Giveaway #2!

Alrighty - for giveaway #2 (if you missed #1, scroll down when you're finished here!) I have a personalized crayon roll. This crayon roll works not only for crayons (holds 16), but also colored pencils or slim markers. This is a great item to keep in a diaper or toddler bag to help keep your kids entertained when you're on the go - much easier than crayon boxes that get crushed and then disintegrate!

A few giveaway details...

1. visit my Etsy store and let me know what your favorite thing there is.


2. If your comment doesn't reference an item, it will be deleted and you will be removed from the contest - play along and we'll all have fun!


3. This contest is for 1 (one) personalized crayon roll - you specify the name and boy or girl and I will design a crayon roll just for you!


4. The contest will run until midnight, Saturday, August 2nd . I'll randomly choose a winner and announce their name the next day. Contest is only open to US mailing addresses. Please make sure you leave a way for me to contact you! One entry per person, please.

*****If you'd like an extra entry, you can visit my sister's Etsy store and leave a comment here telling me what your favorite from her shop is. **Please leave a 2nd comment about her store!** She's also running a giveaway over at her blog, so feel free to head over her way and enter there too!*****

Thanks so much and best wishes to all! For a bunch of other great giveaways, don't forget to check out the main Bloggy Giveaways page!

The Bloggy Giveaway Carnival is here - yippee!

Man oh man, do I just LOVE when it's Bloggy Giveaway Carnival time! Thanks so much to you for stopping by - Backporch Reflections is the spot for me to reflect on my life - share what's going on with our family, things we love and/or really dislike & what God has been teaching me lately. I hope you'll poke around a little and maybe even check back on a regular basis! I will be doing several giveaways this week, so make sure you bookmark us and come on back over to enter those as well - I just LOVE giving stuff away!

A few giveaway details...

1. visit my Etsy store and let me know what placemat design is your favorite. If you have a great idea that you don't see (but would like to) - feel free to add that to your comment as well.
2. If your comment doesn't reference a placemat design, it will be deleted and you will be removed from the contest - play along and we'll all have fun!
3. This contest is for 1 (one) personalized placemat - you specify the name and the design you like (from my store).
4. The contest will run until midnight, Friday, August 1st . I'll randomly choose a winner and announce their name the next day. Contest is only open to US mailing addresses. Please make sure you leave a way for me to contact you! One entry per person, please!

Thanks so much for stopping by and best wishes to everyone! Make sure to check back later this week...I have several more giveaways up my sleeve!

WFMW - Pizza in a snap!

I don't know about you, but I LOVE pizza...I could eat it at least weekly, and probably several times weekly and never get tired of it - or at least not for a very long time! As anyone knows, pizza, even delivery, can get pricey if you like to eat it as often as I do or have a big family. Enter homemade pizza!

I was determined that we'd eat all 3 meals at home this past Sat (and we did!!), but in order to make that happen, mid-morning Saturday, I ended up throwing together the ingredients for pizza dough in our breadmaker. I love making pizza this way - 1 1/2 hours in the bread machine (read almost no work for me)...roll out the dough, add sauce, toppings & cheese and then a quick waltz through the oven and voila - we're ready to eat!

Being the think-ahead-gal that I am (well, sometimes at least!) - I made a double recipe of dough - cut the extra into pizza sized hunks for later, and popped it in the freezer. Now if we want pizza for lunch during the week (like I did on Tues), I can pull out a dough-ball in the morning, let it thaw, and then have homemade pizza with almost no effort for lunch.

This one definitely works for me! And best of all, my little guy was more than happy to enjoy pizza with me! For more great WFMW ideas, head on over and check out Rocks in my Dryer!

And - if you have an easy, delicious pizza dough recipe - let me know! I like the one I'm using okay (I like it better than DH does) - but would sure love to have a better one! Thanks!

Quick Pics

This is just a random shot from us playing around in the den this morning.

Yesterday I had a major house straightening/work accomplishing day - as part of that, I cleaned a bunch of junk off of a useless wire shelf in my office and instead moved Walker's table to that spot. He LOVES being in the office with me while I'm working, so I'm hoping to begin to make use of that time.

This morning he was so interested to see that his table had been moved and started asking for the crayons that were up on my other bookshelf. He sat down and started drawing so intently. We haven't done a lot with crayons yet, so they're still somewhat new to him, but he seemed to really enjoy himself this morning. When we were through, we took his drawing downstairs and hung it up in Papa's office. Love it!

Another big thing recently has been drinking out of a grown-up cup - I've been putting a little ice water in a mug for him and letting him practice - that boy sure does love water!

So proud of himself!

Bloggy Giveaways are right around the corner!

Wow - where does the time go? Almost time again for the quarterly bloggy giveaway carnival...got some fun things cooking up my sleeves! :) Be sure to come back July 28-Aug 1 to play along! Want to join in the fun? Head on over to Bloggy Giveaways to check out the guidelines!

Old Red Barn Quilt Giveaway!

Wow - is it just me, or is this quilt GORGEOUS??? I love the beautiful vintage look of it, even though it's brand new! Something about a quilt that looks old...just seems right in the world! For a chance to win this beauty, hop on over to the Old Red Barn Co. and throw your name in the hat - and hurry - the contest ends at midnight, July 22 - that's tomorrow! So get to it!

WFMW - Use your camera video mode!

Our little boy is nearing the 22 month mark...like so many expectant parents, before he was born, we went out and bought a video camera. We shopped around, did our research and were very happy with our purchase - but let's be honest...keeping that thing with you all the time, even though it is much smaller than the video camera I remember my grandparents buying "way back when", is just plain impossible! However, we do a great fairly good job of keeping our digital camera handy. Recently we were playing around with it and decided to experiment with "movie mode" - I'm embarassed to say that it took us this long! It is SO SO SO easy! We had long paid it no attention because we figured it was complicated, or wouldn't work well, or enter any other excuse you can come up with. It has now become our best friend! We use it constantly - and while it doesn't shoot video that is quite as good as the regular video camera - it's certainly way better than no video at all! So I encourage you...play around with that video mode! Use it to catch your kids in little vignettes here and there! Use it to capture those every day moments that we moms cherish forever! And when it's time for a major family function, holiday or special event - by all means...drag out the big guns with the video camera - but for those everyday precious moments...keep that camera handy!

Here's a recent example of a Walker devouring fried rice (and veggies!!!) when we tried a new Japanese restaurant this past weekend...

Make video montages at www.OneTrueMedia.com

For other great WFMW ideas, head on over and visit Shannon @ Rocks in my Dryer!

Sweet Buddy

Yesterday morning when we left for NewSpring (btw our last Sunday at the Anderson campus!), it was pouring down rain (hallelujah!) so I stuck this little hat on Walker's head - we couldn't believe that he left it on in the car. After I snapped this pic I told him he could take it off and then he reached up and grabbed it and gave it to me.
Then after we left church and headed to lunch, in no time flat, he was conched out from all the playing he did...love it!

WFMW - The Five-Ingredients-or-Less Edition

Chicken Rolls

2 -3 pkgs crescent rolls
3-4 chicken breasts
8 oz. cream cheese (I often use 1/3 fat)
1/4 c. milk

• Boil chicken breasts (if you have leftover cooked chicken already from the grill or rotisserie, no problem - just needs to be cooked chicken!)
• Mix cream cheese, milk & cooked chicken together.
• Unroll crescent roll triangles & place a spoonful of chicken mixture on crescent roll & roll up. (I usually end up needing 3 packages of crescent rolls - it just depends on how big you make the rolls.
• Cook for 20 mins @ 350.

If you want, you can heat up 1 can of cream of chicken soup +1 can of water to make a gravy. We sometimes do & sometimes don't. When it comes to the crescent rolls, I typically am a generic shopper and usually use generic, however one week when making these, the real deal crescents were on sale, and man they were SO MUCH BETTER! Spring for those if you at all can! It's well worth it, I promise!

Easy Apple Dip

• 1/2 -1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
• 3/4 medium apple - grated (I usually just grate as much of the apple as I can - we like Gala or something similar, but any apple will work)
• 1 8oz. cream cheese - softened (1/3 fat, no fat 0r regular all work fine)
• Sugar to taste (usually less than 1/4 c - just depends on how sweet your apple is)

Mix everything together in a bowl, adding sugar last to taste. If I'm shredding my own cheese, shred it first on a box grater and then shred the apple - the apple juice will help you get any excess cheese off of the grater. I also typically shred my apple directly into the bowl I mix it in so taht I don't lose any of the apple juices - they make it easier to mix everything up. If your cream cheese isn't softened, it takes a little longer to mix it up, but it will reach a nice creamy consistency. Serve with Ritz crackers - this dip has always been a big hit for me!

Now for other great WFMW Five Ingredients or Less recipes, head on over & see Shannon @ Rocks in My Dryer!

Questions we should all be asking

Sunday at NewSpring was awesome (as usual)! We've been taking part in the One Prayer series along with 1500+ other churches around the world. Perry preached live this past Sunday (One Prayer - Make us Effective) and challenged us with 3 questions we should all be asking ourselves - if you get a chance, listen to the podcast and check it out for yourself. Either way - talk to Jesus about these:

1. Jesus, show me why you made me.
2. Teach me to see as you see.
3. Show me the next step that you want me to take.