Clorox Clean-Up & Grant

We as Moms find it so valuable for our kids to participate in extracurriculars. But with scale backs and cuts due to the economy, our kids' sports, music lessons, clubs, and youth groups often fight to stay afloat, struggling to find the budget, volunteers, and space to hold activities. Clorox Clean-Up, the only all purpose cleaner powered by Clorox Bleach, can help. This winter, the Clorox Clean-Up team will award five grants of $10,000 each to applicable kids programs in the hopes of enriching kids' lives across the country.

Moms can easily nominate programs for a chance to win a Power A Bright Future grant by submitting a photo and a short essay about the project for consideration until November 29, 2009 at www.facebook.com/cloroxcleanup. A panel of influential children's advocates will select finalists based on impact of the program on kids, the quality of the entry sent in, and most promise for the grant to help the program grow. Then, the public will have the chance to vote on Facebook between December 7th and January 17th, 2010 with everyone receiving a Clorox Clean-Up coupon as a thank-you for voting.



This opportunity was provided by Mom Central. I was offered a chance to win a coupon for Clorox Clean-up for doing this post.

Mythbusters at Home

Have you ever watched the show MythBusters and thought about how much fun they seem to be having. We have. Now you can be a myth buster too. The Discovery Channel and Elmers have teamed up to bring us fun science exploration kits that can be done at home.

We received the Wierd World of Water Kit and the boys were so excited when it arrived. Science and water wow! They were amazed that I was actually going to let them "play" with water in the house.

The kit came with everything you need to conduct your experiments except for the water. It also includes a book of other experiments so that your child can prove or "bust" other myths. The other great thing about the kits is that the parts are reusable so you can do the experiments again and again.

Both of my boys loved this and can't wait to do more. With the way these are reasonably priced they may just get the other two kits for Christmas. If you're interested in getting your hands on one of these great kits just go here. They have the Wierd World of Water, Forces of Flight and Power of Air Pressure.

This opportunity was made available by Team Mom. The kit was provided to me free of charge in exchange for my review.

It's the Flu

Oldest has had the yuck and we finally made it to the doctor's today to find out it is the flu and other than cough syrup they couldn't do anything for him. I was told to give lots of fluids and keep him on tylenol or motrin and that was it. He did seem to be doing better today than he did over the weekend so we will see how he does. One thing about homeschooling, just because you're sick doesn't mean you miss school. He did miss yesterday but today he was up and playing and acting fine so I said he could do his math and spelling. I let him skip the rest but instead of disrupting Youngest's whole day I gave him something to do.
At co-op yesterday we had a fall festival. It was a lot of fun. Youngest and I went while Oldest lounged on the couch at Grandpa's watching movies. Youngest was a good brother though and brought home some prizes to share. We have another festival with our other group on Thursday and if Oldest continues to improve and have no fevers the doctor said he could go. We are praying he will do well because their isn't anyone to sit with him Thursday so we would all have to miss. We are also suppose to go to a nearby town with friends and do their town trick-or-treat. Lots of fun planned for the rest of the week.

We don't allow the kids to do the traditional trick-or-treating but we do enjoy going to local festivals and we let them dress up as certain things. Oldest isn't really dressing up this year and Youngest is being a cowboy again. I know there are many people who don't allow their children to dress up at all and I completely respect that. Hubby and I didn't for a few years but then we got to thinking about it more and changed our minds. We let the boys dress up as cowboys and indians and doctors for fun any time of year so what is the big deal about this time of year. We don't do jack-o-lanterns or trick or treating but we do enjoy the festivals and fun. Last year we did the town trick-or-treat but that was because it isn't actually going door to door and trick-or-treating it is the local businesses way of getting involved and advertising. We do give out candy to any treater's we get but we also always include a gospel tract so we are getting the message out with each treat we give. It's what seems to work for our family. What works for yours?

Blessings Abound

Life is good. I have seen the Lord bless us in so many ways in the last week. I know that He blesses us daily but in the last week He has made my cup runneth over. Because of Hubby losing two jobs this year we have fallen behind in everything and now that he is working again we are striving to get caught up. This month we've had to use all of our in come to make the house and car payments to insure that we don't lose either one. The stress of collection calls and the humility of having friends and family know how desperate we have gotten has affected us as a family deeply. This past week we knew that we would have to humble ourselves and ask for help so we started finding information about local food banks to visit. They were great blessings to us but the way God used one particular lady in our new Co-op amazes me. I am new to the group and the people but there is one lady that teaches the high school class I help in that has become a friend. This past week she was asking how our situation was and I told her that God had allowed us to pay some bills but that 100% of the income was going out in bills leaving nothing for groceries but that through some food banks we would be able to make it. That afternoon she showed up at my house with loads of groceries. I have more food in my house right now than I've had in months. She brought breakfast stuff, meat, veggies, icecream... my kids were so excited. Oldest pulled out a bottle of bbq sauce and said "look mom, bbq sauce". He was very excited about that little bottle. I made sure that bbq chicken was on the menu the next day. Youngests favorite find was the fresh fruit from one of the churches. He told everyone about the fruit he could FINALLY have. As a mom it is heartbreaking to not be able to give you children what they want, and as you can see their wants were not extravagant. It was such a blessing to our family what those around us have done to help. We are not out of the woods yet but we are slowly climbing up the hill. I am prayful that our application for Food Stamps will be accepted quickly and that God will continue to provide. Not only did He provide food for us but he also provided the funds to pay our power, which was to be disconnected today. These are things that He did without our help in any way and from unexpected resources. It is sometimes hard for us to humble ourselves and say we need help but the bible says Whosoever therefore shall humble himself as this little child, the same is greatest in the kingdom of heaven (matt. 18:4) and Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time (1 Peter 5:6). I grew up in a family where it seemed we always had to put on a happy face and pretend everything was fine at home even when we were having hard times. I don't want my boys growing up that way and I don't want them doing without because we are hiding our needs. I don't believe in asking for handouts or receiving them if not really needed I've always been a pay it forward person. I'm a giver not a taker but sometimes you have to sit back and let God.

School is still going well. We all really enjoy the Co-op and we are also enjoying most of our home studies. Youngest completed his math and I have not been able to buy is new math book but am finding some things online for him to do and some review papers. I decided to switch to Math U See b/c both boys rely on their fingers and I've been told that MUS will help with that. The Lord blessed us by giving us the curriculum and blocks but I have not been able to buy the student books yet. It will come. Oldest is nearly finished with his LLATL and we will be looking for a new English program. I am going to try to find one that isn't literature based. He enjoys picking out his own books to read and so I want a program that focuses on parts of speech, sentences etc. without having set reading books. If anyone know of a good program on a 3rd/4th grade level please share. Also be sure to check out my give aways in the side bar.

Blessings to each of you.

Souplantation & Sweet Tomatoes' crEATe Contest

On October 1, Souplantation and Sweet Tomatoes restaurants announced the crEATe Recipe Contest . Throughout the month of October, guests can submit their recipes for mouth-watering combinations made entirely from Souplantation or Sweet Tomatoes menu items. Ten finalists will be chosen in November and all guests will be invited to vote for their favorite finalist in December. The winning recipe and chef will be announced in January and will win a year’s worth of free passes and the chance to be featured in an upcoming ad. There are 112 restaurants in 15 states, all of which offer an all-you-care-to-eat fixed-price dining experience where you can count on fresh, high-quality ingredients and foods that are made from scratch on a daily basis.

Here are the create contest rules: The contest is open to restaurant guests in Arizona, California, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Kansas, Missouri, Nevada, Oregon, New Mexico, North Carolina, Texas Utah and Washington. Guests must submit their recipe and a photo of themselves alongside the completed dish by October 31. The recipe must contain at least 2 to 5 Souplantation or Sweet Tomatoes menu items only and will be judged based on menu and visual appeal, ingredient list, and creativity. Recipes and photos can be submitted online at www.souplantation.com/create, on the Facebook page, or by email to create@gardenfreshcorp.com

Souplantation and Sweet Tomatoes restaurants are also announcing the Pajama-Rama even on Sunday, October 18th in celebration of National Pajama Month! Children are invited to roll out of bed and head straight to a restaurant near them for hte 3rd Annual Pajama-Rama and have a free breakfast from 9am - noon with the purchase of an adult meal. Breakfast items include Belgian waffles, French toast, egg scramble foccacia, cinnamon chip biscuits, make-your-own breakfast burritos and much more!

Souplantation and Sweet Tomatoes' also gave me 3 pairs of dining passes to share with you, my faithful readers! All you have to do is leave me a comment telling me your favorite salad dressing. Please remember that these restaurants are in limited areas so go here before entering to see if there is one near you. Contest will end at 9 pm EST on Oct. 30.

***Disclaimer***
This post was written while participating in a Garden Fresh Restaurants campaign through Family Review Network. I was provided with two free dining passes and information as well as dining passes to give away to my readers.

It's a Success

So far the boys and I have been enjoying Co-op. A good friend of mine joined also and someone I went to high school with so I started out knowing a few people but have already made several new friends. The boys have also made several new friends. Today we had game day. They do that every so many weeks where the kids get to bring their favorite games and after Co-op classes we eat a picnic lunch and then all the kids play various games while the mom's visit. It was a lot of fun for all of us. I need to remember to take my camera to get some pictures of the boys in action.
So even though I was nervous to start and really had to talk myself into taking the leap, after 3 weeks in the Co-op I will have to declare it a success. The only thing I will change for next semester is where I volunteer. I am helping in a K5 class and I will not be doing that next semester. I love kids but it is more fun to play with little ones than to teach them. I will try to stick with middle and high schooler's next semester.
Our school year in general has also been a success so far this year. It is the best year we've had since starting. We are staying on schedule pretty well and are having less fights. I think being able to get out regularly and have classes with others has helped some but I have been able to get up earlier and work on our home schedule too. I'm also improving (slowly) in my housekeeping. We are working together better and are being able to keep thing tidier so it isn't such a chore for me to try to get everything done.
So tell me about your year so far is it a success or does it need improvement?

The Crud

I've had the crud for the past few days. Monday it got worse and I started running a fever. We were really afraid it was the flu but blessedly it was just a sinus and ear infection. I am on the mend now. No fever yesterday or today so far but my ears are really hurting today. I also bent over to dump the old litter out of our kitty box and pulled something in my back so now I have that pain. I am holding onto the saying "if it doesn't kill you, it will make you stronger." The boys have been really good this week and have been super helpful. They even learned how to cook hamburgers. We have a George Foreman grill and I let them use that while I laid on the couch and instructed. They did great! Youngest can't wait to be old enough to cook on his own. He is already quite accomplished in the kitchen. He can do hamburger helper, chili, eggs, hamburgers and bake bread. Oldest has helped in the kitchen also but with his comprehension troubles he isn't able to do things on his own as well as Youngest yet. He is a great helper though and he did fine with the hamburgers. My mom picked on me when she heard that they cooked hamburgers saying I was such a slave driver. I know she was teasing, she is proud of them too. I'm hoping to be able to get the sheets and blankets washed today and Lysol the bedroom. Hubby has been sleeping in the guest room for fear of getting sick and also so we could both sleep better. Now that I am on the mend I am ready to have him back where he belongs. He the boys go to get their flu shots tonight so hopefully we can keep them healthy over the winter.

Hope all my readers are healthy and happy! Nobody responded to the giveaway so I am extending it until October 11.