Holiday Gift Guide: Educational Insights $50 Gift Code Giveaway

We've worked with Educational Insights for several months now and are always excited to receive a new product to review. The kids love how much fun each of the games and toys are and I love that they not only interest the kids, but are educational.

Educational Insights has so many great gift ideas that are perfect for the holidays. I'll be getting a few things for the kids as presents. I've also used several as extras for homeschooling Josiah. That's why we are so happy to offer an awesome giveaway this month thanks to Educational Insights!

One Lucky Children Teaching Mama Reader Will Win a $50 Gift Card to Educational Insights!

Kmart Friends & Family Sale This Sunday, November 4th

We have always been huge Kmart fans. I remember shopping as a kid with my Grandma and she'd run every time the blue light started flashing for a sale. Now that I'm older an can appreciate a good sale myself, I realize why she loved Kmart so much. They always have great deals going on, especially around the holidays.

Speaking of sales, this Sunday, November 4th, Kmart will have a Friends & Family Day Sale! What does this mean? You can receive 10% off ALL sale, regular and clearance price merchandise with a coupon! Just click here to print out your coupons and get ready to shop.

Now is the time to shop for holiday presents. I love the holidays, but I am not a fan of long lines and crowded stores. In the past I have admittedly procrastinated and am always kicking myself on Christmas Eve trying to get everything ready. Not this year, though! I am going to be at Kmart this weekend stocking up on toys for the kids. They have already been asking about Santa and have not hesitated to start requesting toys, so I have a pretty good list of items to buy this year.

Liam is very much a Chuggington Choo Choo fan and I am definitely going to look at the sets at Kmart. Josiah, on the other hand, loves action figures. This year I'll have the presents purchased, wrapped and under our tree early!

What about you? Will you get a head start on your holiday shopping at the Kmart Friends & Family Sale this Sunday? Maybe I'll see you there!

Disclosure: This sponsored post was written through the Mom Bloggers Club Member Program. I was compensated for my time, though all opinions are my own.

Thirty-One Gifts Twitter Follows Page

Follow @ohmygoshbeck Follow @kristinnw Follow @wdwview Follow @MMGMOM3 Follow @LifesCheap Follow @childrenteach

Time For A Road Trip! #kiasocialclub

Content and/or other value provided by our partner, Kia Motors

I will never forget the time we took the my youngest son on his very first road trip! He was born on June 8, 2007 and we went to the beach with my parents for the 4th of July week. He was 4 weeks old and was such a little sweetheart the entire time. We decided to do the drive at night, which ended up being perfect. He barely cried on the entire drive and was the perfect passenger, mostly sleeping through the trip. The key was taking little sanity breaks along the way to feed the baby, get something to eat and just rest.

We made it to the beach safe and sound, which was such a relief. Little Josiah enjoyed his first trip to the beach and slept most of the time, but many of his relatives got to see him, hold him and spend time with the little man. 

My husband really wants the new 2013 Kia Forte and, since we are looking for a new car, this will be first on the list! Do you drive a Kia? If so, tell me about it below!

What is your #1 road trip tip?

Kotex Encourages The Period Talk : Monthly Maintanence #KotexMom

Thanks to U by Kotex, we've been discussing the big "P" and the period talk and, more importantly, having the talk with your daughter. We've gone over several topics that are a must for the period talk and Ry and I have had some great mother-daughter talks, which is something I never had. The talk can be nerve-racking and tough, but it doesn't have to be. There are many questions which are bound to come up when talking with your daughter, so educate yourself. This week we are writing about Monthly Maintenance and how to be prepared.

It seems just like yesterday when I was sitting in my high school World History class. My teacher was at the front of the class lecturing when it happened. Yes, I had my period, which was nothing new, but this month I had a much heavier flow for some reason. I knew when it happened... my pad leaked. What a horrible feeling to be stuck at my desk and helpless. I didn't want to interrupt class and I certainly didn't walk up to the front of class with everyone looking at me, especially if I had leaked through my pants. Embarrassing! There is no other word for it and I should have been prepared. This is why it was so important for me to discuss this with Ry.

How can your daughter be prepared? During the talk with your daughter, discuss keeping track of her period and let her know that it is normal to experience irregular periods, so she may have a really heavy flow one month and a light one the next. You also need to teach her possible symptoms, such as cramps, headaches and moodiness. I have experienced them all! This is why a "period kit" comes in very handy, especially if you are in a situation like myself when I was in school.

Nothing slows my girl down!

Last month we talked about packing some products in an inconspicuous pouch for daughter's purse, locker or backpack, which is a must. You can keep track of when to expect your period by calendar, but always have a kit ready.

What should be included in the "period kit"?

• Extra pads for emergencies and for regular changing.
• Tylenol or Midol for cramps! This was a lifesaver for me because I had horrible cramps each month. PMS is real.
• Wet wipes for cleaning off
• Extra undies in case of an accident
• Extra pair of pants or shorts (She can keep these in her locker, just like gym clothes. No one will know the difference!)

Not only is it important to pack a period kit, but you should also discuss staying clean. It's very important to change your pad before it gets too full (what I did in World History), which is different for each person, but I found changing mine about every 2 hours was the way to go. Why so often? If you don't you put yourself at risk for odor and infection. Believe me, you do not want to have your period and an infection. Talk about uncomfortable!

Ry is such a happy girl and full of life. I never want this to change! In a house of all boys, she has her hands full and is a very curious girl. This is why it is so important to educate her about her period, what to expect and how to take care of herself. If your tween or teen has more questions, direct her to the Hello Period website. There are answers to questions, stories from other girls and much, much more. Unsure how to begin the big talk with your daughter? You can take a look at the U by Kotex tween site.

I wrote this review while participating in a Brand Ambassador Campaign by Mom Central Consulting on behalf of U by Kotex Tween and received products to facilitate my post and a promotional item to thank me for taking the time to participate.

We Can Listen To Music Anytime

Coming from a family of musicians, music has always been an important part of my life. I've been in bands, play several instruments and love going to see bands play live. Now that I'm a mom, life has slowed down quite a bit, but I still listen to a great deal of music. I enjoy listening to lesser known electronic bands like Dntel and Postal Service. Being up in the mountains, let's just say those are not available to purchase on CD, so I download songs to get the song I enjoy. It's such an easy way to get music and is available immediately. I can listen to it on my computer, iPad and MP3 player during the day, which is awesome. Another wonderful reason I download is because the songs are free!

Lately we've been in the car more often. We travel each week to Atlanta for my son and those two-hour trips can seem like much longer, especially with kids in the car. Many of our local stations have recently turned into sports talk radio, which just isn't interesting to me. Only one of my favorite stations still exists, so most of the time I cannot find anything to listen to, but I have found a solution. All of the songs I downloaded can be added to a CD! How? All I had to do was find a great cd burner. Then, I could easily add all of my favorite songs into the program and burn them straight onto a cd!

Since downloading songs I have also found some great new music artists I'd never heard of before! Plus, I can listen to DJ stations with my favorite types of music. No more waiting for my favorite song to pop up on my radio. I can listen anytime!

In addition to adding my favorite songs and music artists, I've found music for my kids. This is another great way to make it through the long car trips and with the upcoming holidays we will be traveling so often that this will be perfect! I've even mixed a few cds that have half of my music and half of theirs. This way we both get to listen and everyone is pleased.

Who is your favorite music artist or group? Have you downloaded music yet? Give it a try and I bet you will never look back!

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!

Funky Fluff Fall Festival Giveaway Event Has Begun Win a $120 Cloth Diaper Package!

Welcome to the Funky Fluff Fall Festival hosted by Eco Baby Mama Drama and Mama on a Green Mission! If you love cloth diapers, are curious about them or know someone else who loves them, you are definitely in the right place! 

The Funky Fluff Fall Festival is a two week event all about Funky Fluff! There is one grand prize package that includes 6 Funky Fluff diapers (either bamboo, stay dry, or a combination) and 1 Funky Fluff wet bag! That's a value of over $120! Yay for fluff!

Enter to win this wonderful package below. Be sure to come back every day during the 2 weeks for extra entries!

Ten fluffy lovin' blogs have come together for this event and each day one blog will post a review about their experience and their thoughts about Funky Fluff diapers. Visit that blog and leave a comment and collect the additional entries for that day!  
 
The schedule of reviews is as follows:

Friday, October 26 - Mama on a Green Mission Saturday, October 27 - Eco Baby Mama Drama Sunday, October 28 - A Year with Mom and Dad Monday, October 29 - Happenings of the Harper Household  

Tuesday, October 30 - Crunchy Beach Mama Wednesday, October 31 - Mama Chocolate  

Thursday, November 1 - Our Kids Mom Friday, November 2 - Mommy of Two Little Monkeys Saturday, November 3 - Coping with Frugality Sunday, November 4 - Children Teaching Mama 

The schedule of reviews is as follows:After all of the reviews are posted you'll have a few additional days to get around if you've missed any reviews because the event doesn't wrap up until Thursday, November 8!
Let's start entering! Good Luck to all!

Today Is World Pasta Day! Support A Wonderful Cause With Barilla Today Only!

In our family, pasta is definitely a staple food! It's one of the foods I can make and know for sure that the kids will eat. With picky eaters, this is such a relief. Our favorite pasta, Barilla, sent us an awesome package to help celebrate World Pasta Day. Did you know that is TODAY? It's the day of the year to celebrate and eat pasta!

What else can you do to help celebrate World Pasta Day? Go to the Barilla Facebook page, click on the "Share a Hug" tab. Barilla is going to donate to Feeding America. Plus, you will get a $1 off coupon! This will only be up today, so please don't waste any time. Go share a hug now! You can also choose to donate to Feeding America to receive a download of "The Modern Family Pasta Cookbook" and a coupon.

There really isn't enough I can say about Barilla pasta. We are a very busy family, always on the go, multitasking is my life lately. According to a survey by Barilla, 88% of parents rely on multitasking and 58% say their lives are more hectic this year than last. I can definitely relate! Take a look at the infographic above for some interesting facts and statistics. That's the life of a mom, after all. Just like most parents, we spend a great deal of time at work, doing school work or some other after school activity. I have to admit that sometimes we don't have time for a sit-down dinner as a family at the table and sometimes we must get takeout. I try to fix dinner several times a week, though, and lately I've stuck to that because it really is important to spend some time together as a family, even if it is just for dinner. As a child we always ate dinner as a family around the table and these times created an impression on me as something I want for my children. 

 

Cooking a delicious dinner doesn't have to take hours. This is one thing I have been learning recently. The great thing about pasta is that it really does help with busy schedules because pasta is quick, easy and it allows for multitasking. In fact, when I was cooking the recipe below, I was also running back and forth between the kitchen, laundry room and making sure the kids were behaving. Just look at The Modern Family cookbook to see some awesome recipes that do not take a year to make. We received a great book called "Dinner A Love Story"along with a variety of Barilla pastas to create our own delicious dinner and I couldn't wait to get in the kitchen and test something out.

My kids like simple pasta dishes (which is fine by me!!). Spaghetti with meat is one of their favorites, so that is actually what we are having tonight for World Pasta Day. Yum! This is super easy and can be made so quickly, which allows us more time to sit around the table and talk about our day.

Just boil your spaghetti according to the Barilla package or with a pasta timer!

Brown the beef in a frying pan (of another meat if preferred).

Boil your Barilla sauce! We like Marinara.

Then, add the browned beef into the Barilla Marinara sauce and simmer until pasta is ready or everyone else is ready for dinner.

Lastly, top with your favorite cheese!

The great thing about spaghetti is leftovers. If you have enough left over, make a delicious spaghetti bake. Just put it in a baking dish and cover with mozzarella, bake and you are good to go! I love it!

Doesn't that look delicious? Barilla Marinara Sauce is honestly the most delicious Marinara I've ever tasted. Seriously! You have to give it a try. The kids ate every bit of it, so no leftovers or pasta bake for us this time, but next time I'll be sure to make extra.

What is your favorite pasta dish?

Don't forget to go to the Barilla Facebook page for a hug and a great cause today only!

I participated in a campaign on behalf of Mom Central Consulting for Barilla. I received product samples to facilitate my review and a promotional item as a thank-you for participating.

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.