Fitness Friday

For the longest time now I have wanted to come up with a Friday theme that I could share on a consistent basis, and finally in a half slumber the idea came to me -- Fitness Friday. A day where I post about exercise I have done that week, or an upcoming race or fitness activity.

I am so excited to be sharing this with you now! Unless you are a reader that knows me personally, as in I real-life, you may think I spend all my time crafting and cooking and reviewing products, well, when I am not taking my family on field trips. And yes, while all that is true about me, you also don't know that I exercise daily (well, there is usually a day of rest, but is it really rest if I am swimming or hiking with my family?)

I love to exercise! It is a big part of who I am and that is why I am so excited to start sharing it with you. Maybe inspire some of you to try something new or even start exercising.

I am not a race-a-holic, so this isn't going to be weekly posts about races. I am a runner, but I love to cross train and I think exercise is fun! I LOVE to have friends workout with me. It is both a physical and social outlet for me and I am quite the social creature. Yeah!

Review: WEXY Eco-friendly Snack Bags

Who knew that kids would get excited over snack bags? I didn't until we received these WEXY Eco-friendly snack bags that are in different monster prints. They couldn't wait for me to open the box to these bags so they could see first hand what each of these monsters looked like.

Let me tell you what makes these bags different from others on the supermarket shelves and why you should buy them. They are BPA-Free, Biodegradable, Reusable, Recyclable, and Made in the USA.

I first packed sandwiches for the kids in these bags. I don't know if a sandwich with "regular" sized bread would fit in these snack bags, which is probably why they are called snack bags and not sandwich bags. But since I use wide loaf bread, I was able to put a half of sandwich in a bag for each of them perfectly.

I thought these bags felt like they are made with a little thicker plastic than what I have felt from many other plastic snack bags. We had no issue with them tearing either.

My kids love to open their lunch bags and see what monster they get that day. It's a fun surprise for them.

You can sign up on the WEXY website to get emails with healthy snack and recipe ideas. Plus when you sign up, they will notify you of FLASH sales they have where you can get them for up to 75% off. You can buy them from the WEXY website or also from Amazon.

I received one or more of the products mentioned above for free using Tomoson.com. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will be good for my readers.

Thrifty Thursday: FREE and Half Price Rentals at Family Video

We found ourselves inside a Family Video the other day because the stars were aligned. It has been a long time since I have been inside a video store and between Amazon Prime movies, dvds from the library and free redbox rentals, I didn't think we had any reason to go to one. But we happened to be trying out a new(ish) restaurant next door and they had signs in the window for their current promotion (now over) that said $1 New Rentals.

We picked out our choice and went to rent it and was told that for 30 days, new members get half off all their rentals! And it CAN be combined with current advertised promotions (the $1 new releases!). So, we paid a whopping 53-cents (need to include tax) for our rental of "OZ: Great and Powerful", plus it was a 5-day rental. Seriously?!?! I paid 53 cents to rent this video so that the kids & I could watch with my MIL and we were able to keep it long enough for them to watch it again and for my husband to come home and watch it too. We went back a couple more times during the $1 promotional rate and each time checked out 2 new releases for 5 days. Fantastic! My kids sure got all their watching in of some new release cartoons they really wanted to see. We won't need to rent those again for a while or buy them.

PLUS! They gave me the above sheet of coupons for free rentals and other coupons. Some really great coupons and we will probably use almost all of them!

ALSO!!!! They have a section of FREE kids videos, a section of FREE exercise videos, AND a section of FREE documentary/educational videos.

I am pretty happy with this new discovery!

Wordless Wednesday: Aveda Butterfly Garden at the MN Zoo

The Aveda Butterfly Garden at the MN Zoo

You still have just over 2 weeks to see this special exhibit! It is open until September 2nd

and is FREE with you admission.

The Africa Animals exhibit is also free with your admission and open until Sept. 2nd, 

and so is the Dinosaurs Exhibit open until Sept 2nd, but that one does have a fee.

Review: Simply Snackin' Meat Snacks

I could have posted this review for Simply Snackin' Meat Snacks within 4 days of receiving the package of six assorted meat snacks, because that was how long it took for my kids and myself to devour them and that was with us showing restraint. My poor husband didn't get to try even one bite of these, which I guess just means I am going to have to buy some. In fact, when I tried the first one I made a proclamation to my kids that I had to try every single flavor since I needed to review all the flavors. They totally bought that and I didn't have them whining to me that they wanted a whole piece to themselves. I did learn that this company is based in Wisconsin, so I might have to find out if they have any retail stores they provide to that I can purchase it from when we visit family.

The six flavors I was able to sample were:

• Beef Sirloin with Cranberries and Blueberries
• Beef Sirloin with Apples and Cherries
• Teriyaki Beef Sirloin with Pineapples
• Chicken Breast with Italian Seasonings and Romano Cheese
• Chicken Breast with Black Bean Salsa
• Teriyaki Chicken Breast with Mangoes and Papayas

And as I had each flavor, I kept trying to to decided which one I liked the best or the least. Well, there wasn't one that I didn't enjoy at all and I think my favorite would be a tie between the Teriyaki Beef Sirloin with Pineapples and the Chicken Breast with Black Bean Salsa.

After we had finished all 6 flavors, my daughter was slightly addicted and begged me to buy a different kind of jerky from the grocery store. It just wasn't the same. That other kind was dry and tough and more salty than savory. What I mean by savory is that these meat snacks are not just salted meat, they are combined with delicious fruits, salsa or seasonings to give them a savory flavor. I also love that the meat is tender. And while each stick only had 60 calories, they packed in 11 grams of protein (in the chicken) and (8 grams of protein in the beef). This was such a delicious and low calorie way to refuel with protein.

I would also be amiss if I didn't mention that they contain no artificial ingredients, filler, or added MSG. All of them (except the one with Romano Cheese) are lactose-free and four of the varieties are also gluten free.

My readers can get 10% off your order by using the discount code "BLOGGIN10" through the end of August from Simply Snackin.

I received one or more of the products mentioned above for free using Tomoson.com. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will be good for my readers.

Review: Groove Kid Nation "Rhythm Bears"

Since receiving this CD, Groove Kid Nation "Rhythm Bears", in the mail to review, we have been rotating this kids CD with another new one from a band we saw in concert in my car. It is a delight to listen to and sing to. This CD is geared towards ages 3 and up (the other 2 CDs they have developed are for younger kids) which works nicely since I have a 3 year old. Of my two kids, the 3 year old liked it the best, but my 7 year old was ok with it too. Some of it was a little young for her, but she still enjoyed it. I liked hearing my 3 year old sing along to it. Up until recently he was never much of a sing-a-long kind of kid but now he seems to enjoy it, as long he doesn't think he is getting attention for it.

The CD also comes with a 10 page illustrated booklet, which my son especially liked to look at while we listen to the music. I thought they did a great job picking out the vocalists for these tracks, because it is how I imagine a bear would sing.

You can buy this CD and many others from the Groove Kid Nation website. Or you can purchase a digital box set that also includes all the a curriculum, audio clips of musical instruments, pdf files of images and mp3 files of the music and a CD with the vocals removed. This digital box set would be great for homeschoolers.

I received one or more of the products mentioned above for free using Tomoson.com. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will be good for my readers.

Try It Tuesday: Butterfly Life Cycle Hand Print Art

Time for another fun and easy project I did with my kids. We were on a butterfly theme which wouldn't be complete without a hand print butterfly. But we took it further and made finger print caterpillars and chrysalis's. I always like to do hand prints crafts because it can be a kind of keepsake, plus you can see which is done by my 7 year old and which is from the 3 year old based on the hand print size. My son had to make a pink and purple butterfly because right now pink is his favorite color (because it WAS sister's), which is why she chose to make her butterfly blue and green. LOL!

If you are looking for other butterfly life cycle crafts, then try out the Easy Paper Plate Butterfly Craft I shared last week or this Coffee Filter Butterfly Project. And don't forget to check out my Preschool at Home Theme of The Very Hungry Caterpillar, which is loaded with activities and art projects!

I started out having them paint the grass on the construction paper and then paint the tree. If you see my paint trays above, they are just styrofoam containers that held fruit that would have gone in the trash.

Next I had them make their finger print chrysalis followed by the fingerprint caterpillar. After I wiped their fingers clean, they switched colors (because who has ever saw a caterpillar that was the same color that it was when it turned in to a butterfly?) and painted the palms of their hands.

We glued in to place colored popsicle sticks for the butterfly bodies and used some glitter glue for antennas on the butterfly and caterpillar and of course we glued on some googly eyes on both the caterpillar and butterfly.