Apple Cinnamon Muffins

Disclosure: This shop has been compensated by Collective Bias, Inc., and its advertiser. All opinions are mine alone. #HolidayWithGlade #CollectiveBias

The holidays are here and that means that my wife starts setting out “holiday-scented” candles throughout the house. My favorite one is the Cherishthe Present™ Apple Cinnamon from the Glade^® Limited Edition Winter Collection . This scent evokes a sense of calm and joy in me. It also reminds me it’s time for me to start making one of my kids’ favorite foods: Apple Cinnamon Muffins!

Apple Cinnamon Muffins

Makes 12 muffins

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

3/4 cup granulated sugar

1 1/2 tsp baking powder

2 tsp ground cinnamon

1/2 cup milk

1/3 cup melted butter

1 tsp vanilla

1 egg, slightly beaten

1 medium apple, chopped

Glaze:

1/2 cup granulated sugar

2 tsp ground cinnamon

1/4 cup melted butter

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Grease (or use muffin cups) a 12-cup muffin pan, set aside. Combine flour, sugar, baking powder and cinnamon in bowl. Add milk, butter, vanilla and egg and stir until moistened.

 

Add the apples. I used one medium-sized Honeycrisp apple. Don't chop it too small, you want to make sure you can see and taste your apple pieces! Spoon batter into prepared muffin cups. Bake 20-23 minutes or until lightly browned. Remove from oven and cool on a wire rack.

For the glaze:

In a small bowl, mix sugar, cinnamon and butter for glaze. Once the muffins have cooled take a muffin and dip the top in the glaze and twist. Make sure to cover all the top of the muffin.  Repeat until all muffins have been glazed.

Like I mentioned before, these muffins are my family’s favorite. I make them often throughout the holidays!

Each fragrance from the Glade^® Limited Edition Winter Collection aims to embody the special moments with friends and family that make the holidays so special.

We purchased our Glade^® Jar Candles at our local Publix.

Only The Good Stuff For Your Superstar

This shop has been compensated by Collective Bias, Inc., and its advertiser. All opinions are mine alone. #FuelTheirAdventures #CollectiveBias

We are a sports family. Our lives revolve around practices and games. Adrian plays soccer, flag football and basketball so we are all over the place, especially during the week. He needs good fuel to get through it all so sugary after-practice snacks are not an option. He loves yogurt so we purchase lots of it in our home. His choice: Dannon® Danimals®! Dannon® Danimals® are the perfect on-the-go option that helps fuel kids' adventures - at school, after school, during practice, homework or to start the day!

Since we are out on the fields so often, I make sure to have a cooler full of yogurts for the team. Sometimes (for a game or special practice) we will add a touch of fun encouragement to the yogurt  bottles. The kids really love it. 

While I was grocery shopping last week, I noticed a new collector's edition package of Dannon® Danimals® featuring different athletes on the bottles. I knew this pack would be perfect for our team treat. The kids would get a kick of seeing which athlete they got and they would be fun to attach a sports-themed label to. 

Dannon® Danimals® provide "Only the good stuff" with no high fructose corn syrup or artificial flavors, as well as provides a good source of calcium and Vitamin D. They come in lots of fun flavors (Strawberry, Strawberry Kiwi, Watermelon, Seasonal and Cotton Candy). NOTE: The Cotton Candy/Strawberry flavor packs are on available for a limited time and not available at all stores. 

Now for the labels. Like I mentioned previously, I created these labels for the kids. I want them to feel encouraged and know that I am there to support them all, not just my son. These labels are free for you to download, just right-click, save image to your computer and print anytime!

Materials needed: 1 sheet of labels per pack of yogurt, twine or ribbon, scissors and a one-hole punch. 

Cut out each label and punch a hole in the corner. Cut twine (about 7-8 inches), enough to wrap around neck of bottle and to tie. 

Loop twine through hole in label and tie around the neck of the bottle. That's it. It doesn't get any simpler than that!

Now you just put them in your cooler, cheer on your team as loud as possible and then hand out a treat to your future pros!

FUN STUFF ALERT: Dannon® Danimals® and Play 60 have teamed up with a fun contest. If you find the "Golden Bongo" bottle in specially marked packages, your school can win a Play 60 Field Day with NFL pros. You can only imagine how many packages of yogurt we have purchased since Adrian found this out. He wants to be the one to win the Field Day!!

Look for Dannon® Danimals® at your local Walmart!

What sports do your kids play? What special treats do you take to the fields?

Scare Up Some Fun With Silly Monster Pudding Cups (FREE Printable)

Disclosure: This shop has been compensated by Collective Bias, Inc., and its advertiser. All opinions are mine alone. #ReadySetSnack #CollectiveBias

It's Fall and that means it's time to send the kids back to school! Back to school lunch packing can get boring after a while so I like to have some fun with their lunches. One of their favorite snacks are pudding cups so I decided to scare up some fun with silly monster pudding cups. 

Pudding cups are my favorite too so we buy lots of them in our home. While grocery shopping the other night, I noticed that there were Hershey's S'mores Ready-to-Eat pudding cups on the shelf and you know those immediately went into the cart! Hershey's pudding is a rich, creamy pudding made with real Hershey's cocoa. They are a great option for a premium, high quality snack!

My honey got me hooked on creating printables for all her crafts and holidays so I knew a printable was the way to go to make the pudding cups a little more fun! My kids love silly monsters and lunchbox notes so I put two and two together and created these pudding cup wrappers! They are silly, fun and the best part, FREE! These wrappers are on a 8-1/2" x 11" sheet so they are easy to print at home. 

To download wrappers, just right-click, save image and print!

Once you have printed out the pudding cup wrappers, just cut around the black lines. 

Your cut wrappers should look like this. All you will need to assemble the silly monster pudding cups are hte wrappers and double-sided tape!

Turn a wrapper over and stick a piece of double-sided tape to each end, then attach to the pudding cup. 

That's it! You now have a silly monster treat that's delicious and sure to scare up some silly fun at lunch!

Hershey's Ready to Eat pudding cups are available at Walmart and come in S'mores and Chocolate flavors. While you are at Walmart, make sure to pick up a copy of the September/October issue of ALL YOU magazine which has a $0.55 off coupon for Hershey's Ready to Eat Pudding!

Be sure to check out more delicious topping ideas and fun crafts at Kraft.com. I'd love to hear your favorite!

Our Car: Keeping My Family and I Going Since 2006

Disclosure: This shop has been compensated by Collective Bias, Inc., and its advertiser. All opinions are mine alone. #CambioConfiable #CollectiveBias

As a family of five, we are busy and constantly driving from one place to another. On a typical day, we drive to the gym, back home, to school dropoffs, work dropoffs, school pickups, work pickups, extracurriculars, back home and maybe back out one more time for groceries. Our car barely gets a break so I make sure to keep it well-maintained. Car maintenance can be expensive so I try to do some of it on my own, like change the oil, item replacements and car washes.

A little background on our car. I was born in Cuba and came to the United States when I was 8. I remember getting here and seeing so many cars and knowing one day I wanted one of my own. When I turned 16, my mom didn't have the means to buy me a car so I drove a hand me down for a couple years. When I was 19 and in college, my girlfriend at the time found out she was pregnant. I remember being in my car on a hot summer day and knowing that we couldn't bring a baby into the world and drive her around in a car that didn't have a/c. 

I saved some money (which was very hard at 19 and in college), went to the dealership and bought (financed) a brand new 2006 Toyota Corolla. I wanted a new car and I was able to get one. I was now a father and was determined to always give my child everything I didn't have as an immigrant into this country. This car, my car, saw me through all my child's first, a second child, single fatherhood, graduating college, new jobs and now transporting my new family around town. 

This car has been a huge part of my life and will continue to be. I plan on keeping it around as long as possible so I keep up the maintenance schedule. Now keeping up a maintenance schedule can get expensive, so like I mentioned before, there are many things I do on my own, like change the oil. Changing the oil on a car is not easy but it is time-consuming. You need to make sure you purchase the correct oil your car requires.  Quaker State has svereal varieties available for your car like the  Advanced Durability Motor Oil and Defy-High Mileage Motor Oil.

Every day as I get into my car I am filled with pride knowing that hard work pays off. I have a car of my own. I have made a life for myself and my family. I know that I am serving as an example to my children about hard work and empowerment. I love my car and plan on driving her around for many more years to come!

 Quaker State Motor Oil is available at Walmart in the Auto Care aisles!

Have you had your car a long time like I've had mine? Tell me about it!

5 Tips To Build Muscle

Diclosure: This shop has been compensated by Collective Bias, Inc., and its advertiser. All opinions are mine alone. #PowerinProtein #CollectiveBias

I've always been tall and skinny. It's been a struggle to gain weight, much less build muscle. I started working out in college and realized that working out and proper nutrition were the only ways for me to gain weight and muscle. Gaining weight for some is as difficult as losing weight is for others. Muscle weighs more than fat so the more muscle I can build, the more I will weigh. After many years of working out and successfully building muscle, I've learned that there are 5 basic tips to success.

1. Lift heavy weight with less reps. When I work my upper body (chests, arms, back) I lift heavy weight at low reps. I choose weights that I can only lift between 1-3 times. If I were to lift light weight with lots of reps, I would also gain muscle but I would tone. I want to bulk.

2. Sleep is important. Muscles need to rest, especially if you are shredding them with heavy weight. When I am working out to bulk (three months out of the year, the rest is training for competitions) I make sure to rest a full 24 hours between workouts and I sleep a minimum of 8 hours a night. 

3. Change your routine often. I change up my workouts various times a year. Sometimes, I take a couple weeks off the gym and just do simple at-home workouts. I don't let my muscles get used to one specific workout because then I would hit a wall and not see any gains. 

4. Eat! Eat! Eat! If you are skinny and want to bulk, you need to eat. I eat 4-5 full meals throughout the day. I burn alot of calories during my workouts and throughout the day so I eat about 4000 calories daily. I know it seems like alot of calories, but I went to see a nutritionist and we set up a bulking plan. It has worked and I am getting close to my goal weight of 195 lbs.

5. Have carbs after a workout. After a workout, your body needs to refuel quickly. I take a shake after my workouts. Shakes are the easiest way to get the carbs and protein your body needs quickly. I like the EAS Myoplex ready-to-drink shakes in Chocolate Fudge. These shakes are so convenient since they come ready-to-drink, just remove the top and refuel!

EAS Myoplex products:

-are a great source of protein

-deliver the protein and nutrients to help your body rebuild

-can help anyone looking to build muscle or maintain existing muscle tone

-is good, complete nutrition

-contain good for you nutrients 

-can help reach and maintain muscle building goals when combined with an active lifestyle

EAS Myoplex RTD's are available in the Sports Nutrition aisle at your local Walmart. They come in delicious flavors: Chocolate Fudge, French Vanilla, Strawberry Cream, Rich Dark Chocolate, Cookies & Cream.

Do you struggle with building muscle? What are some tips you have picked up along the way?

Help Build A Classroom Library and Make Breakfast a Breeze with Kellogg's #Back2SchoolReady

Disclosure: This shop has been compensated by Collective Bias, Inc., and its advertiser. All opinions are mine alone.  #Back2SchoolReady #CollectiveBias

Summer break is drawing to a close and pretty soon (2 weeks to be exact) my children will be back in school. Our lives get crazy once school starts so I try to help out with the kids as much as possible which has crowned me "the breakfast man!" I make breakfast for my family every morning and am always looking for easy breakfast choices for my family. We love the basics like cereal, eggs and waffles so I always stock up on these breakfast essentials when shopping!

In our home, breakfast needs to be easy, quick and delicious so we turn to Kellogg's products to stock our pantry. Not only do Kellogg's products come in value sizes but they now offer a free Scholastic book for you to keep for your personal library or donate to your local school on specially marked packages. There are 80 titles of books available for beginning readers to teens. 

Each specially marked package includes a code. With this code, you can redeem your choice of hard copy books or e-books (e-books cannot be donated). 

Redeeming is easy. You go to www.freebookoffer.com, create a Kellogg's Family Rewards account, enter your code and choose a book. I asked each kid to pick a book for their new classrooms and then I picked one. We requested for all the books to be donated to my kids' school. Reading is so important and I believe that as long as classrooms have lots of books, kids will read them!

One box of Kellogg's products = 1 book codes are available on many Kellogg's products like cereals, Eggo® Waffles 24 ct, 16 ct Pop-Tarts®, Special K® Protein shakes and bars, Nutri-Grain® bars, Rice Krispies Treats® 16 ct and many more!

Each person can redeem up to 30 books. Codes for free Scholastic books need to be redeemed within 14 days of purchase. The official timeline for books to arrive is 6-8 weeks (even though most come much sooner). 

Specially marked packages of Kellogg's products are available at Walmart. Make sure to hit up all the breakfast aisles so you can be ready for busy mornings!

This upcoming school year is going to rock. 4th, 3rd and 2nd grade, I hope you are ready for my kids!! 

Be sure to check out all the books available via this Kellogg's offer at http://cbi.as/gfgc. Which books would your kids donate to their classrooms?  #Back2SchoolReady

Road Trip Games For Kids

Disclosure: This shop has been compensated by Collective Bias, Inc., and Walmart Family Mobile. All opinions are mine alone. #Tips4Trips #CollectiveBias

As a dad, I have certain things I am in charge of such as all our tech (tablets, cell phones, video games), any science or art project and keeping the kids entertained in the car. These duties were pushed upon me and honestly, I don't really mind. Recently, we took a family road trip and with four kids in the car for hours, I knew I had to be prepared with fun road trip games to keep them entertained. I spent hours researching games, testing them out with the kids and these were our 5 favorite road trip games!

When we go on a road trip or any kind of travel, the kids know that they need to pack a bag. They are responsible for that bag during the whole trip. In this bag, they can pack whatever they feel they need to keep them entertained. Usually they will pack their tablets (and chargers), a book, stuffed animals and some toys. Even with tablets and toys, they still get bored and will begin arguing and whining, that's where road trip games come in!

5 Road Trip Games for Kids

1. "I Spy" I'm starting with a classic. I think we have all played "I Spy" at one point or another in our lives and kids love it. I started it off by spotting an item and reciting the line "I spy with my little eye something ______" and the first kid that figured out what it was would be next to spy!

2. "Go Fish" This is my kids' favorite card game. We play with Jumbo playing cards. Seven cards are dealt to each player. The remaining cards are put in  a pile known as the "ocean" that is shared between the players. Each player removes all pairs from their deck and then take turns asking each other for cards such as "Adrian, do you have any three's?" If Adrian had a 3 he gives it to the player that asked, if not he says "go fish" and the player that asked him has to pick up a card from the ocean. The point of the game is get rid of all your cards in pairs!

3. Tic Tac Toe All you need for tic tac toe is a paper and pencils/pens/markers. You draw the tic tac toe board (a pound sign or hashtag!) and one player plays as X and the other as O. The point of the game is to get three in a row or tic tac toe!

4. Would You Rather? I like games that get my kids thinking and Would You Rather is a great one! This one gets the whole family playing too. All you do is ask someone "Would you rather?" and then two choices they need to pick from. For example: "Gian, would you rather eat escargot or not play with your tablet for 2 days?" Once he answers, then he asks someone else in the car. This game gets lots of laughing, joking and lots of creativity from the kids!

5. Telephone One child whispers a story to someone else in the car. That person then whispers what they heard to another child in the car and so on until everyone hears the story. The last person to hear the story repeats it out loud so everyone can hear. Some of the story will get mixed up along the way and the resulting story will usually get alot of laughs from everyone!!

I had lots of games planned but these were the top 5. Some of the games on my list they didn't want to even try, so at one of the rest stops, I pulled out my trusty cell phone and searched for some more games which is where I got the idea for "Would You Rather?" Technology saves the day again!!

I'm so thrilled I am able to take my kids on vacations. Growing up, my family wasn't able to do so. I make sure to save my pennies all year long so we can take at least two vacations a year. One of the ways I save is by using Walmart Family Mobile with its unlimited talk, text and data service plans as my phone carrier. I have an Alcatel One Touch Pop Astro which is 4G LTE compatible, lightweight and very affordable. Walmart Family Mobile service is $29.88/month (for the first line) and the unlimited talk, text and data plan includes up to 1G of 4G LTE data!

I purchased my phone and starter kit at my local Walmart. The Walmart Family Mobile displays are in the entertainment sections of stores!

Disclaimer: All prices for phones and plans included in this post are accurate as of the date of posting; however, these prices are subject to change. Please refer to http://cbi.as/frw8 or your local Walmart for current pricing!

I've shared our favorite road trip games and would love to have some more in reserve. What are your family's favorite road trip games?

A Day In The Life of a Dad

Disclosure: This shop has been compensated by Collective Bias, Inc., and its advertiser. All opinions are mine alone. #PowerfulProtein #CollectiveBias  

Being a dad, especially a working dad of three, is no easy task. I need to be 100% at everything: work, the gym and with the kids, so I don't miss out on a thing. I like being busy but I also want to be present. A lot of people ask me "How do you do it?" My response: "I just do." Since I get asked this so often, I decided I would document a typical day in my life and share it with you.

My days start off early, at 5:15 a.m. I wake up, get dressed for the gym and have a prep meal (usually a rice cake with almond butter and honey since i wake up starving!) or a pre-workout shake and eat/drink on my way to the gym, arriving at the gym at 5:45 a.m. ready to workout! I do Crossfit, so everyday is a different WOD (workout of the day.)

Normally, I do the workout of the day, which is about 20 minutes and some strength-training, like clean and jerks or snatches, since I also compete in Crossfit competitions various times a year. By the end of my training, I bust out my signature move:

After I scrape myself up from the floor, I rush back home. I try to be back home by 7:40 a.m. the latest. Ida is great at getting the kids up, dressed and downstairs ready for breakfast by the time I get home. We are on summer break now from school but we still need to be up and early since Ida and I both work outside the home. We have breakfast and are out the door by 8:10 a.m.

I get to work by 8:30 a.m.  I am an architect and usually work from 8:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m., unless there is a major project deadline and I have to stay late.

Ida works until 4:30 p.m., so she will pick up the kids from summer day camp and them pick me up at work. From there we head home and get started on dinner. Thankfully, the kids are old enough to shower on their own so they will do that while we work on dinner. During the school year, it's a lot more hectic since there is homework to do and sports practices to be at but summer is a little more relaxed and we can spend more time together as a family. After dinner, I will usually play a board game or some video games with the kids. This is our bonding time. We will usually play until about 8 p.m. when I send them up to their room, they get in bed and read. 

Once the kids are in bed, I go out for a jog. I jog for conditioning training and to clear my head. I will jog for about 30 minutes, come back home, do some yoga to get in a good stretch and then of course, eat! I am once again starving but I do not dare ask Ida to make me more food. I only know how to make fried eggs and that can get a bit tiring after a while so I went to the store and stocked up on the new STOUFFER'S® Fit Kitchen meals. 

I need a meal with lots of protein and once I saw that these meals have at least 25 grams of protein each, I knew they would be perfect for me. I could just take one of the freezer, pop it in the microwave and in less than 10 minutes, I have a delicious flavorful protein packed meal!

My favorite is the Cilantro Lime Chicken. It's white meat chicken with black bean and corn mix, seasoned brown rice with a verde tomatillo sauce. 

I usually eat my STOUFFER'S® Fit Kitchen meals while chatting with Ida about our days. This is our together time. We are very busy during the day at work and with the kids so really this is the only time where it is just us. After I eat, I will take a shower, go to bed (around 10 p.m.) and am back up at 5:15 a.m. the next day to start all over again!

STOUFFER'S® Fit Kitchen meals are available in  the freezer section at your local Walmart. 

Be sure to check out STOUFFER'S® on Twitter, Facebook and Pinterest for more info!

I've shared a typical day in my life as a dad now tell me about your day!