DIY Backpack Tags

Posted on August 24, 2012 by Kerri

STOP! Before you graffiti your child’s school bags with their name written in bold permanent marker, consider this DIY tip from a relatively non-crafter:

Make your own School Bag ID tags in 10 minutes or less.

Their stinkin’ cute, stinkin’ easy, and definitely more personal than the Sharpie across the back.

Why do I feel like I must confess I’m a realtively non-crafter? Because I feel like I missed that gene in the Five Real Moms gene pool. So the fact that I figured this baby out on my own means you totally can do it too.

First: Search for a background. Your search will usually start with “free” and end with “background” or “wallpaper”: Exp: “Free Scrapbook Background” or “Free Mario Background” (like I did). etc. Copy or Insert the image into Word.


source

Second: Crop the images to fit 3.75″ height x 2.75″ width.

Third: Add any text you want using text boxes or by making the image’s layout “behind text”. If you use a text box, consider making it semitransparent. Don’t forget that you can download lots of free fonts to enhance your look (I downloaded the Super Mario Font).

Print the final card and cut it out to fit into a baseball card holder (3.75″ x 2.75″). I found them at Walmart, usually up by the checkout lines.

Use a hole punch in the top corner and feed it through a key ring. Secure to backpack. And Done! Be prepared to be the coolest Mom in your child’s eyes for a little while!

Of course, there are other tutorials out there, too. Like this one at Thirtyhandmadedays.com, just be cautious about putting too much personal information on your child. This blog has a free ready made printable.

Or this one from Sistersstuff.blogspot.com

Or for the more crafty chic who wants to use fabric and a glue gun, there is this cute style from KimbosCraft.blogspot.com:

Happy Schooling!

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And the Winner is…

Posted on August 20, 2012 by Cheri

Jenn M.! In response to “Why You?” she wrote “They’re brilliant and I want to try it!”

While the results were completely random, thanks for thinking they’re brilliant! We know you will love them.

Thank you for participating in our giveaway. Hopefully we’ll be able to sponsor more giveaways in the future!

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The Perfect Solution to Baggy Pants

Posted on August 17, 2012 by Janae

Are you starting to pull out the fall clothes to get ready for school? If so, I’ve found a product you’ll want as a staple part of your kids’ ensembles. It’s become one of my “can’t live without” products.

I have skinny kids. Having skinny kids comes with perks. They can squeeze under the bed to clean out from under it. They can win Hide and Go Seek by hiding in unimaginably tight places. They can make a family of 8 look small while waiting in line at the water park.

But, there’s also a downside. Pants don’t fit! My kids hate belts, so I’ve had to rely solely on the adjustable pants. But what about all the amazing hand me down pants I have that simply aren’t thin enough?

A month ago, Cheri was here and left me a simple, but ingenious strip of elastic. You hook it on the back of your jeans, and voila! You’ve got yourself perfect-fitting pants or shorts.

I was so amazed at how great this little contraption is. I have a few pairs of capris that I love, but they always seem to fit a little funny by the end of the day, slipping lower and lower down my hips as the day goes on. By the end of the day, I’m constantly hiking up my pants (not very attractive for a grown woman). I slipped this little baby on my pants, and they fit so comfortably and perfectly for the whole day! I love it!

So, as you get ready for the school year or as you get ready to send those perfect pants that are a little too big in the waist to Good Will, stop and check this out. Cheri sells them on her website. It just may save you a few pairs of pants.

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School Lunch Box Jokes & Notes

Posted on August 15, 2012 by Kerri

The First Day of School is just around the corner for so many of us and with that it means, School Lunches.

Lunch Box Jokes and Love Notes are such a fun way to uplift your child in the middle of the day. I like to think that come lunchtime, I never know how his day may be going and a friendly note from home may be just the thing he needs to brighten his day, bring a smile to his face, and remind him that I care.

Instead of waiting to the last minute to scribble out a note as we run out the door, I pat myself on the bag in this area of preparation and got the notes done ahead of time this year! I made these Lunch Box Jokes and Love Notes and already have them printed, cut, and ready to slip into the lunch bag as needed.


Click here to Download
Lunch Box Jokes and Notes Printable

Click here to download this free printable of Jokes and Notes. There are 5 pages of jokes and 2 pages of blank notes. Print them in color, cut them out, write a few personal notes, and stick them in a baggie next to your lunch-making-station at home. When the stash is low, come back and print them again.

And as a side note, keep your eyes out along the grocery check-out lines and dollar-aisles at superstores and craft stores. I picked up these little gems at Michaels lately and love them, too!

They’re called LunchBox Love and are cards with positive and encouraging notes, jokes, and trivia to send off to school. You can get large sets off Amazon, or just keep your eyes out to buy them individually for a dollar or two each.

Making school lunches every day: To-Do
Making school lunches fun: Check.

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Children: The Challenge
Watch Your Tone of Voice

Posted on August 13, 2012 by Sunny

How long until school starts? No, not in hours, but for those of you who knew, this post is for you. Well, to tell the truth, I don’t know how many hours until school starts, but this post is really for me. It’s just that the summer heat seems to make it all the more timely.

Tone of voice learnings from Children the Challenge

Cheri wrote something a while ago that triggered my memory. And while that story would be beside the point, I remembered having borrowed a copy of “Children: the Challenge” by Rudolph Dreikurs. So I looked, and sure enough, I found it on my shelves, unread and unreturned (gack!). It belongs to a mother I admire greatly, and whose children have turned out to be wonderful people. Thus I particularly enjoyed seeing how she had underlined passages and written in the margins.

Well, now I’ve read it. It is a bit out of date, but still it is a wonderful, worthwhile book. I even enjoyed the fact that it is out of date because I kept reading the little scenarios and thinking to myself, “You couldn’t get away with that nowadays!” or “I think most moms have learned that one by now”. But along with the “I think I’m pretty good at that already” thoughts were plenty of the “I know this, but I really need to work on actually doing it” thoughts.

I thought I’d share just one of those tidbits from the chapter “Watch Your Tone of Voice.” Dreikurs reminds us what we all know, but we often act as if we didn’t. “When we speak to our children they frequently hear more in our tone of voice than in the words we use.” Sometimes this is hard to believe because (particularly as women) so often we actually try to communicate volumes with the tone of our words and it seems like nobody picks up on it. Yet when we get frustrated and the concept of our children as miraculous blessings sent to us from above has been temporarily throw out the window, our new view of them as little devils (I don’t mean in the cute way) comes through to them quite clearly in our tone of voice.

Dreikurs warns us that the way we speak to our children can “indicate our feeling that children are inferior. We speak to them in a manner and with a tone of voice that we would never use with a friend.” During pleasant circumstances, I think I do pretty well with my tone of voice, treating my children as equals, but boy I do have my moments.

“Once we become aware of errors in our tone of voice we are in a position to change. If we speak to our children as friends on equal footing with us, we keep the doors of communication open.” That’s the prize I’m going for. To keep that door of communication open.

Good book. Your mom might have a copy she’d be more than glad to loan you. According to what’s for sale on Amazon, it may be a valuable collectible.

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GIVEAWAY! Back to School Essentials: SqueeZurts

Posted on August 9, 2012 by Cheri

LIKE SqueeZurts on Facebook!

It’s time for school, which means it is time for school lunches! This year, send a little fun (and a lot of nutrition) to school with your child with

SqueeZurts: The ORIGINAL Reusable, Refillable Squeeze Snack Tubes

You may have read about SqueeZurts here before they were SqueeZurts. Since that post, a lot of changes have taken place. A new design, new material, new function, new possibilities.

What are SqueeZurts?

Once upon a time, there was a mom who was looking for options to put in her daughter’s school lunches that would be healthy, convenient, and soft on the budget. Knowing her daughter had always loved frozen yogurt in squeezable tubes, the mom wanted to provide that option for her, but couldn’t reconcile the price nor the additives and sugar that came from the store bought variety. That mom was me. And so SqueeZurts were born.

SqueeZurts are reusable, refillable squeeze snack tubes that can be filled with anything you can come up with.

Yogurt
Applesauce
Smoothies
Pudding
Fruit Juice
Veggie and Fruit Puree
Energy Gel
Baby Food

Frozen or Not.

Just to name a few.

You control the ingredients – You control the nutrition.

On top of the versatility and health benefits SqueeZurts allow, also reduce waste by reusing SqueeZurts over and over again.

SqueeZurts are made from PEVA, a vinyl composite that is PVC free (chlorine free), phthalate free, lead free, BPA free, and biodegradable (not that you would throw them away, anyway)!

How do I fill them?

SqueeZurts are SO easy to fill, especially with a squeeze bottle. Check out this YouTube video to see how quickly and easily they are filled and closed and ready to go! For more information or answers to FAQs, go to SqueeZurts.com.

What do I get when I win?

So, guess what! You have a chance to win a complete SqueeZurts Starter Kit! The Starter Kit comes with

6 SqueeZurts Snack Tubes
20 Twist Ties
1 Squeeze Bottle
and 2 Li’l Hands Cold Sleeves (to slide over a frozen tube so your child’s hands don’t get so cold!).

All valued at $19.95, it could be yours FREE! Giveaway starts TODAY (8/9) and ends next Friday (8/17) at midnight.

Fill your SqueeZurts with Five Real Moms favorites, like Sunny’s Green Smoothies here or here. Or try some of Janae’s Summer Favorites. I will be posting how to flavor plain yogurt soon, too!

It’s not just for your school kids, either. Babies love them and are really soothing for teething mouths.

Pin it!

Grab this pin and comment that you pinned the giveaway on pinterest for one extra entry!

So How do I Enter the Giveaway?

Just use this awesomely handy widget from Rafflecopter.com to enter! You can enter up to 8 times to increase your chances of winning! You will need to login using your email or Facebook account so that we have a way to contact you when you win!

And of course, spreading the word on Facebook and Twitter earns you more entries!

We love shipping internationally, so this giveaway is NOT limited to the US!

If you don’t win, purchase your own from The Kitchen Sink Boutique and enter BK2SKL to get 10% off your order!

Good luck!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

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Baby Food Maker Machine

Posted on August 7, 2012 by Heidi

Baby food jars can cost between $.40 to $1.50 (if you’re in Hawaii). Why not make baby food from the food you have at home?

magic bullet
Magic Bullet Blender

baby bullet blender
Baby Bullet Blender

My sister Cheri told me about the Baby Bullet, a small blender made specifically for making baby food. At first I was a skeptic. I mean, come on, I’ve already got a VitaMix, the ultra blender super machine. Why would I need another blender?

Well, I happened to acquire a Magic Bullet from a friend who was moving away. It was wasting away in my cupboard and after trying out my sister’s “Baby Bullet”, I decided I ought to give it a try. I am no longer a skeptic. Now I love it.

If suitable, you can easily place whatever the rest of your family is having for dinner in one of the Magic or Baby Bullet containers and whip it up for baby. Or with a bit of water you can blend up some fruit or cooked veggies.

The Magic Bullet comes with mug-shaped containers. The Baby Bullet comes with slightly smaller containers (with cute little smiley faces on them, too!). You place the food in the container, screw on the blade base, and easily turn it clockwise on the blender. This starts the blender. Turn it counterclockwise and the blender turns off.

What makes the Magic Bullet and Baby Bullet better than a Blender Regular blenders have blades that are elevated above the base. The Bullet blades are so close to the base, so there is no issue of having food getting stuck under the base and not getting blended.

The Magic Bullet and Baby Bullet’s small containers and rounded bottoms (which then become the tops when placed upside down on the blender base) force all food in the container to be blended. No more pushing or “plunging” the food downward, or scraping unblended food from the sides of the container.

It is lightweight and small. Going on a trip to Grandma’s and still want to blend your baby’s food? It’s easy to take with. And it doesn’t take up a lot of space on your countertop.

The storage containers are so convenient. Although the baby blender containers are smaller than the Magic Bullet containers, both have lids and sturdy bases so they can be used to store the food as well. And the Baby Bullet also comes with baby food jars as well as frozen silicone trays to allow you to store baby food or freeze some for future use.

I still use my blender every day, but when I make smaller quantities, like baby food, I always use my Magic Bullet. My one complaint is the name. “Magic Bullet? Baby Bullet?” Is that really the best they could come up with? Anyway, name aside, this is a really cool kitchen gadget that is a “must have” for all moms that don’t want to spend bucko bucks on baby food.

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Free Babysitting

Posted on August 3, 2012 by Janae

Over the years I’ve found that one of my hardest challenges during the school year is finding babysitters during the day for my younger kids. My regular sitters are, of course, in school themselves and I feel bad always asking my friends to take my kids.

This year, my mom introduced me to a babysitting exchange that she participated in when I was a girl. I’ve tried it this summer and it worked great. I’m looking forward to all the help it can bring during the school year.

Here’s how it works:

Each person starts off with credits. Each credit is worth 15 minutes for 1 kid.

Basically, whenever you need a sitter for any reason, you can call or email anyone you choose to on the list. They can accept or decline. If they accept, you will pay with credits. So, if you leave 2 kids for 45 minutes. You will owe 6 credits (Three 15 minute credits=45 minutes times 2 kids equals 6 credits)

That may sound like a lot, but when someone else has you babysit, you can earn credits. If you watch a family of 2 for 45 minutes, you would earn the 6 credits back. You can save up credits all you want. They never expire.

You can decline or accept as many babysitting opportunities as you want. It’s all up to you. There is no real obligation here. Basically, if you don’t want to babysit, you won’t earn credits and you won’t be able to use the coop. When you do want to babysit, you’ll earn credits and you’ll be able to spend them again.

Now the logistics as to how to make it all happen. First, send out an email with the above info and see who is interested. Second, have everyone fill out a questionnaire like this one: Coop_Questionnaire

Third: Figure out a way to track credits. You can make physical coupons, use coins from the dollar store, or use technology. We opted to use google docs. I set up a doc that lists everyone’s info from the questionnaire, then made a second tab on that doc to list each family and their credits. When a family babysits, they send me an email listing who they babysat for, the date, and the number of credits. I send them and the other family a confirmation email and then change the credits on the google doc.

Fourth: Everyone will need to start with credits in order to get things going. We opted to give each family 8 credits for each of their kids, which boils down to 2 hours of babysitting per kid.

Fifth: Get started. It may start slow at first as people realize they now can go places and have a safe and great place for their kids to go, but don’t worry. It’ll start rolling.

If you’ve got good ideas on how to solve the babysitting crisis, let me know! With six kids under 12, I’m always on the look out for cost-effective solutions!

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Snazzy Greeting Cards for 5 Cents Each

Posted on August 1, 2012 by Cheri

I miss the charm of days of yore. You know, the days when etiquette was taught in schools, where good manners were paramount, where people took the time to write thank-you cards for just about everything.

I always intend to write thank-you cards. But you know what they say about good intentions…In fact, when I got married, I had a reception in an area where etiquette was still highly expected. Wouldn’t you know, I LOST the gift list…the who gave what list. So I never sent out thank-you cards to half the people at the reception. I’m sure I offended more than one person that year.

The problem for me is two-fold. First, I never have cards on hand. Second, cards are too expensive for me to buy a bunch to have on hand. Then one day, I had an idea.

I waited until I had a coupon at Michael’s. Then I bought a Mango Frost Matstack (which is a little bigger than 4×6 cardstock) for just $4.

When I got home, I measured across the middle of the card, widthwise,

and used a sharp knife to score the printed side of the cardstock.

That made it simple to just bend the card in half without looking homemade.

Bada-boom, bada-bing, blank cards in less than 10 seconds. It was so easy and they are so cute! What is wonderful about making cards this way is that you can use them for any occasion. Thank You’s, Birthdays, Get Well Soon, or just a card to say “Thinking of You.” If you wanted, you could use a stamp to imprint the inside of the card to make it more fun. Just pick up some small envelopes at a paper store and you’re good to go!

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Thoughts on the Olympics, Moms, and Greatness

Posted on July 30, 2012 by Sunny

even the Olympics are as great as you can be

Watching the opening ceremonies and the first events of the Olympics has been inspiring. One of my favorite moments was the clip with the Queen and her arrival into the stadium by parachute. I liked her stoicism and hearing that she is a great actress.

Queen Elizabethe II at the London Olympics

The sacrifice and effort on the part of the athletes (and their parents) is awesome. (I can’t help but throw in the fact that swimmer Missy Franklin lives about 5 minutes from us and swam with my son, until she got too fast.) This ad makes me cry every time I see it.

I have to remind myself that though I don’t expect any of my children to ever compete in the Olympics, there are other things that are worthy of rising early, hours of dedication each and every day, and continuing through pain and disappointment. Rather, there are things even greater than an Olympic gold medal. Even though they will probably not receive much recognition.

Even more than seeing my child receive a gold Olympic medal, I would rejoice to see a child grown into a kind adult with a confidence in his own self-worth. To see him happily married and rejoice in having a child of his own. And to find joy in serving others. It brings tears to my eyes when I see one of my children extend kindness to a sibling, just because they feel it in their heart and want to. Most of all, I would rejoice to him make it back home. His real, heavenly home. I hope I can do whatever it takes to be there for that hug.

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