New "Salted Caramel" Flavor at Carvel® - Plus a #Giveaway

* Gift card was provided for the purpose of this post, all opinions are a 100% my own. No other compensation was provided. 

Now that it's finally starting to look and feel like spring, it's time to enjoy ice cream outdoors.  Carvel America’s Freshest Ice Cream® is celebrating the beginning of spring with a new flavor - Salted Caramel.

"Salted Caramel is the salty-sweet combination Americans have come to love and Carvel® has launched an all-new salted caramel flavor featuring deliciously creamy caramel ice cream and a hint of salt just in time for the warmer temperatures."  I learned of the news, and was first in line to try the new flavor.  The flavor was just as promised; that deliciously creamy caramel we all love with a hint of salt.    I got to try it in soft serve form, since they were in the middle of mixing and freezing to have ready for the next day.

Now through June 29, you can try this new flavor in a variety of ways;   including Salted Caramel Soft Serve (the way I had it) and Fresh Scooped Salted Caramel with bits of Heath Toffee Bar  packed inside.

"Carvel® is also offering the new flavor in its signature on-the-go ice cream treat, the Salted Caramel Heath Sundae Dasher™, which features salted caramel soft serve ice cream with multiple layers of delicious Heath milk chocolate toffee bar chunks, drizzled with caramel sauce and topped with whipped cream." I have yet to try it in this way, but will be back to give it a go.  Carvel® will be celebrating it's 80th Anniversary so look for more new flavors and promotions including giveaways contests, fundraisers and more during their "80 Days of Summer" celebration.

Many delicious freshly made flavors are waiting for you...

Along with delicious custom cakes ready for order...

I've tempted you enough, the flavors and varieties at Carvel® are already delicious, but there's one more limited time flavor you've got to try.  Use the Rafflecopter below to enter to win a $25 GC to Carvel® so you can go try this deliciously sweet and salty new flavor.  Good Luck! a Rafflecopter giveaway

Homemade Chocolate Bars with Pink Marshmallow Filling #foodallergy #‎goodcookcom‬ ‪#‎goodcookkitchenexprt‬

*I received product/s for the purpose of this post as a part of the Good Cook Kitchen Experts program. No other compensation was provided.  All opinions are a 100% my own.  

Allergen free milk chocolate filled with pink marshmallows.

All made possible by the Good Cook Spring Silicone Chocolate and Bark mold.  

Seriously adorable, and easy to make. 

I melted top allergen free chocolate chips in the microwave for about a minute long, stirring halfway. 

It should look like this. 

Spread the melted chocolate with the adorable spring spatula, find it on the Good Cooks spring tools section.  

We look for the allergen friendly marshmallows, and have had luck with Kraft marshmallows before.  According to the ingredients it should be safe for most top allergens.  To go along with the spring theme, I chose the pink marshmallows.  Although after trying it out, I do recommend the original white marshmallows instead.  If you want color, just use some natural food coloring instead.  The flavor and consistency was just not the same.  

While the chocolate hardened up in the freezer.  I melted the marshmallows in the microwave as well.  I spread the marshmallow filling over the hardened chocolate.  

I took more melted chocolate and spread it out all over the top.  Then topped with allergen free rice crispy cereal.  *I would recommend putting the layer of cereal under the chocolate and over the marshmallow layers, the chocolate hardened up too fast and the cereal didn't stick too well.  The cereal gives extra crunch, and balances out the sweet in the chocolate and marshmallow filling.  It should taste like a fun version of smores.   

When you have food allergies it's hard to find treats that are safe, and even harder to find treats that look and taste good.  I'm glad to find products like this and share them with you all that make it fun and easy for everyone.  

If interested in trying this and other tools Sweet Creations spring cookware tools, use the code: SpringFling for a 25% off coupon to goodcook.com 

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An InLinkz Link-up

My Baby's First Loose Tooth!!

I can't believe my son has a loose tooth!  He was sitting snacking on a fried plantain stuffed with cheese when he screamed saying his tooth hurt.  I thought maybe he bit his tongue or maybe the plantain scratched his gums, but no..it was a loose tooth.  I was not expecting for him to have a loose tooth.  I thought it was when he turns 6, slightly frantic I turned to Google - somehow still in denial that my baby is in fact getting older.

One tooth is saying "I got to get out" and the other is responding "Me too."  He drew a little spot on one tooth and said "just like I have a loose tooth and it hurts this tooth has a boo boo and is saying he does too." 

Since he has cousins a year older than him, he has been wanting to lose his tooth since last year so once I told him what was going on - he was excited!  I on the other hand, hugged him and uncontrollably teared up.  He ran to get a piece of paper and "document this amazing moment in his life."

When did your little one lose their first tooth?  I am surprisingly very emotional over this, how did you handle it?  Oh and tips about the tooth fairy will be greatly appreciated.  :)
      

A Note that's Worth a Thousand Smiles! #homeschool

I have been homeschooling my son for the past year.  He is doing very well, amazing me with all that he can do.  Considering how easy going our days are, I am extremely proud of how much he has learned so far.  He continues to impress me with everything he does.

We don't have a strict schedule, but one of the times we are consistent with is when my daughter is down for her nap.  I have him do a few pages out of one of his workbooks.  Yesterday while my baby girl was napping, I told him to quietly do any page.  He didn't seem so happy, so he brought a paper over to me and started to write.

He was writing instead of speaking because his baby sister had just fell asleep and he didn't want her to wake.  What a sweet big brother moment.  He started writing one word at a time as I followed along.  He would write one word and look up, and then another, making sure I understood him.  He wrote all over the page, once his message was understood - I numbered them in the order that he wrote it.
"I :( bkos I dont wont to do skol I wont to draw"
This has to be the second time he has wrote a message to me, just a few weeks ago he could barely read and here we are spelling out words - expressing his feelings on paper so his sister wont wake up.  If you are wondering, after this note, he was allowed to draw.  Little does he know, that's something I want him to do anyway.  It's easily considered "art" class! ;)  

This is truly a MOMent I will cherish forever.   

Yoga for Beginners..with My Husband

In the drawing above, you can see my husband and I doing yoga on our flower patterned rug, while both kids are hanging out around us.  My sweet boy drew this up and wrote "Family Yoga" on top. <3 em="">

Whether you know me online or off, you know that I am always trying out new workouts and videos at home.  I do what I can, since I'm a full time mom that seriously never gets a break from the kids.  My most recent "workout" sessions are mostly about stretching, doing yoga for beginners.  I'm only a week in, doing it while my husband is at work with the kids rolling and hopping all around me.  Can't say I got the relaxing part of yoga down yet, but I am stretching!  I recently asked, and then begged my husband to join me for one short session.  More on that further down the page.

I used to be, used to be very flexible.  Like abnormally flexible, but after my first pregnancy six years ago, I'm like a stick that wont bend.  I hurt my back doing cardio/high intensity workouts a while back so I took a long break from at home workouts, until I decided to give yoga a try.  

So far, I love how light my body feels after all the stretching.  I did feel sore the first few days, and continue to as I progress from beginner level to higher.  I highly recommend it to every stay at home parent.  Our body needs all that twisting and stretching that we just don't get from our daily routines.  On an average I'd say we bend to pick up toys, food, children off the floor, stand up on our feet all day in the kitchen, and maybe walk or a drive outside.  It can be exhausting, and hard on our bodies.  Yoga seems to let our muscles stretch in ways it wouldn't regularly, and heal the aches and pains as well.

As you can see I'm quite fond of it so far, so I thought I had to get my husband to give it a try.  He would never even speak of giving it a try, and before I tried it, I wouldn't even think of asking him to do it with me.  But then I tried it, and knowing that after a long work day he comes in with his back, and body aching - I had to convince him to give it a try.  

I asked him if he'd do something for me, with me, and that it would only take..at the most..20 minutes.  With raised brow I had him curious.  I informed him.."not that."  Once that confusion was out of the picture, I let him know I wanted to do stretches with him.  We laughed.  Then after some more begging and convincing.  He agreed.

It was all laughter for the first 5 minutes.  We also had both kids jumping, and rolling around us.  My daughter wanted to nurse, my son wanted to jump on top of us.  It was a mess.  Then they backed off and wandered off to the corner of the room to play.  

At one point the instructor in the video said something along the lines of "your organs will thank you, they are waking up."  We were both completely twisted up trying not to laugh, when my very uncomfortable husband turning even more flush in the face said "my organs are saying code red, code red, they are freaking out wondering what's going on" as he fell to the floor out of the twist.  I followed him out of my twist because it was hard not to laugh.  

It was a great 20 minutes of our day.  A healthy 20 minutes.  We laughed, we bonded, and we got up off the floor with our bodies feeling lighter, until the kids jumped on top of us.

Have you done yoga before?  What do you to work out?  I'd love to know.

   

Meet Pumpkin from the NEW Disney Princess Palace Pets Collection at Build-A-Bear Workshop! #Giveaway

*I received the item/s for the purpose of review.  All opinions are a 100% my own. No other compensation was provided. Giveaway is sponsored.

Meet Pumpkin, Cinderella's puppy, she is one of the new Disney Princess Palace Pets from the collection at Build-A-Bear Workshop!  

Pumpkin is a stylish little super soft white puppy, with bright blue eyes and is sure to be a hit with your kids.  My dog loving little girl adores her.

Cinderella received Pumpkin as a present from the Prince while she was celebrating her first year at the palace.  

Similar to most Build-A-Bear Workshop friends, Pumpkin costs $25.  The Blue Fancy Dress costs $13.50, and her accessory set is $12.50.

Visit Build-A-Bear online to check out Treasure, a coral red kitten which is another adorable Palace Pet coral red kitten.  My kids both love Pumpkin, and as you can see it's hard not to.  Enter below using the Rafflecopter for your chance at a $25 credit to Build-A-Bear Workshop for your own Palace Pet. 

a Rafflecopter giveaway