*This post was written by me on behalf of Birds Eye. All opinions are 100% mine. As a Working Mom, planning healthy meals and getting my boys to eat more vegetables can sometimes be a challenge because we are always on-the-go. I was very excited when Birds Eye introduced their 4 House Rules this summer to demonstrate to all kids that eating vegetables can not only be good for them, but it can be fun too! This week, my boys and I had the opportunity to attend our first event for Birds Eye vegetables. I was very hopeful that attending this event would arm me with a few tricks to get my sons more excited about eating their veggies on a daily basis. When we arrived, I immediately noticed the different stations outlining all of the ways that eating vegetables can be fun. The first station that we visited consisted of allowing the kids to blindfold the parents and feed them various foods containing vegetables. The parents then had to guess which veggies were … [Read more...]
Veggies Can Be Fun Too! #PlayWithVeggies @BirdsEye @JennetteMcCurdy #Ad
Satisfy Your Hunger With New Hormel® REV® Wraps! #HormelFamily #Sponsored
*This is a sponsored post written by me on behalf of Hormel Foods. All opinions are 100% mine. Before you know it, September will be right around the corner and it will be time to start thinking about preparing back to school lunches and after school snacks. Hormel Foods is launching their new product called Hormel® REV® wraps just in time for wherever life takes you this Fall. This busy Mom-on-the-go understands the importance of having quick and easy to prepare foods that will satisfy my family's hunger and taste great at the same time. These wraps are protein-rich and provide your hungry family with the energy that they will need to take them through their busy days. Also, they are made with real meat and cheese which means that they are a good source of calcium and fiber. I personally love that they are really convenient to prepare and can be eaten hot or cold. They are extremely portable and can be hand-held while eaten which makes them great for eating … [Read more...]
Enjoying Mami And Me Time This Summer! @DoleNutrition #DoleSquishems #Ad
*This is part of a sponsored campaign with Latina Mom Bloggers and Dole Packaged Foods, LLC. However, all opinions expressed are my own. One of the benefits of being a teacher has always been having Summers off with my two boys. Every Working Mom understands how difficult it is to juggle having a career full-time and making time to spend with our children. As a result, I have always loved having this time during the Summer to spend that quality time that I don't always get to spend with my kids throughout the year while I'm working. I love to plan adventures with my boys and to pack lunch to take along with us. It's important that our picnic lunches contain wholesome ingredients because, just because we are on-the-go doesn't mean that I want to compromise healthy nutrition in their meals or their snacks. My husband and I normally look for foods that are convenient to pack and carry and that contain natural ingredients at the same time. We love to take new Dole … [Read more...]
Take Gold Emblem Snacks On Your Family Excursions This Summer! @CVS_Extra #Ad
*This is a sponsored post written by me on behalf of CVS/Pharmacy. All opinions are 100% mine. If you are a busy mom like me, you are going to be on-the-go this Summer with your family. It is always fun to plan excursions with my boys and to spend quality time with them since I work full-time as an educator throughout the year. I really get tremendous joy out of finding exciting events and locations to attend with them and we even spend time together grabbing and packing snacks for our special getaways. When we are looking for snacks to take on our adventures, the two major factors that we take into consideration are taste and convenient on-the-go packaging. It's important that we be able to pack, carry, and eat our snacks at the beach, during a ball game, or even in the car on a road trip. It's no secret that my neighborhood CVS/Pharmacy is one of my favorite places to frequent for most of my family's needs including filling prescriptions, picking out just the right … [Read more...]
Easy Meals For Today’s On The Go Moms! #HormelFamily
*This is a sponsored post written by me on behalf of Hormel. All opinions are 100% mine. Lunch can definitely be a struggle, especially when you are juggling a million things all at once like I usually am. Half the time, I end up working right through my lunch break when I am at work because I just don't have the time to eat. I realize that this is not the healthiest option but I am honestly swamped with paperwork most of the time. Thank goodness, Hormel has taken into consideration the needs of busy on-the-go moms like me who are looking for convenient and healthy foods that are rich in protein and will give us energy throughout the day. Hormel Compleats cheesy pasta varieties are ready to eat in just 60 seconds. Now, that is the kind of delicious and quick meal that I like! These meals are microwaveable and fit perfectly into my busy life because I can prepare them easily and they taste great so I don't have to compromise flavor. They are made with real cheese … [Read more...]
Just Say No To Working Mom’s Guilt!
This evening, I was having a conversation with my dear friend and fellow blogger Alexandra Elizabeth. She shared with me how she experiences a daily struggle to find just the right balance between being a professional working mom and spending enough time with her daughter. It was an all too familiar discussion for me because, as an educator, I also worry constantly whether I am doing a good job juggling my many roles including being a career woman and mother. Take this past week, for example, there were many events that took place that reminded me just how thin I spread myself on a daily basis. I believe it was Wednesday when I emailed my son's teacher back and forth to discuss that he hasn't been handing in his assignments to her in a timely manner. Now, of course I supervise both of my sons' homework completion every evening. However, since I work full-time, I have to admit that there are some evenings when I'm just exhausted and I skim over the assignments just to … [Read more...]
Sometimes You Just Have To Bite The Bullet…
This past Saturday, my sons and I headed out to their basketball games and we were running terribly late. There were many reasons why we were late including the fact that I was sick as a dog and, due to my being sick, I had forgotten to wash my older son's uniform the night before. When we first started getting ready, I figured we had enough time to throw it in the washing machine and dry it in the dryer because it was about an hour and a half before we had to leave the house. If you are a parent, you know that things seldom work out exactly the way that you envisioned them, especially when it comes to having kids. As we were getting ready, it seems that my older son accidentally changed the setting on the dryer so the uniform wasn't completely dry by the time we had to leave. I had to make an executive decision and, since the uniform was just slightly damp, I told my son not to worry about it because he just had to take his picture in the uniform and then he could … [Read more...]
So You Want To Blog…
I can't begin to tell you how many times friends, family, and acquaintances contact me to find out how to start a blog. Now, don't get me wrong, I'm all for supporting others in their endeavors, however, many times these requests carry with them an air of "If she can do it, I can do it." Just to be clear, I am not the guru of blogging nor do I presume to know everything that there is to know about it. Although I have learned a lot in the almost three years that I have been blogging, I am constantly learning new things and trying to implement them. What I can tell you is that blogging is not easy and it requires a lot of work if you are serious about it. Let me begin by saying that I have been very fortunate to know many great bloggers who have shared best practices with me and have made themselves available to answer my questions throughout the years. Bloggers, overall, are still a fairly secretive bunch in many respects. There are many reasons for that … [Read more...]
Celebrate Autumn By Pairing New Veggie And Meat Dishes! #HormelFamily
Now that Fall is upon us, it is time to make the transition from preparing warm weather meals to foods that are now in season with the winter months ahead of us. Sometimes, pairing your meat dishes with seasonal vegetables can seem like a daunting task. September and October are great months to experiment with seasonal root vegetables. The new cool weather conditions are ideal for the growth of such veggies as broccoli, squash and cauliflower. It is important to keep a few things in mind when pairing meats and seasonal veggies. Here are some tips for planning and preparing seasonal meals for your family: * Root vegetables gain some sweetness when they are roasted and taste delicious with pork. One option is to pair a Hormel Always Tender roast flavored pork roast with carrots or a sweet potato as a tasty side. * Vegetables can be paired with different meats for slow cook dishes in the form of soups, stews, chili, and more. You can try mixing Herb-Ox chicken or beef … [Read more...]
Cut Me Some Slack!
Last week, I forgot to call my sister for her birthday. It's not that I forgot her birthday because I was actually thinking about her all day at work. The thing is that sometimes life has a funny way of happening and detouring our previous plans. That is exactly what happened that evening... It was last Thursday and I worked all day and was actually worried throughout the workday because my 5 year old's asthma kicked in right on schedule with the season and weather changes. I kept him home that day because his chest was pretty tight and I didn't want to chance sending him to school and him having an attack without his father or I being around. Luckily, I am able to do this and not worry because my husband works nights and he is home during the day if I ever have to keep the kids home because they are sick. That afternoon, I called my husband from the car when I got home and asked him to bring the boys out to me so I could take them to the doctor. I … [Read more...]
