Food Fun Family

Get Ready for College with Seventeen: College Goals

Lolli — Fri, 18 May 2018 04:01:35 +0000

Bluestreak Books sent me a copy of Seventeen: College Goals AND is providing a prize pack for one of my lucky readers! Affiliate links are used within this post.

I thought potty training was hard. The toddler struggles have NOTHING on dealing with growing teens. Teaching them how to drive, surviving SATs, preparing them for high school graduation, helping them with college applications, and finding their first apartment away from home.

Two down (almost).

Three to go.

My second daughter graduated from high school last year and has been attending community college locally while she worked as a nanny. She’s currently apartment hunting out west as she prepares to move out and continue her education (and her social life) in a different state.

My oldest son is 17 and finishing up his junior year of high school, which means that things are going to get REALLY busy around our house. Again.

When Seventeen: College Goals came in the mail, my 18-year-old immediately said, “where was this a year ago? I could have used this then!” However, as she flipped through the pages, she found so much helpful information. We both agreed that this would be the perfect book to give to a girl starting her junior year of high school. There are so many things that my kids weren’t thinking about that early in their high school careers, but I can attest that things like SATs and college applications sneak up on you FAST. It never hurts to start thinking and planning early.

About the Book

The only thing standing between you and that college life is figuring out where you might want to go, completing your applications, writing a killer essay, scoring solid test scores, shining in your activities, getting glowing recommendations, and . . . okay, that’s a lot. But even though being accepted into college can seem big and overwhelming, it doesn’t have to be.

That’s where Seventeen: College Goals comes in. This stress-free guide—part-planner, part-journal—will help walk you through the step-by-step process of applying to colleges. There are pages filled with practical cheat sheets, handy life hacks, thoughtful tips, fun quizzes, inspiring quotes from your favorite celebs and leaders, and prompts that will push you to self-reflect. (After all, that’s what college essays are all about!) This way, you can freak out less about if you’ll get in, and actually start thinking about which school’s offer you’re going to accept.

Seventeen: College Goals – An Insider’s Guide to Finding and Getting Into A School You’ll Love

By the Editors of Seventeen Magazine

In Stores April 10, 2018

Published by Bluestreak Books, an imprint of Weldon Owen

Do you have a son or daughter heading to college in the next few years? Then this is the book for you! And good news – one of my readers is going to WIN a copy (plus a fun little Visa gift card too!).

“REWARD THE WORK” Giveaway

Getting ready for college is a lot of work! One Food Fun Family (1) winner will receive:

Copy of Seventeen: College Goals
plus a $50 Visa gift card

Giveaway open to US addresses only. Prizing and samples provided by Bluestreak Books. Giveaway ends June 1, 2018 at 11:59pm ET, after which a winner will be chosen at random and notified via email. Good luck!

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Follow Bluestreak Books on Twitter | Instagram

Follow Weldon Owen on Twitter | Facebook | Instagram

Learn more about the book at WeldonOwen.com

Buy the book on Amazon

Creation Crate Technology-Based Subscription Box

Lolli — Wed, 22 Nov 2017 22:04:30 +0000

I received a 3-month subscription to Creation Crate for my 12-year-old son to try out. He fell in love! All thoughts and opinions are our own.

My youngest son is what you’d call a Maker Kid. He was always more interested in taking apart the old VCR to see how it worked than he was interested in typical toys. Instead of coloring, he would create complex, working tools and games with paper. He started learning computer programing (and doing it for fun) while he was still in elementary school.

So when I was introduced to Creation Crate at the beginning of this Fall, I knew that it was the perfect product for him.

What is Creation Crate?

Creation Crate is a educational technology-based subscription box for kids 12 and up. The teacher-designed curriculum uses raw electronic components to give kids hands-on programming experience. Each monthly project builds on the concepts taught in the previous month’s box, and each project increases in difficulty, so that by the end of the 12- or 24-month curriculum, students are “fluent in the language of technology.”

After completing a year’s worth of projects, participants will have more hands on programming experience than 99% of current college level computer science students.

And the best part? They’ll have fun while learning computer programming! I haven’t found other interactive, educational subscription boxes geared towards kids in middle and high school; Creation Crate definitely fills a void, and is perfect for older kids!

Check out AJ’s first impression of Creation Crate as he opened his very first box:

I let AJ go to town and see what he could figure out on his own, and found that the instructions provided with the kits was sufficient for him to get everything set up. I loved that they weren’t 5 minute projects, but that he really did need to think. He also needed to go back and fix things a few times (which is the best way to learn!).

The other great sign for me was that he was eagerly excited to open the second and third month’s boxes and get started on them right away!

Creation Crate Curriculum

Here’s what you’ll get in your Creation Crate box each month. There are new projects every month, and each projects builds on the last:

Month 1: Mood Lamp
Month 2: Memory Game
Month 3: Distance Detector
Month 4: LED Dice Game
Month 5: Optical Theremin
Month 6: 2-Player Reflex Game

Check out what else you can expect from your Creation Crate subscription here.

Do you have a Maker in your like that would love a Creation Crate subscription for the holidays? AJ and I highly recommend trying Creation Crate – and what better time of year to get started?!

It’s Time to Get Your Game On for Back-to-School

Lolli — Thu, 17 Aug 2017 17:00:24 +0000

This post is sponsored by Kohl’s. I received the included back to school clothes and essentials as compensation.

I remember as a kid that I LOVED back-to-school shopping. I was the one time of the year (and often the ONLY time) when I could count on getting a few new outfits. I loved trying on new clothes and finding pants and shirts and shoes that were stylish, crisp, colorful and new.

Starting off that first day of school with a new outfit made me feel more confident and more ready to tackle the new year.

Now I’m on the other end of the back-to-school shopping spectrum, as a mom with 4 kids living at home (and teenagers at that!!). Let’s just say that back-to-school shopping is often NOT on my list of “fun things I am looking forward to doing.”

I love shopping for myself. Browsing the racks of clothes and trying on new styles is still as exciting as ever. But taking four kids out shopping and finding things they like (and I like, equally)? That can be a different story!

I decided to bite the bullet this back-to-school season and knock all of the school clothes shopping out in one trip to Kohl’s. What was I thinking? Taking four teenagers out to shop for clothes….two girls and two boys, all shopping in different departments?

Yes, it was a big undertaking, but we scored some amazing deals at Kohl’s and came home with outfits for each of the kids that they can wear during the first week of school and throughout the school year. And you know what? I actually had fun!

And now my kids are ready to tackle their new year of school, with both of my girls heading to new schools this year (one starting high school, and the other starting college!). They definitely have their “game face” ready to make a great first impression.

Our favorite deals? We loved all of the “two-for” shirt deals! Everyone scored some graphic tees for a great price. It was fun to see which styles “spoke” to each of the kids. I loved that I was happy with each of the things that they picked out, too!

The boys were in desperate need of some new jeans (because boys grow SO fast!) and we were thrilled to find jeans that were a great price and fit. And take my word for it…the boys are not always the easiest shoppers to please!

After we got home, I asked each of the kids to pick out their favorite outfit to take some back-to-school pictures. They definitely don’t want to wait til the first day of school to start enjoying their haul from Kohl’s…and I don’t blame them!

Are you getting ready to do some back-to-school shopping with your kids, too?

Check out Kohl’s Friends and Family Sale from August 17th-20th. Be sure to score 20% off using code SAVER at check out. You can also get $10 off any $50 kids clothing purchase between August 4-20 using promo code BTS10!

Check out the back to school selection here: https://www.kohls.com/sale-event/school.jsp and here: https://www.kohls.com/sale-event/kids-clothing.jsp

What is on your must-have back-to-school list?

My blog may contain links to other websites. I am not responsible for the privacy policies of those other websites. When you click on a link, your information may be collected by those websites so I encourage you to read their privacy policies.
Affiliate links are not associated with Kohl’s.

5 Tips to Be Ready for Back-To-School Season

Lolli — Tue, 15 Aug 2017 03:57:07 +0000

It’s back-to-school season already! Although my kids still have a few weeks left of summer, I know school will be back in session before I know it, and that means a huge adjustment in our schedule. This post is sponsored by Harris Teeter, but all thoughts and opinions are my own.

As much as I love the lazy days of summer (Who are we kidding? Summer is a ton of work for us parents!) I admit that I do look forward to the start of a new school year. By the end of the summer, I can tell that the kids are craving routine, even if they THINK what they want is late mornings sleeping in.

We love school, but the adjustment can be tough. I’ve pulled together a handful of helpful tips to make the back-to-school transition smooth and enjoyable, with a little help (and a shopping trip or two) from Harris Teeter.

5 Tips to Be Ready for Back-To-School Season

Plan meals ahead of time – Nothing puts a wrench in the evening like not knowing what we’re going to eat for dinner. It only takes 5 or 10 minutes at the beginning of each week to jot down a quick list of meals that we’re going to eat throughout the week, and then make a shopping list for the necessary items. But it saves a ton of time (and most importantly, headache!) in the long run because we don’t have to think about the classic (and never-ending) question, “What’s for dinner?” I love taking my shopping list to my local Harris Teeter, where I can get private label products for a low price everyday. Harris Teeter has recently lowered everyday prices on a ton of their private label products, many of which are pantry staples.

Make breakfast quick and easy – Whether your kids are old enough to serve themselves breakfast in the morning or not, having a few quick and easy breakfast options is one of the ways that we make our mornings go much more smoothly. I love a hot, cooked breakfast as much as the next person, but I don’t often have the time to cook one every morning. And that’s ok! Having quick and easy-to-prepare breakfast encourages the kids (especially the teens) to eat something before school every day versus skipping breakfast.

Set up a lunch/snack station – Just like the easy-to-prepare breakfast, our family believes in easy-to-prepare lunches! We have sandwich fixings together on the shelf so that sandwich prep is smooth, and all of the lunch snacks, like fruit cups and granola bars, are in a quick-access drawer. Preparing their school lunch is as easy as grabbing a few items from the lunch drawer and sticking it in their backpack. We are stocking up on low-priced Harris Teeter private label items for our lunch boxes.

One of our favorite after-school snacks!

Create a homework station – After school, the kids always need a snack and a short mental break, but that is followed quickly by homework time! The longer my kids are in school, the longer their homework takes! The easiest way we’ve found to stay on task when it’s homework time is to have a homework “station” in a central location, like the kitchen, that is stocked with pencils, erasers, calculators, good seating and lighting. It’s important that we keep the homework area distraction-free (which is tough when their homework has to be done on the computer!).

What are some of your best tips for adjusting to back-to-school season?

Did you know about Harris Teeter’s Together in Education program? It’s simple! When you purchase HT private label items, your local school of choice can earn money. Harris Teeter has donated over $25 million to Together In Education schools since 1998! Find out more about the program here.

Post a weekly schedule – We’re a family of seven (with 6 of us currently at home), which means a ton of moving parts. Heading back to school means starting fall sports and other after-school activities. Adjusting to a new schedule can be rough, but posting the calendar with all of the family’s activities and commitments helps keep everything running smoothly.

About Harris Teeter: Harris Teeter Supermarkets, Inc. is an American supermarket chain based in Matthews, North Carolina, just outside Charlotte. As of January 2017, the chain operates 243 stores in seven states: North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia, Georgia, Florida, Delaware, Maryland and Washington D.C.

The Harris Teeter, Your Plus Guarantee applies to all private label items: “Our goal is to keep you satisfied! If you are not 100% satisfied with this product, simply return it for a full refund. Plus we will replace it with a like item of your choice.” Harris Teeter Private Label items are priced lower than other grocer’s private label items, which means that you get a great quality for a low price.

Connect with Harris Teeter

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/harristeeter/
Twitter: @HarrisTeeter
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/harristeeter/
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/MyHarrisTeeter
Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/harristeeter/

Enter to WIN a Harris Teeter Gift Card

We’re giving away a $50 gift card to one (1) lucky winner. Enter below:

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Care For Your School With Box Tops for Education

Lolli — Thu, 03 Aug 2017 16:30:28 +0000

This is a sponsored post with compensation received from General Mills. As always, all opinions are my own.

Mom confession time: I am the mom who will dig through the recycling bin to snip off any Box Tops for Education that my family has missed. I’ve even been known to sneak a few Box Tops out of the neighbors’ recycle bins before they’re taken away. We even have Grandma collect them for us out of state, and I’ll pack plastic baggies full of Box Tops in my luggage after visiting her.

Box Tops are pretty amazing, if you ask me! I shop for the stuff I would normally buy, and the kids’ school gets 10 cents per Box Tops. It couldn’t be easier!

Box Tops are kind of a big deal in our house.

I’m still in denial that Back to School season is almost here. Didn’t we just start summer break?? There’s no use denying it or trying to avoid the inevitable. School will be back in session before we know it, which means back to school shopping and preparation time is NOW. That means stocking up on school supplies and filling the snack drawers in the kitchen with plenty of goodies for the kids’ lunches.

The Power of Box Tops

What makes Box Tops so incredible? Box Tops for Education helps schools do more for the KIDS. They can help provide more books and academic resources for students; they can help kids be more active with additional gym or playground equipment; they can help fund field trips or field days at school. There are so many ways that Box Tops help parents care for their school and the children it serves.

Did you know that you can search for collection drives from your child’s school, a school in your area, or just find a drive that resonates with you? Check out all of the options here: https://www.boxtops4education.com/clipboard Even though my kids are in middle and high school, I found our kids’ elementary school on the list, and love that they’re gathering Box Tops to help kids attend field trips. But if you’re like us and have kids in middle school or high school, you can still collect Box Tops!

CVS Extra Bucks Offer

While you’re out back to school shopping with your kids this month, be sure to stop by your local CVS. CVS is making it easier than ever to care for your family AND your classroom with everything you need to keep your kids focused, active, and prepared for the new school year. When you shop Box Top items at CVS this back to school season, you help supply schools with the equipment and tools they need to support each and every student!

Special Offer! CVS Extra Bucks Offer (8/20-8/27): Spend $30 on participating Box Tops products, get $10 ExtraBucks reward. So not only are you getting valuable Box Tops for your kids’ school, but you’re saving money on items for your family, too. We like loading up on cereals (my kids eat a TON of cereal!) and lunch box snacks like Mott’s fruit snacks or Fiber One bars.

What are your favorite products to stock up on to collect Box Tops? Is your school listed on the Box Tops site?

Connect with CVS and Box Tops for Education

Be sure to stay connected with Box Tops for Education on the web and social media!

Website: https://www.cvssavingscentral.com/shop-assets/04_GMS_H9273_GenMillsBTS/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/btfe/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/BoxTopsForEducation
Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/boxtops/pins/

*Offer valid 8/20/17 – 8/27/17. $30 worth of participating General Mills BTFE products must be purchased in a single transaction with CVS card in order to receive 10 CVS ExtraBucks automatically at checkout. Net purchase determined after all discounts, offers and coupons. Each box top is worth 10 cents to redeeming school when clipped from box tops products and sent to the redeeming school. Only BTFE registered schools can redeem box tops. Limit $20,000 per school per year for box tops redeemed through the clip program. See www.boxtopsforeducation.com for program details.

Prom and Graduation Season: Communication is Key

Lolli — Wed, 03 May 2017 13:59:37 +0000

This is a sponsored blog post and I was compensated by Anheuser-Busch to be part of the Family Talk About Drinking Program. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Recently, my husband and I celebrated our 22nd wedding anniversary. Our oldest daughter celebrated her first anniversary the week before. We have one daughter graduating from high school next month and a son who is learning to drive and is active on his high school cross country and lacrosse teams. Both of my high school aged kids are attending prom this year. You could say that we are well-seasoned parents by this point!

Unfortunately, “well-seasoned” doesn’t mean that I know everything, nor does it mean that parenting is any easier than it was for me 20 years ago.

When the kids were little, I thought that the physical aspect of managing a family of seven was tough, but I never imagined how tricky it would get when they all became teenagers. Now that the kids are older, parenting is much more of an emotional and mental challenge, and the physical aspect of my role as a mom has shifted from hefting heavy toddlers around on my hip and playing with blocks on the ground to spending hours in the car dropping off and picking up for their various activities.

The Tale of Two Proms

Last month, my 16-year-old son was unexpectedly asked to prom (not at his school) by a friend that he’s known for several years. He was instantly excited about the prospects of attending prom – he’s a very social kid and loves to dance.

His older sister, who will be graduating this year, hadn’t shown any signs of wanting to attend her prom…until she was called down to the office about a week ago. She was chosen to attend a special Say Yes to the Prom event, and the next day she came home with a fancy prom dress, shoes, accessories, shawls, and lots of goodies to make her hair look fabulous for the prom.

A few days later, she asked a friend from school to be her date to her high school prom. He said yes, and so plans are in the works for the two of them to go.

Setting Expectations Early

We’ve been very clear about our family expectations and values when it comes to drinking and other similar topics since the kids were little, so bringing up the issue of prom and alcohol was not a new or surprising topic for us to discuss with the kids. Our kids know that we have a firm no drinking policy; there’s no gray area.

We’ve always armed our kids with information and tools that they can use when they find themselves in situations with their peers. When they know what their answer will be when they’re offered alcohol at a party, it’s a lot easier to answer with a quick and firm “no thanks.”

Keeping The Lines of Communication Open

It’s not enough to set the ground rules once and never mention them again. Gentle reminders and thoughtful discussions before they head off to a get together with friends or to a bigger event like the prom are important for keeping them prepared. We’ve found that bringing up a variety of scenarios that they might not have thought about before helps strike up a productive conversation.

As my kids have gotten older, I’ve found that the best conversations with my kids happen naturally, so it’s important for me to “set the stage” for those conversations to happen. Those long afternoons in the car, text messaging, lounging around on a Sunday afternoon, cooking dinner – they’re all great times to start talking together.

3 Communication Strategies for Prom and Grad Season

Family Talk About Drinking, in partnership with parent coach MJ Corcoran, has come up with three communication strategies for prom and graduation season. This is an important topic all year long, but can be especially important around prom and graduation season. It’s this time of year when teens often find themselves in an increased number of situations where underage drinking may be a concern.

Face-to-face communication

I loved the tips in this section – not only should parents find opportunities to talk with their kids face to face, but we should match our teen’s stance. Sit if they’re sitting, stand if they’re standing. “Recognition that they’re listening is important, but eye contact can actually be intimidating to teens and make them feel frustrated.”

The power of place

Some of the best places to have conversations are seemingly unconventional – long car rides and hikes are just two examples. Starting conversations on a lighter note (versus a serious “we need to have a talk” sit-down discussion) can help foster an open, productive conversation.

Communication variety

Although face-to-face conversations are important, it can also be productive to communicate with your teens using their preferred medium – texting, social media, or messaging apps on their phone. Any connection, especially when it feels and happens naturally, is a step in the right direction.

Asking the right questions is also key. Questions like these really get them thinking: “What will you do if your prom date shows up with a bottle of alcohol?” or “What do you think you’d do if you noticed a friend had been drinking at a party and was getting ready to drive himself home?”

What methods have you found that have worked well for communicating with your teenagers? Please add your tips in the comment section below!

About Family Talk About Drinking

Family Talk About Drinking provides support, tools and insights for parents aiming to develop stronger relationships with their children and prevent underage drinking. For more tools and ideas for talking to your kids about drinking at any age, visit the Family Talk About Drinking Website.

Connect with Family Talk About Drinking

Family Talk About Drinking Website

Twitter: https://twitter.com/ABFamilyTalk

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ABFamilyTalk

Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PZKfMmqhQrM

Fight the Summer Slide with Summer Brain Quest Workbooks

Lolli — Wed, 12 Apr 2017 15:17:25 +0000

Summer Brain Quest prizing and samples, along with blog sponsorship, were provided by Workman Publishing. All thoughts are my own.

We’re in the middle of Spring Break, which for me as a parent is like a sneak peek of what summer break is going to be. It’s SO hard to keep kids from wanting to sit on the couch playing on their devices all day. I know I’m not the only mom who worries about the dreaded Summer Slide. It’s hard enough to keep my kids on task during the school year, but during the summer it’s nearly impossible for them to stay in “learning mode.” I worry each fall when they start a new school year that they will have forgotten everything!

Did you know that most students lose about two months of grade level equivalency in math, and many also lose reading achievement, during the summer? That’s kind of scary! Imagine how much further ahead kids would be if they didn’t have to keep re-learning the same things that they learned last year?

The brand new Summer Brain Quest workbooks, available April 18, are perfect for keeping kids learning throughout the summer and prepared for the new school year. The best thing about the Summer Brain Quest books is that they make learning FUN and engaging for kids, and kids actually WANT to pick them up to read through them and fill them out.

There are size Summer Brain Quest books: For kids between K-1, 1-2, 2-3, 3-4, 4-5, and 5-6. Each book includes over 150 full-color pages of learning activities, a foldout summer progress map, over 150 stickers and a thorough answer key to check answers.

Each grade level book includes topics in math, English language arts, social studies, and science. The topics align with Common Core standards and, of course, they’re age appropriate. The Summer Brain Quest workbooks are effective new tools for parents, homeschoolers, tutors, and teachers alike. I wish I’d had these books for my kids when they were in elementary school! Luckily (for my friends, at least!) I’ve got friends with kids in elementary school so even though my kids are a little too old for the books, they’ll be well-loved and utilized.

More about Summer Brain Quest:

SUMMER BRAIN QUEST is notable because it offers a one-of-a-kind learning experience that delivers personalized learning for every type of kid. Personalized learning is an educational method where exercises are tailored to each child’s strengths, needs and interests. Our goal was to empower kids to have a voice in what and how they learn, while ensuring they get enough practice of the fundamentals. It achieves this through our interactive format.

SUMMER BRAIN QUEST is structured like a game; each book includes a pull-out map that guides kids on a learning quest. They fill in their route on the map by earning stickers for completing workbook pages as well as pursuing outdoor activities. The map offers a choice of routes, allowing kids to customize their learning path and pursue what excites them most (extra math problems? more hands-on science?), and also encouraging them to jump around within the book to follow their curiosity.

Original artwork by video game artist Edison Yan makes every book feel fresh and fun. These are the most visually appealing books in the market.

Summer Brain Quest workbooks are available for pre-order on Amazon.

WIN a Summer Brain Quest Prize Pack!

One lucky winner will receive a Summer Brain Quest prize pack with everything listed below! Just enter on the giveaway widget! Giveaway ends 4/25/2017, after which a winner will be selected at random and notified via email. Prizing and samples provided by Workman Publishing. Giveaway open to US addresses only.

One (1) winner receives:

Complete set of 6 Summer Brain Quest workbooks (grades K-6)
Branded colored pencils
Branded Frisbee
Branded swim goggles
Branded drawstring backpack

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Connect with Workman Publishing

Learn More at the Official Site
Visit the Workman Blog
Follow @WorkmanPub on Twitter, Instagram, and Pinterest
Like @WorkmanPublishing on Facebook
#BrainQuest

How to Get the Most Out of Children’s Books {Good Night, Baby Animals, You’ve Had a Busy Day}

Jody — Mon, 06 Mar 2017 18:23:48 +0000

This post is brought to you by Karen B. Winnick and her new book, Good Night, Baby Animals, You’ve Had a Busy Day. All thoughts are my own.

My 5-year-old has had a busy year in Kindergarten. Her reading skills are developing – she can identify a lot of sight words and is working on decoding words using clues from the photos combined with sounding out the letters. She loves to practice every chance she gets so we were delighted to get a chance to review Good Night, Baby Animals, You’ve Had a Busy Day by Karen B. Winnick, a collection of six original stories.

This picture book is recommended for 2 to 5-year-olds, and while I think it is perfect for toddlers, my kindergartener loved this book as well! It covers the antics of six animals-elephants, tigers, giraffes, rhinoceros, pandas, and gorillas right up into bedtime rituals. The language is rhyming, repetitive and fun: “poof poof,” “run, run,” etc…

While my little one expected to just flip through the pictures, she was delighted to find many of the sight words she is working on daily throughout the text and was able to phonetically sound out many words.

Throughout the book it also introduces new words that are great for expanding your child’s vocabulary. Words like rumbles, snaps, spindly, shoots, squints are peppered throughout, and my eager learner wanted to know what everyone meant!

The illustrations, by Laura Watkins, are soft and sweet, the perfect complement to Karen B. Winnick’s text. We love soaking up the sweet animal artwork from cover to cover.

While books are a tool that can be used from sunrise to sunset, I loved this book for bedtime. The repetition of the animals getting ready to settle down from their busy day was the perfect mirror to our own rituals and made for a nice snuggle-on-the-couch after bath time. While my 8-year-old is a little older for this book he still snuggled up for a bedtime read too and enjoyed the book as well.

I keep a variety of picture books on the bookshelves and in baskets to encourage the kids to pick them up but to get the most out of our picture books we use them several ways…

How to Get the Most out of Children’s Books

Read together – There are so many times throughout the day that are perfect for reading together. At bedtime, day time napsy (oh how I miss those naps!), and when we both need a calming down period.

Read independently – I encourage the kids to grab a book and look through the pages or read it to themselves as best they can, as often as they can. You might be surprised what your eager little learner is able to read more than you’d expect.

Read and re-enact – We have quite a collection of little plastic animals, people, birds, bugs, etc.. and they get put to good use often! When I introduce a new book or after we have read it a few times, I like to offer her some props from the book for imaginative play. In the case of Good Night, Baby Animals, You’ve Had a Busy Day, she put baby gorillas, giraffes, tigers, and pandas to bed as we read.

If you have a little who enjoys books, reading, or animals Good Night, Baby Animals, You’ve Had a Busy Day is a great addition to your collection. I’m thinking of picking up several copies to use as shower gifts, too. As an avid reader myself I love helping to start the libraries of new babies!

About the Author:

Karen B. Winnick is the author and illustrator of How Lucky Got His Shoe, Gemina, the Crooked-Neck Giraffe, Hank, the Ballpark Pup, Mr. Lincoln’s Whiskers, and Sybil’s Night Ride. She is President of the Los Angeles Zoo Commission.

Good Night, Baby Animals, You’ve Had a Busy Day is illustrated by Laura Watkins.

Check out some fun games, printables and coloring books related to the book.

Banana Bran Muffins – After-School Fuel #BigFatNotebooks

Lolli — Wed, 05 Oct 2016 13:00:27 +0000

This delicious after-school study snack recipe for Banana Bran Muffins is inspired by the Big Fat Notebook series and brought to you in partnership with @WorkmanPub. All thoughts are my own; affiliate links are used to link to the books on Amazon.

We’re more than a month deep into the new school year, and I think we’re pretty nicely settled into our school-year routines. I’m still not used to not having any kids in elementary school, but so far the kids are all thriving where they are, so I can’t complain.

Before the kids headed back to school this year, I introduced you to an invaluable resource for middle school students – The Big Fat Notebooks (I’ve got TWO kids in middle school this year, so I’m a good judge of middle school resources!).

I’m also a good judge of middle school appetites. Holy cow, do these kids come home hungry! I’ve learned that I’d better have some decent snacks available for them when they get home from school in the afternoon or else they’ll end up making themselves dinner at 4pm (I’m not exaggerating. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve caught the kids making themselves a mini dinner right an hour before we’re supposed to eat dinner as a family).

If you’re a parent of a middle school student, you get the struggle. Before I get to the recipe for the perfect study-time snack, let me remind you about the Big Fat Notebooks >>

About the Books in the Big Fat Notebooks Series for #MiddleSchool Students

The Big Fat Notebook series is built on a unique concept – borrowing the class notes from the smartest kid in class. Inside each book, you’ll find key concepts from each of the main subjects middle school students study – Math, Science, American History, English Language Arts, and World History. These books are engaging to look through and are fun to read just for the heck of it. But they’re also full of helpful resources that middle school students can refer back to again and again throughout the year.

Everything You Need to Ace Math . . . covers everything to get you over any math hump: fractions, decimals, and how to multiply and divide them; ratios, proportions, and percentages; geometry; statistics and probability; expressions and equations; and the coordinate plane and functions.

Everything You Need to Ace Science . . . takes readers from scientific investigation and the engineering design process to the Periodic Table; forces and motion; forms of energy; outer space and the solar system; to earth sciences, biology, body systems, ecology, and more.

Everything You Need to Ace American History . . . covers Native Americans to the war in Iraq. There are units on Colonial America; the Revolutionary War and the founding of a new nation; Jefferson and the expansion west; the Civil War and Reconstruction; and all of the notable events of the 20th century—World Wars, the Depression, the Civil Rights movement, and much more.

Everything You Need to Ace World History . . . kicks off with the Paleolithic Era and transports the reader to ancient civilizations—in Egypt, Greece, India, China, Africa, Rome; the middle ages across the world; the Renaissance; the age of exploration and colonialization, revolution and imperialism, and the modern world and the wars and movements that shaped it.

Everything You Need to Ace English Language Arts . . . covers everything to get you your best marks: grammar, including parts of speech, active and passive verbs, Greek and Latin roots and affixes; nuances in word meanings; textual analysis, authorship, structure, and other skills for reading fiction and nonfiction; and writing arguments, informative texts, and narratives.

Banana Bran Muffins

I got this simple recipe for banana bran muffins from my sister, and I modified the process to make them the easiest, quickest from-scratch muffins you’ll ever make. Just throw everything in the blender, blend it all up, and pour into muffin cups! They are the perfect after-school snack (or grab-and-go breakfast, for that matter!) and they are always a hit.

Yum

Banana Bran Muffins

Ingredients

1 cup All-Bran cereal
1 egg
3/4 cup milk
3 Tbsp vegetable oil
2 medium bananas
1 1/4 cup flour
1/2 cup sugar
3 tsp baking powder
1 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/4 tsp salt

Instructions

Heat oven to 400°F. Line muffin cups with paper liners.
Add all ingredients to a blender and blend until smooth.
Divide batter equally between 12 muffin cups.
Bake 20-25 minutes, until golden brown and cooked through. Cool and enjoy!
These muffins freeze well.

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BONUS: Free Helpful Printables

Enjoy these totally free printables that go along with the Big Fat Notebook series. Click an image to see the full sized image. Enjoy!

Ancient Egypt Timeline

Thinking Like a Scientist

How to Take Great Notes

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FOLLOW @WORKMANPUB & Big Fat Notebooks

Healthy Back-to-School Lunch Tips

Lolli — Fri, 26 Aug 2016 11:00:29 +0000

Disclosure: I’m proud to partner with CVS Pharmacy on this post for the CVS healthy foods line. All opinions expressed are my own, and all product claims or program details shared should be verified at CVS.com or with the appropriate manufacturers.

As much as we *may* have complained a time or two during the last few months about the hectic schedule (or non-schedule) of summer break, the fact that we are transitioning to back-to-school next week is still shocking. Alarm clocks and backpacks. Homework and after-school practices. Picking out clothes and packing school lunches….every single morning.

Back-to-school season can be tough, especially with kids in multiple schools with different start times and sports, clubs, and music classes that cover nearly every night of the week. It’s a lot to get used to.

We embrace back-to-school time, despite the fact that managing the family’s schedule is a lot for a busy working mom like me to handle. Luckily, my kids are old enough to take care of certain tasks on their own – or at least help out. One of the areas that I’ve delegated to the kids for the last few years is preparing their daily school lunches.

One thing I realized when we started having the kids get their own lunches ready was that I needed to have a good assortment of healthy food options for them to take or they would end up filling their lunch bag with crackers and cookies and a package of fruit snacks and call it good. Although lunch-prep at our house is far from “picture-perfect,” we’ve made a lot of progress and I think we’re doing a pretty good job at packing healthy school lunches.

CVS surprised us with a box full of healthy snacks for the new school year. The kids couldn’t wait to dig in!

Here are a few of our tips for packing a healthy school lunch:

Make snack stations

We’ve got 2 “snack stations” in the kitchen: one in the pantry for dry foods and one in the refrigerator for fresh foods. I fill those stations with “grab-and-go” type foods that the kids can put in their lunches. Things like fruit, cheese sticks, yogurt cups, carrots and hummus, cut celery, etc are in the fridge and placed in small baggies, if necessary, so that the kids can grab a serving in a pinch without having to worry about getting out the knife and cutting board. The pantry has a basket or two of things like pre-made muffins, granola bars, nuts, dried fruits, crackers, beef jerky, etc. Again, we leave individual portions in ziploc bags so they’re easy to grab on the run.

Variety rocks!

We’ve stressed the importance of adding a variety of foods to their lunch box so that they don’t end up with too much “fluff” and not enough of the good stuff that will sustain them through the school day. Not all of my kids like sandwiches, so we’ve given them some options for sandwich “substitutes.” If they love crackers, then we have them add sliced cheese and deli meats to make homemade Lunchables. High-protein snacks like nuts mixes, cheeses, beef jerky, and yogurt are also encouraged as main lunch courses, as long as they have a variety of other foods, too, like a piece of fruit.

Pack the night before

Although packing lunch the night before will not make the contents any better for the kids, it sure does make the morning routine go a lot more smooth. Plus preparing ahead of time, without the time crunch, eliminates the rushed “throw-anything-in-the-lunch-bag” problem…or worse yet, the “oops!-I-forgot-to-pack-a-lunch” dilemma as they’re trying to get out the door. Any lunch is better than no lunch!

Stock the kitchen with things they love

We have found success with buying a variety of foods for the kids to try before “committing.” The foods that pass the test are added to our regular rotation. There’s no use in stocking the shelves with foods that the kids will never touch (or worse yet, bring to school and throw away, uneaten!).

Since I’m typically busy working every minute that the kids are at school and then busy driving them from home to practices and back again, making dinner, or helping with homework when they’re not in school, I don’t have a lot of extra time to run around town to shop. Luckily, CVS is always on the way to wherever we’re going, so it’s convenient to stop at CVS to grab snacks for the kids’ school lunches.

This is just a small sampling of the delicious, good-for-you food that you can get at CVS for school lunches!

Here are just a few ways that CVS is helping my family meet our healthier school lunch goals:

Adding more healthy foods: You can find more than 250 refrigerated and non-perishable healthy foods and beverages at CVS Pharmacy stores from brands including: Amy’s Kitchen, Annie’s Homegrown, Chobani, Vita CoCo, Bai, Krave Jerky, Rhythm Superfoods, That’s it bars as well as new products from the CVS Pharmacy exclusive line, Gold Emblem abound which is free from artificial preservatives, flavors and colors.
Moving healthy foods forward: Not only are CVS stores stocking a wide assortment of healthy foods (with more coming all the time), displays of healthy foods and grab-and-go snacks are being displayed more prominently, making it even more convenient to find healthy options. That includes roughly 25% of the front check out space being dedicated to better-for-you snacks like KIND bars, Larabars and Vega One bars.
Healthy eating trend zones: It will be easy to spot foods that meet your dietary preferences including paleo, raw and vegan as more and more diet-friendly products are added and displayed clearly in the store.
Fit Choices tagging program: CVS’s Fit Choices shelf tagging program makes finding healthier items in store so much easier by clearly identifying foods that fit nutritional and dietary preferences including: Good Source of Protein, Heart Healthy, Gluten Free, Sugar Free, Organic and Non-GMO Project Verified. It’s so helpful to scan products for my personal preferences.

Be sure to check out your local CVS Pharmacy to see the healthy options that are available, or visit CVS.com for ideas that will make lunch prep easier and more delicious this school year.