Betty Crocker and Safeway/Vons Giveaway and Review!

I recently got the chance to bake and review a Betty Crocker cake mix. I received a coupon for the cake mix, a great stainless steel mixing bowl (that I have used EVERY day since, for the record!), an oven mitt, a red stirring spoon, a silicone round cake pan, and a Safeway/Vons gift card!

I bought the cake mix at Vons Pavilion, strawberry to be exact. I had some Funfetti frosting in the cupboard, and we baked a heart shaped cake for my Mom's birthday. It was DELISH! Betty Crocker is always awesome. And as an added bonus it has BoxTops for Education on it, which I am in charge of at Monkey's school.

I now have the opportunity to give one reader a giveaway pack as well! It will contain a Safeway/Vons/Carrs/Genuards/Pavilions/Dominicks/Randalls/TomThumb/Pak n Save Foods gift card, a mixing bowl and cake pan, stirring spoon, and an oven mitt. Awesome, huh! :) You can go to BakeSweetMemories.com for coupons and lots of great recipes using Betty Crocker mixes!



SO ..... Just leave me a comment telling me your favorite Betty Crocker cake mix flavor to be entered in my giveaway! For a second entry, become a follower of me on Twitter! I will once again have Monkey draw one entry from a container, and announce the winner, on Saturday! Good luck!

I received the coupon, prize pack, information and additional prize pack to give away from Safeway and Betty Crocker through MyBlogSpark. Thank you, MyBlogSpark!! :) Sorry this review is a bit late, Spring Break has kept me from the computer lately.

Microcephaly Convention

It's two months away, and we are officially registered for the Convention for Children with Microcephaly. I am so excited, I can't wait! I was showing Monkey the hotel on the computer this morning. The pool looks amazing. We are all excited! The car drive is going to stink, and it's going to be hot, but I am sooooo jazzed. :)

Happy Easter!

This is my sister and her husband, with Monkey. My sister is 6 weeks pregnant. :)


This is my 89 year old Grandmother. She just read the Easter card from my sister that was signed "Amanda, Ken, and Baby To Be".


Peanut with Bumpa - my dad.

Easter Through The Years

2004- Peanut was 6 months old, Monkey was almost 4 years old




2007 - Peanut was 3.5 years old, and Monkey was almost 7 years old.




2008 - Peanut was 4.5 and Monkey was almost 8.



2009 - A trip to the zoo on Easter weekend. Peanut is 5.5 and Monkey is almost 9.


And one photo of 2010, as a teaser. Peanut is 6.5, Monkey is almost 10. They are with my 89 year old Grandmother. :)

A giant message for those that sent Monkey cards/more .....

(If you don't know, he is saying THANK YOU in sign language) :)

She earned herself a surgery consult.

The appointment we had turned out to be with a Nurse Practitioner, and she was super nice. I told her what was going on, and showed her Peanut's tummy. I told her that the tube gets stuck sometimes, and then she cries as if it hurts. I also told her that at night she starts on her back, but rolls to her stomach every night. Each morning she's waking up in a puddle of formula. It has to be leaking around the tube, and I've changed the button and extensions, it still leaks. She went and talked to the GI that was on the floor. The GI said "We make new stomas for two reasons: pain, and leaking". So we are going to have to change her g-tube site.




You can see how high her tube is in this picture.

This makes me so sad. It's necessary obviously, but it seems so ... ugh. I don't know how to even explain, but it makes me really sad. Now we wait for authorization to go to the surgeon who has done all her previous surgeries. The idea of another stomach surgery scares the crap out of me, since her cardiac arrest occurred during one. I will be a nervous wreck in the waiting room. I just hope they can get her in really soon so we can get it done and over with.

Outgrowing her g-tube, physically?

We are headed in this afternoon for an "urgent" GI appointment. It is not with our normal GI, it is with someone I have never heard of. I hate that. But, here's the deal. Peanut's g-tube was placed when she was 10 months old. That was almost 6 years ago! At that time, it was down low, near her belly button. As she's grown, it's moved higher and higher. Now it's way up high, right under her rib cage. The problem is that when she sits up, her ribs are ON it. Like, pushing down on it. The button is even getting stuck, I guess in her ribs? I don't know ... but sometimes it's really stuck. You can't move it at all, can't twirl it or anything.

I assume that it will have to be moved eventually? I don't know, but here we go to GI to find out.