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Activities & Crafts, Sponsored Post

Reindeer Food Recipe with Printable Label

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As you may have noticed, we are busy getting ready for the holidays and cannot wait for Christmas to arrive.  My kids are so excited about Christmas this year that we are going all out.  The tree is up, the lights are on the house , the stockings are hung….now we wait.

Since we have 23 days to wait until Santa and his reindeer arrive, we thought we would start preparing for their arrival as well. To help them find our house on Christmas Eve we made batch of reindeer food to sprinkle in the snow around our house.  Since we live in Wisconsin, we thought now was a good time to get started because all the snow we keep getting could make it hard for them to find us.

Making reindeer food is really easy and only requires a few ingredients and supplies. To get started you will need the items pictured below.

Reindeer Food Supplies

You will need holiday treat bags, a canister of oats, sugar and sprinkles.  Now for sprinkles, you can use any kind you want. We went with the rainbow because all of the kids like to see the different colors in the snow and they all claim that the reindeer like rainbow sprinkles the best.

In addition to these items, you can print our cute reindeer food label (below) and gift some reindeer food to friends too. (Parents can also make reindeer food and surprise their kids and help them prepare for Santa’s arrival).

To make your reindeer food you take your plastic treat bag and add 1 cup of oat, 1/4 cup of sugar and 1 tablespoon or sprinkles. Once you have the ingredients in your bag, seal it and shake it up to mix everything together.  Once it is all mixed, you will have a nice supply of reindeer food on your hands.

If you would like to label your reindeer food for a gift, download and print the labels below (each printout includes 4 labels) and fold them over your bag of magical reindeer food and staple the ends to the bag.

Ta da!

You’ve just made reindeer food and Santa and his reindeer will be able to find their way to you on Christmas Eve after you sprinkle it outside.

Get your printable Reindeer Food labels below:

If you have any problems with the popout box, click HERE to be taken directly to the PDF for printing.

Infants, Sponsored Post

Educate Yourself on RSV – Know the Symptoms

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I participated in an Influencer Activation on behalf of Influence Central for MedImmune. I received product samples to facilitate my review as well as a promotional item to thank me for my participation.

Tis the season for the weather to change and here in Wisconsin it’s already quite chilly and we’ve had a few signs of snow.  This time of year is the worst time to get sick as well because there are all kinds of nasty infections out there.  As a mom, on thing I always worry about, is the kids getting R.S.V.  

If you are not familiar with RSV, it is Respiratory Syncytial Virus, a common season virus that nearly all children will contract by the age of 2. It can cause typical mild to moderate cold-like symptoms in healthy, full-term babies but it is also the #1 reason babies are hospitalized during the first year of life.

We have dealt with RSV in the past, when Libby was an infant and it was one of the worst things ever. She went through a lot of breathing treatments and we all lost a lot of sleep.  I will never forget what it was like when she first became sick.  There was a lot of coughing and wheezing and you could tell she was physically uncomfortable and breathing was not easy for her.  After rushing her to the ER, getting her on oxygen, a dose of an antibiotic and sent home with a nebulizer to continue breathing treatments 3 times a day until she was better, it was not an enjoyable time.  I was a young mom, 21, and was scared.  Thankfully she pulled through and was on the mend quickly.

Since World Prematurity Day is coming up on November 17th and knowing that RSV infection is more likely to root in premature lungs, making premature children more susceptible, I want to make sure you are educated as well.

With Ellie (4 weeks 6 days premature) being our little preemie and having recently had croup in the last month, and add in our extremely cold weather here in Wisconsin, you can bet I will do everything in my power to protect her and the other kiddos from getting sick. When Ellie became sick last month and wsa coughing, or should I say barking, in her sleep  I was scared that we were headed down the path of RSV once again.  I was actually thankful when I took her into the ER that night that it was just croup.

Our little glow worm preemie.

Continue reading Educate Yourself on RSV – Know the Symptoms →

Sponsored Post

Meet Monster High Freaky Fusion **ROLLBACK PRICES**

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*This is a sponsored post brought to you by  Lunchbox on behalf of Mattel and Walmart.  All thoughts and opinions are my own. This post may contain affiliate links.*

While I haven’t experienced Monster High and all of it’s ‘ghoulishness’ first hand, I do have a niece and several friends who have kids who are crazy about these characters and dolls.

Since the holidays will be here before we know it (less than 100 shopping days until Christmas) and I am preparing to shop for gifts for those who are near and dear as well as those who are less fortunate, so I thought now was a good time to familiarize myself with these new toys.

The Monster High® Freaky Fusion™ ghouls go deep into the catacombs of Monster High to help Frankie look for clues about her past and learn more about her family scaritage. There, they inadvertently set off a time machine that takes them back to the year 1814 where they meet Sparky, a misguided, teen scientist obsessed with the creation of life. Sparky follows Frankie back to modern day Monster High, causing a lab accident in which eight ghouls fuse into four new monsters! 

 

The Freaky Fusion line consists of 4 Freaky fused dolls”

Lagoonafire created by fusing the Sea Monster heritage of Lagoona Blue with the Chinese Dragon ancestry of Jinafire; she loves to surf and swim like she’s on fire!

Clawvenus is a combination of Clawdeen Wolf and Venus Mc Flytrap.  She is fiercly ‘fusionable’ and ferociously beautiful however, she may need to use a weed-and-feed formula on her hair.

Dracubecca takes the Vampire heritage of Draculaura and the Mad Scientist ancestry of Robecca Steam to give you a scary but sweet Dracubecca.

Cleolei is created by fusing the Mummy heritage of Cleo de Nile with the werecat of ancestry of Toralei.  She packs some ferocious issues but it’s nothing a little cat nip can’t fix.

After learning more about the Freaky Fusion Ghouls, I decided to find out which ghoulfriend I am more like, thanks the Dual Ghoul Personality Test at Walmart.com, you number one stop for all of your Monster High needs!

I’m more like Clawvenus…..maybe I should try tome weed-and-feed on my lucious locks and see if it will help tame things!

Take the Dual Ghoul Personality Test and leave a comment below telling me which Ghoul you are most like!

Save

Get ready for big savings and head to your local Walmart and take advantage of the rollback prices on Monster High Freaky Fusion products!

 

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Bring the Fun of Guardians of the Galaxy Home with You!

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*This is a sponsored post brought to you by  Lunchbox on behalf of Disney and Walmart.  All thoughts and opinions are my own. This post may contain affiliate links.*

The week before school started, my dear husband sold his soul to take Libby to see Guardians of the Galaxy.  How exactly did he do this, you ask?  He told me he would do the dishes (which he absolutely hates) for 1 week if I let them go to the movies one afternoon.  Normally, I wouldn’t have made such a big deal about him taking part of the day to see a movie but we were prepping for back-to-school and I had so much to do.  Of course, his offer…..I accepted it right away! (Don’t tell him…I would have let him go anyway!).

So, off to the movies they went. 

Later that evening, Zack went to see it too.

Now here I sit, I still haven’t seen the movie but I have seen every Guardians of the Galaxy clip there is online and I can see why this move is such a success!  Seriously, have you seen the Dancing Groot video yet?  (Google it!)

Even though he hasn’t seen the movie yet, Alexander has been checking out the Guardians of the Galaxy toys every time we are at Walmart, and with 5 kids, you can bet we are there….a lot.  He’s wanted a Star-Lord figure since a friend of his showed him one and he really, really wants the Star-Lord Battle Gear Set.  Thankfully, Walmart has a large supply of GOTG toys, so he is working his way towards getting one.  If he can make it through the first month of school and remain ‘on green’, he gets to pick out a new toy!

A few weeks ago, my friend Lisa and her family went on a road trip to Myrtle Beach and Lisa took her trusty friend Star-Lord with her. Alexander loved seeing her updates like Star-Lord driving, checking out traffic, and enjoying some time at the beach.

Photo credit:  Lisa Martin (used with permission).

Alexander may be crazy about Star-Lord but me, I would like to get my hands on a dancing Groot to keep me company while I work!

 

 

I’m looking forward to seeing how Alexander does at school over the next month and very hopeful we will be doing some Guardians of the Galaxy shopping at Walmart.com, the place for all of your GOTG toy needs!

Have you seen Guardians of the Galaxy yet?  Who is your favorite character from the movie? 

**Disney and Walmart partnered with bloggers such as me for their program. As part of this program, I received compensation for my time. They did not tell me what to purchase or what to say about any product mentioned in these posts. Disney and Walmart believes that consumers and bloggers are free to form their own opinions and share them in their own words. Disney and Walmart policies align with WOMMA Ethics Code, FTC guidelines and social media engagement recommendations.**

Sponsored Post

Don’t Wait for the Ice Cream Man, Grab a Cold Treat from Walgreens

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*This post is made possible by participating in a blog campaign by Global Influence on behalf of Walgreens and Unilever. I was compensated for this post. All thoughts and opinions are my own. This post may contain affiliate links.* 

Food is something that has always brought my family together.  We love to enjoy meals together, try new things and most days, end our dinners with dessert.  Dessert in our home comes in a variety of forms but one of our favorite dessers is ice cream.

We like ice cream cones, ice cream bars, ice cream sandwiches, ice cream sundaes….really, we just like ice cream.

Ellie enjoying her first ice cream bar.

Ice cream is definitely something we enjoy and it has brought us some great memories.  A few months ago, when Alex returned to 3rd shift and we were finally able to enjoy dinner as a family again, we celebrated by creating monster sundaes.   That even was filled with fun and laughter and is a night that I will never forget.

Our Summer weather has finally arrived here in Wisconsin and we are experiencing some very warm and humid days. These are the days when the ice cream truck should be visiting our ‘hood on a regular basis but we have yet to see him.  

The lack of the ice cream truck hasn’t kept us from enjoying some delicious treats!  We’ve been stocking up with some great Unilever ice cream treats from Walgreens.  From Klondike Bars to Popsicles, our freezer has been well stocked lately.

Not only do we enjoy frozen treats as a dessert, we also enjoy them as a reward or to cool off on a hot summer day.  Since the kids will be heading back to school on the 2nd, we will be celebrating with some ice cold Popsicle’s after!

What is your favorite frozen treat from Unilever?