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!

3 Ways I Stay in Touch With My Daughter

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

My daughter, Amberly, is my world. Her birth changed my life forever. She made me a dad, the most important job I will ever have. Deciding to separate from her mom when she was only two was one of the hardest decisions I've ever made, not because my relationship was ending but because I knew that I wouldn't see Amberly every single day. Ever since then, I look forward to the weekends when I get to see her (and her brother!) 

Over the past six years, I have tried hard to maintain as much contact with her as possible, not just every other weekend. It's important for me to have an open line of communication with her. It's important for her to know I will be there for her, no matter what. My ex (her mom) and I get along well so it does make things a lot easier on everyone involved. I stay in touch with Amberly all week long.

{ONE}

The easiest way to stay in touch with her is by calling. At first, we had a set time once a week where we would talk over the phone. Thankfully, she has always been a big talker and has always loved talking on the phone with me. Since she started school, the phone calls are more frequent, at least twice a week. She will call me or I will call her. We discuss homework, behavior or just a quick Wednesday morning call to say "Happy hump day!"

{TWO}

Sometimes phone calls are not enough! When I see her on the weekends, the first thing she does is run and give me a big hug. She does not let go. I know she has missed me as much as I have missed her. She is the cuddly type so when I heard about CloudPets™, I knew it would be perfect for her!

CloudPets™ are these cute stuffed animals that lets you stay in touch with your loved ones. CloudPets™ lets you download a free app, register your animal and then you get to send a message to the pet. Your loved one hears the message on the pet and then record a message back! CloudPets™ come with parental controls and only invited friends and family can send a message to your pet. 

{THREE}

Another way I stay in touch with Amberly is to be present. When she is around, my attention is on her. We don't see each other as much as we would like so why be on the phone or working when she is around? My weekend is devoted to her (and her brother!) when they are over. We play, read books, go on outings, always something and always together! Now, I am present, no matter what. If there is a school function, I am there. She can't understand homework explanations over the phone, I drive to her house and we figure it out. Always available and always present is the perfect way to let her know how much I love her!

I can't wait to see her this weekend and gift her her new CloudPets™ Unicorn. The unicorn is exclusive to Walmart. CloudPets™ are also available as a Kitty, Bear, Puppy and Bunny!

Have you seen CloudPets™ at your local Walmart? Who would you gift one too?

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?

Life With Three

Life with three kids is anything but easy. There isn't enough time in the day to do all the things they want to do. When it's just Adrian, it's easier. I have more time to play, time to listen, time to interact but when it's all three, it's very difficult to dedicate time to any child individually.

MEET MY KIDS:

Gian Carlo is 7. He likes to play Mario games on his Nintendo 3DS and Minecraft on his tablet. He is very curious and once he gets started telling you a story he goes on for what seems like hours. He was diagnosed with ADHD a couple years back and it's been hard for me to parent him. I expect him to act just like the other kids but he's not. He does things on his own time, in his own way and that has been hard for me as a father. Honestly, I do feel like I don't spend enough time with him. It's hard since he's the youngest of the three and the other two demand lots of attention. 

Amberly is 9. This little girl changed my life. I was young when she was born (19) and thanks to her, I am the man I am today. I made myself a promise when she was born, that I would be great for her, and I have kept and will continue to keep this promise. Amberly is my "hippie". She is an artist, has long wild-woman hair and loves wearing dresses. She wants to grow up and design buildings. Hmm...I wonder where she gets that from! She is moving closer and closer to her teens and it's starting to show. She isn't a baby anymore and it's taking some getting used to as her dad.

Adrian is 8. He is my step-son. We have been a part of each other's lives for the past three years. He is definitely the most difficult child to parent because he is a tough cookie. If he doesn't like something, he will tell you. If I do something he doesn't like, believe me, his mom will hear about it. He is fun though and up for anything. We argue constantly, usually about one sport or another. Adrian likes to play sports, especially basketball, as do I but we cannot play together. I love this boy as if he were my own. I am his "Papa"

As you can see, they are three very different children and the only thing we really do as a group is play Minecraft. We all connect to a world and build and create. I try to find different things we can do together and maybe it will get easier as they get older. The problem is I only see Amberly and Gian every other weekend. When we are together, we need to get so many things done that I do not have time to spend with one or the other individually. I need some tips from other dads out there. How do you do it? How do you handle life with three, four or more kids?