As much as I don’t want to admit it summer is coming to a close. August is upon us and it is time to start readying the little ones to get back into the school routine. 

For my household, this means more than just buying school supplies and warmer clothes. 

We start lesson plans with the kids to get them back into the swing of formalized learning and homework.  

During this month, my husband and I do not have the benefit of the teacher’s learning plan as a guide so we are on our own with regards to finding content and a forum for at home learning.  

This summer I am lucky enough to have had the opportunity to review PowerMyLearning and use it as part of my planning for August and beyond.

The sign up process is easy and free – all you need to provide is your name and email address. 

After the quick sign up, the landing page is displayed. 

From here my daughter and I opted to view activities by grade although we could have looked at them based on the subject (there are 8 categories). 

As we scrolled through the activities available under the K-2 category, my daughter easily zeroed in on a word play game within the language arts discipline. 

Even from the main screen, I could see that the activity had received four stars based on one vote. 

At this point, my daughter is easily navigating the website while I observed.  Upon opening the activity she was excited to see an activity from the PBS character, Martha! 

After playing with the Martha word activity for a bit my daughter wanted to continue looking at other activities. 

Together we found activities for drawing/art, learning Spanish, exploring a guitar/music and counting/math. 

Before I knew it, we had completed 35 minutes of learning, discussion and fun!! 

PowerMyLearning is a one stop shop for educational websites and activities that would otherwise take the average person hours to find. 

The website is categorized in a common sense manner that makes it very easy to find the correct grade level of activities. 

It is easy to see the user feedback on the various activities and participate in the voting process by adding feedback. 

For parents with older children, there is a feature to link accounts to track progress and the ability to create “playlists” that set expectations of completion for the student. 

There are also many features geared towards educators so it is a good idea to see if your child’s teacher or school district is using this tool.  

PowerMyLearning is a powerful platform that is growing and changing based on user feedback. 

The landing page is currently advertising a substantial update to the site slated for September 3rd and I am quite excited to see what the site will have to offer in the future.

“I participated in a campaign for Mom Central Consulting on behalf of Lay’s. I received a promotional item as a thank you for participating” 

As always my opinions are my own and they are probably crazy too. lol 

Summer is full of amazing memories and sometimes the most simple of activities can make the best memories!

What amazing memories have you made this summer? 

This summer we decided as a family that we would take a picnic every Sunday.

Unfortunately we found that there are some Sundays we don't feel like going very far, but that's ok because sometimes all you have to do is just step right out your front door for some great summer fun.

Last Sunday we decided to do just that! We did a little picnic right under the shade of our front porch. 

Summertime is definitely for making memories! 

And while we are on the subject of making memories; Lay’s potato chips is celebrating 75 years as the perfect summer snack.

Every day they will be showing favorite summer moments using Lay’s potato chip packaging. 

I went over earlier to check it out and they are pretty cool! 

Plus when you share your favorite summer moments or memories on Twitter and Instagram using the hashtag #Lays75 and tag @Lays you will be entered to win a $75 gift card!!! 

Awesome!! And for all my DIY’er fans, you can check out simple tutorials on their Pinterest page show all of us how to re-create the Lay’s images at home. 

(I love those chubby little hands!) 

These two pics. just melt my heart. It's rare that I happen to have a camera when they decide to hug each other or show affection.

I'm usually yelling at them "stay like that while I grab the camera!!" and of course by the time I get back that love somehow turned into an argument. lol 

Reminder: Don't forget to enter this little giveaway!

I love Halo products and they recently asked me if I would like to try one of their SleepSaks, I thought the only ones they had were for babies and my youngest baby is already 18 months old and I knew I wouldn't be able to cram him into one.

But they informed me that they have them for toddlers too! So I was really excited, because I knew this is something my little girl would love!

She always has to have a blanket, so I knew she would love basically having a permanent one she could wear all the time!

Little did I know how much she would like it! She was so excited that she was getting what she thought was a gift before Christmas and her excitement got greater once she put the SleepSak on! She started running around like crazy and I could barely grab this picture of her!

She thought it was just the coolest thing! She looked like a cute little Grimace (McDonald's) .

And the best part... she stays completely warm at night! My Husband's form of being cheap isn't using coupons, but instead turning down the heat as much as possible, so we all walk around freezing! lol

And kids have a hard time keeping blankets on, so I am so glad she has a SleepSak!

It keeps her really warm without restraining her in any way! They might look a little funny, but they work!

And now you can have one too!! One lucky winner will grab a HaloSak of your choice! This giveaway will end on 12/13 so hurry and enter!!

So I recently was sent something pretty cool!! I got a huge box on my doorstep and it was a snack shack from Build A Dream Playhouses!

I have to say I felt like a little kid getting this, I would have loved this as a kid!

We opened it up and with some really cute begging from my little girl my husband put it together.

I was surprised how easy and fast it was!

This is what it looked like before I painted it (bad camera day, sorry)

The kids immediately loved it, my little girl started offering play food to everyone acting like she had her own little store.

Build A Dream Playhouses has 6 different designs, and range from $39.95-59.95. I received the really cute Snack Shack.

Each and every product is tested to conform to the standards of the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act (CPSIA). They have also gone the extra mile to do testing not mandated by law to further ensure the safety of their products that they bring to market. Their products are manufactured from 80% recycled materials that result in an end product that is 100% recyclable.*

I was surprised how durable the cardboard was. It can stand some rough play. My little ones were pushing it's limits about 5 minutes after it was put together and it held up perfectly! My little boy thought it was fun to try and push it around the room while at the same time my little girl was protesting and pulling it in the opposite direction. We have had it for a week, and no issues with the structural integrity so far.

Features of the Snack Shack- 

– Two serving windows
– Double layered counter-tops for increased weight bearing
– Under-the-counter storage space
– Interchangeable signs and menus

The cardboard box has been an outlet for children’s creativity for years. Build A Dream Playhouses have yet to find an adult that cannot recollect a childhood memory of playing in a box. From traveling through time, to flying through space, to sailing the open seas, a child’s imagination allows a cardboard box to transcend all that is material. THAT is the essence of Build a Dream Playhouses.

Build A Dream Playhouses believe that imaginative play is absolutely critical to the developing minds of children. That is why they created a line of products centered on creativity and imagination. They supply the blank canvas for children to paint their dreams.

You can check out all of their products here on the Build A Dream Playhouses website.

I loved my little girls reaction to it, it opened up her imagination to endless possibilities. One day it was a store the next a puppet theater. It has become a big part of her play. Everyday she is making me food from the "restaurant" or wanting me to watch a puppet show.

The endless possibilities make this a wonderful stage for kids imaginations to take off!

It doesn't come with anything to decorate it, but I love that it's a blank canvas so a child's imagination can come to life.

Make sure you check them out here!

I had the great opportunity recently to try Teething Bling! I didn't even know something like this existed until I saw a friend of mine wearing a really cute necklace and I asked her about it.

This is definitely one of the cooler products I have seen! I think pretty much every Mama has had the child or baby try to steal their jewelry and eat it!

With Teething Bling it's ok. Teething Bling consists of pendants, bangles and keychains that are made from the same silicone as most teething toys.

They contain no harmful chemicals such as phthalates, BPAs, PVCs, lead or latex and all pendants come with a breakaway clasp as an added safety measure.

As soon as I put a pendant on my little boy was gnawing away on it, and my little girl walks around the house with it on saying "mama I'm pretty" .

So I would definitely say this is a great product! I love wearing jewelry and as silly as it sounds, I hated not wearing anything just because my little boy would yank it off.

So now there is a solution for that! If they could only make earrings that little ones won't yank out of your ears!!

Giveaway Time

One lucky reader will be receiving a Design-Your-Own Teething Bling Gift Set from Smart Mom Jewelry (includes: pendant & two bangles worth $34.00!!) 

Here is what you need to do to enter:

:: Comment here (on this post) or Here on Mamas Spot Facebook page, with your favorite piece of jewelry

To get additional entries you can do the following:

:: One additional entry for "liking" Teething Bling on their Facebook Page and mentioning that Mamas Spot sent you.

:: You can get unlimited entries by sending friends over to follow Mamas Spot on Twitter or "like" the Mamas Spot Facebook page!

you will get an extra entry for every friend!

This Giveaway will end Sunday, June 26th. open to USA Only. Good Luck everybody!

I received samples of this product to do a review. I was not financially compensated for this review. All opinions are 100% mine. 

I will only do reviews on products I truly believe in!