Lids ‘n Lizards Magnetic Photo Vocabulary Game

May 9, 2013 By 13 Comments

We are excited to feature a sponsored review of the Lids ‘n Lizards Magnetic Photo Vocabulary Game!

Lids 'n Lizards Game

Details …

Lids ‘n Lizards® Magnetic Photo Vocabulary Game

Watch kids flip their lids over magnetic photos of ice cream, monkey and toothbrush, as they comprehend that they belong in Food, Animals and Transportation. Grownups place a magnet under each one of the lids and then hide the lizards under the lids. Children flip a lid, name the photo object on the magnet and identify its category (such as Animals, Clothing or Around the Home). The child that finds the most lizards is the winner. Game includes 50 magnets, 20 lids and 12 lizards. (suggested price: $39.95) Recommend Age: Grades PreK – 5

Our Thoughts …

As a refresher, our kids are ages 3 (almost 4), almost 5.5, and 6.5.  I wasn’t sure if this game would work for all of them. I was able to unstack the lids easily but the kids had problems unstacking them. I wasn’t sure how the game would go when the kids couldn’t get the magnets separated from each other (they were stacked by categories!) I did get 20 magnets unstacked to go in the bottom of the 20 lids. The kids hid all of the lizards and started playing the the game.

Lids 'n Lizards Game - Ready to Plan!

So the version of the game we played was the basic version that all of the kids could play. The kids picked a lid to see if there was a lizard. They got to keep the lizard if they could say what was on the picture of the magnet and then what category the magnet fit in. Some of the categories are Food, Transportation (this was a hard word for all of them!), and Around the House. I was worried Matthew wouldn’t keep up but he did!

Lids 'n Lizards Game - Found a Computer!

Matthew lasted a couple of rounds of the game. The girls wanted to keep playing though. Since we are the younger side of the games, I loved how the kids played this game with very little help.

Ready to go buy this game or another product? We are excited to share that Super Duper is celebrating ”It’s Better Hearing and Speech Month” with 20% off your entire web order with Promo Code BETTER! 

We are excited to giveaway a Lids ‘n Lizards Magnetic Photo Vocabulary Game to one of our readers! Good Luck!

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Mother’s Day Shopping at NOVICA

May 7, 2013 By 35 Comments

Last minute shopping for mom? We are excited to work with NOVICA on a sponsored review and help suggest some Mother’s Day gift ideas. Check out these following categories … 

Handmade Mother’s Day Gifts, Mother’s Day Necklaces, or Mother’s Day Handbags!

When I saw these suggestions, I went straight to the Mother’s Day Necklaces suggestion. I saw an elephant necklace in the suggestions and kept look. I then came across the … necklace. Matthew loves elephants and since we have three kids, I thought this was a perfect Mother’s Day necklace pick for myself.

NOVICA Elephant Stack Necklace

I kept look around the NOVICA website and saw the scarves. I was hoping to find one that was big enough to use as a should shrug and I did. I found this beautiful print. What do you think? I thought it would be great with black slacks and a solid color top since I am always freezing. Always.

NOVICA-scarf-sb

About NOVICA …

 We want to give artists and artisans around the world a global platform to express their true artistic talents and to spur their creativity. And, we want to provide you with access to unique, hard-to-find items at great values that only the Internet infrastructure can allow.
At the deepest essence of our philosophy, we want to create a bridge between you and the many talented artisans across the globe.
We want you to know about who you’re buying from. We want you to feel that attachment to the product and to the hands that created it.
In the spirit of the Internet, let us bring you together.
NOVICA. The World is Your Market.

What is your favorite gift to give for Mother’s Day? Would the Mother’s Day’s gift suggestions help you in your gift hunt? Go check out the links and look around so you can pick your favorite item. Why? We are excited to offer one of our readers a $40 gift code in a giveaway so you can purchase a gift for yourself or for your mother!  Good Luck!

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Sweet Corn Black Bean Salsa Featuring Sunshine Sweet Corn

May 6, 2013 By 1 Comment

Is there anything better than fresh, local sweet summer corn right off of the stalk?  What can beat a freshly shucked ear of corn cooked for about 3 minutes and topped with a pat of butter?  How about a little dusting of cayenne to spice things up a bit?  Maybe instead of boiling them in water, you can coat them in a little olive oil and char them up over the the grill.  That smoky, charred flavor is just incredible.

Every summer we wind up getting dozens of ears of corn from our local farmers.  We eat it fresh or prepare it and freeze it for use all winter long.  We even freeze the cobs so that we can make corn broth!  What happens when we run out, though?  You can always buy corn in the frozen section for cooking up as a side dish.  A little salt and pepper and some butter and you are all set.  In the early spring, though, fresh corn can be pretty hard to come by.

Still, knowing that summer is coming up has me ready for just a little taste of fresh corn.  You can buy packaged corn in the produce section of most supermarkets and that can be a pretty close approximation, especially if you are using it in dish that calls for fresh corn, like our Sweet Corn Black Bean Salsa.  Serve this up with crispy tortilla chips and taste the sweetness from the corn, the creaminess of the black beans, the sharpness of the red onion, and the tang of the lime.  As easy as this recipe is, why would you buy anything in a jar?

Sweet Corn Black Bean Salsa Recipe

Sweet Corn Black Bean Salsa

Ingredients

4 ears of corn, shucked
1/2 red onion, diced
1/2 red bell pepper, diced
1-15.25 oz can black beans, drained and rinsed
1/4 cup chopped cilantro
juice and zest of 2 limes
1 tsp. garlic powder
salt and pepper to taste

Directions

Fill a pot 3/4 full of well salted water.  Bring the water to a boil and add the corn.  Keep on a low boil for about 5 minutes.  Remove to an ice water bath and set aside to cool.  Slice the kernels off of the cob and move into a large mixing bowl.  Combine all other ingredients into the mixing bowl and stir well.  Allow to sit for a couple of hours before serving.  Enjoy!

 

Sweet Corn Black Bean Salsa Recipe

 

Ready for a chance to win? Sunshine Sweet Corn is hosting the “Livin’ The Sweet Life” contest with chances to win one of 3 prize packs worth over $200!

Check out Sunshine Sweet Corn’s website!

What is your favorite sweet corn recipe? Leave us a comment and let us know what you love to make or what you think about this recipe!

NOTE: “I participated in a campaign on behalf of Mom Central Consulting for Sunshine Sweet Corn. I received a gift card to purchase a product sample to facilitate my review and a promotional item as a thank you for participating.”

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The Real Kettle Brand Chips! #TheRealKettleChips

May 3, 2013 By

Kettle Brand Chips

Did you know? …

  • Kettle Brand uses only real, all-natural ingredients!
  • Kettle Brand is the first potato chip to be verified by the NonGMO Project!  They started selling the market’s first Non-GMO Project Verified potato chip earlier this year, and will soon have 16 verified products with the Non-GMO label featured on front of their packages in the marketplace. They are working diligently to achieve verification on all of their products.
  • Kettly Brand has 24 delicious all-natural chip flavors!
  • What exactly does “kettle-style” mean?All we really know is we’ve been cooking up real chips made with real ingredients
    by real people in Oregon’s Willamette Valley for over 30 years.
    Kettle isn’t just a style. It’s our name.”

Check out the Kettle Brand website for more details! You can also find Kettle Brand on Twitter @KettleChips! #TheRealKettleChips

I want to share a few pairing ideas to help inspire you to add Kettle Brand Chips to your recipes this Spring and Summer.

Kettle Brand Chips - Salt & Pepper

Chicken + Kettle Brand Salt & Pepper Chips

Crush up the Kettle Brand Salt & Pepper Chips as your breading for chicken. But don’t stop there … chop up the chicken for a chicken salad based on what your family loves in chicken salad and enjoy the extra crunch!

Fish + Chips 

Chips that are paired with Fish for Fish and Chips are generally french fries. Make sure your “chips” are all natural by pairing Kettle Brand Sea Salt & Vinegar Chips with your fresh Fish this Summer!

Movie and … Chips

Forget the popcorn as you host family movie night or an at home date night but keep the salt snack with Kettle Brand Sea Salt Chips. Your all natural snack choice will still give you the sanctification of snacking during the movie and maybe even make you feel a little less guilty about that late night snacking!

Guess you can tell that the favorite flavors around here involve salt, huh? Kettle Brand Sea Salt & Vinegar Chips, Kettle Brand Sea Salt Chips, and Kettle Brand Salt & Pepper Chips … mmmm. (I will add that we had the Kettle Brand Backyard Barbeque® Chips too but they were gone before we could even snap a picture. oops!)

Remember to answer the question about why REAL ingredients matter to you and your family to be entered to win $250!

Why are real ingredients important in your recipes?

This is a sponsored conversation written by me on behalf of Kettle Brand. The opinions and text are all mine.

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The Young Scientists Club – Kitchen Science Kit

May 3, 2013 By 55 Comments

We recently heard that Ms. Frizzle, not known for missing an opportunity for science fun, will take her Magic School Bus® and be joining Clifford with two new kits of her own this year! We are excited to have the opportunity to review one of these kits for you!

We choice to review the Kitchen Science kit … more specifically the …Clifford Kitchen Science Kit Clifford The Big Red Dog Kitchen Science Kit

Clifford knows the kitchen can be a very intriguing place beyond a place to grab snacks and drinks. His friend Emily Elizabeth guides young scientists through captivating experiments with catchy titles such as test tube explosion, making slime, crystal star, crystal art, milk glue, colored celery, waking up fungus, fungus eats bananas, fungus in a tube, sticky ice, upside down trick, crystal garden, and exploding volcano. Young Scientists will feel like real scientists when they use the included colorful lab tray, measuring cup, test tubes, and funnel to perform their experiments! For • Ages 3+ • $19.99

The kids heard exploding volcano and couldn’t wait to try the kitchen experiments out. We had to delay activities by one evening because of some yard work we had to get done and we had three completely bummed out kids. Who knew science could be so exciting that the kids would be sad to not do it? Can you see how excited they were to get started?!

Clifford Kitchen Science Kit - Excited Kids
I personally loved seeing their excitement with my engineering background. We recently did a Math and Science Night at Grace’s school and I have to admit this kit has some great experiment ideas that are perfect for the Kindergarten through 2nd grade age group!

As I said they loved the exploding volcano. The test tube explosion was fun with more explosion happening. The kids laughed and laughed at me when I told them to please not blow the house up! I love hearing that laughter! They also loved coming up with a hypothesis (but we didn’t call it that for our 3-6 year old age range … we just said guess) on what would happen to the celery in the colored water. Grace, our 1st grader, cheated and read the direction sheet and was then all proud she knew the right answer! Guess we should expect that with her love of reading!

Clifford Kitchen Science Kit - In Action

Which activity do you think your kids would love the most from the Kitchen Science Kit?

At just $19.99 – $39.99 a piece, scientifically-inclined kids can get their paws on any one of the five new kits from The Young Scientists Club this Spring. We are excited to offer a giveaway of the winner’s choice of any of these four kits: Bubble Science kit,  Rainbow Science kit, Kitchen Science kit, or the The Wonders of Nature kit! Good luck!

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Coach Peyton Bag Giveaway

May 3, 2013 By 1 Comment

We are excited to participate in a really fun Spring themed giveaway. This one is for the ladies … maybe a late Mother’s Day present or just a great just for you present with this Coach Giveaway opportunity! This pink bag is perfect for the Spring to show off your fun side and style all at the same time!
Coach Peyton Giveaway
Welcome to the Spring Coach Giveaway hosted by My Boys and Their Toys and my amazing co-hosts: Simply Budgeted, Mommy Has To Work, My Sentiment Exactlee, Sober Julie, This Lil Piglet, April Golightly, Couponwahm, How We Learn at Home, and Counting To Ten.

Details about the Coach Peyton Hobo:

  • Signature embossed patent leather
  • Outside open pocket
  • Adjustable double strap with 20″ drop-converts to single long strap for shoulder or crossbody wear
  • Zip top closure, fabric lining
  • Inside zip, cell phone and multi-function pockets

Measures: 13 3/4 (L) x 11″ (H) x 4″ (W)
[Read more...]

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Walmart Steak Grill-Off! #steakover

April 25, 2013 By

We hosted an exciting family  mini grill-off while trying the new Walmart USDA Choice Premium Beef steaks earlier this week. In my family, steaks are marinated. Mom often uses a store bought marinated and dad  is the grill master. Here at our house, Brian is all about the rubs.

So we decided to test the kids and see what they thought of marinated versus rub steaks.

I went with the Lawry’s Steak and Chop marinade for my steaks. My steaks soaked up the marinade for a couple of hours. Brian made a Merken Rub for his steaks. Brian just needed a few minutes to put the rub on his steaks before they went on the grill.

Walmart Steak-1-SB

The Walmart USDA Choice Premium Beef steaks cooked up beautifully on the grill. What do you think?

Walmart-steak-Collage-SB

I pulled out the cheese labels and labeled the steaks for the taste test. Sophie was cute and asked me if I had the rest of the alphabet. The kids are used to just eating what is prepared for dinner so the concept of picking a favorite was a bit confusing for them. They wanted to know who’s steak was who’s before the picked but we finally got answers out of them before we shared.

Walmart Steak-4-SB

The winner was steak B … Brian’s Merken Rub steaks. Matthew quickly changed his mind when he realized he picked daddy’s steak over mommy’s. Hey, I take what I can get!

How do you prepare steaks at your house? We would love to hear your ideas as we get ready to hit summer grilling season!

Are you ready to experience Walmart’s Steak-Over for yourself? Find out why you should choose your steaks at Walmart here. We shared our winning grilling tip – now tell us yours!

This is a sponsored conversation written by me on behalf of Walmart. The opinions and text are all mine.

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HUGGIES® Little Movers Slip-On® Diaper Pants

April 23, 2013 By Leave a Comment

We are excited to work with a local reviewer on this sponsored campaign for HUGGIES® Little Movers Slip-On® Diaper Pants!

Our family is a HUGGIES family. When I buy diapers for friends or baby showers, they are HUGGIES for sure. We have local friends that have a new addition of twins to their family. Oh they also have 5 year old and 1.5 year old. Their little man is on the move … just as the babies showed up. We knew their busy momma needed all the help she could get now changing three diapered kids. The HUGGIES® Little Movers Slip-On® Diaper Pants seemed like the perfect for her.

Two huge boxes of these diapers arrived at our door. They were excitingly delivered with a Sunday dinner meal to a happy momma!

huggies-2

So what did this busy mom think of these new diapers?

I love how easy it is to just slip them on his wiggly hiney! But … one of our little man’s latest escapades is stripping off his clothes. He can get out of just about anything right now, except overalls, which he’s figuring out. Oy! So these diapers are like pants or shorts to him and I caught him pulling it down yesterday, pretty easily. oops! I will say that they hold more than I thought they would!

Reviewer (Mom of 4!)–

VLUU L200 / Samsung L200Isn’t he a cutie on the move? 

VLUU L200 / Samsung L200

 

What makes the HUGGIES® Little Movers Slip-On® Diaper Pants special?

  • Easy open sides and grip tabs make removal and rolling up the diaper for disposal simple and easy.

  • HUGGIES® Little Movers Slip-On® Diaper Pants come pre-fastened and require no adjustments for a quick and easy diaper changes. 

  • The diaper has trusted Leak Lock® Protection. The protection and security you both need between changes. The diaper absorbs-away layers and long-lasting core lock in wetness and keep baby dry. 

My only comment is that I wish they had these in a size six diaper. These came on the market when our Matthew was a size six. They would have been great since he was so active. Then again he is the only kiddo I know that made it to that diaper size.

We are excited to share that you can save $2 on any one package of HUGGIES® Little Movers Slip-On® Diaper Pants. Share it with three friends and the coupon value increases to $2.50!

What do you think about HUGGIES® Little Movers Slip-On® Diaper Pants? Would they be a fit for your family with a standing and active little one still in diapers? Leave us a comment and let us know!

NOTE: I participated in a campaign on behalf of Mom Central Consulting for HUGGIES. I received product samples to facilitate my review. All opinions are my own.

 

Filed Under: Kids, Promotional, Reviews, Simply Family Tagged With: , , ,

State Farm Neighborhood Assist Grant

April 17, 2013 By 1 Comment

hero-neighborhood-assist_647_251_c1 

What is the State Farm Neighborhood Assist grant?

Do you have an idea that would make your community a better place to live, and would $25,000 be a game-changer? State Farm is here with the assist. Now through March 6, people from the United States and Canada can submit a cause for a chance to win a $25,000 State Farm Neighborhood Assist™ grant.

I was trying to think of my passion in our community and I didn’t have to think long. My passions in this community are around the kids. Friday is the first Math and Science Night at Grace’s school. Why? I asked why there were not family learning activities at the school. I said I would help plan and then I ended up planning the whole event. My undergraduate degree is an engineering degree and I LOVE to hear about activities around the math and science topics. I know our kids will have an introduction to math and science being fun but that needs to be an option for all of the kids in our community. Yes, math and science can be fun. Dancing Raisins … Catapults … you know you would enjoy those activities too. I am so excited to share these with the kids on Friday.

Now it is your turn to think.  How do you come up with idea? Think about areas of your town that need improved. Think about a subject you love … education, safety, etc.!

We were excited to see an effort local to us as a winner from last year’s program! The PACEM Shelter project is located in Charlottesville, VA just near us. Our church is part of the efforts to help house these men in our community during the cold winter months. Brian spent one night our church with these men and they are amazing. This program is amazing. “PACEM provided shelter for 229 people last year (2011) during the cold weather months when the chance of freezing on the streets was a very real concern.”

Was a there a winner in your community last year? Check out the list to see. Maybe even take a idea to expand it your to area or your loves!

Check out this overview video of the program:

Be sure to check out the State Farm Neighborhood Assist Website for more information on how to apply. Just ready to vote? Head over to the State Farm Neighborhood assist voting tab on Facebook!

What would you nominate for the State Farm Neighborhood Assist Grant Program? Leave us a comment and let us know.

NOTE: I wrote this review while participating in a campaign for Mom Central Consulting on behalf of State Farm and I received a promotional item to thank me for my participation.

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Hidden Valley: Sandwich Spreads & Dips

April 17, 2013 By 2 Comments

I was excited to make a quick dinner for the family using the new Hidden Valley Sandwich Spreads and Dips recently! Hidden Valley Sandwich Spreads & Dips are available in four delicious flavors and with one-third the calories of mayonnaise and only 2 grams of fat per serving.

I am excited to announce that my Garlic Parmesan Baked Chicken recipe is featured over on Relish! The recipe only has three ingredients and is perfect for a quick weeknight meal for a family on the go. We did have leftovers from this meal and Beth said it reheated great at work so you might even make extras to have for lunches.

simply parm chicken 4-sb

I suggest serving the Garlic Parmesan Baked Chicken with a tossed salad for a healthy dinner that the whole family will love.

How would you use the new Hidden Valley Sandwich Spreads in your next meal? Would $1,000 help? Enter the Create Craveable Sandwiches Sweepstakes for your chance to win.

Thank you to Hidden Valley™ Sandwich Spreads & Dips for being a sponsor. I was selected for this opportunity as a member of Clever Girls Collective. All opinions expressed here are my own.

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