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Summer Reading for the Little Ones (& busy ones)

June 11, 2015 By Erica Deuel Leave a Comment

Disney_story_centralWe are only a week into summer, but already loving it! We worked so hard on so many new concepts this school year. As a homeschool mom, I am especially proud of completing another year. Since I teach my kids all year, getting the kids to read during the summer and not feel like they are doing “school” can be tricky. My kids love earning electronic time, and I can play into their love for electronics, by using Disney Story Central.

Disney Story Central is the largest collection of Disney digital stories, featuring a wide array of Disney stories and characters that kids and families know and love.

I can have the best of both worlds by sharpening their love for reading while also allowing them to have some screen time.

disney_books_onlineThe computer doesn’t always make sense for reading. When we are on the go or want to all cuddle up in a more comfy location, we can turn to our iPad. I love that this program can be played on both.

I let my kids pick which books they would like to read from Disney Story Central from our computer. I love that it is a cross-platform experience. Disney Story Central is available via iPhone and iPad app, tablet-optimized website and Video on Demand (AT&T U-Verse).

Disney_story_central_onlineOne of my favorite features of this program is the customizable bookshelves for each member of the family. With a soon to be third grader and first grader, my boys are on different reading levels and they can get personalized reading recommendations for the level they need.

When we were selecting some books, I kept in mind my little Reagan. She’s in preschool and loves to read books! With each book there is the option to read it aloud or have it read aloud to you. She could sit for hours and have these books read to her. She loves it!

Disney_story_central_review

snuggle_buddiesDisney Story Central gives families the freedom to choose the reading experience that suits them best, whether through an annual subscription service (unlimited access to the expansive library) or a-la-carte options, using Disney Book Tokens. The Disney book token system works like currency and allows parents to give their kids the opportunity to pick out the books they WANT to read.

My kids love picking out books to read. They sort through, compare, talk about the characters and their favorite parts of the different stories. Reading is so important and starting a fun way to do it as a kid will hopefully create a lifetime love for reading in them.

kids_books_onlineYou can participate in Disney Story Central‘s ‘Mid-Summer Light Reads’ Campaign. The campaign will promote weekly summer reading themes featuring selected Disney titles. By participating you can unlock free books and enter a special sweepstakes! Launching today, June 11, the campaign will run through August 13.

How do you encourage your kids to read during the summer? Thanks so much for stopping by!

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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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Albion Fit

June 16, 2014 By Erica Deuel 20 Comments

the prefect mom swimsuitSummer is in full swing and we are living at the neighborhood pool. How about you? Are you hitting the pool? Getting ready for the summer beach trip? Are you a mom with young kids?

If you are anything like me this is always that time of year that I stress about finding a good bathing suit for the season. For me I prefer something modest, that I feel good in, and can’t be pulled down while kids are climbing all over me… It’s a pretty daunting combination to find. I have purchased and taken back no less than four bathing suits already this year. 🙁

But don’t worry, there’s hope! I found the most amazing bathing suit from Albion Fit. It is absolutely my favorite suit in a very long time. It is modest yet beautiful, and the best part is I don’t feel like an old mom in it! As I now have my first suit from Albion, my love for this company is just growing as is my wish list. Their pieces are fashionable and unique, but more importantly practical and technical. There are so many cute suits, but they also carry workout gear. Here are a few of my favorite suits. Note: click each image to be taken to that suit on their site.icon_red2

bigpolka_front

rashfloral

blousy-black-back1

gidge2Do you see the cuteness I’m talking about?! I know if you browse their site, you too will fall in love with their products. I’m excited today to give you have a chance to win a $25 gift card to put towards one of your own! To enter, let the rafflecopter load and enter away!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

albion GIVEAWAYThank you so much for entering my giveaway! Good luck and I hope you have a great week!

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Good-bye Summer!

August 7, 2013 By Erica Deuel 3 Comments

The summer flew by. We start school on Monday, and I can hardly believe it. I know as a second year homeschool mom there is so much I should probably be doing to prepare. There are supplies to gather, a room to set up, curriculum to buy (yes, I still haven’t ordered our books), but my mind is fried. Instead, I would like to imagine I’m still at the beach, and take you there with me. I edited a few of the pictures from our trip last week to St. George with my family.

family

Most of you know, but I have 8 siblings and some of which are married with kids now. There were maybe 20 people on this trip?! I can’t count right now, but hopefully I can next week when I start teaching first grade, right!? Let’s just relax for now though. Here are some highlights from our beach trip…

meeting my nephew Jack for the first time

morning porch time with everyone in their pajamas

porch_family_time

hanging out with family for longer than a dinner

having to make three full pots of coffee-so everyone got their first cup for the day

sharing a snow cone with my niece and daughter

snowcones

watching the cousins play together

grandkids

laughing with my sisters

sisters

the boys fishing trip-where they caught a shark

fishing trip

having a cannon ball contest with my sister-in-law (and losing)

taking & comparing pics w/ my sis to see how similar we look

catching fish in nets on the beach

beach_fishing

beach_fishing_nets

fishing

an easier week of potty training 😉

baby_Pool

watching my boys have no fear

family_beach_trip

collecting_shells

watching my boys laugh with my brothers

big dinners

building a sand mermaid with my daughter

mom and daughter on beach

a huge squirt gun war

grilling out

talking about dreams and life

being tired from the sun

beach kids

tired kids

On our last day, we hit the beach all morning and the pool all afternoon. We left in the evening and all three kiddos were asleep in minutes. I think they had fun :).

kids asleep in van

We are already planning next year’s trip. I’m thankful for family and thankful for vacations where we can step into another world for a little bit. It was so fun! I hope you too had a great summer! Now, I’m off to start transitioning this mind to notebooks and school!

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Recycled Wreath

June 4, 2013 By Erica Deuel Leave a Comment

create a new summer wreath

Decorating your home can be expensive. The constant changing of holidays and seasons could make you go broke with all the cute options of stuff to buy. I love to decorate for the holidays and adding slight changes to represent the current season but have come up with some frugal ways to make it possible. I want to show you one of my tricks today with my new summer wreath.

I created a simple rustic wreath for our old front door. My wreath was simple in color and design because the door was a bright cherry red. They looked good together. After moving and trying to put that same wreath on our now dark burgundy door, it just didn’t give the same warm feel. The wreath got lost and looked old and bland.

old front doorI decided to spice it up with some new elements to create a new wreath while recycling parts of the old wreath. By using parts of the old wreath, I kept the cost down for a new wreath. Here you can see my old wreath with the new flowers I bought to help spice it up.

creating a new wreathThe frist thing I did was to strip my old wreath of everything I had added to it. I pulled off all the flowers and kind of created two piles out of the stuff. One pile was elements I thought I was going to throw away and the other was stuff I wanted to try to use again.

taking apart old wreath to make a new wreathNext, I pulled off all my fake flowers off the long stems they came on.

using fake flowers to make a wreathI placed them onto my wreath mixed in with the burlap elements from my old wreath that I wanted to try to use again. I played around with the placement of all the different pieces.

parts of a recycled wreath

Once I had them laid out in a way I liked, I pulled out my hot glue gun and started hot glueing them all into place.

Hot glueing fake flowers

Hot glueing fake flowers to a wreathAfter they were all hot glued, my new wreath was complete! I think the new flowers cost about $8.00 all together, so I got a whole new wreath that matched my flower pots and taste perfectly for $8.00.

summer wreath

new front door

I love the way the front entrance of our house now looks. The new wreath and flower pots really helped spruce up our front porch. What about you? Have you ever destroyed something you created to create something new?

recycle your wreath

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