Today is a big day at Chili’s restaurants.  September 28 is Create a Pepper day and  you can help St. Jude’s Children’s Hospitals when you eat at Chili’s restaurants.

Chili’s is proud to support St. Jude’s Children’s Research Hospital through a 10-year commitment to donate $50 million to help fight childhood cancer.  Chili’s has a care center at St. Jude’s.  It is a seven-story, 340,000 square-foot facility that houses major treatment and research programs for catastrophic childhood diseases.
If you would like to help Chili’s with this commitment to St. Jude’s, there are a few ways to get involved:
1)  Eat at a …read more

Having a fire pit at your home or at a campground is a great way to relax and enjoy the great outdoors once the sun sets and it can be a great social activity for the entire family. But because this is such a popular family activity parents must take extra care when their children are around fire pits. And of course once they are old enough to understand, there are several important points you need to make about fire pit safety.

 
Make sure your children understand basic fire safety.
Before teaching your children about fire pit safety you need to first …read more

It all started with my son.  He had some seasonal allergy and asthma problems when he was a baby.  When it was time for him to give up his plastic covered crib mattress and move into his big boy bed, I looked into some hypoallergenic mattress covers.  Dust mites were on the list of things he was allergic to, so I wanted to find something that could protect him from this allergen.

I looked around at Wal-Mart and Target and found that they had similar mattress covers.  Actually, these were more than a cover.  They were actually a mattress case.  These were …read more

Better Homes and Gardens has some patriotic craft ideas for kids.  You kids might enjoy making one of these:

patriotic windsocks
custom koozies to insulate beverages
fireworks art
a bubble wrap hopscotch course
pride pins
a patriotic candy display
a candy flag
loyalty rings
star-spangled bubble wands
a flag necklace
patriotic paperweights
all-American sweatshirts or t-shirts

Which craft project do you plan to try?
image from bhg

After I started teaching school, it didn’t take me long to figure out that kids have lots of little pieces, parts, and do-dads for everything.  Whether it be flash cards, game pieces, craft supplies, or other whatchama diggers, you’ll be needing some kind of organization to keep these little parts from scattering all over the house or classroom.

While I have been fortunate enough to review some plastic organization bags, the cheapest, most frugal and earth-friendly choice is to reuse the plastic zipper bags that we get from purchasing bedding and other home accessories.  I have put to use all of the bags in …read more

As a parent, I am concerned about the movies my children watch.  I don’t have the time to screen each movie before they watch it, but I want to make sure what they’re watching is clean.  I don’t want to be surprised by inappropriate language or sexual content. 
Thanks to free resources such as Plugged -In Online and Kids-in-Mind, you can quickly check out a movie’s sexual content, violence, language, drug use, and more.  Just this week a relative came over and wanted to know if my kids could watch Marley & Me.  I said, “No way!”  I pulled up Plugged In Online …read more

Easter is only two days away. Where has the time gone?  I don’t know about you, but I’m looking forward to the nice weather and beautiful flowers blooming.  It’s such a beautiful sign of life.
I’ve been collecting some Easter and spring articles for your enjoyment.  Have fun and let me know which ones are your favorites.

20 Last Minute Spring and Easter Party Treats @ The Kids Birthday Fun Review
Lead Me to the Cross:  Reflections for Good Friday @ Way More Homemade
Easy Last Minute Easter Egg Dyes @ Bostom Mamas
Jelly Bean Poem @ Little Fun; Little Learning
Bird’s Nest Spring Treats @ The …read more

We have talked a little about developing a laundry routine and I briefly mentioned getting the kids involved.  Let me say, I believe in kids being kids and enjoying their childhood, but I also believe in them helping out a bit. 

Our younger children are 3 and 5, so we have asked them to do simple things such as bring all the laundry baskets to the laundry room, take the laundry baskets back to the rooms, and put away the socks that I have already folded.  My daughter is 5, so she sometimes asks if she can help fold washcloths or put …read more

DaySpring is partnering with Compassion International to offer Colors of Compassion cards.  You can help make a difference in the lives of children in need around the world by purchasing these cards.  DaySpring will donate 6% of net wholesale sales of every “Colors of Compassion” card directly to Compassion International to help provide immunizations and other urgent medical care for children in need. 
When you purchase greeting cards, please consider purchasing the Colors of Compassion cards.  It’s a small way to help a child in need.