With Mother’s Day right around the corner and some wonderful ideas from last week’s Discover & Explore linky, I thought I would share some easy and beautiful ideas for Mother’s Day cards.

These would be great for Mom or Grandma — and many could easily be mailed too.  Plus, they’re all fun to make and it’s always great to have some keepsakes like this to look back on.

I participated in a campaign on behalf of Mom Central Consulting (#MC) for Sprint. I received a product sample to facilitate my review and to thank me for participating.

So who wants to win a smartphone today?!

I see your hand in the air 🙂  But first I want to tell you about my family’s visit last week.

This post brought to you by Biz Stain & Odor Eliminator. All opinions are 100% mine.   This is the second part of our ‘Teaching Kids to Clean’ series.  First, we tackled all the dirty details on getting kids to vacuum.  Now we’re moving into the laundry room so the kids know how to do …

Tell me if this sound familiar to you —

Me:  You’re not wearing that to school?!

Kid:  Mom, you said it was going to get warm.

Me (as I pull a jacket from the closet):  Yes, GOING to get – it’s still 40 right now.

Kid:  But it’s my favorite ______ (tank top, flip flops, shorts, skirt – why is it never anything warm?)

Me:  Honey, just put on a sweatshirt or jacket so you don’t freeze at morning recess, PLEASE!

Yea – weekly conversation in our house especially once Spring hits.  One day it’s 73 and then next day there’s snow again.

My daughter was in her first play this past weekend (she was a swan with a beautiful costume).  And as is the custom with many performances, we brought her flowers on her first night. 

They were pink, deep purple and orange — she’s a kid that loves bright things — and as she rearragned the flowers each day (because that’s what kids do when they get their own flowers), she noticed a number of things. 

Sometimes the flowers were limp and sometimes the stems were very firm.  The color in the orange flowers faded quickly while the pink and purple flowers retained their color.  And some flowers turned brown and had petals fall off earlier than others.

I am a member of the Collective Bias®  Social Fabric® Community.  This shop has been compensated as part of a social shopper amplification for Collective Bias and its advertiser.  As always, we only share items that we love and all opinioins are my own!

The other day, my daughter asked me if I was writing anything new for the blog.  She always gets excited if I tell her it’s a book review or there’s a new project we get to do together.  But this conversation went a little differently since my newest project is about how to clean and vacuuming for kids …

Me: “Actually, I’m writing a mini-series about how kids can help clean around the house.”

Kid (with deer in the headlights look):  “Mom! Kids don’t like to clean!”

Me:  “Guess what Honey, parents don’t like to clean either.”

Kid: “Really?!”  (yep, kids will never stop surprising me with their questions)

Today our Discover & Explore topic is Things that Go!  This is always a favorite topic for young kids — cars, planes, boats, trains — anything they can ride, drive or fly.  It’s always fun to take kids on a new adventure whether it’s their first train ride, flight on a plane or boat tour.  …

If you’ve never shopped a consignment sale or store, consider these 3 great reasons to try this year!

I grew up back east where you could drive for an hour and reach the next big city.  That’s not the case in the Midwest; the cities are farther apart and a day trip definately takes a whole day. 

But boy are there some wonderful Midwest cities to visit!

With spring in the air and summer on it’s way, I thought I would ask some of my friends to share their favorite places around the Midwest. 

Learn about some of the great day trips & weekend jaunts from Kansas City!

I know what you’re thinking — reading is a stationary activity.  Fortunately, that’s not always the case. 

There are a number of terrific kids books that encourage the reader to get up and move with the story!  These 10 reads are a great way to get the kids moving and introduce them to ways they can strengthen their muscles, balance and large motor skills. 

And once their done ‘reading’, they will surely settle in for some much needed rest 😉