees outside)  If this doesn't make you laugh, then you need a vacation.

Creepy And Cute All At The Same Time

My little Zach would be all over this!  He will only eat plain spaghetti, no sauce, and I plan to try this little Xperiment in the next few weeks.  I'm nearly certain he will love it!

Poke your uncooked pasta thru cut-up hot dogs.  Add to boiling water and cook just like you would normal spaghetti.  I think it's fun!

A Parent's Promise

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Cookies & Cream Cupcakes

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Cookies and Cream Cupcakes

Yield: 24 cupcakes

Ingredients:
For the cupcakes:
24 Oreo halves, with cream filling attached
2¼ cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp. baking powder
½ tsp. salt
8 tbsp. unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 2/3 cup sugar
3 large egg whites, at room temperature
2 tsp. vanilla extract
1 cup milk
20 Oreo cookies, coarsely chopped (I quarter them)

For the frosting:
8 oz. cream cheese, at room temperature
6 tbsp. unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 tbsp. vanilla extract
4 cups confectioners' sugar, sifted
2 tbsp. heavy cream

For garnish:
Oreo cookie crumbs
24 Oreo cookie halves 

Directions:
Preheat the oven to 350˚ F.  Line the wells of two cupcake pans with 24 paper liners.  Place an Oreo halve in the bottom of each liner, cream side up.  In a medium bowl, combine the flour, baking powder and salt; stir together with a fork to blend and set aside.  In the bowl of an electric mixer, combine the butter and sugar and beat together on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes.  Blend in the egg whites one at a time, beating well after each addition.  Blend in the vanilla extract.  With the mixer on low speed, beat in half of the dry ingredients just until incorporated.  Add the milk and beat just until combined, then mix in the remaining dry ingredients.  Gently fold in the chopped Oreos with a rubber spatula until evenly incorporated, being careful not to over-mix.

Evenly divide the batter between the prepared cupcake liners.  Bake for 18-20 minutes, rotating the pans halfway through baking, until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.  Allow to cool in the pans 5-10 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

To make the frosting, combine the cream cheese and butter in the bowl of an electric mixer and beat on medium-high speed until smooth, about 1 minute.  Blend in the vanilla extract.  Beat in the confectioners' sugar until incorporated and smooth, 1-2 minutes.  Add the heavy cream to the bowl and beat on medium-low speed just until incorporated, then increase the speed to medium-high and whip for 4 minutes until light and fluffy, scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed.

Frost the cooled cupcakes as desired.  Sprinkle with Oreo crumbs and garnish with Oreo halves.   

Amazing!

Glow stick fun: break open a glow stick, dump it in a jar, shake it up and you have an instant glow stick lantern!  Get 'em in the dollar aisle at Target and line up all different colors!  

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Lunchbox Ideas

In case you haven't looked at the calendar lately, the end of summer is rapidly approaching!  We have one month before school starts.  Which means back to school shopping.  New school supplies, clothes, backpack and lunchbox.  I'd like to offer up some suggestions for lunchboxes beyond the standard lunch fare.

Last August I made the decision that I would stop sending a gajillion Ziploc bags to the landfill every school year.  I did some research and found several bento-style lunchboxes that I liked.  Here are my favorites:

MY SQUARE MEAL  

This is one of two lunchboxes I have for the boys.  I cannot tell you how much I love this.  It is so ideal for leftovers, fresh fruit and veggies....items you would never, ever pack in a standard lunchbox or bag because it's too messy for a Ziploc.  See all those sweet little compartments?  When you push the lid down each one seals completely.  So your dressing from your salad doesn't mix with your cut up melon, which doesn't then make your sandwich all soggy.  They sell little embroidered bags to put them in that are so cute my boys wouldn't touch 'em with a ten foot pole.  But I found that it slipped very easily into one of those neoprene lunchboxes from Target (they came in elephants, bunnies, frogs and dogs).  So that gave it the handle and space to add a juicebox.  LOVE IT!   

GOODBYN

This is the other box I have for the boys.  I like it because it has a water/juice bottle, which has never opened up and spilled, yet the little guy can open and close it just fine.  I alternate between this one and the My Square Meal.  They go in the dishwasher with no problems, although the stickers did eventually all come off.  I just looked on their website and see that they sell replacement sticker set, so I'm guessing I'll be making that investment soon.  That way I can trick the kids into thinking they get a "new" lunchbox this year.  :)

There are tons of alternatives out there.  These are just a few options.  I really like the concept that it's good for the environment and I find that I pack much healthier and cheaper lunches.  I cut up fruit, I add leftovers.  I can honestly say that it is quite rare that the kids do not eat every single bit of these lunches.  A much different story than when they were taking standard brown paper bag fare.  I make them leave whatever they don't eat in the box.  Not so that they get in trouble, but so that I can see what they like and don't like.

Less Really Is More

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At the beginning of summer, I went on a tangent and decided that I was gonna clear out the clutter once and for all.  I went thru every single room, every closet, every dresser.  I was ruthless.  If it had any stains on it - out it went.  If it even looked like it might be too small - it was a goner.


I was particularly diligent in the playroom.  I try to be mindful of how much stuff these boys accumulate, really I do (don't tell them, but when they're not looking I sometimes get rid of all those cheezy kids' meal toys).  Yet still, our pile of belongings grows and grows.


We had a yard sale and decided to NOT do what we did last time and use the proceeds to go out and buy fun NEW stuff (what was I thinking?!?!).  Instead I stashed it away to use for fun summer activities we wouldn't normally have the money for (it's all gone now - it's amazing how little $187 gets you!).


After all was said and done, though, a funny thing happened.  The kids actually started pulling books off their shelves to read.  I had gotten rid of all the books I thought they should read, all the books I thought looked cute, or that I had loved as a kid.  I kept all the ones that they picked out themselves, or that I know they liked.  Without so many books to look at, they could actually see some that stood out and begged to be read.


I cleared out a LOT of stuff from our playroom (I told you I was ruthless).  Without so many things packed in all the nooks and crannies, they could SEE what was there.  You know how sometimes when you go into Baskin Robbins and there are so many choices, it takes forever to pick out which flavor you want - just because there are SO MANY to choose from?  Well with less stuff I found that they actually played with the stuff they had.  They have subsequently spend hours on the playroom floor going thru bins of Legos and putting them back together.  They have pulled out buckets and just sat and played with their toys.....things they had forgotten they had, stuff they never paid much attention to looked kinda interesting now.


It's been amazing, and a real eye opener for me.  So many times we (I) have so many possesions that we (I) can't see the forest for the trees.  It's all about getting something new, something different, that we (again, I) forget how great some of the things we already have are.  I'm looking at my stuff a little differently now too.  And that's a good thing.

Easy Peasy Homemade Popsicles

Full disclosure - this was not my idea.  My kids came up with this, and they totally love it.  I'm sure yours will too.  Purely by accident they discovered that Capri Sun juice bags make really tasty popsicles.  I love that there is no fuss, no muss.  Every night before bed they pop a few in the freezer, and voila!  When they wake up in the morning they have fresh popsicles.  They like the Roaring Waters, but regular Capri Sun juice or KoolAid Koolers would work just as well.
Take it out of the freezer, cut the top off, and enjoy.  And even though you're freezin' 'em and cutting off the tops you can still "RESPECT THE POUCH!"

We're Doing A Little Experiment

On a whim, I decided to do a Google search for alternatives to satellite TV.  You see, we don't have all the premium channels, but our TV still costs over $96/month.  That seems like a lot of money to me.  Especially considering that we typically only watch a handful of shows.  We don't watch primetime TV for the most part, and I've never seen an episode of American Idol (gasp!) or any other reality TV show.  Not because I'm some TV snob or anything - I just don't have the time or the interest.

So I started doing a little research and came across an interesting article.  If you care to read it, here's a link. http://manofthehouse.com/money/budget/life-after-cable-tv-and-satellite-6a

This weekend we bought a Roku box.  According to my husband (who knows way more than me about these things), that's what lets us stream video into the house and get stuff like Netflix, Hulu, Amazon Video On Demand, etc.  It was fairly inexpensive, I think he paid $79 for it, and it looked like it was easy to hook up.

We are toying with the idea of getting rid of our satellite TV completely, and only going with the Roku and a few providers - definitely Netflix, and probably Hulu.  The Roku is already paid for, Netflix is $8 per month and Hulu Plus is $10/month.  Add in the cost for an antenna to get local programming, and we've got a pretty streamlined TV expense.

While this all sounds well and good, I'm not sure how it will work in reality.  We're spending the next month navigating thru it all and experimenting.  I'll let you know how it goes, what we end up deciding, and how my little guinea pigs feel about the whole process.  Here's to keeping all your options open!

Know Any Good Italians?

Maybe one of you can help me out.  I'm on a mission here.  I am looking for an amazing spaghetti sauce recipe that I can mix up a huge batch and can.  Canning is my new obsession.  So if you know of any little old italian ladies who have some "knock your socks off" red sauce recipe, I would be forever indebted to you if you could get it from her and share it with me.  I've gone online and looked for recipes and not found anything that peaks my interest.  Got any ideas?

Why Groupon Deals Are So Awesome

The other day I came across a Groupon daily deal for $22 for two (5 hour) summer camp sessions at ASI Gymnastics.  That's half price for a place that my kids have been begging me to take them.  Since I could use five hours of freedom, I thought "What the heck - I'll give it a shot."   I bought the Groupon, signed them up and they're happy campers (literally!).

In the process of registering them for the camp sessions I had to give ASI my email addy.  Guess what showed up in my inbox the next day....a coupon for a FREE summer camp session!  Yay!  That means I got THREE camp sessions for the price of one, and two very happy kiddos.  Total cost - $22.  Fifteen hours of quiet time - PRICELESS.

Nearly everything we are doing this summer is the result of some type of daily deal coupon/groupon.  We've got movie tickets, zoo tickets, indoor safari park tickets, gymnastics camp, one week of summer camp, tickets to Legoland Discovery Center.  I've saved so much money, and kept the kids entertained.  If you have not checked out Groupon, or any of the other multitude of daily deals sites you truly are missing out!

Sometimes You Just Gotta Bribe 'Em

I admit it - sometimes I'm a bad mommy.  There.  I said it.  My two youngest are playing a video game and being REALLY loud, making car noises and arguing.  They're just excited about a new game, but it's driving me crazy.  Then, suddenly a thought occurs to me.  I have a fresh new bag of Tootsie Pop suckers on top of the fridge.  Completely undiscovered.  I figure it's kinda hard to scream if you have a sucker in your mouth, so I gave one to each kiddo.  Guess what?!  No more noise.

Their pops have been gone for a while, but still no noise.  Whatever that pop did - it broke the cycle (thank God!).  I'm sure I'll feel bad later and give them an apple or something else healthy, but right now I'm just too busy enjoying the sweet, sweet silence.  Sometimes it's good to be bad.

House Party....Yeah! Yeah!

Thanks to House Party and Ball, I was able to see just how easy (and addictive) home canning can be!  I was selected to be a host and House Party sent me a huge box filled with all sorts of goodies for me and everyone at the party.  We had coupons, a canning starting kit, recipe books, funnels, pectin and all sorts of other stuff.  Did I mention it was all free?!  What fun we had doing our first canning experiment - jam.  Then on to pickles, apple butter, and salsa.  I'm hooked!  Cannot wait to try the pickles out - waiting 6 weeks is TORTURE!  The jam is amazing, though.  If you have not signed up for www.houseparty.com yet, I highly recommend it.  And if you've ever thought about canning...do it.  You will love it, and it is a great family tradition to start.