April Activites Calendar for Children

Sometimes it's nice to have a plan ahead of the activites you want to do with your children. I have organized a calendar of events so you can plan ahead activites and keep your child engaged in fun games and learning activites over Spring Break as well as the rest of the month of April. Enjoy! 

April Activities Calendar

To go to the page that explains how to do all of the activities for the month click on this link to go to April Activities for Kids!

 

 

 

 

 

Easter Side Dish

Happy Easter!

I hope everyone is having a wonderful Easter so far and I'm sure many of you are spending the day with the family. I am preparing for an Easter get-together with the family and am in need of a quick and very easy side dish to prepare so I can spend more of my time getting ready. I don't have much since I am in need of a grocery shopping trip but I do have a generic store bought box of mac and cheese. After quickly raiding my kitchen cabinets and fridge I found some food supplies to throw together with my store brand mac and cheese to make a spruced up nearly homemade dish.

Cheez-it baked Mac and Cheese
 
Ingredients:
Any type of boxed Mac and Cheese (I have Publix brand)
1/3 box of Cheez-its (flavor of your choice. I happen to have Baby Swiss since its my favorite but a lot of people seem to like Cheddar as well-get creative and mix flavors if you'd like)
1 cp Milk
4 tbsp Butter and an addition tsp or so of butter to coat the casserole dish for non-sticking
1/4 cp All-Purpose Flour
Black Pepper
1 cp Cheddar cheese
 
Cooking Instruments:
1 small pot
1 large pot
Mixing Utensil
Strainer
Casserole Dish 

1. Boil the noodles from the boxed mac and cheese according to packaged directions in a large pot, normally for 8-10 minutes. Use butter or PAM spray to coat the bottom of the casserole dish while the noodles are boiling. After the noodles have reached their desired tenderness drain and then place into the casserole dish.

2. In a small pot over low heat melt the 4 tbsp of butter, mix in flour and then increase the heat to medium, add in the milk stir frequently, add the cheddar cheese and cheese sauce from inside the store brand mac and cheese box and heat until partially or fully melted into the mix. Sprinkle pepper to taste into the mix. Pour mixture over noodles in the casserole dish.

3. Place about 1/3 of the box of Cheez-its into a ziplock back and crush into whatever size pieces you desire (I just used my hands and squeezed the bag a lot creating various sizes). Spread the crushed Cheez-its on top of your mac and cheese.

4. Bake uncovered at 375 degrees for 25 minutes.

Now I can focus on getting ready and when my oven timer beeps all I will have to do is just cover my casserole dish and take it with me for everyone to enjoy!

This recipe does not take very long especially if you pre-heat the oven while boiling your noodles.

 

Let me know if you have any other tips and tricks for sprucing up a box of mac and cheese or if you have any tips to make this recipe taste better!

Groupon & Living Social 3/27/13

I am a huge fan of daily deal sites such as Groupon and LivingSocial. I prefer Groupon over the two and constantly check the site to see if there is anything there that I simply can't pass up. A couple of good deals have caught my eye today.

1. Personalized Disney Storybooks $24.99- Comes with 3 (choose whether you want books for a boy or girl)

-- Free Shipping is included in this purchase.

-- Once you purchase the groupon you will receive a code to use on the seller's website, you still have to go to the seller's website because you have to enter specific info such as child's name, birthday, some of the name's of your child's friends, etc.

I have previously bought the same Princess books for my daughter as a gift and she loved them. She was able to be a part of the story and we read it over and over since she got such a kick out of it.

2. Leather Ottoman $98.99

--Ultimately the price is $121.96 since shipping and handling is not included. (I know this since I did end up purchasing the item.)

--As soon as you purchase the item and put in your shipping address the process of buying is done, you do not have to travel to any other sites or use any codes to get this product.

--It is 50" long, its made of leather and it opens up for storage.

This deal is a little pricey but for the item that you are getting it is hard to pass up...for me anyway. This will go perfectly as an end of the bed bench which I have always wanted and the tufted leather on top looks great! But for some reason if I am unhappy with it when I get it there is always the free return option.

Check out the above deals for yourself at Groupon.com

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1. Personalization Mall pay $15 and get a $30 gift certificate

--And if you use the code BESTOF at checkout you will get an addition $5 off your purchase (this only works for purchases over $15)...so really you would be paying $10 for $30 dollars worth of products at PersonalizationMall.com

--shipping is not included and it is calculated based on what you purchase.

--you will recieve a code after purchasing this to use on their website so that you can select from a huge variety of products on their site and customize them!


I've bought products from this site before and have been very please with them. I've purchased customized garden stakes/garden stake plates, ornaments for Christmas, Halloween items, etc. It seems to be a great place to find holiday and garden items. I keep the garden stake up year round and change the picture on it periodically, it does well in any weather conditions and gives the year a nice little something to display.

I don't have any pictures of my garden stake to upload but here is an example from Personalization Mall's own website:

As you can see the picture on the stake can be changed as desired because it is magnetized. The magnetic bond between the picture and plate is very strong and you will not worry about it coming off...but when you are ready to take it off yourself it will easy come off just like a magnet on the fridge.

Check this deal out for yourself at LivingSocial.com

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Happy Shopping!

Growing up with a pet

Raising your children with pets provides a great opportunity for learning, nurturing and building healthy relationship skills that will benefit your children for the rest of their lives.

My dog and my daughter have such a wonderful bond and there are beneficial factors for allowing kids to grow up with a pet:

What Kids Are Saying:

1. Almost 50% of all children with pets interviewed say that living with a pet makes them happier.

2. 30% of children say that being around their pets makes them feel calmer.

3. 20% of children say that their pets make them feel smarter.

4. Over 33% of kids say that owning pets makes them feel more caring and like they have more responsibility

5. 20% of kids say that they feel more confident talking to people because of their pets.

6. 79% of kids said they their pets have had a positive effect on their schoolwork.

How Pets Can Help Your Child Develop:

1. Research has showed that reading to dogs helps children improve their fluency by 30%!

2. Growing up around pets teaches children how to care for another creature and improves responsibility!

*Above info from the Austin Humane Society

 

 

 

Being a dog-owner is a special privilege to my child and brings with it many benefits for her development.

 

What she gets from having a pet:

• nurturing skills
• empathy and a more caring attitude
• promotes exercise
• responsibilities
• happiness
• Studies from the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children have shown that children with pets have higher self-esteem, improved social skills, and are more popular with their peers.

(We were working on painting the room and they jumped in bed and fell asleep together)

 

 

Spread the Word! Growing up with a pet is a good thing =)

 

Check out your local ASPCA to see if you can find your child a best friend to take home.

 

Click the links below to see our local SPCAs available adoptions:

North Charleston SPCA

Summerville SPCA

Go here to see adopting in any state:

Petfinder.com

 

 

The Children's Place

The Children's Place Clothing Sale!

This site has all types of clothing and accessories for Newborns - 14 yrs old and currently they have a huge sale going on.

Check out the clearance section and then use the coupon code T2M253H for 25% savings off regular priced items and on clearance items+ free shipping today.

Here is a screen shot of a portion of my basket:

 

I ended up purchasing 17 clothing items (shirts, shorts, skirts and shoes) that came to $128.00 (including tax) which means I paid $7.53 per item. Also with the use of the coupon above I receive free shipping.

 

To make things just a little sweeter The Children's Place also has a special running until March 31st that for every $40 dollars you spend you get $20 free cash from them to spend on your next purchase.

 

Since I spent over 120 dollars I received three of these vouchers and got $60 free cash from them to spend on my next purchase. 

 

NOTE that, with the Place Cash, you have to spend 40 to use the 20. It says:
"Redeem one $20 PLACE cash coupon for every $40 you spend online or in-store from April 1 - April 15, 2013. Up to three PLACE cash coupons can be redeemed per transaction. You will receive your PLACE cash coupons via email, once your order has been shipped."

 

Check Out The Children's Place to get your own savings!