Bring That Special Christmas Joy To Your Loved Ones

For years now, The Mommies Network has provided an easy way to bring special Christmas joy to the children in your life with letters from Santa himself. This year we've partnered with Top Santa Letters to make it better than ever!

With help from Top Santa Letters we are able to offer more personalization, more letters, and add on gifts and prizes! And because the elves at The Mommies Network don’t have to print, ship, and repost those letters, you know yours will arrive in about 4 days- direct from the North Pole.

Here are just some of the things you can expect from your Mommies Network exclusive letter packages: -FREE and fast shipping -Full editing capability to make a truly unique letter. -Order for more than one child in a single transaction. -Stickers, activity pages and more!

Ordering your Santa letters from Top Santa Letters through The Mommies Network allows us to raise funds that maintain our sites across the country and support moms daily both online & offline. Great products for a great cause! Get on Santa’s Nice List and order today.

Back 2 School Paypal cash giveaway!

It's almost Back 2 School time and Uncreative Mommy wants to help 1 luck winner get everything they need this year!!

She is giving away $200 PayPal cash! Ready to win? To submit your entry to win, use the Rafflecopter form below.

• All mandatory entries will be verified so make sure you do the mandatory entries first using Rafflecopter.
• It’s open to everyone over 18 years old and one winner will be chosen via Rafflecopter to receive $200 in PayPal cash
• Winner will be notified via email
• Winner must respond within 48 hours

a Rafflecopter giveaway

My Secret Support System That Keeps Me Sane #mommiesnetwork

I have been a member of this wonderful network of support since 2007 and can't live without it. The Mommies Network and my local chapter Centralfoothillsmommies has been there for me in good times and bad. I just wish I had found them sooner when I was pregnant with my first child or trying to conceive many years ago. I have formed friendships and bonds that will last a lifetime and memories that my children will recall throughout their lives. I now serve in a leadership role and enjoy giving back to my local chapter and on the national level. Like all great non-profits though, it does take funds to run a network that is doing so much. 
Please consider supporting this worthy network by donating this month via our May is for Mothers campaign.  I challenge you to match my $100 donation or give at least $10 towards our goal. Come on, together we can do this! 
I want to share the post from The Mommies Network blog today: video is priceless!

Across the country, we have been proud to provide support to mothers from all walks of life for the last 11 years. But, as time has gone by, we have seen a shift in the dynamics between mothers and we have seen a divide that the media has dubbed "The Mommy Wars."

When The Mommies Network was founded, we saw that mothers have a unique bond- a shared strength from loving for our children. We identified that the characteristics of being a mother- the passion, the sacrifice, the deep conviction of providing to our children a better world- all of these things were also aspects that could create a community of women who could make the world a better place. 

The Mommies Network 2013 from The Mommies Network on Vimeo.

  However, in order to make these communities, we have to overcome the hurdles of the "Mommy Wars." We need to come back to our place of support, and see that how we parent is not nearly as important as our love for our children. What divides us is weaker than what unites us.
Supporting mothers does not always look like what you think it might. But, to us, supporting mothers means ...

providing a place for them to feel safe...

giving them a free corner of the world where they can find other mothers who have been where they have been....

giving them a community where they can be themselves..

providing these things to mothers we don't always agree with...

we stop defining ourselves, and each other, as being different, and instead we unite under the idea that the diversity of our members makes us stronger.

We serve over 30,000 women in our mission to provide a safe and FREE place to find support and encouragement, advice and friendship.

Your donation to The Mommies Network provides us with the means to unite mothers from across the country and to provide a real network of support. Help us end "The Mommy Wars" by making a donation in honor of a mother who may not be like you, but is part of the community of moms that makes your world a better place.

Donate to MOMMIES NETWORK at Razoo

Join us today to help end "The Mommy Wars" , uniting mothers across the country! Donate with me! All donations are tax deductible! 

Global Effort and Giving Back [infographic] #atozchallenge

Global Effort and Giving Back 

Do you give back? Do you teach your children how to give back to others? why or why not? That has to be on of the single most important task we as parents I feel have been assigned to us, teaching our kids how to respect others people and give back to others. I bet you will find in households with kids who misbehave, act out or disrespect authority, parents that do not respect other people or give back to others themselves. Setting an example early on, even as infants, will instill an attitude of giving and respect that will follow your kids later in life and help them far more than you think.
How do you teach them to give back? Easy, show them by doing it yourself! Volunteer, deliver meals, donate to local charities, collect toys for tots, give away toys and clothes to the less fortunate, donate can foods to local food banks, take homemade cookies to a local neighborhood senior, show acts of kindness with your kids helping ( we love to to these all the time).
Share some of your giving back ideas in our comments, we love to hear them!

I love the infographic below that shows some giving back from major companies! A Global effort to help the world we live in. We studied this today and wanted to share it.

Homeschool Health & Science: Soda's Evil Twin

We are learning how to eat cleaner, read labels, cut out sugars and how big business markets soda and fruit juice's. Teaching kids now will lead to good choices in life.

Source: a-health-blog.com via Health on Pinterest

Leslie

Have a blessed day at your house.

The Motherhood: my secret weapon

In What State are you trying to survive? Here are our local chapters located in states listed, find your place to call home. Lets help each other out this year through this journey called surviving motherhood.

The Mommies Network currently operates local chapters in 32 states. We have 21,882 active members network-wide.

For those moms who do not have a local chapter in their community, we welcome you to join the National Chapter.

Find Your Local Chapter:

TMN Chapters by State
• Alabama
  • BirminghamMommiesserving Jefferson and Shelby County
• Arizona
  • PhoenixMommiesserving Phoenix and surrounding areas of Maricopa County
• Arkansas
  • LittleRockMommiesserving the greater Little Rock area
• California
  • NorCalMommiesserving Northern California from South Valley California north to the Oregon border
  • OceansideMommiesserving Oceanside, Carlsbad and Vista, including Camp Pendleton
  • SantaBarbaraMommiesserving Santa Barbara and Ventura Counties
  • SCValleyMommiesserving Santa Clarita Valley and surrounding areas
  • SLOCountyMommiesserving San Luis Obispo County
• Colorado
  • ColoradoSpringsMommiesserving Colorado Springs
• District of Columbia
  • NorthMetroDCMommiesserving Montgomery and Prince Georges Counties and surrounding areas
  • NoVaMommiesserving Fairfax, Loudoun, Prince William, and Arlington Counties and surrounding areas
• Florida
  • FortLauderdaleMommiesserving Broward County
  • JacksonvilleMommiesserving Jacksonville
  • KeyWestMommiesserving Key West and the Lower Keys
  • SEGeorgiaMommiesserving Camden, Brantley, Glynn, Wayne, and Charlton counties in Georgia, and Nassau county in Florida
  • SWFloridaMommiesserving Lee and Collier Counties
  • TampaMommiesserving Hillsborough and southern Pasco Counties
• Georgia
  • AtlantaAreaMommiesserving Atlanta and surrounding areas (Fulton, DeKalb, Cobb, Cherokee, Paulding, and Bartow counties)
  • ForsythMommiesserving Forsyth County
  • GwinnettAreaMommiesserving Gwinnett, Barrow, Walton, Hall, Clarke, Oconee, Oglethorpe, Madison, and Jackson Counties
  • SEGeorgiaMommiesserving Camden, Brantley, Glynn, Wayne, and Charlton counties in Georgia, and Nassau county in Florida
• Illinois
  • StLouisMommiesserving the greater St. Louis area
• Indiana
  • CincinnatiMommiesserving Cincinnati and surrounding areas
  • IndyMommiesserving Indianapolis and Lafayette area
  • LouisvilleMommiesserving Louisville and surrounding areas
• Kansas
  • KCMommiesserving Kansas City and surrounding areas
• Kentucky
  • CincinnatiMommiesserving Cincinnati and surrounding areas
  • LouisvilleMommiesserving Louisville and surrounding areas
• Maryland
  • BaltimoreMommiesserving Baltimore, Howard, Eastern Carroll and Northern Anne Arundel Counties
  • ChesapeakeMommiesserving Harford and Cecil Counties
  • FrederickMommiesserving Frederick, Washington and Western Carroll Counties
  • NorthMetroDCMommiesserving Montgomery and Prince Georges Counties
• Massachusetts
  • MerrimackValleyMommiesserving areas around Concord and Manchester, including northern Mass
• Michigan
  • NWMichiganMommiesserving Antrim, Charlevoix, Grand Traverse, Kalkaska & Leelanau Counties
  • ToledoAreaMommiesserving greater Monroe, Michigan and greater Toledo.
• Missouri
  • KCMommiesserving Kansas City and surrounding areas
  • StLouisMommiesserving the greater St. Louis area
• Nebraska
  • MyOmahaMommiesserving Omaha and surrounding areas
• Nevada
  • VegasMommiesserving Las Vegas
• New Hampshire
  • MerrimackValleyMommiesserving areas around Concord and Manchester, including northern Mass
• New York
  • BuffaloMommiesserving Buffalo and surrounding areas
  • HudsonValleyMommiesserving Mid-Hudson Valley Area (Ulster, Dutchess, Columbia, Putnam and Orange Counties)
  • RochesterMommiesserving Rochester and surrounding areas
  • SaratogaCountyMommiesserving Saratoga County
• North Carolina
  • AlamanceMommiesserving Alamance, Caswell, Western Orange, Person and Granville Counties
  • AshevilleMommiesserving Buncombe County
  • CentralFoothillsMommiesserving Alexander, Catawba, Burke,Caldwell & Iredell Counties
  • CentralPiedmontMommiesserving Rowan, Cabarrus and Stanly Counties
  • CharlotteMommiesserving Charlotte, Pineville, Matthews and Mint Hill
  • CrystalCoastMommiesserving Carteret, Onslow, Jones and Craven Counties
  • FayettevilleMommiesserving Sandhills area: Cumberland, Hoke, Harnett, Moore, Lee, and Chatham Counties
  • GreenvilleMommiesserving the Greenville area including Pitt, Martin, Lenoir and Greene Counties
  • HighCountryMommiesserving Ashe, Avery, and Watauga Counties
  • JohnstonMommiesserving Johnston and Northeast Harnett Counties
  • LakeNormanMommiesserving the Lake Norman Area
  • NorthPiedmontMommiesserving Davidson, Davie, and Randolph Counties
  • SWPiedmontMommiesserving Gaston, Cleveland and Lincoln Counties
  • TriadMommiesserving Guilford, Forsyth, Stokes, and Rockingham Counties
  • TriangleMommiesserving Durham, Wake and Eastern Orange counties
  • UnionCountyMommiesserving Union and Anson Counties
  • WilmingtonMommiesserving Wilmington and surrounding areas
• Ohio
  • CincinnatiMommiesserving Cincinnati and surrounding areas
  • ClevelandMommiesserving Cleveland
  • ColumbusOHMommiesserving Franklin, Delaware, Licking, and Fairfield Counties
  • ToledoAreaMommiesserving greater Monroe, Michigan and greater Toledo
• Oregon
  • PortlandMetroMommiesserving Multnomah, Washington, and Clackamas Counties
• Pennsylvania
  • BuxmontMommiesserving Bucks and Montgomery Counties
• South Carolina
  • CharlestonMommiesserving Charleston, Berkeley, and Dorchester Counties
  • UpstateSCMommiesserving Greenville and Spartanburg Counties
  • YorkCountyMommiesserving York County
• Tennessee
  • ClarksvilleMommiesserving Montgomery County
  • KnoxvilleMommiesserving Knoxville and surrounding areas
• Texas
  • CentralTexasMommiesserving Central Texas including Austin, Fort Hood, and San Antonio areas
  • ElPasoMommiesserving Greater El Paso Region
  • HoustonAreaMommiesserving Houston and surrounding areas
  • MidessaMommiesserving Midland, Odessa and surrounding areas
  • NorthDallasMommiesserving Collin and Denton Counties
• Utah
  • SaltLakeCityMommiesserving Salt Lake, Davis, and Utah Counties
• Virginia
  • FredericksburgMommiesserving Stafford, King George, Westmoreland, Spotsylvania and Caroline Counties
  • HamptonRoadsMommiesserving southside of Hampton Roads
  • LynchburgMommiesserving Appomattox, Amherst, Bedford and Campbell Counties
  • NoVaMommiesserving Fairfax, Loudoun, Prince William, and Arlington Counties
  • PeninsulaMommiesserving Peninsula Area of Hampton Roads
  • RichmondMommiesserving Richmond and surrounding areas
• Washington
  • KitsapMommiesserving San Juan Islands and Clallam, Jefferson, Kitsap, Pierce Counties
• West Virginia
  • CharlestonWVMommiesserving Kanawha, Putnam, and other southern WV counties
• Wisconsin
  • MilwaukeeMommiesserving Milwaukee and Waukesha Counties

Welcome to the best support network for moms, hands down!

That's my secret weapon, my local chapter here in North Carolina is http://centralfoothillsmommies.com, I have been a member since 2007. The support and long term friendships I have built are priceless. It's we're I go online to start and end my day, many times throughout the day.
Find your secret weapon today!

Life's Little Instructions~~

                                                                       Source: sueswink.tumblr.com via Brittany on Pinterest

Healthy Breakfast Cookies

                                                        Source: madincrafts.com via Jamie on Pinterest

We are all so busy this time of year with the holidays coming up, I wanted a fast,healthy and yummy alternative to breakfast. This cookie is packed with delicious healthy and nutritious ingredients. Make them for the kids or yourself! Enjoy! Credit to Mad in Crafts for the recipe and photo!


HEALTHY BREAKFAST COOKIES
(adapted from Wise Bread)
3 mashed bananas 
1/3 cup apple sauce
2 cups uncooked quick-cooking oats
1/4 cup skim milk
1/2 cup craisins 
1/3 cup pecans, chopped
1/3 cup sunflower seeds
1 tsp vanilla
1 T cinnamon 
1 T sugar
Mix all ingredients together. Spoon the dough by teaspoonful onto a greased cookie sheet. 
Bake at 350 for 15 minutes. Cool and serve.  Leftovers can be frozen.

Christmas Book Lists For Teachers and Parents!

                                                               Source: teacherspayteachers.com via Letters from Santa on Pinterest

Find it here at Teacherspayteachers.com for free

FREE Christmas Book Lists for Teachers and Parents - Text List PDF file

This 10 page file contains 540 Christmas themed children's books ready for small ears!

Your free Christmas book list is suitable for students aged 2-9 years.

If you need a color, visual list, I have also made a 61 page file full of the same books:Christmas Book List (visual): 540 Christmas Books Teacher's Resourcehttp://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Christmas-Book-List-visual-540-Christmas-Books-Teachers-Resource

 This file has be organized into lists that include:

Christmas Tales 
Santa 
Elves 
Snowmen 
Christmas Trees 
Reindeers 
Christmas Decorations 
Family 
The Christmas Story 
Religious 
Advent of Christmas 
Christmas Songs 
Christmas Rhymes and Poetry 
Snow 
Christmas Drama
Christmas Picture Books 
Christmas Craft 
Christmas Cooking 
Christmas Food 
Christmas Humour 
Christmas Mathematics 
Christmas Adventure
Christmas Magic 
Christmas Animals 
Christmas Book Characters 
Christmas TV/Movie Books 
The Twelve Days of Christmas 
The Night Before Christmas 
First Christmas 
Christmas History and Traditions 
Christmas Around the World 
Winter Christmas 
Summer Christmas 
The Christmas Spirit 
Christmas Toys 
More Christmas Books! 
Christmas Readers 
Christmas Big Books 
Christmas Author Study 1: Jan Brett book list
Christmas Author Study 2: Dr. Seuss book list
Even more Christmas Books


Designed by Clever Classroom, 2012.

Naughty or Nice, Sugar or Spice?

Don't get caught on the Naughty List because you forgot to order customized Santa Letters for all your favorite kids!
I ordered mine last year from The Mommies Network and they were fabulous, love them, we even sent grandma one! She was so surprised and just loved it!
These are not just for kids, do you have any shut-ins at church? a grandparent in an assisted living home, or like ours a grandma that lives by herself now. A letter from Santa would just make their day!!

For just $6 for the first letter and 10% off for each thereafter, you can send the magic of Christmas to any child.  A unique letter that you personalize will arrive from North Pole Station in Alaska in time for Christmas.  Choose from a variety of themes including The Reason for the Season and School Days templates.  Each one is special- just like the children.

Please says Mr. Snuggles!

Act now before Santa gets too busy making toys and packing his sleigh!  Ordering is open through Tuesday, November 20.

No lumps of coal ! Come on mom they have been good, well maybe just a smidge................

Proceeds benefit The Mommies Network, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization dedicated to providing a safe, secure, FREE place for mothers to find support and encouragement from other mothers and to empower them to be better women, mothers and community leaders.
Please help support this organization that is very near and dear to this mommy blogger's heart!



Find your free printable Naughty List over at Elephant Shoe Journal! 

                                                          Source: blog.elephantshoe.com via Joanna on Pinterest

Random Acts of Kindness ~ 700 Teddy Bears

Such a sweet story, I had to share it ~~


"As a parent, I couldn't help but pass along my daughter's story.
My daughter, Taylor Marie Crabtree (age seven) started a business called TayBear Company. She makes and sells hand painted hair clips at local stores. When she started her business I assumed that she wanted extra spending money, but then she told me the purpose of her business.

Taylor was going to buy teddy bears for children with cancer. She said the kids probably have a lot of sadness in their lives and she wanted them to have something special to hug and to hug them back. Taylor wanted them to know that even strangers care about them. She set her goal at 500 teddy bears. I thought her too high goal was that of a child that didn't really understand. I was the one that didn't understand.

The media picked up on Taylor's project and our community has embraced her efforts. But help has come from far beyond our little community. Taylor has received donations from strangers that live thousands of miles away, just from word of mouth. It has been rather like a chain letter from the heart. With her scribbly second grade handwriting, she wrote each person with her appreciation and an update on her project. She has also expanded her project to include over 100 other children (including special needs kids) as helpers. Taylor wanted other kids to feel that they too were capable of helping others in their own way. Along the way she also raised her goal to 700 teddy bears.

Each day after selling, Taylor and her helpers talk about the people who had touched their hearts. Maybe it was the homeless man that had donated 11 cents and was surprised when he was told that was plenty of money to buy a hair clip. He and Taylor stood together choosing just the right hair clip for his lady friend. Or maybe it was the young woman who was flying back home the next day to say goodbye for the last time to her father, who was dying from cancer. Perhaps it was the man that drove all the way to his bank and back in order to buy a hair clip for his Mom. He said that his Dad had recently died from cancer. He wanted a child to have a teddy bear in his Dad's memory. With each hair clip or donation has come so many memories and a realization that when working toward a goal from your heart, the journey too is part of the experience. Taylor once told me "how could people not see Angels, they're everywhere.
- Tricia Crabtree"

More inspiring RAK stories here http://www.peopleandpossibilities.com/33kindnessstories2.html

9/11 Lesson Plans for K-12 classes and homeschoolers

An Awesome resource for school or homeschool children, teaching them all about the attacks and the memorial/museum. https://www.911memorial.org/teach-learn

The National September 11 Memorial & Museum has partnered with the New York City Department of Education and the New Jersey Commission on Holocaust Education to develop a robust set of 9/11 lessons for K-12 classrooms. 
Each lesson is tied to the Common Core Standards. Grounded in our collections, they are written for use throughout the school year and across subjects, including Social Studies, History, English Language Arts, and Art. The lessons are divided into the following themes:

NYC DOE lesson plans 
Historical Impact 
Community & Conflict 
Heroes & Service 
Memory & Memorialization

NJ Commission on Holocaust Education lesson plans
Making of a Memorial 
Historical Impact of 9/11 
Heroic Rescue, Recovery, and Clean-up 
The Aftermath: Humanitarian, Charitable, and Volunteer Support 
The Mourning, Memorializing, and Meaning-Making of 9/11
Individuals and 9/11 
History of the World Trade Center

Here are a few tips when using the lessons: 
• Every lesson and worksheet is downloadable. Full links to online collection objects and webpages are listed in the “Materials” section.

• The Common Core Standards are listed according to their corresponding Career and College Readiness Anchor Standards for each applicable grade level.

• Questions are typically italicized in the body of the lesson to separate them from their surrounding context.

• Each lesson includes Key Terms that are relevant and used in the lesson. We have included potentially difficult definitions within the body of these lessons.

• Some Extension Activities offer alternative assessments, if necessary. In addition, we have developed the 9/11 FAQ, a basic primer to the history of the World Trade Center, the 9/11 attacks and their perpetrators, and the rebuilding of the site. For K-2 teachers, see Fact Sheet for Early Childhood Learners.

The National September 11 Memorial & Museum thanks the teachers who conceived and developed these lessons, along with all of those involved at their respective organizations for their commitment and dedication in this effort.


The Foundational Lesson Plans:

These lessons provide an educational introduction to the 9/11 attacks and the 9/11 Memorial. They are a good starting place for you to discuss the attacks and the aftermath with your students.

An Introduction to the 9/11 attacks
Use this lesson as a foundation to introduce 9/11 and its aftermath to students. As part of the lesson, students will be asked to consider what they know about 9/11 and what they would want to learn about the attacks. Suggested resources, including images, are provided. 

An Introduction to the 9/11 Memorial
This lesson introduces students to the design and symbolism of the 9/11 Memorial, while prompting them to consider how they would memorialize the attacks. Age-appropriate investigation questions accompany the lesson and 9/11 Memorial images are provided.