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Family Fun with Family Game Night #DipDipHooray #CBias

With fall and back to school just around the corner, that means everyone in my family will be much busier. It also means less time for family togetherness. My five grown children lead busy lives, and frankly so do I.
While I'm sad we don't see as much of each other as we would like, when we are together we like to laugh and enjoy each other's company.

So I decided that before the summer ended, we were going to have a Family Game Night. We have always loved playing games and can get pretty competitive. Our favorite thing to do after Thanksgiving dinner is to get out the board games and play for hours.

I got together with my oldest daughter, her husband and children to have a game night and dinner. My youngest daughter was coming over too, though her boyfriend couldn't make it because he had to work. But she was excited to see her two nephews and her niece. We love playing Monopoly and it can get pretty funny and intense when we play. We love it, and playing games is such a great way to share family time.

I went to Walmart to pick up a few things for our game night. I was trying to think of something we could all have for dinner that would be quick and easy to fix, and that we would all enjoy. Chicken nuggets, of course!
My family and I love Tyson Chicken Nuggets. I love how they make getting together with family and friends at the last moment so easy, and takes the stress out of cooking.

The less time we needed for cooking, the more time we would have for game playing!

While I was at Walmart I had to get french fries to go with the chicken nuggets. We love them together. Our favorite brand is Ore-Ida Seasoned Crinkles. My grandsons adore french fries, and they love dipping then in ketchup. Lately they have been dipping everything in ketchup! I got a 40 oz. bottle of Heinz Ketchup to make sure there was plenty for dipping all those french fries and chicken nuggets.

I also needed to get a new Monopoly game. After years of playing, our old game was getting pretty ragged and a couple of the pieces were missing. A few bananas and a yogurt treat were all I needed to make this family game night fun . #DipDipHooray

Everyone is here and it's time to put in the chicken nuggets and french fries. My grandsons keep asking when  it will be time to eat. Luckily it won't take long. I had forgotten how hungry little boys can get!

It was such a gorgeous evening that we decided to eat dinner and play Monopoly outside on the deck. We were all pretty hungry and the chicken nuggets and french fries were going fast. The boys loved dipping theirs in ketchup of course. I know the game will last much longer that the light out here, so I'm sure we will have to take it inside to finish it.

We stopped playing the game while we were eating. I bought my grandsons some new play-doh to play with after dinner, and hopefully they will be happy doing that.

We are trying to stretch out our beautiful weather before the rain up here in Washington begins. It is perfect weather for our Hasbro Game Night. My daughters were pretty happy eating and dipping too!

We had a lot of fun and a lot of laughs, and I can't wait to do it again. Family game night is a great way to bring your family together and share some quality time. #DipDipHooray

If you and your family love Tyson Chicken Nuggets, Ore-Ida French Fries and Heinz Ketchup like mine does, then be sure to enter the Dip To Play Sweepstakes. At DipToPlay.com you sign into the site and enter the UPC codes from Tyson Chicken Nuggets, Heinz Ketchup, and Ore-Ida products to unlock the games to play. We entered out UPC codes and you can too. You can win a $1000 Hasbro Family Game Night or 1 of the 250 Hasbro Game Prizes. Good Luck I hope you win! You can read the official rules for the sweepstakes at DiptoPlay.com rules.

To see more of the fun games available at Walmart you can read my Google+ story to see my shopping trip at Walmart.

You can connect with the brands of Dip to Play for recipe ideas and more:
Heinz Twitter
Heinz Facebook
Tyson Twitter
Tyson Facebook
Ore-Ida Facebook



*I am a member of the Collective Bias™ Social Fabric® Community.  This shop has been compensated as part of a social shopper insights study for Collective Bias™ Tyson and Heinz #CBias #SocialFabric All opinions expressed in this post are my own.

Frozen Bananas with Chocolate & Sunflower Seeds

I love bananas that have spots on them. They are so very sweet. Just like this they are a treat and so good for you. I have been wanting chocolate but not wanting it to be too much of a goodie. So I thought I will dip something good for me in chocolate. If I add sunflower seeds its even better for me right?! lol

First cut the banana in half and stick a kabob skewer into the middle. I cut the pokey side off my kabobs to leave a flat end on both sides. Place them in the freezer minimum 1 hour in a freezer safe dish.

After the bananas were frozen I was ready to add the chocolate to them. I melted my chocolate chips in a bowl that I set in a sauce pan of hot water. Stir the chocolate chips until melted. Have your other items ready since the chocolate chips will get stiff if you let them cool.

I did not want to dip the whole banana in chocolate since I am trying to still define this as fruit :)

I gave them a nice topping of chocolate then rolled them in the sunflower seeds.

Place your dipped bananas back into the freezer for 2 hours. I made these before I cooked dinner and they were ready for dessert.

I let my frozen bananas sit for 5 minutes then enjoyed. If you have not eaten a frozen banana it is sooo good. Almost like a frozen yogurt flavor. Do not let them sit out too long or they will get mushy.

Toddler Perspective

My son has had his picture taken since the second he was born. I think its possible I have a million pictures of him! Digital is free right?!? So I take pictures of him all the time, everywhere we go. I have hard drives full of his pictures that I love to look at.

For the last few weeks my son has been asking me to take pictures of him. He will pose or grab something to hold and show me. But this week he has asked if he could take a picture. He told me my turn, then put his little hands together in a plea of Please! How can I resists those big blue eyes when he says Pllleasssse!

So I turned on the camera for him and he knew exactly where the shutter button was! I was surprised how easily he could take photos. He is only 2 years old! I have let him snap one of two photos then take the camera away in fear he will chuck it like a baseball. Today he went to the closet where I keep the camera and said he needed to take some pictures. This made me laugh since he did not ask but inform me of his need to use my camera. I said what do you say, his little "please mama" was all it took for me to hand it to him.

This is his first photo shoot of my very messy office:

His cute feet as he tried to take a pic of his BFF Giraffe

His new ball and his fav blue blankie he has slept with every night since he was born

this made me laugh he turned it around to capture himself like I do with he and I

His monkey pillow pet  we won on a blog before I was a blogger

Loved this one! His snack he was having

This one is called Mama Puter Work (my laptop on my desk)

This made me laugh he said oh no Mama ate my chips. I had my own pretzels but what is mine is always his. lol

Funny that he took a pic of my Huggies Rewards points I set aside to enter

Him being so VERY mad I took the camera back. He is saying NOOOOOO! 

Do I have the next famous photographer, cinematographer or a epic blogger? Only time will tell. I took my first pictures in 3rd grade on a field trip to an aquarium my mom let me take our 35mm camera and film was expensive to develop. Thanks Mom for letting me take photos! 

Donating Champions for Kids Elmer's Bag It Forward School Supplies

Having the opportunity to help a teacher and kids in my own community makes me happier than I can explain. I have always admired teachers for what they do and elementary school was a magical time for me. I loved school for the reading, writing, art and projects. I have read statistic and news articles about the cut backs to schools and how teachers are paying out of their own paychecks for supplies. I remember when I was kid it seemed there were limitless supplies or my teachers made it be that way for us kids. Most teachers love what they do and provide what the kids need, not asking for help. That is why I am so happy Champions for Kids teams up with Elmer's to inspire people all over America to Bag It Forward.

My son and I went shopping at our local Walmart for Elmer's products and other back to school supplies. We found a Elmer's display that had lists of items needed for back to school for each grade. I grabbed a 2nd grade list since I wanted to donate to a local 2nd grade class in my neighborhood. For me 2nd grade was great! I had a fun teacher and there was lots of reading. I have always loved books! We even went to a school for a year that had a huge ship in the middle of the school where kids could take a book on board to read. It was a cozy ship made from like squishy matting, I wish I had a picture of it. It was the coolest thing I have seen at a school! We lived in WA at the time,  rain and snow up there makes for a need to have cool indoor stuff like the Reading Ship.

I have always assumed that I alone was not enough to impact the life of anyone. That just one person doing something was not enough (I was so wrong!). Through taking part of the Champions for Kids Simple Service Projects I have realized that if I am one of the people doing a project that we all add up to millions! Even as a budget savvy Mom I still can donate. Shopping at Walmart we were able to find great prices on back to school supplies. We spent almost $26 and got 46 items to donate! I was so happy to be able to give that much stuff to a teacher and her students.

I selected a local elementary school Lichen Elementary to take my donation to. This is a school in my neighborhood where the kids play at the park my son does and as parents we all shop at the same local stores. I wanted to help kids that I may not know but are a part of my community. My son is not old enough for school, to me he is still a baby! :) He sure did love being on the school campus though. He was telling me over and over "Mama, Kids!!" He waved to people, pointed out to me posters and the characters he saw on back packs. He was super excited to be there!

My son was running all over her classroom he was so excited. He grabbed a book and climbed into the reading area too.

We were so excited to meet the 2nd grade teacher, Mrs. Rhodes. We took the giant bag a supplies with all the Elmer's glue products and other supplies to her classroom. (I still think the Elmer's purple disappearing glue is so cool!) Mrs. Rhodes was super nice! Teachers do a tough job and there a many kids in her class that she is responsible for shaping into the future adults of our world.  I hope our donation lets her know the community is behind her and we appreciate all she does for our neighborhood kids. She was very thankful for our donation and super sweet to my son. My little guy even shook her hand when we met her. (I have taught him to be a little gentleman and shake someones hand when first meeting them since he was 1) Too cute! I was talking to her about the statistics I read about for teachers expenses for supplies for their own classroom. She told me that yes she does spend a large amount each year for her students. I hope more families and even companies will take part in the Bag It Forward campaign to help teachers and students.

It had been over a decade since I had been in a classroom at an elementary school, since my little sister was in Kindergarten but the joy of a classroom came immediately back. I loved all the posters, books, the little desks and small touches of a teachers personality. I am hoping we will have the chance to come back to Mrs. Rhodes classroom to donate more supplies all year long. I encourage everyone to give back to the community you live in through the Bag It Forward Simple Service Project from Champions for Kids. The teachers and the kids will be grateful for it.

You can read my first blog post about the Champions for Kids Elmer's Bag It Forward project to see the low prices and variety of supplies we purchased for our donation here. #BagItForward #Champions4Kids

You can read my Google+ story for ideas on what to buy for your Elmer's Bag It Forward donation.

To learn more about Champions for Kids you can follow them on twitter and facebook. 

For great ideas on items to donate from Elmer's you can follow them on twitter and facebook.

*I am a member of the Collective Bias™ Social Fabric® Community.  This shop has been compensated as part of a social shopper insights study for Collective Bias™ and Champions for Kids #CBias #SocialFabric All opinions expressed in this post are my own.