There are many recipes that get me excited about summer.  Whether it be a a tasty fruit dessert or bonding with family over a campfire making s’mores, there are just so many flavors that bring out the fun!  My mind instantly went back to the delicious Strawberry Trifle recipe I created and shared with you about 3 years ago and a brainstorm was born.  Why not combine the love for the trifle with the fun of the s’more?  So, here you have it!  A glorious outpouring of love, yum and memories that I hope you will enjoy and share with your family as well this summer.

So, what are you waiting for?  Even if it is raining outdoors you can enjoy the s’more indoors while adding in the cool factor to bring down the heat of summer.  If you try it I would love to hear your thoughts or ways you made it even more awesome.  You can connect with me via Twitter, Facebook, Instagram or Pinterest.

This post was part of a compensated campaign sponsored by KRAFT.  I am a proud member of the KRAFT Tastemakers and enjoy sharing my honest opinions and recipes with you every time!  Please see my terms of use for more info.

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Now, together with Haba, the adored Götz  doll line is available in the USA.  What maks a Götz doll extraordinary is its hair, sculptured face, trendy clothing and its soft fabric or vinyl body. Unbenownst to me, their renowned doll hair can be washed, styled (even with a curling iron or blow dryer on low setting!) and brushed just like their owner’s hair! Any other doll hair would melt with this treatment.  This makes a Götz  doll perfect for children who love playing with doll hair. Make sure you check out the many Götz doll hair styling techniques on HABA’s YouTube channel; including Braids, Double Knot and Cornrows! There are some great tutorials even for me on how to do my own daughters’ hair!

A second bonus of every Götz doll is that they can be tossed in the washing machine should they ever get dirty! Um, yes. My children drag their babies around everywhere with them so this happens. All.the.time. (Please note: to properly wash a

Götz doll, place the doll in a pillowcase, turn the water to cold, delicate cycle, then let the doll lie, belly down, until dry).

I don’t know about you but the more I learn about Götz the more I am in love with their company–it is clear that Götz and Haba choose to concentrate on quality–and I know their dolls will withstand the test of time and well-loved play.

But the true test: would my girls fall in love with their dolls as much as I fell in love with the company?

We were thrilled to review the Maxy Muffin 16.5″ brunette. Costing $79.99, Muffin definitely seems a bit pricey. But we have three other designer dolls (ahem) that cost this much and the quality differences are astounding. Our Muffin (affectionately renamed Sally Orange) is of superior quality in every way–from her hair and facial expression to her clothes and detailing even down to the shoes. My daughters were thrilled to see that Muffin sports shoes strikingly similar to their Crocs!

All of our doll’s (and every Götz doll’s) garments are perfectly finished, i.e. button-holes, pockets, and embroidery, are realistic and not sewn on as applications. All three girls, ranging in age from 1.5 to 4.5 are in love with this doll. To the point that there might have been a few fights over who gets to play with her. She is just that great of a doll and it all boils down to the quality and care taken to craft this wonderful play friend.

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In honor of the fun “Hey America, What’s Your ID” contest that International Delight is hosting, I decided to create a fun little craft/vanilla bubble recipe for you to repurpose your favorite French Vanilla containers and have fun with your kids.

What You’ll Need:

• 1 empty pint International Delight Container
• 1 1/2 cups water
• 1/4 cup dishwashing liquid
• 4.5 teaspoons light corn syrup
• 2 tbs vanilla extract(optional for scent)
• 2-3 pipe cleaners

Instructions:

1. Mix all of the ingredients together in a separate container.
2. Pour into your empty International Delight container.
3. Peel the sticker from the front and label accordingly.  I love using chalkboard stickers.
4. Optional: Add food coloring in order to color your bubbles a little.
5. Let your solution sit for about 30 minutes.  The longer it sits the better it works.
6. Store where convenient (ours stays on the porch).
7. Shape your pipe cleaners as you like in order to create bubble wants.  If you aren’t great at creating shapes you can always print out a template to follow (ex: heart, star, circle, oval, etc).
8. Pour your bubble solution into a flat plate and dip your wand in completely and lift out.
9. Have fun making bubble memories with your kids!

What’s Your ID? International Delight is looking for their most passionate flavor fans. Put your ID on the map to enter to win a Magical Trip, play games and discover more unexpected delight. Share your ID flavor at http://whatsyourid.com.

This is a sponsored conversation written by me on behalf of International Delight. The opinions and text are all mine.

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Dedicated to educating parents and children about water safety, National Learn to Swim Day is an opportunity for families to learn about the importance and benefits of learning to swim before Memorial Day Weekend and the start of summer. How you participate is entirely up to you–maybe you could enroll your child in a local swim school, host a swimming lesson, or even just look into the various tools that SwimWays provides families.

My family and I are so blessed to have a neighborhood pool a 5-minute walk away. Living in the Southeast, we choose to be cool by the pool nearly every day. We definitely agree with Monica Jones, the marketing director of SwimWays who says, “In order to take part in all the fun the water can offer, children must be taught at an early age the fundamentals of swimming.”

If you don’t have access to a local swim coach, have no fear. SwimWays teamed up with Mario Vittone, former Coast Guard helicopter rescue swimmer and water safety expert, to provide free swimming safety resources to families. Vittone will give expert advice on topics and challenges related to teaching children to swim on www.TeachMeToSwim.com throughout the summer.

SwimWays’ Swim Steps program is a three-step program that features colorful swim-training aids specially designed to help parents teach kids to swim at home. Our family currently has a daughter in each step!

The first step of the program is designed to introduce and comfortably support babies in the water; (sadly no picture–the baby was not willing to go in a float yet but we’re working on her!)

Step 2 products give children the ability and freedom to explore as they develop confidence and learn to balance and paddle (two important pre-swimming skills). Caroline, my often timid swimmer, could not wait to jump right into the pool with her Shorties. She didn’t mind that she got her face wet, she thought the vest was pretty, and I loved that it had UV protective sleeves and gave her a huge boost in confidence!

Step 3 products provide graduated support, helping kids to feel empowered and confident as they strengthen and perfect their swimming skills. Catherine is almost there. She probably needs a few more weeks to swim on her own and make it into the deep end. But she is in love with her Sea Squirts Swim Assist Cleverly designed to look like a dolphin (they also have fun orca whale and clownfish swim assist vests), it holds her up just enough. I love that it uses smart buoyancy technology which helps achieve proper swimming position, giving kids greater control and stability. I already saw a difference in how she tried to “swim like the big kids” who were practicing a lane over.

I cannot wait to check in with y’all to see how your little swimmers are progressing and to share how my fish daughters are learning, too!

Allie is a part of the Swimways Ambassador program and received free products. There are here original ideas and opinions.

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Have you tried the new Smokehouse BBQ Chicken Sandwich from Subway?  If not you need to hurry because it will only be around until the end of May.  I have to tell you that it was a nice change form the usual.  I enjoyed it so much that if I am back at Subway next week I think I’ll have it again.  The best news is that the Smokehouse BBQ Sandwich is part of the Subway Fresh Fit option!

Now, in order to enjoy the new sandwich, one lucky Go Graham Go reader will win a $25 Subway gift card!  Here’s How:

a Rafflecopter giveaway

I was provided a gift card in order to try out the new sandwich. The ideas and opinions are all my own.

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For most of us, our first example of love comes from our parents.  They encourage us, nurture us and nudge us along through childhood.  They pour themselves out over us in protection and love as we grow until they let us go.

Hopefully, as we grow, we find others who come along side us that help raise us up and encourage us.  We learn to love the hard to love and we learn to love the needy.  We love those who love back and those whom we pray will notice us or open their hearts to us.  In every venture we learn to love in a new way.

Spouses come along and we yet again find ourselves loving in a different way.  Hopefully in an unconditional way that has a firm foundation in trust.   A love that makes you giddy and gives you butterflies.  A love built on new memories and dreams.

Babies come and we are found with a new love altogether.  We finally see why our parents did what they did and find ourselves going back to them to thank them for that love that they so freely gave even in the midst of our pushing and shoving.  We lean on them as our own push and shove us.  I would venture to say that our parents then learn a new kind of love and the cycle continues.

Love.  It truly is what makes this world go round.  It is what makes us wake up in the morning, cry, smile, laugh and hope.  It is breath and life and ever changing.

I’m so thankful for all of the wonderful people in my life who have loved me through every stage and who continue to do so.

For all the moments that fill your life with love, J&J has a new video that will put a smile on your face:

In celebration of Mother’s Day this year, JOHNSON’S® Baby has established JOHNSON’S® Baby CARES Care Cards, a digital e-card platform encouraging moms to share positive messages of encouragement with other moms across the country, while simultaneously supporting Save the Children®. You can help, too! Simply pick and share a card filled with messages of reassurance for a Mom in your life on Facebook at http://www.johnsonsbabycares.com. For every card sent, shared or liked, JOHNSON’S® Baby will donate $1.00 to Save the Children® (up to $150,000) to benefit early childhood education programs that foster education and reassurance for new moms. These cards will not only spread encouragement to Moms throughout the country but will also provide Moms in need with the skills and knowledge to successfully support their child’s growth.

This post was sponsored by The Motherhood and J&J.  All thoughts and opinions are my own.

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It all started back in about February when I somehow came down with the mess.  I have no idea how.  I work in the school and I grocery shop.  Any of the two places could have likely infected me.  I went to the doctor and she prescribed drops that would likely not work.  Those drops cost roughly $90.  Thank goodness I had a friend who had some she had not used and offered them.  What I would soon find is that most pink eye is viral rather than bacterial which means that it just has to run its course and no medicine will touch it.

Pink eye was gone and we were off to spring break.  Sadly, I returned with pink eye once again.  I’m guessing it was from not completely throwing out every ounce of my makeup.  This time, however, my worst nightmare happened.  My 2 year old son caught it!  You all know how 2 year olds are about not touching anything… ha!  The next thing we know Matthew (my husband had it) and I caught it for the third time.  

We were washing our hands like crazy maniacs and not touching our faces or anything.  I soon realized that not all cleaners cleaned viruses (something I had never really thought about before).  I was on a mission to find what would “kill” whatever we had going on.  LYSOL has long been a friend of mine and I turned to several cans of the traditional as well as the new LYSOL Power & Free Multi-Purpose Cleaner to use in the kitchen and bathroom.  The Power & Free is nice because it doesn’t have the harshness of bleach but is still effective at killing 99.9% of viruses and bacteria.  The Oxygen Splash was great for cutting through tough messes while disinfecting those highly trafficked areas.

So, long story short, after Graham finished up having his round of pink eye last week we have officially had the virus in our home for about 4 months.  We have likely spent about $1,000 on doctor’s visits, eye drops, new make-up and cleaning supplies combined.  I had it 3 total times and everyone else contracted it once.  Matthew’s co-worker and wife even ended up with it!  I am ready for sunshine and open windows!  Yes, are home still smells of LYSOL and I am completely ok with that.

Found out more about the LYSOL Power & Free Multi-purpose Cleaner and all of the wonderful ways it can help you and your family via the LYSOL Facebook page.  I just pray that it is not to help you with pink eye!

Lysol® Power & Free uses the cleaning power of a hydrogen peroxide formula for a powerful clean with no bleach harshness! This helps ensure you don’t have to make sacrifices while cleaning, such as opening all the windows or ushering the kids and pets out of the room. Lysol® Power & Free will help you break free from your ordinary cleaning routine- it’s a powerful clean that’s family friendly!

What do you love about a clean home? One of my readers will win a bottle of Lysol® Power & Free Multi Purpose cleaner to try in their own home! Comment below to be entered to win!

This is a sponsored conversation written by me on behalf of Lysol. The opinions and text are all mine. Official Sweepstakes Rules

The post The One About Living with Pink Eye… #powerandfree appeared first on Go Graham Go.