By EstherIrish, on May 23rd, 2013 Our Kids in the Kitchen feature, Bacon Cheese Cups, is a sponsored post for Collective Bias®. I am a member of the Collective Bias®Social Fabric® Community. This shop has been compensated as part of a social shopper insights study for Collective Bias and their client.
As I have been helping Faith regularly in the kitchen, I have noticed that recipes requiring many steps tend to frustrate and tire her. So I have been looking for ways to simplify some of them. When I found out that I can purchase Tyson Bacon Pieces at Walmart I thought that would be a great meal solution, way to make this recipe easier for her, and save us the time of frying and chopping bacon. We headed to Walmart to purchase the ingredients for our recipe.
 We found Tyson Bacon Pieces in the refrigerated section at Walmart. A 3 oz package is $2.50. To view my entire shop make sure and check out my Google + album!
 Faith and I began by assembling the ingredients:
6 oz cream cheese, softened
1 large egg
2 tablespoons milk
1/2 cup Swiss cheese, shredded
1 green onion, chopped
1 12 oz package of refrigerated biscuits
1 3 oz package Tyson Bacon Pieces
 Add the cream cheese, egg, and milk into a mixing bowl.
 Mix on medium until well blended, scraping down sides if necessary.
 Add the Swiss cheese and chopped green onion and stir. Use clean scissors for an easy way to chop the green onion!
 Pat each biscuit into five inch circles. This was a little challenging for my daughter so I helped her with about half of them to speed up the process. (We made 10 Bacon Cheese Cups with one package of biscuits.)
 Gently pat each circle into a greased muffin tin cup starting at the bottom and then patting the sides against the cup.
 Sprinkle a heaping teaspoon of Tyson Bacon Pieces into the bottom of each cup.
 Add about 1/8 of a cup of the cream cheese filling over the bacon, distributing all the filling evenly if there is some left over. Then sprinkle a heaping teaspoon of bacon on top. We just had a little bacon bits left over! Bake in a 375 degree oven for about 22 minutes or until filling is set and the edges of the biscuits are golden brown.
My daughter said this would make a great food for a tea. She must have been thinking about the Mother Daughter tea we went to for Mother’s Day. I thought that was a great idea! We had a little tea of our own!
 The Bacon Cheese Cups were a huge hit with the kiddos tea or no tea. Even my picky four year old ate half of one, green onions and all! Faith ate three of them! This is definitely a recipe we will make again!
This recipe idea was taken from my daughter’s Southern Living Kids Cookbook. She chose the recipe because she thought Bacon Cheese Cups sounded delicious. I agree!
You can keep up with the latest Tyson news and promotions on Facebook and Twitter!
By EstherIrish, on May 22nd, 2013  What does a blogger do when her laptop crashes? Well freak out of course. I’m pretty sure I lost everything and though there are a few files on there I really wish I had, none would be worth paying a lot of money to recover. Mostly it’s just a bummer.
The laptop was mine, and it is where I did all of my blogging. It took me an entire day to get set up on our PC so that I had what I needed. It’s been a mad two days of looking at laptops online and in stores…with five kids. Mad doesn’t even begin to describe it!
We purchased one, brought it home and then realized it didn’t have a CD Rom drive. What no DVD player? I thought they all had one, but actually with more and more people going the direction of digital download they are not putting the CD Rom drive in laptops. Well I know now. But I want a CD Rom drive so we took it back.
After shopping around some more, the guy at Best Buy just about lost his eyeballs when he asked about my operating system and I told him I had Vista on my laptop. “Oh well then any laptop here will be much better that what you were using!” I guess that’s…good? So we’re still trying to decide and may just go with the cheapest one, because I probably would like it just fine! Decisions decisions.
So as a word of caution, if you’ve been thinking that if you backed up your hard drive then it would probably crash, take it from me. It’ll crash anyway! 
By EstherIrish, on May 21st, 2013 Disclaimer: This is a sponsored post. However, all thoughts and opinions are my own.
 I spent years of my life in braces. I was so thankful for them. When my top teeth came in, one of them was completely sideways. I wanted braces!
Just thinking about it, the memories come flooding in. As much as I wanted my teeth straightened, the whole experience was rather tortuous at times. I had the bands that went all the way around my teeth. Getting fitted for the bands and then having them adjusted every few weeks was painful. I wasn’t embarrassed about wearing braces, but then came the head gear. There can’t be anything much worse for a pre-adolescent shy kid! Oh and I dare not forget the tongue spurs! I had three prongs sticking straight out toward my tongue to train me to swallow correctly. I don’t think I’ve ever met another soul that had to wear tongue spurs!
How exciting it was to finally get the braces off, but then came the years of wearing retainers. That was okay though. I was so happy to have straight teeth.
I wore the retainers all day for years and then I wore them at night for several more years. I don’t remember being told that I had to wear them forever. I thought I wore them as long as I was supposed to. Pretty soon after I quit wearing my retainers, however, my bottom teeth went a little crooked. I don’t ever remember really caring that much. When I smile you mostly just see my top teeth anyway. My top teeth stayed straight…until now!
In April I experienced a miscarriage. It was during this time that I had the opportunity for a makeover. My husband took photos of me in my new look. I had him take lots of photos to make sure I’d have a good one I would want to post. As I was looking through the photos that he took, I gasped. My front teeth looked crooked!
 I ran to the mirror and sure enough my front teeth have shifted with one overlapping another just slightly. I felt sick. I quickly searched photos of me from the last year to see if I could pin point how long they had been crooked. It turned out just in the last six months to a year because a year ago I have photos with straight teeth! After all those years of braces my teeth are going crooked now. They don’t look all that bad yet, but I wonder how crooked they are going to get. I had just had a miscarriage and just felt like everything was going wrong with me. My husband was so sweet. He said that we would look into getting them fixed and told me not to worry.
I already had a dentist appointment scheduled, so I talked to my dentist when I went in. He suggested Invisalign and told me it is very common for people who have worn braces to have their teeth shift at my age. I am seriously considering Invisalign! I can’t even imagine going back to braces like when I was a kid. Among the new advances in orthodontia, removable aligners, like Invisalign & Invisalign Teen, are fast becoming a popular choice. The system uses a series of clear aligners made of lightweight plastic that sit smoothly on the teeth allowing for a more comfortable fit and they work as effectively as traditional metal braces. I am so excited about this alternative!
Have you or someone you’ve known used Invisalign? And if so, what was their experience?
To learn more about Invisalign please visit their Website. Keep up with the latest info and promotions through their Twitter and Facebook pages!
Disclaimer: This is a sponsored post. However, all thoughts and opinions are my own.
By EstherIrish, on May 20th, 2013  Me? I would never start a blog.
What? You mean I can get free things and earn some income from publishing online things I’m already writing?
*Googling how to start a blog.
BloggingWithAmy.com and online!
Comments. Must have comments. Will blog for comments.
Oh my goodness. Someone I DON’T KNOW left a comment on my post!!!! Happy dance in the living room.
I need 200-300 hits a day before I can monetize? Never, ever can I imagine that many people going to my site in one day!
How do you get traffic, and what is SEO?
Guess what? I was offered $20 whole dollars! Someone wants to give me 20 big ones to link to their website. Wow. I’m getting paid to write!
Gasp. You’re not supposed to get paid for links? Google will hate me? Now what do I do? How am I supposed to know all of this stuff?
Networking. So many new friends. I’m learning so much. These people understand me!!!
Then one day…Traffic–check. Page views–check. Sponsors–check. Long time dreamed of family vacation–check.
Time. Where is my time?
Should I be blogging?
*”Should I be blogging” is a question I ask myself regularly. For now, I love what I am doing. I love the friendships I’ve made, and the opportunities that God has provided my family through blogging. My children love it. My husband encourages my blogging. So right now, my answer is yes I should be blogging, but it is something I will continue to evaluate.
By EstherIrish, on May 19th, 2013 The Saturday before Mother’s Day a few ladies and our daughters met at The Rose Garden Tea Room for a Mother Daughter Tea. I really debated about bringing Grace but in the end I decided to leave her home with Daddy because I didn’t think it would be that enjoyable for her and it just so happened that the neighbors set up a bounce house in our driveway and she was thrilled to be able to stay home and jump in it!
Joy and Faith had lots of fun. Joy, well she just enjoys people so a group getting together is always something to look forward to for her. Faith (I have to take a little credit here because I’m sure she takes after me in this area.) is all about great food so she was super excited to try everything!
 Faith and I both ordered the sampler. It was fantastic! I think my favorite thing was the quiche and lucky for my that my daughter didn’t care for it because I ate hers for dessert!
 Joy ordered the Club sandwich and said it was the best sandwich she has ever had!
 We enjoyed a great time of fellowship with the ladies over lunch! My girls were thrilled to order drinks with their meals and then dessert afterward as we eat out often, but save by not purchasing those extras. I had to laugh. When I picked up our bill my daughter looked over my shoulder and proclaimed, “Wow! That’s a lot!” For what I spent on this one meal for three of us, my entire family would normally have eaten out three times! But it was fun and a special treat for all of us!
By EstherIrish, on May 18th, 2013  My husband has accepted a position at a new engineering firm. I am really sad to see him leave his job of over eight years because he has enjoyed it all these years, but a growing family and things such as BILLS drove him to interview in search of a salary increase. He has had a couple of extra days at home before he begins his new job on Monday. We’ve spent our time with Dad at doctor’s appointments, car repairs, and shopping for some much needed work clothes for him.
It was as we pulled into our driveway from one of these errands that Jason’s phone rang. He put the vehicle in park, fumbled through his jean pockets, and finally got to the phone as it stopped ringing. He pushed the button, but didn’t hear anyone. He didn’t know who it was, but dialed back anyway leaving a message saying that he was returning the call. He pushed the button to end the connection.
“It stinks in here. Does someone have diarrhea?” I called out loudly toward the back of the van as only a mom does.
It was then that my husband heard something coming from his phone. “Hello?” he answered. It was Jason’s new employer who was, as it turned out, still very much on the line!
I’m linked with Encourage One Another, Wifey Wednesday, Raising Homemakers, Whole Hearted Home, Works for Me Wednesday, Mommy Club Link Up, Gratituesday, Titus 2 Tuesday, Time Warp Wife, Monday’s Musings, Mama Moments, The Better Mom, Miscellany Monday, Modest Mom Blog, Mommy Monday, Making Your Home Sing Monday, Happy Wives Club and Matrimonial Monday.
By EstherIrish, on May 17th, 2013  Disclosure: This post is sponsored by Water Works Park. All opinions are my own.
We are so excited for summer! Since we homeschool our summers may be a little different from other kids as when we’re home we’ll still be doing math and reading and lots of learning, but when we have a chance to go out and enjoy some water and sun you know we will! We are excited to visit Water Works Park in Denton, TX!
It sounds like Water Works Park has everything needed to make this an awesome summer! They offer exciting Aquatic Explorer Camps, Kayaking Camps, and swim lessons for kids on summer vacation, and also offer day care and summer camp field trips.
Enjoy four giant water slides, a lazy river, a children’s play pool, sand volleyball, and more. For more information, please visit the Water Works Website
My Readers Save $3 Off Admission with this exclusive Water Works Waterpark coupon!
Disclosure: Water Works is providing our family with a family of four pack to visit their park in exchange for sharing their promotion with you!
By EstherIrish, on May 16th, 2013  Our neighborhood has a party for everyone a couple of times a year. It is lots of fun with free hot dogs, cotton candy, and snacks for the kids. They always have a jump house and my kid’s favorite thing is the DJ. He has been there every time so far and has fun music and dancing for the kids.
 As you can see my crew gets pretty wild and crazy. That’s because there are prizes! Actually every kid ends up with a prize, but for first dibs you’ve got to be enthusiastic. I laughed and laughed and enjoyed watching. The DJ called Joy for the first prize and said she made up a new dance move: swat the fly. Hey, she chose her prize and was very happy.
At the end the DJ let me choose a prize to take home for Bobby who spent most of the day in his stroller. I chose the glow stick bracelet pack and figured the kids would all have fun with that.
One night that week I let the kids all take their bracelets and play with them in the dark. I knew they were having fun from the excited squeals. Then after about 15 minutes I could tell that fun had turned into extreme excitement. What was going on? I tiptoed up the stairs, opened the bedroom door to find:
 This! One bracelet had leaked. In trying to clean it up my daughter realized that her hands were glowing and that some had spilled on her pillow. That was more fun than she could sand. Pretty soon they were purposefully breaking their bracelets and FLINGING the glowing liquid all over the room!
 Carpet, walls, clothes–everywhere! Before I had given the toys to the children I read the package. It said they were non-toxic, but should one leak to clean it up right away because it might stain. I looked all over the room. “Oh my!” I hoped it all wouldn’t stain. Then I thought how much fun that would have been when I was a child, and I just couldn’t squelch it. “Hold on,” I said as I ran to get my camera. They enjoyed the fun until the stuff ceased to glow, though I did have them quit flinging the liquid around the room! So far it doesn’t look like it stained so all’s well!
I’m linked with High Five for Friday.
By EstherIrish, on May 15th, 2013 Disclosure: This is a sponsored post written by me on behalf of White Cloud Sleep Pants.
Growing up I remember hearing my mother tell stories of various family members that struggled with bedwetting. My mom and her siblings lived in a boarding house for a little while when their parents were missionaries. It was a house of horrors to some of those poor children and thankfully my grandparents realized that things were not as they seemed. But one of the stories I remember was about my mom’s brother and how he suffered at that place because of bedwetting. They would make him get up every night, go outside, hand wash his bedding and hang it up. There was no concern for his feelings. Everyone knew.
Later I remember hearing about my cousin who slept with an alarm to help him with his bedwetting. I was told that bedwetting was hereditary and from a young age I purposed to make things as easy for my kids as I could should they struggle in this area.
I have not been an early potty trainer. I remember hearing that when a child is potty trained early it’s really the parent that is trained as usually it requires a parent to remember to send a child to the potty frequently to avoid accidents. For me disposable diapers and sleep pants are a blessing. I would much rather pay for the sleep pants than have to wash bedding and clean up accidents frequently.
I have found that for my children, letting them use sleep pants as long as they have trouble with bedwetting is so much easier for them and for me. Kids like waking up wet even less than I like getting up to help them with their bedding. They are less embarrassed and frustrated.
Did you know that over 5 million kids a year experience bedwetting and it is one of the most common experiences during childhood development?
White Cloud Sleep Pants have been developed to provide exceptional comfort and leakage protection while looking like underwear. White Cloud Sleep Pants offer thin, discrete absorbent protection for your child. They have soft, stretchy sides that fit like real underwear, plus leak guards to help protect against leaks. The soft inner liner is hypoallergenic and treated with vitamin E and aloe for skin protection.
Each bag contains two unisex graphic designs and at $7.75, White Cloud offers exceptional value.
This is a sponsored post written by me on behalf of White Cloud Sleep Pants.
By EstherIrish, on May 14th, 2013 It was so fun to catch up with my sister! You know these days I’m busy even when I’m not busy, you know? We’ve had lots of extra things going on lately that make things busier, but also more fun! My sister went on a crazy road trip and then came to visit us for a couple of days before heading home. She brought her son Adam. My crew was incredibly thrilled to have him around!
I was so excited to take everyone to It’Z Family Food & Fun to eat lunch and play games. So many times I used to have friends or family over, but could never do anything or go anywhere, because of course everything costs money. I just loved having that money set aside that I’ve made through the website so that we could go out and do something while I had family here! Thank you so much for reading about our family adventures!
 We ate pizza in the movie theater room while we watched Wreck It Ralph. And then we let the kids play!
 It’Z has changed quite a bit since the last time we were there. There is no longer a kiddie section though some of the rides remain. They took out the go carts and put in a bowling alley instead.
 It took my kids a while to find some of their favorite games, but they were all there! Grace especially loves the simulated roller coaster rides. She loves real roller coasters more than the older two girls! I guess she’s just at the right age to enjoy it all!
 Faith raked in the tickets on the monster machine!
Bobby hung out in the stroller most of the afternoon and was just happy to look all around. We stopped by the buffet once again for dessert before heading home. Fun was had by all!
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