This afternoon we’re driving the first half of our trip to Florida! Things have been quiet on the blog because the hubby got a *great* {heavy sarcasm} idea to put our house on the market while we are out of town. All these decisions have come up in a two week period. No, I’m not kidding. We’ve have known we wanted to put this house on the market. I wanted to talk to a Realtor in February, but the hubby kept putting it off. We had a Realtor over here yesterday who thankfully was able to put my hubby back in his place in a nice way that this house is not ready to be on the market. The Realtor said we have a great house in a great location, but we still have some more cleaning and organizing to do around here so that people can picture themselves in our house instead of looking at all of our stuff and allowing that to cloud their judgment. I tried to tell my hubby that, but he is a typical guy. He just thought if he picked up around the house that it would be ready to look at, but he forgets about all the little cluttered messes.

This afternoon we will be driving through to South Carolina and stopping at a hotel. Tomorrow we will finish the rest of our drive. This works best for us. Making that entire drive (12 hours, but with stops more like 15 hours) in one day leaves us completely useless the day after. Not to mention it throws off Little Monkey’s schedule something fierce. The normal drive brings us to grandma & grandpa’s house (my parents) somewhere between midnight and 2am – once we get Little Monkey out of the car he thinks it is party time. The next two hours are spent amusing Little Monkey while he runs around with boundless energy while his zombie parents look on. Thankfully with breaking the trip up – we should feel fabulous when we roll into Florida on Friday.

Today is the hubby’s birthday – he is turning 27. I’d make fun of him and call him an old man, but I’m older by a few months.

I can’t believe I forgot yesterday was our 4 year legal anniversary (for those of you who are military families or were a military family this is pretty common), we got married on April 29, 2005 at City Hall and then our pastor (who performed the ceremony for our big wedding in July 2005) performed a little ceremony with us on the beach. It was simple, but a beautiful memory.

Have you signed up for Give Me More Stripes Card? I know, I know not another rewards card…but we’ve already been to T.G.I. Friday’s twice this month because of the great deals! You can personalize your card with The Classic card which is stars on it, The Margarita Card, The Long Island card, The Mojito card, or The Brew card.

I chose The Margarita card for my design:

Your first reward coupons when you sign up are – a One-Time Jump the Line pass and a Free Appetizer or Dessert (you can only use one coupon per visit.) This month they offered double the stripes which was awesome! And we even got a coupon for a $1 Entree with the purchase of a regular priced entree! Yeah!!! Every time you spend $100 in food purchases, they will give you a coupon good for free food worth up to $8. In the future, members will be offered special perks such as complimentary welcome tastings, upgrades on beverages and seating n’ parking.

Our team raised $345! Yeah!!! We walked on Saturday, April 25 at 10am. It was a tad bit warm outside…I think 89 degrees. It was a 4.4 mile walk with several shorter walks around.

Jenny, me, and Kara

Here are our babies waiting to start the walk.

I really enjoyed walking. They had set up stands around the walk with water, popsicles, and chips. Yummy! And a great way to keep up the motivation. We made it 3.3 miles in the heat and all our babies looked exhausted. After our walk, we managed to drag our tired selves to the Chick-Fil-A tent for a free lunch and then we all ran home for air-conditioning.

Thank you to Chicken Nuggets of Wisdom and Look What Mom Found for your donations! And thanks to the rest of my friends and family who donated!

Java Cupcake is hosting a Spring Collaboration giveaway.

One lucky winner will win:

Moist Chocolate Cupcakes with Vanilla Buttercream Icing from Java Cupcake

A Reusable fabric shopping bag decorated with cupcakes from avocadocreations.etsy.com

Chocolate Cup-A-Joe Expresso Cookies from Oh So Sweet Treats

An adorable charm bracelet with cupcake and coffee charms from Frosted Treats

Yummy and adorable! Giveaway ends on May 3, 2009 at 11pm PST. So head on over to Java Cupcake to enter her contest.

Participating Taco Bell restaurants on Thursday, April 23. 15% of gross sales will be donated to the Taco Bell Foundation for Teens to help teens graduate.

The Taco Bell Foundation for Teens supports programs that inspire teenagers to graduate from high school and become caring, educated and productive adults. They fulfill this mission by providing teens with hands-on experiences that will expand their view of the world and motivate them to take their places in it.

I know what ice cream flavor I’ll be getting…Cherries Jubilee! 31 cents and for a good cause!

Baskin-Robbins third annual 31 Cent Scoop Night will be held on Wednesday April 29 from 5 – 10 p.m. All 2.5 oz. scoops of ice cream are only 31 cents! Treat your family or group to a scoop and a fun night out for just a few dollars.

This year, Baskin-Robbins is partnering with the National Volunteer Fire Council (NVFC) and donating $100,000 to support the National Junior Firefighter Program. Many Baskin-Robbins location will be inviting local firefighters to help scoop ice cream at the events and offer fire safety tips to kids.

As part of the event, Baskin-Robbins will make a $100,000 donation to the NVFC National Junior Firefighter Program, which provides departments and youth alike with the resources, tools, and information they need to help develop, grow, enhance, promote, and participate in their local junior firefighter program.

Participating Baskin-Robbins stores will help raise additional funds for local firehouses by inviting fire departments to the event to collect donations.

Why March for Babies? Because the March of Dimes champions the needs of moms and babies in our community and across the nation. The money we raise for March for Babies will help:

- support all-important research offering preventions and solutions for babies born too soon or with birth defects
- educate women on things they can do to increase their chances of having a healthy baby
- provide comfort and information to families with a newborn in intensive care
- push for newborn screening and health insurance for all pregnant women and children

Being that I was a preemie baby weighing in at 4 pounds 3 oz. born a month earlier than the due date my mom was given, I know that it is important to provide not only education, but support with information and comfort for parents. We’ve had quite a few preemies born in our family. Thankfully Little Monkey was not one…he was the complete opposite weighing in at 9lbs. 11oz. on his due date.

I’ve got 4 days until I walk in March for Babies – please help me reach my goal. Even if you can’t contribute a lot, every little bit helps.

They are one of several “comfort” companies to be featured in this episode, entitled “Get Comfy.”

To celebrate the occasion, Fairytale Brownies are hosting a series of special events to commemorate!

• Contest: Watch Unwrapped on Monday, April 20th at 9pm EST on The Food Network. Then visit Fairytale Brownies blog several times throughout the day on Tuesday, April 21st to answer questions related to the episode for a chance to win a Fairytale Brownies Tower! Winners will be chosen randomly from correct answers posted to the Fairytale Brownies blog.

• Retail Store Events:
o Visit our retail store on April 20th, and SAVE 50% on your entire purchase throughout day.
Click here for a map to our retail store.

• Online: Use Priority Code UNWRAPPED and receive FREE SHIPPING on your entire online purchase! April 20th Only!