Family

UPS Teams Up With Toys for Tots for Literacy Campaign

May 31, 2011 by Jennifer 1 Comment

We all love UPS and we all love Toys for Tots so it was only right for them to team up together to provide books to the less fortunate children in the Toys for Tots Literacy Campaign.

I was honored to be able to help kick-off this campaign right here in the Triangle Area of NC. I grabbed my partner in crime here Carolina Mama and we brainstormed our thoughts and pulled off a fun kick-off party. First off, our children each created their own flyers to hand out to their friends to have them join us for the party. The girls were so excited to go to the UPS Store and make copies of their creations and best part, they were colored copies!

Each UPS Store also had a donation box at the counter for everyone to donate money to help Toys for Tots to reach all these unfortunate children. In exchange for a donation, children can receive fun activity sheets.

One-hundred percent of all proceeds go to support local children and literacy programs. Every dollar helps put a book into the hands of a local child in need!

Later in the week, it was show time for our reading party with the famous “Voice of the Wolfpack” Gary Hahn. He was so amazing with the kids and took so much time to actually teach them the moral of the stories and why it was important to read all throughout the childhood years.

Did you know that according to the National Summer Learning Association, children can lose up to three months of what they’ve learned during the school year over summer break. This “summer slide” can be even more devastating to children in lower-income families where reading scores are disproportionately affected and access to books during the summer is limited. This is why the Toys for Tots Literacy Campaign was created.

The neighborhood kids came into the UPS Store and were able to enjoy an after-school snack while listening in to the story-time.

At one point, they were all so eager to gather around Gary Hahn so they could be up very close to hear him read. So cute.

Gary actually even had a fellow sports friend stop in and join in the fun for a few minutes.

It was a blast to see all the kids excited about reading and we as parents need to remember how important reading can be in the childhood years. To see how you can help the Toys for Tots Literacy Campaign, click here. Any amount of help is appreciated. Thanks to everyone’s support so far, more than $1.6 million has been contributed to the program since its inception, helping to deliver books to children across the country.

Disclosure: This project has been compensated as part of a social shopper insights study for Collective Bias #ToyforTotsLiteracy.

Disney World is Coming To a Town Near You

May 27, 2011 by Jennifer 1 Comment

We are huge Disney World fans as you know. It is actually saddening to know that we have Park Hopper tickets that run out May 31, and we are not able to go to Florida this weekend to use them. Disney is the place where magic and memories of a lifetime begin you know?

It is really ok though, as Disney World is going on tour. Yes, you heard me right. Disney is coming to a city near you and letting you create the memories right there in your city with their “Let The Memories Begin” Tour. A recent nationwide survey of U.S. and Canadian families found that vacation memories hold a special place in family history. Nine out of 10 parents said they planned vacations with the hope that they would result in a lasting family memory. In 2011, Disney Parks launched “Let the Memories Begin,” a year-long celebration of the family vacation memories created in Disney theme parks every day.

Believe me, some of our greatest family memories that have ever been created was at Disney World. We actually just come back from what my husband and I both proclaim as the Best Vacation Ever in March of this year. Now is your turn to create those memories as well at each of the following cities. Shhh… but I hear that Disney is going to be spreading their very own pixie dust at each of these cities as well.

Visit the locations below to participate in an interactive Disney photo experience. You will have the opportunity to take virtual in-park photos and share them with others.

Chicago, IL – 5/30 – 5/31

Boston, MA – 6/5 – 6/6

New York, NY – 6/10 – 6/12

Washington D.C. – 6/18 – 6/19

Atlanta, GA – 6/24 – 6/25

Dallas, TX – 7/8 – 7/9

Houston, TX – 7/12-7/13

Phoenix, AZ – 7/19 – 7/20

Denver, CO – 7/26 – 7/27

Salt Lake City, UT – 7/30 – 7/31

San Francisco, CA – 8/5 – 8/6

Portland, OR – 8/16 – 8/17

Seattle, WA – 8/20-8/21

Calgary, Canada – 8/26 – 8/27

Toronto, Canada – 9/2 – 9/3

Puerto Rico – 9/23 – 9/24

Let the memories begin and have so much fun creating them!

Before you head off to the closest city near you, make sure to enter the Snapfish Disney Parks Vacation of a Lifetime for your family. You never know, it could be your lucky day 🙂

Can you move your feet to the beat

May 23, 2011 by Jennifer 1 Comment

Grab your partner and swing them round and round. Wait, this is 2011, dancing has took on a whole new meaning. Could you move your feet to the beat? My precious M showed the world this weekend that she could. Specifically, the dance was called clogging. I am amazed each time I see M clog up on stage. All I keep thinking to myself is how does she move her feet so fast and not fall? Now, this is coming from queen of clumsiness who could fall over her own two feet by walking across the yard. Yes, my friends that would be me. My daughter did not get her dance moves from me, that is for sure.

M took to the stage and the smile on her face never left. She danced like she owned the stage.

She has clogged since she was 5 years old and she loves every minute of it. You can see her in the grocery store just clogging away while I am going up and down the aisles.

Let’s start this dance… get ready… here we go…

We could not be more proud of M and all that she has accomplished in her short 8 years. She amazes us each and everyday and she had two parents that had the biggest smiles on their face the entire time. We are a proud family, what can I say?

She is well on her way of becoming a star. Congratulations M on completing your third year of clogging.

How To Prevent Lice

May 19, 2011 by Jennifer 5 Comments

Last fall, I wrote how olive oil kills lice and unfortunately, we had to use olive oil once again recently in this household. There was another lice outbreak at my girls’ school but believe it or not, only one child got lice this time. You may wonder why the other child did not?

Every school day, I pull back M’s hair and either braid it, put it in a pony tail, pigtails, or a cute bun and then will spray her hair with hair spray all over. At night, M will wash and condition her hair with Tea Tree Oil Shampoo and Conditioner from Trader Joes.

L on the other hand, I only would wash her hair with the kid’s suave shampoo and either leave her hair down or put it up in a cute hair bow with no hair spray.

Guess who got lice? L did. M escaped the outbreak on her softball team and the outbreak from her classroom. I now know that my precautions that I was doing with M works.

So, parents listen. Do these simple two steps daily and you will be able to help prevent lice from entering your child’s hair.

1. Pull your child’s hair back and hair spray the hair all over.

2. Wash your child’s hair with a tea tree oil and peppermint shampoo.

Believe me, you will be glad you did!

Scotty McCreery Thanks God For Helping Him Through American Idol

May 15, 2011 by Jennifer 6 Comments

Scotty McCreery is our hometown boy here in the Triangle of NC, but that is not the reason that he has my votes. He has each week thanked God for getting him through every single day in Hollywood but this past week he showed his faith even further.

Yesterday, was his big homecoming to Garner, NC. We happen to like Garner as that is where M performs her clogging each week. The only thing that was hampering his big homecoming to Garner though was rain storms. Scotty opened up his bible Thursday night and was flipping through the page and landed on Amos 4:7

“I also withheld rain from you when the harvest was still three months away. I sent rain on one town, but withheld it from another. One field had rain; another had none and dried up.”

Do you know that the rain went all around Garner, NC and did not once sprinkle through the homecoming parade and the homecoming concert? God is Amazing. We were on the opposite side of Garner, NC in another town for M’s softball game. At one point, everyone actually had to seek shelter because of the storms. Finally after the thunder and lightning stopped, we were back in action. Unfortunately, the rain decided to pour heavily. M and hubby got soaked on the field, while L and I were hiding under an umbrella. So needless to say, God was watching out for Scotty and everyone else as there were approximately 30,000 people on hand at the concert.

I believe with all my heart that God is blessing Scotty and giving him the power to be such a positive influence in the music industry that we so deseparately need. For everyone that watched the show last Wednesday night, you seen how Scotty once again stood up for his faith and Christ Lord Jesus. Lady GaGa was the mentor for the week and had some very weird advice for Scotty. Such as treat the microphone as his girlfriend, act like your are sticking your tongue down the microphone and etc. Upsetting is a huge understatement as luckily M was in the bedroom at the time this was going on, as we try to limit what the girls see on tv. Fox crossed the lines of letting this go on a family tv show. Scotty could have given into peer pressure but yet, he stands up and kisses his cross around his neck thanking the Lord for being with him to get him through these tough moments in Hollywood.

The music industry is getting out of hand and it is very unfortunate, as music can be so inspirational and powerful without all the bad language. Thank you Scotty for standing up for what you believe in and having God with you every moment in your life. He ended his homecoming by saying that he loved all his fans and so thankful for them and God. AMEN!

Let’s go Scotty… our new American Idol literally!

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