We're BIG 'OL TobyMac fans here in this house. Obviously, when I heard this song was a free download on iTunes, I jumped over and snatched it up. I've been jamming it ever since.

Go ahead and hit "play" to listen to the song while you read the rest of the post. There's no video to watch with it. ;)

That brings me to my "news".

I'm closing up the laptop and taking a break from blogging for a bit. Not forever long, though. I just want to enjoy time with my family and end the year on a great note. 

For us, Christmas is one of the greatest stories to rejoice in together. Alex is starting to wrap his brain around "baby Jesus" coming to earth and he's very excited about it. We've had conversations, stories, and play time and will be wrapping it up with Christmas Eve service at our church with family. Afterward, I'll be hosting dinner for the family {wish me luck} and enjoying my time with them. 

I may get a post or two up next week but I'll be playing that by ear. 

For now, I'm gonna dash. I have things to get ready for Christmas Eve and Christmas morning in our home. 

I pray you have a blessed and Merry Christmas. Hug your family, count your blessings, and think on the gift we were all given that very first Noel. :)

Loving This New Song and Some News

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was when I received a digital download of JJ Heller's latest album.

I've shared her music on my blog before. I feel like her music resonates so much of what is in my heart and I always walk away from hearing a song thinking "those are the perfect words to describe...".

Anyway, I'm going to be giving this album a good listen and I'll let you know what I think of it later.

But before I let you go on such a brief post, I'll leave you with a video of one of JJ's newest songs. You may think it's a love song and you're right. But I suspect this is a song about being a mom. Don't you?

A Highlight Of My Day Today...

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THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU!!


When I get to see the faces of my children every morning without worrying about attacks;
When I get to arrive to church every Sunday to practice my freedom of religion;
When I think of the fact that I'm even here at all;
I thank YOU for fighting to protect these freedoms. Thank you for your sacrifice and your heart.
Without you, I probably wouldn't be at all.

I heard this song on the radio today and it made me cry thinking of my own mom when my little brother was in Iraq and my Grandma when my Grandpa was in the Navy. I even thought of my cousins who have served in the marines and still sacrifice for our freedom today. I love you guys! Thank you, from the bottom of my heart.

To Our Country's Vets and Their Families

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Welcome to Coffee with the Mrs.' 2010 Holiday Gift Guide! I have to begin the fun by starting out your shopping list with a gift that is guaranteed to please the coffee lover on your list. (I'm partial to coffee. What can I say?)

This item comes from Jura-Capresso where high quality brewers are sold to use in home so you can create your own "coffee shop perfect" cup of joe. The selection of brewers, grinders, steamers, and frothers is extensive. Capresso definitely sells something for every coffee fan.

For review, I was sent the 4-Cup Espresso and Cappuccino Machine. And while the words "4-Cup" mean that the machine is compact and it can't make more than a couple drinks at a time (depending on your preference in taste and portion size), this was the perfect machine for my home and our "coffee lifestyle" if you will.

I was immediately in love with the look of the machine. It is very sleek and it fit in quite well with our other small appliances. Admittedly, though, I didn't know the first thing about working with Espresso and I was a little intimidated. Luckily, the machine came with a book that walked me through brewing Espresso, making a latte, and also making a cappuccino. After doing some studying, I was ready to give it a try.

Watch me make my very first Hazelnut latte.

This first attempt wasn't perfect but perfection was well within reach with a little practice. It's all about figuring out my preference in flavor and creating my drink around that. And that's the beauty of this machine. I can decide how strong to make my coffee, whether or not I'd like to add steamed milk with it, and how I combine the 2 to create my specialty drink.

Can you tell I'm a fan?

Here are some of the machine's features and benefits taken from the Capresso website:

• 4-cup high-tech steam/boiler system
• Boiler cap with built-in safety valve
• Unique Coffee/Steam Selector allows you to move from coffee to steaming and to adjust coffee strength to your taste
• Swivel frother with adjustable steam output allows you to steam large or small amounts of milk in seconds for frothing (Cappuccinos) and steaming (Lattes)
• The powerful steam/boiler reduces warm-up time to under 2 minutes, producing 2 to 4 cappuccinos or lattes in under 5 minutes
• Convenient filter holder with thumb guard for safe use
• Illuminated on/off switch
• Dishwasher safe glass carafe
• Removable drip tray for easy clean-up

Now that you've seen how easy it is to use and read about the features of the 4-Cup Espresso and Cappuccino Machine from Capresso, I hope you'll be adding it to your shopping or wishing lists. And if "espresso" isn't your thing, just remember there are many other options on the website. 

Buy It: You can purchase your Capresso 4-Cup Espresso and Cappuccino Machine for $54.99 from Capresso.

**Thanks to Capresso who supplied the mentioned espresso machine to facilitate this review. I wasn't compensated in any other way for this review. In this post I share my thoughts and opinions of the product being reviewed. Others may have a different experience or opinion.**

Capresso 4-Cup Espresso and Cappuccino Machine (review)

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OK, I just saw this on Ellen, and it made me laugh so hard my eyes teared up. Then, I searched for it on YouTube because you have got to see this. When I watched on there, my eyes teared up AGAIN.

Embedding is disabled on the video so please, please go watch it. It's hysterical. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CPUBW6psvL0

You're Welcome.

A GREAT Laugh For The Day

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...From laughing. 

I was trying my hardest to sing "Go down, Moses" like this guy.

For some reason, I can't sing these low notes without looking down until my chin is on my chest. I kept trying and trying and then the hubster started cracking up at me.

It turned into quite a fit of giggles. I had to look up the YouTube video to show the hubster exactly what I was trying to do and then we started laughing even harder.

*giggle*

AND

Since I was already on YouTube, the hubster told me to look up "double rainbow" and I found this.

Oh, my sides hurt from laughing so hard. Will someone please make a movie about this guy and have Will Ferrell star in the lead role? I heard him perfectly when the rainbow dude said "It's a double, complete rainbow". 

Alright. Enough of the laughing fits from being rained in. On to "progress". 

My Tummy Hurts!

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I absolutely love finding ways to get my kiddos excited about making healthy habits and high on my priority list is oral hygiene.

Thankfully, we were invited by Collective Bias and Colgate to do an art project that showed what we thought #InvisibleNasties looked like. This experience opened the door for great conversation with my son and ways to make him excited to care for his teeth.


Check out our Whrrl story!

More check-ins at walmart Supercenter

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After we had everything all together to create our Invisible Nasties project, I sat Alex down for a quick talk about what a "sugar bug" (as we call them) looked like and how we could get rid of them.

Here's that interview! (Have you ever tried to interview a 3 year old? LOL)

Colgate wants you to remember to change your toothbrush every 3 months and to make sure you care for it correctly. For more information, visit the Colgate Invisible Nasties page.

Alex loves using his new toothbrush and I feel confident that he's getting his teeth cleaner with this one than he was with a standard toothbrush. I'm so glad that he has this as a reference point in his life to serve as a great foundation for good oral hygiene. It's so important and definitely not something to take lightly. 

If you didn't see the full Whrrl story, or you just want to see it again, here's some photos of what Alex thinks Invisible Nasties look like. 

P.S. When we created this together, I would ask him questions about each part before we made it. So, while I had to do the assembly (he is only 3), he chose what went where, helped with the hair and fuzzy tummy, as well as put in the arms and legs of his sugar bug. It was a lot of fun and he's so very proud of how it turned out. (This thing is sitting in our living room right now.)

**Funds were provided for our Colgate shopping trip and craft supplies. Thanks to Collective Bias and Colgate for the fun and educating opportunity. Watch the #InvisibleNasties page for more projects and stories.

Alex and the Invisible Nasties (a sponsored project)

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Psst...Click the picture above to print out a coupon to take shopping. There is a BIG summer sale going on at Parisian (and other Bon Ton stores) beginning today, June 11th and going until June 15th. I absolutely could not believe the deals I saw when I went into the store to shop around for myself.

The easiest way for me to tell you about this shopping trip is to show you. Check it out!

And here is where you can see all the deals I snagged!

More check-ins at Parisian Mall at Partridge Creek

Powered by Whrrl

Don't forget to click the button at the top to print out your coupon and save an additional 25% during their Summer Sale! For store locations, visit Bon Ton Stores online.

*Thanks to Collective Bias who provided the $100 gift card to facilitate my shopping trip at Parisian for this review.*
 

A Bug For Shopping and A Coupon To Save! (review and coupon)

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Now, this is something that always gave me a giggle before. Now, though, I wonder if something like this will happen when Alex is a big brother. :)
I love everything about this video. I also LOVE the accent the little boy has.
Enjoy it again or for the first time if you somehow haven't seen this yet.

It Just Never Gets Old

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I'm not one of those lucky people who have a plethora of Cable channels to entertain me. We're happy with our "Limited Basic" and Netflix subscription.

What's frustrating is when something as big as the season premier of Jon & Kate plus 8 comes on and I can't watch it. I'm a fan of the show, for sure. I'm intrigued by the day-in/day-out duties of raising multiples.

Anyway, when all of this "buzz" was surrounding the season premier, I was bummed out. I wanted to hear THEIR words on the topic of their situation. I got to snooping on the internet and found that someone had posted the episode on YouTube. So, last night, I grabbed my headphones and plugged them into my laptop so I could watch parts 1 through 6.

I will not post any judgments on the situation. All I can say is that it broke my heart to hear them both insist that they are there for the kids. Back and forth they said that as if to solidify the importance of their children over the importance of their union. I can not judge, though. I can't imagine what life is like while lived in front of cameras and paparazzi. There are so many pressures, stresses, and expectations to deal with.

Anyway, I've said all that to say that show gave me a terrible nightmare. In my dream, the hubster had left Alex and I and changed his phone number. After hunting down his new number, I called him up and begged him to come home so we could work everything out. As I was crying, he was laughing and telling me about the new Mustang he purchased for himself. (by the way, all of this is COMPLETELY uncharacteristic of my hubs). At the end of my dream, he came to our house (now I KNOW it was a dream if we were living in a house rather than our condo) and talked to me. I just kept crying and saying, "I love you. Please don't leave us."

When I woke up, the hubs had his hand on my shoulder and was asking how I was feeling. I quickly snapped out of dream state and appreciated that he was there for me to talk to right when I woke up. (After getting over the groggy state, of course...)

Thank goodness dreams are over when you wake up. All is well.

*Edited to add what landed in my in-box moments after posting this...*

God is our refuge and strength,

always ready to help in times of trouble.

So we will not fear when earthquakes come

and the mountains crumble into the sea.

Psalm 46:1-2 (New Living Translation)

It Gave Me A Nightmare

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OK, ladies. Grab your Kleenex. (i'm not kidding).
I was recently sent this video from another blogger. I have to share it with you since it so relates to my Forget-me-not Friday post.

Watch and enjoy.

After watching this, I want to hug my friends IRL (in real life) and IVL (in virtual life). Hugs to all of you!

Have to Share it!

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