Thankful

A Simple Way to Help Kids in Your Community (and a Twitter Party!)

April 23, 2014 by Sandra 4 Comments

This is a sponsored collaboration with Champions for Kids and The Motherhood.

We enjoyed a little family outing today.

We can get out as a family now that David has the okay from his doctor to be able to go into public places — so long as he isn’t in a crowd of people or around anyone who is sick. He was pretty happy to be out and about today. 🙂

We made a trip to Walmart to pick up some groceries and purchase items to donate to the latest Champions for Kids program called SIMPLE Giving.

SIMPLE Giving is a Champions for Kids program that makes it simple for you to help kids in your community. For this latest program, you can purchase healthy breakfast foods at your local Walmart and then drop them in the bin at the front of the store. These items will then be given to school children in that local community.

Ideas for What to Donate

We ended up buying cereal and granola mix to donate. There was a display in one area of the store that had suggested items to donate, but you could also choose items from other aisles in the store.

I think cereal, oatmeal, granola, and granola bars are all non-perishable food items that are great to give, and they make a healthy breakfast for the children who’ll receive them.

Donation Time

Once we were finished shopping, we headed for the checkout lane, and then to the donation bins where the kids excitedly dropped off the breakfast items!

I love that we went out and made the SIMPLE Giving donation as a family. In doing so, we created a lasting memory and made a difference for someone else.

How great is that? 😉

DID YOU KNOW? You can participate in the SIMPLE Giving program by simply purchasing and donating breakfast food items at your local participating Walmart from April 21st through May 5th. If your Walmart store is participating, simply purchase breakfast foods and place them in the purple donation bins at the front of the store after checkout. To see a list of participating stores, click here.

All of the donations go to children in the school district where the Walmart store is located.

A #SIMPLEGiving Twitter Party!

I love Twitter parties, so I’m excited to share that there’s going to be a #SIMPLEGiving Twitter party on April 24, 2014 at 1:00PM Eastern!

Here’s more relevant information for the party:

When: Thursday, April 24, at 1p ET / 12p CT / 10a PT

Where: We’ll be on Twitter – follow the #SIMPLEGiving hashtag to track the conversation. You can see the details and RSVP right HERE: http://twtvite.com/simplegiving

Hashtag: #SIMPLEGiving

Prizes: Five prizes will be given to randomly selected participants who answer the trivia questions correctly. Each prize includes a $50 Walmart gift card!

Hosts: @theMotherhood, @theMotherhood25, @CooperMunroe, @EmilyMcKhann

Sponsor: @Champions4Kids

So, what are some ways you give back to your community? I’d love to hear how you do this as a family or how you get your kids involved. 🙂

Favorite Thanksgiving Traditions (and a $50 JCPenney Gift Card Giveaway!)

November 22, 2013 by Sandra 36 Comments

This is part of a sponsored collaboration with Latina Mom Bloggers and JCPenney.
However, all opinions expressed are my own.

Thanksgiving is almost here.

And I can’t help but think about what Thanksgiving was like last year and the year before that and when I was a kid. Memories flood my mind, and they’re good memories filled with recollections of happy times that I shared with my family when I was a kid and that I share with my own kids now.

What was Thanksgiving Like When You Were Growing Up?
I thought that today we could reminisce and talk about some of our favorite holiday family traditions growing up – the good ones and even the embarrassing ones, if you have any. 😉

I’ll go first.

As many of you know, I’m Mexican, and I remember my mom and dad always keeping Thanksgiving very traditional. We ate turkey, stuffing, sweet potatoes, and pumpkin pie.

Christmas, on the other hand, that’s when my parents would make loads of tamales, and we’d visit my cousins’ house for their yearly Christmas party. That was so much fun!

Going back to Thanksgiving growing up, I remember that after eating until we could no longer breathe without pain, we’d stay home (no shopping!) and play games, watch TV, or simply talk to each other.

Those were the days…

What Thanksgiving Traditions Do You Keep Now?
Now that I have my own family, I’ve tried to be more intentional each year about keeping Thanksgiving simple yet meaningful.

Here are 3 of our current Thanksgiving Traditions:

We intentionally talk about what and whom we’re thankful for, and we have the kids write their thoughts down ahead of time.

We make a craft or two.

We choose one or two new recipes to try for Thanksgiving dinner.

I’m looking forward to keeping these traditions and building upon them for many, many years to come.

Real Latino Holidays
To give you an idea of what a Real Latino Holiday is like, watch this video. It definitely reminds me of what Christmas was like growing up! 🙂

And now for the Giveaway!
Because JCPenney understands latinos and wants others to get a peek into what holidays are like for latino families, they’ve generously offered to give ONE of my readers a $50 JCPenney Gift Card!

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 – December 7th 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

What’s one of your current or past favorite holiday traditions?

Saying Thank You…

November 22, 2013 by Sandra 1 Comment

This is a compensated campaign on behalf of Latina Bloggers Connect and Hallmark.

Wow. Ever since David, our four-year-old son, was diagnosed with severe aplastic anemia, I’ve been overwhelmed by the love, support, and prayers we’ve received from so many family members, friends, and even people we don’t yet know personally but with whom we share a common heart’s desire to see David get well.

I have searched for words and ways to say, “Thank You.” But I’ve found that there really are no words to express how incredibly grateful we are for YOU – all of you – who have unceasingly cared for us these past few months.

Saying Thank You the Hallmark Way
Even though there’s no way I can truly tell you how much I appreciate you, I’ve decided that during the long days that are coming up in the hospital, I can show you in a very small way how thankful I am for you.

I’ll be sending out Hallmark Thank You cards.

Why Hallmark?
I decided on Hallmark cards because I can pretty much find them anywhere, and for a long time now, I’ve been a member of the Hallmark Crown Rewards program.

Hallmark Card Rewards
Now I recently found out that there’s another program called Hallmark Card Rewards, where you can earn rewards for buying Hallmark cards wherever they’re sold, whether it’s at the grocery store or the local drugstore.

Here are Benefits of the Hallmark Card Rewards Program:

Get rewarded everywhere you buy Hallmark cards. This includes more than 30,000 grocery stores and drugstores as well as supercenters across the country.

Earn 1 reward for every 5 Hallmark cards purchased (individual cards – not boxed greeting cards). Rewards include gift cards, discounts, dollars off, and more. *Hallmark Card Reward partners include Starbucks, Land’s End, and many others!

Use the Hallmark Card Rewards mobile app (Android and iPhone) to easily scan the barcode on the back of your purchased Hallmark cards and register your rewards for your account. You can sign up for the program online here.

Elisabeth’s Birthday Card
Besides the thank you cards I recently picked up, I also found a perfectly pink birthday card for Elisabeth. We’ll be celebrating her 2nd birthday while David is in the hospital for his bone marrow transplant. It’s not ideal, obviously, but we’ll make it work.

I think Elisabeth is going to love her card.

Last thing…
I obviously can’t send everyone a card who has prayed for David and showed us kindness in so many ways. I don’t have all of your addresses. 😉

But I still want to say…THANK YOU.

With endless gratitude.

Thank you.

I said goodbye to a friend this weekend…

April 17, 2011 by Sandra 2 Comments

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I received a phone call from a good friend this week. She told me that one of our mutual friends and former co-workers had passed away. I was shocked. I found out the news on Thursday, and since then my thoughts and prayers have frequently been with her family. Krystal’s family. She left behind a precious little daughter about the same age as my little girl. I can’t imagine the pain and grief her family is experiencing.

Krystal was only 42yrs. old. That’s all. And she’s gone. I’m so glad that I was privileged to know her in this life. I worked with her almost every weeknight for 2.5 years. I’ll remember her laugh, her smile, and her love for my chubby baby at the time, Isaac.

I went to her funeral service today, and I was comforted by the fact that her family said she knew Jesus Christ. I’m hopeful, therefore, that I will see Krystal again one day. I also loved the way that the pastors at the funeral service were constantly pointing to Christ as the way of salvation and how tomorrow isn’t promised. I know those things are true, but it seemed so much more real today.

We don’t know when our last day on this earth will be. Krystal didn’t know that April 9th, 2011 would be her last day. Today is the day of salvation, friends. Don’t wait for tomorrow. Tomorrow may not come.

Thankful

Ideas for What to Donate

Donation Time

A #SIMPLEGiving Twitter Party!

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