We Won 4th Place Last Year, Make Us #1 This Year!
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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!
This weekend’s weather forecast is sounding more ominous every minute! The threat of hurricane Irene, due to arrive to the Philadelphia, Bucks County, Montgomery County and New Jersey regions Sunday morning, means lots of cancellations and evacuations. While everyone hopes that this storm is being hyped more serious than it really will be, it is so important to be safer than sorry. I can’t help but think of those tragic news stories that followed hurricane Katrina, when people were not as prepared as they could have been. There are many resources online that provide helpful information on how to prepare for a storm. Here are a few resources for Mama’s Little Helper readers:
Be prepared for during and after Hurricane Irene!
If your area has not been evacuated, there are a few things you can do to help your family shelter at home during and after the storm, when power outages are possible. While this list is not inclusive, here are a few tips I learned about from reading various places online to help deal with this storm:
- Have a good supply of drinking water on hand. Approximately one gallon per person for at least three days, up to seven.
- Set your refrigerators and freezers to the coldest setting in case of a power failure.
- Freeze extra ice packs or even bottles of water to use to help keep your freezer contents cold in case of a power outage.
- Be sure to have a good supply of any prescriptions you need on hand.
- Have some extra cash on hand. If there is a power failure in the area, ATMs will not work.
- Fill your gas tanks of your car and generator if you have one.
- Keep non perishable foods on hand, such as peanut butter and jelly, bread, snack bars, fruit, and your kids’ favorite snacks!
- If there are babies at home, be sure to have diapers, food, milk/formula supplies for them.
- Have flashlights with batteries on hand, as they are safer than candles.
- Keep a box of activities that can be used to entertain your kids during a power outage. Games, crayons and coloring books, and even something new to be a nice surprise for the kids during this stressful time.
- Clear your yard and decks/porches of potential hazards…store lawn furniture, bird feeders, toys indoors if possible.
Natural disasters are scary for adults and confusing for children. It is important to teach your kids about how to be safe without frightening them. It’s good for the adults to have a plan for evacuation from the home if necessary and share as much as that plan as is appropriate for your children based upon their age. Watching the news with kids can provoke anxiety for some kids. Share with your kids just enough information about what is going on with out going in to too much detail to curb anxiety. Some kids won’t care, but there are lots of kids who will be scared. Plan to have a little fun while you are stuck inside during the storm. It might help relieve everyone’s anxiety or stir-craziness!
Be safe during the storm! I hope that everyone who has been evacuated from the Jersey shore is able to return home safely soon.
Mama Diane
Comfort Food sells locally produced whole foods for take home or catered events!
This week’s featured Mama of the week is Kimberly Quay, blogger and chef/owner of Comfort Food, a shop that sells take out whole foods and a caterers. Comfort Food is located at 437 Alden Avenue in Morrisville, PA and has been open for over a year now. Prior to Comfort Food, Kimberly studied at the Culinary Institute of America in New York and worked at some great Philly area restaurants, including Striped Bass, White Dog Cafe, and Jake’s in Manayunk. According to her blog, she has been in the food industry for 20 years now, starting out making cookie dough! Along the way she has learned a lot and now focuses her energy on her business, Comfort Food. ”Our storefront sells healthy, prepared foods to go, made from the bounty of Bucks County’s local farms. We also do catering, from small dinner parties to weddings, barbecues, graduation parties, communions…you name it, we can cater it.”
Kimberly is a single mom to two kids, ages 9 and 11. She said that her son plays travel baseball, “so we are all consumed by his baseball schedule. When I’m not working, you can usually find my daughter and I watching one of her brother’s games(she is a tortured baseball sister!)” She describes her daughter as “a wonderful artist, with an incredible talent for drawing and cartooning.” With respects to parenting, Kimberly said “I enjoy knowing that I’m teaching my kids to grow up to be kind, caring, funny young adults who are capable of making good decisions. I love seeing them blossom as they get older, watching their personalities really develop.” Parenting presents many challenges, and for a single mom who works full time at her own business, there is the added challenge of being away from her kids for extensive amounts of time (she works a 70-80 hour week!!) Kimberly is able to rely upon a very supportive network of help who care for her kids while she works, including her parents, friends and a team of babysitters. It helps that she really enjoys her work!
Teaching her kids strong values is important to Kimberly. She said she focuses upon “the usual-honesty, compassion, being a good friend, doing the right thing. I think all these things are taught on a daily basis, by me being a good role model. I have very high expectations for myself as a human being, and my kids see that every day.” When asked about how she teaches her kids about respect, she relied, “we often talk about what it’s like to be in someone else’s shoes. I think having perspective in any situation is difficult, especially for kids. We have a lot of conversations that begin with,”Well, how do you think that makes him/her feel? How would that feel if that was you?”
Kimberly mentioned that she does not cook at home usually, but brings home food from her shop for her family. She said, “the most cooking I do is when we BBQ on Sunday nights if I’m not working. I pour a mean bowl of cereal in the morning.” Kimberly lives close to her shop, in Yardley. She said her favorite place to be in her neighborhood is to be is on her back deck with her partner, her dog and her kids playing in the yard. She enjoys going to the pool with her kids so that they can have fun with their friends and leave this busy mama alone for a bit to relax!
Social media is a great way to interact with customers and share Comfort Food’s menus!
Kimberly is involved in social media as a means to promote her business. On her blog, comfortfoodlive.blogspot.com, she posts photos of the daily changing chalkboard menu from her shop. She also regularly updates the shop’s Facebook page and interacts with customers there. She said, “I use Facebook and the blog to keep people updated on what we’re making, special menu items and pictures from events that we’re doing. Since our menus change so quickly, it’s great to be able to instantly get the word out that new items are ready. I once posted that we had crabcakes at the shop, early Saturday morning. By 3pm we had completely sold out and people were still coming in and asking for them! It’s amazing how many people really keep a close eye on Facebook.”
Stop by Comfort Food sometime to pick up some great food, say hello to Kimberly and tell her that Mama sent you! You can find Comfort Food in Bucks County at 437 Alden Ave., Morrisville, Pa 19067, 215-847-5707. Email: Comfortfood1@yahoo.com
 Kimberly Quay at Comfort Food in Morrisville, photo courtesy of buckslifemag.com Thanks to Kimberly for sharing information about her parenting style and business information with Mama’s Little Helper!
Tastefully Simple consultant Jacki Pitkow enjoys raising her boys in Bucks County!
This week’s featured mama of the week is Jacki Pitkow, mom to two boys ages 3 and 5 years. Her boys keep her busy by playing with cars, playdoh, crafts, going to the playground, and play dates. Her older son likes to play his Wii and DS games. She mentioned that parenting is “certainly an adventure! It’s wonderful to be able to support and see how my 2 boys grow and explore the world! I love to hear my boys tell me they love me, it warms my heart! I couldn’t ask for anything else! Seeing their accomplishments in life from activities like karate and preschool are priceless.” She finds parenting to be challenging at times, as “boys will be boys and things can get a bit crazy sometimes! Keeping an even keel is really the best option but not always the case. The boys sharing toys can be a challenge and they don’t always want to share. This is one of the biggest challenges. Sometimes buying 2 of the same toys is the solution, other times is teaching them that they must take turns!” A common challenge with which many parents can relate!
When asked how she teaches her boys about being kind, Jacki said, “my husband and I make sure they know how to share and we speak about donating and helping others out. Because I own my own business, I have the option to donate to causes which I believe in. On a regular basis I host fundraisers and donate to non-profits. This includes Kisses For Kyle, March of Dimes and Susan G. Komen. I am always open to helping other organizations and would love to be contacted by the community for this.”
Being a work at home mom helps keep Jacki connected
Jacki is a work at home mom. She explained, “I have a background in Hotel/Restaurant Management and worked as a banquet manager for many years. I decided to leave the business and enter the corporate world. It’s there I met my husband. When I gave birth to our 1st son my husband and I decided I would leave my project manager role. I wasn’t home with my son for very long when I realized I felt shut-off from the world and needed to reconnect! Going back to my love of the food business, I started to research options. My sister suggested this really cool company – Tastefully Simple! After some research and consideration, I signed up as a consultant with Tastefully Simple (a gourmet foods company marketed via home parties). Currently I am a team manager and will be celebrating 4 years in business this July. This is a wonderful mix and I love it! I have a wonderful team of ladies whole excel in their own ways. Being a consultant for Tastefully Simple allows me to control my schedule and choose when I want to work. My husband and inlaws help watch the kids when I have a taste testing party or business meeting. We also have some very reliable baby sitters which the kids love! I love food and Tastefully Simple has fabulous products and as a company they are very rewarding! I feel very lucky to be able to work with such a flexible schedule.”
Since Jacki is in the food business, she shared a yummy dessert recipe with Mama’s Little Helper. It uses Tastefully Simple products, that she certainly could help readers purchase if they would like to make Crazy For Coconut Truffle Fudge Bars themselves!
Using social media for business and personal purposes helps Jacki stay connected. She said, “I love social media and it’s a big part of my communication to my friends, customers and potential customers. I use Facebook for both business and personal connections. From a business standpoint, I’ve signed a consultant to my team as well as received orders and parties from promoting my business on Facebook. I feel this is one of the more effective platforms for me. Twitter allows for a wider audience and I do have a nice following, but I don’t see as much business come from it. I feel linkedin allows me to stay connected with my business contacts. I am also the woman behind tweeting and social media for the business group NBPA (Newtown Business and Professional Association) and feel all businesses need to have a presence online with social media! My goal is to start a blog to share with the world my favorite recipes, as well as insights on social media and the direct sales world.”
A favorite neighborhood spot to explore for Jacki and her family is Newtown. From the variety of restaurants to visit, the parks for the kids, and many other local businesses they like to patron. ”Bucks County is such a beautiful place and has so much to offer and explore!” A great family tradition they have is visiting Disney every year. She said that her kids love it and even though it’s a tiring trip, the family has a fantastic time. “It gives us a chance to all be together for a good amount of time! It’s precious to see the enjoyment on my kids faces,” she mentioned.
To relax without her kids, Jacki enjoys a night out with friends or her husband. She thinks it’s important to have some adult time away from her kids to chat, eat and relax. She also enjoys going for walks, listening to music and just taking in her surroundings. She also mentioned that as a side hobby she likes to find the best deals that she can on the web for purchases before buying. She said, “I love a great sale!”
If you would like to contact Jacki regarding Tastefully Simple, she can be reached via email at jpitkow@comcast.net.
 - Jacki Pitkow of Tastefully Simple
Thanks Jacki for being a featured mama of the week on Mama’s Little Helper!
Mama Diane
Jessica Cohen brings experience from Condé Nast to blogging & small business consulting in Bucks County
This week’s Featured Mama of the Week is Jessica Cohen, of the website Look Who Found the Marbles. She is the mother of two children, ages 7 and 4 who are big sports enthusiasts! Jessica enjoys cuddling with her kids and seeing them learn and watching them grow. She also loves watching them play together. She said, “my biggest challenge right now is teaching them to make good decisions and to have thick skin. However, just getting them out the door in the morning can be a challenge too!” So true!
In regards to the values Jessica works upon instilling in her children she mentioned “there are a lot of things that happen in life, both big and small, which we have no control over. Yet we can control the way we handle the situation, react to it and whether we learn from it. Even as adults that is sometimes difficult for us to remember! My son and I have been talking about this concept a lot lately. I am hoping that by talking about it now, he will be able to recognize it himself someday.” She also mentioned that her kids are fairly empathetic without having to be taught about empathy, as her older son has some health issues of his own so he has a strong empathy towards others.
A favorite neighbor place to go for Jessica is the Wrightstown Farmer’s Market. She said, “I love going there on Saturday mornings. It’s peaceful, the people are friendly and you can get amazingly fresh, local, organic food.” Another local farmer’s market for Mama’s Little Helper readers to visit! Their family also enjoys visiting the Please Touch Museum and the Crayola Factory for a fun time.
Jessica has been a work at home mom for the past five years, initially for her previous employer and now she is self-employed. She launched a website, BucksMontStyle in 2009 and then this year she launched Look who Found the Marbles, a human interest blog about social good, life and giving back. Jessica mentioned that her “background is in media research and strategy. I started out at an advertising agency in New York and then moved to magazine publishing. I spent a couple of years at Hearst Magazines and a decade at Condé Nast Publications, doing Marketing Research for such titles as: Self, Esquire, Mademoiselle, Condé Nast Portfolio, House & Garden, Cookie, and Lucky.” She has now taken her knowledge from both worlds and now does small business strategy consulting.
Social Media is a Great Way to Connect with People
When asked is she uses social media, Jessica replied, “absolutely! I love the power of social media to connect people, whether it be like-minded people or connecting brands with their advocates. Social media has made the world a much smaller place. I think I have enjoyed Twitter the most and always love when I get to meet Twitter handles in real life!” You can find Jessica on Twitter at @FoundtheMarbles and @IamJessicaCohen and on her Facebook page.
As to what tip Jessica would give to new parents, she replied “Trust your instincts. If you suspect that something is wrong, be it a health concern or otherwise, get it checked out. Don’t ever let anyone make you feel badly about going with your gut. The maternal instinct is really powerful.” She said that the best tip she ever received about parenting “sounds so cliché but getting your rest is an important piece of advice. Sometimes we forego sleep in order to get everything done, whether it is housework or business. Yet I know that I am a more patient mom when I get a good night’s sleep. Now, if I could only follow my own advice!”
Every parent needs time to de-stress and Jessica has found that Pilates helps her do so. She said, “I also get out with my girlfriends when I can. My friends in the neighborhood are amazing and I am fortunate to have them in my life. I also meet my college girlfriends once a month for dinner. There’s nothing like having good friends.”
Thank you Jessica, for sharing a bit of your life with Mama’s Little Helper!
 Jessica Cohen from Look Who Found the Marbles If you know a mom you would like to see featured here, email Diane@mamaslittlehelper.org.
Do you know how to coupon? Share your tips here!
For this week’s Question of the Week, Mama is wondering about the popularity of extreme couponing and how to coupon the best way to save the most money. I’ve been using a coupon binder for almost a year now as a means to organize my coupons. While it does help, my problem is that most of the coupons we receive in the paper or in the mail are for products we don’t use. I’ve found some good online sites for organic coupons, and found that many manufacturers offer free coupons if you sign up on their websites. I do not subscribe to a clipping service, that is ordering specific coupons for a fee, but have watched the people on the TLC show Extreme Couponing and felt inspired to work harder to save more money. I don’t know how to extreme coupon because my biggest issue is time…I don’t have enough time to do what I need and want to do now, so trying to fit in more time to seek and organize coupons is a struggle.
There seem to be many coupon mom blogs in the Bucks County area. I follow a few on Facebook and have also found some great tips from them. One of my most money saving discoveries I learned from reading one of the frugal mom’s blogs was the CVS sales and extra bucks rewards. When I need drug store items, I make sure that I pay attention to the CVS circular and check my coupon stash before shopping.
Some of the frugal blogs I’ve discovered and found useful tips on include: Mama Cheaps, Frugal Coupon Living, Organic Deals, and Smart Spending Spot. (Mama has no affiliation with these sites, just has found them useful.) What frugal or coupon sites have you discovered?
Do you have a coupon method that works for you? Please share with Mama’s Little Helper readers!
Regal summer movies for a buck, all summer long!
Summer vacations are about to begin in the Bucks/Montco/Philadelphia region for children and their families. Parents and caregivers are always on the quest for inexpensive and family-friendly entertainment for young children to occupy those hot summer months. The Regal Entertainment Group, which includes 284 Regal Cinemas, United Artists, and Edwards Theatres across the country are offering a solution for inexpensive family entertainment all summer long: kid-friendly movies for a dollar! This is a great way to stay inside a cool theater on a hot morning and provide your charges with a couple of hours of giggles and fun.
The Summer Movie Express will offer selected G and PG rated family movies on Tuesdays and Wednesdays at 10:00 am for nine weeks, starting on Tuesday June 21st and running through Wednesday August 17th. Each theater will have their own schedule of which movies they are showing each week, so if one lives close to several theaters, the selection of movies each week will increase. In the Philadelphia region there are several theaters participating including in Bucks County The Oxford Valley Theatre Stadium 14 in Langhorne, The Warrington Crossing Stadium 22 in Warrington, and in New Jersey, the Burlington Stadium 22 in Burlington. For a full listing of participating theaters, see the Regal Summer Movies website.
Admission is only a dollar per person and a portion of that will be donated by the theaters to the Will Rogers Institute, who uses the money to fund their mission in the areas of medical research and health education. Regal has committed to donate a million dollars to the Will Rogers Institute from the proceeds of the summer movie series.
Some of the movies included in the Summer Express Movie series are Ramona & Beezus, Open Season (1, 2, and 3,) Megamind, Yogi Bear, Charlotte’s Web, Jason and the Argonauts, How to Train Your Dragon, Muppets Take Manhattan, Muppetts from Space, and Karate Kid. See the Summer Movie Express website for the movie schedule of your local theater.
These are not first-run movies, however, for younger children who may have not yet seen these movies in a theater, it makes it an exciting and different experience than sitting at home and watching on the television. It also is a great way to cool off when its too hot to play in the sun all day! Be sure to get there early, as it’s possible that the theaters will be crowded. Plan your schedule by checking out the full listing of kids movies this summer and making sure to see your kids’ favorites! See Mama’s calendar for some of the theaters schedules.
This is a fun opportunity for kids of a variety of ages, so you can bring all of your kids or grandkids for a morning of fun kids movies this summer. Snacks optional!
~Mama Diane
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We Won 4th Place Last Year, Make Us #1 This Year!
Voted NJ #1 Consignment Sale!
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