AND–We were nominated for the Best of Salt Lake 2010 as the Best Resource for info for Moms!  Whooo Hooo!

For more information on Joy School, go to JoySchools.com and for more on Values Parenting programs, go to ValuesParenting.com.

Don’t miss Jill’s Blog on VisitFlorida.com and remember that she is looking for questions from our listeners!

Dinosaur World

Wonderworks–the Upside Down Amusement Park

Princess Makeover at Disney

You can also check our list of summer reads for Boys Only! http://www.themompodcast.com/2010/06/27/summer-reading-fun/

Great containers we LOVE:

Lunchskins: Reusable sandwich and snack bags made from cute pastry bag fabrics–they saved more than 12 million plastic bags from being in landfills last year.    These can be washed in the dish washer or washing machine.

Other options are available from people on Etsy, but they may not be made of food grade materials.

KlipIt by Sistema: A cool container that holds a sandwich in one place and two sides in the other side.  Available at The Container Store or in Old Navy stores for a limited time.  They also make other cool containers you will want to check out.

Recycled Sandwich Wrap (Original idea from Family Fun)

1. Find a sturdy food grade bag (Large cereal bags, candy bags, cracker bags, Pirate’s Booty bag).  The best bags are thick and have some silver lining in them–or they may be completely silver like the cereal bags inside the Costco Kirkland brand cereal boxes.
2. Cut the bottom from the bag, open the side seam, and clean the bag.
3. Cut it into a 10 or 12-inch square.
4. Attach self-adhesive hook-and-loop dots at two opposite corners of the square, one on the front and the other on the back of the bag.

Love Notes for the Lunch Box:

You can write your own notes for your kids lunches, get some online, or get these totally cute ones with great kid-fun facts along with your note.  We like “Did you Know that a Turtle breathes through is Butt?  OThey are called Lunchbox Love by SayPlease.com.

Ideas for Great Lunches:

Remember to think power snack instead of full lunch since they don’t have time to eat a large meal.

• Peanut butter and crackers
• Bagel sandwich
• Rollup with cucumber, bell pepper and salad dressing
• Tortilla, spread with PB, wrapped around a banana—can add a drizzle of honey
• Tuna salad and crackers
• Quesadilla (just cheese, or add some ground beef) serve with salsa
• Hard boiled egg, roll, fruit or veggie
• Fruit smoothie: I love this trick—make several smoothies, freeze in 8 oz containers and pop them in your child’s lunch. They will defrost and be ready to stir or spoon up by lunch
• Cold pizza
• Baked chips (whole grain/healthy versions)—dips or sauces if you like
• Pretzel, cheese stick, apple/grapes
• Crackers, lunchmeat, cheese (homemade lunchable)
• Waffle
• Plain tortilla (dip in salsa or spaghetti sauce—or nothing)
• Bagel (loads of different flavors), apple
• Granola bar and a piece of fruit or a vegetable
• Muffins and a fruit smoothie
• Soup in a thermos
• Pasta. Fun bite sized shapes. Toss with parmesan cheese, include some sauce to dip it in. Eat like chicken nuggets!
• Dry cereal (not the sugary stuff—how did that EVER make it to our breakfast tables?)
• Biscuits and jam, stick the two sides together.
• Cookies: make with smashed beans instead of butter, applesauce for half the sugar, add raisens and nuts. Keep in freezer)

If they have a microwave:

• left over dinner
• Macaroni and cheese (add a little milk in the container so it won’t be dry when reheated)
• Soup (homemade or from a can)
• Pizza

Sides:

• Nuts
• Cheese sticks/slices
• Snap peas
• Canned fruit
• Carrot sticks
• Dried apples
• Broccoli and ranch
• Cucumbers
• Grapes
• Bell pepper slices

DRINK:

Water. Really. No fruit drinks. It is a lot of money and they really need to rehydrate with some good old water.  Check out the Kleen Kanteen or the SubZero Stainless steel containers instead of the plastic ones.

Cowboy Cookies (with healthy alternatives)

1 c butter OR 1 cup mashed white beans
*1 c sugar
*1 c brown sugar
2 eggs
1 t vanilla or 1/2 t almond extract
**2 c flour
**2 c oatmeal
1/2 t baking soda
1/2 t salt
1 c chocolate chips

Mix butter, sugars, eggs, and vanilla or almond extract.  Add dry ingredients, then chocolate chips.  Bake at 350° for 8-10 minutes.

* You can decrease the sugar or alter with sugar substitutes. If using agave, you will need to increase the flour and oatmeal until the batter is not too runny.

**For Gluten Free cookies, use gluten free flour, xanthum gum and gluten free oatmeal.  Follow the instructions on your gluten free flour for quantities.  I found that I had to add another 1/3 c to the recipe to make it work.

If you use beans instead of butter, you are created a “perfect protein” mix with the oatmeal.  My kids could not taste the difference in the cookies and I felt less guilty about giving them something tasty.

I make a separate batch for me and lessen the sugar, use agave or xylitol and add some protein powder to make a protein cookie that I can eat on the go.

Want to try the Free 7 Day Trial?  Go to Free 7 Day Trial

Want to try the Free 7 Day Trial?  Go to Free 7 Day Trial

Look for Part 2–some incredible material is in Part 2 as well!

Check out her site and some great ideas at http://bookclub4boysinfo.blogspot.com/2008/12/start-book-club-for-your-boy.html

UPDATE:  Nancy’s son and his friends met for the first Boys Only Book Club and about 50% of the kids showed up, but they had fun and Barnes and Noble was very accommodating to help them choose books.  They chose Alcatraz Versus the Evil Librarians.  They will be meeting every 3 weeks over the summer to get them interested in reading.  They also joined the Barnes and Noble reading plan, the Borders reading plan and a local library reading plan that all give freebies to kids who read.

Check out these lists of books for kids in every age and group: http://childrensbooks.about.com/od/forparents/tp/summer_reading.htm

Check out the local library reading program

Check out bookstore reading programs like Barnes and Noble and Borders book programs.

Here are some of our kids’ favorite books:

• 39 Clues series
• Percy Jackson Series
• Diary of a Whimpy Kid Series
• When You Reach Me (2010 Newbery Winner)
• Savvy (2009 Newbery Honor)
• Hoot
• Flush
• Scat
• Bud, Not Buddy
• Hatchet
• Captain Underpants
• Stink
• Miss Daisy is Crazy
• Time Warp Trio Series
• Encyclopedia Brown
• Fablehaven
• Swindle
• Zoobreak
• Radio Fifth Grade
• Invention of Hugo Cabret
• No Talking (any Andrew Clements book)
• Magic Tree House Series
• Al Capone Does My Shirts

Check out her site Our Milk Money, the online directory of self-employed parents who offer products and services in your area.

Kathy is the author of our bible for motherhood: The Busy Mom’s Guide to a Happy Organized Home. Her website has many great tips.

Check out this list of 37 business ideas  for kids!

Check out how to Teach Healthy Respect for Money!

Check out how to Teach Kids to Make Friends and Influence Clients!

*****Here is the link Nancy’s Interview about Signing with Babies**** VickyandJen.com

Alyson is author of Breaking the Good Mom Myth and Honey I Wrecked the Kids as well as the host of a popular parenting show in Canada.  Check out her site at http://www.alyson.ca/

We found very good advice in Breaking the Good Mom Myth and recommend this book to mothers!  You can find her on Facebook and Twitter too!

If you are interested in trying the free 7-day trial, click here to get connected!

The MOM Podcast hosts will be using this program and will be reporting on their successes in upcoming shows.   If you are interested in this topic, email us and join our Fit Moms discussion by email.  We email to each other with results every Friday.

Also–looking for the link to that site we mentioned–The Frugal Girls?  Here it is http://www.thefrugalgirls.com/ (don’t forget the “the”).

These are Shelly’s Results:

These are our friend Steffani’s results and her comments about how this has helped her kids:

“I let them each child take the camera and find things around the house that could look like the letters in their first name. After they took the pictures, we edited them on our computer, cropping them so that the most important part was revealing the letter.  It was a ton of fun.  I have our last name one printed up in a small oblong frame and underneath “Packer” it says, “Home is where the most important things happen” because all of the things we used for our letters were found in our own home. I want to have their first names printed out in 4×6 and deco-page them to wooden blocks to put in their room.  That part hasn’t happened yet.  But . . .  I have noticed that the kids (after doing this–even CY) are always pointing things out as we drive or go places.  ”Hey, that looks like an M! or  K!”  I think it is helpful in their brain development and creativity to think outside the box.