Tips for healthy smiles...

Image from Google images.

Healthy teeth are very important for our littles and of course ourselves. Here are 5 things we do to help maintain healthy teeth...

1. Make brushing fun. Anytime you take a not so fun task and turn it into something fun, the kids are going to want to do it. Have fun little timers, Let them pick out their own toothbrush and toothpaste, make up a dance they can do while brushing, have a little radio in the bathroom ( away from the water please ) and they brush to a favorite song, reward them for brushing when they are supposed too.

2. Limiting the Sugars and Candies. Buy healthier snacks with less sugar. After they brush for the last time before bed, no snacks, no drinks ( except water ). Let them chew on some sugar free trident :) It comes in 11 flavors to choose from and what kiddo doesn't love some gum? It's all about limiting and making healthier choices.

3. Flossing. Flossing is important and kiddos need to floss once a day. Again make it fun for them, they have all kinds of cute little flossers for kiddos. They are more likely to floss with something bright and colorful than the plain white floss. Right?

4. Brush as a family.  Squeeze everyone into the bathroom and brush together. They see you doing it, they are going to do it too. Turn on some music and boogie down while brushing together. Haha :) Yes, you can even create wonderful memories with your kids while brushing your teeth!

5. Regular dental checkups. Kiddos should be visiting the dentist twice a year.


It's like most other things we are teaching our kids, if we teach them this while they are young and grow up with these routines and being taught healthy habits such as good dental hygeine then most likely they are going to continue it out on their own and with their own kiddos.



“I wrote this blog post while participating in the TwitterMoms and Trident blogging program, making me eligible to get a $25 gift card. For more information on how you can participate, click here.”

5 Important Lessons for our Children...

 Google image from here.

We have two boys, one 8 year old and one 1 year old. We try to teach our kids right from wrong everyday, here are 5 lessons things I think are truly important for teaching our children.

1. Treat others as you want to be treated. 

I can't stand the thought of bullying, or someone picking on my kids. I can't stand the thought of them being the one "left out" so we try to teach him to be friends with everyone, treat everyone as you would want to be treated. If you see someone picking on another kid, you go be friends with the one always left out. It's no fun being the last one standing, so always try and make others feel loved, and special. Everyone is different and you never ever make someone feel bad because they may be a little different than you.

2. NEVER talk to Strangers.

The way our world is today, this one is definitely at the top of our list. We always stress that you cannot talk to strangers, never ever get in a car with someone you don't know no matter what they say. Make sure you have a system with your kids, make sure they ALWAYS know who will be there for them after school, make sure they know it will NEVER be someone they don't know.

3. Teaching Good Habits.


I definitely believe that teaching our children good habits they are going to grow up and follow them always. Teaching them good eating habits, hygiene such as brushing their teeth, showering, etc., keeping their rooms organized and clean, if you let them be lazy they will continue that throughout their lives. When our son gets home from school he always knows homework first, at first we had to remind him everyday and now he does it on his own. This is something that will always remain with him. Our kids are going to do better in school and get the better grades if we are making that daily study time for them. They aren't going to do their homework if no one cares if they do or not. 


4. Love


We always make sure out kids know that we love them. We tell them 100+ times a day. It's so important. It will help them in every area of their lives knowing they are loved always and no matter what. Our oldest son tells us randomly too and I love that. We must be doing something right :)It's very important to teach your kids love and affection and that it's okay to show someone that.


5. Selflessness 

Don't be selfish. Help others less fortunate. Our kids can be a bit spoiled, and I'm not saying my son shares with his little brother 100% of the time, because he doesn't. But we try to teach him not to be selfish, share, help others less fortunate, do things for others. There are many out there that don't have anything, kids with no food, clothes, and especially toys. This one goes hand in hand with #1.

There is definitely more that I could have written, but these are some that are very important to us. So what important lessons do you try and teach your little ones?

“I wrote this blog post while participating in the TwitterMoms and Nanny
McPhee Returns blogging program, making me eligible to get a $50 gift
card. For more information on how you can participate, click here.”

Fun with Glue Dots!

I signed up through a Twittermoms contest here to receive a package of Glue Dots products to play with. I have yet to do any actual scrapbook layouts or scrapbooking for that matter so I wanted to come up with something else using their products. I also wanted to include the little guy as he loves crafting right along side of Mom! You can head over here and learn more about this contest which sadly I am last minute and it's ending in about 15 minutes but you can still sign up for Twittermoms as their are always great contests going on like this one. Also I recommend heading over here to the Glue Dots facebook page to learn some great ways to use Glue Dots as well as stay up to date with their products.

 Glue Dots are fabulous for many reasons, they are so many uses for them!! Glue Dots bond instantly to a wide variety of surfaces including: Paper/photos, Metal, Wood, Plastic, Textiles/Fibers, Plastic, Foam, and more! These are Great for the kids to craft with and best of all they are Non toxic and Acid free!

Alright, let's get Crafty!!!

So Cameron ( my son ) and I decided to make some pinwheels, they were a bit girly for him but he also worked on his own little project which I will show you as well.

First you take a square piece of scrapbook paper, cut it diagonally starting at each corner going to the middle leaving about an inch or two uncut.

Then put apply a glue dot to the center of your paper and fold on corner in, continue to do this until your pinwheel is complete. Applying a Glue Dot each layer.

I used buttons that had wire prongs on the back, stuck it through the middle of my pinwheel, then applied another dot to the back of the stick and wrapped the wire around it.

Then I took an old cardboard container I had, wrapped it in paper, and added some ric rak at the top, filled in with floral foam and stuck my pinwheels in it.

 These are great to make for birthday party centerpieces, holidays, and they are super quick and simple to make. Pinwheels are on of the very first crafts I made on this blog. :)

That's it!!! Super easy and I think they are cute!! These are really fun to make with the kidlets, he had a blast helping!! Thanks Glue Dots for providing such great products!!

Oops, almost forgot my son made this out of a pampers tub, it's a mailbox for me to leave him notes everyday :) He used glue dots and papers, and rub ons for it.

I started out with this originally, I used beadboard wallpaper to mat the picture using Glue Dots of course, then I trimmed it in black ric rak, added some buttons. Cute concept but mine didn't turn out how I wanted, Booo, so I will definitely try this again soon.

“I wrote this blog post while participating in the TwitterMoms and Glue Dots blogging contest to be eligible to receive a $30 gift card. For more information on how you can participate, click here.”

Do your kiddos like their fruits and veggies?

As you know if you have been reading my blog, I am a member of TwitterMoms. Today TwitterMoms and Horizon Little Blends have teamed up and have asked moms to blog about how they get their kiddos to eat their fruits and veggies. Well my oldest loves veggies and so far so good on our 10 month old. But here are a few tips I have...

When we go to the grocery store, I always let my son pick out a fruit and veggie that he wants. He thinks it's the coolest when he gets to pick his own. His favorite is oranges, and carrots ( he must like orange ).

We almost always have veggies in the house, we love to eat broccoli, cauliflower, and carrots plain. He loves tomatoes too, especially the cherry tomatoes. And don't worry mom, if they don't like it the first time they try it, try fixing it a different way, if he/she doesn't like raw carrots, try them cooked! We love stir fry with tons of veggies in it, and my son loves noodles so we make it with noodles or rice ( he likes rice too ) and he always eats it up! Let them have some fresh veggies and a dip, like ranch.

Also you can always sneak the veggies or fruits in with their meals if they absolutely refuse to eat them. Shred some carrots and cook it in with the meat, or add it to some mac and cheese or throw some peas in with potatoes ( that's my favorite ). There are lots of ways to sneak them in.

For fruits let the kiddos pick out a fruit and have a smoothie night! Make it fun for them, get them involved. Let them wash the veggies and fruits, let them help dump all the ingredients into the blender for smoothie night.

Cut up a bunch of different fruits and make a fruit salad, add some bananas to some healthy frozen yogurt, or add any fruit to some plain yogurt, Add chopped fruit to some jello and make some fun jello shapes, fresh fruit on their cereal is a great one too!

There is so many different things you can do to incorporate fruits and veggies! Make it fun for them, let them get involved and Keep trying!!! If you want to learn more about this contest and how you can enter go here for more info. You can also visit Horizon little blends website for more info on their products here. If you have any great tips I would love to hear them!!