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2014: FREE Printable Mother’s Day Cards

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2014: FREE Printable Mother’s Day Cards

Photograph Credit: Microsoft Images

Psst! Did you remember that tomorrow is Mother’s Day?

It’s OK if you forgot, because you still have options.

Besides the FREE 8×10 photo enlargement through Walgreens, you can access free printable Mother’s Day cards via the following links:

With these printable options, you can print, sign, and give to the special mom, mother-in-law, sister, aunt, grandmother, or friend in your life.

The whispering continues in our household. After school, the backpacks disappeared upstairs to find hiding places for items they brought home. Later, the backpacks were put back in their usual places.

Now, we wait to see if they can keep a secret. Meanwhile, Miss 6 has come downstairs to get markers as she says she is working on a special project for this weekend.

Our Sunday is going to be exciting. I look forward to seeing and hearing about their tokens of love and appreciation. Happy planning for a great Mother’s Day!

Walgreens: FREE 8×10 Photo Enlargement through May 10, 2014

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Walgreens: FREE 8x10 Photo Enlargement through May 10, 2014

Photograph Credit: Walgreens

Just in time for Mother’s Day, Walgreens released a promotional code for a FREE 8×10 enlargement on any single photograph.

You will need to login or sign up for a FREE Walgreen’s account, upload your photograph, and checkout.

At checkout, enter promotional code ENLARGEIT, choose store pickup, and place your order.

This FREE offer is valid through Saturday, May 10, 2014, with a limit of one FREE enlargement per account. Though your order must be placed by midnight, you may pick up your enlargement when you are by your selected Walgreens.

With Walgreens locations nationwide, you could send a Mother’s Day gift by asking a relative or friend to pick up the enlargement at a Walgreens near the recipient.

In using time wisely, order your FREE 8×10 photo enlargement from Walgreens by Saturday, May 10, 2014. Happy saving!

Happy Mother’s Day!

2014: Mother’s Day Activities, Crafts, Deals, and Gift Ideas

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2014: Mother’s Day Activities, Crafts, Deals, and Gift Ideas

Photograph Credit: Microsoft Images

Hearing the whispering from their bedrooms and the hushes as I walk by, I know my children are up to something.

What are they up to? I’m not totally sure, but listening to the snickering cracks me up.

In the midst of secrecy, enjoy these Mother’s Day activities, crafts, deals, and gift ideas:

Mother’s Day Activities

Mother’s Day Crafts

Mother’s Day Deals

Mother’s Day Gift Ideas

  • FREE dozen of red roses – hurry this offer is only available while supplies or for 24-hours (expiring on May 8, 2014)
  • FREE printable Mother’s Day poem

With preparations underway at my house, I am enjoying the tiptoeing, secret meetings, and entertainment involved in arranging Mother’s Day. Though I already saw the notes from the Zaxby’s Kidz Club in the mail, I look forward to seeing their artwork and tokens of love.

In using time wisely, these Mother’s Day activities, crafts, deals, and gift ideas are just suggestions as you honor the ladies in your life on Sunday, May 11, 2014 . Happy planning!

Question: What additional Mother’s Day resources would you add to this list?

2014 Easter Activities: Resurrection Eggs

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2014 Easter Activities: Resurrection EggsDuring this week between Palm Sunday and Easter, our family focuses on the events from Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem through his death, burial, and resurrection.

In teaching our children about our faith and why Easter is more than egg hunts and filled baskets, we use Resurrection Eggs as a teaching tool.

Defining Resurrection Eggs

Resurrection Eggs are plastic eggs filled with symbols that represent a portion of the Easter story.

If placed in order, the eggs tell of Christ’s entry with a leaf symbol to Christ’s trial with cloth and thorns to His resurrection, an empty egg.

In past years, we limited the eggs to 5 which is a great starting place with younger children. But, as their attention spans increase, we expanded our Resurrection Eggs to 12 this year. I created our own set from these instructions posted by Jenny Martin at Southern Savers.

Teaching with Resurrection Eggs

When I visited my son’s classroom at school, I downloaded and printed the verses that explain each egg. I then cut the printed sheets into 12 strips – the verses for one egg per strip.

Each student chose an egg. To make this activity efficient, I handed out the strips, so that one would open the egg and discover the contents while another child read the corresponding verses.

Our activity went like this: Student with egg #1 opens the egg and reveals a leaf. Student with egg #12 (the last egg) read the verses about the content of egg #1. After questions or discussion, student with egg #2 opens the egg to show the crackers/bread. Then student with egg #1 reads the verses about egg #2.

We then continued revealing an egg, and then having the student that previously opened his egg read about the contents of the next egg. When we get to egg #12, the student with egg #1 reads about the empty tomb.

These Resurrection Eggs continue to fascinate my children as they remember the meaning of this Easter week. Miss 4 loves to get out these eggs and tell the story to her stuffed animals.

I love to hear my children tell of Jesus’ sacrifice for us. What a great teaching tool and focus on these life-changing events. Happy Easter week!

Question: Do you use Resurrection Eggs to remember the Easter story?

2014 Easter Activities: Community Egg Hunt

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2014 Easter Activities: Community Egg HuntAt the beginning of April, I helped with our community egg hunt. As the social activities in our neighborhood have been non-existent for a couple of years, I was not surprised to find a low turnout. However, those in attendance had a great time.

Advertised in our quarterly newsletter and posted to our neighborhood’s Facebook page, our community egg hunt was on a Saturday from 10:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. in a cul-de-sac close to our playground.

Had it rained, the invitation indicated that the event would be canceled.

All members of the community were welcome to come as the children, ages 12 and under, hunted for eggs.

Each participating child was asked to bring the following:

  • Ten plastic eggs, each filled with a small item (e.g., sticker, coin, trinket, wrapped candy, etc.)
  • Basket or container for collecting eggs
  • Supervising parent or adult

In helping with this event, I assisted with preparing, setting up, executing, and cleaning up our community egg hunt.

Preparing for our Community Egg Hunt

With the residents invited, we took the extra step to personally notify the residents in the event cul-de-sac. This courtesy was extended to give them a contact name should they experience any issues. Having a one-hour event, we planned the following tentative schedule:

Tentative Schedule

10:30 a.m.: Collect eggs and children’s activity

10:45 a.m.:  Parents and teens hide eggs while children get organized into age groups

11:00 a.m.: Hunt eggs

11:15 a.m.: Open eggs and enjoy the contents

11:25 a.m.:  Conclude with refreshments

To pull off this event, we gathered the following supplies:

    • Tent/canopy
    • Table
    • Tablecloth
    • Centerpiece
    • Clipboard with resident names and addresses to verify residency
    • Pens
    • Two egg collection boxes – one for children ages 0-5 and another for children ages 6-12
    • Egg hunt book from the library
    • Blankets on which children can sit
    • Chair(s)
    • Water
    • Lemonade
    • Cookie tray with 84 cookies from Sam’s Club
    • Cups
    • Napkins
    • Cooler
    • Plastic trash bag

Setting up for our Community Egg Hunt

Our team of volunteers arrived around 9:30 a.m. We setup the tent and table. Then arranged all the items and waited for the children to arrive.

Executing the Plan for our Community Egg Hunt

10:30 a.m.: Collect eggs and children’s activity

As each participating child arrived, he or she added the 10 filled-eggs to the appropriate box. Then the child came to the blanket where we played a game. At 10:30 a.m., I read the egg hunt story titled, Last One In Is a Rotten Egg.

10:45 a.m.:  Parents and teens hide eggs while children get organized into age groups

While reading the story, adults went to the playground to hide the eggs. The plan was to hide the younger children’s eggs in front of the playground and the older children’s eggs behind the playground. However, with a small showing, all the eggs were hidden in front of the playground.

After the story, which teaches about playing fair, instructions were given that each child was to hunt 10 eggs. We then marched out to the playground to have them line up. Once in place, we gave the signal and sent them hunting.

11:00 a.m.: Hunt eggs

The big ones did a great job helping the younger ones. They wandered all over the place finding all the eggs and making sure everyone received 10 eggs.

11:15 a.m.: Open eggs and enjoy the contents

As they began opening the eggs to find their prizes, we headed back to the tent area for cookies and lemonade.

11:25 a.m.:  Conclude with refreshments

We munched and concluded our community egg hunt by finishing the games we started prior to reading the book. The older children enjoyed figuring out the buzz word from the list of given clues.

Cleaning up our Community Egg Hunt

With a few homeowners coming out to watch the festivities and getting in on the refreshments, we ended a little after the one-hour scheduled time frame. With everything together, tear down was quick.

We packed up the leftover items into the two empty boxes, folded up the table, and took down the tent within 15 minutes. Making sure all the trash was picked up and the area free from debris, we headed home chatting with our neighbors.

My oldest and youngest participated in our community egg hunt and enjoyed the activities, especially the lemonade and cookies. With a plan in place and the supplies gathered, the event was executed as scheduled.

Having the participants bring plastic filled eggs alleviated the element of guessing how many would attend. Also, limiting the event to one hour made this event relatively easy to assemble.

We had a great time at our community egg hunt, and my children are ready for more egg hunts this Easter season. Happy hunting!

Question: What additional activities do you include with your egg hunts?