**The product for this review was provided for free. All opinions are my own.

It's hard to believe, but Valentine's Day is just around the corner already! My hubby and I usually do something small for each other on Valentine's Day...something thoughtful and sweet. Knowing his favorite candy is Mike and Ike and hot Tamales candy, I was excited to learn about their limited-edition varieties. After all, nothing says Valentine's Day like a big box of candy! 

We were sent these special edition varieties to try out. The MIKE AND IKE Passion Mix and HOT TAMALES candies both come in a 5 oz box and are the perfect addition to any Valentine's Day gift. 

The kids and I LOVE the Passion mix. It is a blend that includes Paradise Punch, Strawberry, Grape and Cherry flavors. YUM! 

My hubby likes the HOT TAMALES best, they are one of his favorites! It is the classic cinnamon flavor. The box even comes ready to give with a tag fully integrated into the packaging! 

Knowing how much the kids and my hubby love these candies, I was happy to find that there are some tasty recipes created by Chef Jamie Geller that I can make as a surprise Valentine's Day treat for them...like the following!

BeJeweled MIKE AND IKE® Cookies

Prep Time: 15 min

Cook Time: 10 min

Ready Time: 25 min

Servings: 36

INGREDIENTS:

·         1 ½ Boxes of MIKE AND IKE® Passion Mix

·         2/3 Cup margarine – cold

·         1 Cup Sugar

·         1 Egg

·         1 teaspoon vanilla

·         2 Cups flour

·         1 teaspoon Baking Soda

INSTRUCTIONS:

1. Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees F.

2. In a mixer bowl, put 2/3 C Margarine, 1 C Sugar, 1 Egg and 1 teaspoon Vanilla.

3. Mix until well creamed. 

4. Add in 2 C flour and 1 teaspoon Baking Soda.
5. Add in chopped up MIKE AND IKE® Passion Mix, mix into a dough (will be slightly sticky).

6. Roll into 1 inch balls. Place on cookie sheets lined with baking paper.
7. Bake for about 10 minutes or until edges are golden. Centers will be slightly soft.

8. Let cool.

HOT TAMALES® Snickerdoodles

Servings: 2 dozen

INGREDIENTS:

·         1/2 cup (4 oz) HOT TAMALES® Candies, coarsely chopped*

·         1/4 cup (2 oz) salted margarine, softened

·         1/4 cup (2 oz) shortening (I use Spectrum Organic)

·         3/4 cups (5.6 oz) granulated sugar

·         1 egg

·         1 1/2 cups (6.75 oz) all-purpose flour

·         1 teaspoon cream of tartar

·         1/2 teaspoon baking soda

·         pinch of salt (increase to 1/4 tsp if using unsalted margarine)

·         4 teaspoons granulated sugar

·         4 teaspoons ground cinnamon

*The candy is quite sticky so the best way to chop it is with a lightly oiled knife. 

INSTRUCTIONS:

1.       Line two cookie sheets with parchment paper and set aside.

2.       Using an electric mixer, cream together the margarine, shortening and ¾ cups sugar. Add the egg and beat until thoroughly combined.

3.       In a separate bowl, combine all dry ingredients. Add the dry ingredients (except the candy) into the creamed mixture and mix until just combined. Add the chopped candy and mix until the candy is evenly distributed, a few minutes more.

4.       Refrigerate the dough for at least 15 minutes (this makes it easier to handle).

5.       Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.

6.       Combine the remaining sugar and cinnamon in a small bowl.  Form dough into balls the size of small walnuts (I use a tablespoon cookie scoop). Roll the balls of cookie dough in the cinnamon sugar.

7.       Place the cookies two inches apart on the cookie sheets. Bake for 8 minutes, rotating the cookie sheets in the oven at the halfway point. They are done when they look puffed in the middle and slightly brown at the edges (the tops of the cookies will form cracks). Be careful not to overcook.

8.       Remove cookie sheet from the oven and let cookies sit on it for another minute or so before removing to cooling rack; cookies will flatten out as they cool.

9.       These cookies are best served warm, straight out of the oven, but they can be stored in an airtight container for up to two days.

Share the passion of Valentine's Day by surprising special loved ones in your life with limited-edition varieties from MIKE AND IKE and HOT TAMALES candy!

Buy It: SRP for both 5 oz boxes is $1-1.39.

**The product for this review was provided by Tools4Wisdom. All opinions are my own.

In my younger years, I always considered myself a fairly organized person. That all changed however, once I had children and find myself balancing more and more. I tend to forget commitments we have, goals for the month that have been set, and throw together grocery lists last minute. 

With the new year I've made it my goal to become more organized, especially when it comes to scheduling our family's time/commitments. To do a better job, I need a planner that will help me keep track of everything. That's why I was happy when introduced to Tools4Wisdom! 

Tools4Wisdom.com offers a wide selection of planners to help meet the needs of those who use them, both long term and short term. These planners are designed to help you make daily choices that are smart. They are not only filled with weekly and monthly planners, but also thought provoking sections to inspire and encourage you as well. 

In looking through the different planners offered, the Mom Planner and its amazing list of features stuck out to me right away! 

Features/Benefits:

• Thick plastic poly cover
• 200+premium paper pages
• Durable spiral binding 
• Planning pages include: 12 goal settings pages, 12 months weekly planner with 2 page/month goals pages, 2 page/month calendars, 2 pages/week planner journal pages

I could tell this was much more than a typical planner and was excited to learn I was going to have the opportunity to review one!

When the Mom Planner from Tools4Wisdom arrived, I was impressed right away with the size and durability. I love the size, because it's large enough for me to slip important papers and notes into, as well as easy for me read and write in. I have found that some planners are far too small to write much in which doesn't help me much. So this was something I really appreciated.

The durability is also fantastic! I love that it's made to withstand heavy usage and wear and tear! The spiral binding is great feature as well. It keeps all of the pages securely in place, while making it easy for me to access the pages I need to.

Of course, it's what is inside the planner that really impressed me and set this planner above and beyond others I've come across! It includes a ton of pages...everything from 2014 weekly and monthly planning pages, goals sections and even journal pages!!

I love that each monthly calendar is laid out with plenty of room to write notes and goals. There's also helpful questions to keep me on track with my goals and organization at the top of each month. Love it!

As a mom I balance a lot between my schedule, my hubby's schedule and the kids and their activities. It's nice to not only have a planner with a monthly calendar, but one that breaks it down into weekly planners as well!

Each week is laid out with a schedule from 5am-11pm. This makes it easy for me to know exactly when our commitments start and end and which overlap. 

There's also a section on these pages for personal goals, family goals, and daily goals for each family member! It's been great help me get the things done I need to, as well as my husband and the kids. 

One feature I didn't expect, but love is the grocery list and daily meal plan on these weekly planning pages! I have always planned our grocery list last minute and have been needing a push to be more organized with it. I love being able to write down our meal plans for the week, as well as the groceries I need. It not only makes it easier to get supper made and eat out less, but we spend less money because the grocery list is planned out well in advance.  

The goals pages in the front of the planner, and the journal pages in the back are also sections I know will come in very useful as I aim to reach my goals and stick to being more organized in 2014! 

I've been really impressed with the Mom Planner from Tools4Wisdom! The quality is top-notch, and the many features it offers a busy mom who is keeping everyone's schedules straight has been great! It's perfect for mom's balancing many things and something I would highly recommend checking out. It will not only make it easy to track your life, work and school schedule, but also set and measure goals for the whole year ahead day-by-day, week-by-week, and month-by-month!

The Mom Planner, and other Tools4Wisdom Planners can be purchased on Amazon. However, they also have a great website with high-value content as well! When you get a chance, head over and you'll find many features you'll benefit from, including: 

• Animated planner preview
• Live recording of part-1 of The Art of Planning webinar
• Video-Trailer to the next live webinar on February 3rd
• Link to the Planners by Tools4Wisdom store on Amazon.com
• Preview access to their library of +77 printable planner downloads! 

Check out the Printable Planner Downloads, Videos, and Webinars at Tools4Wisdom.com!  You can also connect on Facebook for webinar videos recordings and humor. 

**The product for this review was provided for free. All opinions are my own.

As the Super Bowl approaches, Snoopy Charlie Brown and the rest of the Peanuts Gang are getting people excited about football with the release of Peanuts Deluxe Edition: Touchdown Charlie Brown! Our family enjoys football, and the kids were tickled to learn we were going to have the opportunity to review a copy of this DVD!

Available from Warner Bros. Home Entertainment this month, this football-inspired title is comprises of the re-mastered, animated TV special, It's Your FIrst Kiss, Charlie Brown, in which the Peanuts gang celebrate homecoming, plus THREE football-themed episodes of The Charlie Brown and Snoopy Show. 

When our special edition dvd arrived, we were all excited to sit down and watch it! It's Your First Kiss, Charlie Brown is about homecoming season and Charlie Brown's school. The kids celebrate with a parade, a dance and of course, football! The big game, which is refereed by Snoopy, draws many spectators. Charlie Brown is the team's placekicker and Lucy is the placekick setter. The pressure to win is on but can Lucy control her urge to pull the ball away just as Charlie Brown is about to kick it? I won't give it away, you'll have to watch to find out! :)

Linus and Charlie Brown are also chosen as escorts for the homecoming queen and her court. Charlie Brown is asked to escort the queen, which happens to be a little girl Charlie Brown has been pining for his whole life! He escorts her to the dance floor and kisses her on the cheek. It is an electrifying experience and one that leaves him in a complete blur. It's a very cute episode and one our whole family really enjoyed. 

The Peanuts Deluxe Edition: Touchdown Charlie Brown also features three delightful, football inspired episodes from The Charlie Brown and Snoopy Show for nearly TWO HOURS of Peanuts and football fun! 

With the Super Bowl around the corner, this is a fun collection of episodes our family has really enjoyed. It's one we'll watch over and over again, especially this time of year! If you're looking for some Charlie Brown fun, I would recommend checking it out for yourself!

Buy It: The Peanuts Deluxe Edition: Touchdown Charlie Brown! is available on Amazon right now for just $14.96! 

I don't know about you, but I usually feel a little anxious when January rolls around. I start hearing and reading about the resolutions people have for the new year, all while I'm still working on the big goals and resolutions I made last year! 

Some resolutions are just hard to stay 100% committed to. But, instead of beating myself up, I've decided to keep my resolutions more realistic this year...being more active with the kids and unplugging from my computer/phone more are just a couple of them. 

Joovy also has a great list of 'no fail' resolutions that are easy to inject into our daily routine! They are smaller, more realistic daily resolutions that are easy to accomplish and set you up for success. YAY! You can check them out on the Joovy blog, here. 

To celebrate the New Year and these 2014 Joovy ResolutionsX2, Joovy has a great giveaway going that I'm so happy to be a part of! 

WIN IT: One very lucky person will win $600 to spend on Joovy.com!

a Rafflecopter giveaway