Educational Insights Estimation Station Learning Toy

We made the switch to homeschooling this year and I'm so excited, but also scared. I've never taken on something like this and though I am happy to spend time with my sons and teach them, I feel almost unprepared. Educational Insights has so many wonderful products and toys that are educational, which is why they are the perfect resource for fun games the kids can play as well as supplemental items for class. This month we received the Estimation Station to review!

About the Estimation Station
No more wild guesses! The Estimation Station is the perfect way to teach your students to make logical, mathematical estimates. Simply send this jar home with a student to be filled and counted. Then fill the included proportional scoop and share that number with your class. Students use that information to formulate educated estimations about the number of pieces in the jar. Clearer and easier than home-made jars with hard-to-view contents.

My Thoughts
The kids have been focusing on counting lately and have really enjoyed working with numbers. It just so happens we watched a Curious George episode recently where there was a contest where all the kids (and George, of course) had to guess how many balls were in a gumball machine. Josiah loved that episode, so when we got the Estimation Station he was excited to see how it worked.

We have measured all kinds of items, including beans, army men and other small toys. Josiah loves seeing how many he can fit in and he will be learning fractions very soon. He is getting much better at counting and estimating the amount of items that will fit in the jar. Crayons were the latest experiment!

I also love that there is a guide for parents and an activity guide with activity ideas, which is very helpful, especially when homeschooling. Sometimes it is hard to keep things new and exciting for kids and Educational Insights have so many great items that really do keep kids interested while learning.

 Ready to Win?

We love the Estimation Station and are so excited to offer a giveaway thanks to Educational Insights!

One Lucky Winner Will Receive An Estimation Station!

Fall Is Finally Here & So Is Arby's New Grand Turkey Club #craveability

Fall is finally here, which just happens to be the most beautiful season of all here in the mountains. Here in Ellijay the fall brings many things that our family loves, including the apple season. We always go to the the annual Apple Festival to walk around and see all the unique crafts for sale. After walking around a while, it is time to eat and we have to get caramel apples, the signature dish of the apple festival. These are different from any other caramel apples I've ever had. Instead of on a stick, they are peeled, sliced into small rings and drizzled with the most delicious caramel sauce you have ever tasted. I really do crave them throughout the year and the kids talk about them all year.

I love the box

Speaking of craving foods, our family members are all HUGE Arby's fans. It is our go-to fast food when eating out. Liam, my youngest, is such a picky eater, but Arby's Curly Fries is one of the only things he will always eat. I was so excited to find out Arby's has a new sandwich, the Grand Turkey Club sandwich! We had a chance to give it a try and are happy to report that it is absolutely delicious!!

I usually eat the regular Arby's Sandwiches, so eating the Arby's Grand Turkey Club was quite a change for me and a good change at that. Pulling into the drive-thru, I saw the picture of the new sandwich on the menu board and it looked huge, stacked with turkey, bacon, lettuce, tomato and mayo on a soft bun. Since trying the Grand Turkey Club, my husband has already stopped by Arby's to eat one for lunch because he enjoyed it so much. He says it is not only delicious, but it fills him up during the day and is just the right amount of food for him.

The kids opted for the usual roast beef sandwiches, but somehow they ended up snacking on MY sandwich and, once it was gone, they were asking for more! I have a feeling we will be purchasing the new Grand Turkey Club many, many times in the future.

Another activity we all enjoy as a family in the fall is going apple picking. There are many apple houses around our home, so we have our pick of great places to go. There is a huge variety of apples that grow here and we can pick them all. Our favorite would have to be Granny Smith apples. It's so fun to walk around and pick apples, but even more fun to reward ourselves afterwards with an apple snack!

What do you crave during the fall season? While you are out enjoying the beautiful fall weather, be sure to stop by Arby's for their new Grand Turkey Club. Then, come back here and let me know what you think. We give it two thumbs up and know you will LOVE it! Click below to "like" Arby's on Facebook and keep up with the latest Arby's news!

 This blog post is part of a paid SocialMoms and Arby’s blogging program. The opinions and ideas expressed here are my own.

Helpful Hints For Removing Stains From Sport Uniforms

As a child, I was always playing sports. You name it, I played it. Now that I have kids of my own, they enjoy playing sports, too! I never knew until now just how rough a time my mom had with all the stains on my uniforms, especially the white pants I wore for softball. Read all the helpful hints below for getting stains out of sport uniforms. I've never thought about some of these ideas and cannot wait to give them a try!

Image provided by: Cisco custom volleyball jerseys.
Want to add this illustration to your site too? Click here to get the embed code./center>

Framed Posters Make For A Perfect Gift Idea

I have always loved collecting posters, even as a child. The first poster I remember hanging on my wall was for the movie Dirty Dancing. Unfortunately, I didn't put it in a frame, so after several years it had holes and was completely ruined. I hate to think how much it would be worth today if I would have taken better care of it.

When I was in college, I studied abroad for a semester in Germany. While there we took several weekend trips, including one to Amsterdam! While there I couldn't wait to visit the Van Gogh Museum. Seeing his artwork in person, with all of the amazing detail, was just breathtaking. After walking through the museum I went to the gift shop and noticed several of the famous paintings printed out on posters. Immediately I had a great idea! I could purchase these posters and find wholesale poster frames for them, too. These would make perfect gifts for family members.

I carefully placed the art in a protective tube and the posters traveled with me to several countries. These well-traveled posters safely made their way back to the United States and then I got to work making them into perfect gifts. I quickly realized just how difficult it can be to find the right frames unless you know exactly where to look online, especially when on a budget. Luckily I found some great prices and was able to transform the posters into beautiful gifts. The frames really completed the gifts and I could not wait to give them.

My mom's favorite flowers are roses, so I gave her one of the rose prints by Van Gogh. She loves the print and frame so much that it is now hanging in her bedroom. She is always showing off her poster, telling others all about my trip to Europe and where the poster was purchased. It is so nice to see that my mom enjoys looking at her art and now others can enjoy it, too!

Nonni's Salted Caramel Biscotti Review & Giveaway Package

I have a routine in the morning. I get up and slowly make my way to the kitchen to make a nice cup of coffee, or if I'm going through a "no caffeine" phase then it's a cup of hot chocolate. 

During the fall, hot chocolate in the evening while watching a show. 

Well, I like to think that every cup of coffee or hot chocolate needs a companion, something yummy to go with it. 

So why not try some Biscotti?

And since I love the Salted Caramel Mocha from Starbucks,

 figured we'd give Nonni's Salted Caramel Biscotti a try!

Looks pretty good right? These were too salty for me, but once I got past the salt, the cookies were delicious! Just to be safe, I had my husband & sister try one as well. We all came up with the same verdict, too salty. I was quite disappointed. I wanted just a bit of salty with my sweet. But like I said, once I dusted some salt off, the cookie itself was delicious. If you like salt, these are definitely for you!

I noticed the other day as I was shopping that they have many other flavors of Nonni's Biscotti.  As soon as I decide what flavor I want to try next I'll be grabbing a box! They all look delicious.

Have you tried any of Nonni's Biscotti? Did you like it? 

What do you drink with your coffee/hot chocolate?

Be sure to follow Nonni's on Instagram, too, at @NonnisBiscotti!

Ready for a giveaway? 
Nonni's Biscotti was nice enough to offer an awesome giveaway package that includes 2 boxes of Salted Caramel Biscotti and 3 other surprise boxes of Nonni's Biscotti!

The New Chef Boyardee Little Chefs Project E-Cookbook & Giveaway Package #LittleChefs

We at Children Teaching Mama are so excited to announce we are now published! We are huge Chef Boyardee fans, so imagine my surprise when we were invited to be part of the Chef Boyardee Little Chefs E-Cookbook! Just in time for National Cookbook month, too. I've been eating Chef Boyardee since I was a little kid and now my own children love it, too. After much work from many Mamas, the Chef Boyardee Little Chefs Project E-Cookbook was finished and ready for sharing!

Click Here to see the awesome cookbook! This book is made by moms, for moms and contains pictures, helpful hints and recipes. Kids can have so much fun in the kitchen, so it's up to us, as moms, to show them how. Both Liam and Josiah absolutely love helping us in the kitchen. We are part of Chapter 3: Everyday Fun! Take a look at Liam dressed up in his Chef Boyardee gear and Josiah rolling out dough for cookies. Children Teaching Mama's very own Mama, Roxanne, is quoted within the chapter, too.

I love having fun in the kitchen with my kids and showing them that cooking doesn't have to be boring! I'm not afraid to try new things and let them experiment with ingredients. You never know what we'll be cooking up in our kitchen, especially with my boys around.

How do you have fun in the kitchen with your kids? Take a look at the Chef Boyardee Little Chefs E-Cookbook and let me know what you learned!

Want To Win?

To help celebrate the Little Chefs Project E-Cookbook, Chef Boyardee has a fabulous giveaway! 

 One Children Teaching Mama Reader Will Win A Chef Boyardee Package, Which Includes:

Get To Publix From Now Until October 24th To Support Local Schools & $25 Publix GC Giveaway

We love shopping at our local Publix and now we have more of a reason to go from now through October 24th! Publix is teaming up with Produce for Kids to host the second annual Healthy Schools, Healthy Minds campaign in which shoppers can help contribute to the cause and support local schools.

How do we participate?
All you have to do to support your local schools is add produce to your Publix shopping lists! During this campaign participating fresh fruit and vegetable suppliers will make a donation based on consumption of their fresh produce items to DonorsChoose.org, which supports local classroom projects!

Be on the lookout for the Produce for Kids displays throughout Publix featuring the characters from the popular Sprout shows, LazyTown and Noodle and Doodle! These are located in the produce section and will tell you which items of produce will benefit local classrooms. The more you add, the more they benefit!

Win on Pinterest
Produce for Kids just began a fun and exciting contest on Pinterest! Check it out by clicking here!

Win Here!

One Lucky Children Teaching Mama Reader Will Receive a $25 Publix Gift Card along with Produce For Kids and Sprout Goodies!! 

Just use the Rafflecopter form below to enter! This giveaway is open to US Residents 18+ Years of age and ends on Monday, November 12th at 11:59pm. Good Luck!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

A Halloween Party To Remember With Flatout Thin Crust Flatbread #flatoutpizza

We were so excited to work with The Motherhood and Flatout this October to help introduce the three new Flatout Thin Crust Flatbread! We received all three not only to try out, but to use as part of delicious snacks for a Halloween party.

We received the Heritage Wheat Flatout Flatbread, Spicy Italian Flatout Flatbread and the Rustic White Flatout Flatbread!

Why try Flatout?
The great thing about Flatout Flatbread is that making a pizza dinner is easier than ever! You can make a delicious pizza in about 6 minutes. I love thin crust pizza already, so knowing it is easy to prep just adds to the appeal! Plus, you can grill or bake it. We decided to put Flatout to the test and make our own pizza just the way the kids like it AND invite the extended family to come over for all the Halloween and pizza fun!

Flatout Thin Crust Flatbread is a great source of fiber, is only 120 calories per piece and contains 7 grams of protein. Plus, you can purchase the bags, which are shelf-stable for 14 days, at Walmart for only $2.98! So, you can make an easy dinner for a great price. Josiah and Liam love to keep things simple, so all I needed to buy was some pizza sauce and cheese! Easy-peasy! Each of the flatbread packages contained 6 long pieces of flatbread, so we had plenty for a great dinner.

How easy was it?
First I pre-heated the oven to 350 degrees. Then, I put the flatbread on a cookie sheet and toasted for 2 minutes. I took it out, slapped on some pizza sauce and cheese. Then I placed it back in the oven for about 4 more minutes and, voila', it was finished and smelling great!

One of the delicious pizzas we made!

The favorite among all the adults was the Spicy Italian Flatout Thin Crust Flatbread because it is already perfectly seasoned and goes along perfectly with the pizza ingredients. It has a little spice, but isn't too spicy (in my opinion). The kids seemed to prefer the Rustic White flatbread and my husband always eats wheat bread, so he was excited to eat the Heritage Wheat pizza we made.

This was the easiest meal I have made in quite a while and it really was a hit! For the party we got several decorations and I decided to put them up on our mantle to display. Several of the pumpkins light up and others make noises, which you can't tell from the picture, but they looked awesome!

 I really can't ask for anything more when making dinner and especially when throwing a party. No more elaborate dishes for me. Keeping it simple with Flatout Flatbread is the way to go! It's delicious, easy and everyone is sure to love it. I know all of our guests asked for more information and couldn't wait to give it a try, too! After I told them it only took 6 minutes to make they wanted to give it a try even more.

An awesome witch plate with a piece of pizza!

You should put Flatout to the test, too. Then come back and let me know what you think. I bet you will have nothing but amazing things to say about it. Be sure to check back this week for our Flatout Thin Crust Flatbread Giveaway! You do NOT want to miss it, believe me!

Disclosure: This post was written for Flatout in conjunction with The Motherhood. I was compensated to conduct this review and party, though all opinions are 100% mine and only mine. 

Tiny Prints Beautiful & Creative Holiday Cards

It's that time of year again... time to start thinking about Holiday cards for friends and relatives. For years now we have been huge fans of Tiny Prints and this year is no different. Their 2012 Holiday Cards are now released and are nothing short of awesome! The new designs are fresh, fun and made of Premium DoubleThick™ Matte Paper, making them durable and beautiful. You can choose from traditional cards to more modern designs. They also offer religious-based cards (including Hanukkah)!

Each year we always get 2 different sets of holiday cards, but they are always Photo Christmas Cards. I love this time of year for so many reasons and enjoy sending cards to all of our friends and family we do not get to see often. My favorite cards are those that allow space for telling about the children and their accomplishments for the year. The tri-fold cards are perfect for this and allow us to update those who are not in the loop. My favorite card this year is the Chevron Year card. It has room for 13 pictures AND has room to write about the boys. This year has been such a big one for them and there have been many firsts to report.

Take a look at all the great holiday cards at Tiny Prints and let me know which is your favorite! Also, be sure to check out their Special Offers page for the latest and greatest deals!

Disclosure: This sponsored post was written for Tiny Prints and was compensated. All opinions expressed are completely my own.

$399 Mohawk Rug FREE Blogger Giveaway Event

Hi, everyone! We are back with an awesome giveaway event to kick of the holidays. Children Teaching Mama and Happenings of the Harper Household are hosting the $399 Mohawk Rug Event sponsored by Mohawk Home. The giveaway will begin on November 1st at 12:01am and will end on November 26th at 11:59pm.
Event Dates: Thursday, November 1st at 12:01am - Monday, November 26th at 11:49pm

Giveaway Prizes: Any 8x10 Mohawk Rug equal to or less than $399! (Winner's choice!)

Details: This is a FREE blogger event, open to US and Canada Residents and accepting sign-ups now (but Canadian residents cannot enter the giveaway, unfortunately).

Click Here To Sign Up!

We will be limiting sign-ups this time, so don't delay on sign-ups because this one will fill up quickly!

<center> <a href="http://www.childrenteachingmama.com/2012/10/399-mohawk-rug-free-blogger-giveaway.html" target=""><img_proxy_proxy_proxy src="http://i961.photobucket.com/albums/ae100/stinkermama/mohawkbutton2.jpg" /></a></center>
Event Details

• Each blogger signed up will receive 1 FREE Link to either Facebook or Twitter (blogger's choice). You have the option of purchasing an additional link for $3 via Paypal to childrenteachingmama@gmail.com 
• To sign-up, you have the choice of posting an announcement on your blog about the event with links to both the sponsor (http://www.mohawkhome.com), (http://www.childrenteachingmama.com/) & (http://happeningsoftheharperhousehold.net)and my OR Send $3 via PayPal to childrenteachingmama@gmail.com with your email address and "Mohawk Rug Event" in the message. The money collected will go towards event fees and referral prizes.
• Adding the event button to your blog is optional, though recommended. The html is provided above, so just cut and paste. The more advertisement, the bigger the event!
• Once you have posted the announcement OR sent the PayPal payment, Fill Out This Form to reserve your spot!
• You will receive the HTML code for publishing the giveaway at least 4 days before the event, so expect an email around November 27-28th. The HTML sent should be a template used for the event, though you can change the words around to make it your own.
• I will verify that the posts are live on November 3rd at noon. If you have not posted the giveaway, you will be contacted and your link(s) will be deleted from Rafflecopter.