Writing Love Notes To Your Child

April 7th, 2009

Ethan is doing really well with his reading in school and I am so pleased to see the delight in his face as he sounds out the words and puts sentences together. Is there anything more exciting than the newness of discovering how cool reading is?

He was sent home a worksheet of words that we needed to work on as a family with him. They are words that he needs to know and be able to read by the end of the school year. I was sitting down with him and pointing to words and he would say them. We did this for a couple of days and he looked up at me and told me, “Mom, this is so boring!” You know what? He was right! I was bored too and the task seemed like a chore.

The next day that he came home, I told him that I wrote him a note just for him. In it, were words from the list that he needed to recognize. He came back downstairs and told me “Mom, I don’t know those words.” I gave him a pat on the back and told him, “Just read my note and you can sound it out while you eat lunch.”

I went down to fold a load of laundry and he came running down the stairs, grinning from ear to ear. “Mom, I know what it says!” He then recited my note word for word.

We have made a pact to do this each day and I will write him a new note just for him.

As teachers, we sometimes have to be more creative than pointing and reciting. It has now become our fun little game that I hope he will remember for years to come!

Do you have any fun ways you have taught your children about reading or writing?

Related Links:

Making Our Grocery Lists

We Need to Work On Our Letters

Cheap Dry Erase Board

Redbox Code 04.06.09

April 6th, 2009

Today’s free Redbox code is TS473G. This code can be used all day until midnight at any Redbox location.

You can’t beat a free movie rental so schedule some fun family nights and check out what Family Films are available.

Side Notes:

– If you want to rent more than one movie for free, bring more than one credit/debit card. You can use the same promotional code, you just will need different cards to charge it to. The charge will be zero as long as you return your movie on time for the next day.

– When entering in your free movie code, you need to enter it FIRST before picking the movie. On the very first screen, click the, “Rent with Promo.” Enter in the above code and then make your selection- the amount should then total zero.. This code can be used all day until midnight at any Redbox location.

Amazingly Delicious Roasted Green Beans

April 6th, 2009

I have roasted a lot of vegetables during my lifetime, but I can honestly say that I had never roasted green beans before. I saw a recipe for roasting green beans and knew I would have to try it. I decided to use what I had in my produce drawer and pantry to make this great little side dish that I know you will absolutely love.

The original recipe did call for fresh green beans, but I had a bag of the fancy frozen ones from Aldi in my freezer that I wanted to use. I added an extra ten-fifteen minutes cooking time for these and they were perfect for our taste. You can roast them longer, if you like, but this amount of time seemed to fit well for me.

Below is the recipe including instructions for fresh and for frozen. This would be a wonderful side dish for your cookouts this summer and looks deliciously gourmet with very little effort.

It would also make a great side dish for your Easter dinner celebration this year. Enjoy!

Roasted Green Beans

2 pounds fresh green beans (or a bag of frozen fancy green beans)
1-2 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons minced garlic (I use the bottled garlic to save a little time)
Salt & Pepper
Zest from one lemon (save the juice for later)

Preheat your oven to 400 degrees. Grab a jelly roll pan and dump green beans on the pan. Sprinkle seasonings, lemon zest, and garlic over the green beans. Drizzle the olive oil over the green beans and then toss with your hands until they are all coated with the seasonings and zest. Spread out in a single layer and slide your cookie sheet into the oven. Roast fresh green beans for 20-25 minutes and roast frozen green beans for an additional 10-15 minutes. When they are done, pull from the oven and put them on a serving platter. Squeeze the lemon juice over the top (from the lemon you zested) and serve.

Freebie Friday: April 3, 2009

April 3rd, 2009

Happy Freebie Friday, everyone! I would like to thank Heather, from Freebies 4 Mom for helping us with our freebie round-up this week. Head over there to read how you can get a free Domino’s Cinnastix and her baby feeding resource list is great for any new mom!

While you are getting in on all the great freebies, be sure to visit our Apron Full of Giveaways to be entered to win in all the wonderful contests. We took a week off from our giveaways this week, but I promise to make up for it with two great ones on Tuesday and another wonderful round-up!


Health & Beauty

Emergen-C Blue
Werther’s Original Caramel Chocolate Comfort Club House Party
Domino’s Savory Surprises House Party

Entertainment
Town & Country (2 free issues from StartSampling)
People: Yearbook 2009

Home & Garden

Earthbound Farm Reusable Tote (restock with 10,000 on Monday morning)
Hallmark Card Personalized & Mailed (use code TRIAL)
Food Pyramid from USDA
Kaplan Dream School House Party
Glad Forceflex Trash Bag (Sam’s Club)

Pets

Rachel Ray Nutrish Dog Food (Walmart)
VCA Animal Hospitals Free Initial Exam

Upcoming Freebie Events:

Please call your local store or restaurant to confirm they are participating in these freebie events.

APRIL
4 – The Home Depot Kids Workshop – Make a window birdhouse 9 to Noon
4 – Michaels The Knack – 3D Monsters vs Aliens crafts for kids 5-12 from 10 to 2pm
4&5 – Museums on Us – Free admission for Bank of America accountholders
6 – Seattle’s Best Coffee (and Borders) – free small coffee
7 – Seattle’s Best Coffee (and Borders) – free medium coffee for all 39-year-olds
8 – Denny’s – free breakfast?
11 – Lowe’s Build and Grow Clinic – Birdhouse 10 to 11am
15 – Taco Del Mar Free Taco
15 – MaggieMoo’s Free Single Scoop of Ice Cream
18 – Michaels The Knack – Spring Critters for kids 5-12 from 10 to 1pm
21 – Ben & Jerry’s Free Cone Day noon to 8pm
23 – Take Our Daughters and Sons To Work Day
26 – National Pretzel Day – free pretzels at Pretzelmaker and Pretzel Time

Simply Capturing Great Photos Resource List

April 2nd, 2009

Another big round of thanks to Mishelle Lane for sharing her invaluable advice on photography and choosing the right photography equipment with our listeners. It was an exciting and information-filled half hour so I hope you can listen to this at your leisure, if you didn’t get a chance to catch it live!

Here is our list of resources that were highlighted in today’s episode:

Mishelle Lane– Mishelle is very connected in the photo world and you can find her at Secret Agent Mama, Mishelle Lane Photography, Flickr, or connect with her through Twitter (@secretagentmama)

Photography Sites to Visit: Mishelle recommends visiting Photo Bliss, Shutter Sisters, & Pioneer Woman to help breathe some life into your photography. All sites offer great advice on photography and can give you some new ideas for picture-taking.

Picknik– This is the photo editing site that Mishelle mentioned as a great and inexpensive photo editing tool for moms. They offer free & a premium membership for $24.95. This is a great beginner programmer to use, but still offers some great features that watermarks for your pictures.

Canon Cameras-Mishelle recommends this site for checking out great cameras when upgrading your equipment.

Opteka– Find great budget-friendly accessories for your camera on this great website!


On next week’s show…

Tara, from Deal Seeking Mom, will be joining us to give us a glimpse into how to effectively save the most money using coupons. We will learn simple strategies for organizing our coupons, how we can apply our coupons for the maximum savings, and what online resources will give us the best bang for our buck.

Related Links:

5 Tips for Great Photography Straight From A Pro

Take Your Own Pictures to Save Money

MomAdvice Simplified: Simply Capturing Great Photos

April 2nd, 2009


This week on MomAdvice Simplified, my podcast for moms, I am so excited to be joined by photographer extraordinaire, Mishelle Lane. Mishelle blogs at Secret Agent Mama and I had the great pleasure of meeting Mishelle at Blissdom ’09. I couldn’t wait to have her on our show as a guest to share her photography tips with us.

Mishelle will be sharing her tips for purchasing the right photography equipment, some ideas for capturing our busy children, and how to get out of the automatic modes on our cameras. Best of all, she shares her resources for budget-friendly camera equipment & photo editing tools. You don’t want to miss this one!

This podcast will be airing today at 2PM EST so I hope you can join me for this exciting half hour!

Notebook Experiments: Will We Like Wheat Pizza Crust?

April 1st, 2009


Experiment: Can I make a wheat pizza crust that the whole family will love?

Experiment Taken From: Notebook Entry 02.12.09

Materials Needed: Please see Day by Day for specific directions on how to make this pizza crust. I actually used my bread machine for this instead of using the stand mixer and just dumped the ingredients in like I would normally (wet ingredients, dry ingredients, yeast on top) and it came together great.

Results:


I ran my bread machine on the dough cycle and did have to add just a little bit of water to make the dough a little bit looser. I let it run through the entire cycle and then floured my counters and rolled it out for my lightly greased cookie sheet.

I baked as instructed and the results were great. The crust has a chewy texture and puffs up beautifully. I usually have to bake my crust first to get it to be nice and chewy, but I was able to top this crust and bake it right with the toppings and still have a nice firm crust.

The kids ate it and my husband really liked it too. It was a little bit healthier than our previous versions which made me feel less guilty about the slushie factor that I added in for our fun family night. It all balances out in the end, right?

Conclusion: I will definitely be making this crust again, but play around a little bit with the spices. I think it would be great with regular salt and garlic powder and a sprinkle of Parmesan cheese instead, but it is a very versatile recipe that is a little healthier than our normal pizza crust. Thanks to Day by Day for sharing their family recipe!

Related Links:

Can I Make a Deep Dish Pizza?

Dinner is in the Bag

Freezer Worthy Pizza Sauce

Pizza Hut Pizza Dough Crust

**********************

I am so excited to open our Notebook Experiments up to everyone and I hope that you will be able to participate this week or in weeks to come! I will be posting this each Wednesday so please mark your calendars if you plan to participate. You can post your entries at any time throughout the week and then leave your entry in the links below.

We have this handy banner that you are more than welcome to use, but it is not a requirement! It is just something you can add to add a little sparkle to your entry.

Rules for Participation:

1. Choose anything from any of our notebook entries (past or present) to do with your family. We have hundreds of bookmarked links of crafts, ways to save money, and organizing ideas.
2. Complete an experiment from the notebook and share about it on your blog or website. We would love to see pictures of what you accomplished or a detailed description of how your projects turned out. Please include a link to this entry, a link to the original posting of the entry (at the original craftster’s blog), and (to help us relocate the project) the date or link of the notebook entry where you found it. You can use the same formatting as our entries or you can just include that information in your post in your own unique way!
3. Post a link below. Please include your name or blog name & a fast description of your project. Example- MomAdvice (WHO bread)

I can’t wait to see what you create and what you find inspiring!

Amy’s Notebook 04.01.09

April 1st, 2009

This chicken cooked in milk looks like a recipe that I have to try (@ The Kitchn)

This little dress decor is too cute (@ ohdeedoh)

I love this round-up of ideas for things to do with Easter eggs (@ One Crafty Place)

This crocheted bottle cozy would be a great little baby shower gift with glass baby bottles (@ design sponge)

These heat embossed rocks would be a fun project to do with the kids or to use as placeholders at a dinner table (@ cheeky magpie)

I love these tips for greening up the lunch bag (@ betz white)

I want to try these lemon-herb roasted drumsticks (@ Serious Eats)

I need to do a spice cabinet clean out (@ Small Notebook)

These impromptu princess crowns would be great for a birthday party (@ Sparkle Power)

I would love to try making these etched glass jars (@ Martha Stewart)

This homemade buttermilk ranch dressing look delicious (@ Simply Recipes)

This hungry caterpillar cupcake train is too cute (@ Coco Cake Cupcakes)

These Easter finger puppets are darling (@ The Purl Bee)

I would really like an oilcloth tablecloth for my kitchen table (@ Twig & Thistle)

I am going to have to print out some of these little Easter printables (@ Skip to My Lou)

I love these little bird’s nests as a sweet Easter treat (@ My Insanity)

I want to try this technique for cooking moist chicken breasts (@ The Kitchn, hat tip to Not Martha)

I want to try making these easy hooded towels (@ Make & Takes)

These Peep cupcakes sound like the perfect Easter treat (@ Baking Bites)

MomAdvice Monthly Recap: March ’09

April 1st, 2009


I just want to say a special thank you to each of you for visiting my website and sharing it with your friends, family, and your own readers. We had another great month and it is all thanks to you. I hope to continue offering support through our site, lots of giveaways for our readers, and a place where you feel valued and cared for. If there is anything you would like to see on here, please contact me (amy@momadvice.com) and let me know what you would like to see in the upcoming year.

Don’t forget, you can subscribe to my feeds and never miss another thing on our site again! We have a landing page where it makes it easy to subscribe to our blogs and you can even subscribe to my article feed.

This month’s top referrers were:

1. Freebies 4 Mom
2. Twitter
3. Facebook
4. Money Saving Mom
5. Wisebread
6. Common Sense With Money
7. Baby Cheapskate
8. Tip Nut
9. I’m An Organizing Junkie
10. Feels Like Home

Please take some time this month to check out each of their sites. They are amazing at what they do and we are thankful that we have such great supporters!

This month’s top articles & entries were:

1. The Cost of a Homemade Happy Meal
2. Depression Era Cooking: The Poor Man’s Feast
3. Throwing a Baby Shower on a Budget
4. Simplifying Your Grocery Day Resource List
5. Homemade Hamburger Buns
6. Storing Homemade Bread & Bread Ingredients
7. Post No Spend Challenge Confessions
8. Tis’ The Final Day of No Spend! Rejoice!
9. Cracking the McDonald’s Coffee Code
10. Ain’t No Party Like a Lego Party

Apron Full of Giveaways 03.31.09

March 31st, 2009

Welcome to the Apron Full of Giveaways where you can find all the best of the best in the giveaway world in one place.

This week we will be wrapping up our Quantum of Solace DVD giveaway. If you have not entered, please be sure to put your entry in by tonight at 8PM. We are taking a week off from giveaways to catch up on gathering all of our winners from the past two contests, but we will be back in full swing next week. In the meantime, be sure to enter the other great giveaways here!

Follow the links below to find out how to enter to win these fabulous giveaways!

Below are the contest links-if you are hosting a contest please link it up below. Sorry, we aren’t giving away the aprons just showcasing them! Please put your site name and then what type of contest you are hosting. For example, “MomAdvice (Children’s Movies).”

Please let me know if you have any questions and good luck to each of you!

(Photo Credit: fernfiddlehead)