The Sewing Mom

My sister Grace is so busy. Not only does she work, take care of her own home and help out with watching her grand-daughters, but she also makes time to sew. She has created a number of quilts for the “Quilts for Kids” charity and I wanted to share of couple of her latest. This is a wonderful charity program and every quilt goes to a child who will cherish it.

This is a Sponsored Post written by me on behalf of Lunchables. All opinions are 100% mine.

I know it’s been a very long time since I’ve been in school, but I always remember the excitement of getting to go on a field trip! Those were fun school days, no doubt about it! Check out this video of some 5th graders who got to go on an “alien” field trip, it’s so cool to watch their facial expressions!

Field Trips For All, sponsored by Lunchables, is a contest in which anyone 6 years or older can nominate a deserving classroom simply by providing a few details about why you think the class deserves a funtastic school day revolving around a fabulous field trip! There will be 50 classrooms selected as winners from across the United States.

I agree with Lunchables that hands on learning is such a critical part of a child’s education. Unfortunately, more and more school districts are having to cut down or eliminate all together, the number of field trips taken by schools. For some kids, a field trip may be their only opportunity to visit a museum or anything else that a class field trip may introduce them too.

So please, nominate your favorite classroom and pass the word so others will make nominations too. Let’s be involved and keep kids climbing on those buses to adventure and learning.

As I was sitting in the car, hid7ng from the wind, watching my daughter at softball practice, the skies opened up an gave an amazing show. Just a couple hundred miles away tornadoes were devastating parts of Oklahoma.

This isn’t the best photo, but I think you csn get the idea.

This is a Sponsored Post written by me on behalf of FriendGiftr. All opinions are 100% mine.

I have to admit, one of my very favorite gifts to receive is a gift card! I love gift cards because it allows me to shop for something I really want and choose my own colors, sizes, and styles, whether it’s clothing or kitchen appliance, I love gift cards! Of course, it’s also nice to be able to go shopping and feel like I’m not spending any money!

Now, don’t get me wrong, I don’t want a gift card to just anyplace! I prefer gift cards to places I enjoy shopping like fabric and quilt shops, department stores and a few online specialty shops. Seriously, have you ever been given a gift card to a place you never shop or dine and the gift card never gets used? I always feel so guilty when that happens. I remember once being given a restaurant gift certificate that could only be used on certain days of the week! Really?! I have to tell the truth here, that gift certificate expired without ever being used, what a waste! Now, had that gift certificate been to  , I would have driven straight to the restaurant, enjoyed a fabulous meal and redeemed that gift card!

I need to introduce my friends and family to FriendGiftr where they can buy retail and restaurant gift cards in many different dollar amounts to many of my favorite places. The best part is that if they make a poor choice (which would be difficult to do), I can actually exchange the gift card, swapping it for the merchant of my choice for no additional fee! WOW!

The service can be used directly from the Friendgiftr website, Facebook, iPhone, BlackBerry, and Android so there really is no excuse for not purchasing a gift card for all your loved ones for all those special occasions!

What about you, do you enjoy receiving gift cards?

Last week was my daughter’s introduction to marching band. She will be a freshman next near (OMG!)

All incoming freshman met on the high school practice field for 2 hours of instruction from the high school band director. Keep in mind, this is THE larges marching band in the continental U.S.! The pictures here are only the incoming freshman and there were so many, even though I was sitting up high in the bleachers, I couldn’t capture them all in my photo.