Now that a new year is upon us, many people are busy coming up with New Year's resolutions. Maybe you want to get fit and lose that excess "Holiday Weight". Perhaps you want to give up pop and drink more water. Maybe, you just want to swap unhealthy habits for better ones.

Food, for example, is a great place to start! Sure, convenience foods are simple, but all too often, they aren't very nutritious. Eating a well-balanced diet is essential for overall wellness, and making sure you get enough fruits and veggies is a wonderful way to promote better health for 2016! 

My only real issue with keeping the house well-stocked with fresh produce? It tends to spoil in a matter of days. This can create wasted food AND wasted money, right down the drain. Or to the composter, actually. Sometimes it seems I get a less-than-fresh batch of produce, and it starts to turn in just a few days. Often, we are able to eat it all up in time....But sometimes, I end up throwing away the food I just purchased because it's getting a bit funky. 
​
This is just one of those annoying facts of life, right? I'm sure everyone who goes grocery shopping for fresh foods can totally relate. Don't you just hate going to fix a salad and finding lettuce that has begun to wilt? 

Anyone who knows me in "real life" is well aware of the fact that I have some issues with digestion. I suffer from heartburn and upset stomach quite often, so I try my best to avoid food and drink that tend to be triggers for digestive discomfort.

Unless, of course, it's around the Holidays. During the Holiday season, all caution goes out the window. After all, I like to celebrate with everyone else, and I certainly like to indulge on occasion. 

This Christmas, we spent the day with my Grandma. She is a feisty, wonderful Hungarian woman, and she always makes sure anyone who enters her home is well fed, to say the least.

Teachers don't get enough credit, it seems. I am understanding this now more than ever since we have been homeschooling our daughter this year. It's hard work making sure our children learn, grow, and thrive academically. Teachers definitely deserve to be spoiled, because they are so incredibly valuable in our world. 

Recently, I discovered a great company that's dedicated to putting together beautiful yet functional gifts for teachers. Teacher Peach offers products that are inspiring, on-trend, and further enhance the educational environment. 

We have a unique situation here in my home. My teenager, Kyle, goes to the public high school here in our town. My daughter, Sophie, is homeschooled. Xander, my 4 year old, will more than likely be homeschooled next year, also.

Each child is different, and they all have individual needs. While my oldest thrives in a public school environment, the little ones may not. Sophie is leaps and bounds beyond a typical Kindergartener, and she would be horribly bored in a classroom. She's doing incredibly well with a homeschool curriculum, since she's able to work ahead and at her own pace. She's already tackling plenty of first grade material!

Xander.....Well....Xander might end up causing someone bodily injury if he gets mad, and probably won't respond well to authority figures that aren't Mom and Dad. Homeschooling Xander will be more of a preventative measure, since this kiddo rivals the Hulk when he's angry or unhappy. 

No matter how or where the learning takes place, one thing is certain: We rely heavily on technology when it comes to our kids' education. The kids all have their own laptops and tablets to make sure that knowledge is just a click away at all times. 

So when I learned about the new Acer 14" Aspire One Cloudbook Laptop PC, I was definitely intrigued. This laptop is incredibly budget-friendly, and is packed with features that make this the perfect starter laptop for kids of all ages. It offers a rather small internal storage capacity of 32GB, but this is no biggie thanks to the whopping 1TB of included Acer Cloud Storage! Yes, I said cloud! What makes this super-cool is the fact that since all of your important things can be stored in the Acer Cloud, your speed and performance won't be bogged down. Pretty neat, right? 

When you have kids in the house, accidents happen. I have 3 kids, so they happen pretty often. Whether it's somebody climbing on something they shouldn't, someone running and not looking where they're going, or someone trying to maim and injure a sibling, boo-boos happen. 

We try and make sure that our first aid kit is well-stocked at all times. We keep plenty of disinfectant, gauze, and bandages on hand so we're prepared when minor injuries occur. 

Recently, we discovered TxTpressions. These bandages are awesome, especially if you have tech-savvy kids like mine! Instead of cartoon characters, which aren't always the most gender-neutral, these fun bandages feature commonly used text phrases like "LOL" and "SMH", as well as some cute emoticons. 

It's that time of year, everyone! The Holiday shopping season is upon us! (At least it is if you're like me and get an early start to avoid the mad rush of frazzled, last-minute shoppers in December!) 

For the 2014 Holiday season, I will be featuring tons of great gift ideas for babies, kids, men, women, pets, and even for the person who has everything. We all have some of those on our gift lists, don't we? There will even be loads and loads of chances to win many of the gifts I am featuring. How cool is that?! You can check out my 2015 Holiday Gift Guide at any time from now till Christmas. Make sure to check often, as it will be growing by the day! 

Do I have any Radio Flyer fans out there? I absolutely LOVE this brand! They carry so many fun, classic toys for kids. Of course there are the red wagons everyone loves, but did you know that Radio Flyer also offers electric ride-on vehicles? How cool is that?! 

Do you enjoy having regular Family Game Night in your home? We sure do! We love playing games together, whether it's classic board games like Monopoly or Operation, or even something a little more suspenseful, like Hasbro's new Pie Face Game. 

Wait. Pie Face? Does that mean that pie ends up in someone's face? 

YES! Be sure to have washcloths at the ready, because the Pie Face game is sure to have you laughing your pants off as players get slapped in the face with a creamy handful of whipped cream! 

Christmas may be right around the corner, but here in the Cleveland, OH area, it's been unseasonably warm. Mother Nature seems to be super confused lately, and we've been enjoying days in the 60° range. Yesterday, it even hit 70°. We're not complaining, of course. Usually, we're freezing and covered in snow by now, so the kids are really enjoying being able to play outside without getting frost-bitten. 

Since warm weather in December is certainly something to celebrate, we decided to break out one of the kids' Christmas gifts a little early. The Nerf Rebelle Secrets & Spies Arrow Revolution Bow Blaster is a great toy that allows kids to get their energy out, as well as practice things like aim and hand-eye coordination. There's no worries about injury, either, since the arrows are lightweight and covered with that famous Nerf foam! 

Here in my house, we have a kind of unique situation going on as far as education goes. My soon to be 16 year old goes to public high school, but we homeschool our 5 year old.

Kyle thrives in a public school environment. He is very social, and an Honor Roll student. He loves participating in extracurricular clubs and activities, and he is at his best when he's surrounded by friends. 

Sophie? Not so much. She's leaps and bounds beyond your typical Kindergartener, and would be horribly bored in a traditional classroom. After having her take a pre-K assessment, we decided that she would thrive being taught at home, where she can freely work ahead and explore the things that interest her the most. 

Every child is different. Each has their own unique personality, and their own interests. Now that we're in the Holiday season, one thing seems to be universally true: Kids are SUPER distracted! Maybe it's knowing that a vacation from school is coming up, or perhaps they have visions of Sugar Plums dancing in their heads. There are things parents can do to help kids stay interested and engaged, even during the busiest, most magical time of the year.