On Sunday we went to the Day Out With Thomas (blog post coming soon!) in our area and the children played at the playground. Our oldest, RJ, took this cool shot of our four year old, “Nookie”.
What do you think of RJ’s cool playground photo?
Archive for Family Stuff
Day Out With Thomas 2012 Opening Weekend
Day Out with Thomas 2012 begins Friday and goes through Sunday, and then again next Saturday and Sunday at the Illinois Railway Museum in Union. The event includes a train ride with Thomas, unlimited rides on all other trains and streetcars, puppet shows, live music, magic shows and more!
Thomas & Friends – Day Out With Thomas 2012 – Mystery On The Rails Tour 2012
To find out where a Day Out With Thomas event is in your state, visit http://www.ticketweb.com/promo/dowt/index.html
All Aboard for Day Out With Thomas
ILLINOIS
Union
August 19-21 & 27-28
Illinois Railway Museum
Each event includes:
25 minute ride with a full size Thomas the Tank Engine™, Storytelling, hands-on arts and crafts, and much more!
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Back to School With Boys and Girls Club of America (BGCA)
Back to school season is here! I know we are in full swing around our house! The children have gathered and packed their school supplies in anticipation of the first day of school…and today we finally got our teacher assignment!
What are some of the things you do to prepare your children to head back to school?
I know we are a fortunate family in being able to clothe and supply our children for the upcoming school year. But we also remember that there are those less fortunate than ourselves and as a family have always participated in programs that assist unfortunate families during the back to school season.
There are many local, national, and global organizations that you can pick from to help the less fortunate…but Boys and Girls Club of America (BGCA) 
is a great organization that assists children in need.
This year Boys and Girls Club of America (BGCA) and Disney have partnered to launch the Tools for Back to School initiative. This initiative features a pop-quiz style game, where supplies are donated to BGCA for every correct answer you score.
This is a fun way to give back to the community without leaving your home…plus the kids can play too! Here is the link: http://www.bgca.org/backtoschool/Pages/Landing.aspx
I just played the trivia game and got all the answers correct! Can you beat my score? Reminder that each 5 correct answers = school supplies for a club kid!
The BGCA has also partnered with JCPenney – and in August you can join JCP cares and round up your purchase at the register to benefit BGCA. So…take a trip over to your local JCP, get the kids some back to school clothes and a free hair cut (JCP is giving away free haircuts in the month of August). 
Visit JCP website for more information: http://www.jcpenney.com/dotcom/jsp/browse/marketing/promotion.jsp?pageId=pg40013300014
Well I hope you are getting yourself and your children ready for the start of a new school season! Whether your children are home schooled or attend a traditional school remember that the BGCA website offers different educational content and tip sheets for parents to download and utilize. You can find them on the left hand side of the BGCA site under the ‘Get Ready’ header. You can find these handy tools here:
http://www.bgca.org/backtoschool/Pages/Landing.aspx
BGCA has really outdone themselves with tips for parents and children. I especially like the time management tip sheet that they have available. Do not forget to check the Get Ready section and see if any of the materials can work for you!
“I wrote this review while participating in a blog tour by Mom Central Consulting on behalf of Boys and Girls Club. I received a promotional item to thank me for taking the time to participate.”
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FREE Child Safe Kit
Keep all your children’s vital information in one spot. Order your FREE child safe kit at this website!
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Little Farm Helpers – Wordless Wednesday
We don’t agree with child labor or slave labor, but we do desire to teach our children to work according to there age and abilities. Our little guys are not required to do many chores other than pick up their toys, help put their clothes in their cubbies and help a sibling or parent feed the animals. Yet they are often found doing more because when the older children are told to do something they trail along behind. Little farm helpers. That’s one advantage to having many children – the older ones do tend to teach the younger ones by example (and not the example they set is not always positive! 
) Below is our 4 year old “Nookie” who loves helping take care of the chickens. He’s very kind and gentle and actually very good at catching them.
Our Little Farm Helpers
The diapered dude is our baby who will be two this month. My daughter captured him helping fill the chicken waterer with the hose.
Please excuse the marker all over them, markers usually end up in them coloring each other’s skin!
Our little farm helpers thrive on helping.
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Mike the Knight
We picked up our new old van yesterday. It’s big, roomy and has comfy seats! We were invited to attend the Mike the Knight show at the Renaissance Fair in Kenosha, Wisconsin for this past weekend’s shows, so we decided our first family outing in nearly 10 months would be to the Renaissance Fair. We have never been to a Renaissance Fair and were expecting something more like Medieval Times shows, rather than a fair taking place outside.
This is how my husband parked “the beast” at the hotel we stopped at to find the nearest Walgreens (Walgreens offers discounted Renaissance Fair tickets.)
The fair was very crowded and busy. Tons of people. Dusty streets, much like it would have been in the 15th century. There were little shops lining the medieval streets selling their wares. It had a air of stepping back in time. There was lots of sights to see, but due to arriving at 5pm for a 5:30pm show, we didn’t take much time to stop and look at things due to not wanting to miss the Mike the Knight show.
We arrived at The Globe Stage with nearly 15 minutes to spare. Our children sat nicely anticipating the show starting, but the younger crew did not understand what we were waiting for. There was not a huge crowd for a kids show, but we just put it off to it being one of the last shows (we later realized that there was a Joust going on at the same time which attracted a huge crowd).
The show began with an Elf coming on stage and reading a Mike the Knight story book. The Elf did not have a mic on and she/he was very hard to hear even with us sitting in the fourth row! The story took about five minutes, after which the doors of the stage opened and out stepped Mike the Knight. Our six year old questioned, “That’s a person dressed up in Mike the Knight?” We said yes.
Then the children were invited to line up to meet and greet the tall stuffed figure. None of ours wanted to. The sat quietly at our sides and still refused to go up after a couple of fair workers tried to persuade them to go up to the stage. The worker handing out the CD/DVD and coloring book was nice enough to give our children
each one even though they didn’t go up to meet Mike.
Our Impressions of Mike the Knight
That appeared to be the extent of the show. 10 minutes long and very lame. We were disappointed to be honest. This is the what we drove an hour to see. 
We sure hope other Renaissance Fairs are doing something different! We expected Mike the Knight to at least act out one of his stories or something. Not just stand there wave, shake hands and high five the kids.
The Fair’s Redemption
What redeemed the fair for us was the jousting match, which we only caught part of because we were at that “other” show. It was cool and all the children said that was their favorite part.
After the joust, we attended a How to Use Weapons show. It was humorous and we stayed until it was nearly over, but our little ones were asking to go home! It was starting to get late for them.
We took our time walking back through the fair, letting the children’s (or ours!) curiosity guide us. Our oldest daughter was in writer’s mode thinking and creating as she took in all the people, the costumes, sights and sounds.
It was also really interesting to note that all the rides offered at the fair were not mechanical as in gas powered or electric. They were powered by the muscles of people. That was one of the best things to witness – the historical accuracy of the rides. Of course they all cost money too.
We thoroughly enjoyed the afternoon/evening out as a whole family. It was wonderful to just do something together away from work and home. Our four year old woke up this morning asking, “Are we going on another trip, mommy?” 
I think that about says it all right there. Eating out, getting ice cream and going to the playground afterwards all made it an even better experience for our children.
New Yorkers
Those in New York or traveling in NY state this month, Mike the Knight and the Renaissance Fair will be your area the weekend August 18-19! Check out the details here.
Faith and Family Reviews received the four tickets to the Renaissance Fair in exchange for a feature. While we consider it a privilege to receive tickets, products to review, our reviews are our honest opinion and thoughts of the event or product.
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Monkey Swinging from a Tree – Wordless Wednesday
A monkey swinging from a tree, oh, it’s my son swinging from a tree! Boys play and work. They set this “Tarzan” swing up last week and I think at least 3-4 of the children have come to me saying their tummy hurts. After questioning them I came to the conclusion that they were working their stomach muscles while playing “Tarzan”.
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Buddy Bear Review
New Warming Bear Provides Natural Kid-Friendly Pain Relief
Bed Buddy Bear® Features ThermaTherapy® to Provide Comfort and Targeted Heat
Far more than a plush toy, Buddy is the latest in a series of breakthrough ThermaTherapy® products in the Bed Buddy line that provide warmth and comfort to soothe aches and pains.
Made with 100% natural materials, Buddy Bear’s warm feet, tummy and paws provide deep penetrating moist heat ideal for reducing pain associated with arthritis, fibromyalgia, back problems, ear aches, tooth aches and stiff necks. Living up to his name, Buddy can be counted on to do what any good friend does – provide comfort on a cold night or eliminate stress after a long day. For penetrating heat that will last up to an hour, place Buddy in the microwave. He can also be hibernated in the freezer to create a cold pack for fever relief and to relax restless sleepers.
Buddy Bear Review:
This is another great product that we were sent from Carex. I cannot express my adoration for their Bed Buddy line enough! We were sent the BED BUDDY warming bear to review…and boy is he cute and cuddly! When I opened the box my children instantly fell in love with this cute little bear…it took much coaxing for me to explain that he was not an ordinary stuffed animal. I had to “warm” him up and show them how he was used for them to understand…what a learning experience for all!
This is a great product…so easy to use and most surprisingly it can be used hot or cold! Pop the bear in the microwave for soothing heat or place in the freezer for cooling relief!
During this portion of our lives we have been blessed with our fair share of ear infections in our children. So of course during the course of this review one of our little ones was having ear pain. Usually the remedy for ear pain is a warm wet washrag that usually has to be rewet/warmed every 10 minutes to soothe the ache. This product did wonders for my sanity … I used the bear in place of the wet washrag for ear pain. My child was more comfortable resting their ear on the bear than on a wet rag and the heat lasted so long that my little one fell asleep and did not complain the rest of the evening. Yes this bear is my new friend!
Overall, this is another WONDERFUL Bed Buddy product that I cannot live without. What did I ever do before the Bed Buddy Bear…oh yeah warm wet wash rags (YUCK!)
You can find this product and many more at carex.com. I would definitely consider perusing the site the company has so much to offer in moist heat and home healthcare products.
Bed Buddy Product Link http://www.carex.com/products/Bed_Buddy/93
Bed Buddy Bear Product Link: http://www.carex.com/products/detail/635
Faith and Family Reviews received the following product in exchange for writing a review. While we consider it a privilege to receive free products to review, our reviews are our honest opinion and thoughts of the product.
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All-Over Comfort Pack Review
Bed Buddy® Herbal Naturals™ Targets Pain with Moist Heat
New Plush & Lavender-Infused Line Includes Neck Pillow, Wrap & All-Over Comfort Pack
The line is comprised of three distinct products (highlighted below), each of which feature the company’s proprietary Moist Heat ThermaTherapy® penetration system, which is shown to be better for treating muscle pain, chronic aches and pains, and arthritis than “dry heat” because it allows quicker, deeper heat penetration into the joints.
- The Neck Pillow easily drapes over the neck and shoulders to provide deep moist heat to sooth aches, pains, tension or arthritis in the neck and shoulders.
- The Neck and Hand Wrap, which features a unique design that includes warming hand pouches, minimizes aches and pains in such chronic problem areas as the neck, hands and shoulders.
- All-Over Comfort Pack targets a wide array of chronic pain areas such as the back, hip flexor, shoulders and abdomen with a large, universal shape that easily molds to the body for indulgent comfort.
The Herbal Naturals™ products are soft, lined with luxurious real lavender and chamomile; contain only 100% all-natural ingredients; warm quickly in a microwave; are fully reusable with a machine washable cover; and remain heated for up to an hour.
A member of Carex’s global family of premium-quality brands, Bed Buddy® offers a versatile and premium-quality line of reusable hot and cold packs that support individuals suffering from aches, pains and arthritis and are designed to fit most body types and to help people of virtually all ages and health profiles.
All-Over Comfort Pack Review:
Let me say this is an AWESOME product. This is the first product of its kind that we have used. Prior to using this product we have used traditional heating pads, which offer heat, but not MOIST heat as this product does. My husband suffers from severe osteoarthritis in his knees (5 operations) and has chronic back problems (1 prior operation) …let me tell you this is SO, SO WONDERFUL for his “aches and pains”…we have iced and heated so many times over the past 17 years of marriage that it has become part of our lives. The moist heat provides soothing relief …and since it stays warm for over an hour it is just right for therapeutic relief!
One great thing (can I say great enough in this review?) about this product is that it is ready in minutes! Just pop it in the microwave and voila instant moist heat.
Another factor that is a wonderful additive is that the product comes with a velvety WASHABLE cover. I LOVE this feature! If the product gets sweaty or dirty…just pop the cover in the wash and it is clean, so convenient!
The scent is WONDERFUL! The product is lightly scented with lavender and chamomile…what an aromatic sensation! I feel like I am at the spa as I breathe in the luxurious scent and drift away in moist heat!
So far my husband has been monopolizing the product…but I do know that this product would be AWESOME for stomach cramps…especially menstrual cramps. When I was a young girl I used to get horrible cramps….how I would have LOVED to have this product…I cannot imagine the relief this would have given someone with those painful cramping episodes!
Overall, I can honestly say my family has fallen in love with this product. The All-Over Comfort Pack has so many uses I cannot wait to go out and shop for the rest of the line. I intend to buy more of this and the other products in the line for Christmas gifts…I know a few people in my family that will adore the products!
You can find this product and many more at carex.com. I would definitely consider perusing the site the company has so much to offer in moist heat and home healthcare products.
Bed Buddy Product link http://www.carex.com/products/Bed_Buddy/93
Faith and Family Reviews received the following product in exchange for writing a review. While we consider it a privilege to receive free products to review, our reviews are our honest opinion and thoughts of the product.
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Family Movie Night and Snacks #Snacks4WimpyKid #CBias
Our family really enjoys watching movies. We enjoy a wide variety of movies from super heros to Ann of Green Gables. It has been a while since our whole family viewed a movie in the theater; probably a couple of years ago when we went to see the Tooth Fairy at the Wednesday Morning Movie Series – when they offer movies for $1! It’s a pretty cheap outing for our family. The guys in our family saw Courageous last year. However, we’ve seen no movies release in recent months. It would be kind of fun to see the new Diary of a Wimpy Kid, which is coming out in a few days. My older daughters and I have watched one of the others and laughed and laughed. I have sort of banned my boys from seeing the whole movie due to the rudeness etc. they seem to pick up on so easily – they come out with enough potty talk all on their own! They have seen clips of DOAWK though and loved it, of course.
Here’s what some of our family might look like in the DOAWK series:
Artwork compliments of our children
When we watch movies at home, our preferred movie snack is popcorn. We make it the old-fashioned way in a pot on the stove. However, when we go out I tend to make them eat something before we go out. Yes, to save money because snacks at the theater are pricey for ten people! I usually like them to eat healthy snacks, like fruit or something and Del Monte Fruit Cups are perfect for traveling or eating at home before going out. They are easy to offer as a healthy dessert after a meal too. There are two different kinds of fruit cups. One is in the produce section and the other is in the canned fruit aisle. We chose the one in the produce aisle as the ingredients seemed healthier and there was no added sugar. Apparently, these are different than the Fruit Cups as they are called Fruit Naturals, which I didn’t know until now. Oops. We have tried the Fruit Cups, just in May as a matter of fact, I just prefer snacks without added sugar or sugar substitutes, like artificial flavors, which I did not see on Walmart’s shelves in the Fruit Cups section, unless I missed some labels as I had already put the Fruit Naturals in my cart.
Robert’s aunt just sent us some money telling us that she’d like to see us use it for something fun and a Del Monte DOAWK family night would be perfect. That or go-carting and mini golfing. Maybe we’ll plan on doing all three to help celebrate the winding down of summer. August may turn out to be a busy, but highly entertaining month for us!
If you are planning on going to the opening of the new A Diary of A Wimpy Kid consider tweeting about it or Delmonte fruit cups as healthy snacks and please remember to use the hashtag #Snacks4WimpyKid and @DelMonteFoods
Watch Del Monte’s Facebook page for an upcoming Diary of A Wimpy Kid’s contest and be sure to enter too!
Do you have family movie night? What’s the last movie your family saw together? What snacks do you usually eat?
“This shop has been compensated as part of a social shopper insights study for Collective Bias. All opinions are my own.”
