Mommy Has to Work

Rise of the Guardians and After Earth Blu-ray Movie Giveaways

September 12, 2014 By Anne

The holidays are upon us and what makes a good present? Movies!

I always get my children a few movies for Christmas. I get ones I think we can watch over and over again. Thankfully I’m picking them out and can get what I want too! lol

I have two movies up for grabs and there will be two winners.

Rise of the Guardians – A perfect family movie. A fun filled magical story about the legendary guardians – Jack Frost, the Easter Bunny, Santa Clause, the Tooth Fairy and Sandman. When the evil Pitch threatens to take over the world, it’s up to our beloved heroes to protect the hopes and dreams of children everywhere. Filled with non stop action and laughs, it’s a dazzling family film that’s being hailed as “an instant classic”. You will believe!

After Earth – with Will and Jaden Smith. A crash landing leaves Kitai Raige and his legendary father, Cypher stranded on Earth, 1,000 years after a cataclysmic events forced humanity’s escape. With Cyper injured, Katai must embark on a treacherous journey to signal for help. They must learn to work together and trust each other, if they want any chance of retuning home.

Want to win? Check out the giveaway below. (US only)

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Anne

I'm a mother of 2 who likes to get involved in too much! Besides writing here I started a non-profit, I'm on the PTO board, very active in my community and volunteer in the school. I enjoy music, reading, cooking, traveling and spending time with my family. We just adopted our 3rd cat and love them all!

Reusing Your Trash

September 12, 2014 By Anne

Here are some ideas on how to reuse your trash:

Turn old cards into postcards or gift tags. I bought a stencil kit years ago from Currant and I trace shapes onto the cards, then cut them out. I then punch holes into them and string them into the packages. I mostly use them at Christmas.

I just starting doing this this weekend. I took an old baby wipe container and put my plastic shopping bags in it. Make sure to fold them neatly so they pop out like wipes normally would when you remove them. ( I try not to have the plastic, but sometimes I forget my totes.)

Yogurt and cream cheese containers are excellent for making sandcastles or playing in the water. Savannah loves to pour water from one container to the next.

Aluminum cans can be used as noise makers for kids bikes. My son takes a can and runs over it with his bike. The can stays on the wheel and makes a motorcycle noise. He loves doing this!

Glass jars can be used to organize screws, nails, picture hangers. We have several baby food jars in the garage holding nails and screws. My mom used to to give us baby food jars to catch lightening bugs up north.

Use carpet remnants as doormats. A year ago, we had new carpet put in on our porch. We used a piece under the grill to catch spills. When we got new carpet in the house I put an extra piece under the shoe basket to keep the tile a little more clean.

These are just a few I could think of. Does anyone have other ideas? I love reducing our trash!

Anne

PopCorn Balls

September 9, 2014 By Anne

Sunday was a rainy day in our neighborhood and my daughter wanted to make something. So she looked in her cookbooks that she made in cooking class last year and came up with popcorn ball.

Pretty easy to make and only a few ingredients needed.

Popcorn
marshmallows
Butter
Sprinkles
Chocolate Chips

Melt the butter and add 40 large marshmallows to a non stick pan over medium heat, until melted.

Add 6 cups of popped popcorn and stir with a wooden spoon. Add Sprinkles, candy or chocolate chips. and stir.

Then place butter on hands and form popcorn into balls and cool. Then eat!

My daughter’s favorite part – lick the spoon!!

What have you made with your children lately?

Anne

Why Buy It – When You Can Win It!

September 8, 2014 By Anne

Link up your giveaways!

Anne

Busy Bags and Marvelous Moms

September 8, 2014 By Anne

Written By Libby Blumberg

What fun we had today! I hosted a ‘Busy Bags’ event at my house and as much as I procrastinated and cussed at myself for not really putting my best foot forward, I am so thankful to have been a part of this.

For those of you not in the mommy, play date, toddler phase of life, here’s what we did. We each found an
activity, most likely from Pinterest or a mommy blog. We created and assembled the parts for said activity in 10 sets. We announced our choice of activity to avoid duplicates. Then we came together with our kids and shared our creations. These activities are designed to keep the child ‘busy’ learning about colors, numbers, etc. and using fine motor skills. BRILLIANT!

My immediate thought after receiving nine awesome busy bags: If we kept this up on a regular basis, we might never have to go to a toy store again! The problem with that is the time consumption. It does take time to decide on your activity, buy the materials, assemble the materials, and make 10 sets.

But my overall feeling about this type of event brings to mind the African proverb, ‘It takes a village to raise a child.’ How cool is it that we all took the time, money, energy, and creative thinking to do this for each other’s kids? I, for one, feel honored and proud.

I think these pictures of my daughter after the ‘party’ say it all. She had to be so patient to wait until all the kids left to try her new games. But she was amazing. I loved watching her discover, learn, play, and celebrate.

Libby Blumberg, Contributor. Original Post…