Do Good With All That Halloween Candy

Posted on October 24, 2012 by Cheri

Halloween is just around the corner and all our houses are about to be inundated with more candy than should be consumed in an entire year, let alone one night. If you’re already getting a tummy ache just thinking about your kids eating all that candy, I want to share with you something I just learned about: Halloween Candy Buy Back Events.

Dentists can register their business at Halloween Candy Buy Back. Then, shortly after Halloween, they will host an event where kids can bring in their extra candy which the the dentist will either buy back in cash (rare) or in prizes. All the candy they collect gets donated to Operation Gratitude–a program where candy is sent to our soldiers overseas. To find participating dentists near you, go to Halloween Candy Buy Back and enter your zip code in the upper right hand corner. After you find out what dentists are participating, call them or go to their website (or facebook page) to find out the date and time of their event.

I think this is a great way to get rid of the candy and also do a little bit of good!

Of course, there are other ways to deal with the candy. You can use it in other projects, like Janae suggested last year. Or you can introduce the Candy Witch, like Heidi’s family invites to their home every year.

What is your favorite way of dealing with the candy overload?

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Posted in All Writers, Cheri, Family, Food, For You, Halloweeen Activities, Halloween and Autumn, Health & Weight, Holidays, The Moms, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , | 1 Comment

Backwards Trick or Treating

Posted on October 22, 2012 by Sunny

put a plastic trick or treat pumpkin on the kitchen shelf to gather lost and found items to be put away

If your little ones are like mine, Trick-or-Treating is too much fun for just one day. My four year old is so into it, that we don’t have to use candy. She likes it so much that she’ll do it backwards. And clean up at the same time. Try this next time you’ve got a kid mess that needs tidying. (Ha ha ha, “next time,” just a little personal joke. I’ll skip the mess photo.)

Tell your little witch/demon/princess (costume optional) to fill up a Trick-or-Treat pumpkin or whatever with the toys and such that are scattered about. (Sorry, this is limited to items that are small enough to fit–unless you have a really eager participant.)

little girls backwards trick or treating

Then (and it’s great if an older sibling can help out with this so you can work on your own grown up mess while this is going on), she picks something out of the pumpkin and goes to where it belongs. There the older sibling acts as the person behind the imaginary door while your princess declares “Trick or Treat!” and they then put away anything in the pumpkin that belongs in that place.

Another way we sometimes Trick or Treat backwards is that I put the pumpkin on a kitchen shelf and occasionally put something in it that I find left out. Then she puts them away–things that belong to other siblings get put on their bed. At least it’s out of my space without having to wait for them to come home from school.

If it’s after Halloween, perhaps they’ll get a piece of their candy when they’ve finished. Nothing like having to earn your own candy to keep it from getting consumed too quickly.

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Posted in Children, Chores, Family, Fun, Halloweeen Activities, Halloween and Autumn, Organization, Organization, Sunny | Tagged , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Trick-or-Treat Service Drive

Posted on October 18, 2012 by Kerri

Consider organizing a neighborhood Service Drive this Halloween. A week or two before Halloween, deliver a flyer and paper bag on your neighbor’s doorstep, indicating you are Trick-or-Treating for a specific item — Cans, Books, Hygiene items, or Stuffed Animals, for example. Tell them when you will return to pick up the items from their doorstep to be donated to local charities.

The first time I did this was in college, when we knew we were too old to Trick or Treat, but still couldn’t shake the desire to dress up…so we went trick-or-treating for Cans, not Candy, and had great success.

Last year I got my kids involved as we organized a Trick or Treat for Books drive. We collected over 200 books ourselves, over a thousand through the whole drive.

Five Real Moms Cheri has already completed her fall drive with her kids collecting winter coats and accessories to be donated to local shelters in her area.

You can also consider collecting stuffed animals (see here), non-perishable food items, school supplies, or items for personal hygiene. A google search can help you find local agencies and phone numbers looking for donations. Other places you may want to check with include fire departments, ambulance services, police departments, children protective services, WIC programs, homeless or domestic abuse shelters, etc.

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Posted in All Writers, Children, Family, Halloweeen Activities, Halloween and Autumn, Holidays, Kerri, Relationships, The Moms | Tagged , , , , | 2 Comments

Happy Fall

Posted on October 16, 2012 by Sunny

mom playing with daughter in fall leaves, consider simplicity

That is what I want to remember to do in the next few months. Consider doing some things simpler. Then maybe I’ll have more time and energy to go all out on the other things…

I know there are better looking people and photos out there, but this is actually me and my daughter, so that means something, doesn’t it? Thanks to my friend Margaret, who offered to take a picture of us so I could actually be in it. I’ve got to remember it doesn’t matter so much how I look as it does that I’m there.

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Making a Reader out of your Child

Posted on October 12, 2012 by Janae

I have 2 kids who absolutely LOVE to read. In fact, if you were to visit our house, you would hear at times (I’m sorry to admit), the following words coming out of my mouth, “Put the book down. It’s time to find something else to do”. Yes. I know. Most of us are begging our kids to read, but in my case, I have to ask them NOT to read at times.

At least that’s true of my first two kids. My third child, however, HATES to read. “It’s boring. It’s hard. It’s a waste of time. It’s confusing. I don’t like the stories. There’s not enough pictures.” He has plenty of reasons why he hates it. I feel like I’ve tried so many things. I’ve gotten comic books, adventure books, story books, picture books, choose-your-own adventure books, and more. Still, nothing inspires him.

I read with him. I read to him. I take turns. Still, nothing. He’ll do it and he’s improving, but it’s certainly a chore and not a passion.

Today I was sorting through my piles of papers to read through. Apparently an important paper from back to school night had slipped my attention. I wish I had noticed it earlier. It would have solved a lot of my reading nightmares as school has gotten started. In case you, too, have found yourself begging your little one to read as the school year has gotten going, I thought I’d pass on some tidbits to help turn your kid into a reader. If you’re like me, you’ll see some of them just may be the opposite of what you are doing right now.

Oh, and one more thing. I have to give credit where credit is due. I believe the flyer I got pulled most if not all of the ideas from the website kidstoreaders.com. Check it out for more details and info!

Trick #1: Make it Easy-No distractions!

  • Take the TV out of your child’s bedroom, but don’t connect it to reading.
  • Never connect anything negative to a behavior you want to encourage!

Trick #2: Help your Child love to read!

Offer a Good Choice versus a Bad Choice at a point of boredom.

  • Staying up and reading with you versus going to bed with lights out.
  • Snuggling up to read with you versus doing a job right now he/she doesn’t like.

Trick #3: You are the treat!

  • Let your child choose if they want to read or have you read to them.
  • If your child chooses to read, let them know you are willing to read at any point.
  • Sit side by side so your child can snuggle up!
  • Sitting side by side also helps your child track the print.
  • Use a bookmark to track the print so it is easy for your child to follow along, if they choose to.

Trick #4: Stop at a cliffhanger!

  • Whet their appetite…stop before your child wants to.
  • Offer the choice of staying up to read on his/her own.

Trick #5: Place books in strategic points of boredom!

  • Make it easy for your child to read: in the bathroom, in the car, eating breakfast, in the bedroom.
  • Get the books off the shelves!

Trick #6: They’ll do what you do!

  • Model your own love of reading (or at least fake it!)
  • Brag about your child’s reading.
  • For the dad: “That boy wants to be like you, and if you don’t read he won’t read and it’s that simple”.

Currently, we have reading time and we read “whether he likes it or not”. Oops. I guess I’ve failed at the “Help Your Child Love to Read” and “I am the Treat” tricks. I’m more like the mean old reading police and have succeeded at helping my child hate it.

So, the only way is up. I can’t wait until he gets home to start trying it. In the meantime, I hope it helps you turn your little one into an avid, or at least happy, reader.

UPDATE: I’m so excited! That picture at the beginning of the post? It just caught it when he wasn’t looking. That’s the same kid that hating reading a month ago, but more and more, lately, I find him reading on the couch. Just this week he read three entire Magic Treehouse books! I guess it works.

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Four Tricks to Save Time, Money, Energy, and Sanity

Posted on October 10, 2012 by Cheri

There seem to be 4 things that I never have enough of and always seem to be running out of: Time, Money, Energy, and Sanity. That’s why when I can stumble on tricks to save one or all of those from depleting, I jump for joy. Like my hair ties trick which I came up with 4 years ago and still sing its praises every day.

I have 4 new tricks that save me time, money, energy and/or sanity and I thought I’d pass them along to bless your life too. Maybe you’ve been there, done that already. But if not, give them a shot and start jumping for joy too!

TRICK #1

BABY + TOILET PAPER = NO GOOD NEWS

If the title alone made you want to break out into song, you’re my kind of friend. On to other news, how many of us have walked into a bathroom to find a whole roll of toilet paper on the floor, with our baby fleeing the scene of the crime?

I’ve heard to just turn the paper around, but no workie. At least not for our little 11-month old. So the other day, I remembered an old trick I had heard and forgotten. Squish the roll. Simple as that: squish the roll.

See, now the roll hangs on the bar so it can’t just roll. And since it is an oval, it hits the wall when pulled. Excellent. (Of course, it won’t work as beautifully on the old fashioned spring loaded insert bars, but it still works.)

TRICK #2

BABY FOOD CONTAINERS = PERFECT SIZE SNACK PACKS

This tip is for those of you who A) feed your baby baby food and B) use plastic. If you make your own baby food exclusively or only use glass, just skip ahead.

For the rest of you, we’ve been buying the baby food in glass jars for the past several months. As you may know, I prefer to flavor plain yogurt than to buy the store bought high-fructose-corn-syrup-and-dye-filled yogurts. But my girls LOVE the little packaging and perfect sizes of the store bought stuff. Aha moment. Instead of buying the glass bottled baby food, why not get the plastic ones that would fit yogurt and applesauce BEAUTIFULLY and then I can save health and money by flavoring plain yogurt and using a big jar of applesauce and dividing it among the cups!

Well, it doesn’t just end there. Today, as my girls helped themselves to a snack, they used BIG cups for their crackers. When I saw the outrageous portion the cups held, I flew to the cupboard and took out a stack of empty baby food containers and divided the snack into those. Perfect portions, plus they have a lid for transportation! Brilliant!

TRICK #3

FRESH BAKED COOKIES ANY TIME = BLISS

Honestly, who doesn’t love fresh baked cookies!? Well, my waist doesn’t, but my mouth and tummy sure do! The problem is I have zero self control when it comes to cookies, so if I make a batch, I eat a batch. Or, I get a little will power (or a big tummy ache) and half the batch crystallizes. Yuck.

So, make your own refrigerated cookie dough rolls! After you make your dough, just lay out a big sheet of plastic wrap and plop down your dough in the middle of it in a rough “log”. Then cover it with plastic wrap and roll it up. Then, work the dough into an even log with your hands, pulling and pressing it along in the plastic. Wrap up the ends and pop it in the fridge.

When you’re ready to have some fresh baked cookies, just cut a few slices of dough and pop them on the cookie sheet. No need to bring to room temperature!

And since it is a known fact that cookie dough bakes better after having sat in the refrigerator at least 24 hours, you will have even BETTER cookies straight from the oven! Our dough has kept 1-2 weeks in the fridge.

(And ANOTHER wonderful trick is make a batch of plain chocolate chip cookie dough. Sprinkle your plastic wrap with cinnamon sugar and roll up the some of the dough in it for snickerdoodles. Add chocolate chips to another portion of the dough, and maybe mini peanut butter cups to another and in just one batch, you’ll end up with several different kinds of cookies. Cuts out a lot of time and ingredients!)

TRICK #4

DAUGHTERS + EARRINGS = FUN

ME + DAUGHTERS + EARRINGS = ZERO FUN SIR

STICKERS + DAUGHTERS + ME = GREATEST KIDS EARRINGS EVER

My 6 year old has been begging for earrings for about 4 years. She knows that she can choose to get earrings when she turns 12, but not sooner. She was given the most beautiful pair of clip on earrings when she turned 6, but one got lost in a rain storm shortly thereafter. Sad.

When I was visiting some friends and saw her daughter’s ears…I got SO excited! Simple solution and makes my daughter happy and my wallet very happy.

All you do is take little stickers and pop them on the ear and pretend they’re earrings! No, they don’t last forever, but who cares!? The girls love them and I do too.

There you have it! I can just picture you jumping for joy!

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Posted in All Writers, Cheri, Cooking Tips and Tricks, Family, Food, For You, Fun, Money Saving Tips, Organization, The House, The Moms, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Zen Ghosts, by Jon J. Muth–
a different picture book for Halloween

Posted on October 8, 2012 by Sunny

With beautiful watercolor illustrations and a ghostly tale that mysteriously finds itself leaving the story, Zen Ghosts is a Halloween book that delights children and their parents as well.

There’s nothing gory or scary in this Halloween book, but there is the unexplained and, of course, ghosts. There are questions without answers.

Author and illustrator Jon J. Muth has written two other wonderful books with the same characters: Zen Ties and Zen Shorts.

All of which I would recommend for any adult who reads to a child. At first I thought it would be too “deep” for my preschooler to enjoy, but clearly it passed the test. After all, Zen isn’t “deep” unless you make it so. In my world of constantly trying to figure everything out and solve impossible problems, I particularly enjoy that these books tell me it’s pointless to try to analyze the text and to just accept it for what it is: delightful.

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Interview your Birthday Kid with these 36 questions!

Posted on October 5, 2012 by Kerri

I was talking with a friend of mine who introduced me to this new tradition! Starting when her children were 3 or 4 years old, she interviewed each child on his or her birthday! The set of questions was always the same, so it’s fun to go back and see how their responses change and grow.

I love this! I’m going to start doing it, too.

Here’s the list of questions:

1. What is your favorite color?
2. What is your favorite toy?
3. What is your favorite fruit?
4. What is your favorite tv show or movie?
5. What is your favorite thing to eat for lunch?
6. What is your favorite game?
7. What is your favorite snack?
8. What is your favorite animal?
9. What is your favorite song?
10. What is your favorite book?
11. Who is your best friend?
12. What is your favorite cereal?
13. What is your favorite thing to do outside?
14. What is your favorite drink?
15. What is your favorite holiday?
16. What do you like to take to bed with you at night?
17. What is your favorite thing to eat for breakfast?
18. What do you want for dinner on your birthday?
19. What do you want to be when you grow up?
20. Imagine that you can become invisible whenever you wanted to. What are some of the things you would do?
21. I am very proud because…
22. If I were President I would…
23. I am afraid to …
24. Name one thing you do really well?
25. Describe what it means to be a good friend.
26. What is your favorite time of day?
27. Describe your best day ever?
28. Describe your favorite hobby.
29. Climbing trees is…
30. I wish there were a law that said…..
31. What makes you feel sad?
32. What makes you feel happy?
33. Pretend that you can fly whenever you wanted. Where would you go?
34. If I could choose a different name, I would choose…
35. Where do you want to go on vacation?
36. What is your favorite thing to do with Mom or Dad?

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Posted in All Writers, Birthdays, Children, Family, Holidays, Kerri, Relationships, The Moms | Tagged , , , , | 2 Comments

A Fascinating book about Abraham Lincoln

Posted on October 2, 2012 by Kerri

I could not put it down.

As I was shopping at a local thrift store recently, a faded green book with worn edges caught my eye. All it said on the cover was Lincoln The Unknown . Having always been fascinated by Abraham Lincoln, I picked it up.


Lincoln The Unknown
A mesmerizing book about America’s Favorite President

After a few months of sitting on my bookshelf along with my other neglected books, I decided it was time for the storage bin, to be read when I have more time. But as I was lowering it into the bin, the cover opened to the title page and revealed it was written by Dale Carnegie, the inspiring and world-renowned author of How To Win Friends and Influence People and other excellent books.

The book didn’t go in storage.
Instead, I found myself turning page after page at every free moment,
and even waking up early in the morning to read some more.

I highly recommend Lincoln The Unknown . This captivating book delves into little known facts about the president who united the nation. I found myself mystified by his tenacity to overcome obstacle after obstacle and Christlike ability to turn the other cheek again and again and again. Here was a man who willingly and knowingly sacrificed his own life for the greater cause of a unified nation.

This recommendation for Lincoln The Unknown comes in great timing, too. Did you know that Lincoln the movie is coming out this November (click here to view the trailer)? This book will give you a terrific background of understanding and revering President Lincoln before seeing the film.

Happy reading!

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Fabulous Family Fun

Posted on September 28, 2012 by Janae

I love family. Not just mine but the entire concept of family. Despite all its craziness, it’s the perfect environment for growth. Where else can imperfect people learn the skills to become great? (patience, forgiveness, listening, understanding, compassion, selflessness, and on and on)

But, like anything worthwhile, it takes work. At the start of our marriage, my husband and I made 2 commitments. First, we would make sure that we went on a date every week. And, second, we would dedicate one night a week to family fun. On family night, we do anything from bowling to swimming to board games to wii tournaments to service or even to yardwork. It doesn’t really matter what we do, as long as we do it together.

Today, I thought I’d share one of our all-time favorite activities. If you haven’t had a set family night, it just may be the perfect activity to start with. It’s called BUMP IN THE DARK. Of course, you would recognize it as Sardines (the game of Hide and Seek where one person hides and everyone else seeks. When you find the hider, you hide with them). In BUMP IN THE DARK, there’s a twist. You turn off as many lights in the house as your kids will tolerate. Too afraid of the dark? Leave a few more on. Older kids? Turn them all off! We played this once with only adults and had a blast! Naturally, the darker the house, the harder it will be to find people.

So, why call it Bump In the Dark? When the hider feels like they have hidden too long (which may not be very long at all for a little one who doesn’t like to be hiding alone), they knock, giving a hint to their whereabouts to the other players. This one little twist has made it a fun game to play even for the 2 year olds.

Try it. You will be amazed at the amazing places people can hide in the dark and not be found. Just the other day, after searching forever for my oldest, we finally found him. Who would have guessed an 11-year-old could fit in a storage bin?

What’s your favorite family night game? Let us know so we can add it to ours!

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