Teaching Children About Thanks & Giving This Holiday Season #GivingTuesday #sponsored

The holidays are finally here and I absolutely love this time of year! As Thanksgiving nears, we start to think about our family, who and what is important to us and all the things for which we are so very thankful. The holidays also invite the spirit of giving. I think it is so important not only to give back, but to also teach my own children about the importance of giving. This is why I was so excited when The Motherhood contacted us about #GivingTuesday and teaching my own children the importance of giving.

My son, Liam, has been through so much this year and we've repeatedly seen the spirit of giving in action. It's such a wonderful feeling to be supported, understood, and loved. Friends and family members have stepped up to give us support and I've learned that even a simple hug or 'I love you' can really help raise spirits and make a day much better. For all of these reasons, this year I am more grateful and want nothing more than to give back this holiday season! We are celebrating the holidays a bit differently this year because I want to teach my children to truly appreciate what we have as a family and how/why we give back to others. I am a big believer in learning through participation and experience. That's why we are going to work hands-on to learn about giving. How can we do this? Here are some of my ideas:

1. Volunteering - Find nonprofit organizations around your county who need volunteers. We will be volunteering our time at a local soup kitchen this year. We will set up, serve others and clean up afterwards. I think this is such a great way to introduce children to volunteer work and encourage them to do so for years to come. You are never to young to lend a helping hand. There is always something you can do, even if it is just by coloring a card for overseas soldiers or singing Christmas carols at a nursing home.

2. The Big Thank You - Each year The Bert Show puts together this amazing program. The idea is for every single soldier overseas to receive a piece of mail during the holidays. Each year people from around the country send in letters and cards for these soldiers, including us. Since the ages of 3, Liam and Josiah have participated in The Big Thank You by coloring cards.

3. Educate - Sit down with your kids and explain the different between basic needs and wants. Go around the house and ask them to point out items that are necessities for living and others that are not needed, but wanted, such as toys. This great starting point for teaching them that others do not always have these items and that's why it is so important to give to others.

4. Making Donations- Just last week we went through all of our clothes, toys and items we either don't use or no longer need. The boys sat in their room with me and we went through each and every toy, deciding which ones to give to other boys and girls who would enjoy them and, after finishing up, we had over 5 boxes of toys, clothing and other goods to donate.

From this point on we will participate in #GivingTuesday and invite all of our readers to do so!

What is #GivingTuesday? 

#GivingTuesday is a movement dedicated to create a national giving day, which will officially kick off the giving season on the Tuesday following Thanksgiving. The 2nd annual #GivingTuesday will be on December 3rd, 2013. There are so many different ways for you to give and this wonderful movement really depends upon the participation of YOU! Do your part to support #GivingTuesday by sharing this information with others and giving back in some way. All families and individuals are encouraged to be generous in whatever ways matter to them, whether that means volunteering at a local charity or donating to a favorite cause. 

Disclosure: This post was written for The Motherhood and #GivingTuesday. Compensation was provided, though all written opinions are my own.

Trying A Delicious New Lactose-Free Blueberry Muffin Recipe with #Lactaid

This post is brought to you by The Motherhood and LACTAID®. Although I have been compensated for my time, all thoughts and opinions are my own.
We had the opportunity to try out Lactaid in May and have been huge fans every since then. My husband is extremely lactose intolerant as well as my son and my niece. I, too, cannot consume much lactose or my stomach will be a mess, so I used to just avoid dairy products when possible. However, now I've learned that this isn't at all necessary. Lactaid is a perfect lactose-free substitute and is actually 100% dairy!

What is Lactaid?
As I mentioned in my last post, Lactaid provides the delicious creamy taste of dairy without the stomach discomfort I often experience. This awesome product actually provides the lactase we need to break down lactose. This product only differs from other dairy products because of the added lactase enzyme for those of us who are lactose intolerant. You can read more about Lactaid and find some amazing recipe ideas on the Lactaid website.

My family loves muffins, so we were inspired by the delicious blueberry muffins we found on the Lactaid website under their recipes tab. All of our blueberries and blackberries are ready for picking, so we picked some fresh blueberries AND blackberries to put a twist on the recipe and give it a try. The kids were so excited.
First we got all of our ingredients together, including the most important:

LACTAID, of course (it tastes and looks like regular milk!):

Fresh blackberries picked from our yard:

Blueberries we picked earlier in the week and had frozen:

Once all of our ingredients were mixed, the baking begin and boy did they smell delicious... and yes, the boys picked the Christmas tree shapes for our muffins for some reason!

Once they were finished, I had to keep the boys away until they cooled off, which was very tough!

My husband is a huge fan of LACTAID and we have purchased several gallons since our first review purchase. He loves the 2% milk and the kids said they cannot tell a difference in the taste at all. I know I can't!
Here he is enjoying his muffin before they all disappeared. These were gone within 24 hours, so I know this is a recipe we will use again and again!

Here is the recipe in case you'd like to give this easy recipe a try, too:

Lactose Free Blueberry Muffins

Serves 6

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Prep Time

15 min

Cook Time

30 min

Total Time

45 min

Ingredients

2 cups all-purpose flour

3/4 cup granulated sugar

2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 beaten eggs

3/4 cup LACTAID® Reduced Fat Milk

1/2 cup melted butter or cooking oil

1 tablespoon finely shredded orange peel

1 cup fresh blueberries or frozen blueberries, thawed

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Lightly grease six 3 1/2-inch muffin cups or line with large paper bake cups. Set aside.

2. In a medium bowl stir together flour, 3/4 cup sugar, baking powder, and salt. Make a well in the center of the flour mixture; set aside.

3. In a small bowl combine eggs, LACTAID® Reduced Fat Milk, butter or oil, and orange peel (if using). Add all at once to the flour mixture. Stir just until moistened (batter should be lumpy). Fold in blueberries.

4. Spoon batter into prepared muffin cups, filling each about 2/3 full. If desired, sprinkle with coarse sugar. Bake in a 350 degree oven about 30 minutes or until golden. Cool in muffin cups on wire rack 5 minutes. Remove from muffin cups; serve warm.

Notes

If you prefer standard-size muffins, spoon the batter into twelve 2 1/2-inch muffin cups and bake in a 375 degree oven about 20 minutes or until golden.

In our first post about Lactaid, we talked about our interesting and educational conversation with Melissa d'Arabian, who is a spokesperson for Lactaid. She recently appeared on The TODAY Show introducing Lactaid and a great lactose-free recipe, Chicken with lactose-free creamy mushroom sauce, that looks absolutely delicious. Check out the video and let me know what you think!


This post has been brought to you by The Motherhood and LACTAID®. I have been compensated for my time, however all thoughts and opinions are my own.

100th Birthday American Cancer Society Twitter Party Today At 2pm ET #FinishtheFight

Disclosure: This post was written for American Cancer Society in conjunction with The Motherhood. This is a sponsored post, though all opinions written are my own. 
First off I want to say Happy Birthday to the American Cancer Society. We want to thank you for everything done to fight cancer and find a cure. As I've mentioned before, my youngest son, Liam, has Neurofibromatosis, which causes brain tumors and we are so grateful for ACS and his cancer treatment team. Celebrate today with an awesome Twitter party in honor of American Cancer Society's 100th birthday. We want to help finish the fight against cancer once and for all.

Help us create a buzz by taking a pledge and creating your life list via the Facebook app on the ACS Facebook page. It's fun, easy and you can also invite others to join in.

The Twitter party begins today at 2pm EST and will definitely be a great time! There are 5 $25 VISA Gift Card prizes to be given away during the party, too. Prizes will be awarded based on correct trivia question answers. Winners are chosen randomly from everyone's correct responses. Click here to get all the info and to RSVP for the Twitter party.

Children Teaching Mama will be there to celebrate along with The Motherhood and some other wonderful bloggers. We hope to see you there!

Online Educational Fun With Curiosityville!

Summer has officially begun and Josiah couldn't be more excited. His homeschool lessons ended last week and he's ready for all the fun we have planned over the next few months for summer vacation. Even though we have a busy summer planned, I don't want Josiah to completely neglect his studies. Did you know that, on average, children lose 2.6 months of learned materials during the summer. This means when going back to school children are already behind by a good 2-4 weeks as teachers re-teach those skills. Since Josiah will enter our local school system next year for first grade, I want him to be ready and prepared for what is in store. That's why I was so excited to work with The Motherhood on a review of Curiosityville!

Curiosityville is an online learning world for children ages 3 to 8! The website is completely personalized and not only helps children with their education, but also helps parents and caregivers become great teachers. Children have fun learning new and interesting subjects and activities while parents can track the goals reached and via the Learning Tree.

My three year old, Liam, along with my soon-to-be six year old, Josiah, know all about online games and programs because their homeschool studies are online! They also have their own tablets and enjoy playing learning games, so they were excited to give Curiosityville a try and couldn't wait to get started. 

Once my account was activated, I entered their personalized information, allowing me to sign in and go to their own "account", which keeps up with their progress separately. There are 5 different animals in Curiosityville who are ready to teach children different subjects and skills, including Jack, Rosie, Joe, Ruby and Pablo. 

The characters are interested in different subjects and introduce children to different activities. For example, when we clicked on Rosie, we found that she studies neuroscience and is a doctor, so all of the activities with Rosie are related to science! Liam particularly likes puzzles, so when we found a body parts puzzle, he was the first to volunteer. 

We also visited Joe, the mayor of Curiosityville. He enjoys tinkering and we also found puzzles at his house, too. When clicking on the television, we found fun exercise videos. The boys were both fans of this and love doing daily exercise, so this is a great way to get the heart pumping and ready for learning. The great thing is that there are several different videos, so you can come back for more exercise or keep going. We've come back to watch videos many times now.

Josiah's favorite animal is Jack, Curiosityville's police officer. Josiah is just learning to read and, when we clicked on the aquarium in Jack's office, we found a fun letter game that was perfect for him. We had to catch letters, first uppercase and then lowercase. Then, he had to catch all the pictures of items with a "b" sound. He has struggled with letters and sounds in the past, so I really wanted to keep up with phonics during the summer, so this has made it fun for him.

How will I know how Josiah and Liam progress? They collect apples and badges based on participation. Josiah has earned 8 apples with Joe and 3 apples with Dr. Rosie. In addition, I can look at their own Learning Tree to see what they have learned for the day, week, month and quarter. 

As a homeschooling mom, I want to make learning fun and this is what Curiosityville is all about! The website introduces children to exciting subjects with familiar settings. Want to focus on math skills? Children can visit Ms. Ruby. Does your child enjoy art? Pablo, the artist, has some fun activities, too. I'm very impressed with this wide variety of interactive games the kids can play and how well it keeps kids entertained. Plus, the content on Curiosityville changes weekly, so there is always something new to learn and see! 

I highly recommend Curiosityville as a fun way to educate children, especially during the summer months when so much can be forgotten. The great thing is that the first month is FREE! Sign up and give it a try. If your kids like it, you can extend your subscription for only $7.95 a month or, if you pay for a year, you also get a Pablo stuffed animal. It's totally risk-free, so give Curiosityville a try and let me know what you think. I bet your kids will love it just as much as mine do.

Twitter Party For Moms and Dads

Kids don't get to have all the fun! Join the Curiosityville Twitter Party on Monday, June 4th at 1pm EST. Join in on the fun with the hashtag #Curiosityville. 

Join Us at 1pm for the Seventh Generation Twitter Party #7GenBabyFest

Hi, everyone! I wanted to invite you to a fun Twitter party this afternoon hosted by Seventh Generation and The Motherhood!Today, from 1-2 pm EST, we will be talking about the types of products we use on our babies and children's hair and skin! We will have a great time and there will be prizes, too!

#7GenBabyFest Twitter party details

What: Parents are often concerned about the food that goes in their young children’s bodies – but what about the products that are used on their sensitive skin? Seventh Generation and The Motherhood are hosting a Twitter party to discuss everything you need to know about ingredients, scents, packaging and labels on baby personal care products like shampoo and lotion.

When: Thursday, December 13, 1-2 p.m. ET

Where: We’ll be on Twitter – follow the #7GenBabyFest hashtag to track the conversation.  You can see the details and RSVP via this Twtvite:http://twtvite.com/7genbabyfest2

Hashtag: #7GenBabyFest

Prizes: Seventh Generation will give away five total prizes. Four of the prizes will be gift baskets containing full lines of the Seventh Generation baby care and home care products. The final prize will be a baby massage class in the winner’s area. Winners will be chosen randomly from among participants who respond correctly to trivia questions.Hosts: @theMotherhood, @CooperMunroe, @EmilyMcKhann 
Other info: Seventh Generation’s website: http://www.seventhgeneration.com/

**Following the party, you can also participate in an Instagram contest with Seventh Generation!! Beginning December 14, take an Instagram photo to illustrate how you practice natural parenting, tag @SeventhGeneration and use the #7GenBabyFest hashtag.7 winners each day for three days will receive a Seventh Generation Baby gift basket. If you win, you’ll be contacted via Instagram with a request to share your mailing information.**

Disclosure: This is a sponsored post for The Motherhood. All opinions are my own.

Climate Change Survey : We Need Your Help!

Hi, everyone! We need your help today with an important survey on climate change. Can you take a few minutes to answer a few questions? If so, click here to complete the survey.

Emily McKhann, from The Motherhood, will be speaking to moms about climate change for a global initiative called 24 Hours of Reality this week. The survey results will be used for the talk and for a blog post that will go live tomorrow on Good.is! 

Please take a few minutes! We'd really appreciate it. 
 

Flatout Flatbread Giveaway Package & $50 Walmart Gift Card #flatoutpizza

Two weekends ago we threw our Flatout flatbread pizza party a few weeks ago and it was a HUGE success. Click the link to see all of the great pictures of our pizza idea. Everyone had a great time and loved the pizza we made. Not only was delicious and easy to make. Flatout is so awesome that they offered us a giveaway package for our readers, too!

One Lucky Winner Will Receive A Flatout Giveaway Package!

This includes all of the items pictures below plus a $50 Gift Card to Walmart! You can have a great Halloween pizza party just like we did.

Just use the Rafflecopter form below to enter. This giveaway will end Saturday, November 10th at 11:59pm and is open to US residents 18+ years of age. Good Luck!

Join The Fun Tomorrow 10/24 For The Little Chefs Everyday Fun Cook-Along #LittleChefs

Earlier this week we posted about the awesome Chef Boyardee Little Chefs E-Cookbook and also included a giveaway. We were so excited to participate in the e-cookbook, but the fun doesn't stop there!! Tomorrow is our next feature during the Everyday Fun Cook-Along.

The Little Chefs Project series has been hosting live chats, Cook-Alongs, every Thursday at 2pm until November 15th. Each Cook-Along covers a different topic just like in the e-cookbook.  We were featured in the Everyday Fun part of the e-cookbook and we will also be a part of the Cook-Along tomorrow on Everyday Fun!

I hope you can come and join the fun! The Everyday Fun topic will including info about how you and the kids can create fun, lasting memories in the kitchen, such as sleepovers, holidays or even family dinners. We are going to have such a great time and I would love for you to come.

When? Thursday, October 25th from 2-2:30pm

Where? The Motherhood! Just Click Here to come to the Cook-Along.
To participate click the link above, login to The Motherhood using your member ID (if you don't have one, no worries! It's easy and free to sign up.) and join the chat! There will also be video feed included for the half-hour Cook-Along, so you can come chat or even just watch. It's totally up to you, but you are sure to have a great time.

The Cook-Along is sponsored by Chef Boyardee, and it is hosted by The Motherhood.  You can visit Chef Boyardee online at http://www.chefboyardee.com/ or on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/chefboyardee.

I have mentioned several times in the past that we LOVE Che Boyardee! I have eaten it since I was a little kid and now my kids love it just as much. I think my favorite is either Mini Ravioli or Beefaroni. My son's favorite, on the other hand would definitely have to be Spaghetti and Meatballs. He loves it and always eats all of his lunch every time I cook that for him. 

Just for fun we decided to try something different out for lunch today. We took the Spaghetti and Meatballs, added some mozzarella  cheese and baked in the oven. I love spaghetti bakes and thought this should be delicious for everyone to try. The result? Delicious! You really can't go wrong with Chef Boyardee or cheese, so together they are a winning combination. I took some pictures and will be sure to add them to the post tomorrow so you can see just how delicious it looks. 

Don't forget about the Cook-Along tomorrow at 2pm EST! We really hope to see you there!

Disclosure: This post was written for Chef Boyardee in conjunction with The Motherhood. All opinions are my own.

Join The Pulled Pork Twitter Party Thursday 7pm EST #PlatesofPork

Hi, everyone! We are co-hosting a Twitter party with the National Pork Board and The Motherhood! We'll be talking about delicious pulled pork recipes, which are perfect for summer meals, picnics a gatherings! Plus, we'll be giving away a variety of awesome prizes!!!

When? Thursday, July 19th 7-9pm EST

Where? The party with be on Twitter using the #PlatesofPork hashtag! (Using TweetGrid)

Who? The National Pork Board (@AllAboutPork) and The Motherhood (@theMotherhood). Please follow both twitter handles to be eligible to win prizes.

Prizes? There will be FIVE PRIZE PACKAGES given away during the hour based on responses to trivia questions! Each prize pack will contain a $20 Walmart gift, slow cooker, cutting board, three-piece BBQ tool set and a sauce bucket/brush!!! Those are some awesome prizes. You can see the prizes and official rules by clicking HERE.

Want to join the party? Go ahead and RSVP today so we know you'll be there. Click HERE and press the orange "count me in" button on the right-hand side!

Hope to see you there! It will be so much fun!