Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 10.1

I've talked about how much I love our Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 10.1, but I don't think I've shared about our favorite kid apps. I feel like everyone always talks about cool apps for the iPhone and iPad, but there are tons of cool apps in the Google Play store as well. Here's the apps that we think are awesome...

Brain Pop.
Kids ABC Learning Trains.
Kids Spelling N Learning Game.
Endless Alphabet.
Dinosaur Games For Kids.
My Singing Monsters.
My Muppets Show.
Arcade Ball.
Zombie Smasher.

What are your favorite Google Play apps? We're always looking for more apps to download.

#spon: I'm required to disclose a relationship between our site and Intel. This could include the Intel Corporation providing us w/content, product, access or other forms of payment.

Pizza Soup and Kleenex

This shop is part of a social shopper marketing insight campaign with Pollinate Media Group™ and Kleenex but all my opinions are my own. #pmedia #KleenexTarget  http://cmp.ly/3/8vNxcO.

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Pizza is probably not what you think of when you think of comfort foods when you're sick, but for my family, we combine our love of pizza and soup and make PIZZA SOUP! It is delicious, warm, soothing, and creamy- pretty much the best combination ever when you're feeling chilly and under the weather. It's great because kids love it, and of course adults love it because who doesn't love pizza? A better question is, would you even want to know someone who didn't love pizza?

Here's what you need- (I make very big batches, so if you want to make this soup, just double everything up)

1 lb of lean ground beef

1 bag of pepperonis (I cut them all in half so there isn't giant pepperonis floating around in there)

1 28oz can of crushed tomatoes

2 tablespoons of tomato paste

1 box of chicken broth

1 block of cream cheese

1 green pepper (and if you're into mushrooms, you could add that too.)

1 clove of garlic

basil and oregano to taste

1. Cook up and drain your ground beef. 

2. Sauté your chopped up green pepper, garlic, and tomato paste. This is where you'd sauté the mushrooms too if you so please.

3. Throw your ground beef, sautéed green peppers, canned crushed tomatoes, and box of chicken broth in a pot. Season to taste and bring to a boil.

4. Once hot enough throw in your cream cheese and mix in. It makes it like a bisque. 

Feeling sick majorly sucks, it's true. And sometimes no matter how much comfort food you eat, you can't avoid feeling totally miserable. I personally love Kleenex tissues and whenever I need to buy some, I make sure to grab the aloe vera ones because they're like giving your face a cuddle. Super soft and literally the only tissues that don't make my nose sore. Anyway, here's a $1 off coupon for a Kleenex 4 pack or larger at Target! 

Win up to $300 in Amazon Gift Cards!

Gemperle Farms has put together an awesome collection of children’s videos and professionally produced educational videos for kids and parents. The videos are themed around how egg farms work, egg nutrition, egg recipe ideas, carbon footprint of the egg, sustainability of the farm, and chicken breeds. I have a secret obsession with all things homesteading, so this is right up my alley. I also think it's really important that we teach kids where our food comes from.

Check out the Bouncy Egg video produced by their 12 year old son! T A L E N T.

3 Winners will have a chance to win up to $300 in Amazon Gift Cards

1^st $300 Amazon gift card

2^nd  $100 Amazon gift card

3^rd $50 Amazon gift card

How to Enter:

Step 1 – Visit the Gemperle Farms YouTube Channel – http://bit.ly/1bGRuxR

Step 2 – Watch any video, or all of them! After watching the video, click the “favorite” button and write a comment.

Step 3 – Send an email to susangemperleabdo@gmail.com with the subject of Mommy Blogger Contest and the following information:

- Your Name
- Number of Videos you gave a “Favorite” and wrote a comment on
- Your YouTube user name/ID (for verification purposes)

Each video that you watch, favorite and comment on will give you ONE entry into the drawing for 1 of 3 Amazon Gift Cards!

Contest ends December 13th – Open to the U.S. 18+Complete contest rules : http://gemperle.com/contest-rules/

Target Ugly Sweater LOVE #hilariousholiday

Content and/or other value provided by our partner, Target.

I love a good ugly Christmas sweater, don't you?

I'm pretty stoked that Target is now selling ugly Christmas sweaters because, well, what don't they sell? I bet you didn't even know you needed an ugly Christmas sweater until you saw these bad boys.

I personally have always wanted to go to an ugly Christmas sweater party. Could someone invite me to one of those kind of parties please? I spent time making this gif because of my love of ugly Christmas sweaters. 

How Can You Pull Off A Great Wedding

I was sitting outside the patio and then this thought suddenly hits me: How are you going to prepare for a wedding these days? Being married for 9 years now, I want to rekindle the feeling of excitement when you talk of the preparations of the wedding. I suppose I’m just being curious as to how can an average woman plan for her wedding in these times as compare to what I had before. Will it be harder like it use to or will it still be the same as usual? Well to those who are about to embark on their own wedding planning on their way to the big day, I took the liberty of doing a little bit of research and I’m going to share to you the essentials that you need to pull off a great wedding this 2013.

1. Wedding dresses – Your gown is of utmost importance as this is your outfit for the entire ceremony. It should be fitting that you get a classy looking gown that’s right on the style and right on the budget as well. For this reason, I recommend the green guide. I was refered to this site when one of my friends was looking for a bridesmaid dress on the web. And so far, I am very impressed on the designs they are offering and I suggest you check the wedding gowns from them.

2. Decorations – Another element that brings life to the wedding are the themes and decorations. Coordinate with your chief bridesmaid and inform her about your preference in this area of your wedding. You can also check out the knot so that you will be able to gain more ideas on your wedding decorations.

3. Food and refreshments – While there are so many way you can acquire the food and drinks for the reception, you can also employ this idea to have a unique approach in the celebration: Instead of acquiring catering services and ordering the wines from other sources, try to visit a local farm and winery (and even your local bakery for your wedding cake) and check out what they can offer to you. Order what you need from these markets and you’ll be able to save a great deal of money and will save you the hassle of worrying about the delivery of these stuffs at your wedding day.

4. Photography – Another element that brings back the good memories is the photos of your wedding. Hire a great photographer to capture the great moments at your matrimony. I highly recommend that you check out this company for your needs in photography: Esquire photography. Don’t fail to check them out if you want to keep awesome pictures of you special day.

And that’s about it. Surely I had a great time doing this post because it brought back that old feeling like the one I felt when I did my own wedding planning. Hopefully, I was able to shed some light in your wedding preparations in my own little way and follow these tips to your own benefit.

4th of July and BBQ at BJ's @bjsrestaurants #BJsRestaurants #PMedia

This shop is part of a social shopper marketing insight campaign with Pollinate Media Group™ and BJ’s Restaurants  but all my opinions are my own. #pmedia #BJsrestaurants http://cmp.ly/3/8vNxcO

Hope everyone had a good 4th of July weekend. I know we did. So much so that I've pretty much been MIA for the past few days and it's been a glorious unplugged from the internet holiday! My weekend has been filled with food and fireworks just like every other American, I'm sure. Food is such an essential part of a good 4th of July and I was excited to try out the new BBQ menu at BJ's Brewhouse. BJ's Brewhouse asked if I could blog about my experience and I was happy to do so because I mean, FOOOOOOD. Plus, barbecue just goes hand in hand with a 4th of July weekend. It was like a divine barbecue god came down to earth riding a big bottle of Blues Hog Original Barbecue sauce and all the stars aligned and I ate delicious food, the end/. 

Just kidding! But really, I was pretty pleased with Big Poppa's Smoker's BBQ specialty menu at BJ's. My brother in law and I both were ready to order. I ordered the BJ's bbq lunch platter and of course bbq wings with ranch. Good eatin', I swear it. This menu is only at participating BJ's Restaurants (exception of Balboa, Laguna Beach, Belmont Shore, La Jolla, Westwood), so if you really like BBQ, I'd suggest going to checking it out. 

Oh, and I saw this on BJ's Brewhouse's twitter, so I thought I'd share with you all... they had me at "free entree". (I might have claimed this offer.) Also, here's their Facebook, too.

The rest of our holiday was equally as awesome. We shot off fireworks and swam all day. I really love 4th of July and this year was even better than the last. Wyatt loved playing with sparklers and seeing the fireworks go off. Every time there was a firework it resulted in him screaming, "FIREWORKS!"... EVERY. TIME. I think he thought that was what you were supposed to do or something? I dunno. Crazy kid. Wyatt also doesn't understand that it's not 4th of July everyday. Our neighborhood has been shooting off fireworks for days (yay? no.), so he doesn't believe me when I tell him there isn't some amazing fireworks display happening outside our apartment whenever we hear a loud boom. Oh, and I've heard Wyatt accidentally call 4th of July "Captain America's birthday", he's made that connection after me telling him it was our country's birthday. He kills me.

So, how about you? Have a good 4th of July?

Samsung Galaxy Note 8 Review

I was given the Samsung Galaxy Note 8 from Staples and I really love it. I've never had a tablet before so I wasn't sure what to expect. I have to admit I was kinda nervous since I'm such a die hard Apple fan. I didn't know if I would like an android device again. I had an android phone about 3 years ago and I hated it... BUT, the Samsung Galaxy has surprised me. 

For starters, it was all super simple to set up and it took no time at all. The Galaxy was pretty much ready to go straight from the box. I checked out the apps in the app store and started downloading my regulars. Unlike a lot of apps for IOS, so many apps for android are free. So with that I was on a downloading frenzy. Wyatt has a slew of games to play with now and has totally figured out how to navigate the entire tablet. 

And for me? I'm using it just like I used to use my iPhone- randomly browsing Pinterest, reading blogs, and checking out Facebook. I'm really excited about a font making app that I found on there and I've been playing with that pretty much non-stop. MUST MAKE MORE APPS.

I'm mostly excited about the kid apps I've found though. I don't want to make this review about kid apps, but I've been able to find some really good educational apps and I've been working on letters with Wyatt. Since we've had the Samsung Galaxy Note 8 he's learned a bunch of new letters and points them out to me whenever he sees them. The tablet is a great way for a modern kid like mine to learn, and it reaches him in a way that I can't seem to. It pretty much makes learning really fun for him, so yep, I like this tablet. 

I'm not sure if I'm a complete android fan- at least not enough to get rid of my beloved iphone, but I do like my Samsung Galaxy Note 8. 

Full disclosure: Staples.com provided me with these products for review. The thoughts and opinions expressed are strictly my own. Feel free to shop their entire line of tablets online.