Share a Snack, Share a Smile!

This post was sponsored by NABISCO as part of an Influencer Activation for Influence Central and all opinions expressed in my post are my own.

ALWAYS ON SNACK MODE

Summer break might be officially over, but summer itself is still in full swing! We aren't completely on our full Fall schedule yet, and aside from school we are still able to enjoy our favorite summertime activities during our free time. We still get to play with friends, splash in the pool, ride around on the boat, and soak in all the laid back feels summer has to offer before the real chaos begins. 

Regardless of the season, one thing continuously remains a constant - my kids are snacking machines! I learned long ago not to ever leave the house with out a diaper bag full of options for that inevitable moment when one of those adorably tiny voices would state they needed a snack. Which also inevitably turns into an epidemic. Because once one tiny voice utters the word "snack", any human under the age of 18 with in a 15 mile radius will also instantly become hungry too.  You best be prepared. 

As The Cutes have gotten older, not much has changed. Their appetites are larger, and the amount of snacks those tiny little bodies can consume only to hear 30 minutes later they are "starving and need another snack" is shocking. Where does it all go?!

In Summer I notice my tiny little humans seem to crank it up a notch. All those cannon ball contests, lightening bug finding sessions, and countless backyard soccer games all seem to make their appetites insatiable. I had to up my game in the snack department and start bringing larger portioned options everywhere I went. At some point I was nervous a rolling suitcase might seriously have to become my new accessory. 

Each of my children have different snacking preferences. Some prefer saltier snacks and some prefer sweeter options. Personally, I am an equal opportunity snacker, and take full advantage of sampling their snacking choices. 

When we are grocery shopping at Walmart I let the kids go through and pick out what snacks they want each week. 

They rotate what they love the most but our staples seem to be Honeymaid Grahams, Ritz Crackers, Swedish Fish, and - my personal favorite - OREOs. Walmart has such a great selection of NABISCO snacks, and are always well stocked in the Family Sized packs. It makes shopping so easy! 

The Family Sized packs are perfect for sharing and are also typically packaged in easy to travel with resealable containers. So in the off chance The Cutes and their friends don't consume every single last crumb, we can reseal them and bring them again on our next pool or playground adventure.

SHARE A SNACK, SHARE A SMILE!

Now even as our lives transition over to back-to-school mode, not much in the snacking department changes. The Cutes lunch boxes get filled with their favorites and they can often be seen on the sidelines of practice munching and laughing along with their teammates. NABISCO has so many fun ideas and recipes you can make with their snacks too. I love perusing their Snack 'N Share Board on Pinterest for inspiration!

With summer still on our minds, and snacks always on our brains, we decided to take our snack sharing to the next level. The first week of school for us really does fall smack in the middle of summer. So we thought why not try keep that summer vibe alive as long as possible? 

The Cutes wanted to bring one of their favorite summer snacks to share with their new friends. So we grabbed several of the family sized packs of Swedish Fish, and created these fun fish inspired printables. 

We packaged up a large scoop of those yummy gummy fish into a treat bag, and tied one of the fish themed tags to it with curling ribbon. 

The kids were so excited headed to school to share a little taste of summer with all of their friends new and old. 

They said it brought a HUGE smile to their new friends faces! 

ENTER TO WIN THE SNACK 'N SHARE SWEEPSTAKES

Now outside of our own little extra fun with our snacks, NABISCO is having a little fun on their own. They are hosting the Snack 'N Share Sweepstakes where you can win $10,000 and the chance for lots of other great prizes too! All you have to do is share a picture of your family and/or friends enjoying their favorite NABISCO snacks throughout the summer. How awesome is that?! I mean that's at least a month or two of snacks covered right? 

Shop Walmart this summer for your go to NABISCO snacks, snap a few pictures, and you could be a winner! Just share your picture on social media with the hashtags #snacknshare and #sweepstakes.

• NO PURCHASE NECESSARY. Open to residents of the 50 United States, D.C., and Puerto Rico, 18 and older. Sponsor, related entities, their families and those living in the same household are ineligible. Ends 11:59 pm ET on 9/5/18. Void where prohibited.
• Visit the Snack 'N Share Sweepstakes page to play and for details including free method of entry.

What are some of your kids favorite summertime snacks? Do they prefer a salty or sweet snack? 

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5 Healthy Snacking Tips for Toddlers

Toddlers are snacking machines. Having raised three toddlers now, I figure that equates to approximately 1,450, 346 snacks that I've dished out. As a parent I've realized that snacking just comes with the territory. So I roll with it, and I've been known a time or two to sneak a bite of their snack myself.  The hard part is keeping all that constant snacking healthy. We are always on the go, whether at home or traveling, and while it can be easy to just grab whatever, I've realized we all feel our best when we follow healthier snacking routines.

Toddler snacking was a recent conversation in my mommy group. One mom noticed the Happy Tot Whole Milk Yogurt Pouches I was feeding the girls on the sidelines of the playground, and asked me about them. She was stunned to see they were pouches of yogurt. Most of the mommies in my group had never seen yogurt available in a pouch before and were so excited. Because as toddler snacking pros we all know anything that can come in pouch form is just plain awesome.

As the conversation progressed, we all chatted about our snacking little machines and what their favorite snacks were. One common theme amongst us all was how difficult it seemed for us all to find healthy snacks that were easy to pack on the go, and were ones that the toddlers actually wanted to eat. I was already winning by introducing Happy Tot Whole Milk Yogurt Pouches to the mix. They are USDA Organic certified, and are made without any added sweeteners. Because - let's be honest - the less sweetener in a toddler's diet the better (particularly my high energy bunch). I stumbled upon them in the refrigerated sections of our Publix (click here to see if they are available at your local grocery store retailer), and now it's one of the most requested snacks to pack from the girls.

We exchanged ideas, snack recipes, and tips for keeping snacking a little healthier for our tiny tots. Some tips and suggestions seemed to be recurring, and after putting several into practice myself, I definitely see how these healthy little improvements can help facilitate better eating habits later in life (I might need to practice a few of these myself for now!)

5 HEALTHY SNACKING TIPS FOR TODDLERS

Balance - You know to eat a well balanced diet when it  comes to meals. The same mentality should apply to snacks. Instead of always grabbing the same crackers or the same puff cereal, try to make sure you pack a variety of options.

Portion Control - Eating too much of a good thing...well, that can lead to bad things. Even if you are offering your toddler healthier snacking options, make sure they are being offering eating portions appropriate for their tiny size. This is an easy way to ensure your toddler is eating the correct amounts as well as not interfering with next meal.

Timing - Timing is everything, even when it comes to toddler snacking. Timing snacks accurately helps establish great eating habits beyond the toddler years. A good rule of thumb seems to be getting toddlers to eat every two to three hours, and timing snack time to land somewhere between each larger meals. The more structured snack routines will help toddlers self regulate with food as they get older.

Avoid Snack Rewards - This by far was the most controversial tip amidst our conversation. I am so guilty of using snacks as a reward for good behavior or a bribe to get The Cutes to do something I need them to do. Many moms stated this was a bad practice and emphasized using stickers or something else would be better in the long run. Unless you reward with vegetables. If broccoli is a coveted rewards snack in your house, then by all means continue on!

Present Healthy Options -  It's no secret that toddlers like choices. When on the go or at the house, when snack time occurs, present your toddlers with a few different options. Dictate what kind of snacks will get packed, but then let them decide what they want from the snack bag. This helps the toddlers express their need for independence and lay the ground work for healthier eating habits later in life.

Such great tips and so easy to incorporate into our daily routines's without too much extra effort, money or time. I love when moms come together to share great advice. Even the third time around I learn so many amazing to tips and techniques to wade my way through this little life we call motherhood.

What are some tips and tricks you have for getting toddlers to establish healthier snacking habits? Do they have a favorite snack? Share with us!  

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Making Post Game Snack A Grand Slam! {printable}

Sports season is here! All though it never officially stops for us. But during the Spring we are in full sports mode and there's no stopping until June.

We spend our weeks racing from practice to practice, eating dinner somewhere around 4:30p.m. and then again (because kids are always hungry) at 9:00p.m., and doing homework/answering emails/returning phone calls amidst the chaos of it all.

We spend our weekends cheering on the sidelines of rainy soccer fields, jetting off to a variety of cities for two-day cheer competitions, and keeping scoreboard for the little league team all day long.

Our cars are loaded down with enough sporting goods that we could open our own Dicks, and we're burning all those hard earned hotel rewards points from swiping our Amex at Target at a mind boggling rate for out of state competitions and tournaments.

And we wouldn't change a single thing.

Well other than holding practice in anything under 40 degrees. We're southerners, it should be against the law! #mommydoesntdocold

We love that our kids are so active and enjoy a variety of activities. We were both the same way growing up and love seeing what our children are into as they get older and become comfortable in their own interests. Now we know it will change as they get older, and their interests will evolve, but for now we are happy to support them in whatever they choose - even if it means we ate an old granola bar for dinner and our cars have the scent of au de sweaty child.

Being a sports mom means you have a lot of duties. Most importantly - the after game snack.

If you don't bring your A game in the after game snack department you'll be ejected faster than you can say #momfail. 

With so many kids in so many different activities though, we learned long ago to keep the actual snack portion of the snack time super easy. No pinterest worthy sports themed snacks coming from this crew. There was a time way back in the day that we had time for that, but now we go with healthy already prepared snacks that we know kids love. 

We choose the kids favorite Slammers pouches, a crunchy snack or granola bar, and we package them up with waters or our favorite sports drinks. We package them all together with a cute printable and then we are ready to go. 

The best thing about this is it looks like we put a ton of effort into it to make it pretty and themed, but really we let the snacks do the talking and we lay claim to after game snack hall of fame. 

During basketball season I was inspired by these Slammers pouches to create a fun themed printable. These are our one of our favorite protein packed snacks, and they are perfect for refueling little athletes. There are so many yummy flavors to choose from and our kids love when we freeze them as a post game treat. 

I had made a soccer printable and a few other sports ones a few years ago, but I needed to add basketball and baseball into the mix. These are some of our favorite go-to snacks, and with the fun sayings and flavors it was easy to pair together a fun printable with a healthy snack with just a few seconds of effort. 

For basketball season I came up with partnering the orange Epic pouches with a printable that read "Let's Make Snack a SLAM DUNK"!

I attached it with curling ribbon to the actual pouch, passed out orange sports drinks with it and we were all set for a yummy after game snack. 

Now that Spring sports are in full effect, I recycled the idea for soccer reusing my already made printable. Then I got inspired again by the pouches and created a new printable for baseball season. 

I easily came up with the theme "Let's Make Snack a GRAND SLAM!". See lots of cute, not a whole lot of effort. :) 

And I've been wanting to use this stash of Take Me Out to the Ball Game ribbon for years. I was so glad to find the perfect time to use it! 

I put all our snack goodies together in a lunch bag and tied them up. Super easy, and looks great for a quick grab and go after game snack. 

Now we can reuse these over and over the entire season and not even give two thoughts to our game day duties. Just a quick print on our printer, and a quick shopping trip to our pantry for all the snacks.

Now you can win at making your post game snack a grand slam too. Here are the downloads for the printables for you to enjoy!

Download the Baseball snack printable. 
Download the Basketball snack printable. 

What sports sidelines are you cheering from this season? Do you have a favorite after game snack that your kids love? Please share because our post game snack duties are out of control this season and we love sharing snacks the kids actually will eat! 

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**Part of this post is sponsored by Slammers Snacks as part of our ambassadorship with GoGormet. All thoughts and opinions are our own!

Have a Bear-y Good Day!

This post was sponsored by Nabisco as part of an Integrated Activation for Influence Central and all opinions expressed in my post are my own.

It's hard to believe we are already two months into our school year. Even harder to believe we are already on our first break of the year! It's amazing how quickly time flies during the school year. The constant "go, go, GO" keeps you on your toes and days, weeks, months become a blur of busy activity. We've managed to keep the chaos to a healthy normal, and even though our schedules seem jam packed, we've enjoyed our transition into the new school year.

Before the break we snuck in a few fun activities. It was a short week because of the hurricane, but that wasn't going to stop me from having my turn as mystery reader in Little Cute's classroom. This is one of my favorite parent participation activities we get to do throughout the year. I love seeing how excited my kids are when I walk through that door! It is a memory I hope I never forget!

L.C.'s current classroom theme is bears. They've been studying about the letter "B", and even have a prayer bear that they each take turns bringing home throughout the year. 

Not one to miss a good theme, I jumped on the chance to incorporate bears into my mystery reading duties. I chose a few bear themed books that I knew would be a huge hit, and then I thought of the perfect snack to include with my reading.

The kids have been loving these TEDDY SOFT BAKED Filled Snacks lately, and I decided they would be perfect to use as my bear themed snack!

I mean how much cuter could they be?!

The Cutes love them because they are something new and fun shaped (not to mention - chocolate filled!), and I love them because they don't contain any artificial flavors, colors, or corn syrup. They are actually made with real high quality ingredients such as milk, eggs, and chocolate. Knowing how important lately it has become for me to understand what we are snacking on, I appreciate that Teddy Soft Baked Filled snacks are something we both agree on.

Cute has been begging me to be mystery reader for his class too, and when he heard these bear-y yummy snacks were involved he was so jealous. I've already logged this idea for his classroom when it's my turn in there too.

Cute snuck off to Walmart to help me snag enough boxes for both classrooms. I typically find the TEDDY SOFT BAKED Filled Snacks on Walmart's snack aisle, organized with the other individual wrapped snack packs.



They come in two different flavors - chocolate and vanilla - but Cute informed me chocolate was the best.

After bringing home our purchases, I set to work to create a fun printable to coordinate with our bear theme. I think it turned out so fun, and loved how the adorable bear themed snack help tie everything together.

My bear theme was complete, and the kids were so excited to get a little something extra fun with the reading.  They could eat right away their treat right away or save for when they had snack time at home. It was easy, mess free, and the perfect addition to our bear themed fun! I love great on the go snacks that make little projects like this so easy for me!

HOW TO CREATE A "BEARY GOOD" THEMED SNACK

What You'll Need

• TEDDY SOFT BAKED Filled Snacks (They come in packs of 12. So purchase enough for the whole class...and the teachers!)
• Download the "Beary Good Day" favor tags. 
• Clear treat bags
• Coordinating ribbon
• A hole punch
• Scissors

Directions

1: Print and cut out favor tags. Set aside. 

2: Place TEDDY SOFT BAKED Filled Snacks into individual treat bags. (I kept some in their original packaging and some I removed, depending on the school's policy regarding snacks.) 

3: Secure with coordinating ribbon, and attach favor tag. 

4: Share and enjoy giving everyone a "Beary Good" snack!

A "BEARY GOOD" GIVEAWAY!

We are so excited about TEDDY SOFT BAKED Filled Snacks that we are helping to giveaway the chance for 12 lucky readers to win a $50 gift card to Walmart to join in our snack time fun! In addition, two lucky grand prize winners will be given the chance to win a $200 Walmart gift card! The giveaway will run through September 29, 2017.  I-C will randomly select 14 winners from all program entries and will facilitate fulfillment of the winning prizes. Enter below and good luck!

Nabisco Snacktime Sweepstakes

What "Beary Good" snacks do your kids love to share at school? 

Jen

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