Perpetual Pinners April 30, 2012

I am thrilled to be joining in with Nykki over at Another Day in Paradise to bring you Perpetual Pinners. Do you get obsessed with pinning on Pinterest? Would you like to share some of your favorite pins? Well, create your blog post and then stop by and link up below.  Or, if you don't want to create a post, you can always link directly to a board or pin you want to share.

This week I would like to share some of the great early literacy ideas I have found recently. Ideas for letter recognition, spelling, sight words and even poetry.

Source: playdoughtoplato.com via Karen on Pinterest

Source: something-like-life.com via Karen on Pinterest

Source: makedoandfriend.com via Karen on Pinterest

Source: classifiedmom.com via Karen on Pinterest

This will go perfectly right now as the girls are learning about sight words from the Rock 'N Learn DVD I was reviewing called Sight Words.

Source: learnwithplay.blogspot.com via Karen on Pinterest

Source: mrstsfirstgradeclass-jill.blogspot.com via Karen on Pinterest

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Tropical Traditions Coconut Products SuperEvent

Guess what, I get to bring you another Super Event Giveaway! This week it is all about Tropical Traditions and their amazing Coconut products! I have joined up with Full Price? Never! with contributing bloggers CuzinLogic and MyCraftyLife.

Here is some info about Tropical Traditions: Tropical Traditions has a long history of cultivating superior coconut oil. Founders Brian W. Shilhavy, BA, MA and Marianita Jader Shilhavy, BS, CND actually farmed it themselves in the Philippines which lead to their understanding of the health qualities of coconuts. Once back in the states they recognized a need to find quality coconut products and they filled it! Maybe their most famous product, Coconut Oil is the first thing that people think of when it comes to Coconut products, but Tropical Traditions offers so much more! From organic food to skin care items!

You can find out more about Tropical Traditions on their: Website, Twitter #1, Twitter #2, Google+, Pinterest, Facebook, newsletter.

Personal Review: Heather from Full Price? Never! had the pleasure of reviewing some TROPICAL TRADITIONS products. Here are her thoughts: "I've always loved coconut, but I'd only really ever experienced it in desserts {sad but true}. Who knew that there were so many products that could be made out of coconuts... and that they would be good, really good. We immediately made a bunny rabbit cake and used the coconut chips as the fur. How could we not? Then I sat down and watched Tropical Traditions YouTube channel to get some inspiration. Did you know they have video's of their popular coconut recipe's using their products {don't watch this hungry, they look so good}. Since I was still learning about how to use everything I watched the video that showed 100's of ways to use coconut oil {you can see a list here too}. I really was interested in the Organic Virgin Coconut Teeth Cleaners. I'm very sensitive to the taste of toothpaste... it's my least favorite thing to do so I was thrilled to use Tropical Traditions! The taste was very mild and left my teeth feeling clean and my breath feeling fresh! My next project will be to make brownies using the Organic Coconut Flour with the recipe on the package. Yum! Tropical Traditions get's two thumbs up from me!"

Come Check out all the great products by clicking here.

The Giveaway- One lucky winner will get a prize collection of Tropical Traditions best sellers valued at $275 including:

Gold Label Virgin Coconut Oil - 32 oz.Coconut Cream Concentrate - 32 oz.Coconut Chips - gallon pailCoconut Flour - 2.2 lb bagCoconut Water Vinegar - 32 oz.Moisturizing Lotion - 8 oz.Moisturizing Cream - 4 fl oz.Lip Moisturizers - 1 setHair Oil - 8 oz.Teeth Cleaners - 1 setNatural Deodorants - 1 set

This giveaway starts at 12:01am April 30th and ends at 11:59pm May 6th {est}! Must be aged 18 or older and live in the contiguous US to be eligible to win.

Enter on the Rafflecopter Form Below! GOOD LUCK!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

“If you order by clicking on any of my links and have never ordered from Tropical Traditions in the past, you will receive a free book on Virgin Coconut Oil, and I will receive a discount coupon for referring you.”

Rock 'N Learn Sight Words DVD Review and Giveaway

I was thrilled when I was offered the opportunity to do another review for Rock 'N Learn. I love the DVD's I won late last year. It is important to me to be able to share products I think would be of interest to my readers, so I was thrilled when Rock 'N Learn allowed me to offer a giveaway in exchange for reviews of the 2 DVDs I won. Just recently I was asked if I would like to review their new DVD Sight Words. I was a little leery because I am not a big sight words fan. I know sight words have a place in the learning of reading, but I am a big believer in learning to read by phonics.  However, I thought it would be neat to check out the DVD as teaching sight words can be a supplement to phonics, so I accepted the offer.

This DVD was great. With the name "Rock 'N Learn" I am expecting lots of music to aid in the learning of the concepts in the DVD's. In the first two DVD's I reviewed there was not as much singing as I expected. Surprisingly, there were a lot of songs in this DVD. The songs were fun and lively in addition to using repetition to help the children learn the words. When the sight words are being sung they are also highlighted on the screen. But best of all, the children are able to see the words in action. For example, when the word up is being sung and highlighted the robot Chip is going up and when the word down is being taught he is going down. I know how important it is that words be taught in context, so this is a big plus in this DVD. 

Another thing I liked was the use of rhyming in the songs. 

Sight Words starts out by teaching a set of a few words and each word is highlighted individually. Then the children are taught to read short phrases while the characters are playing a fun game. "Come in," and "Go out" are two examples I remember. Then Brad and Susan help Festus find his stuffed monkey while learning "where," "here," "there," "it," and "is." All of these, plus several more are set to music. The children are slowly introduced to new words while reviewing old words. And as the DVD progresses the phrases are longer that are being read.  Then at the end they are actually "reading" a story set to music and singing in Karaoke style as the ball bounces to each word and they follow along.

The girls (all three of them) were riveted to the screen for the ENTIRE DVD!

That about says it all!

Here check a little clip out for yourself. This is actually Amelia's favorite song:

Tabitha says she likes all of it. When I asked her to narrow it down and pick a favorite it was very hard for her to do. She says that the karaoke song and the Where is it? songs are her favorite.

The DVD also includes two bonus sections. "Word Shapes" and "Pronouncing t-h-e."  The first time Tabitha watched the "Word Shapes" bonus she sat through it, but got bored part way through and didn't really want to watch it again. In case you have never seen words taught by there shapes, this is what I mean:

In this bonus section they will show the empty shapes, wait a few seconds for the child to guess the word, show the word in white and then trace it in black. They do this for every word taught on the DVD. I have to say she had a lot more fun watching it the second time. At first she did not want to watch. She even got mad that Amelia had the audacity to want to watch it. I told her, in order to have more fun she should try to actually guess the word and then write it while it was being written on the screen. Amelia went to get a piece of paper to do just that. Tabitha sat watching for a while and then she too joined in on writing the words. She was in charge of the remote so she could pause the DVD giving them time to write. I have to say, they had a lot more fun. 

In the second bonus they are taught when to use the two different pronunciations of "t-h-e." If you are not sure...well, I suggest checking out the DVD. Hehehe.

All in all, I highly recommend this DVD. It kept the children's attention and teaches all the pre-primer Dolch words (plus more) in a fun way.

You can check out all the great DVD's Rock 'N Learn has for a wide range of ages at their website.  You can also check them out on Facebook and Twitter.

Would you like to win a Rock 'N Learn DVD of your very own. They have generously allowed me to offer a giveaway so one of my readers can win one of your choice. Just fill in the Rafflecopter form below. You do not NEED to fill in every entry. However, the more you fill in, the better your chances of winning. 

Scavenger Hunt Sunday: April 29, 2012

Scavenger Hunt Sunday items: Yellow, Something that Makes/Made You Smile, Ancient or Antique, Splash and In the Sun
Yellow

I didn't realize how vivid the yellow of the dandelion was going to be. I had used my flash, which I hadn't wanted to do, so I took another picture without the flash and realized I liked this picture more. Amelia was showing off the weird dandelion she found. In case you can't see it, the stem is flat and wide instead of round and thin.

I also took a picture of baby Harold's yellow blanket with the cute yellow duckie.

 Something that makes you smile

That would have to be my family. There happy, smiling faces make me smile all the more.

(and yes, I realize I have more children, but they are never around to photograph.)

Ancient or Antique

These are still stored in our basement. We haven't had a chance to get rid of all the stuff that was left down there when we moved in. These look pretty ancient to me.

 Splash

I don't think Hannah splashes in the bath very much. I tried to get her to splash and she wasn't quite sure what to do. But she seemed to get the hang of it.

 In the Sun

I went to give baby Harold a bath the other day and realized the sun was at just the right spot in the sky to place the baby's face right in the light. 

Also linking up with Leap into Spring Photo Challenge again. This week's theme is rain/water.

I originally took this shot for "Splash," but I decided I preferred to have one with children if at least possible.

Lovin' The Weekend Blog Hops Week 30-April 27-April 29

Welcome to the thirtieth weekend of Lovin' the Weekend Blog Hops.

Come and see what is new!

Giveaway Linky is the bottom linky!

First things first:

Don't forget to check out my new co-host's blog

In case you didn't know, I have also started randomly choosing a Featured host each week from the Lovin' The Readers linky. This week I would like to introduce you to Gail from Frugal and Coupon Crazy

Here is a little bit about her:

"I am a wife and mother of a son that keeps us busy.  I am a certified nurses assistant.  I love to cook and try new recipes.   I prefer to make meals homemade versus by the box.   I stay busy between my son's activities, blogging, couponing, keeping house, being a wife and working.  I have been blogging on my blog for about a year and a half now.  My blog is called Frugal and Coupon Crazy.  I find various activities in the local area for the people to do that are free.  The activities and deals I find are related to Illinois and Missouri.  We live only about 25 minutes from St. Louis. I post random things about coupons or special deals, and activities for people in this area. I sometimes share new recipes I am cooking for the family.  Once in a while, I may write random thoughts because I feel writing is a good stress reliever.  I have just recently begun giving Coupon Classes in the area.  I hope to give many more as I like to tell people how to save money. "

Please make sure to stop by and say hi, let them know you are visiting from the Lovin' The Weekend Blog Hops. Don't forget to link up to the Lovin' the Readers Hop if you would like a chance to be a Featured host next week. Please comment with a way to contact you, especially if there is not an obvious way mentioned on your blog. I would love to include a little write up about you and your blog in the next week's Lovin' The Weekend Blog Hop post, including a link to your blog. And you will get to include the linky codes on your blog. Sound fun? Looking forward to getting to know my readers better.

Here's how this blog hop works. I would appreciate it if you would follow me, my co-host and the featured host via GFC. If you no longer have GFC please follow me some other way. After that there are three different linkys you can link to. Whichever one you choose to link to, please grab that button and share it on your blog (the codes are on my sidebar). I'd love it if you could tweet or in some other way share about this blog hop, the more people who know about it, the more potential visitors and new followers of your blog. I'd love to meet some new friends this weekend.  

I have noticed that some people are more interested in just increasing their numbers, while others really want people who appreciate their blog and want to keep up with their posts. So, I decided to create two separate linkys. The third linky is for you to link up your giveaways.

If you are interested in increasing the number of followers to your blog via GFC, Linky Followers, email, Twitter, Facebook or Google+ link up here. I will follow you back if you follow me (just note which one you are linking to):

If you are interested in gaining followers to your blog who will read and comment and truly find an interest in your blog, link up here:

If you have family friendly giveaways to link up, here's your spot. Please make sure to include an end date for your giveaway.

I am so glad you stopped by. Please leave a comment if you link up and I will be sure to stop by and follow back.

Don't forget to check out my "Blog Hops" page for other great weekend blog hops!!

Don't forget to check out:

Baby Shower Celebration: Sponsor Spotlight: Aden + Anais

Well, I have been introduced to another great company that specializes in swaddle blankets. Like the Swaddle Design blankets that I already reviewed, these muslin swaddle blankets by Aden + Anais are large in size, perfect for swaddling. Here is a little bit about how this company came about directly from their site,

"As a young woman growing up in Australia, our founder Raegan Moya-Jones was introduced to many traditional practices of motherhood. One of them in particular-- swaddling babies in generously sized, gentle muslin sheets-- amazed her. Even the fussiest babies seemed to sleep more peacefully in muslin. Despite the hot days and the cold nights, muslin swaddles helped keep babies comfortable. And, most importantly, the very act of swaddling seemed to build a bond between mothers and their babies. 

When she moved to the U.S. and started her own family, Raegan couldn’t find any swaddles like the ones she remembered from home. The only swaddles available were too small. Or made of much-too-thick flannel. Or, simply, unattractive. 

And so, aden + anais was born. And within months of hitting the market, aden + anais swaddles starting popping up in magazines, on blogs for new mothers, in virtually every celebrity gift registry, and in stores around the country.

Today, aden + anais, has brought the legacy of muslin together with fashion forward design to create a line of products that are as stylish as they are useful; and as simple as they are beautiful. We believe in muslin-- the way it looks, the way it feels, the way it works-- to improve the lives of babies and their mothers no matter who they are or where they live. 

The proof is in every product we make. "

You may ask, as I did, why muslin though? Here is an answer, again from their site,

"The lightweight muslin also permits air to circulate around the baby's body, while still providing comfort and warmth without the worry that the baby may overheat in moderate weather. Cotton muslin is also a workhorse fabric, in that wraps woven from this natural fiber stands up to repeated washings only becoming softer -- and better -- with age. "

Sounds great, doesn't it?

They have a wide variety of swaddle blanket in such cute collections of designs. You can purchase single blankets, 2 pack, 3 pack or 4 pack sets depending on what collection you prefer. There is the classic collection, the cozy collection, the organic collection or the bamboo collection. 

Here, check out a some of the blankets they offer:

Classic collection

Cozy Collection

Organic Collection

Bamboo Collection

Their products have expanded beyond swaddle blankets though. They also carry sleeping bags, bibs and burp cloths, towels and washcloths, dream blankets, and security blankets (issies). All of which are made with muslin except the terry hooded towels.

You can check all of their great products out at their site. And don't forget to check them out on Facebook and Twitter.

Don't forget to stop back during the Baby Shower Celebration for an opportunity to enter a giveaway for your own Aden + Anais product.

The Baby Shower Celebration has been extended so please ignore the dates on the image (I just don't have time to make a new one) It was extended because of several unforeseen circumstances. So stay tuned for more great Sponsor Spotlights, Reviews and Giveaways.

Kids and a Mom in the Kitchen: Crescent Roll Breakfast Ring

I decided to have another Kids and a Mom in the Kitchen day on Breakfast for Dinner Thursday. The girls helped me make a yummy recipe I found. I either found it on Pinterest or directly from the Me and My Tadpole blog. I have it on my Pinterest board, but I think I may have actually been on her blog when I found it and just pinned it. Either way, it looked really good and simple enough for the girls to help.

Ingredients:

2 cans original crescent rolls

6 large eggs

2 cups shredded cheese (I used cheddar and Monterey Jack )

12 slices bacon, crumbled

onion flakes, to taste

salt & pepper, to taste

(I actually forgot to add the spices)

I cooked and crumbled the bacon beforehand. Then, as it was getting late, I had the girls work on separate things. Amelia was to help scramble the eggs...

while Tabitha shredded the cheese.

Amelia tried helping crack the eggs, but was having trouble. If I hadn't been in such a rush I would have let her try again. 

I let Hannah stir the eggs a little before turning on the heat.

After Tabitha finished her block of cheese the girls switched jobs.

Then mommy laid the first can of  crescent rolls on the pizza stone with points turned out and wide side touching. 

I had the girls each help with one of the second layer using the second can of crescent rolls. These had to face in.

Then we sprinkled on the bacon, 1/2 cup of cheese, the eggs, another 1/2 cup of cheese.

The next step is to pull the top layer of crescent rolls up and over the filling. Then the bottom layer gets pulled over.

I didn't quite get the crescent rolls spaced properly as I had quite a few gaps. 

Then we put it in a 375 degree oven for 15 minutes. Another cup of cheese is then sprinkled on top and it is cooked for 5 more minutes. 

Oh so very tasty. I served it with strawberries and cantaloupe.

Definitely a keeper recipe, though the girls, once again, didn't care for it.

Do you have your children help you in the kitchen?  What lessons do they learn? Do you have any kid friendly recipes to share?

I'd love to see your posts, whether you have done something this week or some time in the past. Just link up below. This is a weekly linky.

I am linking up to:

And here is my Kids and a Mom in the Kitchen linky