BentoLunch.net Reviews

Walgreens Family Wellness

noreply@blogger.com (Shannon) — Thu, 15 Sep 2011 20:30:00 +0000

Thanks to Walgreens for sponsoring my writing. Help Walgreens help others! Visit their Facebook page here to learn about their charitable partners and decide which cause Walgreens will donate to with a quick vote.

Heading into fall, back to school, and of course, what is soon to be cold and flu season, family wellness is definitely on my mind.

Poor sick Benjamin, down for the count last year

If you've been reading along with me for any amount of time, you probably know we prefer to be proactive, rather than reactive, when it comes to F&B's health, and that we lean a bit more towards the natural, crunchy side of healthcare. (And no, we do not do flu shots; I get asked that a lot.) But since I can't keep the kids in a bubble, we try to utilize some common sense tips to keep everyone healthy during this season. However, my top three favorite tips are below.

Hand-washing!!! I swear, it's the most obvious tip in the world sometimes, yet I still have to remind the kids constantly to wash their hands. We'll come in from martial arts, where they are doing push-ups on mats, and I still have to say "Hey, would you wash your hands *before* you touch food?" They do enjoy picking all the pretty Bath & Body Works scents, so that is an added bonus in the handwashing plan.
Vitamin C! We up the vitamin C content for all four of us during the winter. The kids and Shaun drink more OJ. Since I'm not a fan of OJ, I just go ahead and take Vitamin C tablets. We also use Airborne and the derivatives at the first sign of quesitonable symptoms
Tea--For mild sore throats, I highly recommend tea with honey or for sinus aches, mint tea. Shaun uses Throat Coat tea on recommendation from another friend of ours. Now, I don't swear that any of it really has medicinal properties, but it makes me feel better. And as long as I'm feeling better, in my book, it works!

How about your family? Anything natural you swear by to promote family wellness? Foods, herbal treatments, do share!

Don't forget to help Walgreens help others! Visit their Facebook page here to learn about their charitable partners and decide which cause Walgreens will donate to with a quick vote. I was selected for this sponsorship by the Clever Girls Collective, which endorses Blog With Integrity, as I do.

Smurf Dance Party Review!

noreply@blogger.com (Shannon) — Tue, 23 Aug 2011 03:00:00 +0000

Since I mostly do food writing, F&B aren't always the most excited about the review products that come through our house. However, this time, I finally got a review that was totally for them. Both kids are obsessed with the Smurfs, since they started watching the old 80s cartoon on tv. And they love their Wii!

Thanks to Ubisoft, a copy of The Smurfs Dance Party for the Wii arrived at our house. F&B tore right into it and got right to the work of testing it for me!

Practicing their smurfy dance moves.

As with many Wii games in our house, Faith absolutely loved it and Ben got kind of mad that Faith kept beating him. She definitely picked up the dance moves quicker and figured out that the remote hand is the key thing to use.

Because of that, Faith definitely had more to say. Her favorite Smurf song is definitely "Everybody Up" with Smurfette as the lead dance/vocal character. She's been singing and dancing to that one even without the game on. She also likes "Who Let the Smurfs Out?" because it involves lots of jumping around.

Being silly during one of the Gargamel songs

Both kids love it though, and we'd highly recommend it. They had two little friends over for a sleepover and it was quite the hit with all four. Of course, this only furthers Faith's mission to see the movie, so I think I know what we'll be doing soon!

Thank you to Ubisoft for sponsoring this blog post. Please click here to learn more about Ubisoft. I was selected for this sponsorship by the Clever Girls Collective. All opinions are my own.

Crocs Back-to-School

noreply@blogger.com (Shannon) — Sun, 21 Aug 2011 02:30:00 +0000

Thank you to Crocs for sponsoring this blog post. Please click here to learn more about Crocs’ new Back to School line. I was selected for this sponsorship by the Clever Girls Collective. All opinions expressed here are my own.

Back to school, of course, means back to school shopping, and my darling daughter has hit the point where she has definite opinions on what she wants to wear. Of course, living in North Texas, she spends most of her time in shorts and flip flops, which are great for around the pool and less so for running around the playground. And since her style tends towards leggings or capris with cute shirts, regular tennis shoes are no longer acceptable footwear for many outfits. Perhaps, she may wear them with track pants, and maybe with jeans, if there is a whole lot of outside running around going on, but it's all about looking just so.

When I got the chance to do this post, I was quite happy to find out that the Crocs Back to School kids' line are school-approved on the outside (because they're close-toed and close-heeled), but have the same comfort in the inside. And they have 13 new styles for boys and girls from K-8. And they are actually cute. Cute is imperative to the almost-9 year old girl, probably the most important element.

The Genna maryjane style is so cute and so Faith!

And I really like the Dawson sneakers for girls, especially with chocolate brown pants.

All the styles are located on the Crocs website, along with a chance to win a family vacation to San Diego! There are several cute ones that Ben likes too, although he's much easier to please than his sister. I think it's a boy thing! Which ones are your favorite?

Don't forget to check out the Crocs music video. It's interactive too, just click on the shoes in the video to see them on the Crocs website! Keep an eye out too for the hidden Easter egg, click on it (when you find it) to see what happens.

Hint: You're looking for one of these!

Hormel Weekend BBQ Challenge & Giveaway

noreply@blogger.com (Shannon) — Sun, 31 Jul 2011 21:30:00 +0000

This month's Hormel challenge was a BBQ one, which was completely perfect while we were in Canada, since my dad was happy to assist in the grilling part of it all. The mission--host a delicious barbeque feast for friends or family! You must use at least three products as ingredients for your meal from the Hormel Foods portfolio.

Sounded like a plan to me, and my parents have a big garden in the backyard that was already started to produce tomatoes, zucchini and peppers. And my dad did recently buy a pineapple for the kids. All this, plus a barbecue, means kebabs, of course!

Since we were in Canada, I headed over to Buffalo for a little bit of grocery shopping with my product list. My key plan being a) kebabs and b) must go well with pineapple and zucchini (two of Ben's favorite things). On my meal planning days, I usually have a solid list, but I wanted to see this time what inspiration I could find at the store.

After a bit of shopping, I settled on Hormel pork tenderloin and Jenny-O turkey sausage for the kebabs, along with two types of House of Tsang marinades, Classic Stir Fry and Korean Teriyaki to baste the meats and veggies with.

I had a plan in my head for how I wanted the kebabs to look and, other than the pineapple, the veggies are extremely locavore, right from my mom's garden. I sliced the tenderloin into four long quartered sections and cubed those to make the pork pieces, then sliced the sausage into rounds. The meat is alternated with a combination of pineapple, zucchini, cherry tomatoes, onion and red pepper, which started out just-so, and ended with a really odd last skewer of random things that were still on the plates.

My dad fired up the grill (since I will NOT turn on a grill) and brushed it with olive oil. The skewers fit perfectly into the grooves and we opted to baste them with the House of Tsang Teriyaki marinade. It is seriously good and I'm sorry I had to leave the rest of it at my parents' house (couldn't take it on the airplane, buying my own bottle at Kroger asap!).

We served the kebabs over steamed rice with soy sauce (something F&B learned from Shaun). We also debated stir frying fresh beans from the garden with the House of Tsang Classic Stir Fry sauce, but it would have been a bit too much food, so that was tabled for a different meal. It's definitely worth trying too!

Hormel has sent me a variety of their non-perishable products to try out, along with coupons for the items that cannot be sent through the mail. I have the chance to offer a reader prize pack as well, including:

A reusable Hormel Foods grocery bag
Hormel® chili with beans
CHI-CHI’s salsa
Hormel® turkey pepperoni packs
Hormel® Always Tender coupon

To win, leave me a comment below telling me one of your favorite summer grilling ideas! Since it's going to be well over 100 degrees in Dallas for the foreseeable future, turning on my oven is NOT a plan!

Winner will be selected next Monday night (August 8th) via Random.org!

ETA: Winner was post #8, Cathy!

Disclosure: I have received product and information from Hormel Foods in exchange for being a Hormel Foods Extended Family Blogger. All opinions expressed within the post are my own.

Betty Crocker Fun-da-middles

noreply@blogger.com (Shannon) — Sat, 09 Jul 2011 19:36:00 +0000

F&B and I got the chance to sample a new cupcake product a few weeks ago--Betty Crocker Fun-da-middles.

What are Fun-da-middles, you might be asking? They are cupcakes with the frosting inside. Each package of Fun-da-middles comes with the cupcake mix and a filling bag, so the creamy fillings bake right inside.

F&B loved the idea and I found it so much better than icing on top for the Dallas heat. And really, it's pretty hard to go wrong with cupcakes.

Fun-da-middles are available in 3 flavors--Vanilla Cake with Creamy Chocolate Filling, Chocolate Cake with Creamy Vanilla Filling, and Vanilla Cake with Creamy Vanilla Filling. We sampled the vanilla cake/vanilla filling combo and loved it, although I really really want to try the chocolate one!

Would you like a chance to win a sample of one of the mixes before they hit the shelves? Leave me a comment telling me your favorite summer treat and a way to reach you. I'll draw a winner at the end of next week (7/22).

Disclosure: The Betty Crocker Fun da-middles product, information, and giveaway have been provided by Betty Crocker through MyBlogSpark.

Cars2 Rewards from Kimberly Clark

noreply@blogger.com (Shannon) — Mon, 20 Jun 2011 05:02:00 +0000

Do you have a little boy? Have you been hearing non-stop about the fact that there is a Cars 2 movie coming out? Are they just a little tiny bit excited about it?

Besides the new movie, Kimberly Clark is providing incentives for moms to stock up on their products. Select Kimberly Clark products, such as Kleenex, Cottonelle, Scott, Viva, Huggies and Pull-Up brands, are marked with special Cars 2 logos and features codes to enter on the Kimberly Clark website and redeem for Cars 2 merchandise!

To redeem your Cars2 points, head to:

http://www.KIMBERLY-CLARK.com/CARS2

and enter the code found on the black box on the label.

Points can be redeemed for Cars 2 merchandise, including movie tickets, coloring books, character die-cast cars and more!

The kids were more than happy to get some of the cute tissue boxes. We're still into our recycled art projects, so it was even nicer to have some cute tissue boxes for Ben to work with. I think he's turning his into a garage!

Disclosure: I received Cars themed Kimberly Clark products for the purposes of this post, through a partnership with Mom Bloggers Club. All opinions expressed are my own.

Cube Dog App Review

noreply@blogger.com (Shannon) — Tue, 14 Jun 2011 03:45:00 +0000

Thank you to Cube Dog for sponsoring this review. For more information about Cube Dog please visit the Facebook page or download it on iTunes.

So, what is a Cube Dog? Exactly what it sounds like. It's a virtual pet that lives in your iPhone or iTouch!

F&B and I downloaded the app onto my iPhone 4 to test it out first, but it was soon a given that they were going to need their very own Cube Dogs on their iTouches.

With Cube Dog, the user can build their very own dog, customizing its face, ears, expression, body, even its color. For our test doggie, we opted for a very cute yellow dog with big eyes and short floppy ears. Once your dog has been created, he (or she) has to be named. Ours is named Stormy, in honor of my very favorite collie of my mom's.

So, what can you do with your Cube Dog?

Well, he's a very technologically savvy dog, and even has his own iPhone (which can totally scare a person when it sounds like the real phone is ringing)! Stormy apparently can use his iPhone better than I can use mine.

And much like the real Stormy, virtual Stormy loves to play ball, although he uses a bat instead of bouncing it off his nose.

And then there is Ben's favorite part of CubeDog, Ninja Stormy! He defends against the ninjas with his very cool martial arts moves!

One of my favorite features in Cube Dog is the pictures. All the cute pictures above? I pulled those off my phone with the Cube Dog app. You can also blur out the backgrounds and add your Cube Dog into real photos on your phone, like he's actually sitting in your picture.

Want to see more about the app? Check out the video below.

For a cool Cube Dog giveaway contest, visit and like their Facebook page for a giveaway a day between 13-June and 17-June!

While Cube Dog provided me with the app to review, the opinions I've expressed here are solely my own and represent my honest viewpoint. Cube Dog, Clever Girls Collective and I promote Blog With Integrity.

Five Fabulous Bloggers

noreply@blogger.com (Shannon) — Thu, 19 May 2011 01:43:00 +0000

Thanks to Trop50 for sponsoring my writing about fabulous bloggers. This year Trop50 is granting 50 Fabulous Wishes. Click here to enter for a chance to win $1,000 to celebrate a friend with a refreshing attitude about looking and feeling fabulous!

I get the opportunity to pick five bloggers I find fabulous. Now, most of the time, when you read these lists, you read the same bloggers over and over again--the Pioneer Woman, Dooce, Kelle Hampton, etc. All of these are awesome blogs, and yes, I do read them, but there are so many fabulous blogs out there that don't have the big names behind them but are still absolutely awesome to read.

So, in no particular order, here are five of my favorite blogs that you need to read!

1. Do They Have Salsa in China? - I actually had the pleasure of meeting M3 and the amazing Ro & Ree in Chicago on a blogger McDonald's trip. M3 is as sweet as can be and the twins are as awesome and fun in person as they are on her blog. F&B love reading the blog with me to keep up with their little California friends and have decided that we need to go visit them someday.

2. C.R.A.F.T. - I swear this is one of the coolest blog names ever. CRAFT stands for Creating Really Awesome Free Things and is full of amazing inexpensive (or free) projects for the home and beyond. I have pages upon pages of this blog bookmarked as must tries, Jamie (the author) is incredibly talented and the projects she designs are unbelievable.

3. Happy Little Bento - As you probably know, I love all things bento and could probably populate this list with a plethora of bento blogs. I'm attempting to limit it to just one, so I'm going with Sheri at Happy Little Bento, since her kids are similar in age to mine. I get so many awesome ideas from her, and the food looks divine.

4. Notes from the Cookie Jar - I connected with Karen via Twitter, as she's the menu planning editor at EverythingMom. Notes from the Cookie Jar is her personal blog and amazingly well written, full of insight, and yummy recipes.

5. Muffin Tin Mom - Michelle is another fun food blogger I connected with via Twitter. Muffin Tin Meals are exactly what they sound like--meals served in a muffin tin. But don't underestimate the power of presentation when it comes to small children. F&B are quite sure that food tastes better when served in a muffin tin!

That's my five, for now, I could have easily come up with another 5, and another, and another, but those may have to wait for another post.

Don't forget to enter the 50 Fabulous Wishes contest for a chance to win $1,000 to celebrate a friend with a refreshing attitude about looking and feeling fabulous. I was selected for this Tropicana Trop50 sponsorship by the Clever Girls Collective, which endorses Blog With Integrity, as I do. I received compensation to use and facilitate my post.

Pasta Personality and Recipes ...

noreply@blogger.com (Shannon) — Wed, 18 May 2011 17:58:00 +0000

Go me, I'm spaghetti!

You’re genuine and well loved, like Carrabba’s Spaghetti and Meatballs. Your warm and comforting personality makes you everybody’s best friend. So go for our equally popular hand-prepared meatballs over perfectly cooked imported spaghetti.

I just tried the Carabba's Pasta Personality Quiz on Facebook and discovered that, indeed, I am spaghetti, what about you? In theory, that sounds about right, spaghetti is one of those quintessential comfort foods and it fits the whole mommy/wife roll quite well.

Oddly enough, however, I'm a bigger fan of cream sauce on pasta, so my favorite family pasta recipes usually start with a cream based sauce. (For those playing along at home, Shaun's favorite meal actually is spaghetti and meatballs, go figure.) I personally prefer cream sauces over tortellini or gnocchi--one of the best meals I've ever had was a creamy gnocchi at a little seaside restaurant in Ventimiglia, Italy, and that's actually what we are having tonight for dinner. Now, I'm sure there all sorts of fancy alfredo recipes, but really, I have two small kids, fancy is a relative term when they are "starving to death".

Quick & Easy Alfredo with Pasta:
1 package fresh tortellini or gnocchi, cooked and ready to eat
1/2 cup butter
1 package cream cheese, or Philly Cooking Creme (the flavored varieties are awesome)
2 teaspoons minced garlic
2 cups milk
3/4 cup parmesan
1/4 teaspoon black pepper

Melt butter in a pan until completely softened.
Add garlic, pepper, and cream cheese, mixing well to smooth out lumps.
When completely melted, add milk slowly, continuing to stir.
Add parmesan cheese, stir again and continue to heat/stir till desired thickness.
Toss with pasta and serve!

For a change, we also really like to mix in some tomato sauce for a creamy tomato recipe. And of course, there's always the option of adding chicken or sausage to the meal. Maybe this is why we like pasta so much. It's versatile!

If you aren't up for making pasta, you could always head to your local Carrabba's. For a limited time, they are featuring Signature Pasta Meals, seven different dishes served with choice of soup or fresh salad starting at $10. The choices look wonderful, I'd love to try the Parmesan-Crusted Chicken, with the Limoncello Bread Pudding for dessert!

Don't these sound amazing?

Parmesan-crusted Chicken – Topped with fresh arugula and grape tomatoes tossed in a hand-prepared lemon vinaigrette, served with choice of side. Substitution of wood-grilled chicken also available. Pairs well with Estancia Pinot Grigio.

Limoncello Bread Pudding – Back by popular demand! Brioche bread pudding made with fresh Madagascar vanilla beans and a rich custard, served hot out of the oven. Topped with Blue Bell vanilla ice cream and drizzled with Carrabba’s homemade Caravella Limoncello liqueur sauce.

I wrote this blog post while participating in the SocialMoms and Carrabba’s blogging program, for a gift card worth $50. For more information on how you can participate, click here.

YoPlait Greek Yogurt - Review & Giveaway

noreply@blogger.com (Shannon) — Fri, 22 Apr 2011 16:20:00 +0000

If you've been reading my blog for any length of time, you'll know that, as a general rule, we're pretty healthy eaters. And, although it rarely makes an appearance in bentos, F&B can eat their weight in yogurt. Honestly, they pretty much eat it (or drink it) daily. We go through a good 15-20 yogurts, yogurt drinks or yogurt popsicles on a weekly basis, and that's only the kids!

Lately, however, we've been loving Greek yogurt. We received coupons to try Yoplait Greek yogurt with twice the protein and were really impressed with it. Each container features 14-17 grams of protein (a plus for my very active children) and comes in 6 flavors (Blueberry, Strawberry, Peach, Honey Vanilla, Key Lime, and Plain). The flavor is quite lovely and the yogurt itself is thick and creamy, both kids highly enjoyed it. I did too, what little I got of my container--F&B helped themselves to mine.

For the kids, I really liked the idea of twice the protein, they participate in martial arts at least 4 times per week and are getting set to start swim team (another 4-5 mornings per week). For me, I like the 0% fat. That's just a good thing for me.

Want to check out Yoplait on all sorts of sites, including a coupon for the Greek yogurt and a daily contest on Facebook?

Yoplait on Facebook: http://on.fb.me/yoplaitonfbook
Yoplait on Twitter: http://bit.ly/yoplaitontwitter
Yoplait Greek on Yoplait.com: http://my.yoplait.com/yoplaitgreek
Yoplait Greek coupon: http://bit.ly/greekcoupon

Are you loving Greek yogurt too? Tell me about it in the comments to win a cool Yoplait prize pack including a coupon organizer, a magnetic customized meal planner board, a mini pocket fold-up tote, an electronics case, retractable ear buds, a magnetic shopping cart note holder and a pen. Contest ends May 4th.

Updated:

The winner is #3, Amanda, congratulations!!!

We received a Yoplait prize pack of our own and coupons to sample the product from MyBlogSpark, along with the ability to offer a contest to our readers. All opinions expressed are our own.

Folgers Best Part of Waking Up

noreply@blogger.com (Shannon) — Wed, 20 Apr 2011 17:00:00 +0000

This is sponsored content from BlogHer and Folgers.

So, what is the best part of waking up?

Well, in spring, in Dallas, it’s waking up with a fresh breeze blowing in the window, the scent of fresh air filling the room. It’s hearing the fountain on the pool running like a waterfall and the birds chirping in my palm trees, like we’re somewhere in the islands, instead of the suburbs.

It’s opening the bedroom door and smelling freshly brewed coffee coming from the kitchen, just waiting to be served. And some mornings, when it’s a really good morning, there are fresh donuts that magically appear on the kitchen counter, that are always a good accompaniment to the coffee.

It’s getting the first hot shower of the morning, standing in there with steaming hot water raining down, and not having to worry that you’re the one who is going to run out of hot water.

But most of all, the best part of waking up is two little people barging into my room and climbing into bed because they just have to snuggle with Mommy in the morning. It’s cuddling my sweet girl and boy in bed for a bit, before we have to get up and start the day, or watching cartoons in bed on a lazy morning, while they giggle and I strive for just five more minutes of sleep.

Morning necessities, a good cup of coffee and my iPhone

Check out Folgers "Best Part of Waking Up" website and their new jingle contest. Right now, 10 semi-finalists are in the running, performing their own version of Folger’s classic jingle. You can vote once each day through April 25th for your favorite contestant, on the website or on your phone. By doing this, you are entered to win one of five $100 grocery store gift cards, and a grand prize of $10,000. All it takes is one vote. Personally, there are a few I like, but I’m really enjoying Aryn’s version. And, she’s from the Dallas area, so that is just extra special. Stop by and vote for your favorite, then leave me a comment and let me know which one you like?

For more details about the Folger's Contest, go here. For the Folgers' Rules, go here.

Visit the Prizes and Promotions section

What's Your Spring Celebration?

noreply@blogger.com (Shannon) — Fri, 15 Apr 2011 19:01:00 +0000

Spring is in the air in north Texas. The days are bright and sunny, the weather is simply gorgeous and we've been able to spend lots of time outside. Even better, everything is so lovely and green for pictures. We've already done our bunny pictures for Easter (outside with beautiful real bunnies) and still need to take some bluebonnet shots. Bluebonnet shots are a Texas tradition, I've got several sets over the years, including some with really little F&B.

iPhone pic preview of our Easter bunny pics!

Shutterfly has some great options to share these kinds of pictures. Many years ago (OK, a little over 5 years ago), I created Ben's birth announcements through their site, so I've always been a little partial to their cards. I order my Christmas cards through them nearly every year too (except the year I decided to actually handcraft my own ... never again). We've also used their site to design cute little Halloween and Easter greetings for our family, speaking of which, I think I need Easter cards!

I also love their photo books. It's a wonderful alternative to scrapbooking (which I unfortunately can never seem to find the time for anymore) and a perfect gift for Mother's Day or a birthday. What Nana wouldn't love a book of pictures of her grandchildren? F&B love to look through the books all about them to see what we were doing at that point in time. We've put together books from our vacations, from school activities, even just a year in review. The possibilities are endless.

Shutterfly also offers beautiful graduation, save-the-date, and new house cards, all the perfect spring events, of course, definitely check them out!

Are you a blogger, too? Click here to register for a chance at 50 free announcements!

This post is part of a series sponsored by Shutterfly. I was selected for this sponsorship by the Clever Girls Collective, which endorses Blog With Integrity, as I do.

Tangled DVD Giveaway

noreply@blogger.com (Shannon) — Thu, 31 Mar 2011 20:22:00 +0000

Have you seen Tangled yet? I have to admit, Faith and I do enjoy a good princess movie, and really, you can't go wrong with Disney!

Tangled is the story of Rapunzel (voiced by Mandy Moore), a young girl hidden away from the world by her overprotective mother, Gothel. Rapunzel dreams of discovering what the world holds, when suddenly Flynn Ryder appears in her life. They strike a deal and Flynn agrees to lead her through the forest and find the hidden strength she never knew.

Check out the widget above for a preview of the movie and some other fun goodies, including printables for the movie.

Want a chance to win a copy of Tangled for yourself?

It's a short turn around, so entries must be received by April 5th. Contest is open to US readers (or those with a US shipping address only).

For the first (mandatory) entry, leave a comment below, telling me your favorite princess story.

For a second optional entry, follow BentoLunch on Facebook. If you already are, just leave a second comment telling me that you do.

Updated noon, 4/6!

The winner is ...

#21 - Amy! I'll email you for the information.

Yogi Bear DVD Giveaway!

noreply@blogger.com (Shannon) — Thu, 24 Mar 2011 18:34:00 +0000

The new Yogi Bear movie was just released on DVD two days ago. We haven't seen it yet, I think we're going to still check it out at the $1 theater because movie popcorn is awesome. F&B are loving the Yogi Bear cartoons on Boomerang which completely cracks me up. I remember watching that with my brother.

Yogi Bear features Dan Aykroyd as the voice of Yogi and Justin Timberlake as Boo Boo, along with their adventures in Jellystone Park. When Jellystone is threatened by a logging company, Yogi teams up with a documentary film maker to save the park.

Check out the widget above for a preview of the movie and fun bear & picnic related activities. Even better, the Sierra Club has partnered with Yogi Bear to present bear tips, facts, and information on how to help protect wild bears.

Want a chance to win a copy for yourself?

It's a short turn around, so entries must be received by March 28th. Contest is open to US readers (or those with a US shipping address only).

For the first (mandatory) entry, leave a comment below, telling me something fascinating about bears. I rather like bears. :o)

For a second optional entry, follow BentoLunch on Facebook. If you already are, just leave a second comment telling me that you do.

Updated noon, 3/29!

The winner is ...

#16 - Amy! I'll email you for the information.

Another Fun CSN Opportunity

noreply@blogger.com (Shannon) — Mon, 14 Mar 2011 21:38:00 +0000

I've loved partnering with CSN stores thus far. They are the lovely folks behind several blog giveaways on here, along with providing me with my very-awesome dehydrator (and the opportunity to create my very own fruit roll ups) and some very cool science kits for F&B.

I'm excited to partner with them again to offer ... well, you'll just have to come back and see soon! I've been browsing their site again, looking at all the awesome stuff we just need!

I'm currently in love with the LCD TV stands, mostly because we still have our very inexpensive pressed board boxy one. And then there's all the awesome kitchen stuff, I'm convinced I need a griddle for all the pancakes I'd like to make!

F is putting her vote in for more science kits and B has been eyeing the Lego goodies. They even have Mr. & Ms. Bento jars and Ecolunchboxes, everyone needs more bento in their life!

Check back soon to see what we might decide on, it's currently up for debate.

Grocery Shopping & Saving Money

noreply@blogger.com (Shannon) — Tue, 01 Mar 2011 00:36:00 +0000

Now that we are attempting to eat at home more, we're realizing that we need to also plan the grocery shopping to take advantage of the deals and save extra money. The first step, from eating out to eating home, reduced our budget quite a bit, but now we'd like to take it further.

Since I have no clue what a grocery budget for a family of four should be, I'm making a lot of this up as I go along. I do the vast majority of our grocery shopping at Kroger since it's the closest to the house and they typically have the best deals on things we use.

Even so, we've been finding lots of good ideas for saving additional money:

Plan ahead. You've probably seen my whole Meal Planning Monday adventure. It is seriously helping with the shopping to know what we're going to eat and to just buy what we need. This week's meals? I already have most of the items, just need a few side veggies, some bell pepper and the regular perishable items I buy weekly for the four of us.
Shop late. Our Kroger marks down a lot of items later at night. We'll often stop on the way home late because they dramatically reduce prices for fresh baked good and fresh deli goods in the evening. I simply can't beat $3 for 8-10 pieces of fried chicken or $2 for a dozen donuts for breakfast.
Check the markdown areas. We are big fans of the bakery overstock for quick birthday cakes and the meat department specials for our big freezer full of meat. I typically buy all my meat to freeze anyhow, so extra deep sale prices are fine with me to put it straight into the freezer.
Watch the weekly specials. Kroger runs a lot of "buy x items, save an extra $x money". Frequently, it's items we buy anyhow, so we can stock up on a few extra boxes of crackers or cereal to make the deal work. You do have to buy 5 or 10 items (mix and match, of course), but we've found it to be a pretty savings. And it's quite nice to know that we have extra food in the pantry stash.
Take advantage of the store card. A lot of the deals are in conjunction with using the (free) store card. You can also download coupons right onto Kroger's card from their website to save you additional money. I am very bad about clipping and using coupons, so electronic storage is right up my alley!
Check out the store brands. We are pretty happy with a *lot* of Kroger's in-house brands, including milk and eggs, cheese, chips, cereals, and a whole lot more. As a bonus, you save an additional bit of money when you buy their brands and use your shopper card. Every little bit helps!

Right now, Kroger is holding their CartBuster deals. During this 14-day promotion (2/27 till 3/12), customers will receive CartBuster savings on products from favorite brands like P&G, General Mills, Nestle, and Pepsi by visiting the Kroger Facebook page. There's even a special "deal of the day", today's being a free CoffeeMate Creamer (again, something I buy already). Can't wait to see what there is tomorrow!

I wrote this blog post while participating in the SocialMoms Kroger CartBuster blogging program, for a gift card worth $50. For more information on how you can participate, click here.

Mars Needs Moms, or what my kids would miss if I moved to Mars

noreply@blogger.com (Shannon) — Mon, 28 Feb 2011 21:35:00 +0000

Mars Needs Moms is a new Disney movie that F&B and I have on our list to go watch sooner than later. It's the story of a young boy, who goes to rescue his mom from the Martians, who have kidnapped Mom to help them with their young.

The question arose, "What would your kids miss about mom if she was abducted by aliens?" I asked F&B for some help, what would they miss about me if I moved to Mars.

Without further ado, I present the slightly humorous, slightly weird, top 10 things F&B would miss about me. Which took entirely too long for the two of them to come up with, which makes me wonder how many days I'd be living with those aliens before they noticed I wasn't here.

1. Ben: I wouldn't get lunch unless Daddy feeds me. [This coming from the child who told me that Daddy let him have a cupcake for dessert at breakfast the other day. I'm not sure this is something he'd miss or not.]

2. Faith: You couldn't tuck me in at night.

3. Faith: You wouldn't be able to tickle me, wait a minute, I don't think I'd miss that.

4. Ben: I wouldn't get to hug & kiss you and tell you I love you.

5. Faith: You wouldn't be able to make me bentos. I could probably make my own, but that is a lot of work.

6. Faith: I'd miss you being to help me with my schoolwork. Ben: I wouldn't have to do schoolwork anymore!

7. Faith: When we'd go on Canada trips, I'd miss you because you get us the snacks when Daddy is driving. And you hand us our bags to get our toys.

8. Ben: I'd miss you because you wouldn't be there to do the laundry. Daddy would have to do it. [Ben holds head after saying this.]

9. Faith: You wouldn't be there to make us yummy dinners.
Ben: Daddy would make us eat octopus.
Faith: We might have to starve.
Ben: Till Mommy gets back?

10. Faith: Mommy wouldn't be there to do my hair, except for ponytails, and Daddy can't really make good ponytails.

So what I've learned--I cook, I fix hair, I do laundry, and my kids had a lot of trouble coming up with this list. Oh, and I'm a snack dispenser on road trips, go me!

Wonder what they'd miss about their father?

I wrote this blog post while participating in the SocialMoms blogging program, for a gift card worth $25. For more information on how you can participate, click here.

GE ecomagination

noreply@blogger.com (Shannon) — Tue, 15 Feb 2011 15:00:00 +0000

This is sponsored content from BlogHer and GE.

As a mom, saving energy usage in our home, and the financial savings that comes along with that, is always on my mind. Our first house was an older build and we learned the hard way about high energy. When we bought our current house, one of the top items on my list was energy efficiency. Our bills on this house are less than our old house, even though we nearly doubled the size.

Faith helps change out the light bulbs

Of course, like most families with two smaller children, we spent a lot of time saying things like "Turn off the lights when you're not in the room," and "Why is there a tv on upstairs when everyone is down here?" It has taken me large amounts of time to convince my children that just because they are in the family room, the kitchen and breakfast room lights do not have to be on too, or amazingly, that when it is sunny and the middle of the day, opening the blinds lets in enough light to do almost anything

Even so, we still look for little ways to save energy and lower our bills:

Since we live in Texas, running the a/c in the summertime is a must. However, we've switched to leaving the windows open for as many months as we can get away with it, probably March till May/June, and again by mid-September through November. In the winter, we shut the doors and vents in the rooms we don't use which also helps with the heating bill.
For dinner, we use the crockpot as much as we can. Not only is it more convenient for me (put the food on in the morning and leave it till dinner), it uses much less energy than our regular oven.
I run the dishwasher and washing machine at night. I read years ago that it is cheaper/more efficient to do so. We just had rolling blackouts in North Texas and it was on the energy company's list of things to do. I'm a night person anyhow, so this has always worked quite well for me.
I rarely use my dryer! The only things that go in the dryer wet are towels and sheets, socks and underwear. I hang all the rest of our clothes to air dry on hangers in the bathroom. It saves energy and prevents things shrinking in the high heat of the dryer.
Curly-q light bulbs! I'm sure these have a real name but I have no idea what it is. My husband discovered them when he still worked for an Energy Star builder and we've slowly been switching our house light bulbs to them. They make a huge difference in energy usage, they generate less heat than typical bulbs, and I am convinced they are brighter.
Sending the kids outside to play. It doesn't officially seem like an energy tip, but if they're outside, they're not inside using electricity. As an added bonus, they're getting fresh air and exercise in the process, which results in lovely quiet time for me.

GE is currently hosting the ecomagination Challenge: Powering Your Home, an open call for fresh thinking on eco-home technology and innovations that can effectively harness renewable energy for the home. This challenge is all about the power of networked ideas, collaboration and partnerships to accelerate innovation. What changes have you made in your home to make it more energy efficient? Do you have new ideas for solving the home energy issues you face? This isn't just the usual idea and tips that we all love to share, it's something much bigger than that! GE is looking for large-scale ideas from businesses, entrepreneurs, innovators, students and every day people with breakthrough ideas for home energy creation, management and use. Do you have a game-changing energy idea? Share it with GE for a chance to win. You can also find ecomagination on the main ecomagination site, ecomagination Challenge Blog, Foursquare, Facebook, and YouTube.

And on this blog, I'm giving away two $50 GE energy smart LED light bulb that last 20 years and save you $85 in energy cost. Leave me a comment telling me:
Share with me what your energy use challenges at home are, for a chance to win a $50 GE energy smart light bulbs that lives 20 years and saves you $85 in energy costs.
The contest runs from 2/15/11 until 2/28/11, one prize will be given away each week.

To visit the other bloggers' posts, go here - Visit the Exclusive Offers section

Rules:
-No duplicate comments.
-You may receive (2) total entries by selecting from the following entry methods:
-a) Leave a comment in response to the sweepstakes prompt on this post
-b) Tweet about this promotion and leave the URL to that tweet in a comment on this post
-c) Blog about this promotion and leave the URL to that post in a comment on this post
-d) For those with no Twitter or blog, read the official rules to learn about an alternate form of entry.
-This giveaway is open to US Residents age 18 or older.
-Winners will be selected via random draw, and will be notified by e-mail.
-You have 72 hours to get back to me, otherwise a new winner will be selected.
-The Official Rules are available here - Visit the Official Rules

Baby Einstein Discovery Kits Review & Giveaway

noreply@blogger.com (Shannon) — Thu, 13 Jan 2011 18:20:00 +0000

Once upon a time, when Miss Faith was a very little baby, we discovered Baby Einstein videos. In the process of dating myself, the first 3 we owned were actually for the VCR.

Now Miss Faith was a beautiful, happy, little baby, who DID NOT SLEEP. Seriously. We brought home a newborn who spend 5 hours on her very first day at home just staring at us. She wasn't fussy, she didn't cry a lot, she ate normally, she had great awake time. She just didn't nap. Thankfully, she did sleep decently at night, or I wouldn't be sitting here writing this from my home, I'd probably be sitting in a looney bin staring at the walls.

Anyhow, what does one do with a newborn that doesn't sleep? Those days were LONG. We would play on her playmat, read books, listen to CDs, and so on. Then it was afternoon. ;o) We finally tried the Baby Einstein videos to see if they would catch her attention so I could do important things, like go to the bathroom or make a sandwich. Well, lo and behold, the videos caught her eye. She would lay on a blanket, watch them for a bit, then doze into a peaceful slumber. We purchased our favorites on dvd because the dvd player had a repeat function and it was our one guaranteed way to have her nap.

Nowadays, Faith is 8 and sleeps, and we added Ben (now 5) who napped on his own, but still enjoyed his Baby Einstein books and dvds, and Baby Einstein has added new Discovery Kits to their repetoire.

Discovery Kits are the complete package--a DVD, a music CD, discovery cards, and a parent guide. We had the chance to take a peek at the Wild Animal Safari, which F&B were quite amused by. From experience, they would have *loved* the whole set as babies, they still were fascinated with the discovery cards (though it became more of a trivia game for them right now).

There are three levels of Discovery Kits--Experience, Explore, and Expression, based on the age of the child, and each level currently features 3 kits. Each kit comes with a dvd, a cd and some sort of go-along (picture book, board book, or discovery cards). They are currently available for $19.99 list price at most major retailers, Amazon has many for $15 instead (check out the Wild Animal Safari one we got).

Now I have a brand new copy of Wild Animal Safari to give away to one reader. To win, leave a comment, just make sure I have a way to contact you if you win.

I'm not doing a bunch of follow me on FB, Twitter, Google, etc, for extra entries. If you want to follow me, please do--Twitter, Facebook, or at BentoLunch.net.

Giveaway is open to US residents or those with a US shipping address, since I have to mail this. :o) Either way, it's a US-sourced dvd, so you'll need to have that kind of player anyhow. Giveaway ends on 1/22/11.

CONGRATULATIONS TO ENTRY #20, CHRISTY!!!

I received a free Discovery Kit through a LBi/ Baby Einstein program for the purposes of review and a second to give away to a reader. All thoughts and opinions expressed are my own and no other monetary compensation took place.

Kroger, P&G and me, a shopping trip

noreply@blogger.com (Shannon) — Sat, 08 Jan 2011 04:47:00 +0000

Recently, BlogHer and Kroger offered me the chance to do a little bit of shopping, on them, to share Kroger's $4 off any 4 participating Proctor & Gamble products.

Well, since I do the bulk of my grocery shopping at Kroger, and it is the closest grocery store to my house, and I do buy an awful lot of Proctor & Gamble products, I took them up on the offer.

After perusing the list of products, I realized that we buy a whole lot more P&G products than I thought. Like most people, I have my brand preferences, but I didn't necessarily know what big company made those brands? Bounce paper towels? P&G. Charmin toilet tissue? P&G Swiffer dust cloths? Again, P&G. Even the Pampers I bought once upon a time for F&B prior to everyone using the potty on his or her own are made by P&G.

Since we had just stocked up on toilet tissue and paper towels prior to Christmas, I used my card to buy two products we already use and two products that we wanted to try.

The winning products, if you will:
Crest MultiCare Whitening toothpaste (we buy various Crest toothpastes & Shaun likes whitening ones)
Aussie Styling Mousse (I love their mousse, my hair is short now but still thick and must be moussed)
Old Spice High Endurance AntiPerspirant/Deodorant (this is new to us, but I know my dad likes it)
Old Spice High Endurance Hair & Body Wash (again, new to us, but Shaun is game to try it, and since his hair is so short, it's not like he really needs a separate shampoo)

In conjunction with this promotion, BlogHer is giving away 25 $25 gift cards to the Kroger family of stores. Click here to enter to win.

Gingerbread Pop-Tarts - Faith's Version of the Gingerbread Man

noreply@blogger.com (Shannon) — Mon, 20 Dec 2010 15:00:00 +0000

This is a compensated review by BlogHer and Pop-Tarts®.

Last week, we were quite happy to share our gingerbread brownies with you, along with our affinity for Gingerbread Pop-Tarts. This week, Miss Faith wanted to share her version of the Gingerbread Man, or perhaps, the Gingerbread Pop-Tarts Man?

In conjunction with this post, BlogHer is giving away a $100 Visa gift card. Since I am in a total holiday mood right now, leave me a comment sharing one of your favorite holiday memories for a chance to win! Do you have an awesome family tradition? A funny story? A recipe that I simply must try that is exceedingly delicious and magically has no calories? I’d love to hear them!

Visit the Visit the Exclusive Offers section for 9 other fun Pop-Tarts posts and 9 other chances to win a gift card!

Visit the Official Pop-Tarts site for more products and ideas.

Rules:
No duplicate comments.
You may receive (2) total entries by selecting from the following entry methods:
a) Leave a comment in response to the sweepstakes prompt on this post
b) Tweet about this promotion and leave the URL to that tweet in a comment on this post
c) Blog about this promotion and leave the URL to that post in a comment on this post
d) Read the official rules for alternate form of entry.
This giveaway is open to US Residents age 18 or older.
Winners will be selected via random draw, and will be notified by e-mail.
You have 72 hours to get back to me, otherwise a new winner will be selected.
Sweepstakes runs 12/13-12/25.

The Official Rules are available here. Visit the Official Rules

Gingerbread Pop-Tarts Review & Recipe

noreply@blogger.com (Shannon) — Fri, 10 Dec 2010 16:23:00 +0000

This is a compensated review by BlogHer and Pop-Tarts®.

After last month’s amazing Pumpkin Pie Pop-Tarts posts, we were so excited to get the email to see if our family might want to participate in a holiday version!

Until the box arrived, we had a fun time guessing what flavor the Christmas season Pop-Tarts might be. Gingerbread was a front runner, candy cane/mint was one of Faith’s ideas, and Shaun even tossed in the idea of eggnog (which sounds rather bad, in my opinion). Our nice little box arrived with several packages of gingerbread Pop-Tarts. (Thank God Shaun was not right, I could not even fathom choking down eggnog flavored anything.)

After the initial family sampling and the awesome fact that mine had a hockey goalie on it, we needed a recipe to use with them. Since we did a Pumpkin Pie Pop-Tarts cheesecake, I wanted something different. Gingerbread Pop-Tarts would make an awesome cheesecake crust though, and I do plan to try that at a later date. Originally, my mom (who is always in on my baking plans) suggested an éclair style cake with a vanilla pudding and whipped cream topping. That was the plan, till Shaun randomly tossed in the idea of brownies.

Brownies and gingerbread sounded so good, and brownies, gingerbread and some candy cane flavored sounded even better, so he ran to the grocery store and I got to work. An hour later, we had a lovely pan of “Candy Cane-Gingerbread Brownies” that might not make it more than a day or two around here. He picked up the candy canes, so in lieu of mint, they are cherry flavored, but I think mint would be wonderful as well.

Candy Cane-Gingerbread Brownies
1 package brownie mix
1/2 cup oil
1/4 cup water
2 eggs
3 packages of Gingerbread Pop-Tarts (6 total pastries)
3 candy canes

Prepare brownie mix in a separate bowl with eggs, oil and water, mix well.
Crumble Gingerbread Pop-Tarts into coarse chunks and sprinkle at the bottom of a greased 9x9 pan.
Slowly pour brownie mixture over Pop-Tarts, spread to cover the pan if needed.
Bake for 30-32 minutes at 350 degrees.
Remove from oven, crush candy canes and sprinkle over top.
Return to oven for another 5 minutes till candy canes melt and glaze together.
Cool, cut & serve!

**Adjust your brownie recipe per the box you purchased (eggs, oil, water, etc).**

In conjunction with this post, BlogHer is giving away a $100 Visa gift card. Since I am in a total holiday mood right now, leave me a comment sharing one of your favorite holiday memories for a chance to win! Do you have an awesome family tradition? A funny story? A recipe that I simply must try that is exceedingly delicious and magically has no calories? I’d love to hear them!

Visit the Visit the Exclusive Offers section for 9 other fun Pop-Tarts posts and 9 other chances to win a gift card!

Visit the Official Pop-Tarts site for more products and ideas.

Rules:
No duplicate comments.
You may receive (2) total entries by selecting from the following entry methods:
a) Leave a comment in response to the sweepstakes prompt on this post
b) Tweet about this promotion and leave the URL to that tweet in a comment on this post
c) Blog about this promotion and leave the URL to that post in a comment on this post
d) Read the official rules for alternate form of entry.
This giveaway is open to US Residents age 18 or older.
Winners will be selected via random draw, and will be notified by e-mail.
You have 72 hours to get back to me, otherwise a new winner will be selected.
Sweepstakes runs 12/13-12/25.

The Official Rules are available here. Visit the Official Rules

Heart of Haiti

noreply@blogger.com (Shannon) — Thu, 02 Dec 2010 00:21:00 +0000

Isn't the above pendant beautiful?

Not only is stunning to see, you can help support an amazing cause by purchasing one.

It is made by Heart of Haiti, an organization dedicated to helping Haiti rebuild their country through their motto of "trade, not aid".

Rather than simply sending money, they are helping the people of Haiti rebuild through their own talents and income, allowing them to repair homes, send their children to school, and feed & clothe their families. After the recent earthquake devastation, the country is needing much help with rebuilding efforts.

Each item is designed by a master Haitian artist and made by hand in Haiti. They are made from recycled materials, and include vases, candleholders, serving trays, picture frames, mirrors, coasters, necklaces, clutch purses and more.

Visit Macy's to learn more about Heart of Haiti.

Disclosure: I am writing this post to spread the word about Heart of Haiti through a Mom Bloggers Club member program and will receive a Heart of Haiti pendant as a thank you.

MegaBlocks Dragon Universe & Toy Story Action Links, Mommy Parties.

noreply@blogger.com (Shannon) — Wed, 01 Dec 2010 05:15:00 +0000

Sometimes, it's really good to be Ben.

Really really good to be Ben.

Especially when Mommy does a lot of blogging and gets cool opportunities to try out new toys that a certain little boy gets to keep after we test them.

Thanks to an opportunity from MomSelect and MommyParties, Ben and I got the opportunity to try out two really cool new lines of toys as well as invite our friends over to try them too. We received a set of MegaBlocks Dragon Universe toys and a set of Toy Story Action Links toys.

Being that we just had Thanksgiving week and we are headed into a busy Christmas season, we decided to combine our two parties into one bigger playdate. It gave us a chance to invite some of Ben's slightly older friends (who loved the MegaBlocks Dragon Universe set) and Ben's slightly younger friends (who loved the Toy Story Action Links). As for me, I had a wonderful opportunity to catch up with some dear friends who I don't see nearly enough now that our oldest kids are all school age.

We opted for a late morning playdate with coffee, juice, muffins and fruits. Simple was definitely better as the kids were more interested in playing than eating.

The boys loved both sets of toys, I think we had lots of mixing of the Dragon Universe and the Toy Story sets. Ben (like many of the boys) was especially fond of how the big dragon pieces shoot little arrows at things, we've all played "hunt for the arrows" many times since hosting the party! I think he may just be a little too fond of shooting his sister.

The Toy Story set had lots of neat options to try, especially mixing and matching the different link sets to create actions. Ben and Faith actually did a complete circle with the sets before the party, and some of Ben's friends lined up a whole series of the sets to cause a chain reaction.

We were also able to send all our guests home with a Dragon Universe Egg & dvd and/or a Toy Story buddy pack--we divided by age, since the MegaBlocks are more of a age 5 and up kind of toy, as well as letting a few of our girl friends have the Jessie Toy Story Buddy Packs.

At this point, I'd highly recommend either set for young boys. Ben plays with both daily and his friends really seemed to enjoy both sets too. I heard a lot of "I think I want the rest of these for Christmas" so that seemed like a positive review for me. Ben's already plotting which extra people he needs to go with his sets too!

Disclaimer: I was provided with the MegaBlocks Dragon Universe and Toy Story Action Links toys/party packs from MomSelect and MommyParties in exchange for hosting a playdate & blogging about it. All opinions expressed are my own, no additional compensation was received.

Our Favorite Road Trip Memories

noreply@blogger.com (Shannon) — Wed, 24 Nov 2010 00:45:00 +0000

For a long time, we swore off the idea of road-tripping. With two kids in three years, the idea of getting in a car and driving anywhere for long periods of time sounded less than palatable, but as F&B got older, we realized something else. Two kids in 3 years also meant having to buy 4 plane tickets anywhere we went. So we tested out the idea of the road trip.

We started with a simple one, up & down I-35 in Texas, when Shaun had a conference in Austin. We took the kids to San Antonio first, saw the Alamo, the Riverwalk and enjoyed some time at our hotel, before heading up to Austin. On the way to Austin, we stopped at the Natural Bridge Caverns for a cave tour, stopped in San Marcos to shop, then headed back up I-35. While Shaun was at his conference, I took the kids to the State Capital and the Texas History Museum, then we had dinner at one of my favorite Austin spots and went bat-watching on the South Congress bridge. In the process, we also discovered that road-tripping with a 4 and 7 year old wasn't so bad.

So we opted to try it again, this time at Christmastime and from Dallas to southern Ontario, Canada. For those counting, that's 21 hours worth of driving over 1400 miles, including the need to stop and stay overnight somewhere (we chose Nashville). And if that doesn't sound crazy enough, we did it again 6 months later in the summertime. I'd highly recommend the summertime option. In the wintertime version, we kind of took a 3 hour detour through rural Ohio when snow shut down the freeway and we remembered why we live in Texas.

During said trips, Shaun & I keep track of all the little gems we come across on the road--from the "Hell is Real" sign across from the really large "adult" store in Kentucky, to the store in East Texas which sells "Donuts, Guns, & Archery". Also in East Texas, we've found "Bait, Worms, Tackle & Goldfish".

But the highlight of all these trips comes from our winter road trip to Canada and is brought to you by Mr. Ben, age 4.5 years at the time:

Somewhere between Jackson & Nashville, Ben starts hopping around in his car seat. I ask him what is wrong and he tells me that he really needs to potty. There is *nothing* between Jackson & Nashville, so I tell Shaun to take the first exit and well, at least Ben is a boy. Better to use the side of the road than potty in the car seat. He exits, pulls over and I hurry Ben out of the car and around the front. Logically, I figured if he was in the high beams, he could see what he was doing and hopefully not potty on his shoes. He goes, I get him back in the car and Shaun says "did you *not* see the skunk???" Somehow, in the rush to get Ben to the potty, I missed the fact that there was a skunk right next to Ben's potty spot.

Oh, and to add insult to injury, as he was tinkling away outdoors in the below freezing weather, he smiles and says "look Mommy, it's steaming on the grass."

Coming in a close second to the skunk was driving back from Pompeii in Italy, getting stuck in Naples rush hour, taking a detour through the less scenic part of Naples, including the garbage piled high on the side of the road, leaving Shaun & my friend's husband Dan at the car rental place, while she & I *ran* back to the cruise ship docks with three kids (ages 20 months, 4.5 years and 5.5 years), in the hopes that the ship did not leave without us, then watching as our husbands came barreling across the docks, in a true Amazing Race moment, with minutes to spare before the ship left for Rome. But that's a whole separate post.

I wrote this blog post while participating in the TwitterMoms and Discount Tire blogging program, making me eligible to receive a $50 gift card and be entered for a chance to win a prize valued at $1,000. For more information on how you can participate, click here.