Hellooooo!!

So I realize I've been missing in action for awhile. So much has been going on. My oldest daughter started Kindergarten in September and my youngest preschool so things have been a bit hectic trying to get into a routine but I think we are finally there!

I've also decided to close my business, The Emilee Grace Company. I know I've said it before but I mean it this time. lol For such a great site (in my opinion anyway) we hardly do any business. And by any I mean like 2 or 3 sales a year. :( So, I'm going to be closing the virtual doors soon. I'm trying to get rid of my inventory but even at like super super discounted prices, no one is buying. Ugh! So, check out emileegrace.com and if you see something you like, send me an email and make me an offer. :)

Lastly I've been super busy with my personal blog, The Princess Escapades and my very new craft blog, The Girl Creative. I'd LOVE to have some of my faithful readers and followers come follow me over at those blogs (hint hint) because at this time, posts here at Modern Mama's are going to be few and far between.

Thanks so much for keeping up with me and for stopping by. Hope to see you around. :)

{Friday Five}

I posted this over at my other blog and thought my readers here might want to participate.

This is my first time using Mr. Linky so I hope it goes well. I made Salmon for the first time last night. Yeah, that did not go so well. Hopefully this goes better. :)

I created a meme called Friday Five. I want you to list 5 things that you like about yourself. Right now I'm personally going through a case of the "feeling fat blues". lol Over the last year and a half I've lost close to 100 lbs. Over the summer, I packed on a couple. :( I've been feeling bummed about it and having a hard time getting myself back on track so I thought that if I could focus on some of my good qualities, it would help me feel better. I can't let my weight define me. And the devil would love nothing more than to try and convince me that it does. So, I have a few extra rolls today that I didn't have a few months ago. Big deal! lol

If you'd like to participate, link up with Mr. Linky below and be sure to refer your readers back here if they want to join in. :)

5 Things I Like About Me

1. I'm funny. I can make my best friend, Karen and my sister, Kate, cry laughing because of some of the things I say.
2. I'm pretty easy going. I don't put too many demands on people and I can accept them as they are.
3. I have a really cute hair cut.
4. I'm still silly and wacky even though I'm in my 30's. For example I went nuts in the living room last night just dancing around in front of the tv pretending to be a really really bad ballerina...........just to make my kids laugh. At least I thought I was funny.
   
5. I'm an encourager. I don't like it when people feel bad about themselves so I try to make them feel better.

Your turn. :)

Redirecting Me

At the beginning of this summer I had such grand ideas for blogging. I was working on a whole new venture with some really fabulous moms when I felt the gentle little finger of God tap me on the shoulder and tell me "whoa. hold on. wait a minute." Well, maybe not those exact words but I knew enough to take a step back and reevaluate my time and my priorities. So, I put my little venture on hold for awhile and have not been doing much of anything here. Obviously. lol

What I have done though is started blogging a bit more often on my personal blog. So, if anyone is interested, feel free to check it out. Lately it's been on what God's been speaking to me about my walk with Him and about motherhood. So, if that's your thing (and I hope it is............. hint hint), visit me at Live. Laugh. Love...with the Millers.

{Delicious} Vodka Sauce Recipe

Since I got married almost 7 years ago I've been trying to master Vodka Sauce. I've tried several recipes and none of them gave me the taste of restaurant style Vodka Sauce that I really, really love. About 2 months ago, that.all.changed. I came across this recipe at All Recipes and boy oh boy, did I hit the jackpot with this one and I wanted to share it with you.

I did make a few changes to the original so what I'm giving you is the pefect recipe (for me).




Ingredients


2 sticks of butter


1 red onion


4-5 large cloves of garlic


1 cup of vodka


2 - 28 oz cans of crushed tomatoes (I use tomatoes with basil and have found them to be the best)


Fresh Parsley


1 - 1 1/2 tsp of sugar


1 pint of heavy cream








Directions

• Take 2 sticks of butter, one onion cut up and garlic chopped (I used my Pampered Chef garlic press) and place in pot on stove on medim heat. Cook until butter is melted and onion is soft (about 10 minutes)


• Add vodka and cook for another 10 minutes


• Add 2 cans of crushed tomatoes, fresh parsley (i don't use a whole lot, I just cut some off the stems and sprinkle in) and about 1 tsp of sugar and stir altogether. Cook for 30 minnutes.


• Add 1 pint of heavy cream and cook for another 30 minutes

**After cooking the last 30 minutes, I let mine simmer for awhile and I found that doing that gives it an even better taste. If you don't have the time for that, no worries. It still tastes really good w/o doing that.





Ta-da! You're done. This recipe makes enough for a few pounds of pasta and freezes really well for next time. Enjoy!

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Help Get Your Kids Ready 4 Kindergarten - PART ONE

My 5 year old, Emilee, is going to be starting Kindergarten in September. Full day. I know!! What am I going to do without her?? While she drives me insane (most days) I'm going to miss her. While I can write a whole post about that, that's not the reason for this post.

After registering her for Kindergarten, I received in the mail a calendar for the months of July and August with activities for each week day that would help get my child ready for Kindergarten. They are very easy and even make for some ways to keep your child busy during these long summer days. I decided share them with you. The following is the July Calendar and I will post August (PART TWO) in a few weeks.

I know that July is almost over but some of these are easy enough to double or even triple up on your days to catch up. Lord knows that's what I'll be doing. :)

July 1 - Practice reciting your home phone number

July 2 - Practice reciting the day and month of your birthday

July 3 - Cut out the shapes of a triangle and rectangle from construction paper

**WEEKEND**

July 6 - Cut out the shapes of an oval and diamond from construction paper

July 7 - Cut out the shapes of a circle and square from construction paper

July 8 - Glue your shapes in a pretty design on another piece of constuction paper (save shapes from previous days)

July 9 - Show your shape artwork to friends and relatives and tell them the names of the shapes.

July 10 - Practice saying please and thank you

**WEEKEND**

July 13 - Practice writing your first and last names on a lined paper with pencil

July 14 - Play Simon Says to learn body parts

July 15 - Cut out favorite pictures from a magazine or catalog and glue on paper to make collage.

July 16 - Read a book of nursery rhymes with a parent or friend. Pick out your favorite one and try to memorize it.

July 17 - Empty your piggy bank and sort the coins into pennies, nickles, dimes and quarters.

**WEEKEND**

July 20 - To practice hopping and jumping, imitate a kangaroo, a rabbit or a frog.

July 21 - Visit the library and pick out a book to read tonight before going to bed.

July 22 - Practice counting from 1 to 10 by counting 10 beans, buttons, beads or pennies.

July 23 - Practice reciting your home address

July 24 - Practice recognizing your name which is printed on paper for you by your parents. Name the letters in your name in order.

**WEEKEND**

July 27 - Color a page in a coloring book, making sure to stay in the lines.

July 28 - Learn these colors: red, blue, yellow, green, black, orange, purple, brown and white by finding them in your crayon box.

July 29 - Practice reciting your home address.

July 30 - Get ready for the first day of school.

July 31 - Play "Simon Says" to learn body parts.

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Late Belli Skincare Winner

My apologies for being a week late with this winner announcement.

The winner is lucky number 21!

Michelle said...
This looks absolutely divine!

Please send us an email so we can send get your prize sent off.





**If you are interested in joining the Modern Mama writing team, please send at email to modernmamadiana(at)hotmail.com for details. We'd love to hear from you. :)

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My Secret Circle for Tweens + {{GIVEAWAY}}

If you heard the phrase "secure social networking for girls", would your curiosity be peaked? Mine was. I personally LOVE Facebook. Twitter is kind of cool too. Myspace was very appealing to me when it first came out even though it's lost it's flavor quite a bit (for me). But, I'm an adult. I'm not sure I'd want my tween girls on there though.

Did you know that 25% of 8-15 year olds have strangers as friends on their social networking page and 20% of those admit to meeting a stranger they encountered online?! Just this week alone I received 2 random friend requests on Facebook. Umm, no thanks! Way too many crazies out there.

To address the huge online safety concern facing our youth, gaming and entertainment leader, Senario, has created the first-ever secure socially networking world specifically for girls ages 8-12. My Secret Circle is a new plug-‘n-play product that allows girlfriends to hang out online, chat, share pictures and play games—all with mom’s approval.

By purchasing online access keys (USB keys) featuring proprietary technology with embedded browsers and unique ID codes, only friends can connect on My Secret Circle by exchanging private codes. Best of all, it’s invisible to the online world, so the child is not exposed to ads and strangers that are present on most major social networking sites.

Basically how it works is you buy the program, which comes in the form of a flash drive, and each person has their own secret "code" for the My Secret Circle. After generating your code, you print the code out on a small piece of paper and place it in a tiny capsule called a "charm". Then, you exchange the charm with another My Secret Circle user in person. And that's where it differs from "big kid" social networking sites like MySpace and Facebook. In order to share your MSC profile with another MSC user, you have to exchange charms in person, which is supposed to eliminate the predatory aspect that sometimes comes with social networking sites.

It has all the fun features of other social networking sites like sharing pics, notes, interests, etc. You can even buy a headset that allows you to talk to your friends, voice-over-internet-style, just like Skype!

Other key features of My Secret Circle include All-About-Me profile pages with a Diva Designer avatar tool, an online journal that can be kept private or public for friends to read, instant messaging, games and an extensive photo feature in which girls can upload photos, add text and décor and even create slideshows.

My Secret Circle access keys can be purchased individually($19,.99) or in a B.F.F. (best friend forever) Pack ($29.99), which includes two online access keys, to shared among friends or siblings. What a perfect birthday gift idea!

One lucky reader is going to receive an idividual My Secret Circle Pack. To ENTER please follow these simple instructions:

• US & Canadian Residents Only


• Contest will run from Monday, July 6 through Sunday, July 12. Winner will be chosen via random.org and will be posted on Monday, July 13.


• Earn extra entries by following, subscribing, blog listing or blogging about this contest.
  

**If you are interested in joining the Modern Mama writing team, please send at email to modernmamadiana(at)hotmail.com for details. We'd love to hear from you. :)

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Belli Skincare Giveaway

Have you tried Belli skincare products? Belli is kindly offering a chance to their Calm Me Hair and Body Wash.



Calm Me Hair & Body Wash is a blend of ingredients that cleanse and moisturize baby's hair and skin. It features the essential oil of marigold and chamomile, which softens and refreshes. This product is pH-balanced for baby’s skin and tear free. FREE OF PHTHALATES AND OTHER XENOESTROGENS!

And yes, they sent me a bottle and it is absolutely divine! The scent not only calms my nerves at bath times, especially with my newborn son who is a tad bit on the colicky side, but also calms him too. Any soothing moment is a blessing when it seems like no one is getting enough sleep.



I also had a chance to try their stretchmark minimizing cream. It helps reduce stretchmark length and irregular surface area by up to 52% and stretchmark depth by up to 72%. Stretchmark Minimizing Cream is healing skin reparative treatment specifically formulated to decrease the appearance of existing stretchmarks. It features darutoside and registril – ingredients shown in independent clinical trials to be effective on stretchmarks of any age or from any cause.

My stretchmarks are absolutely horrible. I have to admit that for someone who's stretchmarks are not tracing across their abdomen like 4 lane interstates on a map it will benefit you more. However, like the body wash, I loved the scent. This one has a slightly citrus scent to the lotion. I tried other stretchmark mimimizers with my first pregnancy through Avon and found they smelled bad and did nothing for the marks. So I'd recommend trying this one.

Want to try some yourself? Belli Skincare is happy to offer you all a chance to win a bottle for yourself.

Here's what you need to know to enter:

Leave a comment on this post including your email address so that I can reach you if you win.

Giveaways are open to US and Canadian residents

To receive additional entries, blog about this giveaway, subscribe, follow or blog list Modern Mama's but remember to tell me that you did so that you can get credit for those additional entries.

Winner will be chosen via Random.org and will be notified by email on Friday, July 10, 2009.

The Golden Rule of Blogging: Comment unto others as you would have them comment unto you.