Sometimes the best things in life are free! When it comes to summer fun and activity, I believe that to be the case almost all of the time as long as you use your imagination! Sometimes us parents have to actually think like a kid to get those creative juices flowing too. It’s so easy to get caught up in electronics these days, but if you just unplug and get outdoors to play, your whole family (do it together!) might just have one of best days ever! Here’s how you can have some Easy Outdoor Obstacle Course Fun today!

Balanced and active play lays the foundation for a skilled, healthy, resilient and successful society. Did you know that Play is disappearing at home, in school and in communities?  70% of moms played outside when they were kids,  but only 31% of their kids are playing outside today! Let’s change that!

If you have a playset in your own backyard then that’s the perfect place to start! If you don’t…no worries! Head to the nearest or biggest public or school place of play in your area!

Last weekend we packed up our 4 kiddos and headed off to one of our new favorite outdoor places. We had only been there a few times, so it was still “new” and all the more exciting!

This area offered a lot of different play equipment along with picnic tables, benches, and big trees for shade from the hot sun. It also featured an older wooden train, which was perfect for our Obstacle Course!

We let the kids come up with the course. They decided which slides to go down, what you had to do on each piece and of course the order it all was to be done in.

The triple slides made our obstacle course even more fun. Instead of just getting timing each other and seeing how long it took us to complete the course, the kids could do it together like a race!

After several rounds of the course, everyone was definitely ready for a little something to eat. We sat underneath a shade tree on the grass, with our legs crossed enjoying the breeze and helped ourselves to the CLIF Kid Zbar® snacks I packed.

These bars are not only delicious, but they are a convenient, wholesome snack I always feel good about giving my kids. CLIF Kid® makes nutritious snacks from organic ingredients that are specially-crafted for kids’ developing taste buds and their active lives. They are made with Non-GMO and organic ingredients and are an appropriate portion size for kids in flavors that they love.

We love the Chocolate Chip & Iced Oatmeal Cookie flavors and they are great by themselves or with a fresh piece of seasonal fruit! Yum!

Our DIY Obstacle Course event didn’t take much work at all, but it was so much fun. Everyone has already asked to go and do it again! It’s simple, easy, inexpensive and most of all, some of the best active, outdoor family time you can have! Just don’t forget the snacks!

So what do you say? Get Out & Play Today!

I was selected for this opportunity as a member of Clever Girls and the content and opinions expressed here are all my own.

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Summer always seems to go by so fast! Just where does that time go? I don’t know about you, but my kiddos seem to be growing up just fast, and I want to make the most of this time in our lives. Even though you may not have a road trip or vacation planned for your family yet this summer, it’s not too late! THERE’S STILL TIME! There’s something really exciting about just getting in the car and going, so today I’m going to show you How To Plan a Summer Family Road Trip in ONLY 48 Hours!

Make an Itinerary. Figure out where you want to go and make it doable. You don’t have to spend days in the car to reach your destination. Your destination doesn’t have to be a really popular place either. Think and look outside the box. You’ll be amazed at what you might find.

Do a little research on your computer or on your phone and choose a few places you absolutely want to stop along the way. Look for fun activities in the area or on the way that may be optional and print them out for your kiddos to choose from when you’re in the car. Make them feel like a big part of the planning too! They’ll love it!

Service Your Vehicle. You can’t get out on the road without making sure your vehicle is safe and ready to go. Walmart Auto Care Centers can get you and your car in and out for a great oil change in no time! You don’t even need an appointment. Simply pull into the parking area outside the Auto Care Center and stop by the front desk, tell them what you want and hand them your keys.

I had my vehicle’s oil changed with Pennzoil Platinum®: Full Synthetic Motor Oil with PurePlus Technology. This oil is specifically for cars under 75,000 miles. If you have a vehicle with over 75,000 miles choose Pennzoil® High Mileage Vehicle®! Getting your oil changed with Pennzoil- and oil that helps clean out sludge lesser oils leave behind at Walmart helps make your summer road trips a success by saving you time and money.

*Bonus: Pennzoil Platinum & Pennzoil High Mileage Vehicle is on Rollback from $39.88 to $35.88 through September 28!*

The best part is that you can do your Road Trip shopping while your vehicle is getting worked on! They will page you when you are all ready to go!

Pack Great Snacks. I think a big part of road trip fun is always the food. Sure you can stop and eat at new restaurants on the way, but packing a cooler and having yummy things like homemade sandwiches, fresh fruit, veggies, popcorn, crackers, cheese or yogurt and of course a little chocolate on hand is always really nice too.

Don’t Forget Games & Movies. At some point in your road trip you might have a little one that gets bored, so make it fun! Auto Bingo is always a neat game to play (where you mark items off as you see them) to occupy some time.

You can bring along some colored pencils and coloring books that your kiddos like too! Of course renting a few DVDs or downloading a handful of your children’s favorite shows on your phone or iPad can be helpful as well.

Keep an Open Mind. While you’re on the open road, have an open mind. Don’t have unrealistic expectations and take things one day at a time. Consider being spontaneous and stopping off somewhere just because.

When you’re closer to home and you know your surroundings and where you are, consider letting your kiddos decide which way to turn and go.  I have the best memories of my mother letting us do that when we were younger and we felt so important making the driving decisions!

Pennzoil on Facebook | Pennzoil on YouTube

Find a Walmart Auto Care Center Near You & Make Memories on the Road this Summer!

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I try to squeeze in a little holiday cheer into each day leading up to Christmas. The problem? Some of those days are school days which mean that the evenings are pretty busy. We’ve been trying to get everyone’s homework done early and out of the way so that we can sit down together at the end of the evening and watch a different holiday special on TV each night. What makes these evenings even more special are getting cozy in front of the Christmas tree to watch a good movie while enjoying some tasty holiday cookies! These simple, 3 ingredient Easy Holiday Chocolate Chip & Marshmallow Cookies are a fun treat that the whole family will love this season!

Because I love a little help in the kitchen for desserts and such on the busy weeknights, I always like to grab a few packages of NESTLÉ® TOLL HOUSE® refrigerated Cookie Dough when I am grocery shopping at Walmart.

These packages are so nice to have on hand for those nights when you just want a warm cookie with a glass of milk, but don’t feel like doing a lot of the prep work.  For the holidays, these cookies come in 2 delicious flavors- Holiday Chocolate Chip and Hot Cocoa. Either one will do for this recipe! Yum!

To get started, get everyone into their cozy pj’s and preheat your oven!

Place the pre cut portions of cookie dough on your baking sheets and bake these according the the package directions.

After they have cooled, (you can do this warm too…so good, but a tad bit messy) add a little marshmallow fluff filling or frosting in between 2 of the cookies.

Then take your stuffed cookies and roll them on a plate of holiday sprinkles. That’s it!

3 Ingredients and a few minutes to assemble and you’ve got yourself a festive treat to enjoy any night of the week with your family….even if it is a busy one!

Want to share these yummy cookies with more family & friends? Print out one of these cute Holiday treat plate or bag holder printables to make really a sweet gift!

For more simple and delicious holiday baking ideas, be sure to visit the NESTLÉ® Flavorful Moments Pinterest Page and the Very Best Baking Pinterest Page! You can also follow along on FB & Instagram! What’s your favorite quick and easy holiday treat?

Happy Holidays!

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Easter is almost here and I have been busy this week preparing for the special day.  My children are home from school this week and every year in addition to our normal family traditions, I like to try something different and new.  Driscoll’s Berries approached me and thought I might be interested in giving their tasty Berrylicious Bunny Cake a try!  This all natural, fresh berry filled cake was so darn cute that I knew my children would just love to spend an afternoon in the kitchen making it, so of course we put this on our to do list.

We had so much fun making and eating this cake!  The light and buttery cake mixed with sweet, chopped strawberries and topped with a homemade buttercream frosting garnished with flaked coconut and raspberries, blueberries and blackberries was a very special treat.  We all couldn’t wait to have a piece and the only fighting was over who would get which ear!  Naturally, I didn’t let them eat a whole ear, but when it was time to cut the cake, each piece had a little of everything and looked beautiful.  If you are looking a fun dessert for Easter this year give this wonderful cake a try!

Here’s a look at how we made our cake:

This batter smelled absolutely wonderful as we mixed in the fresh chopped strawberries!

 We did not have a bunny pan, so we used (2)  9 inch cake pans.

After the cakes were baked and cooled we cut one into the “bunny ears” which completed the bunny shape.  Don’t mind my slightly broken ear- it’s okay if this happens, because it will all be covered in delicious frosting!

We then frosted the cake and added a lot of flaked coconut for “fur”.  If your family doesn’t like coconut, you can always skip this step.

I gave everyone a specific part to work on and my children got busy decorating!

Our youngest decided to just snack on some strawberries instead- notice the tiny hand in the bottom right corner

Our completed Driscoll’s Berrylicious Bunny Cake!

Enjoy!

The recipe for this yummy cake can be found here.

*Driscoll’s provided me with coupons to purchase berries.  I was provided no further compensation for this project.   All thoughts and opinions in this post are 100% my own.

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This is a Sponsored post written by me on behalf of LEGO. All opinions are 100% mine.

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While attending my son’s kindergarten open house at school this fall, I came across a sign up sheet where parents could pick a month that they would like to volunteer and make a batch of play dough for the classroom.  I thought this was such a nice idea and it gave me an opportunity to help out with my son’s class.  I chose the month of December, and I wanted to make this Play Dough special for Winter.

The basic recipe for this Homemade Play Dough was printed out and was available right next to the sign up sheet at school.  This Play Dough recipe is by far, the best recipe for Play Dough I have tried.  It isn’t sticky and has the exact texture, if not a better texture than the Play Dough you would find at your local store.  I actually had a lot of fun playing with the dough myself while I was preparing it:)  Kindergarten teachers definitely know their Play Dough!

To make this Play Dough even more fun, I decided to add Peppermint Oil to the mixture.  It smelled sooo wonderful!   I added 2 small drops of green food coloring to half of the dough and added clear crystal glitter to the uncolored dough.  The white, glittery dough is perfect for making snowflakes, snowmen and angel shapes, while the light green dough works well for Christmas trees, stars and wreath shapes.  Creating your own, customized Play Dough can be a fun activity for the whole family.  My children can’t wait to make a few more batches of this when they are home on Winter Break in a couple of weeks.  We might even try a few different essential oils and colors too!

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It’s that wonderful time of year again…Autumn.    To me there is nothing quite like it and I like to get outdoors as much as possible before the winter arrives.  Taking a nice walk outdoors this time of year is also amazing journey for your senses.  The cool, crisp air touches your skin, there are beautiful colors on the trees, sounds of leaves rustling around, and the smell of apples in a nearby orchard to take in.  Children of all ages love to explore this time of year too.  Our family loves to spend most of our weekends outdoors in the fall.  We like to take walks in the woods near our home and we bring a bag along to bring home interesting things we’ve collected.  Last year I created an Autumn Scavenger Hunt for my children.  I made a list and we went outside in search of the items.  My older 2 children really enjoyed this, but my younger 2 children were to little to read the list.  This year I wanted everyone to have a lot of fun, so I created this Autumn Scavenger Hunt for younger children (ages 2-4), who cannot read, but would do really well looking at a picture list.  When my younger children saw these, they were so excited to join in on the scavenger hunt fun and were feeling more independent as we went out in search of the items.  I hope you have great weather this weekend to get out with your family and do a little exploring of your own!

You can download and print this Autumn Scavenger Hunt List here.

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