• gluten_free_crockpot
    family - Food

    25 Gluten Free Crockpot Dinner Ideas

    January 14, 2017 - By 

    Post may contain affiliate links as a service to readers. I don’t know about you but I love my slow cooker. It’s a year round powerhouse. With a busy schedule like ours I need to set it and forget it. And let’s be honest is there anything nicer than the aroma of a stew cooking all day? Anything cooked in the crockpot fills the house with the sweet smell of something delicious for dinner. I know my crew loves coming home to that. I know a lot of my readers are gluten free, some by choice and some out of…

  • mindfulness
    family - Health

    MINDFULNESS – What’s Your Word of the Year?

    January 12, 2017 - By 

    Mindfulness – it’s the quality or state of being aware or conscious. To me, it’s being here, present, grateful and aware. My word of the year for 2017 is mindfulness, because I think that personally everyone in my family can work towards being present, when together or even when on their own. Being open and mindful of all our blessings daily as they happen is a gift. Every year I try to come up with a word that will guide my personal and professional life. It’s not a resolution exactly, but a mantra or philosophy. It helps me to move…

  • Printables

    Canadian Provinces and Territories Worksheet

    January 12, 2017 - By 

    Today I thought it would be useful to share my Label the Canadian provinces worksheet because it’s educational and helpful for kids learning about Canada. I confess that one of my daughters struggles with geography and visual spatial perception. What does that mean? Well, it means that she needs extra help figuring out things sometimes. For instance if I asked her to draw a map of Canada she would genuinely struggle. If I asked her to put all the names of the provinces on this map she would need support with that. Sometimes seeing her struggle with geography It is…

  • adaptive ski
    active family travel - family - family travel - FASD - parenting - special needs - Travel

    Adaptive Ski Programs for People with Disabilities

    January 10, 2017 - By 

    Children with special needs face challenges that other kids don’t. Whether their disability is physical, mental or neurological, children and adults with special needs require extra support with certain activities. Many ski resorts are getting excellent at meeting this need. I have seen some adaptive ski programs at family friendly resorts like Smugglers’ Notch in action. Some are super impressive so I thought I would share a list for families like ours. Adaptive Skiing Shines at These Ski Resorts Children and adults with special needs face barriers too many places still. So when I find a resource with adaptive or inclusive programs sometimes…

  • winter_driving
    active family travel - family

    Winter Driving Travel Tips – Staying Safe in the Snow and Cold

    January 9, 2017 - By 

    Winter driving tips are super important for so many areas of the world. It’s that time of year. The weather is frigid, the snow is falling, and along with all of that, the ice is here. Traveling in winter is about staying safe and protected from all of these things – ice, snow, and cold. These winter driving tips will help you get where you’re going and get there safe. Winter Driving Tips to Keep You Safe In my opinion, one of the biggest contributors to winter accidents is that people forget that you need to approach driving differently in…

  • Emerging_cooking_solutions
    Health

    Hope and Progress in Zambia – Emerging Cooking Solutions

    January 6, 2017 - By 

    We are sitting inside a small business with potential to change the landscape dramatically for Zambia. Emerging Cooking Solutions started in 2012 with a goal to make cooking safer. With a loan from the UN Foundation, Marion Peterson and Mattias Ohlson are changing lives for the better in Zambia. This is our first site visit in a five day tour of Zambia. We are here to see the impact of vaccines on the lives of children. I am traveling with a group of journalists who have each received a Shot @ Life fellowship to write about what’s happening in Zambia. The journey…

  • family - Health

    Cure Holiday Hangover – Realistic Resolutions for a Healthy 2017

    January 5, 2017 - By 

    This post has been generously sponsored by Bayer.  The start of a brand new year is something to celebrate. A brand new start, or a clean chapter. But let’s be honest holiday hangover is also very real. You’re still tidying up the decorations, in the midst of cold and flu season and your health is bound to take a hit. So stack the deck and prepare for a month of hard work, fighting back with realistic resolutions. Instead of resolving to do something huge – like weight loss or dramatic fitness overhaul – how about several small but attainable resolutions. Let’s start…

  • online_activity
    Technology

    Keep Tabs on Your Child’s Online Activity With These 5 Programs

    January 4, 2017 - By 

    Online activity can be a scary proposition for parents. What are your kids seeing? What are they hearing? Who or what are they interacting with? With the ability to open up browser windows that never save data or history, your child’s online activity can be a frightening thing indeed. What if you know very little about social media, or computers? Maybe you have no real clue how to check Snapchat or Instagram Stories to view what they are sharing and doing. Don’t worry, this post is intended to help. There are ways to help keep tabs on your child’s web surfing.…

  • Travel

    Best Cruises for Kids – 4 Cruise Lines that Kids Will Love

    January 3, 2017 - By 

    The Best cruises for kids are the ones that offer activities that keep kids excited, engaged, and stimulated. That being said, it can be hard to find a cruise line that can really deliver in that department. For a long time, cruises have been associated with older kids and adults, which makes sense to a degree when you consider you’re on a ship for at least a week and often going on off-ship excursions. Over the past decade, however, cruise lines have seen the value of making their cruises more kid-friendly. So let’s take a look at four of my picks…

  • special_moments
    Giveaways

    Capture Special Moments with Posterjack #Giveaways

    January 2, 2017 - By 

    I have always been a gigantic fan of photos. Maybe most Moms are, but I recall the first year I received a Kodak camera as a gift for Christmas. I think I was actually still a tween at that stage and cameras still used those disposable flash bulbs. I tried to explain this process to one of my daughters the other day. Back in my teens, I remember having to take the actual film cartridge out of the film and drop it at Blacks, or Shoppers Drug Mart. Then you’d wait a week or longer sometimes for your memories to…