Yoplait Get Active Prize Pack Winner #2

Congratulations to Stacy, our second winner!

Here are your random numbers:

19

Timestamp: 2009-04-29 12:23:08 UTC

Asked what kind of snack helps keep her active kiddos fueled, Stacy answered:

"Crackers and apple slices are easy to pack up and so portable."

You can toss those apple slices (and your free yogurt!) in your new little cooler if you'd like, Stacy!

Thanks so much to all of you who entered. If you didn't win this time, we still have one more prize pack to give away. That post will be up soon... keep a look out!

Apples On My Mind...

Two things got my wheels turning this week...

One, my apple trees are in full bloom. Aren't they pretty? It will be quite some time before they bear fruit this year, but they sure look pretty and Spring-y right now!

Two, Amy wrote about buying eighteen pounds of apples for a steal. She came up with lots of yummy uses for them and I was reminded of my Apple Strudel Muffins. What I love most about this recipe is that it uses six full apples to make a dozen muffins. You do the math- this means you actually get a fair bit of fruit in each serving! Always a nice bonus and particularly great for small children. I made dozens and dozens of these last fall and we ate them from our freezer throughout the winter. Yum!

These are fantastic for popping in lunch boxes or in the backpack for preschool snacks. They look "cupcake-y", but pack a lot of fruit per bite!

Apple Strudel Muffins

Ingredients:
2 cups all purpose flour (I sometimes use half whole-wheat)
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup butter
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 1/4 teaspoon vanilla
6 small-medium apples, chopped very fine

(topping)
1/3 cup packed brown sugar
1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1 tablespoon butter

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 375. Grease a 12-cup muffin pan.
2. In a medium bowl, mix flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
3. In a large bowl, beat together butter, sugar, and eggs until smooth. Mix in vanilla. Stir in apples, and gradually blend in the flour mixture. Spoon the mixture into the prepared muffin pan.
4. In a small bowl, mix brown sugar, flour, and cinnamon. Cut in butter until mixture is like coarse crumbs. Sprinkle over tops of mixture in muffin pan.
5. Bake 20 minutes in the preheated oven, or until a toothpick inserted in the center of a muffin comes out clean. Allow to sit 5 minutes before removing muffins from pan. Cool on a cooking rack.

Enjoy!
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This post is linked to:
Ultimate Recipe Swap, hosted at Life as MOM

Anti-Abortion Voters Mobilize

Obama’s first 84 days in office have been like an extended recruiting drive for the anti-abortion movement, reinvigorating a constituency he sought to neutralize during the campaign. Activists report a noticeable spike in activity as Obama moves to defend and expand a woman’s right to choose an abortion – causing anti-abortion voters to mobilize in ways never needed during the Bush administration. So far this year:

— The Susan B. Anthony List says its supporters sent more anti-abortion-related letters, e-mails and faxes to Obama and lawmakers in the first quarter alone than during each of the last two years.

— The American Life League reported a 30 percent uptick in donations over last year.

— Pennsylvania Sen. Bob Casey Jr., an anti-abortion Democrat who campaigned vigorously for Obama, has received more mail on abortion than on any other issue in 2009, spokesman Larry Smar said...

...to read more of this article, please see Politico here.

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Does this make me happy? Not really. I think it's shame that we who are pro-life have to fight so very hard to defend... BABIES. I mean, really. It's not like we're advocating for something questionable. We're trying to stand up for the innocents. To defend the greatest gift any of us have been given... life.

But the good news? We're prepared to fight. We're prepared to speak up and take action. We're prepared to lend our hundreds and thousands of voices to the unborn who are never given the chance to speak up for themselves.

I know I am.

(On a related note, some of you may recall that I wrote about the Freedom of Choice Act here and here. I sent out postcards to my senators and representative on January 24, 2009. I've yet to hear anything back... I live in a conservative state, so that's especially disheartening to me. Have any of you had more luck??)

New Life...

I suppose I should confess that I tend to have a black, or at the very least, brown thumb.

My gardening successes have been few and far between...

I couldn't even manage to keep potted plants alive when I was younger. Well, with the notable exception of a 99 cent supermarket plant that I coined "P.D." in honor of its polka-dotted leaves... I'll tell you of P.D.'s demise on another occasion... it's too sad for right now.

Between the fact that I couldn't seem to keep (already growing!) plants alive and my indoor-loving nature, I am not a natural gardener.

But last year, for Mother's Day, I asked for a few vegetable plants from the local nursery. And you know what? I managed to harvest some of my own tomatoes, spinach, and broccoli. I cannot begin to tell you the joy and pride I felt.

Armed with that small success, I decided to attempt to start my own plants from seeds this year. I confess that I used seeds I bought on clearance at the end of last season. My TOTAL investment in materials was less than five dollars. I figured... honestly? If ONE thing turns out, it will have been worth it.

I carefully planted those seeds with my 4-year old assistant. We faithfully watered and watched. He delighted in keeping me updated on what was growing and what wasn't... truly, we've gotten our five dollars' worth just in the experiences we have shared together thus-far.

Today? We have lots of baby plants... tomatoes, corn, spinach, lettuce, broccoli, cauliflower, cucumbers, parsley, carrots, and the peas pictured above. When we saw our pea plants growing ever taller, growing tendrils, and- just recently- bursting into flower... well, there was much celebrating.

Having a part in creating new life... even if it's just from pea seeds... well, that's one of the great joys of life.
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This post is linked to Amy's Finer Things Friday.

13 Specialists We Saw The First Year

It goes without saying that my extremely premature daughter had innumerable neonatologists, nurses, and respiratory therapists on top of a "regular" pediatrician. But, just for more background, here are thirteen ADDITIONAL specialists we had to meet with during her first year of life:

1. Pulmonologist- Our daughter came home on oxygen and had to be monitored for any apnea episodes. We reviewed her progress and underwent additional sleep studies with this doctor.
   
2. Pediatric Ophthalmologist- She still sees this doctor to monitor her retinas (since she had Retinopathy of Prematurity) and to update her prescription (because she's very nearsighted).
   
3. Radiologist- We brought C. home on an NG-tube (a tube that threaded through one nostril down into her stomach through which we fed her expressed breastmilk). It wasn't safe for her to eat by mouth because she showed signs of aspiration. I took her back to radiology every month to see if her swallowing had improved until we could finally "graduate" to thickened and, eventually, thin liquids.
   
4. Neonatal Audiologist- Our little girl failed her newborn hearing screening while in the hospital. Honestly? While I'm sure this would ordinarily be traumatic news to receive, in the grand scheme of things, it was very minor to us. She was re-tested at five months of age and passed.
   
5. Pediatric Neurosurgeon- It was discovered that our little girl has a cyst on her brain. It doesn't appear to cause any issues whatsoever and, apparently, lots of us have them. Who knew? Anyway, we go back periodically to make sure it's still asymptomatic.
   
6. Orthopedic Surgeon- At ten months old, C. broke her right femur. She had to be in a hip-spika cast and this had to be put on by a surgeon at the children's hospital.
   
7. Infectious Disease Specialist- Our daughter tested MRSA- positive and this was the only person who could explain what this "meant" to me...
   
8. Pediatric Developmental Psychiatrist- At around two years of age, we met with this psychiatrist to evaluate how C. was doing in terms of interration and problem-solving skills.
   
9. Nutritionist- For the first year or so, I would have to periodically log every morsel of food or drink that our little girl consumed to make sure it measured up to the high standards they set for her. When your baby starts out SO far below the charts, it takes some work to even get ON there...
   
10. Retinal Surgeon- As I mentioned above, C. had Retinopathy of Prematurity which meant her retinas were starting to detach. This would ultimately have left her blind. An excellent neonatal retinal surgeon in Chicago (one of only three in the nation) performed the surgery to repair the situation.
    
11. Feeding Specialist studying extremely low birth weight babies- We agreed to participate in a study geared toward better determining the caloric needs of these teeny little babies (all weighing in at less than 2 lb 2 oz at birth). It was non-invasive, but time-consuming. We were happy to be able to possibly help other small babies in the future.
    
12. Swallowing Specialist- When C. started on solids (kind of a misnomer, in my opinion, since that refers to baby food and cereal, but I digress...), she had a severe tongue thrust issue that resulted in basically NO food making it into her stomach. An occupational therapist with special training in feeding issues helped us work with our daughter to overcome this.
    
13. Developmental Evaluation Team- From the time she was four months old (and, really, zero months old if you "corrected" her age to when she should have been born), the early intervention team would come out to our house to evaluate how C. was doing. We've definitely had therapists involved in our lives over the years but, again, our girl actually needed far less support and intervention than many preemies.
    

So there you go. A snapshot of my life in that first year. And you want to know the truth? We got off SO easy...

Having a preemie changes everything.
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This post is linked to Thursday {Thirteen} .

Time to "Get Active" Again With Yoplait Kids!

We saw flurries a couple days ago and the heat has been running... hard to think of playing outside with that going on!

But the weatherman promises... we should see the 80's this weekend. So we're looking forward to getting back outside with our Yoplait Get Active Prize Pack from My BlogSpark.

My kids absolutely adore yogurt and I love the convenience and health benefits of it. It appears somewhere on their menu at least five days a week. And that's great news! Because you know what? Research has shown that fewer than half of all kids ages two to 12 get the calcium they need each day. And calcium and Vitamin D are both essential nutrients for building strong bones. Yogurt is a great source of both nutrients!

So I was thrilled to receive a coupon* for a free 6-pack of any of the Yoplait for Kids yogurt products (Go-Gurt, Trix, Yoplait Kids). These yogurts are available in a wide variety of flavors and none of them have any "chunks"- handy, since many kids are opposed to chunks in their yogurt! My two preschoolers like all the flavors of Yoplait Kids... seems that while they appeal to tons of others, the bright colors of the Trix yogurt turn my kids off. (I should also note that my kids refuse to eat applesauce that is any color other than "apple colored"!)



Along with the yogurt coupon, we received a Yoplait Get Active Prize Pack. Perfect for a fun-filled day for active children, it includes:

• A travel cooler (to take the yogurt on the road!)
• A jump rope.
• A water bottle.
• An outdoor game set that includes a beach ball, paddle ball, Jai-Ali, and a Frisbee

And it's all neatly packaged in a drawstring net bag. Can I tell you how much I appreciate that fact? Much less clutter sitting next to my door!

There's nothing like new outdoor toys to help get you busy and moving out there. It had been awhile since I'd had the opportunity to show off my mad Frisbee skills...

Since I truly feel strongly about the importance of good nutrition and staying active for our kids, I am absolutely delighted to be able to offer two more of these prize packs (each including a coupon* for a free 6-pack of yogurt) to my readers. I 'll be giving one away each week for the next two weeks.

This is the second week (of three) and the giveaway will run through next Tuesday evening, April 28st.

To enter, simply leave a comment answering the following question:

What kinds of healthy snacks do you pack to help energize your active kids?

We like to combine whole grains and protein around here... cereal and drinkable yogurt or cheese and wheat crackers help fuel my on-the-go kiddos!

(*Important: This coupon offer for a free six pack of Yoplait for Kids yogurt is not valid in some states, including Idaho, Louisiana, Nevada, New Jersey, North Dakota and Tennessee.)

Good luck! I just know the winners are going to have a blast with this prize.

Yoplait Get Active Prize Pack Winner!

Big congrats to Amy, the winner of the first Yoplait Get Active Prize Pack!

Here are your random numbers:

1

Timestamp: 2009-04-22 12:12:53 UTC

In response to how she stays active with her family, Amy responded:

"We walk around town, play in the yard and go for bike rides. Oh, and tag on the park playground. Sheeeesh -- why is mommy the favorite target?!"

Sounds like they're having lots of fun!

Would the rest of you like to get in on it? Stay tuned... I'll have week two of this giveaway posted very soon!