Soccer camp with Challenger Sports

Soccer Camp is so much fun! Summer loves to play soccer and she is pretty good at it too. But camp lets the kids learn the game a little more in depth and helps them fix things that maybe they are doing incorrectly as well. But overall, it's just a fun week! This was Summer's second year of camp and you can check out last year's camp HERE. 

This year I had chosen to do camp at the end of June, but because of a shortage of soccer coaches her camp week was merged with the camp in August, so that's when we went. She was provided with the cool jersey (shown in the photo above) and we were told she would receive her ball on the first day of camp. However, due to a ball shortage, the balls didn't arrive in time for camp and she used the one from last year. 

Challenger Sports is the largest Soccer camp company in North America. And they do camps all over as well. Make sure that you check out HERE for a camp near you!

This year was a little different from last for a few reasons. Last year she had female coaches and this year were two males. For one, girls just teach different than boys, which isn't a bad thing, it was just different. 

This year there were several older boys at camp and they basically just wanted to show off how far they could kick the ball, even if that meant kicking over the goal and into oncoming traffic. The coaches, not being too much older than the kids themselves, and not being parents, I think just didn't know how to handle that. And it was a little frustrating watching nothing being done day after day. Not really the coached fault, there is only so much they can do, but annoying for the kids to start and stop every time these kids wanted to act out. 

Overall, Summer had a lot of fun and learned some new things. The soccer balls didn't come in until after camp was over and we received an email letting us know they were available to pick up. Due to the fact that we live about 45 minutes away, I let them know they could just donate ours because it wasn't really worth a trip to pick up a ball and it was a little disappointing that they didn't just pop it in the mail to her. But it is what it is. 

Register for a Challenger soccer camp and receive a free custom player poster with a retail value of $39.95 when you sign-up! Along with your free poster, you will receive a jersey, camp t-shirt, and soccer ball! https://www.challengersports.com/summer-camps/ .@ChallengerCamps #ChallengerSports #EarlyBirdOffer

Get Well Essentials for the Cold and Flu Season

Disclosure: This shop has been compensated by Collective Bias, Inc., Abreva, Emergen-C, Lipton, Robitussin and Theraflu. All opinions are mine alone. #ad #SickDayTips #CollectiveBias Cold and flu season

 

The kids have been back to school for a while since winter break, but it is only February and we are still in the thick of cold and flu season. Who else dreads this part of the winter time like I do? They catch everything an bring it home to share with their mom. So generous of them! So today I wanted to share my list of get well essentials for the cold and flu season.



Ever since the beginning of January, I have been spending extra time going through each room of the house and really doing a deep clean. I cleaned under appliances, which if I am being honest, probably doesn’t happen as often as it should! Anyone else? I also cleaned above the cupboards, deep cleaned the bathrooms and our master bedroom. It has all needed the extra cleaning. But now I am at a good spot and it’s easier to do quick cleans while the kids are gone for the day. So I also wanted to share some cleaning tips and a fun printable.

But first, a few of my cold and flu season essentials!



Kroger stores are amazing. My local Fred Meyer always has everything that I ever need to get through the cold and flu season.



So I didn’t hesitate going and grabbing all the get well essentials for the cold and flu season.



Abreva® Pump Cold Sore and Fever Blister Treatment- Abreva is not for temporary symptom relief, but healing. It delivers the best results when used at the first sign of a cold sore (e.g. the tingle that one feels on his/her lip).



Lipton Soothe Your Tummy- The Lipton Wellness range, made with carefully selected botanicals and blended with essential oils, helps make wellbeing a part of your everyday routine. There are three kinds:

• Soothe Your Tummy: An herbal infusion for those times your tummy feels less than its best.* Carefully selected botanicals like ginger and peppermint are blended with natural essential oils that make every cup delicious


• Bedtime Bliss: An herbal infusion that sings you to sleep, like a lullaby in a cup.* Carefully selected botanicals are blended with natural essential oils that make every cup delicious


• Daily Support: An excellent source of Vitamin C, this herbal infusion helps support your body's natural defenses.* Carefully selected botanicals are blended with green tea and natural essential oils that make every cup delicious

I find that the Soothe Your Tummy is so good if I am feeling under the weather.



Children’s Robitussin® Honey Cough & Chest Congestion DM- New! The real honey you want, the powerful cough relief you need. Gluten Free. No Artificial Colors. True Source Certified Honey.

With Robitussin® you can fight your cough and help kick your symptoms to the curb. The liquid-strength of Robitussin® soothes on contact and provides cough relief for hours.



Theraflu Power Pods Daytime Severe Cold - Don't let the cold or flu get in your way. Theraflu Power Pods Daytime Severe Cold fits right in your routine. Compatible with most single-serve coffee makers, these fast-relieving pods work on even your most severe symptoms. Press. Sip. Relief.

Temporarily relieves these symptoms due to a cold:

• minor aches and pains


• headache


• nasal and sinus congestion


• cough due to minor throat and bronchial irritation


• minor sore throat pain


• Temporarily reduces fever

Remember, Theraflu Power Pods Daytime Severe Cold and Robitussin® Maximum Strength Honey Cough & Chest Congestion DM should not be used at the same time.

I am constantly cleaning doors, handles and sinks to keep germs away before they spread even further. A couple of places that people often forget are the tv remote, refrigerator door, or the dishwasher handle. But those are important too!

And I try to get my kids coats and sweatshirts through the wash regularly. I don’t even want to know what sort of germs are on those things!

Now I am all prepared with my get well essentials for the cold and flu season, here is a fun printable to keep your house clean while everyone is sick!



Feel free to click this link (HERE) to get the printable as well.

Now that you’ve seen what I do to get my family through the cold and flu season, see here for more cold and flu season hacks. What are your tips and tricks for staying healthy and keeping germs away?

 

Theraflu-(c) 2019 the GSK group of companies or its licensor. Theraflu is for use in adults 12 years and older.
Use all products only as directed. Read label and follow directions. Abreva, Emergen-C, Robitussin - Use only as directed. Read label and follow directions.

*These statements have not been evaluated by the FDA. This product is not intended to diagnose, cure or prevent disease.

Packing a Smile with Pepperidge Farm Goldfish

 

 

Back to school will be here before we know it but right now we are trying to make the most of our summer time and making all the smile worthy moments that we can.



This school year my kids kids will be in 10th grade, 1st grade and Pre-K and until we have to get back into our school year routine we are enjoying all the lake, river and pool time we can. We've had lots of play dates, runs through the sprinkler, played on the slip n slide and of course tons of BBQ'd food.



One of my favorite summer time activities is watching the kids play in the sprinkler while I lay on a blanket reading a good book. There is just nothing better than listening to your kids giggle as they get hit with the cold water on their run through!

And one of the kid's favorite things to do is any outdoor activity that involves snacking on Pepperidge Farm Goldfish® crackers.  Any of our activities we do have to involve snacks because these kids think they are hungry 24 hours a day.  So Goldfish® are our go-to snack because they love them and I feel good about the kids eating them.



Some things I love about Goldfish® crackers:

• Always Baked with Real Cheese


• No Artificial Flavors or Preservatives


• Colors Sourced from Plants, such as annatto extracted from the reddish seeds of the Achiote Tree


• Baked with Whole Grain Cheddar variety has 12 g of WG per serving


• A snack you can feel good about serving your kids

Once we are back in school I see our afternoons going much the same way full of homework, after school play dates and Goldfish® snacks.

Want to leave a fun little note with your kiddos after school snack? Print these out or feel free to make your own. I know Tyler loves to find these notes, especially as he started learning to read it was so fun to watch him sound them out!



 

What are your favorite ways to make smile worthy moments?

Craft Time with GoldFish

I love craft time and luckily for me, my kids are following right in my tracks. They all love to draw, paint and Summer loves to "scissor". (it's her favorite thing to cut paper!)

So when I get to sit down with them to do some arts and crafts I am all over it. We spend a lot of time, especially during the winter months, coloring, making bracelets, or making holiday decorations.



With craft time comes snack time. Who else has a kid that is always hungry?

So when we headed to the store over the weekend we made sure to grab our favorite snack, GoldFish crackers.  I love that they are always baked with real cheese and have no artificial flavors or preservatives. It makes me feel comfortable with the choices I am making by giving them to my kids.

Their colors sourced from plants, such as annatto extracted from the reddish seeds of the Achiote Tree
and are baked with whole grain cheddar that has 12 g of WG per serving.

So while the kids are busy working away on their projects they have a great snack too.



We thought it would be super fun to make a stop motion video of our own. The kids and I thought about some fun ideas and because we have 3+ feet of snow outside right now, we thought it would be fitting to make a Snow day with Pepperidge Farm Goldfish!



Interested in making your own stop motion video? Find out how HERE!

This was the first stop motion video we've ever made, and it took a little while but it was fun! And the kids had fun thinking of ideas on what to do next.



Visit the campaign landing page to get inspired and learn more about the Goldfish Tales Animation Xperience! And don't forget to head to the GoldfishTales page to submit your own stop motion for a chance to win $5,000!

What are your favorite ways to pass time during the chilly winter months?

Chicken Salad Wrap

How many nights per week do you sit down as a family and have a meal together?

Family dinners are important to me. Maybe more so because when I was a kid my dad worked out of town a lot and so dinner as a whole family didn't happen all the time. So for us, we typically eat as a family 7 nights a week. Occasionally one of us might be out, or Zach at a friends or something like that. But we eat together almost every single night.

That is part of the reason that I am always on the look out for a new recipe to try. With 3 kids there is always something that they don't like, right? I am sure more than a few people can relate.  However, I do try to expose my kids to all kinds of foods. Believe me, my husband will tell me if he doesn't want me to make something again!

And who doesn't love finding a New Comfort Food?



 

THE NEW COMFORT FOOD IS:
1. Using mostly local, seasonal ingredients
2. Minimal ingredients in the recipe
3. Quick, easy steps and fast prep time

So today I thought it would be fun to do a Chicken Salad Wrap. I knew the tortilla being a spinach wrap might push the limits of the kids because they haven't liked them in the past. But otherwise I was pretty sure that this would be a hit!

I ran to the store and grabbed some Foster Farms Simply Raised Fresh Chicken. I love it because it is locally grown (Pacific Northwest Grown), antibiotic-free chicken. I only needed a few other things, so I got everything I needed and headed home to make a delicious Chicken Salad Wrap.



I got so excited to get home and get started that I ripped my chicken open without a picture first! So here is one of the package partially ripped off!



Next, I seasoned it with my favorite 21 Day Fix seasoning and added a cup of water and poached it.



While I was poaching the chicken I cut up lettuce, avocado, tomato, mango and I put the juice from half of a lime into the chicken. I also added just a bit of mayo and mustard into my chicken and gave it a good stir.

Last, I just layered it all onto the tortilla shell and wrapped it all together. It was a hit and the kids even liked it! So I guess we have a #newcomfortfood to add to our list!



Ingredients:

• Foster Farms Simply Raised fresh Chicken


• Spinach tortillas


• 2 Tbsp. each mayo/mustard


• sliced tomato


• sliced avocado


• chopped mango

1. Cook your chicken via your favorite method.


2. Chop anything you want for your wrap (lettuce, tomato, avocado, mango, etc.)


3. Mix chicken with mayo if you want it


4. Lay all ingredients out onto your tortilla and wrap it up

Check out more from Foster Farms here ---> https://www.fosterfarms.com/the-new-comfort-food/

What are some of your favorite comfort foods?

DIY Pallet Coasters

®This post has been compensated by Collective Bias, Inc. and its advertiser. All opinions are mine alone. This post was sponsored by Starbucks as part of an Influencer Activation. I received compensation and complimentary products to facilitate my review. #StarbucksCaffeLatte #MyStarbucksatHome #CollectiveBias Pallet Coasters

Happy Friday my friends! We've had a busy week in our house and today is no exception! But the weekend is looking relatively calm and I am counting down the hours until it is officially the weekend. These days my life seems to be fueled by coffee and so I decided to make a fun little project to share with everyone. Because everyone needs some Pallet Coasters in their life, yes?



I received this awesome box in the mail with the new Starbucks® Caffè Latte K-Cup® pods.  I had actually already tried these k-cups® after seeing the Pumpkin Spice flavor at the grocery store a couple of weeks ago and it was delicious! And now I get to try the Caramel, Mocha and Vanilla. There are many reasons I love these k-cups® but mainly because they are made from milk and have no artificial flavors.

And besides the Pumpkin Spice, there is a Peppermint Mocha that I can't wait to try. These are both seasonal and available for a limited time so grab them while you can!



Lucky for us the process is easy and is done in two quick steps.

1. Pour the contents of the Step 1 packet into your cup.


2. Add the K-Cup® to your Keurig and brew your coffee.

Yep, that is all. Stir it up and you are good to go.



But now you all want to know how I made these adorable Pallet Coasters, right? Well, I'll show you.

18 Popsicle sticks, hot glue and wood stain. I started with cutting off the rounded ends off of all the sticks. Next, I hot glued two Popsicle sticks together to make three sets. Then I glued the edge pieces on to stabilize it and worked my way in from there, leaving just a little space in between the sticks. I did lay them out across to know where they would go before I actually glued them down. And last, I put three sticks on the bottom for extra support. Plus, I needed to make it look authentic.



Then I used some wood stain that I had laying around from when I made the kids growth charts that worked perfectly for this project. Make sure you use a rag you don't care about because the stain lives up to its name. And one coat of the stain was enough for these pallet coasters.



Finished Pallet Coasters made from popsicle sticks... Not too shabby, right?



So now I have these amazing pallet coasters and what better use than my delicious Starbucks® Caffè Latte K-Cup® pods? 



Have you tried the new Starbucks® Caffè Latte K-Cup® pods.Starbucks® Caffè Latte K-Cup® pods? Which flavor was your favorite? 

2016 Starbucks® Corporation. All rights reserved. Keurig, Keurig HOT, K-Cup and the K logo are trademarks of Keurig Green Mountain, Inc., used with permission.

#ad Chicken and Waffles

This post is written by me on behalf of Tyson Foods, Inc. All opinions are entirely my own. This shop has been compensated by Collective Bias, Inc. and its advertiser. All opinions are mine alone. #GameTimeHero #CollectiveBias Chicken and Waffles

Chicken and Waffles may not sound like your typical tailgating food, but with football season is upon us and with good football game comes good food! I am always on the lookout for new recipes and trying new things. One thing that people always seem to love at tailgate parties are sliders so I decided to make my own version and try something new.  How do Chicken and Waffles with Blue Cheese sauce sound? Sounds good to me!

I headed to Walmart for my boneless wings, because they are only $10 for a bucket of 20 wings! You just can't miss out on that kind of deal! I bought some honey BBQ, but there are many kinds of wings that you can get, depending on your stores Hot Deli. Like Buffalo, Hot, General Tso’s, Honey BBQ, Ranch. Plus they are fresh, convenient and perfect for an at home Tailgate party!

When I brought the wings home I practically had to fight the boys off of them until I could get the sliders finished! So I got started on my blue cheese sauce right away. It only took about 3 minute to make the sauce, it really is that easy!



I found this blue cheese also in the deli area.



 

I cooked up my waffles (frozen ones work fine!) then I used a small circle cookie cutter to cut out my pieces for the slider.



This Blue Cheese sauce turned out amazing. And it worked perfectly with these Chicken and Waffles.



It didn't pour out as smooth and look as pretty as I had imagined in my head, but thankfully, I am sure you get the idea, right?



So now I have delicious Chicken and Waffles with a Blue Cheese sauce for my guests to eat. What are you eating at your next tailgate party?

JORD Wood Watches

Recently I was approached about doing a review for JORD Wood Watches. I didn't immediately say yes because I don't typically wear a watch, but after looking at their website and all the watches, I realized that I needed one of these beauties in my life.

But believe me, I was so excited to get the cool watch I chose in the mail.



I received a women's watch from the Cora Series and got the Zebrawood and turquoise wooden watch.

When it first came the box was so light that I was wondering if there was actually anything in it. Because these unique watches are so light weight it really did feel like I was holding an empty box, but when I opened it I found this amazing watch.





It might seem silly, but I love the way the watch opens and closes. There is a spot on each side that you press and it opens right up.



I really wasn't sure how I would feel once I actually had the watch on, because like I said earlier, I don't typically wear a watch. I haven't worn one in years- But I love it. Because it is so light weight I don't realize it is there most of the time. (No pun intended)





Luxury Wood Watch



Want your very own JORD Wood Watch? Check out this contest where you can get a $75 e-voucher to shop!! All other entrants will get a $20 e-voucher just for entering! So whether you are looking for a men's watch or a women's watch, you can get the one that is perfect for you!

Click here to enter!!!

I was provided with a JORD Wood Watch for free to review, however, all opinions expressed are that of TheColbertClan alone. And a HUGE Thank You to JORD for letting me share this unique watch.

Home made Sand

This shop has been compensated by Collective Bias, Inc. and its advertiser. All opinions are mine alone. #FreeToBe  #CollectiveBias

Summer has come to an end, School is back in session, but that doesn't mean that play time is over.

If you have kids then you understand how important play time is. My little two are both in school this year- One in Kindergarten and one in preschool. Also, they go at different times. Preschool in the morning and Kindergarten in the afternoon.

So while I am hearing less bickering because they are not together all the time, it also means that they don't have each other to entertain the other. Now I am looking for some other things that I can do one on one with the kids during their time before/after school.



After being at my best friends daughter's birthday over the summer, and they made some adorable sand bottle art I thought it was a great idea to make some of our own home made sand. Not only are we making our own sand art for Summer's upcoming birthday, we also use the fun, colored sand as a sensory activity. It is great to just dump into a deep cookie sheet and let the kids play and draw pictures in it!

But the fun activities are always dirty and messy, right?

I headed to Walmart and grab a few things. First, Salt and food coloring to make our "sand". Next, all® free clear liquid detergent because, CLEAN UP! Am I right?



A couple of things about all® free clear detergent:
- It is the #1 detergent recommended by Dermatologists, Allergists, and Pediatricians for Sensitive Skin. Which is great when you have people in the family with sensitive skin and seasonal allergies.
- all® free clear detergent fights tough stains, whitens whites, and brightens colors. And I am grateful for that considering Summer's favorite place to play is in the sandbox. And this time I am not referring to the "salt sand".
- all® free clear detergent was awarded the Seal of Acceptance by the National Eczema Association for having no dyes, perfumes, certain chemicals, and irritating residues.
- Removes 99% of everyday and seasonal allergens. Washing with all® free clear helps remove 99% of the top everyday and seasonal allergens* Dog and cat dander, dust mite matter, ragweed pollen, grass/tree pollen. My allergies have been the worst this past year than they ever have. So having something to help remove allergens is definitely worth it in my book!

Make sure to follow the directions for use on the packaging exactly as instructed.

Next I made my "salt sand". It was super easy. I used 1.5 cups of salt an about 12-18 drops of food coloring per baggy. Then seal the bag and use your hands to "massage" the bag until it is mixed.









Fun colors, right? I used the Neon food coloring and mixing the colors made for some really fun colors that the kids love! Light green, bright green, blue, turquoise, several shades of purple, orange, tan, pink, red. The list goes on and on.

Head to your local retailer and get your own all® free clear detergent.