Sandra

10 Goals for the Week: Keeping it Simple as I attend BlogHer

July 22, 2013 by Sandra 10 Comments

I didn’t post new goals last week and decided to just take it easy and catch up on projects I already had on my to-do list.

But I’m ready to set goals again this week, and I’ll be keeping them simple because I’m attending my first ever BlogHer conference in Chicago — starting on Thursday. Well, the conference *technically* starts on Thursday, but I’ll be attending events leading up to the conference beginning on Tuesday, so my goals will reflect that.

Here are my goals for this week:

Family/Mothering Goals:

1. Plan activities for the kids to do while I’m at the conference

2. Host an ice cream & tea party on over the weekend

Personal Goals:

3. Make healthy food choices while I’m at the conference

4. Read 10 pages of the book Desperate

5. Walk on the treadmill for 30 minutes (I’m sure I’ll be doing plenty of other walking at the conference.)

Home Management Goals:

6. Continue planning a family vacation

7. Make a homemade foot scrub

Business Goals:

8. Get caught up on work

9. Return emails

10. Write 4 blog posts

What are your goals for this week?

BabbaBox: Fun Science Projects (and beyond) for Kids

July 19, 2013 by Sandra 12 Comments

My kids enjoyed the science projects in the BabbaBox that I received to review.

I’m not the craftiest or most creative mom on-the-block.

I want to be. I’ve tried to be. But I’m not. My Pinterest boards are a reflection of that.

I don’t pin many kid’s crafts or science projects unless they look ~~ridiculously~~ fairly easy to manage. Oh, and with five children, being creative and planning a homemade project needs to be well-thought out in advance or else there will be chaos and probably a few tears shed…by me…not the kids.

Kidding. The kids totally start crying, too. 😉

Fun Science Projects for Kids
In order to create awesome crafts and science projects with my kids, I rely on a solution like the BabbaBox. I’ve talked about how we’ve used the BabbaBox in the past, and if you’re not familiar with what a BabbaBox is, here’s a simple explanation:

BabbaBox is a theme-based box delivered to your door that allows you to enjoy a little convenience and inspiration! You receive fantastic monthly activities with all the materials you need to create fun projects and memories with your children.

Kitchen Science BabbaBox Projects
We had the opportunity to take on four fun science projects found in the Kitchen Science BabbaBox, and I was surprised by how easy all of the projects were. We started by making a homemade bouncy ball that actually works!

David, my four-year-old, loved this project.

The ingredients that we needed to create the bouncy ball were included in the BabbaBox kit. I like that I didn’t have to run to the store to get anything else for this project.

Here’s what the Bouncy Ball looked like before the ingredients all came together:

Here’s a picture of our finished Bouncy Ball:

Magic Mud
This was probably my favorite project — Magic Mud. This stuff is SO cool!

Isaac created the magic mud, and we were able to save it and use it beyond one day, which was nice. When you think of magic mud, think of quicksand. It’s like that. I know we’ll be making this again!

Lava Lamp
Breanna made a homemade lava lamp.

She was happy with how her homemade science project turned out, and we had fun tilting it back and forth afterwards. I remember having a lava lamp as a kid, and it was fun to be able to make one on our own and get a better understanding of how it works.

Here’s a close up shot of our homemade lava lamp:

Volcano
Isaac was extremely excited to take part in one of the best science projects in the world — the homemade volcano. This is a must-do project with kids. It’s so easy and fun!

The BabbaBox instructions recommended having a toy dinosaur near the volcano for greater effect. This is optional, but it wasn’t for us. 🙂

Here’s our volcano erupting:

The dinosaur did not escape the molten lava. Poor thing!

This kids had a blast with the science projects we completed using the materials and instructions given in the BabbaBox.

And I’m looking forward to making the final recipe with them for the “World’s Best Play Dough.” It sounds pretty great!

My Family Makes Me Smile (And a #FABsmile Giveaway!)

July 15, 2013 by Sandra 6 Comments

A special thanks to BrushAndFloss.com for the products I received
to share with my readers and facilitate a giveaway as part of the Mom It Forward Blogger Network.

I love my beautiful, wonderful, crazy, goofy (at times) family.

They make me smile, because even though the seven of us are far from perfect…we are a family. We each have our own individual personalities that make us who we are and while sometimes that makes life crazy, a lot of times that makes life more fun. It certainly makes life more interesting!

This picture is a great representation of what I’m talking about, and it makes me smile.

We were at a park about to break open a pinata for Nathan’s birthday. I decided to snap a picture beforehand, and Isaac, my 6-year-old, let his personality shine through. He was bursting with excitement over finally getting to tear into that pinata. After some procrastination on my part, we were in reality breaking the pinata a whole month after Nathan actually turned 13. 😉

There were lots of smiles all around after the pinata was broken into and fun-size chocolates spilled out onto the floor.

FlossAndBrush.com
One way my family has been keeping our smiles looking great is with a super convenient program through FlossAndBrush.com.

FlossAndBrush.com is a helpful, time-saving program, because it makes it easy to always have new toothbrushes every three months. How? By paying just $1.00 per month, per person in your family, FlossAndBrush.com will ship a box of fresh, quality toothbrushes and floss to your home – one for each member of your family.

DID YOU KNOW? The American Dental Association recommends replacing your toothbrush every three months.

FlossAndBrush.com’s toothbrushes are top quality, age-specific, and dentist approved. I love that the package of toothbrushes we received had some that were just the right size for kids. It’s not a one-size-fits-all service. They take care to send toothbrushes that work well for both the kids and adults in your family.

Now for the GIVEAWAY!

One very excited reader will win the following:

1 Free Annual FAB Membership (Every three months, a new toothbrush and 3 month supply of floss will be delivered to the winner’s home.)
1 Free Annual FAB + White4Life Membership (This includes not only a toothbrush and floss every three months, but each shipment will also include FAB’s professional grade whitening to be used in custom whitening trays. The trays are not included.)

How to Enter the Giveaway

Simply enter this giveaway using the Rafflecopter below. I’ve included options for extra entries, too!

This giveaway will run from July 15th-July 21st at 12:00am. The giveaway is open to US Residents only, ages 18 years old and above. The winner will be randomly chosen. I will promptly send the winner an email notifying them that they’ve won, and the winner must respond within 48hrs. of the giveaway’s end, otherwise I will have to draw a new winner.

Enter below!
a Rafflecopter giveaway

Want to stay current with FlossAndBrush.com? Then be sure to follow them on Twitter and Facebook for their latest updates.

Fun at-home Science Experiments (and a Giveaway!)

July 9, 2013 by Sandra 18 Comments

Sponsored post written by me on behalf of the Chicago Museum of Science and Industry.

Even though school is out, learning should still be in, right?

I say, “Absolutely!”

Learning should be going all on the time, especially during the summer months when most kids are not in school. But the difference between learning during the school year and learning during the summer months is that we can make things a lot more fun and relaxed when it’s hot outside.

Summer Brain Games
One way that we’ve kept the learning going in our home (*cough* besides making the kids do SOME school since we homeschool) is with the Chicago Museum of Science and Industry’s Summer Brain Games.

Summer Brain Games is a fun and free online science program that helps keep kids learning during the summer and prevents “summer brain drain.” You simply sign up for the program on the website, and then receive an email where you can download your FREE Summer Brain Games kit.

DIY Science Experiments
Each week’s online kit will feature an experiment or science challenge that can easily be performed at home with your kids. If you have teens, they can probably manage these experiments on their own.

My kids had a blast with the Balloon Racer that we made by following the instructions in the Summer Brain Games kit. It’s made out of simple materials you can find at home, and I honestly can not describe in words how much fun we had with this project.

The best part was the seeing the look on their faces each time the balloon’s air was released and it raced across the string hung across the dining room, flinging our LEGO mini-figure wildly in the air. Just thinking about the fun we had makes me smile.

Homemade Tetrahedral Kite
Besides the balloon racer, we made a homemade tetrahedral kite. And it turned out awesome!

Making the kite was more challenging than the balloon racer, but what an experience this was. The kids were proud of their accomplishment when it was finished, and we’re waiting for a windy day to take it out and fly! We’ve been dealing with rain and humidity lately, but I’m sure we’ll be able to better try it out later this week or the next.

To get the instructions on how to make the balloon racer and the tetrahedral kite, all you need to do is sign up for the Summer Brain Games program on the museum’s website.

Here’s what our homemade kite looked like:

Two pieces of advice, if you try out the Summer Brain Games program:

Read over the kit and make sure you have all the materials you need before starting an experiment. I had to make a trip to the store to grab a few small items.
Be patient, let your kids take charge (as much as possible depending upon their age), and have FUN!

Now for the GIVEAWAY!

ONE very excited reader will win a FAMILY FOUR PACK of tickets to the Chicago Museum of Science and Industry! This four pack is valued at $76, and the tickets are valid until the end of 2013.

If you are not living in the Chicagoland area but will be visiting before the end of the year, be sure to enter! 🙂

How to enter the giveaway

Simply enter this giveaway using the Rafflecopter below. I’ve included options for extra entries, too!

This giveaway will run from now until MIDNIGHT TONIGHT (JULY 9TH). The giveaway is open to US Residents only, ages 18 years old and above. The winner will be randomly chosen. I will promptly send the winner an email notifying them that they’ve won, and the winner must respond within 48hrs. of the giveaway’s end, otherwise I will have to draw a new winner.

Enter below!
a Rafflecopter giveaway

The Chicago Museum of Science and Industry is offering a fun and free online science program called Summer Brain Games. The eight-week program lasts from June 17, 2013-August 12, 2013 and features a weekly experiment or science challenge that can easily be performed at home with kids of all ages.

Visit msichicago.org/summerbrain now to register for Summer Brain Games and download your free Summer Brain Games kit. As an added bonus, registering automatically gets you a pass to come to the Museum for free this summer.

This is a sponsored post written by me on behalf of the Chicago Museum of Science and Industry.

Sandra

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