With the new school year starting up again, how can you be sure your children are getting a good start to the day with a healthy breakfast? One way to be sure of this is to add milk to their daily food intake. But, if your children don’t like to drink milk with their meals, you may need to sneak milk into their diet.

My favorite trick to do this is to make breakfast smoothies. You can find some super recipes online here at Smoothies Recipe, but I like to just wing it and use what I have on hand at the time. Smoothies don’t have to be an exact science and you can have your kids help you put the ingredients in the blender. All you really need to make a yummy smoothie is milk, yogurt, some fruit and some ice. I like to also have some honey around too just in case we want to make it sweeter.  If you plan on making smoothies every day, I suggest grabbing a bag of frozen fruit the next time you are at the grocery store. A mixed bag of fruit is best.

Another idea is to make breakfast muffins.  I like to do this on Sunday afternoon with my daughter, because this gives her something to look forward to eating when she wakes up in the morning.  We like to make a different type of muffin for each week and wash them down with a cold glass of milk.  Our favorite ones to make are Bacon Cheddar Muffins and Chocolate Chip Muffins. We especially like to make the mini muffins because they are so cute.

When my daughter is at school I like to pack some cereal in her lunch box and I send along some milk in a thermos.  Having cereal as part of her lunch is different, but that is what also makes it fun, and she is more likely to eat something if she thinks that it is fun.

Finally, the after school snack.  I normally leave this snack up to my daughter to make because she is a creative little girl and likes to make her own snacks.  One of her favorite things to make is her Checker Board Pepperoni.  She takes 1 slice of Swiss cheese, cheese crackers and pepperoni and then makes a checker board design out of the whole thing, and before you know it, the whole thing is gone.

If you want to find ways to sneak milk into your child’s meals you can check out some recipe sites online and just type in the word ‘milk’ in the search area.  You will be surprised how many recipes include milk as one of the ingredients.

Another place that I have found some great recipes is on the Real California Milk site; they even have a section devoted just to milk recipes. One that we recently tried as part of our Sunday baking time was the Cocoa Cupcakes. We baked the Cocoa Cupcakes last night and they were hands down the best cupcakes I have baked in a while because they were very moist and light. Even the batter was tasty.

The tops of the cupcakes are huge, look how they overtake the cupcake pan.

Topped with Whipped Cream and Cinnamon

Lily explains why she likes the Cocoa Cupcakes

Center of cupcake with marshmellow, yum

For more information about how good milk really is for your child to drink check out the nutritional chart from Real California Milk here.

Disclosure: I wrote this article while participating in a blog campaign by the California Milk Advisory Board, who paid me a fee to participate. All opinions expressed are my own.

1. I Spy – We love to play lots of little games in the car and when we are out and about because we are always on the go. We play I Spy because it is an easy game that can be played in the car, at a restaurant or waiting in line at the grocery store. Sometimes we play it at home when waiting to leave for school too.

2. Go for a Walk – This seems like it might be boring but we have a baby and a 4 year old so it is fun to walk around the neighborhood and say “hi” to our neighbors. Also, a good opportunity to play I Spy!

3. We go to the Dollar Store & have a Art Party - My daughter has a blast when I give her a dollar and I let her decide what she wants to buy in the store. I also pick up art supplies at the Dollar Store such as Popsicle sticks, glitter glue, google eyes, construction paper, markers and color books and then have an Art Party when we get home.

4. Cards – Our family loves to play cards we play Uno, War, Go Fish and a fun game called Rat-a-tat-cat. It is also fun to just toss the cards up in the air and pick them up, this is serious fun for little kids.

5. Family Meeting – Even though having a meeting doesn’t sound like to much fun this is a time when we all give each other uninterrupted time to talk and bring up any issues, family ideas and we also review our weekend activities. We do the meeting on Friday night after dinner. Even though Lily is 4, it is great to hear the things that she comes up with at the meeting. Last week she told us “I’m really excited about starting school on Monday”.

“I wrote this blog post while participating in the TwitterMoms and LEGO blogging program, making me eligible to get a prize pack. For more information on how you can participate, click here.”

There’s a new way to get your photos from your camera to your wall and I am excited to tell you about it.  It is called Fracture – http://www.fractureme.com.  Fracture is the fastest, easiest, best way to get your pictures from your camera to your wall.

Fracture’s introductory product lets you print your digital pictures right onto glass!  There’s no paper, film or anything involved.  Simply ink and glass.  They have effectively combined printing, framing, and mounting into one simple process.  You upload your photo to FractureMe.com, and they print it on glass, and send it on it’s way with everything you need to mount and display. It’s a one-stop, complete photo decor solution.

I am excited to possibly have the opportunity to try the new Fracture product. If I am among the first 100 participants, I will be writing a follow-up post about Fracture with my own feedback after testing it out.

I visited their website at http://www.fractureme.com and was just drooling at how cool this service is !!  The prices are great too, a 5×7 is just $8.00 !

“I wrote this blog post in response to a TwitterMoms RAMBO alert, making me eligible to get a Fracture picture frame for review. You can learn more about Fracture at http://www.fractureme.com.

Finally, the day we have all been waiting for has arrived.  It’s Lily’s 1st day of Kindergarten.  We have been looking forward to this day because it starts a whole new chapter in all of our lives.  This day starts Lily on her path to school and our families path to connecting with new people and reconnecting with old friends.  We are looking forward to being part of a community where everyone is ‘on the same page’.

Lily said that she had fun on her first day and can’t wait to go on her first field trip to the Pumpkin Patch.

Cullo Family Moment at St. Mary's

Lily & Abigail

Lily in her Kindergarten Class

In Lily's Classroom

Dawn in 1979 at the same school.

KICK-START YOUR DAY WITH THE DUNKIN’ TURBO™ BIG TASTE TOUR

Giant Cross-Country RV Brings New Dunkin’ Turbo Coffee to Sacramento July 30 – August 1

Dunkin’ Donuts^® new Dunkin’ Turbo packaged coffee offers an extra boost of delicious Dunkin’ Donuts flavor to kick-start your day!

A giant, Dunkin’ Donuts RV that’s designed to be a coffee-brewing kitchen on wheels to dispense free coffee samples and coupons to consumers at the California State Fair on Friday, July 30 – Sunday, August 1 from 10:00 am – 10:00 pm daily at the  Cal Expo Fairgrounds.

Here’s what will be at the fair, look for the big pink and orange bus!!

• Dunkin’ Turbo Wheel – Consumers spin the Dunkin’ Turbo wheel to win a variety of prizes, including a year’s worth of Dunkin’ Turbo packaged coffee, Dunkin’ Donuts grocery lists, reusable grocery bags or 11 oz. coffee packages.
• Big Taste Mascot – Take a picture with the Dunkin’ Donuts mug mascot to remember your time with the Dunkin’ Turbo Big Taste Tour.

Check out www.dunkinathome.com for a full listing of Dunkin’ Turbo Big Taste Tour stops.

But wait…there’s more! Would you like to win a bag of Dunkin’ Turbo coffee to try at home?  Just visit the Dunkin’ At Home website and  let me know what is your favorite flavor of coffee or why you need an extra boost of flavor in your coffee, submit your comment below. Winner will be selected via Random.org, contest ends on August 15, 2010 at 9:00 pm PST.

Lily and I were able to see a screening of the Ramona and Beezus movie a few weeks ago and it was really good.  There are no flying dragons or animated toys or vampires and nothing to scare your little ones.  It is a live action “G” rated movie and perfect for little girls and Tweens.

The story is based upon Beverly Cleary’s book series so you may have read it when you were in school.  If not, you can check out her books on Amazon.  What I liked about the movie was that there are no cell phones, computers or mp3 players in the story yet the story is still modern, the problems that Ramona and Beezus face are relevant to any time period.  They deal with first loves, sibling issues, the economy, school related issues, parents having disagreements and even death.  These are issues that our children will face at sometime in their lives and seeing how these characters react to the situations are good examples for our children. I even got teary eyed a few times and really thought that the story was told well.

Selena Gomez plays the role of the older sister Beatrice “Beezus” Quimby and new comer (and sooo cute) Joey King plays the role of Ramona. There is also some eye candy in the movie with yummy Josh Duhamel and John Corbett.

You can check out a clip of the movie at their site Ramona and Beezus

Yes it is true, even the cutest kids can be mean.  Lily begins Kindergarten in a few weeks and the thoughts have crossed my mind about the type of kid I was in school.  As I walk down the halls at St. Mary’s I think back to my time there and how I may have acted towards others.  Let me just begin by saying that I have a horrible memory and really there is no way that I am going to remember everything I said or did when I was a kid but I am sure I wasn’t always an angel 100% of the time.  I am sure that other kids were mean to me too, but that is just part of growing up.

I was in elementary and junior high during the 80′s and that was a time where I got a lot of my influence from T.V. and soap operas, I swear!  I watched Days of Our Lives and General Hospital every day after school with my grandmother and often with my girlfriends and I watch Dynasty and Dallas and on the occasion Knots Landing with my mom.  I did see Luke and Laura get married as well, yes I am that old.  So of course me being the young impressionable kid thought that life was like soap operas, and I was a bit snooty at times and may have not been nice to some other girls in my class.  I don’t remember exactly what I ever said or did but I just know that I wasn’t nice sometimes.  Ok, Ok, there is one time that I remember and I get teased about it still.  My friend (still to this day) Kathy was the ‘new girl’ in school.  I went up to her and said “Do you want to be my friend? I only ask once”.  Seriously, that is what I said, OMG I would be so sad if someone said that to Lily.

Our class was such a group of naughty kids though, they even sent in one of the priest to have a ‘talk’ with us about having ‘bad bones’ in our bodies which made us commit sins.  He even referred to a soap opera character Savannah on Days of Our Lives.

You see, my parents split when I was in 2nd grade so my mom raised me and life was a little tough, I probably should have been in counseling or something like that but I never was.  So not being able to resolve my feelings in a healthy manner resulted in not so nice behavior towards others.

Today I got some ‘payback’ from the universe.  A little girl at Lily’s school was mean to her, and it hurt me to hear her tell me about it.  Just seeing her little face upset was enough to make me tear up a little bit and think about the mean things I may have said to other kids when I was younger.

I am hoping, no I am praying that Lily has a good experience in school, and that the universe doesn’t punish me through her by having kids be mean to her.  =(  At her school I have to complete some parent participation hours and I keep thinking of all the people I am going to be working with now, was I mean to them?  Do they hold a grudge?  Am I going to be placed on the worst jobs ever for parent participation because of it?

I swear though life is tough enough for me already, really it is.  My life certainly hasn’t turned out exactly the way that I wanted it to but I am trucking along trying to make the most of it.  I did however marry the man of my dreams and he has given me two beautiful daughters.  I am exhausted every day and I am a haggard stay at home mom who works at night to make ends meet.  My clothes are not fancy, and I don’t drive a fancy car, I weigh more than I would like and I don’t always wear makeup….but I am a nice person and I try my best to take care of my girls first and then myself.  I am not the girl I was so many years ago.  Maybe my life not turning out the way I wanted is my ‘punishment’ for being mean, who knows but when life hands you lemons then make lemonade and I’ve got lots of lemonade, pink of course.

I started using the best bottle feeding system Closer to Nature by Tommee Tippee a few months ago and we have grown to love their other products as well.  That is why I was so excited to by able to try their feeding system because Abigail is now eating ‘solid’ food, which is just the pureed food. I received products from the Mom Bloggers Club and Tommee Tippee in order to facilitate this review. What I got to try are the Tommee Tippee weaning bowl, feeding spoon and non-slip spill mat.

The feeding spoon that I was given to try is a normal feeding spoon but is flexible so it is soothing to sore gums.   They also have another type available where the spoon changes color if the food is too hot.  I really like that the bowl sticks to the non-slip mat because little Miss Abigail loves to try and feed herself. As you can see from this photo here, she doesn’t quite get the spoon in her mouth often.

She tried with all her 6 month old strenght, but could not get the bowl to come off the mat, she wasn’t too happy about that.  When it came time for me to remove the bowl to clean it the process was very easy.  You can just tug a little on the pink tab under the bowl and it comes right off.  The bowl even comes with a nifty travel feature where you can insert the bowl in a bigger bowl and attach a lid.  The lid even has a place to store the spoon.  That will come in really handy for us as we are always on the go.

I asked Lily to try out the Truly Spill Proof Water Bottle and she said that it was good because it was light weight and she could hold it with one hand.  I like it because it uses the same valve system as her Explora Truly Spill Proof Drinking Cup so when Abigail outgrows the toddler cup we can still use the valve in the next stage of cups.  But what I really love about their cups is that they are spill proof, and that is no lie.  You just need to make sure that the valve system is inserted correctly and there will be no leaks.  Lily has been using the drinking cups for months now and not one leak.

Want to get your hands on some Tommee Tippee? Well, here’s the good news, now through July 23: Buy any Explora item (cups and toddler feeding), get the second 50% off at BabiesRUs.com (http://bit.ly/cDYhv8) Tommee Tippee products can now be found in all Toys “R” Us and Babies “R” Us stores nationwide as well as on BabiesRUs.com.

If you want to know more about Tommee Tippee you can Like Tommee Tippee on Facebook http://www.facebook.com/tommeetippeenorthamerica or Follow Tommee Tippee on Twitter http://www.twitter.com/tommeetippee_na

Lily is starting Kindergarten at the end of August and we thought it would be a good idea for her to attend Summer School at her new school so that she could get used to the environment.  We are almost done with the program and she is doing great, but I am the one who has been in an adjustment period.

I had no idea how hard this would be to drop her off and pick her up from school.  At her new school they give every parent a security badge to wear once they have been ‘cleared’ by the office to be on campus.  The badge is actually a yellow card that reads “Taxi Driver”.  On the first day that I got my badge, I thought it was so cute, now I hate it because yes it reminds me that I am fricken Taxi Driver.

Every day I have had to drive her to school by a specific time, not like in Preschool where we could just come and go as we pleased.  No, not when you are in real school, you’ve got to be on time people!  Then I have to occupy myself for 2 hours with Abigail and then it is time to pick Lily up again from school.  My entire morning and early afternoon is built around being her taxi, it is crazy.

There is an afternoon session that she doesn’t stay for and they ring a bell,  holy cow if I am late picking her up I am pretty sure that she would go into category 5 hurricane mode. So every day I get there early and wait….tap tap tap my fingers, check my work email on my phone and get on facebook mobile while Abigail sleeps in the car and I wait for the perfect time to go into the school and pick Lily up…..wait did I mention that I have to actually get out of my car, sign her ‘out’ in the office walk to her classroom and get her?  Oh My GOSH, this is madness and tons of fun when I have to wake up Abigail to do it.

I am almost sad in a way that this is what the next year is going to be  like, my entire days filled with dropping her off and picking her up from school.  Well, at least when she starts Kindergarten she will be in the afternoon class from noon  – 3:00 and this means that we don’t need to rush out of the house or deal with morning traffic.  I will also be able to do the ‘drive through’ lane to pick her up, I don’t need to get myself or Abigail out of the car to pick her up.

So, we are in her last week of Kindercamp and I am really looking forward to it being over, it was a great experience for both of us but dang it I am so exhausted.

Karina Lee Veverka was born to Michel (Lou’s sister) & Stuart Veverka on July 16 at 9:43pm. She weighed in at 8 pounds 10 ounces and was 20 inches long.  Abigail and Karina are almost 6 months apart, they are going to have so much fun together and when Daria has her baby in October there is going to be  another girl cousin.  Guess pink is in for 2010.