Tips for Packing the Perfect Lunch

With the start of school right around the corner, (and for many of you, already underway) you may have started thinking about packing lunches. Truth be told, it is not our favorite parenting gig here at Casa Chybinski. In fact, while I am the one that plans the grocery lists and oversees the shopping, my husband is the one that actually puts the lunches together and packs them.

We are team "night before" when it comes to packing school lunches. I am all in favor of an organization system that allows for more time in the mornings and less rushing around. Therefore, we are pretty firm on backpacks and lunches being put together the night before.

Everything You Need to Know About Backpacks

Perhaps nothing signals the return of kids to school like the backpack. I don't ever recall carrying a backpack, loaded with books, to and from my own school as a kid. But since the day my oldest was born, I've been scouting the perfect back-to-school backpack.

Where did this obsession with backpacks come from? I can't recall anyone carrying a backpack when I was in school (ok - it was the 70's and 80's). According to this fantastic article by Lee Hale from NPR, the backpack craze as we know it launched itself firmly in 1982, when LL Bean featured their Book Pack. It quickly became the company's top-selling product, and is still one of the top sellers in backpacks today. By the late 1980's every kid was carrying a backpack.

A Parents' Guide to Pokemon Go

When I was a kid, there was a product, probably a toy, with the slogan, "the sensation that's sweeping the nation" - I have long since forgotten what the amazing product was, but the slogan has managed to stay with me all these years and I was reminded of it after last weekend's Pokemon Go craze. If you haven't caught the fever, I'm willing to bet your kids have, or know kids that are already collecting. You may have even seen them yourself - kids roaming the neighborhood or cars pulling over suddenly.

While Pokemon has been around for more than 17 years, in a variety of formats, Pokemon Go is the newly released mobile App from Niantic Labs in collaboration with the Pokemon Company (of which Nintendo owns 32%) . Despite launch problems and criticism, the App added $9 BILLION to the Nintendo Market Capitalization. That's Billion with a "B". So despite what you may think about Pokemon, the craze is real and it's not just for kids based on the number of my adult friends claiming their obsession with finding all the Pokemon in their towns.

A Safer Alternative for Kids' Hair Care

Let's take a minute and talk about kids' hair. I can clearly remember strongly disliking my mom brushing my hair each morning. I was the girl with the tight ponytails. As the mom of two boys, I feel the need to confess that when they were younger,  I let them leave the house without even combing their hair. I'm not sure how it happened, but since they are boys, I guess I wasn't thinking about doing their hair.

Fast forward to the tween and teen years. Now my bathroom is filled with hair products and the boys spend time each morning styling their hair to get it to look just so. So when Piggy Paint offered to send me some samples of their new, natural line of kids' hair products I said YES! Rock the Locks products are infused with organic ingredients, free of sulfates, parabens and other harsh chemicals, and packaged in a revolutionary non-aerosol spray can. Sounds cool right?  

3 Ways to Manage Your Toy Budget

This is a sponsored post, however all ideas and opinions on toys, managing your toy budget and everything else, are all my own.

Toys are a big part of childhood. But toys can also be so much more than just fun and games. Most toys provide at least some opportunity for kids to learn. And learning is good!  When my kids were little, the best part about play dates, was having a whole new set of toys to play with. Because face it, kids do get bored with their own toys, no matter how creative their imaginations are. And that can get expensive!

Here are three ways you can manage your toy budget, and still keep your kids entertained:

School Lunches - How to Make them Healthy AND Fun

This post was created in partnership with Stonyfield. All opinions are my own.


If I asked you to draw your "Dream Lunch", what would your drawing include? Mine would almost definitely include a menu and someone else preparing it! Well I asked my kids what their dream lunches would be like and I got this:

Organization Tip for Back to School - School Binders

The first day of school is quickly approaching . . . are you ready? To help get you ready,  I am sharing one of my all-time BEST organization tips (I've been using it for 9 years!). Creating a School Year Binder for each child. Keeping school papers organized should not be a difficult or time-consuming task! This is life-changing - are you ready??

While you're out buying school supplies, get a binder to represent each of your kids, for yourself. You may also want to pick up dividers or Post-it Tabs to separate the sections. Each member of our family has long been assigned a calendar color. This calendar color translates into other areas of household and schedule organization, such as the School Year Binder colors.

Frozen Chocolate-Covered Bananas

This summer, I have vowed to try and make fun and different snacks for my kids. Getting creative in the kitchen and bringing back some classics. I got an email the other night, and it had chocolate covered bananas pictured in it . . .I thought - YUM!

So I set out to make a batch.

What You Need
3 Bananas (more or less depending on your crowd)
Semi-sweet Chocolate Chips
Popcicle or craft sticks
Coconut, Nuts or Sprinkles (optional)
Knife, Baking Sheet, Parchment Paper

What You Do

• Line your baking sheet with parchment paper.
• Peel your bananas and slice them in half.
• Gently insert the craft sticks into the round end, pushing about half way in.

• Melt some chocolate chips in a microwave-safe bowl (I do mine on 30 second intervals).
• Stir up the melted chocolate to get it nice and smooth.
• Holding the banana by the stick, drop chocolate over it, covering about 2/3s of the banana.

• Lie the chocolate covered banana on your baking sheet.
• Repeat, melting more chocolate if you run out.
• If you want, you can sprinkle the covered bananas with shredded coconut, chopped nuts and/or sprinkles. I bet chopped pretzel or peanut butter chips would be yummy too.

• Slide the tray into your freezer to let the chocolate set - about 10 minutes.

Enjoy!

What snacks are you enjoying this summer?

catch you soon -

No School Can Mean No Lunch

This is a sponsored post with The Motherhood on behalf of ConAgra Foods and Feeding America, but all thoughts and opinions are my own.


Many of us, myself included, are looking forward to the summer break from school. What you may not realize, and I hadn't really considered before, is that nearly 90% of school children have limited or no access to the free or reduced price meals they receive at school during the school year. Wow - right?

We may not think it's happening in our neighborhoods and school districts, but studies have shown that it is, and children may be at even greater risk for hunger during the summer months. Kids can't be kids when they're hungry. We had a conversation about his over dinner the other night. It was a classic case of the kids not wanting to eat, and me being reminded of when I was a kid and told, "if you're not going to eat it, we'll send it kids that will." While I know that's not a great way to encourage your own kids to eat healthy, there's merit to thinking about our own habits and how we can help kids have more.

The issue of hungry children came to light for me while I was watching an episode of Chopped. It was a competition among Cafeteria Cooks and one woman said if she won, she was going to use her winnings to support her efforts to feed kids during the weekends and summer breaks from school. How awesome is that? She had put together a whole backpack program to send food home with kids over the weekends. So when The Motherhood asked me to be a part of spreading the word about ConAgra Food's Hunger Free Summer Initiative, I said, "count me in!"

ConAgra Foods' Humger Free Summer initiative is in it's fifth year (FIVE years - who knew??!!) and has supported the delivery of 3.8 million meals to children struggling with hunger over the summer. How can we make a difference in our communities and in countless communities across the United States? This summer, 26 food banks in 18 states will use Hunger-Free Summer grants, funded by the ConAgra Food Foundation - ranging from $20,000 to $50,000 - to expand their summer feeding program, bringing more healthy meals to more children during the summer.

View, like or share Kid President’s new video to raise awareness for kids who are at risk of hunger this summer and help make kids’ summers “awesome!” Every time you take one of these actions, the ConAgra Foods Foundation will donate the monetary equivalent of one meal to the nation’s leading hunger-relief organization, Feeding America, up to two million meals.¹ 

A pretty easy way to help - right?




What else can you do to help? Here are some suggestions to get you started, but talk to your own kids around the dinner table and come back and share their ideas. If we all work together, we can make a difference.

Volunteer - While providing meals is a top priority, fun activities are also im portant in attracting children to feeding sites, During the summer, volunteers can help transport food, help an existing feeding site with lunch prep and clean-up or do activities with the kids. Visit www.feedingamerica.org to find a food bank near you in need of volunteers.

Advocate - To find meal sites in your area, call the National Hunger Hotline at 1-866-3-HUNGRY (1-866-348-6479)

Learn - To learn more about the issue of child hunger, visit www.childhungerendshere.com and click on the "taking action" tab.

Hopefully together, we can help ensure less and less kids feel hungry during summer break! Here's to a great summer for every kid!

catch you soon -
  ¹For every view, like or share of this Kid President video recorded on Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest, Tumblr and Google+ from May 22, 2014 through July 31, 2014, the ConAgra Foods Foundation will donate 11.1¢, the cost for Feeding America to provide one meal through its network of local food banks. Minimum donation of 10,000 meals ($11,111). Maximum donation of two million meals ($222,000). Valid in U.S. only.
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Getting a Grip on Tech {Review}

I don't know about your family, but it seems to me, that we are always on the move these days. At some point during the day, I am running around the house saying "get your coat, grab a hat, take any gadgets you want in the car." This is particularly relevant to my youngest, who spends a lot of time with me in the car carting his older brother around to various events.

I let him keep amused with bringing an iTouch or a DS . . .but I always cringe when he wants to bring the iPad . . .they are slippery little things. So I was delighted when a bright red Gripcase landed on my front step for review.

It was super easy to slip the iPad 2 into the flexible case. . .although I admit, the first time I put it in backwards, but quickly realized my mistake when the buttons didn't match up with the spaces. If you exercise more patience than I did and look at it first, you won't have any problems - it's really easy.

I love the way it looks - the bright red color makes it easy to spot, and those handles all around are fantastic for carrying it and keeping a good grip on it. My teenager thought it looked a little "dorky", but had to admit it was easy to hold onto, carry and hand back and forth with his brother.

You can see more about the sizes and colors that the Gripcase comes in on their website. You can also read about their wonderful BOGO program. With this program, when you buy a Gripcase, they will donate one to a school of your choice. Gripcase is also pretty active on social media, if you're looking for a fun brand to interact with. You can find them on Pinterest, Facebook and Twitter.

We we are giving the Gripcase two thumbs up (six, if you count all three of us).

catch you soon -

Disclosure - Gripcase.com provided a case to facilitate this review.  As always, all opinions expressed are my own and those of my family.

DIY Easy Turkey Place Cards for Your Thanksgiving Table

I was flipping through the latest Paper Source catalog, and Owen saw this beautiful Thanksgiving table scape with adorable turkey place cards. He asked if we could make some, so I ripped out the page and said, "probably". Who doesn't love a good craft challenge?

Since Thanksgiving is this week, we sat down on Saturday and got to work on our turkey place cards. I used all materials I had on-hand in my crafting stash, so this was a budget-friendly craft as well.

What you will need:

• Dark Brown Cardstock
• Two Colors of Cardstock (we chose yellow and orange)
• Orange Cardstock (for the beak and feet)
• Google Eyes
• Scissors
• Glue

What you will do:

To make our turkey bodies, I used a scalloped edge paper punch. You can also trace circles on dark brown cardstock and cut them out.

To make tail feathers, I used a chipboard oval that I had in my stash and traced it on yellow and orange cardstock. You can also free-hand these and make them any shape you's like.

To make the beaks, I cut a small rectangle of orange cardstock, then cut small triangles from that.

To make the feet, I used a small heart-shaped paper punch and turned them point-side up. Again, you can free-hand.

Now that you have all your pieces, you can assemble your turkeys. I laid out 4 tail feathers, alternating orange and yellow. I used white school glue on the bottom corner, and fanned them all together then stuck my dark brown turkey body on top.

Attach the eyes, beak and feet with glue and let your turkeys dry.

Once the turkeys are dry, you can attach them to pre-cut place cards, or make some out of white or colored cardstock.  Write your guest's names in silver, gold or black ink - and you're done.

Since it's all paper, it's a great craft for a child to put together - they can use white school glue and have a lot of fun. Owen is very excited to bring these down to Mimi and Pop-pop's for our Thanksgiving feast.

Are you putting anything special on your Thanksgiving table this year?

catch you soon -

Easy Thankful Books to Make With Your Kids

A Thanksgiving tradition for many people, is expressing something you are thankful for over the past year. Sometimes it's done silently, sometimes written and sometimes spoken around the Thanksgiving table. I've done many of these with my own family, and a favorite for kids, especially toddlers and pre-schoolers, is a Thankful Book.

If you have older kids (or are a TV junkie), you may remember Blues Clues. . .my boys loved that show, and we spent countless hours drawing "clues" in our pawprint notebook. One year, they did a Thanksgiving episode, and Steve and Blue had a Thankful Book that they wrote what everyone was thankful for in it.

This episode inspired me to make my own Thankful Books for my own kids. But I wanted something they could do on their own to keep them entertained. We created handprint books, and my oldest went around and asked everyone what they were thankful for that year, and my youngest who was probably 2 at the time, just colored in it and carried it around all day. How you use it is up to you, but it's an easy way to get kids thinking about gratitude.

Here's all you need:

• 1 sheet of colored card stock
• Multiple sheets of white cardstock or drawing paper
• An adult sized hand 
• Scissors
• Hole Punch
• Jump Rings and/or Ribbon
• Alphabet Stickers or a Marker

Here's what you do:

• Trace your hand twice on the colored cardstock. (I traced bigger than my hand)
• Trace your hand on the white paper or cardstock as many times as pages that you want for your book.
• Cut out the hands.
• Stack the white hands between the colored cardstock hands and punch 2 holes.
• Attach with jump rings or ribbon.
• Use alphabet stickers or a marker to label your Thankful Book.
• Fill it with gratitudes, doodles, or anything your child's heart desires.

And there you have it - an easy and fun book for your child to have on Thanksgiving. I still keep mine in my gratitude box. (updated post and instructions coming soon)

How do you help your kids express gratitude?

catch you soon -

How-To Choose the Right Video Games for Your Family

If your family is into gaming, there's a lot more to consider than what's popular and what's the right console for your needs. Choosing the right video games for your family is an important decision.

We aren't huge gamers around here, the boys started with LeapPads when they were toddlers, moved onto DSs when they hit school-age, and are now immersed in the WiiU, PSP and 3DS. I remember when my family got our very fist game, the Odyssey from Sears, and then eventually upgraded to an Atari and finally a Nintendo. Some of my favorite games growing up were Ka-Boom, Stampede and Pac-Man.

John and I purchased a Nintendo before the kids were born, and we may have called out sick one day to play Super Mario Brothers. It's a game I still enjoy playing with the boys on our WiiU.

I've always been strict about content.  I buy only E games and only recently have allowed games for kids 10+. Games these days are so much more realistic than that square (ball) and stick that I played as a kid. With that realism comes a lot of confusion for parents. There's a lot to consider when purchasing or downloading a game for your kids to play. I did so much research before I let my kids play Minecraft, and I'm really glad I did.

Recently, I was a guest at the Activision Family Game Summit, and there was some great discussion around the ESRB. Not familiar with the ESRB?  The Entertainment Software Rating Board assigns ratings and content information for video games and apps. You may have noticed their black boxes on a recent game purchase, and if you haven't noticed it, you're going to want to start looking.

These boxes can tell you the following helpful information:

• Rating Categories: Such as C, E, E10+, T, M and A
• Content Description: Such as "comic mischief" or "mild lyrics"
• Interactive Elements: Such as "Shares Info", "Shares Location" and/or "Users Interact"

Virtually all boxed games have ESRB Rating Summaries, which can be found on the box, online at ESRB.org or on the ESRB mobile app. So know what you're buying before you buy it, Educating yourself can really help in choosing appropriate games for your kids.

This is your first step in finding age-appropriate and content-appropriate games for your family to enjoy. Many of them can even be played as a family and can bring a whole-new light to family game night!

But there's a second step, Parental Controls. Game consoles, handhelds and even most operating systems offer parental control settings that let you restrict access. Step-by-step guides can be found in the device's manual or online at ESRB.org/parents. Don't be shy - get informed. In fact, it's a great idea to talk to your kids about what kinds of games they are interested in. Opening up the lines of communications allows you to tell them what your expectations are and what your family rules are.

While many of these games can provide hours of entertainment and even teach your kids some things, they can also be harmful when not used properly or safely. If you're looking for more information on choosing a game console and games, my friend, Leticia (TechSavvyMama) recently published an article that may help.

What's your current favorite video game?

catch you soon -

Disclosure - I received a care package for attending the summit. I was not compensated for my time or this post and this was NOT a sponsored post. As always, all opinions are my very own.

Spooky S'mores Halloween Treats

I am going to blame Pinterest for an over-load of ideas for a special classroom treat for Halloween this year. I let Owen look at ideas I had pinned, and then we worked our own interpretation of Spooky S'mores to share with his class.

I had a hard time finding Ghost Peeps this year - I think a lot of other moms were inspired too. But I did find these adorable Halloween colored Peeps, so I decided to use them. (You could also use the pumpkin Peeps or even just plain marshmallows)

Here's what you need:

• Sandwich Bags
• Peeps or Marshmallows
• Graham Crackers
• Chocolate Bars (we used small Hershey Bars)

I liked the idea of a decorated "bag-tag" with instructions for making the s'mores, so I used Word and created squares that we could cut out. I also dug into my papercrafting and scrapbook supplies for some material to make Halloween tags to put on each bag.

We used three paper punches I had on hand to make the tags, and Owen punched them all out and glued them together.

What types of spooky treats are you making this year?

catch you soon -

How To : Starting a Green Team at Your School

Photo courtesy of freedigitalphotos.net / tungphoto

Everyone is going "green" these days, and our schools are no exception. Greening our schools can be good for the environment, good for education and good for the bottom line, as well. If you are a fan of the TV show, Parenthood, you may recall Julia's Sustainability Committee duty.  But if you don't already have a program in place, how can you suggest that your school get its own Green Team in the game?

Start by asking your Parent-Teacher organization, they may welcome the opportunity for a new committee and new volunteers. Check with your administrators and be sure to get clearance for any projects or programs you want to start. Once you get the "green" light - you're all set.

Now, the fun part begins. Your team can develop a mission or vision statement to set the tone and consider inviting teachers, staff and parents to participate on your team, as well. Decide if your team wants to set a few goals to get you started. For instance, you could start a recycle program, such as Terracycle in your lunchroom. Terracycle can be a great place for ideas and inspiration.

We are getting started with this in our school district, and the team is focusing on three primary areas: Reducing Waste, Education and Grounds and Greening. Something to keep in mind, is that when you are just getting started, it takes time to learn how things are currently being done. Once you figure that out, your team can come up with a strategy to improve and green your processes. I keep my ideas on a Green Team Pinterest Board if you'd like to check them out.

The possibilities are endless, from hosting a swap meet for clothes or toys to a clean up the grounds day, to planting a school garden to share with the community or lunchroom. All it takes is a little time and some volunteers to get started. And look around, there are grants and other programs available to help you out as well.

Does your school have a Green Team? What are your initiatives for this school year?

catch you soon -

Book Review: Weelicious Lunches by Catherine McCord

I may not be an expert in the kitchen, but I enjoy putting healthy and delicious food out for my family. Thanks to the Yo-Getter program I belong to with Stonyfield, I had the opportunity to review Catherine McCord's new book, Weelicious Lunches, and share my thoughts with you.

Catherine McCord is the founder of the popular website weelicious.com, a 2013 Babble Top 100 Mom Food Blog. The premise of this book is to provide "out of the box" healthy ideas for your kids for lunch. I don't know about you, but packing kid lunches drives me to distraction.

Rainbow Looms for Sports Fans

I've posted before that the boys are enjoying the latest craft craze, Rainbow Loom. If you follow me on Instagram, you know I have more bracelets than any girl could possibly wear.

But that is not stopping the kids. In fact, with the kick-off of the NFL season, the boys were mapping out team colors to make bracelets. Blue and orange for the Denver Broncos, Green and White for hte Philadelphia Eagles, and so on. The Fishtail and the Double-X seem to be the favored sports fan designs and are suitable for boys or girls.

We've already made a few in our own school colors: blue and steel.

If you're short on colors, check online. Amazon has a wide variety (that's where we found the steel) from several manufacturers. And don't limit your talents . . . your arms are long enough for your favorite NHL, NBA and MLB teams as well.

Like to root for the home team? Make a bracelet to support your neighborhood leagues, school districts and other sports organizations. Team or league bracelets would make great fundraisers too.

What will you make?

catch you soon -

Three Tips to Help Your Kids Stay Organized for School

We all want to be more organized. A simple search on Pinterest, brings up tons of ideas, tips and tricks for keeping ourselves more organized. I have a PinBoard devoted to Organization, and truth be told it's one of my favorites.

But how do we help our kids get and stay organized for the upcoming school year? I have found 3 tips that really help my kids stay on track.

1. Color Code for multiple subject students. My oldest is in Middle School, and when we are purchasing supplies, we set up a color for each subject, and purchase binders, folders and composition books in the appropriate colors (Blue for Math, Red for Social Studies, etc.) This cuts down on the "grabbing the wrong notebook" issue.

2. Student Planners. We are very fortunate in our district, and the school provides each student with a planner. I take time each Sunday to sit down with them for 5 minutes and help them note anything they may need to know: Gym? Bring shoes. Band? Bring Instrument. At the same time, I update my own calendar so I know what they need me to do, as far as pick ups and drop offs.

3. Lunch Menus. My kids do a combination of buying school lunch and bringing lunch from home. I print the monthly lunch menus and post on our refrigerator. On the weekend, we scan ahead to see what days they are bringing lunch. This helps with our grocery shopping as well.

Teaching my kids to be responsible and accountable for their school work, sets a good example and practice field for when they go off to college and the work world.

How do you help your kids stay organized?

catch you soon -

What To Do With School Papers

If your kids have already started school, then you probably have a stack of papers cluttering up your desk or counter already. If they haven't started yet, be prepared. It never ceases to amaze me, even after all this time, just how much paper comes home from school, especially in those first few days.

What's a parent to DO with all that paper? Some of it you KNOW you'll need again, and some of it you MAY need to look at again. How do you organize it all?

I face all that paper with a 2-prong attack:

1. Individual Kid School Binders
2. School of Memories File System

I've been using these two systems since Ryan was in kindergarten, and they are still working wonderfully. Check out this video to see how to set up your own system, and what I include in mine.



catch you soon -

7 Tips for Back-to-School Shopping

Yes, I realize that it's still summer, however if you have been in a store recently, you have seen that it is also time to get ready for Back-to-School. Yes. . .they are going back. I must confess, that I LOVE Back-to-School shopping. . .clothes, supplies, shoes. . .love it.

Today, to help you get prepared and hopefully save a little money, I am sharing my Top 7 Tips to get you ready for Back-to-School shopping for your kids.