Welcome Moms!

Hope you had a great week and are looking forward to the weekend.

If you had a hard day or days, take a moment & think about one thing your child did this week to make you smile or even laugh...Now SAVOR that moment, your child won't be little forever.

ENJOY!

Friday, February 26, 2010

This Week's Highlights - Week of 02-28-2010

Time for Fun
Nickelodeon Presents Storytime Live!

March 31, 2010 — April 04, 2010 at Radio City Music Hall

From the Website...Come play along with your favorite preschool pals LIVE on stage as Nickelodeon presents their newest, biggest, most exciting live show ever.

Leap into Fairytale Land with "Dora the Explorer," journey through Purewood Forest with "The Backyardigans," hop into Wonderland with "Wonder Pets!," and monkey around on The Monkey King Adventure with "Ni Hao, Kai-lan."


Time to Eat

Brought to you by The Sneaky Chef

The Sneaky Chef to the Rescue: 101 all new recipes and sneaky tricks for creating healthy meals kids will love

From the website...The New York Times bestselling author returns--this time responding directly to her readers' most pressing concerns. Legions of fans have written to her, asking for more recipes that focus on their specific family challenges. She's heard them loud and clear, and has crafted meals that are targeted to these special needs, including:

* Lower-calorie & low-fat meals
* Holidays & other special occasions
*Allergy-free cooking


Free Recipes

See All Book


Time to Read
Read Across America - On March 2, the National Education Association calls for every child to be reading in the company of a caring adult.


From the NEA's Read Across America logowebsite...The National Education Association is building a nation of readers through its signature program, NEA's Read Across America. Now in its thirteenth year, this year-round program focuses on motivating children and teens to read through events, partnerships, and reading resources.

NEA's Read Across America Day, NEA's national reading celebration takes place each year on or near March 2, the birthday of Dr. Seuss. Across the country, thousands of schools, libraries, and community centers participate by bringing together kids, teens, and books, and you can too!

Teacher's Top 100 Books for Children

The following list was compiled from an online survey in 2007. Parents and teachers will find it useful in selecting quality literature for children.
  1. Charlotte’s Web by E.B. White
  2. Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak
  3. The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein
  4. Green Eggs and Ham by Dr. Seuss
  5. Good Night Moon by Margaret Wise Brown
  6. I Love You Forever by Robert N. Munsch
  7. Because of Winn Dixie by Kate DiCamillo
  8. Oh! The Places You Will Go by Dr. Seuss
  9. The Little House by Virginia Lee Burton
  10. The Polar Express by Chris Van Allsburg


Time to Save






From the website...DailyWorth is a free daily personal finance email for women. We deliver practical tips, empowering ideas and the occasional kick in the pants.


Our tips cover self worth, net worth, saving, spending, earning, investing, taxes, entrepreneurship, financial feminism and lots of other things.



Time to Shop
Match & Munch Sandwich Cutters
$16.95

Brought to you by The Spoon Sisters













From the website...Moms are you often puzzled on how to get your finicky little eaters to consume their sandwiches crust and all? Here’s a super creative way to kill two birds with one cutter...eliminate pesky crusts while making sandwiches into an intriguing interlocking puzzle pieces your kids will want to eat. The cutter is higher than a regular cookie cutter so it easily cut through two pieces of bread without flattening the sandwich. You can create single sandwiches – pieces measure about 3.3 inches X 2 inches --or build an amazing interlocking puzzle with pieces measuring about 2 inches square. Dishwasher safe. Made of ABS, USFDA approved food-grade virgin plastic. BPA, Lead and Phalate Free. Both product and packaging are 100% recyclable.

Friday, February 5, 2010

This Week's Highlights - Week of 02-07-2010

Time for Fun

Travel for Kids

Fun things to do with kids...
Country List

From the website...

Trip Planner
Planning trips with kids is easier than you might think – do a little research, find the itinerary and budget that works for your family, and everything will fall into place.
Travel Tips
Practical tips for family vacations: "Traveling with stuffed animals," don't leave home without them, "Get those tickets to ride," family discounts on trains in Europe, "Tips for traveling with preschoolers," encourages parents with young kids to take long trips, "Baby's first flight," insider secrets for flying with infants, "Packing for your trip" and more...


Time to Eat

National Food Service Management
Care Connection Curriculum Section 8: Nutrition Education
From the website...
This section provides lessons about healthful food choices, variety and moderation in food choices, and the good things healthful food does for the body for providers and young children.

It offers a large selection of fun food activities that the child care provider can do with young children to help them make healthful food choices and make eating habits that will last a lifetime.

Cooking Connection: Banana Pops
Children will listen to a story about fresh fruits and then prepare banana pops, a snack they can eat fresh or as a frozen pop later.

Cooking Connection: Little Red Hen Bread
After listening to the story of The Little Red Hen, children will participate in a simple whole wheat baking activity.

Cooking Connection: Moo Juice Smoothie
After listening to the story, From Grass to Milk, children will assist in the preparation of smoothies that include two dairy foods and a fruit.



Time to Read
New Spot Book - Spot's Noisy Car

About Spot

Eric Hill Fact File

Spots Friends and Family

Top 10 Spot Books



Time to Save
MyGroceryDeal.com
From the website..

Compare Advertised Grocery Deals to Maximize In-Store Savings!

  • See current advertised deals at your favorite local stores
  • Create & print your own weekly shopping lists
  • Save more with on-line coupons, look up product information, and more!
… and best of all, Membership is FREE!

Tips and Tricks for the New Member


Time to Shop
Mom Invented® Products brings you...Shoe Clues

Product Description

A fun way to teach children to put their shoes on successfully. Shoe clues include three (3) pairs of high quality stickers. Made of silicon, not paper, so they cannot tear. Shoe Clues are color and letter coded to help children reinforce left and rght learning. They also enable children to be self-sufficient and help them identify their shoes at preschool and playgroups. Just tell them that each of the friendly characters have to be facing each other when the shoes are placed together and that will ensure they are lined up for the correct foot.

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Friday, January 22, 2010

This Week's Highlights - Week of 01-24-2010

Time for Fun
City Ice Pavilion
47-32 32nd Place
Long Island City, NY 11101
Directions





From the website...Welcome to the City Ice Pavilion. New York's most convenient ice rink and the perfect place to play, learn and have lots of fun! We offer public skating, ice hockey, figure skating, skating lessons and even have a summer camp.

Public Skating Schedule:
Monday: 1:30pm-3:20pm
Tuesday: 1:30pm-3:20pm
Wednesday: 1:30pm-3:20pm
Thursday: 1:30pm-3:50pm
Friday: 1:30pm-2:50pm & 5:30pm-8:20pm
Saturday: 12:00pm-3:50pm & 7:00pm-9:50pm
Sunday: 12:00pm-2:20pm

NY Ranger Fan Appreciation Skate:
Sunday: 12:00pm-2:20pm
(during General Skating session)


Time to Eat




Eat Smart. Play Hard.™


From the website...
The Eat Smart. Play Hard.™ Campaign was launched by USDA's Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) to encourage and teach children, parents, and caregivers to eat healthy and be physically active every day. Eat Smart. Play Hard.™ offers resources and tools to convey and reinforce healthy eating and lifestyle behaviors that are consistent with the Dietary Guidelines for Americans and the MyPyramid Food Guidance System. Eat Smart. Play Hard.™ is about making America's children healthier. It's about practical suggestions that will help you motivate children and their caregivers to eat healthy and be active. Eat Smart. Play Hard.™ Campaign messages and materials are fun for children and informative for caregivers.

Eat Smart. Play Hard.™ Resources

Web Site for Parents
Activity Sheets/Bookmarks/Comics/Stickers
Brochures/Mini Posters/Handouts
Additional ESPH Resources


Make It Quick and Easy
Below are a variety of quick and easy recipes you can use with the Eat Smart. Play Hard.™ Healthy Lifestyle. Try them to save time and add interest to your meals.


Time to Read
A Visitor for Bear
by Bonnie Becker


Synopsis: Bear is so determined not to have any visitors he places a sign on his front door stating NO VISITORS ALLOWED. Mouse is just as determined to enter Bear's home and become Bear's best friend. The hilarity begins when mouse turns up in places like the bread drawer, refrigerator and teapot. Bear locks, plugs and bolts every possible hiding place as the reader waits to see what will happen next.



Time to Save
Get Rich Slowly

From the website...While driving to our monthly book group discussion on Saturday, Kris and I had a conversation with our friend Courtney. Courtney’s family is beginning to feel a financial squeeze. Her husband’s employer is cutting jobs. To keep working, he’ll have to take a pay cut and move back to the position he left a couple of years ago. Complete blog post>


Once-a-month shopping: Save more by shopping less — Research indicates that the less often we shop, the less we spend. Here’s how one family makes this work.

Once-a-month cooking: Cooking for the rushed — My brother is one of many who has found that “batch cooking” helps to save his family time and money.

Keep track of food with a leftovers list — Americans waste too much food. Here’s a way to reduce waste.

How to save hundreds by playing the drugstore game (a guest post from Cathy at Chief Family Officer)

More Articles>


Time to Shop
From the website...How to Use the DaysAgo

The DaysAgo Digital Day Counter is the first and only digital day counter that attaches to a variety of surfaces with a magnetic or suction backing and counts up to 99 days. It's a simple gadget that is re-usable, versatile and helps save money. You can use it on food containers to let you know how many days ago you opened it, closed it, tried it, sauced it, grew it, etc. As for leftovers, it eliminates the doubt about when to throw it out.

Look here to find out about fresh storage tips for your refrigerator.

Beyond its functionality as a cool kitchen gadget and tool, the DaysAgo is unique in that it can be used in every room in your house! In the family room, track how long it’s been since you watered the plants or changed the filter in the fish tank. In the bathroom, track how long it’s been since you’ve taken your medication. Outside, track how many days it’s been since you fertilized the vegetable garden.

Friday, January 15, 2010

This Week's Highlights - Week of 1-17-2010

Time for Fun

Calendar

Children's Screening


The Sony Wonder Technology Lab (SWTL) is a FREE four-story, interactive technology and entertainment museum for all ages. Located in mid-town Manhattan, SWTL inspires creativity in a high-quality, engaging and family friendly learning environment.

550 Madison Ave. at 56th St
New York, New York
General Info Line: (212) 833-8100

Reserved Admission Tickets:

Due to the popularity of Sony Wonder Technology Lab, reservations are highly recommended for all visitors. Reservations guarantee admission and can only be booked a minimum of seven days and up to three months prior to your desired visitation day. We do not accept same day reservations. Tickets are valid for the date and time indicated. Reservations can be booked by speaking with a Visitor Services Representative on our General Information Line.

Reservation Hours: Tuesday – Friday: 9 a.m. – 2 p.m. EST

Same Day Admission Tickets:
Visitors without reservations may obtain same day tickets for Sony Wonder Technology Lab, but please NOTE that there are only a certain number of tickets set aside for walk-up visitors each day. These tickets are distributed on a first come, first serve basis beginning at 10 a.m. Tuesday through Saturday and 12 p.m. on Sunday. As a result, walk-up visitors are encouraged to come early, as tickets go quickly. Tickets are valid for the specific time indicated.



Time to Eat

From the website...
The Start Healthy, Stay Healthy™ Menu Planner generates easy-to-follow menus based on the food groups and nutrients recommended by health professionals for children's healthy growth and development. You can use the generated menus, or create your own - either way, the unique 5-Star Rating System* lets you know when your menu falls within our recommended nutrition guidelines for your child's stage. So whether your child is a Supported Sitter or a Preschooler, or at any stage in between, the Menu Planner will help you select the right variety of foods and nutrients to help your child start, and stay healthy.
* Patent Pending


Time to Read
Growing Like Me tells about how animals and plants grow in nature.

Anne Rockwell, Holly Keller (Hardcover)






Time to Save
From the website...

Tips for How to Live on One Income


Adjusting to living on one income from two can initially be quite difficult. However, in many ways families living on one income can actually be more secure than families with two incomes. In the book The Two Income Trap, the authors make the case that families who are maxed out living a two income lifestyle often get into financial trouble when one spouse loses his or her job. This happens when two income families have a lifestyle that absolutely requires two pay checks to cover all of their basic expenses such as their mortgage, credit card debt and car loans.
For families living on one income, if the main bread winner loses his or her job, then both the spouse who had been working and the stay at home spouse can look for jobs, thus thus doubling their chances of replacing one income. Full Article>



Time to Shop
eeBoo Opposites Puzzle Pairs Matching Game

Up and Down, Big & Little, Match the Opposites
25 Matching Pairs - Illustrations by Saxton Freymann.

Ages 3 years and up




Friday, December 18, 2009

This Week's Highlights - Week of 12-20-2009

Time for Fun

From the website...The Coalition for Quality Children's Media is a national, nonprofit organization founded in 1991 whose mission is to teach children critical viewing skills and to increase the visibility and availability of quality children's media. families nationwide. The Coalition is a voluntary collaboration comprising more than 10,000 media professionals, lobbyists, policymakers, child advocates, educators, parents and families nationwide.

Our goals are..
A. To teach children to become critical media users;
B. To help adults recognize the importance of teaching critical viewing skills to children;
C. To help children identify and be aware of outstanding media programming;
D. To develop programs for children with special needs such as low-income, hospitalized or at-risk children.


Time to Eat


Menus 4 Moms

Subscription Site $7.95 per month

From the About Us section of the website....With today's busy lifestyles, most women find that putting a home-cooked dinner on the table each evening has become an impossible challenge. By providing the tools necessary to make delicious home-cooked meals while still saving time and money, Menus4Moms has been helping busy moms enjoy stress-free family dinners since 2005.

Menus4Moms.com not only provides a variety of dinner menu plans, but also offers home organization help, bulk and frugal cooking articles, local grocery deals and a growing social network for busy moms. Born out of the busy lifestyle of Mary Ann Kelley, a work at home mom, Menus4Moms is the result of years of refining cooking and shopping techniques to save today's busy moms both time and money. Our goal is stress-free, happy moms who have time to enjoy their families.



Time to Read
Tess's Tree
By Jess M. Brallier
Illustrated by Peter H. Reynolds

From Harpers Collins Children's ...Tess loved her tree. She liked to swing on it and sit in its shade and catch its leaves in the fall. When Tess's tree has to come down, Tess is very sad . . . until she finds a way to gather friends...

Tess's Tree Quiz
How well do you know Tess and her tree? Take the quiz and find out!



Time to Save

Top 100 Sandra's Money Saving Meals Recipes

Sandra's Ways To Save

In these tough economic times, Sandra shares money saving ideas to help your wallet.

$ Tip: Buy things in season when you can. If it's out of season, shop for it in the frozen section.

  • Fresh blueberries in season are $0.99 cents a pint; out of season they are $2.99. If you buy them frozen, blueberries are only $1.99.

$ Tip: Sometimes you don't pay for convenience.

  • Whole Mushrooms cost the same as pre-chopped or sliced mushrooms.
  • Boxed pound cake costs less than making from scratch (due to the amount of butter).
  • Eggs: Hard-boiled and peeled go on sale for same price as raw eggs on Tuesdays.
All Tips


Time to Shop
Mothers of Preschoolers
Grocery Shopping with Toddlers

By Christy Wilson Millard





iParenting.com
Holiday Shopping with Babies and Toddlers
How to Survive a Trip With the Kids in Tow
By Neilia Sherman