Did you know that kids could lose up to 2.5 months of learning throughout the summer? This can make for a rough start to the school year for kids, parents and teachers but it is fully preventable with just a little learning each day.

According to a study by Johns Hopkins University, by ninth grade, then lack of summer learning can be blamed for roughly two-thirds of the achievement gap.

Carson-Dellosa is offering one of my US readers a gift pack designed to help parents encourage learning throughout the summer, and make the back-to-school transition easier.  Check out the infographic which features statistics and tips on learning loss over the summer.
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Coppin's Hallmark began in 1993 with one store in Logan, Utah. An online pioneer, Coppin's established its first online website in 1996. Coppin's Hallmark has become one of the largest volume independent gift retailers in Utah and across the west (and online across the entire continental US). Coppin's has won awards, and top dealership status with many top gift brands including Precious Moments, Boyd's Bears, Willow Tree, Ty, Webkinz and more.

Coppin's Hallmark strives for 100% satisfaction and offers service guarantees on shipping, quality, and satisfaction on all of your purchases, so you can be assured that you will be happy and that your order will be fulfilled quickly and accurately, and if there is a rare mistake, we will make it right, quickly and fairly.

Lily was thrilled when her My Pillow Pet arrived in the mail.  I let her open the package and she snuggled up with her My Pillow Pet Bumble Bee right away.
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This is really my first raised garden bed.  I don't know what I'm doing but we are sure having fun.  We planted these "giant" radishes that resulted in tiny little radishes with extra tall greens.  One plant was 32 inches tall!  I did end up pureeing the greens to use for smoothies but I had hoped for a larger radish harvest!



Do you have a Wordless Wednesday?  Feel free to link yo below!

Fresh Baby has launched a few new products that I am excited to share with you.  I have enjoyed using Fresh Baby products in the past and am loving their new Portion Storage Bags!  These biodegradable bags are perfect for storing everything from breast milk to baby food cubes to spaghetti sauce!  They are an ideal freezer storage solution for the entire family. The bags stand upright with ounce and cup marks and include a zipper seal and write-on area.

The So Easy Storage Trays are not a new product to the Fresh Baby line, but they are now biodegradable. The trays are also a perfect solution for every stage of your family.  Once you are past nursing and purees, these trays graduate to making ice pops, perfectly portioned cookie dough and sauces, fun ice cubes and more. They can never be outgrown.  Fresh Baby has even created a Pinterest board specifically for all the fun, waste-reducing ways they can be used.

These items are perfectly paired with the Freezer Tip Sheet created to help you effectively use your freezer to store your family’s food.

A couple of weeks ago I received a PMD Personal Microderm in the mail.  Being a lotion and potion and treatment junkie, I was excited to test it out.  I do not often have time to go to an actual spa for a treatment, and I feel guilty doing so on weekends when I prefer to play with my daughter.  I know, mommy-guilt stinks!  So I treat myself to at-home facials quite often.  It is a treat every evening once my child is tucked in bed to spend some time on my beauty routine.

Achieve amazing anti-aging results at home with Personal Microderm System. It works just like a professional microdermabrasion treatment without the hassle or cost. The hand-held device uses the same aluminum oxide crystals as the ten thousand dollar machines found at your doctor's office. It smooths away dead skin cells, diminishing age spots and other signs of aging. Help treats acne and scarring as well.
The PMD can do so many wonders for different types of skin and is can be so beneficial to all ages, just make sure to watch the video on how to use it first, and read the directions. The PMD is very similar to what doctors and salons are using for microdermabrasion treatments and if the directions are not followed, it can hurt the skin.




Your first treatment should be with the white training disc. This should help you practice before using a real disc. After practicing with the white disc, move on to the blue disc, which is the most gentle. Using the small disc for face and delicate areas and the large disc on your body.


Disc Options

White Training Disc	Blue Disc	Green Disc	Red Disc

Using the Device
Preliminary Step: On your first treatment use the training disc on your neck, below the ear, to test how your skin will react to treatments from the personal microderm. This step does not need to be repeated beyond the first treatment.

Step 2: Use your free hand to pull the skin tight in the treatment area.

Step 3: Move the PMD Personal Microderm in an upward motion across the skin. NOTE: Do not make more than two passes over one area during the treatment.

Step 4: Following the treatment, use a toner to neutralize the ph balance in your skin and a recovery moisturizer. For best results, use the PMD Neuro Neutralizing Toner and PMD Professional Recovery Moisturizer.

Step 5: Let your skin recover. Wait 6-7 days between treatments.

Overall, I found the device easy to use.  The online and CD instructions were easy to follow, and I'm glad I read them before jumping in head first!  It is key to hold your skin tight in the treatment direction.  I did not find any irritation from the treatment, and I have fairly sensitive skin.  I do think it is key to wait a week between treatments to for best results.  I have used the tool three times now and feel a difference in my skin texture.

Hosting a giveaway? You can link it here to promote it! I try to visit everyone who links up since I LOVE giveaways! Please include blog name - prize - end date and link directly to your giveaway. My current giveaways are listed in the right sidebar. Please keep it family friendly or identify it as adult content.

Looking for more giveaways to enter? Check out my friends Dina at Just Another New Blogand Kristi at Moms Own Words! Thanks for visiting and have a great weekend!

Even though our family loves all sorts of  vegetables, it is fun to find a way to sneak some into our regular meals.  These mushroom and turkey meatballs are light, healthy and moist.  If you have an anti-veggie kiddo, try the recipe out!

8 ounces mushrooms, very finely chopped
1/2 cup finely chopped onion
1 egg
1/2 cup bread crumbs
1 pound uncooked ground turkey
1/4 cup parmesan cheese
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon salt


If you are lucky enough to have a mushroom chopper, use her skills here.  If not, well...chop your own.

I completely disregarded all instructions (or forgot to read them?) and mixed everything together.  Turns out the veggies should have been sauted.  I just mixed everything into meatballs.


Cook meatballs in the skillet over medium heat for about 10-20 minutes until cooked through.  Enjoy!


We ate a bunch, then (as usual) I made containers to eat during the week either for lunch or dinner.  We served over whole wheat spaghetti.  Enjoy!

Tropicana Trop50 has grown its line-up with the introduction of Trop50 Juice with Tea - a new line offering fruit juice goodness with 50 percent fewer calories, now with tea! The refreshingly different juice with tea combinations are made with delicious fruit juices and white and green teas to deliver a great-tasting and nutritious juice beverage.

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We had a wonderful time on our brief trip to Disney World for the Disney Social Media Moms Celebration.  I wish we could have stayed longer than the 3 night stay, but work calls...and we are two working parents!  Regardless, we felt refreshed even after a short trip to get away from it all.  I posted photos from Day 1 here and Day 2 here.  On Saturday I attended some morning events then caught up with Adam and Lily in Hollywood Studios.  We enjoyed lunch and rode the Tower of Terror three times in a row.  Lily, being the fierce 4.5 year old that she is, loved it!  I believe at one point I heard "why is daddy screaming so much?"

I loved the area around the Yacht Club where we stayed.  The ferry pickup was at the end of the long pier.




Here is the entrance to Hollywood Studios and the oh so fabulous Tower of Terror.  We would have ridden it a few more times but really wanted to make it over to Epcot.


At Epcot the flowers were beautiful!  We rode Soarin' and enjoyed the butterfly garden.  It was pretty toasty so we headed back to the pool.








We had a wonderful time!  I have so many more photos to share but this post is long enough!  If you have a Wordless Wednesday, feel free to link up below!

We have been having so much fun with our garden.  I can honestly say I am going to have a raised bed each summer from now on.  Our only issue are these nasty little caterpillars eating up my kale.  See their dirty handiwork!  Poor kale!  Adam and Lily pick them off and throw them in the pond for the fish to eat, but I think I have to resort to some type of spray.  I should take my veggie-loving pal's advice and get some Bacillus thuringiensis to put on it.  I tried Home Depot but couldn't find it!  Sorry, kale.  Hang in there!


Our squashes are blooming so nicely.  We love to see the big, orange blossoms coloring the garden.  I also have a mystery melon.  It is blooming nicely - can't wait to see what it produces!  Courtesy of my compost pile - I think maybe it is a honeydew melon.


We had our regular summer turtle come by this weekend for a visit.  I tried not to shudder visibly in front of Lily as she held it.  Ahh, to be a child again!  My old grownup self does NOT pick up turtles.


Here is the full garden bed.  The tomatoes that grew from my compost are doing better than the ones I started inside!













My English peas are sprouting.  Excited to harvest some!


I think this is a cherry tomato that came out of my compost as well.  Yay for blooms!


Are you growing anything this year?

As a savvy Club member, you can recognize the value of buying Cheerios® cereal at your local Costco, Sam’s Club or BJ’s. While buying Cheerios at Club is already easy and affordable, new 2 box Cheerios packaging format makes Cheerios an even better purchase! You can cheer on the value by purchasing the new 2 box Cheerios packages in Club!

For decades Energizer has supported organizations helping to make a positive impact in local communities and around the world. This spring as part of the Energizer campaign—that’s positivenergy—they’re “building” on that commitment in a new way through a partnership with Habitat for Humanity®. Working with baseball legend and philanthropist Cal Ripken, Jr., Energizer is donating more than $300,000 and 1,000 volunteer hours to Habitat through a multi-city series of volunteer projects to help build new homes and revitalize existing homes for those in need.

Hosting a giveaway? You can link it here to promote it! I try to visit everyone who links up since I LOVE giveaways! Please include blog name - prize - end date and link directly to your giveaway. My current giveaways are listed in the right sidebar. Please keep it family friendly or identify it as adult content.

Looking for more giveaways to enter? Check out my friends Dina at Just Another New Blog and Kristi at Moms Own Words! Thanks for visiting and have a great weekend!

Join Bob The Builder™ And His Can-Do Crew For Building Fun In The Sun!  BOB THE BUILDER: ADVENTURES BY THE SEA is available On DVD, Digital Download And On Demand on May 22, 2012 From Lionsgate And HIT Entertainment.

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For children growing up in the 1990’s, Nickelodeon’s Floam and Gak were two of the coolest playtime staples, beloved for their uncanny ability to entertain kids for hours on end. Now, Nickelodeon’s Floam and Gak are back… and they’re better than ever!

Completely reformulated to make playtime and clean-up a cinch for a new generation of families, new Nickelodeon Floam and Gak are two unique reusable compounds, each designed to encourage creative thinking and open-ended play:





New Nickelodeon Floam is an incredible, reusable molding compound. Mold, fold and roll new Nickelodeon Floam into any creation imaginable – the possibilities are endless!  Texturized Floam can be squeezed, squashed, flattened and molded for hours of sculpting activity.  It can be used to create free-form sculptures from scratch, or Floam can be molded onto common household items to transform almost anything into a colorful Floam masterpiece.  Floam can be squished back into its air-tight container for reuse, or kids can let their creations harden overnight so they can be kept forever as art.  ARV $6.99 per container.

New Nickelodeon Gak is a stretchy, squishy collectible compound. Gak can be squeezed, stretched, bubbled and more – once kids pick up Gak, they won’t want to put it down!  Gak can be squeezed, squashed, stretched, twisted, rolled and bubbled for hours of creative play.  Gak has an unusual texture and unique ability to make wacky sounds by squeezing it into its container of a plastic cup.  ARV $6.99 each.

Disclosure: I received a complimentary product sample in order to facilitate my honest review. All opinions are my own.