March was a crazy month for our family. Nutty started gymnastics on Mondays on top of swimming on Tuesdays and church on Wednesdays. Hubby and I shoot in a pool league on Thursdays. Uff-da (as we say in Minnesota)! I'm making some changes for this month! Unfortunately, there was a period of two weeks where gymnastics and swimming both fell on Monday evening (until I could reschedule swimming to Tuesdays). Nutty would get home from school at 4:15, change clothes, grab a quick snack, and head to swimming at 5:00, immediately after swimming and a shower, we'd head to gymnastics at 6:00. We didn't eat dinner till around 7:30pm! So what did I give Nutty for a snack to keep her fueled for swimming and gymnastics? Granola bars of course! Quaker® Big Chewy Granola Bars to be exact. They're bigger than most granola bars and with 14g of whole grains they gave her the fuel she needed to make it through till dinner. Unfortunately, the box we received to try for this post did … [Read more...]
Nurturing the Soul of Your Family-People First, Things Second
I am excited to bring you a review of the book Nurturing the Soul of Your Family by Renée Peterson Trudeau. To be completely honest, I did not read the entire book. Instead, I skimmed some chapters (bullet points throughout the book make that easy to do) and read others that stood out to me. Nurturing the Soul of Your Family isn't a necessarily a "how to" book. It's more of a guidebook that helps you look at yourself and who you want to be with and for your family. It stresses that your family and the obligations that go with them are not burdens as we sometimes feel, but that they are gifts. When we take care of ourselves, we can appreciate our gifts. This book is a motivation and inspiration to slow down and find peace in the often chaotic family life. There was one chapter in Nurturing the Soul of Your Family that resonated with me (and that makes a good fit for this blog too). It was "People First, Things Second: The Digital Divide," a chapter that talks about … [Read more...]
FRUCHI™ Smoothies
Our families love smoothies. Lindsi quite frequently makes them for her kids, and it's a super big treat when Hubby and I take the girls to our local smoothie store. Needless to say, when FRUCHI™ Smoothies contacted us to do a review for them, we jumped all over it!Our smoothies arrived super cold in a dry ice packed cooler. Remember early science? Yeah, don't touch the dry ice with your hands (Jamie--don't worry, I only touched it with one finger then quickly remembered. I didn't cause myself any injury)! And...if something is packed in dry ice, it's probably just as cold as the ice (Lindsi--Yeah, I probably should have worn something on my hands when I removed the smoothies too). OK, moving on...Jamie--My entire family was excited about these smoothies and they couldn't wait to eat them. If I would have read the package, I would have realized that you could thaw them in the microwave for a few seconds. Unfortunately, I made my family wait a few hours to try them while they … [Read more...]
Tuesday Morning Grand Re-Opening!
Have you heard of the store Tuesday Morning? To be honest, until this past week, I had heard the name but didn't know much about it and I had never been to one. I am now a HUGE fan! All photos in this post were taken at the Woodbury, MN store.I was asked (as a Blogger in the Twin Cities area of Minnesota) if I would help promote the Grand Re-Openings of the Woodbury and Burnsville stores. I almost declined the offer because I didn't think it would be a fit for our blog. Boy am I glad I did some research and changed my mind! Tuesday Morning is a national closeout retailer that has been in business since 1974. They have 840 stores nationwide and 9 stores in the Minneapolis/St. Paul area. I had a chance to shop at the newly revamped Woodbury store.Don't be fooled by the concrete floors and industrial shelving, they've got some nice stuff at Tuesday Morning! They've got everything you can think of too, from kitchen stuff to decor, to craft stuff, toys, furniture, clothes, and … [Read more...]
Flash Pals–A Unique Easter Basket Gift
Looking for something unique and fun to put in an older child's Easter basket this year? How about FlashPals! These super cute USB drives will have all their friends talking!FlashPals are the creation of Doug Stienstra who's girlfriend asked for a "cute" flash drive for her birthday. When he couldn't find one he liked, he made one. His creation was such a hit with his girlfriend and her friends that he turned it into a full-time business! What's better, is that FlashPals has partnered with the world's leading giraffe organization, the GCF, to support their efforts to protect giraffes through sales and donations, so now FlashPals save data AND the wild.Each FlashPal represents a real animal species that faces real threats and each has a name. Jamie was lucky enough to review Zena the Zebra. Zena came in the cutest little box. When I opened it, I was instantly in love! Here was this super cute zebra flash drive in this awesome clear storage tube. I was a little worried about the … [Read more...]
Cooper & Kid A Valentine Gift for Dads and Kids
Welcome to day 10 of Toys In The Dryer 14 Days of Valentines! From January 25 through February 7 we'll be posting non-stop Valentine's posts to celebrate this lovely holiday.Do you buy Valentine's gifts for your husband and your kids? Do you struggle with what to get them? We've got the perfect gift for BOTH of them! Cooper & Kid is a new start up that has a mission to be the first retailer for today's modern, engaged dads. How are they going to do that? With boxes of fun!Today's fathers spend 3-7 times more hours per week with their kids than their fathers did with them. The term Stay-At-Home-Dad is no longer un-heard of, and dads are proud to spend quality time with their children. Cooper & Kid wants to create a year of monthly boxes that are fun, but also help dads tap into their inner child as well as their power as a man to raise the next generation.Cooper & Kid recently completed a Kickstarter campaign but still have some fundraising to do before they get completely off … [Read more...]
