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 This week’s Featured Mama of the Week is Barb Hoyer, blogger at A Life in Balance and mom to five kids! She has four sons, ages 15, 7, 5, and 3 and one daughter, age 4. Her kids love to play with Legos and most days you’ll find their basement floor covered in those little bricks. Barb loves to see the creative side come out of her kids and she encourages them to express themselves in creativity and through play. Her oldest son has developed into a wonderful writer and she is encouraging him to explore his talents in high school. Barb herself has always needed a creative outlet, whether it be writing, photography, drawing, painting or knitting.
Family meetings held weekly are a great way to connect with the family!
Being the parent of five and running a household of seven people takes a lot of organization and comes with challenges. Managing all of those people in one house, with all of the noise and mess, is difficult. Barb mentioned that during this school year she plans to implement some changes at home to make life go more smoothly, especially with all of the activities the school year brings. Barb and her husband are planning to hold weekly family meetings during their Sunday night dinners when they know the family will all be together. This is such a great idea for any size family!
Barb is currently a stay at home mom (SAHM) although she was also a working mom for a while in the past. She said, “I’m a SAHM, though I did spend a year working on a Shaklee business. I became a SAHM when my oldest was about 4, and we decided I would homeschool him. When I was working, I worked in the fundraising offices of several nonprofits. My last gig was an Office Manager/Special Events Coordinator at the University of Pennsylvania Library Development Office, my favorite job. My boss was fabulous and being a dad himself, very flexible about my working from home at times. I love being a SAHM because my skills in running an office have translated to the home though it’s taken me awhile and 5 children to realize this.”
Barb’s blog, A Life in Balance is all about how she is working to keep balance in her and her family’s life. She mentioned regarding her blog, “No one has exactly the same situation as me, but they can identify with the issues I deal with whether it’s replacing an appliance or feeding a family while watching the grocery prices continue to rise and rise. I also want to discuss as a mom how to have a healthy balance in our lives and what that looks like. I want my readers to take what they like and leave the rest.” Barb is an avid gardener too, and shares a great deal about gardening on her blog. Barb shared her favorite family recipe with Mama’s Little Helper readers too: Chicken Parmesan.
Social media has become a resourceful tool for Barb, especially when talking on the phone can be challenging with five kids interrupting! “I use Facebook and Twitter a lot for my blogging, and Facebook for connecting with my family and my husband’s family. I love both as social media tools and yet, I am mindful that they are tools. I think face time is just as important, and I also like to pick up the phone to chat with distant relatives from time to time. I tend to rely more on Facebook and Twitter right now because my kids have phone radar and always want my attention when I’m on the phone. I usually have to retreat into the bathroom (my Gibbs-style office) to have a conversation. Interruptions from the kids are not interruptions when I’m using social media.”
Teaching respect in a family of seven is very important, especially in regards to other’s toys, possessions and space. With four kids sharing a bedroom, Barb found that using a combination of boundary setting with locking cabinets and gates, along with reinforcement of rules repeatedly helps. She mentioned that one of the first topics to be covered during family meetings will be formulating a written list of rules for the family and posting them publicly.
Having five kids means Barb’s received lots of tips and advice from others over the years regarding parenting. She said “the best piece of advice was to pay attention to what might be affecting my kids when they misbehave. I can tell when they’re tired, and I will often suggest that they spend a little time by themselves until they’re ready to be with us again. For the really young ones, I make sure that they get the much needed nap to be their happy, bright selves again. Barb’s advice to a new parent is “a baby can never be held too much. I used a Bjorn to carry my four young ones, and my oldest spent a lot of time in car seats or strollers. I think that level of touching between a mom and baby has made a huge difference in my children’s lives. If I could raise my oldest again, I would carry him a lot, have a family bed, and breastfeed him.”
Barb likes to spend her “alone time” walking. She used to be a longer distance runner before being a parent and loved to run five miles at a time. Currently her best walks are up to an hour long. Pounding the pavement really helps her walk out things and de-stress. She uses her cell phone and sends herself emails while walking if she thinks of things to do, that way she doesn’t risk forgetting a thought before she gets home. Then she can move on to the nest issue. What a great way to wind down!
 Barb Hoyer from A Life in Balance Thank you Barb, for being a featured mama of the week on Mama’s Little Helper!
Congrats to Carrie! Random.org selected your comment as the winner! Look out for an email!
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A chance to win your own prize pack of personalized labels for your child!
Mama Chrissy reviewed Loveable Labels earlier this week and shared how much she loved how they held up this summer for her daughter while at summer camp and for use with preschool school supplies. With back to school time in full swing, Loveable Labels has generously offered one Mama’s Little Helper reader their own set of back to school labels and Vital ID bracelet!
Need labels right now? Order using this great offer: $5 off Any purchase of $25 or more use coupon code BTS20110931 *Enter Upon Checkout* So while the coupon code is still valid, you can also enter to win your own label pack that includes the back to school pack and the Vital ID bracelet.
To Enter:
Go to the Lovable Labels website and leave us a comment telling us which one of their amazing product is your fav! Once you’ve entered by leaving a comment on this blog post, you can gain additional entries:
- Follow @mylovablelabels and @Mamasltlhelepr on Twitter and tweet “#WIN Back to School Pack” from @mylovablelabels @Mamasltlhelper http://mamaslittlehelper.org/?p=5842 #giveaway” and leave us the link to your tweet for extra daily entries. One tweet per day will count.
- Mention this giveaway on your blog and leave us the link for one extra entry.
This giveaway ends on Wednesday October 12, 2011 at 11:00 pm EST. One winner will be selected from all of the entries using Random.org. The winner chosen will be contacted via email and have 48 hours to respond. Once the winner is confirmed, they will be connected with a representative from Loveable Labels, who will help the winner with ordering their personalized prize! Prize delivery is the responsibility of Loveable Labels.
This giveaway is open to Canadian and US residents only.
Lovable Labels has generously supplied us with a pack of “Back To School Pack” and “Vital ID” for one lucky winner! Thanks, Lovable Labels!
Question of the week: Do you use a slow cooker and have a favorite recipe to share?
With September almost over and school schedules, after school activities, and sports schedules keeping parents and their kids busy, planning healthy family meals can be a challenge. It seems more popular than ever to rely upon the good old crock-pot or slow cooker for easy to prepare meals. There is a surge of Facebook pages about sharing slow cooker recipes, along with many blogs on the subject as well. Do you use a slow cooker and if so, can you share your favorite recipe with Mama’s Little Helper readers?
Personally, this mama tries to use her crock pot at least once a week and I would like to use it even more. I search weekly for new recipes for it that will appeal to my family while also being healthy. A great blog for slow cooker recipes is A year of slow cooking by Stephanie O’Dea. She started her blog as a New Years resolution a few years ago and has since published cookbooks of her collected recipes. It’s a great way to start if you are new to using a slow cooker to find a large variety of recipes. The Crock-Pot website lists many recipes for their famous brand of slow cookers and is another great resource for home chefs. A family favorite in our house is a recipe for chicken cacciatore, a meal that a good friend brought us after our son was born. I’ve made it many times since then! The recipe that I make almost weekly in my slow cooker is called sticky chicken. It is so simple and cooks a whole chicken that can be used for multiple meals. I often use the chicken for enchiladas or quesadillas, chicken salad, or as a green salad topper. The spice mixture used can be adjusted to your personal taste, or to whatever you have on hand even.
Please share your favorite slow cooker recipe or link to a recipe! Maybe it will help out another reader in discovering something new to make for their family!
Mama Diane
This author of Spit That Out! loves raising her family in Philadelphia
This week’s featured Mama of the week is Paige Wolf, mother of one cute two year old son and owner of Paige Wolf Media & Public Relations, which she has had for 10 years. Paige said, ”in the past few years I have been fortunate enough to work with green and sustainable clientele. Paige Wolf Media & Public Relations offers communications services to clients who contribute to a sustainable world and positive change. My clients range from national green beauty companies to local nonprofits to large community events. In addition to that, I am the author of Spit That Out: The Overly Informed Parent’s Guide to Raising Children in the Age of Environmental Guilt and I blog at www.spitthatoutthebook.com about making green living more practical, manageable, and affordable.”
Paige utilizes social media. She said, “I am addicted to Facebook and Twitter. Someone once said, “Facebook is about who you know and Twitter is about who you want to know.” I think that’s very true and why both mediums are equally important.”
Regarding childcare, Paige shared that her son is now in preschool five days a week, which he loves. He started at 14 months going 3 days a week. Prior to that he was cared for by a part time nanny. Paige said that her husband is able to work from home some days as well, so they’ve managed to balance their time!
Paige’s son, Sam, loves to play outside in their tiny city garden, color, and generally make a mess. She said she views her son as “a little mini version of yourself and your spouse that you created and how funny, smart, and adorable they are!” Her current challenge as a parent is dealing with the terrible twos. She said that she relies on other moms for advice and tries whatever works! Paige and her family live in Philadelphia and love their neighborhood. She said, “love having Seger Playground across the street! Also right by Whole Foods and my son’s preschool – it’s a regular loop around the neighborhood filled with familiar faces and wonderful city scenery mixed with plenty of green spaces! We love the park, going to festivals and outdoor activities – there is always something to do in the city and it’s usually walking distance!”
In regards to feeding her family Paige mentioned “we get a CSA (community shared agriculture) share from a local farm delivered to the city. I love that it challenges us to try new and healthy things, and finding ways to incorporate all these fruits and veggies into our meals! Sometimes we do get stuck with something we hate – like beets – so we share them with the neighbors!”
Paige’s book, Spit That Out: The Overly Informed Parent’s Guide to Raising Children in the Age of Environmental Guilt, covers a wide range of parenting tips. To sum it up, Paige’s advice to new parents is that just because your feel you can’t do everything does not mean that you should do nothing. This applies not just to green living but various aspects of parenting including activities, quality time and so on.
Thank you, Paige for sharing a bit of your life with Mama’s Little Helper readers!
 Paige Wolf, author of Spit That Out! If you know a mom who you would like to see featured here, please email Diane@mamaslittlehelper.org.
This week’s featured Mama of the week is Amy Benninger. Amy is the owner of the website Lehigh Valley Little Ones/Lehigh Valley Family Fun, a great resource website for parents of kids in the Lehigh Valley Area. Her website has an activities calendar, information about area parks, a community bulletin board, birthday party ideas, and seasonal activities, just to name a few. Not only is it a great resource for families living in the Lehigh Valley, but it’s also a good place for Bucks County, Montgomery County, and Philadelphia families to research ideas for day trips to the Lehigh Valley.
Family comes first to this Lehigh Valley Mama!
Besides authoring and managing her website, Amy is the mom to two kids, ages 7 and 4. Her children love to swim and “just be kids!” Amy enjoys being there for her kids accomplishments and supporting them when they fall. One of her parenting challenges is staying focused and remaining calm. She feels that she is “still a work in progress, but learning every day not to stress the small stuff in life.” She focuses on remembering to prioritize what is important now and moving on from there. A favorite place to pass the time is hanging out in the back yard watching her kids on the swing set. Amy works hard at teaching her kids to respect the Golden Rule She said, “we speak often about the “Golden Rule” Do unto others as you would have them do unto you. If you don’t want some to do it to you…don’t do it to them. I have them repeat it all the time.”
Family time is very important to Amy. Her advice to new parents is to put the computer and phone away during times with your kids. She said, “I, myself, forget this rule all of the time. And my youngest reminds me frequently. They are so impressionable and they notice everything. Now is the time to show them you listen, care, understand.” She also mentioned that the best parenting advice she ever received was to listen to other people’s advice and then do what you want!
Amy is a stay at home mom (SAHM) and has been since the winter of 2005. She mentioned that she left her full time job because she couldn’t handle leaving her daughter at daycare anymore and she knew she wanted to be with her full time. ”Prior to having children I was an Account Manager in the Direct Mail Industry. I am now the owner of a website resource – Lehigh Valley Little Ones.com. It is a FREE website resource for Parents, Grandparents, Caregivers or WHOMEVER to find stuff for their kids to do in the Lehigh Valley, PA & surrounding areas.”
Amy founded her website because in 2008 she was trying to sign her daughter up for ballet lessons and having trouble. She said, “after being frustrated, I realized how awesome it would be if there was a centralized location of kids information for the Lehigh Valley area. That is how Lehigh Valley Little Ones came into being. I love being my own boss and I love spreading the word about great programs for our LV kids! There are tons of great things out in the Lehigh Valley…I just want to help spread the word.”
Social Media helps Amy stay connected to her audience.
When asked about her use of social media, Amy replied that using social media has been a huge benefit for her website. She said, “we have begun holding contests on our site – featuring prizes from local, Lehigh Valley companies. Without social media, we would rely heavily on search engines. But social media has allowed us to talk to our Viewers and get their feedback. We have found that Facebook & Twitter have been our best outlets.” You can find Lehigh Valley Little Ones on Facebook and Twitter, where parents can stay up to date with the weekly events and activities occurring in the Lehigh Valley.
So if you live in the Lehigh Valley area or are planning a visit, be sure to check out Lehigh Valley Little Ones and Lehigh Valley Family Fun!
 Amy Benninger from Lehigh Valley Little Ones Thank you Amy for being a Featured Mama of the Week on Mama’s Little Helper!
If you would like to nominate a mom to be featured here, please email Diane@mamaslittlehelper.org!
*******************Congrats to Amie! Look out for an email!
Back to School time means germ exposure!
It’s back to school time, which means kids will be exposed to lots of germs. A recent conversation I had with a few mothers and some former teachers centered around how to keep kids hands clean while at school and the lack of funding schools have to provide teachers with antibacterial gel or wipes and basic cleaner for the classroom desks. The one mom and former teacher explained how she actually had to purchase her own surface cleaner to clean her classroom desks once a day herself, since the maintenance staff was so limited and the school’s budget did not include cleaning supplies (or even tissues!) for the classes. Thankfully she was able to clean her classroom daily, but it made me wonder about just how clean schools, and kids, are especially with cold and flu season almost here.
Wet Ones® Antibacterial Wipes conducted a survey of parents and found that about 49% are concerned about their kids getting sick and 32% are concerned about their kids being exposed to germs. These results seem to be similar to my personal conversations with parents about this subject of keeping kids healthy and clean. Personally, I prefer that my child wash his hands with soap and water, but that isn’t always possible, especially while traveling or out on the playground. I keep a canister of Wet Ones®Antibacterial Wipes in my car, along with a packet of them in my purse, for those situations when we just can’t get to a sink to wash up. They are especially great for when my son has a snack in the car on a road trip or when we have an impromptu picnic at the playground. While we also have hand sanitizer gel on hand, I prefer to use wipes for my son because they are good at wiping off the grime he seems to attract. While they do contain alcohol, they don’t seem to sting the way some other antibacterial wipes I’ve had. which may be due to the aloe added to their formula. My son and I both also love how the citrus scent smells. I really can’t stand to wear fragrances, as I have terrible allergies, so I’m really picky about the scents of products we use. The two scents, Fresh and Citrus, that Wet Ones Antibacterial Wipes are available in both smell great and do not bother me.
Wet Ones® Antibacterial Wipes has teamed up with science educator Bill Nye to teach families about ways to avoid germs in a fun and interactive way. Check out the Wet Ones Healthy Hands Zone to watch science experiments that you can recreate at home with your kids to learn more about germs. I also found a page on the Wet Ones website written by Dr. Sears and lists 99 tips for back to school success. I appreciate the advice written by Dr. Sears when my son was a baby and I found a number of great tips on this list, including some great tips about healthy breakfast ideas to start the day and other food tips for picky eaters.
Wet Ones® Wipes Giveaway!
Wet Ones® Antibacterial Wipes would like to give one reader of Mama’s Little Helper a prize package of Wet Ones Antibacterial Wipes.
This prize pack includes:
One (1) Wet Ones® Hand Wipes Fresh Scent 40 count canister
One (1) Wet Ones® Hand Wipes Fresh Scent 24 count singles pack
One (1) Wet Ones® hand Wipes Fresh Scent 15 count travel pack
- To enter, please comment on this blog post with your back-to-school-tip. (Mandatory Entry!)
- For an additional entry, Tweet about this giveaway. You can use the following as an example or make up your own tweet, just be sure to leave your Twitter name in your comment. #Giveaway on Mama’s Little Helper with Wet Ones Antibacterial Wipes for #back-to-school cleanliness! @mamasltlhelper http://ht.ly/6qgM7
This giveaway will end on Thursday September 15th at 11:00pm EST. This giveaway is open to US residents only. The winner will be contacted by email at the end of the contest and will have 24 hours to respond to the email with information regarding delivery of the prize. In the event that the winner does not respond in 24 hours, a new winner will be chosen. Only entries posted on this blog post will count as an official entry.
Energizer Personal Care is providing the prize(s) for this promotion at no cost to Mama’s Little Helper or this reviewer. This promotion is not being administered or sponsored in any way by Energizer Personal Care or its affiliates, but solely by Mama’s Little Helper. Any questions or comments regarding this promotion must be sent to Mama’s Little Helper and not to Energizer Personal Care. Mama’s Little Helper reserves the right to modify, suspend, or terminate this contest if the Promotion is removed by the web server or is otherwise compromised by illegal acts, electronic bots, etc. The winner will receive the prize package in the mail, fulfilled by GolinHarris on behalf EPC.
Disclosure: Mama Diane received a Wet Ones prize package for the purposes of this review. No monetary or other compensation was received and opinions expressed here are honest. I have a four year old boy who is frequently grimy and already used Wet Ones before being asked to do this review!
This week’s featured Mama of the week is Kelly Raudenbush, who writes the blog Boy Girl Boy Girl Boy Girl. She also has an adoption support blog, a small business/fair trade website, and a nonprofit, the Sparrow Fund. Kelly is the mother to four children ages 9, 7, 5, and 2. The two year old girl was adopted from China in 2010. Kelly mentioned that “parenting has been a challenge as our eldest has a myriad of disabilities and we’ve faced the world of IEPs and such head on. Parenting took on all new meaning when we decided to adopt from the special needs program in China (our youngest from China has a heart condition.)”
Kelly and her husband work on instilling certain values in their children. She said, “we want our children to have hearts that break for that which breaks God’s heart. We desire our four children to be full of compassion, and we involve them in the work that we’re doing as much as we can so that they too can own our passion so that we can have one more child with a forever family and one less orphan in the world.”
Kelly helps support adoptive families in many ways!
When asked about her work status, Kelly stated that she calls herself a SAHM, but also plays an active part in a lot of different projects. She edits dissertations professionally from home and is the owner of a small business called Jiayin Designs. She said, “additionally, having had our lives and hearts changed through our journey of adoption, I facilitated and administrate a website and forum named We Are Grafted In and my husband and I recently founded a nonprofit called The Sparrow Fund to support adoptive families. I always knew I wanted to be home with my children when they were young–this season goes so quickly and I didn’t want to miss it for things that I could do in another season of life. I feel like now I have found a great way to be home with my kids and serve them as much as possible while also nurturing my passion for learning and supporting families around me.”
Kelly described her businesses that she started. She mentioned Jiayin Designs which “was started soon after we returned home from China with our daughter. After we were matched with our daughter and while we waited to travel, my parents, who teach English in China, gave me a silver charm hand cut with my daughter’s Chinese name on it. It became a precious treasure to me as we waited to bring her home and now a wonderful way to celebrate her history. With the help of one of my parents’ Beijing staff members, we launched Jiayin Designs to bless other adoptive families with the same treasure as well as other handmade items to help them incorporate and celebrate their child’s heritage as well as provide employment to Chinese artisans.”
Kelly further mentioned that “as we pressed on in our adoption journey, we found a real need for an online resource and forum for support and encouragement for adoptive families from a Christian worldview. We launched We Are Grafted In about 4 months after we came home with our daughter. About 230 posts and 140 contributors later, we have been able to offer real, honest, and beautiful pieces to support pre-adoptive and adoptive families.”
Kelly and her husband launched The Sparrow Fund in the Spring of 2011 to help support adoptive families. They use funds for the purpose of giving grants to adoptive families specific for the use of pre-adoption support and counsel including medical reviews of children’s files, in-country support when they travel to bring their child home, and post-adoption support when they come home and are adjusting to their “new normal.”
Thank you Kelly, for sharing a bit about your life and these great adoption resources with Mama’s Little Helper!
 The Raudenbush family
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