It’s no secret kids love to snack. In fact left to their own devices a lot of kids would rather snack all day than sit down to full meals, but with so many snack times how do you keep snacks exciting and fun? Here are a few healthy and fun ideas:

Fruit on a Stick – Cut up a bunch of different fruits such as apples, bananas, kiwis, mango and add a few grapes. Thread them onto a skewer for a delicious summer time treat. To make it a little more special add a few pieces of marshmallows between the fruit.

Quick Banana Ice – Take a few bananas and mash them in a bowl. Cover and place in the freezer for about 30 minutes. Remove from freezer, fluff up with fork for a healthy, ice cream like treat.

Pita Pizza – Spread a little tomato sauce on a pita bread and cut into small triangular pieces. Top with a little grated cheese and place in a moderately heated oven for about 5 to 10 minutes until the cheese melts and starts to bubble.

Sweet Tortilla Shapes – Using small fun shaped cookie cutters cut fun shapes out of a tortilla (wrap). Place on non stick cookie sheet and lightly brush with a little butter. Lightly sprinkle (you only need a little) with a mixture of 1 part cinnamon and 3 parts brown sugar and bake in a moderately hot oven for 10 minutes for a sweet and crispy treat.

Frozen Mandarin Wedges – Peel a few mandarin slices and cover in plastic wrap. Place in the freezer for about an hour for a thirst quenching treat.

Banana Wheels – Place a cup or so of cheerios in a plastic bag and using the back of your hand or a rolling pin flatten until mixture resembles fine crumbs. Slice a banana into rounds and place a few at a time in the plastic bag. Shake lightly to cover the banana pieces (banana wheels) with the cheerios mixture.

Mini Wraps – Lightly spread a tortilla with a little cream cheese and place one or two slices of thin ham or turkey over the cream cheese. Roll tightly and cut into small rounds.

Jiggly Fruit – Make a portion of strawberry flavored jello per package instructions and place in the fridge for about 30 minutes. Open and drain a can of fruit cocktail and add to the jello and mix. Place back in the fridge until jello is fully set.

Ants on boats – Cut a few apple wedges and spread thinly with peanut butter. Add a few raisins over the peanut butter and enjoy. You can also use cream cheese instead of peanut butter.

Pick and Mix – Kids seem to really enjoy finger foods rather than eating too much of one thing. A great snack is to place a selection of finger foods on a serving plate and let the kids choose. You can serve a combination of foods like carrot sticks, cucumber rounds, cherry tomatoes, pretzels or pretzel sticks, small savory crackers, bread sticks, little cubes or slices of cheese, small slices of ham or turkey, grapes and other pieces of cut up fruit, mini muffins, and dried fruit such as raisins or apricots.

Are you getting bored with the beginner tactics you learned as a scrapbooker just starting out? Are all of your scrapbooks starting to look the same? If so, it may be time that you began implementing advanced techniques to take your scrapbooks to a higher level.

If you’re beginning to lose inspiration for your scrapbooks, take a look at the following advanced techniques and see if it opens the door to more scrapbooking fulfillment for you:

Matchbook scrapbooks – You can show off small photos in a scrapbooking format that look like a tiny matchbook! For instance, many parents take a picture of their child’s first day of school each year.

You can use a cover that resembles a tiny matchbook that opens up and displays the child’s school picture for that year. Plus, you might want to include some special memories about that school year.

Use up those leftover scraps – You can create a mosaic border for your scrapbooking pages. If you have some leftover scraps that you don’t know what to do with, just cut them up into little pieces and create a mosaic piece to add to the scrapbooking page.

Place them on a background page that’s a contrasting color to the colors you plan to use for your mosaic so that you can give the illusion of grout that would be seen in a ceramic mosaic pattern.

Add some silhouettes – Silhouette cropping your photos gives your scrapbook page a new dimension that will make the page pop. By cutting close to the subject lines, you can make the picture seem real to those browsing through the pages.

Add decorative cuts – Want to make your cuts more interesting and less plain Jane? Use decorative scrapbooking scissors. You can cut different shapes into your project with triangles, corkscrew and art deco patterns.

Design your own background – If you can’t find the background paper you want, then try designing your own unique pattern! Take a piece of background paper and sponge paint it with the color and shapes that you want. You can even finger-paint it if you want – get creative.

Scrapbooking can be fun for the beginners as well as the more advanced memory-keeper. Create your own projects and come up with new ideas for your scrapbooking hobby to share with others. Bring your scrapbooking creative juices to the surface and let them flow.

Ingredients:

1(15 oz.) can black beans
1 green bell pepper, chopped
½ C. celery, chopped
½ C. onion, chopped
2 Tbsp. cilantro, chopped
2/3 C. salsa
¼ C. lime juice
1 Tbsp. vegetable oil
2 Tbsp. honey
1 lb. peeled cooked shrimp
Lettuce

Directions:

Combine the black beans, green pepper, celery, onion, and cilantro in a large bowl and mix well. Add the salsa, limejuice, oil, and honey. Toss to coat well.

Chill covered for 8 hours. Stir in shrimp. Serve on a bed of lettuce.

Find more salad recipes and get your crunch on: 365 Salad Recipes Cookbook

Ingredients:

1 C. shredded carrots
1 C. sliced cauliflower
½ C. chopped pecans
1 C. spinach or other greens
Black pepper

Directions:

Slice cauliflower in ¼ to 1 inch slices. Tear greens into small pieces. Toss all ingredients together. Add pepper to taste. Chill and serve with your choice of dressing. (Serves 4)

Find more salad recipes at: 365 Salad Cookbook

Each time this show is on, I have to resist the urge to pick up the phone and beg them to “get” my husband. Hosted by Tracy Morgan, this show is a spooky version of “Punked” – basically playing “scary” practical jokes on people. Tune in and you will see episodes such as this:

A woman (the victim who is being pranked) is hired to work at what she thinks is a luxury spa. After being told that her highest priority is keeping the customers happy, in walks a stuffy older woman who said she’s arrived for her “treatment”…the victim of the prank then overhears a phone call in which what sounds like a blood donation is being arranged.

Another young woman arrives – the donor – and is escorted into a back room to begin her donation. After a blood-curdling scream, the victim being pranked runs into the backroom to investigate the reason behind the scream. Upon opening the door, she sees the old lady naked in a tub of blood and the young blood donor leaning over the tub with her arms strapped to boards and blood running down them.

The blood donor is saying “help me! help me! let me go!”….just as the victim being pranked is about to have a nervous breakdown, out pops the owner of the spa who says “are you scared?” and the trembling victim says “yes!” and she is then informed “you shouldn’t be, you’re on scare tactics!”

There are countless scenarios and several feature a little person dressed as a demon baby, goblin, or some such thing. I really tried not to like the show (based on principle) when my husband introduced me to it, but dang it, watching other people get scared is too much fun I hope to one day see him on the show.

Product Name: Jeep Wrangler All Weather Umbrella Stroller
Submitted by: Sarah Grant, Rosamond, CA
Rating: 9
Where to buy: Amazon.com

Description: Very affordable single child stroller. It folds up really smooth and easy, has convenient rear wheel locks, a head rest for baby (under 35 lbs), along with a fold out sun shade/umbrella.

Review: I hate lugging huge things around, and I completely fell in love with this very affordable single child stroller. The all terrain wheels really work great too, I’ve taken mine over dirt, gravel, and grass and it keeps going without getting stuck. The fabric wipes clean easily, and mall, the park, the zoo, anywhere you take baby. I’ve even run into the grocery store with it to grab some milk, it’s that quick to set up.

There are two little “saddle-bags” on the side to carry snacks and stuff. The lap belt works smoothly, I can snap or unsnap it with one hand.

I can’t say enough how convenient it is to have such a compact little stroller in the back of the car that I can whip out any moment for strolling in the mall, the park, the zoo, anywhere you take baby. I’ve even run into the grocery store with it to grab some milk, it’s that quick to set up.

Criticism: I wish it had a strap to hold it folded together after I’ve stored it under the seat in the car.

Read more reviews: Click here

It’s that time of year again, scrambling to buy uniforms, last minute school supplies and get all those forms filled out in time…. It’s back to school time. After a long summer break it’s often difficult to get back into the routine of school days. With lunches to pack, kids to dress and homework to finish back to school time can get a little hectic without a plan.

Here are your tips to establishing a back to school routine:

Make a list – Make one list per child of everything he or she will need for their first day of school such as lunch boxes, gym clothes, and school supplies. Your Kindergartener will have different needs than your sixth grader so it helps to plan ahead. Tick things off your list as you purchase or get them ready.

Establish a Bedtime Routine – A few days before school starts try to start establishing a bed time routine. If your kids already have one that’s great but if you’ve been a little relaxed over the summer break it’s probably best to slowly get them back into the routine. Talk about the importance of getting enough sleep so that they can feel good at school and try to stick to a schedule.

Get a Calendar – Get a good size calendar and put it up in a prominent place in your kitchen, write down any important dates such as teacher parent meetings or deadlines for taking certain things in to school. During the first days especially you’ll be getting lots of notes and reminders so it’s good to have a system in place before school starts.

Schedule Tasks – Family life doesn’t always go to plan but try to set a flexible schedule for certain tasks such as homework times. Plan ahead so that you can fit in homework and dinner times around the kid’s extracurricular activities without having to rush too much. Kids get tired and if they’re rushing from one place to the other, they will be less than agreeable when they then need to sit down and do their homework.

By setting a flexible schedule and even meal planning you can avoid a lot of unnecessary disagreements.

Plan Ahead – Preparing things the night before will alleviate a lot of morning stress. Leave your kids clothes ready for the next day, prepack their lunches, make sure their school bags are packed. Come morning, both you and the kids will be a lot more relaxed if you don’t have to rush.

By thinking ahead a little bit you can ensure that back to school is a pleasant and enjoyable time for the whole family.

In researching this topic, there are numerous sites online explaining why birth plans are so important. A few things to think about is why you should have a birth plan and how it can help you. If you’re wondering how to write a birth plan, let’s take a look at one such plan so that you can fully appreciate the steps taken in this written document.

The document begins with your name, caregiver, name of hospital or birth center, due date, coach (father or other); and name of baby. The document then proceeds with the following subtitles with questions relating to each, which you can check off accordingly. Labor; Labor Induction; Anesthesia/Pain Medication; Cesarean Section Delivery; Perineal Care; Delivery; After Birth; Newborn Care; Postpartum; Breastfeeding; Additional Notes which encompass picture taking; video-recording, and circumcision.

While there is a presumption that many hospitals may not deem this document necessary (keep in mind it has no legal standing), there are other hospitals you may find who are open to follow your wishes as much as they are able. This opens up another train of thought which is: researching and finding the right obstetrician and hospital that will conform to your requests.

You may agree that some hospitals do not have the greatest reputations or, for that matter, the best facilities. Creating this birth plan allows you to fully digest all of the possibilities you need to consider when choosing the proper hospital to deliver your child.

While we sometimes put doctors on pedestals, no one can know more about how you feel than you. Therefore, creating a birth plan can alleviate a great deal of unneeded stress as you prepare to become a mom. Why you should have a birth plan allows you to set down all of the details and choices beforehand.

What’s more refreshing in the hot summer than a cold fruit salad? Try this one for a change of pace. The ginger would be especially nice for a pregnant stomach. Crystallized ginger did wonders for the nausea with my 4th baby.

Ingredients:

3 Tablespoon chopped crystallized ginger
2 Tablespoon lemon juice
1/4 cup honey
2 cups cubed cantaloupe
2 cups cubed honeydew melon
3 cups cubed fresh pineapple pieces
4 cups sliced strawberries
1 cup raspberries

Instructions:

Combine ginger, lemon juice and honey in bowl and whisk until well.

Add all fruit to mixture except for strawberries and raspberries. Mixt gently covering fruit completely.

Cover and place in refrigerator for a minimum of 8 hours. Stir once during refrigeration. Just before serving add berries and stir.

Find more salad recipes, including main dish salads as well as fruit salads, in the Ultimate 365 Salad Cookbook.