We can all use a few more hands
I was browsing Amazon the other day for some new accessories and came across this Bronze Infinity/Best Friend/Handcuffs Leather bracelet and fell in love with it! I already received it in the mail and I still love it! I love the blue and black and all the says and decor on it are awesome! It’s only $6.16 + Free Shipping right now!
I’m very proud to be a deputy wife and love to show my support for my husband.
During our homeschool day, we do not watch tv. I do make exceptions when there is something that I need to get done or if we just need a break from learning. I have told you in the past about why I love my Amazon Prime membership, and having wonderful and education videos available at the click of a button is awesome.
If you do not have an Amazon Prime Membership, you can go here to check it out. You’ll score a free 30 day subscription to decide if you love it or not. I love it!
Some of the benefits include:
You can find Amazon Prime movies perfect for your homeschool by searching in the Amazon Instant Video Finder, which is broken down by topics such as documentary, history, and nature. That’s the absolute easiest way. Of course, you can always search by subject as well under the Amazon Prime Instant Video section. Here are some that we have enjoyed adding to our watch list and are all free for prime members:
Yellowstone
Reading Rainbow Collection
Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood
Glory to God Alone: The Life of J.S. Bach
Wonders of God’s Creation
Nature’s Great Events
Schoolhouse Rock
America The Story of Us
The Civil War: A Film By Ken Burns
Travel with Kids
What great resources have you found on Amazon Prime Video?
It’s Monday, so time to plan out your meals for the week! I made a Meal Plan Monday printable meal planner PDF file that I uploaded so you guys can use it too! I like to put mine on the fridge so the kids know exactly what we are having and when. CLICK HERE to print it.
I haven’t been meal planning much lately and need to get back into it with our school year starting. Here’s what we are having this week:
Monday: Grilled Chicken Salads
Tuesday: Dinner with friends
Wednesday: Breakfast for dinner – Eggs, bacon, biscuits
Thursday: Spaghetti
Friday: Camping out, so hotdogs and baked beans
Saturday: Hamburgers, chips, fruit
Sunday: Rotisserie Chicken, broccoli, brown rice
What are you making this week?
Planning an allergy friendly birthday party may seem a little scary. The number of children with food allergies continues to grow every day, and while families with an allergy sufferer are well educated on how to keep their children safe, the general public always isn’t.
Whether you, your child or your child’s friend suffers from an allergy or not, it is always important to consider the possible allergic reactions that can be caused by the food we are serving at a party, and how to best make our guests aware.
One of the most common concerns for parents of children that suffer from allergies, after suffering a possible reaction, is that their child will be excluded or isolated from fun events like birthday parties because of their allergies.
Planning an allergy friendly birthday party is not difficult and allergy safe menu changes, activities and preparation can all be worked into any ideas you already have planned.
Start With the Invites
Make sure that everyone feels welcome to attend your child’s birthday party, allergy or no allergy. Include contact information for parents on every invitation and a note letting parents know that they are welcome to contact you if there are any allergy considerations that need to be made.
Have Party Activities Planned Out
If you are super organized, you may already have all the snacks, food and activities for the party planned out when the invitations go out. However, not everyone has all that figured out from the start. To make your party as allergy friendly as possible, have your party activities planned out as soon as the invites go out so that you can plan and coordinate with parents if they do call. Remember, it is not just food that can be an issue, but some crafting supplies contain popular allergens.
Provide Individual Dishware
Some allergies are so severe that even if an allergen is not eaten, but simply come in contact with, it can cause a reaction. Try to minimize this possibility as much as possible with individual dishware for each child, so that they know what is theirs. If you can’t budget for everyone to have a different color or set of their own dishware, provide something different just for any food allergic children– right down to the fork and knife they will be using.
Don’t Change, but Amend
A birthday party is a celebration of the birthday girl or boy, so it is important that you keep the activities and fun about what they enjoy to do. This can be a little more difficult if your child decides they want a food themed party– cupcake wars, pizza party with pizza making, cookie exchange or something similar– but it does not mean that you have to change the entire party. Amend, but don’t change. Ask the parent about what level of comfort they are comfortable with their child participating first, because they will be the best person to help you plan for or know the different possibilities for allergen contamination.
Allow for Safe Food
If you know upfront the allergies that you are dealing with and its limited to one or two item that can easily be cut out, an entire menu can be easily created, but remember that you need to check for hidden ingredients in condiments, sauces and batter. Otherwise, allow for safe food to be prepared with the parent’s help, or by the parents. Additionally, when it comes to serving the birthday cake, make sure there is always an option set aside for any allergy suffering guests.
By working with parents to help include, not exclude, children, you can help reduce the challenge for the parent and yourself.
Do you have any tips to add?
Wow! I had no idea that Busch Gardens offered something special for Christmas. Being a Busch Gardens ambassador this year, I’m learning a ton of new things and am super excited about returning again this year. I think we will definitely plan on taking our trip during the Christmas season! If you are interested in seeing our adventures on our last trip, click here.
Busch Gardens® Tampa’s Christmas Town™ , the Bay area’s biggest Christmas celebration, is returning this year and is now included with any annual pass, Fun Card or daily admission to the park.
“Since 2012, Busch Gardens has offered the ultimate Christmastime experience for families, and we’re excited to continue that tradition again in this year,” said Park President Jim Dean. “And with all of this Christmas fun included with any annual pass, Fun Card or daily admission, all guests receive an even greater value during their visit. We’ve created a season-long celebration unlike any other event our guests have ever seen – the kind of Christmas fun only Busch Gardens can provide.”
This year’s event will transform the park into a nighttime holiday wonderland of wintery surprises and all things Christmas, filling guests’ senses with seasonal sights, sounds and flavors. Guests can look forward to special entertainment, live music, festive treats, holiday shopping and over a million twinkling lights around every turn.
Christmas Town is open 23 select dates from Nov. 28 through Dec. 31. Guests can experience all of the Christmas celebrations throughout the day, and park closing times will range from 8pm to 9pm throughout the event. Visit ChristmasTown.com for dates, times and event details.
Christmas Town will also offer some magnificent new opportunities for groups looking to book a unique holiday party. For details, call the Busch Gardens Events Team at 813-987-5523.
Be the first to know about new events, special deals and future announcements by following the park’s blog at BuschGardensTampaBlog.com, or “Like” the Busch Gardens Facebook page, and follow @buschgardens on Twitter and Instagram.
Something that my family has always battled with has been trying to afford Christmas presents. It always seems that the holiday season arrives in the midst of chaos, leaving us scrounging around the sofa cushions trying to find money to buy presents for the 4 kids. This year, I have determined that we will not spend one cent buying Christmas presents, but that we will still have an awesome Christmas.
Already, I have over $100 in our Christmas fund from just Opinion Outpost. Opinion Outpost pays CASH for surveys that you complete. You can also refer your friends and get $2 for every friend that you refer! The money adds up quickly and painlessly!
I also am able to earn giftcards and cash from these other survey sites. My recommendation is to join all of them because when you are a member of all, you’re Christmas fund will grow a whole lot faster! Some of them, you’ll even be invited to do product studies. We’ve given our feedback and made money reviewing toothpaste, dog treats, baby wipes, fruit snacks, and more!
I am also big on Swagbucks. Swagbucks is a fantastic program. You earn swagbucks from searches that you do using Swagbucks as a search engine. I’ve earned countless Amazon giftcards, Target Giftcards, Starbucks Giftcards, and more, with little effort! Then, I wait until Target or Amazon have something fantastic on sale. You can earn more swagbucks, too, by referring your friends. When you refer someone, each swagbuck that they earn, you also earn, so your points will accumulate very fast!
When you save all year on your survey sites, buy giftcards with your swagbucks, and wait for great sales, you’ll find yourself being able to afford a lot more than you thought was possible. There’s still several months, so start today and see if you can afford a great Christmas without paying anything!
When Champions for Kids contacted me recently and their newest Simple Service project, I was really excited to help out. Champions for Kids makes it simple to give children in local communities the resources they need to thrive. Helping others does not have to come in large doses. Champions for Kids seeks to ignite generational change by fostering a ‘habit of giving’ among youth and parents in America.
Did you know that 16 million American children live in poverty? Many of these kids don’t have reliable access to the nutritious snacks that help them thrive and succeed both academically and socially. Throughout the month of August, Champions for Kids is partnering with Dole to encourage community projects across the country benefiting children in need. Called SIMPLE Service Projects, the idea is to host or organize an event to collect snack foods that you would then donate to a local organization that serves children in need, such as a food pantry, after-school program or daycare center.
One local organization that is dear to us is called Food 2 Kids Athens with the Northeast Georgia Food Bank. Food 2 Kids provides food for local children to take home Friday after school to last them through the weekend until they are back at school for breakfast Monday morning. Each month through the year, they focus on collecting one specific food item so they can build up their supply for the children through the year. August and September are peanut butter, October is ravioli (pop top cans), November is juice boxes, and December is granola bars. Everything has to be easily opened by a small child.
It’s easy to organize your own food drive! Simply gather your friends and family together and ask that everyone brings a few snacks for the food bank. You can host a family fun day! When everyone pitches in, you can gather a bunch! Figure out what organizations near you need help and what items they need. Then donate the items you have gathered. Lastly, share your project at championsforkids.org/share
We recently hosted an event and it was easy getting our guests to bring snacks to gather for the food bank! They all thought it was a great idea and it was simple to do! Now we just need to drop it off at the food bank next week!
If you’re looking for ideas of snacks to donate, Dole offers a number of terrific, portable and nutritious snacks perfect for game day, including Dole Fruit Bowls and Dole Fruit Squish’ems.
Another way to participate is to visit your participating Walmart store between August 4 – August 18 and look for the purple product display and donation bin. Choose back-to-school snacks such as Dole Fruit Squish’ems and Fruit Bowls and donate them right inside the store to help children in your local community!
I participated in this program on behalf of Champions for Kids and The Motherhood. All opinions are my own.
Even though my kids are homeschooled, we have plenty of days where they pack their lunch and have other outings. I love leaving my kids a little note to let them know that I thought of them while I packed their lunch. I had my sister in law over at Pardon the Mess design some printable lunch box notes that I can stick in their lunches and I’m also offering it up as a free printable for you guys!
Click on the photo below to grab your free download.
This download is for personal use only and not to be sold.
I recieved a complimentary ticket through the travel campaign with New Creative Media. All opinions expressed are 100% my own. Any additional expenses incurred were my own.
I am at the last leg of the Wyndham Weekend posts. Our final stop was visiting one of our favorite places, The World of Coca-Cola. This is always one of our favorite places in Atlanta to visit. I love watching the movie and seeing all the antique coke items! The World of Coca-Cola has recently changed their new movie, and let me tell you, it brought tears to my eyes! It’s so sweet!
From the movie, we went on to meet the Polar Bear and to venture through all the coke exhibits. Then on to our favorite part! The tasting room! There are over 100 products to choose from! My favorite one is an apple flavored drink and I cannot remember what the name of it is or which country. Sooo good! And everyone has to try Beverly once! Then never again 😉
My little girls enjoyed tasting coke from all over the world! They enjoyed almost everything they tried.
We weren’t able to stay long due to time constraints, but we still had a blast. We sat on the American Idol couch and played with some of the interactive computers. On the way out, you’re given a glass bottle of freshly bottled Coke to bring home. Then you get to walk through the enormous gift shop filled with anything and everything imaginable! Next time we will plan for more time so we can visit the 4d theatre and browse some more!
For more information, visit the World of Coca-Cola Website, Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.
I recieved a complimentary meal through the travel campaign with New Creative Media. All opinions expressed are 100% my own. Any additional expenses incurred were my own.
Another place we visited while we were on our Wyndham Weekend, was No Mas! Hacienda & Cantina in Atlanta. Not only do they have a beautiful restaurant, they also have shops and a little bakery as well! When you first step in, it seems like you’ve stepped right into Mexico. Their concept combines the Cantina Restaurant serving classic Mexican favorites & house specialties, and the Hacienda Showroom with an amazing collection of artistic creations from over 350 artisans in Mexico. I think I could have stayed in the shop forever! So many interesting pieces to look at!
The food was great and presented beautifully. Everything had loads of flavor and tasted like authentic Mexican food. I absolutely LOVED my fajitas and my husband enjoyed his swordfish platter. The only concern we had was the size of the children’s meals. It was tiny. The quesidilla was simply that – 2 little pieces of quesidilla and that’s it. My 3 and 5 year olds were okay with it and also munched off our plates, but if we had brought our big kids, they would have been starving. 
I loved the chips and salsa. We couldn’t quite figure out what all was in the salsa, but it was sooo good!
If you go by No Mas Cantina, be sure to save room for the desert! We got the brownie sundae that had a little spicy chocolate sauce. I’m sorry, I can’t remember the name of it, but it was sooo good!
Thanks again to No Mas Hacienda & Cantina for hosting the Wyndham Weekends bloggers for the evening. We had a great time and service was fantastic.
For more information or for reservations, visit the No Mas Cantina website, Facebook, or Twitter.
