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Food Allergies, Food Allergy, Healthy Eating, Motherhood, Sponsored
Tips to Help Kids Make Friends in Elementary School
- 1:10 am
- 0 comments
- by Adanna Dill
This post is sponsored by BabbleBoxx.com on behalf of popchips.

Next week is the big week! My two older kids are going back to school after a long, fun summer. My daughter is going into the 4th grade, and my son will be going into the 1st grade. They’re both really excited but somewhat nervous. Although they’ve both attended this school since they were in preschool, they still end up making new friends every year when the classes shuffle. They always know a few of the kids, but sometimes the kids they’re closest to end up in another room. That’s why it’s always been important to me to ensure that they know how to make friends in elementary school. Here are a few tips I give them.

Welcome new kids.

I always encourage my kids to take the stress and nervousness off of themselves by thinking of others who are in a more stressful situation. If there are new kids in their class, I encourage them to welcome them and help to learn about the school, routine and help them with other kids names.

Share with others.

Both of my kids always say sharing is caring, and it’s true. Sharing with friends is a great way to let them know that you care about them. Sometimes the kids ask for extra snacks to bring for a friend and I’m always happy to give them one. That’s why I love the popchips 6 count variety pack because I have enough to send extras for their friends when they ask. popchips is one of my go-to snacks for them because it’s GMO-free, gluten-free, and has less than 130 calories.

I’m cautious about what the kids are eating at school because I know that nutrition directly impacts their educational experience. I focus on great tasting, healthy school snacks for them like popchips. The six-count pack comes with both barbeque and sea salt flavor; the kids are obsessed with the barbeque chips which has that great smoked tangy flavor minus the greasiness of other brands.

Discover common interests.

It’s easier to build a solid friendship with kids who have the same interests. Finding another kid who is also Spiderman fanatic or likes to decorate cupcakes can help kids to bond. I encourage my kids to take their time; sometimes, it takes a while to discover another kid has a lot in common with them. It’s no rush, and you can never have too many friends.

What tips do you share with your kids to help them make friends in elementary school?

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Children's Books, Lifestyle, Motherhood, Sponsored
Mo Willems Pigeon Party Printable Invitation
- 7:49 pm
- 0 comments
- by Adanna Dill
Thank you to our friends, Disney Books for sponsoring this post!

My son is a truly amazing kid and to celebrate his 6th birthday we had a week-long celebration. His birthday always sort of signifies the middle of the kids’ summer break and we spend the next half of the summer starting to prepare to head back to school. That’s why Mo Willems’ latest book in the Pigeon series (which my son adores), The Pigeon HAS to Go to School! was perfect timing. We made it part of my son’s bird-day/back to school celebrations by throwing him an outdoor Pigeon party or like my daughter called it, a Pigeon summer bash.

Our family is very low key when it comes to parties; we avoid anything too formal or overwhelming for the kids, so we kept it really causal for my little guy. The humor of the book is perfect for us too. If you’ve read any of the Pigeon books you know how stubborn he can be and in this book, the Pigeon is in true form trying his best to come up with excuses for not going to school. What I appreciate most is that through the humor, the book addresses common fears children have when starting school for the first time, transferring to a new school or even returning after not communicating with friends after the long summer break. It’s the perfect book to add to your child’s library this time of year or gift a child who is anxious about school.

I started the party preparations by making him Mo Willems Pigeon party invitations that he used to invite our family to join our celebrations. You can use these printable invitations for either a pigeon inspired bird-day party of back to school fete by printing the invitation below and filling in your child’s party information.

About The Pigeon HAS to Go to School!

The Pigeon is about to get SCHOOLED. Do YOU think he should go?

Why does the Pigeon have to go to school? He already knows everything! And what if he doesn’t like it? What if the teacher doesn’t like him? What if he learns TOO MUCH!?! Ask not for whom the school bell rings; it rings for the Pigeon!

Your free Mo Willem’s Pigeon Party Invitation!Download

Why does the Pigeon have to go to school? He already knows everything! And what if he doesn’t like it? What if the teacher doesn’t like him? What if he learns TOO MUCH!?! Ask not for whom the school bell rings; it rings for the Pigeon!

Are you throwing your child a back to school bash or summer birthday party?
Lifestyle, Motherhood, Product Reviews, Sponsored
REDUCING WASTE IN OUR HOME WITH THE TerraCycle LOOP PROGRAM
- 4:55 pm
- 0 comments
- by Adanna Dill
This post is sponsored. As always, all opinions shared are based on my experience.

A few months ago my oldest came home from school really upset after her teacher showed her class a video about the impact of plastic waste on the environment. She was really bothered by this information and it broke my heart when she said “Mommy, why isn’t anyone doing anything to fix this?” I assured her that there are a lot of people, organizations, and brands who do care and are doing their best but we all have to make lifestyle changes and that can be challenging. Of course conversations like that meant that I had to make some changes in our home and as I mentioned on Earth Day I’m starting small to not overwhelm myself and give up easily. Honestly, I had very little ideas on how to start so I was really happy when I learned of the TerraCycle Loop NYC pilot program and I immediately signed up to participate in.

What is TerraCycle Loop program?

We all have those holy grail products that our home can’t function without — whether it’s beauty products, daily vitamins, and cleaning products. These products are part of our lifestyle and it would be difficult to stop using them. Well, to provide a simple solution the TerraCycle Loop program is a partnership with our favorite brands to provide those products in reusable packaging. We just order a Loop tote with all of the products we need, we will use them, and when we’re finished the packaging is picked up to be prepared for reuse. Simple right?

Using Febreze ONE through the Loop Program

I was happy that Loop partnered with P&G in particular because I was able to order products that my family uses on a daily basis including Febreze ONE. As I mentioned last year, I’m a big fan of Febreze ONE to keep my home smelling great because it doesn’t contain any heavy perfumes, dyes, or propellants and it’s very effective at eliminating the odors in the air and on fabrics that come with having three very active children in our home. Making a lifestyle change without having to suffer through the trial and error period of finding products to replace our favorites is a big relief. I was happy to report to my daughter that Febreze is one of the brands that do care and are committed to the environment. Febreze is already a pre-existing part of the TerraCycle recycling program has recycled more than 1 million pieces of Febreze packaging from landfills worldwide.

Our Experience participating in the Terracyle Loop Program.

Ordering was as easy as selecting Febreze ONE and some of our other favorite products like Gillette Venus, Cascade, Tide purclean and more. When I opened up our Loop tote, I was really impressed with the premium reusable packaging that was easy to store and looked great in our home. Febreze ONE for instance still has the easy-press trigger I’m used to but it can be used with replaceable refill packs. When the products were done, the kids were happy to help us put all the used packaging back into the LOOP tote and flip the shipping label for it to be picked up.

This program really proved my point to my 8-year-old that there are people who do care about the environment and we can do our part to reduce waste and practice sustainability. It truly starts at home and we will feel the snowball effect as we naturally move those practices beyond our homes into our communities.

The TerraCycle Loop Program is only an NYC pilot program at the moment limited to a select group of consumers for now so depending on where you live, you may not have access to the Loop platform at this time but if you live elsewhere you can start making changes by using brands like Febreze that’s committed to recycling.

Have you tried Febreze ONE yet?