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Back to School Lunch Box Notes #kidsinthekitchen

September 4, 2014 by

This is week 2 of Back to School for our household. The kids are back into their routines and so far so good. We’ve even gotten into better lunch making routines and are packing healthier foods. It’s totally up to me to shop for the right ingredients but they kids are making great choices already.  To brighten up their lunches even more I created another set of fun Lunch Box Notes to bring some smiles during their day.

Go ahead and click on the image to get a bigger, 8 1/2 X 11, size to print, cut and slip into your child’s lunch box.

Printable Lunch Box Notes for Back to School

Come join me and my co-hosts Paula at Frosted Fingers, Sara at Sensibly Sara, Reesa of Momma Lew, Kate of Busy Bee Kate & Jeannette of EcoIncognito each week linking up a post, new or old, that feature the theme Kids in the Kitchen. It doesn’t matter what you are doing as long as you are doing it together, enjoying it and learning something along the way.

You’ll find these and many more ideas for healthful and unique food fun on the #KidsintheKitchen Pinterest Board.

Follow Melinda Babiak’s board #KidsintheKitchen on Pinterest.

Linky Rules, #kidsinthekitchen
#KidsintheKitchen Weekly Linky





Big Step into Middle School #fightforyourwrite [plus giveaway]

August 19, 2014 by

Middle School is a big step. No more walking the halls with the kindergarteners or hearing his little sister yell his name across the cafeteria. Shaun is no longer a little boy. He’s growing into a young man. In fact he’s already taller than me at age 11. Yep, he’s 11.
This school year is gonna be so different. He gets to stay after for sports and extra-curriculars. Hopefully he gets into guitar. Hopefully he realizes the huge changes that are about to happen to his life. These are very formative years. These are the years that set you up for high school. These are the years that unfortunately box you into a clique. I hope he sees the greatness in everyone not just one group of kids.

School shopping this year was easy. No more crayons. No more scissors. No more glue sticks. This year he needed a scientific calculator and graph paper. Big steps for a big grade.Back to School, Fight For Your Write BIC

Back to School, Fight For Your Write BIC
This year BIC helped with the school shopping by providing a wide arrays of writing tools for Shaun and Shae as part of a new initiative to save handwriting in school. The Fight for your Write campaign is about empowering kids with their creativity and imagination. Handwriting is shown to be beneficial in all aspects of school and life outside the classroom.

improve cognitive development
builds self confidence
better school performance
helps reading skills
sparks creativity
sharpens critical thinking skills

My children’s handwriting is terrible. There is no such thing as penmanship class and cursive is being removed from the classroom all together in many schools. With just 15 minutes of handwriting a day your child engages 14 different abilities.14 Abilities Used When Handwriting

Sign the petition to encourage writing in school. BIC has already committed to donating 50,000 writing instruments to AdoptAClassroom.com but they are extending their partnership till 12/31/14 in hopes of reaching a donation amount of 100,000 writing instruments. Each signature equals one more pen or pencil.

Enter to win a BIC Back to School gift set here at LookWhatMomFound…and Dad too! Let me know how you or your child is working to keep handwriting skills in their life.

Examples can be found here

Back to School Fight for Your Write Giveaway

EXTRA ENTRIES:
To receive these extra opportunities for entries, you must fulfill the first REQUIRED entry above. Please note the changes to the entries and frequency, entries that don’t follow rules may be disregarded/ignored/deleted

Your entries must follow the rules or they won’t be eligible for prizes. This contest ends 11:59 pm, Tuesday, September 9, 2014. The winners will be emailed and will have 48 hours to claim their prize. This contest is open to Contiguous US residents, age 18 or over. For complete rules please read our blog contest rules page.




Back to School Shopping with Schoola 20% off

August 11, 2014 by

School has started in some school districts already. We still have a couple weeks but that doesn’t mean I haven’t started stressing about the shopping and planning that has to be done. Schoola.com is an easy way to help your child’s school or other schools in need to raise money for programs, supplies or even equipment.Save Art in Schools with Schoola.com #clothes4school

Shop Schoola.com for the clothes and accessories kids need every day. You’ll find a selection of gently used (inspected by the schoola team) clothing in a huge variety of sizes and styles to be reloved with your family.  I personally love saving money on kids clothes this way. Those kids I have, they grow, fast, sometimes too fast to really enjoy a favorite dress or pricey jeans. In fact when I bought my son 5 new pairs of jeans last year at the beginning of the school year he outgrew them by January.

Save today by using BacktoSchoola20 for 20% off your shopping trip.  Doing this not only puts money back in your pocket but it helps Yick Wo Elementary School, California bring back their art programs.

Many schools face tough decisions when it’s time to balance the budget. Many of these schools call music and art extras and they are the first to get cut. Doing this robs children of necessary building blocks when developing social skills, critical thinking, problem solving and collaboration. Yick Wo Elementary students come from a multitude of cultural and socio-economic backgrounds. Providing a creative space where everyone can work and learn equally brings them together with no boundaries or expectations.

Back to School Shopping Schoola.com

Doing a little back to school shopping today can help these students. It’s very simple. Shop on Schoola.com today a you’ll be giving back directly to Yick Wo Elementary. For every transaction made from this post $1 will sent to support their art program.

The 20% discount code BacktoSchoola20 expires 8/20/14 and is limited to one user per customer.




Shop @OshKoshB’gosh sales plus #giveaway

August 30, 2012 by

I like where we live but unfortunately we live almost 20 miles from 2 of my favorite kids stores, Carters & OshKosh B’gosh. Both stores are side by side so I was always able to shop for Shaun in one and Sabreena in the other. Today I only make it to that part of town once or twice a year so I like to stock up when I get the chance. I even picked up the “sweater of the year” for Shae last winter. It was cozy teal blue with a cute bunny applique on it. Crossing my fingers it still fits for this year.

  • Starting August 1 through the end of the month, OshKosh B’gosh is offering fashion denim styles starting at $12 for babies and $14 for kids!
  • Don’t forget to snag up OshKosh B’gosh skinny cargos for girls and stowaway cargos for boys on August 1. All of the OshKosh cargos look great with sparkle tees or rugby shirts.
  • B’gosh blue jeans are made for fun and built to last. Choose from a towering collection of fits and washes for your OshKosh Kids starting at just $14.
fashions for boys

Girls will look super stylish with paint splatter details or embroidered designs on all of their favorite denim styles.Skinny jeans look cool in artful splatter and bright colors and feel comfy with concealed adjustable waists.
clothes for girls
Boys will be sure to look like a stud in his denim jeans and logo hoodie and OshKosh bold, vintage rugby shirts are in tune with a boy’s sense of fun. They are also in perfect harmony with stowaway cargos, built tough for exploring and discovery!

clothes for boys
This is the time of year you should take a peek at what’s going on at OshKosh B’gosh store near you. Check out the Labor Day sale going on right now with up to 60% off the entire store and site through 9/5!

Whether it’s back to school or a new fall/winter wardrobe OshKosh B’gosh is hitting high marks when it comes to trends, comfort and quality.
LookWhatMomFound…and Dad too! readers enter for a chance to win a $50 Carters/OshKosh B’gosh Gift Card. What denim style and hoodie would you give as a gift in the OshKosh B’gosh Kid collection?

EXTRA ENTRIES:

To receive these extra opportunities for entries, you must fulfill the first REQUIRED entry above. Please note the changes to the entries and frequency, entries that don’t follow rules may be disregarded/ignored/deleted.

  • Subscribe to LookWhatMomFound…and Dad too! via email or RSS feed
  • SHARE this on Facebook (I just entered to win a $50 Carters/OshKoshB’gosh Gift Card over at LookWhatMomFound..and Dad too! ), this update should link back to our Facebook page.
  • RePin an outfit idea or other image from OshKosh B’gosh on Pinterest, share the pin URL here
  • Follow Mom & Dad & OshKosh on Twitter and Tweet this giveaway (1 time per day), please leave your twitter link each time, tweet a form of this message: Back to School clothes Gift Card #giveaway with @oshkoshbgosh @lkwhtmomfound @anddadtoo http://bit.ly/QYSKvS 
  • Enter another Giveaway – let us know which one in the comment (one extra entry per giveaway you enter, just leave separate comments)
  • Leave a relevant comment on any other Review/Our Life/Our Travels/Our Thoughts post, let us know where to find it

Your entries must follow the rules or they won’t be eligible for prizes. This contest ends 11:59 pm, Thursday, September 20, 2012. The winners will be emailed and will have 24 hours to claim their prize. This contest is open to Continental US residents only. For complete rules please read our blog contest rules page.

OshKosh B’gosh partnered with bloggers such as me to help promote the Fashion Denim & Skinny Cargo promotion.  As part of the program, I received product or gift cards.  OshKosh B’gosh believes that consumers and bloggers are free to form their own opinions and share them in their own words, and therefore did not tell me what to purchase or what to say about the products I used. OshKosh B’gosh policies align with WOMMA Ethics Code, FTC guidelines and social media engagement recommendations. The winner of any giveaway in this program will be randomly chosen and gift card fulfillment will be handled by a third party.




When You Can’t Find The Words #Hallmark

August 27, 2012 by

Hallmark is there. I’ve had the pleasure of visiting with Hallmark events 2 in the past few weeks.

NYC’s Holiday Product Preview at the London Hotel was like a little taste of Christmas in the Summer. Hallmark went all out not just showcasing their new products and decor for the holiday season but offering holiday cookies to match the ambience.
New york city view london hotel
We got to see firsthand the innovative and interactive products for home decor and children’s memories.

hallmark christmas collections

The Philly HallmarkTour was entirely different and I think my favorite of the 2 events. This was a chance to meet the people behind the sappy notes and creative photographs.

hallmark tour philly

We had the opportunity to write own captions for photos of children. Our team didn’t win but I think we came up some great inspirational ideas. We were also given the task to write messages of encouragement for back to school time. This was something that I found hard. I have the feelings in my heart and my head but trying to get them on paper I became a blubbering mess. I wasn’t the only one though. I peered over and saw some glassy eyes From Sherry of BabyPop and Randi from SAHM’s Crazy Life.
Hallmark is a wonderful fell good brand. A company that I’ve turned to for many years for holiday ornaments, baby’s 1st birthday momentos, e-cards and more.

hallmark back to school messages

shae’s message to sabreena and shaun for their 1st day of school

I was lucky enough to bring home Story Buddy, Nugget.  The interactive plush comments and responds along to certain messages while you read the included book to your child.  I was dreading opening this because I wasn’t in the mood to “put together” a toy but he was literally ready to go once he was out of the box.

hallmark story buddy nugget
Thanks so much for the experience in both NYC and Philly.

I Disclose