Thought I would share just some of the many pictures I snapped tonight of my kids.

 

When I was in elementary school, I looked forward to the holidays. One of those holidays happened to be Halloween. It was always fun to see what everyone else was going to dress up as. Of course there was the candy too that the teachers always used to give out.

Check out the picture of me back in 4th or 5th grade with my best friend. We looked cool didn’t we?

Well with the crime the way it is today, my kids are not allowed to dress up today which makes me a little sad. It would have been fun to get up this morning and dress up Hannah as something cute. My kids do dress up each year though. If I was a child, I would LOVE all of these awesome Marvel costumes that you can find online to buy to dress up as your favorite superhero.

So is this just a policy for my kids, or are your kids not getting to dress up today either? What are your thoughts?

For many women, it isn’t always easing talking to their teenage daughter about periods and avoiding those unwanted accidents when you get your period somewhere and you are not prepared. I have three daughters and luckily my family isn’t too shy when it comes to talking about periods. It is a fact of life and happens to all females, so we try not to make it a big deal to talk about.

There are days when I want to go back 5 years when they were still my little nice princesses that didn’t have hormones that make them moody!

I love my daughters but there are some days when you just need a break from them. When the estrogen is flowing and it isn’t mine, I find myself listening to music to not have to listen to their bickering. Since there is 3 of the house that have our period each month, sometimes I feel bad for my husband that has to deal with all the different mood swings.

• Once your daughter has her period remind her to keep track. Let her know that a period isn’t always on the perfect cycle, but at least be prepared. For instance if your daughter is staying away from home and knows that her period might come, remind her to make sure to bring some pads just in case of emergency.
• Remind her that around her period to make sure she has an emergency stash of pads in case she starts early at school. You want to remind her that blood stains and she should always be prepared in case it comes early.
• If you haven’t had the talk to your daughter, if she is 8 years or older, you might want to have the talk with her before it comes and she doesn’t know what is happening.
• Tell her of the warning signs of when a period might be coming.

I remember when I was young I dreaded having daughters and having to deal with the teenage years. So far it isn’t too bad. You just need to be open with your children and let them know about certain things before others have the chance to tell them information that might not always be correct. You always want to make sure they are prepared!

Kotex has two different sites that I think could be helpful for tweens and teens:

• www.ubykotex.com/helloperiod
• www.kotex.com/tween

“I wrote this review while participating in a Brand Ambassador Campaign by Mom Central Consulting on behalf of U by Kotex Tween and received products to facilitate my post and a promotional item to thank me for taking the time to participate.”

With my first daughter I had a nursery and my theme was Winnie The Pooh. I don’t know about you, but I have always had a liking for Winnie. Now that I am done having children, there are so many cute pink nursery room ideas that I would so like to have used with any of my daughters.

I have 3 daughters and 1 son, so I guess I am destined to have grandchildren. I might just have to spoil them with some of these pink ideas when the day comes.

A cute cupcake theme!

A pink and aqua theme!

A pink and gray nursery theme!

These are just a few cute nursery ideas for those of you looking to decorate your nursery PINK! Which one is your FAVORITE among these three?

Earlier this month, I mentioned that I was participating in a Simple Service Project for the GE Lighting Champions For Kids Energy Smart Challenge. For this campaign I was to gather and donate some energy efficient light bulbs to a charity of my choice that works with children. I purchased some GE Energy Smart Lighting and also got a couple friends to donate to the cause too!

When I think of charities that help children in my area that I want to help, I instantly think of the Children’s Receiving Home of Sacramento. I know there are probably hundreds of charities that help children in my area, but I chose this specific organization because of their mission to my community.

The Children’s Receiving Home of Sacramento is committed to changing the lives of abused and neglected children and their families by providing a safe haven of comfort, hope and healing.

By donating these GE Energy smart® bulbs and other energy efficient light bulbs, I can help families in my area reduce their energy bills. There are so many families that struggle to make ends meet every day. By making a donation of energy efficient light bulbs, I know that I can help to bring light into a family in need’s life as well as help them to save money too! For this charity, my donation could possibly help out foster parents that need any extra help that they can get.

Look at the chart below to see just how much savings you can receive by changing buying replacement LED light bulbs and CFL light bulbs that are energy efficient.

When you are shopping for new home lighting bulbs that help to save on your energy bill, be sure to look for the GE energy smart bulbs. Here are just a few of the selections I found while I was shopping at Walmart.

Yesterday I put together a donation box to put the bulbs in. I also created a cute sign to let the organization know why I was making this light bulb donation. Once I had my donation box ready to go, my kids and I headed to the Children’s Receiving Home to make our donation.

When it comes to donating, I like to involve my kids. I had my oldest daughter make the donation to the Donation Shed and smile for a photo for mom. By involving my kids in my donations, they will remember that mom liked to help others in need and maybe my compassion for others in need will rub off on them too!

This is just one of the Simple Service Projects that you can participate in on the Champions For Kids website. This was my 3rd donation and I definitely plan on participating in more.  I would like to encourage you to help out families in need in your area by participating in one of these projects too!

For the latest  Champions For Kids news and updates, visit and “Like” them on Facebook at: www.facebook.com/ChampionsForKids

Thanks Tara & Monique for helping me with my donation. 🙂

“Disclosure – As part of my partnership with GE, I received coupons for my GE light bulbs. All opinions posted about my GE Lighting experience are my own.” “I am a member of the Collective Bias™ Social Fabric® Community. This shop has been compensated as part of a social shopper insights study for Collective Bias™ Champions for Kids and GE Lighting #CBias #SocialFabric”