Homeschool End of Year Celebration Ideas #FlavorYourSummer #ad #cbias

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

Even though we homeschool all year long, we love to have a party for the kids in the spring time as that's usually when we move up a grade and get all our new books and materials for the next season of schooling. We've always done something special to honor the kids' hard work over the year, but this is the second year we've planned an all-out bash! Are you interested in setting one up for your family? Here are just a few ways you can make your homeschool end-of-year party memorable and fun. Be sure to check out my article from last year's party for more great ideas.

I shopped Walmart for all our food and supplies for the party. Jamie was excited to make up some kabobs for the family, so I came up with a couple marinade recipes. I used Maggi® Chicken Flavor Bouillon and NesCafe® Clasico Coffee to make two great meat soaks. Both products were found in the Hispanic section of Walmart. I also picked up some Jack's® Pizza in the frozen pizza section of the freezer aisle.

It had been a really long time since I'd made skewers on the grill---mainly because threading enough skewers for 11 people takes a really long time. Ha! Jamie was all for it, though, and he made up a whole bunch of steak and chicken ones while Mom and I were out shopping last Saturday. These are the chicken ones he made for us---delicious!

The marinade for the chicken skewers was super simple. He used a very concentrated mixture of the bouillon and water and soaked the meat overnight. Then it was as easy as alternating the chicken, peppers, and onions on some pre-soaked skewers and grilling them until the meat was cooked through.

Savory Chicken Skewers

4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts

2-3 assorted peppers

1 red onion

3 TB chicken bouillon granules

3 c. water

Cut chicken into chunks and place in bowl or plastic zip bag. Mix bouillon and water together until granules dissolve. Pour over chicken and refrigerate 24 hours. Cut peppers and onion into chunks and thread on skewers, alternating with meat. Grill and enjoy!

The second kabob recipe featured a coffee soak. I'll be honest---I wasn't totally sure about this one. I'd never tried anything marinated in coffee, but Jamie and my Mom assured me it would be great. Again, he used a concentrated coffee liquid mixture. Be sure to add salt and pepper to the marinade and let the meat soak 24 hours. With the addition of pineapple and onions, these skewers were an excellent idea!

Coffee-Soaked Steak Skewers

1 pkg. beef stew chunks

1 onion, cubed

1 pineapple, cubed

4 TB instant coffee granules

3 c. water

2 tsp. salt

1 tsp. pepper

Mix coffee, salt, and pepper into the water until salt and coffee are dissolved. Marinate the meat 24 hours. Thread pineapple, onion, and meat onto skewers and grill. Yum!

This was our first time trying Jack's Pizza and Jamie's first time grilling a pizza. We liked the taste and convenience of this brand---and the price was good, too. How fun to be able to grill it---keeps the kitchen cooler in the summer, for sure! 

I added a couple other fun "schoolish" snacks to the table. These cheese crackers are stamped with alphabet letters and the photo below it is alphabet-shaped cereal. Who says you can't play with your food? Our kids love spelling out words (even if they're not real words!) before munching their snacks.

Besides food, there are other great ways to celebrate the end of a great schooling year. Avalon will be honored at our co-op's graduation party for completing Kindergarten this year. Cap and gown sets are found very inexpensively online. This one also came with a tassel and a diploma for me to fill out. 

We like to gift the kids with something special like a new set of books or a DVD set they've all been wanting, but their favorite school-related gift is the refilling of their school boxes. I do this several times throughout the year and it's amazing the jump in excitement and motivation that occurs when the kids have new tools to learn with.

I also found these cute grade-completion certificates online. I printed this one out in black and white as I think it would be fun for a young child to color his own award.

Finally, what would a party be without games? One of our favorite party themes is the carnival theme. We've done several over the years and they're always a hit. We do everything from duck pond fishing to sack races to balloon darts. It's always a blast!

Another game we came up with this year is called, What Do You Remember? I grabbed a colored ball from Walmart and used a permanent marker to write phrases relating to the things we learned this past year. The kids take turns tossing the ball to one another and the person with the ball shares a memory relating to one of the phrases. It was fun for the kids to play this and remember all the great times we had!

Do you do anything special for your kids at the end of the school year? I'd love to hear some of your ideas!

Keeping My Family Totally Taken Care of All Summer Long! #LISTERINEMom #ad

I received LISTERINE® Brand products and a Walgreens gift card from Johnson & Johnson Healthcare Products Division of McNEIL-PPC, Inc. and The Motherhood as part of my participation in the LISTERINE® Brand Totally Taken Care Of program. All thoughts and opinions expressed in this post are my own.

I'm honored to be serving as a LISTERINE® ambassador this summer! One of the great perks is receiving an awesome collection of products for my family to sample and enjoy. This summer, Johnson & Johnson wants to make sure my family is Totally Taken Care Of with products that are great for assuring my whole family's health and wellness.

LISTERINE TOTAL CARE mouthwash features lots of benefits to give us better oral health. It makes teeth 50% stronger than they'd be after brushing with a fluoride toothpaste alone.

While LISTERINE TOTAL CARE is a great product for adults, LISTERINE SMART RINSE is designed for children ages 6-12 and provides 12-hour cavity protection. Both rinses are alcohol-free, help prevent cavities, and clean the whole mouth to freshen breath and kill bad breath germs. My favorite benefit is that they help restore minerals to the enamel of my teeth and strengthens them.

I'm really excited about the other Johnson & Johnson products we were sent---a couple of them came just in time! Last week, a new kitten joined our family. She loves to play---and with that play comes a lot of scratches! The kids are getting used to her rough play but we've needed Band-Aids a couple of times so I'm thrilled we were sent two boxes.

A few days ago, Avalon fell on concrete and scratched up the area below her eye pretty good. Thankfully, we had received some Neosporin in our box and daily application of it has helped her skin heal quickly.

I'm also glad to have this Neutrogena® sunscreen spray and water-resistant Band-Aids for our outdoor adventures. It's going to be a great summer!

All of these products are available at Walgreens so be sure to visit them to get ready for summer. You'll find everything you need to ensure your family is Totally Taken Care Of---including LISTERINE TOTAL CARE rinses! How do you keep your family Totally Taken Care Of in the summer? Let me know in the comments below.

Tips to Stop Your Child's Bed Wetting #ConquerBedWetting

This campaign has been compensated by Acorn Influence and its advertiser. All opinions are mine alone. #ConquerBedWetting

Did you know that 15% of five-year-olds and 7-10% of seven-year-olds still wet the bed? Any parent who has had a child deal with bed wetting (Enuresis) knows that the struggle doesn't just involve trying to keep them dry at night. There's a lot of emotions involved when a child feels ashamed and embarrassed, and we often need to deal with those emotions before we can ever help them get to the point of staying dry all night. With nine kiddos, you know I've had a lot of experience dealing with trying to keep kids dry---day and night! Here are a few things I've learned:

Don't be unreasonable. Potty-training doesn't always stop when your kids are out of diapers. Sometimes it takes years after they've conquered day time dryness for them to get to the point where they've conquered the nighttime struggle, as well. We've found that when the kids know we are patient with them, they feel more confident. For a long time, we would discipline the kids for getting out of bed after they'd been tucked in for the night. However, we found that since they didn't want to get in trouble, they'd wet the bed instead of getting up and risking it. It just took a simple conversation to clarify that we were totally ok with them getting up to go potty---just not to ask for water/snack/book/one..more..song...

Make them comfortable. This includes physical comfort, as well as emotional comfort. I've realized that when my kids get too cold at night, they don't want to leave their beds. We experience way more accidents during the winter months. Dressing your kids in warm pajamas and making sure they've got a heavy blanket when it's cold just might do the trick. I know it sounds simple (and sorta silly!) but it's a fact around our place! In addition, make sure your child is put to bed happy and feeling secure. If there's been arguments or trouble in your home before tuck-in time, be sure to let your child know that things are ok and discuss any fears they may have. If you have to discipline your child after they go to bed, try to end it on a positive note so they can fall asleep peacefully.

Have some back-up. Sometimes having a little extra protection is enough to relieve the nervousness kids feel and help them get up in the night to use the bathroom. Pampers UnderJams wants to help your child be confident and make it simple to take care of those bed wetting problems for good.

I found Pampers UnderJams at Walmart near the diaper aisle. They're great for older kids because they've got a cloth-like look and feel to them which adds a bit of privacy since they won't rustle like diapers. They have a low waist so they can be worn discretely and feature a really absorbent core for good leakage protection that lasts all night.

Do you have any tried and true tips for conquering bed wetting in your kids? Let us know in the comments below and make sure to check out PampersUnderJams.com to learn about Enuresis, read articles, and watch videos related to bed wetting. You'll find some great ideas from pediatricians who are also mothers and who have dealt with bed wetting issues in their own children.