Winner Announced: Fun, Family and Food Friday!

Time to pick another winner!

The random winner of the $25 of Tastefully Simple products is...

#6 - Julie!

Congrats! Please e-mail me so I can get you hooked up with some yummy food!

And if you didn't win, you can head on over to Stephanie's site linked below and order something delicious for yourself! If you spend $50 or more, you get free shipping!

And if you live in the area, she also has some great deals going right now if you host a party. Just mention that you read about it here on the blog!

Thanks again for this great giveaway Stephanie!

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Happy Friday all! So glad it is here!

A few things to share today, so the post is a little long, but there is some extra FUN at the end, so don't miss out!

And we're ready for some FUN around here because Stephen's spring break starts today! WOOHOO!!! So excited for a week with him home - lots of FUN things planned!

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Last weekend we met up with a fellow med school mommy & her kiddos and Stephen's parents for a FUN day at the zoo!

Yes, you may see a little snow on the ground, but it was warmer than it had been in a LONG time and it was so wonderful to be outside. And when the wind did pick up, there were lots of great indoor exhibits to warm up in!

Big J calls this the "Big Zoo" and I would agree! Not enough energy in those boys (or this mommy) to get through everything in one day - as evidenced by Big J asking to ride in the stroller and then falling asleep!

Little J was more than happy to go for a walk while big brother snoozed, whether with Grandma Mo or Daddy once he joined us after studying!

If you couldn't tell, penguins are a favorite in our house and we all got to pet one! So FUN!!!

It was a whole day of FUN and FAMILY and we were so happy to get to spend time with Grandma and Grandpa Mo - thanks for making the drive!

And thanks to Natalie and her kiddos for a yummy breakfast and FUN friends to hang out with! Glad we're in this med school thing together :)

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To add to the FAMILY part, Grandma and Grandpa Mac are headed our way today to spend the weekend with us! So glad both sets of grandparents aren't too far away to make these quick trips either way! Should be a FAMILY FUN weekend!

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And finally the FOOD!

My friend Stephanie is a Tastefully Simple Senior Consultant and I think I have gained a few pounds off of this product from her alone...

Oh, the possibilities with a beer bread mix in the house...mmmmm....

Back to the FOOD!

To celebrate the new spring catalog, Stephanie is generously giving away $25 in Tastefully Simple products to one of you!

That's a lot of beer bread!

And I know you want some, so here's how you can enter...

Visit her Tastefully Simple site and let me know your favorite product!

And for some extra entries, you can...

*Become a fan of Tastefully Simple on Facebook.

*Share about this giveaway on Facebook or Twitter. If tweeting, please include @elmusic4kids in your tweet!

Comments are open until Monday, March 15th at 9:00 p.m. CST! Please leave a comment for each entry. Winner will be chosen by random.org.

Thank you Stephanie for this yummy giveaway! Stay tuned for some special deals from her when the winner is announced!

To each of you, have a FUN, FABULOUS weekend!

One Body

Photo courtesy of: http://www.flickr.com/photos/papazimouris/ / CC BY-NC-SA 2.0

I have been connecting with many wonderful new people lately.

Through church, MOPS, blogs, Twitter...

They are moms, wives, writers, crafters and so on.

And the majority of them are fellow sisters in Christ.

I lay in bed last night thinking about this:

I read wonderful, uplifting, challenging posts, quotes and tweets daily from these women. Quite often, they are life-changing for me. God is using these women in powerful ways in their sphere of influence.

And I have never once wondered about their denomination or church affiliation.

TOTALLY how God wants it, in my opinion.


The human body has many parts, but the many parts make up one whole body. So it is with the body of Christ. Some of us are Jews, some are Gentiles, some are slaves, and some are free. But we have all been baptized into one body by one Spirit, and we all share the same Spirit.
1 Corinthians 12:12-13

Sure we have our differences - but we share the most important thing in common.

We are ONE BODY in Christ.

And I, for one, am enjoying the support and encouragement that comes with being part of that ONE BODY.

A Weekend Without the Boys: Day 1

This past weekend we left the boys with grandparents and headed out for a weekend at the lake with some friends from church. Believe me, we were all ready for a break!

And this is where we got to stay...

No, those are not pictures from a magazine. That is actually the place we stayed. Gorgeous, isn't it?! And I didn't even take pictures of the second floor!

And by the way, it was free! A relative of one of the couples let us stay there for the weekend - amazing!

We got in late Friday night, made a midnight Wal-Mart run (always fun) and then prepared for Day 1.

And that was a full day.

What I didn't get pictures of was starting our day with three hours of tennis. THREE HOURS. I was in heaven. I love tennis so much and have missed playing. It's time to start playing on a regular basis. Any takers?!

Next we headed down to the dock to check out the water. It was beautiful.

The guys found lots of big fish swimming around the dock. They were fascinated.

And as if three hours of tennis wasn't enough physical activity for the day, we all golfed nine holes next. And put sunscreen on this time. A little late for most of us.

The guys...

and the girls...

Just for the record, D (in the yellow) had the low round for the day. Out of ALL six of us :) She rocks.

This was my third time EVER golfing. I took seven strokes off my score. I was happy.

And we had fun.

And it was good we had the van for all those clubs.

Jerry's Pizza for supper...yummy...yes, that's my half without the cheese.

Bless that pizza, J!

There is a lot going on down by the lake in the summer so we went to check it out after supper.

There is the amusement park.

I went there once many years ago. See that roller coaster in the foreground? That is the reason I do not ride roller coasters. I think it may be the oldest, shakiest loudest roller coaster around. Just sitting near it and listening to it go by brought horrible memories rushing back to mind. Ugh.

But then a very pleasant surprise...

And that was just a fraction of the finale. It was an amazing show - one of the best I have ever seen in person. And we just stumbled upon it.

And we finished the night with this.

I was a very happy camper.

And that was just day one!