Rockin' Out this Summer!

Our city is going crazy over this new rock game...hiding and finding painted rocks!

In the collage above, the top two pictures are rocks we found, and the bottom two are rocks we painted and hid. The rules are simple:

• On the back of the rock, write the hashtag for your city. Check on Facebook to see if there's a group already, or start your own.
• Hide your rocks around town.
• If you find a rock, take a selfie or picture of it and post it to the group Facebook page.
• You can leave the rock, re-hide the rock somewhere else, or keep it. If you keep it, you have to replace it with a different painted rock.

In our community people of all ages are getting involved. It's so much fun finding rocks and there's a huge variety from talented artists, to rocks clearly painted by 2 year olds. My kids have spent hours painting, hiding and hunting for rocks.

I've read that it started as the Kindness Rocks Project, and has spread throughout the country. Get involved while your kids are out of school and see how much fun it is!

Simple Eating for Toddlers on the Go

I am a huge fan of simple, portable snacks to keep in my diaper bag for my 2 year old. It never fails that when we are out and about, she suddenly says "Mommy, I'm hungwy!" For this reason, I love the pouch foods that are so popular right now. If you go down the baby food aisle, or even the canned fruit aisle, you can see a variety of pouch foods with twist lids available.

Needless to say, I was more than happy when I got the chance to try out the Go & Grow by Similac pouches (This post was developed in partnership with Similac. All opinions are my own.). When I went to buy them at my local Walmart, I found out that they don't carry them, so I ordered them on walmart.com and had it shipped to my local store for free. It took 5-6 days, then I got the text saying I could pick them up. 

Patriotic Paper Plate Spinner

Happy Birthday America! Have your kids get ready by making these patriotic paper plate spinners...

How to Survive a New York City Trip with the Kids

With all its office towers, street canyons, and traffic, Manhattan may seem like a foreboding place to take your kids. That is hardly the case. Hidden within the vast skyline, highlighting the headquarters of big corporations to the homes of billionaires, are many kid-friendly attractions and activities. You can keep your children endlessly entertained in The Big Apple.

Here is a list of child-friendly things to do, but keep in mind this is not an exhaustive one.

Flavor Your Life with EVOO

We all know how important oils are in cooking. A few years ago, I started using olive oil in much of my cooking from the non-stick spray I use on my pans, to replacing vegetable or canola oil in certain recipes. However, it wasn't until I became involved in the Flavor Your Life campaign, that I learned about the quality required of Extra Virgin Olive Oil (EVOO).
(Disclosure: I received this product for free from Moms Meet (momsmeet.com) to use and post my honest opinions. Compensation for this post was provided and this page may contain affiliate links.”)

As part of this campaign I was asked to cook something with EVOO. I've used olive oil a lot in my stove-top recipes, so I decided to try EVOO in a baked product...specifically Honey Lemon Olive Oil Muffins. I found the recipe at Pinch My Salt. Having never used olive oil in my baked goods before, I was worried that the olive oil would have too strong of a flavor, but my husband and I both agreed that these muffins were phenomenal! They were moist, and the flavor was perfect.