I WUV YOUUU!!

Why have I not blogged in forever you ask? Well I had a little computer mishap. My hard drive crashed and I hadn't backed up in months so I lost all of my pictures. All of my pictures to inspire and populate blog posts. I have several posts waiting in the wings and I should get all my pics back this weekend. So stay with me.

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In the early months of Molly's life when I was bouncing all day long, struggling to figure her out and doing the best I could to make sure she was getting everything she needed I remember thinking, "I can't wait until she can tell me she loves me back." Well folks, the day has come!

A couple weeks ago Molly started saying I love You. And it is SO sweet. 

"I wuv youuu Daddy!"

"I wuv youuu Mommy!"

Gives me warm fuzzies every single time. 

This kid is going to be hard to say No to when she smiles and says those three words.

Before I leave you all for the weekend, congratulations to KC Strohbehn! Congrats KC, you are the winner of my Wienervention Applegate Farms giveaway! I will contact you to arrange the shipment of your organic all natural hot dogs. Thanks for entering! Visit Applegate.com for more information on the company's story and their products if you missed the giveaway. Great stuff!

Its a Wienervention!

Hot dogs are a summer staple in our household. We love to get together with friends, hang out in the backyard chatting and playing games and fire up the grill to roast some hot dogs. Good fun and delicious summer food.

I never really worried about what was actually in a hot dog, I knew it wasn't great stuff but it tasted good and that was enough for me. Then we had Molly and when she started eating real food I was definitely weary of giving her hot dogs. Too many fillers and mystery ingredients. It just didn't sit well with me as a good food item for her. But of course she loved them...

So it was time for a Wienervention!

Courtesy of Applegate hot dogs! Cue the hallelujahs! And put hot dogs back on the summer menu.

Applegate was kind enough to send us a package full of delicious, healthy, organic, no filler hot dogs. I wasn't the only one that was excited when we opened up the box.



Applegate generously sent us a variety of dogs to try, both organic and natural.



I knew from the research I had done into Applegate's products and the ingridients listed on the packaging that these were definitely the best possible hot dogs you can eat. No guilty feeling for gobbling these up or giving them to Molly. I think this little quote from the CEO sums it up nicely,

"So…What if you weren’t afraid to read the ingredients on a hot dog package? Like me, you’d feel better about eating them, and serving them to your family. That simple idea has always been, and will continue to be, what drives Applegate."

But the true test would come when we tasted them. They have to taste good to make their way on our menu. So we grilled em up.



And served them to our prestigious taste testers...





Approved! These two tots practically licked their plates. That is a win for me! Us adults enjoyed them too. We slapped in some buns with mustard, ketchup, cheese, relish and avocado and devoured them. Our self proclaimed hot dog guru friend also gave them the seal of approval.

And it gets better! One of my hot dog lovin readers will get to experience this Wienervention first hand! The great people at Applegate have offered to send the same package full of dogs to one reader. 

Giveaway Details:

To win, simply comment on my post (be sure to include your email) with the words "Wienervention" and tell me what your favorite thing to throw on the grill is.

Giveaway closes Friday August  9th at 12pm CST.

Check out the Applegate Wienervention Facebook page for coupons and recipes. And visit Applegate.com for more information on the company's story and their products. They make lots of great stuff besides hot dogs.

And in the meantime, don't be afraid to spread the word about the Wienervention happening!!

Holiday Weekend Recap + Sprouts Giveaway Winner

Hello hello! Whew...it took me all of yesterday to find my non-holiday weekend groove again. We had a blast enjoying our 4 days off as a family. We packed in LOTS of activities and I am still exhausted from it all but it was so worth it.

Before I dive in lets first say a big congratulations to Amy Adelsberger! Congrats Amy, you are the winner of my Sprout Organic Foods giveaway! I will contact you to arrange the shipment of your treats. Thanks for entering!

If you missed the giveaway post you can read all about their great organic and healthy foods on my last here.

Okay, so back to our 4 day weekend. We were so busy and on the go so much, plus having lots of fun, that I forgot to take pictures of most of our adventures. But I did get a few great ones.

We kicked off the 4th of July with a local neighborhood parade. This year was the 50th anniversary of the parade and its in a beautiful neighborhood with tree-lined streets and lots of young families.

Molly thoroughly enjoyed the suckers that were being thrown from the floats and she was a champion flag waver by the end.







For the rest of the holiday we enjoyed an afternoon cookout at a friends house full of good food, baby swimming pools, fun games and fireworks. The party went into the evening hours and we kept Molly up a lil late to watch the firework show and then watch Daddy pop a few fireworks of his own. I was worried she would be scared of the loud noises but she loved the fireworks and wasn't phased at all. Should have known, our little daredevil.

Friday we spent a relaxing day together as a family and hit up the local pool. Our first pool day of the summer and it was so much fun.

Then Saturday we hosted a pot luck brunch for a few friends at our house. The menu was so good! Mini pancakes, crockpot breakfast casserole, spicy sausage croissants, donuts, fruit kabobs and of course mimosas.









By the time Sunday rolled around I was flat out exhausted. We ended the weekend watching Daddy play softball and eating popsicles.

We hope everyone had a fabulous 4th!

Sprouts Snacks + a Giveaway

Getting Molly to eat healthy nutritious foods is sometimes a challenge. She eats her fair share of tomatoes and avocado with the occasional green bean or two thrown in but thats about it. She doesn't eat bad by any  stretch but getting those greens in can sometimes be a problem. I often go to smoothies to sneak in some kale and spinach but those aren't great options for when we are on the go. I might have found a solution though! New toddler snacks from Sprout Organic Foods!

When I heard about these I knew that Molly would most likely devour them and I love all the great healthy ingredients. 

The Fruit & Veggie Crispy Chews are my favorite because they look like fruit snacks but they pack of punch of good stuff! With combinations like Orange Fruit & Carrot and Red Berry & Beet I can sneak fruits and veggies into Molly's diet without have to beg her to eat something. Win!

The real test came when Sprout Organic Foods sent us some to try out.



When Molly woke up from her nap I set these out for part of her snack. She went right for them, even bypassing the teddy grahams and her favorite - goldfish!



Toddler approved!



We went through the samples that Sprout Organic Foods sent us in two days! I then ran out and grabbed a couple boxes to keep on hand. They are now a permanent fixture in our snack rotation and I love that I can feel good about what I am giving her to munch on.

Their snacks are made with certified organic ingredients and contain no preservatives, artificial colors, flavors or other additives. I love that! You can find more information on their website about all the great  essential vitamins and other health facts that are part of their foods. Plus you know they will taste good because they come straight from Chef Tyler Florence's kitchen!

"Sprout’s mission is to create delicious and nutritious foods using the finest organic ingredients. Our baby food stages grow with your child to provide a balance of wholesome and organic vegetables, fruits, whole grains, and proteins. Our unique recipes will nourish your child’s growth and encourage a love of healthy foods right from the start."

Doesn't get much better than that. Oh wait it does...

For a couple lucky readers -- you will get to snack away on these healthy treats too! The team at Sprout Organic Foods generously offered to send a pack of the new Toddler Snacks to one of my readers!


Giveaway Details:

To win, simply comment on my post (be sure to include your email) with the words "Eat Clean" and tell me what your favorite go-to snack for your kiddo is.

Giveaway closes Wed July 3rd at 12pm CST.

Good luck!

To learn more about the product you can visit the website and follow them on Twitter @SproutFoods

Back Home & MonkeyMat Giveaway Winners

We are back home from our vacation. Well sort-of, we are at my parents to pick up Molly. It was so great to see her smiling face this morning, we missed her SO much. But we had a lot of fun. A couple recap posts about our trip to come.

In the meantime I wanted to congratulate Amy and Lauren on being selected as the winners of the MonkeyMat giveaway! Congrats ladies...I will contact you to arrange getting you your mats!

Now its back the grind...but a little something to hold on to that vacation feeling.




winners were selected by using a random number generator at random.org. MonkeyMat donated the mats to be given away to readers of ChasingHallie.com

T-Minus 20 Hours

It's almost time. We will be jetting off to Chicago sans baby (you can read all about my emotional breakdown here) to enjoy some time together and hang out with good friends and family.

Our flight takes off tomorrow morning at 5:30am and I am excited to get out of town, get out of the heat and spend some quality time with my husband in my favorite city.

We will be doing really fun things like concerts in the park, Chicago Cubs game, architectural boat tour, beach time and much more. Oh and the food, don't get me started.

Say a little prayer that we can survive 5 long days without our little girl and have fun. 

See you guys next week!

Don't forget to enter the MonkeyMat giveaway -- 2 lucky readers will win the awesome mat. Deadline to enter is this Friday at 12am CST.

MonkeyMat Review and Giveaway!

As a Mom I am always eager to find new products that are catered exactly to my Mom needs. There are certain scenarios and problems that us Moms face that need special attention. When I came across the MonkeyMat via Twitter I was intrigued though I will admit a little skeptical. What did this mat do that any other blanket that I already had couldn't? So when the awesome people at MonkeyMat gave me the chance to review their product I was pumped. I was ready to try it out and put it to the test.

From MonkeyMat.com:
 DEFINITION OF THE MONKEY MAT™. – NOUN \’MAŊ-KĒ MAT\
1. A lightweight Travel Mat | lightweight Exercise Mat | lightweight Yoga Mat | lightweight Picnic Mat | lightweight Outdoor Concert Mat | lightweight Baby Mat | lightweight Outdoor Ground Mat | lightweight Baby Changing Pad | lightweight Play Mat | lightweight Beach Mat | lighweight Camping Mat 2. The perfect baby shower gift

As you can see the mat's uses are endless. The mat is large, water repellent, has loops for toys and packs up easily into a small storage pouch.

The first thing I noticed was the small compact size. My diaper bag is already overflowing but this little bag I could easily find room for (and I was able to take out the small blanket I had in there already). So far so good.



The first time we used the MonkeyMat we spread it out in the front yard for some outdoor playtime. I immediately liked how easy it was to lay out because of the weighted corners. But once we put our crawling, exploring 9 month old down it began to bunch up. Luckily the genius Mom behind this product had already thought of this. The mat has little loops so you can stake it down. Once we did that it was snugly in place and Molly could crawl all over the place.



We have continued to use the MonkeyMat for park trips, baby pool time in the front yard, a trip to the Dallas Arboretum -- all the usual suspects. But we have discovered maybe the best us of all, a mat underneath her high chair! We just got new carpet in our dining room and when we have family meals her high chair is at the dining room table. With the amount of food flinging and cup flailing that goes on we needed a solution to avoid staining our new carpet. MonkeyMat to the rescue!



It worked perfectly. It caught all of her "droppings" and after dinner we let the dog have at it and then we rinsed it off. Easy. It will definitely be our go-to for dinners in the dining room.

I definitely recommend this product. Its so versatile and I also LOVE that is a local product from right here in Texas. Plus, it was made by a Mom so she knows what mommas need.

For a couple lucky readers -- you will get to experience this great product as well. The lovely team at MonkeyMat sent me two mats to give away to my readers!


Giveaway Details:

To win, simply comment on my post (be sure to include your email) with the words "MonkeyMat Me" and tell us what creative way you could see yourself using the MonkeyMat.

Giveaway closes Friday August 24th at 12pm CST.

Good luck!

To learn more about the product you can visit the website and follow them on Twitter @MonkeyMatMama