Free Summer Reading Programs

Summer vacation is fast approaching for many of us, and is already here for some of us. Since my daughter has finally learned to read well this year, I want to keep her interested in reading and improve her skills over the summer. I have found a few great summer reading programs that are free and provide great incentives for your young reader.

1. Your public library most likely has a summer reading program of some sort, so check them out!

2. American Girl has printable reading charts to encourage your little girl.

3. Barnes and Noble gives your child a free book after reading 8.

4. Chuck E. Cheese has printable reading trackers and gives your child 10 tokens for 2 weeks of reading.

5. Pottery Barn Kids offers a weekly story time that allows children to get a free book after reading their book list. You can find more information at your local store.

6. TD Bank has a great program that deposits $10 in a young saver’s bank account for reading 10 books.

7. Barnes & Noble gives children a free book after reading 8.

8. Scholastic has a program where children can log reading hours, get reading lists, and earn prizes for reading.

Happy Reading!

xoxo,

~*K*~

Fan Mail

I have been browsing Pinterest this morning looking for some organization help. I came across the best (in my opinion, lol) blog for just that. Jessie at Simple Dimples has such cute Home Binder printables, great organization examples, yummy recipes and really creative décor ideas. I am personally using her colorful recipe cards and weekly planner pages. I was just so excited to find her blog, I had to share! Here’s the link to her page: http://www.simple-dimples.com/

xoxo,

~*K*~

Getting Healthy

Since having my kids and not working outside of the home, I have gained a lot of extra weight. I have finally decided to try to lose some of the extra poundage I’ve been walking around with. Last year, “B” and I did the Color Me Rad 5K and it was great. The only problem was that she didn’t really want to run, so she held me back a little. I am not a runner by any stretch of the imagination, but I would like to push myself a little more. I am teaming up with my friend “M” and we are going to try to walk together and motivate each other. I am hoping to be able to actually be able to run or jog the 5K by September. I am going to try to eat healthier as well and drink less alcohol. Meal planning is a great help in adjusting my diet. I am also using the My Fitness Pal app to track my calories. I am hoping to get healthier for my kids and to feel better about myself. If anyone lives near the Albany, NY area that would like to join my team for the Color Me Rad race, please let me know! The more the merrier!

The link for the race info is here–>http://www.colormerad.com/race.i?raceid=76&t=Albany

xoxo,

~*K*~

Beginning The Packing Process

For the past few days, I have been slowly starting the packing process. My goal is to try to be as organized as possible so the unpacking process will be a little easier. I’m trying to pack 2 or 3 boxes a day. So far I have about 7 boxes packed and our seems like I haven’t packed anything. We have so much stuff in our little 2 bedroom apartment, it’s amazing. I’d anyone had any tips on how to make the packing and moving process any easier, please share!

Xoxo,
~*Kim*~

Adventures in Meal Planning

Since we plan on moving into our new house in the next few weeks, “C” and I are trying to use up all the food we currently have on hand. We usually just pick our meals spur of the moment and run to the store for the things we need. It is not a very good system and we end up throwing a lot of our perishables away before we use them. To save time and money, we have decided we want to try our hand at meal planning. To start, I searched for free printable meal planners and found a few that I really like here:

http://www.polkadotmom.com/2010/07/free-weekly-meal-planner-printable.html

http://www.theprojectgirl.com/2009/01/19/menu-planning-form-free-download/

http://meinlilapark.blogspot.com/2012/07/free-printable-weekly-planner-weekly.html

I personally used the menu from www.theprojectgirl.com. I haven’t planned my meals yet, because I need to go through my pantry and freezer to see what I have on hand first. Once I get the first week done, I will update with an example for you all to see!

 

** Update **
I finished my first week of menu planning. Here it is:

xoxo,
~*Kim*~