This is a Sponsored post written by me on behalf of VISIT FLORIDA. All opinions are 100% mine. This coming August Hubby and I are taking a cruise. Key West Florida is one of the stops on the cruise and I can not wait to go! I mean, just look at this...! Hubby has never been to Florida. I have been a few times. My favorite, however, was the spring break I spent in Pensacola during college. We road-tripped straight through from Minnesota to Pensacola only stopping for gas and to change drivers so we could sleep. (I quickly learned how to drive a stick-shift car!) The weather was perfect as we slept in tents just off the beach. We were in a remote area so we were away from the hustle and bustle of spring break party crowds. It was the most relaxing time I ever had in college. The only downfall, my body was not used to the intense Florida sun and I ended up getting sun poisioning. I had to go to the doctor in the morning and spent one whole day in my tent with … [Read more...]
Kids Bowl FREE Summer Program
Yes, you read the title right...kids bowl FREE during the summer! I don't know when your kids get out of school for the summer but Tottie's preschool ended yesterday and Nutty's first grade ends in 2 weeks. We don't have a lot of activities planned for the summer but that doesn't mean my girls won't be occupied... One of the ways we plan to stay busy is with the Kids Bowl Free program. This program was designed by bowling centers to give back to the community and provide a safe, secure, and fun way for kids to spend time this summer. There are tons of bowling centers across the US participating in the program and even some in Canada!! Families can get two free games for up to six children per day (valued at over $500 per child), and family packs (up to 4 adults) for the whole summer are $24.95. You read that right...a cheap way to do something fun this summer! It's also great for those days when it's just to hot to play outside!! For more information about the Kids Bowl … [Read more...]
Uninterrupted Family Movie Night #spon
Turn up your volume for this post because what you don't hear is the key... Growing up, Friday night was family movie night in my house. Still today, my parents watch a movie together every Friday night. Heaven forbid my sister and I (or anyone) call during movie time and interrupt it. "You know it's movie night don't you? I'll call you back when the movie is over." Now that I have my own kids, we do family movie nights. We don't do them every week, but we do have them regularly. Again, Heaven forbid something/someone interrupt our movie. One thing that used to interfere with our family nights was our dishwasher. Hubby would start it after dinner (not thinking) and eventually we'd either have to turn up the volume on our TV way loud or simply pause the movie and wait for the dish washing cycle to end. Even when we watched our movies on the downstairs TV you could hear our dishwasher! Not any more...my new GE® Dishwasher is SUPER quiet!! Just listen... Yes, the GE® … [Read more...]
Sensory Mud- Pinned it, Did it
If your kids like things that feel neat then this is the thing for them! It's REALLY easy and REALLY cheap to make too! All you need is water and a box of baking soda (which usually runs you less than a dollar). My kids love to feel squishy things with their hands and feet so when I saw this pinned on Pinterest I thought I better give it a try. The original pin just used baking soda and water, but I added a little food coloring to the water prior to mixing and we ended up with some blue "sensory mud." Dump your box of baking soda in a bowl and SLOWLY add a few drops of water....seriously all you need is about a teaspoon total. If you add the water to quickly or add to much you end up with soup rather than mud. My kids loved to just squeeze it but there are several other things you can do with it too. You can use different cookie cutters to make shapes in the mud, which was one of my favorite things to do with it. My two-year old used the sensory mud to drive his trucks in and he … [Read more...]
Birthdays with “The Twin Factor”
More often than not I am asked about my twins and how alike they really are. In a factual sense of the term they are twins: they were born on the same day, from the same mother and they shared the womb. But beyond that they really are quite different (besides the obvious that they are different genders). They enjoy each others company and they are pretty protective of each other, which I think is adorable, and they are generally a terrific two-some. For the first 4 years of their lives I was able to squeak in my own personal preference for "twin-ness" by hosting their birthday parties with themes (prince and princess, monkeys, spring theme and last year was all about the number four). This year, however, it slapped me in the face when it came to their differences. I will admit my heart was a little broken when I realized what was occurring, they were asserting themselves in their own right. They are in different pre-school classrooms this year and therefore they each got to pick … [Read more...]
Toilet Roll Spring Flower–Pinned it, Did it!
I thought this toilet paper roll spring flower was super cute, would be easy for my kids to do, and I already had everything we needed. The original site it links to is in some other language but it does have translate button. It also has great photos so you can figure it out anyway. To make this fun flower yourself, you'll need: 4 toilet paper rolls paint stapler white fuzzy ball (or a cotton ball) wooden stick (or a popsicle stick) Easter grass flower pot Visit the original site for directions on how to do it. Tottie had a ton of fun making this flower. Of course I had to help her with the stapling but that's ok. She even let me paint the orange on one of the rolls! Grandma happened to be coming over in the evening so we gave it to her for Mother's Day! Their flower vs ours. What do you think?? … [Read more...]
