ET's Hanging with the Stars Sweepstakes

Hi all – Are you confused – I am doing the Terrific Tuesday on Wednesday. It is Wednesday right? Been out of town visiting with my mom and didn’t want to pass up on the sweepstakes/giveaways day. So this is a day late but not a dollar short!

Trip to LA with ET’s Hanging with the Star’s Sweepstakes

I am SO excited to share this FANTASTIC CONTEST with my US readers!! You can win a trip for 2 to LA, California for the ET’s Exclusive Emmy® Gala Party. Wouldn’t be great to hang out with the star and live a glamorous moment! Well you can with ET’s Hanging with the Stars Sweepstakes. Once you enter the sweepstakes, share it with your friends and family and increase your chances to win!

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About the author: By Julie Hellstrom

Julie is an awesome parent (along with her husband Matt) to five adopted kiddos and the owner of the Positive Parenting Skills website.

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You may not know this but Matt and I were unable to conceive our own babies! And some pushy, I meant loving, friends convinced us to try foster/adoption. After a year of waffling (Matt!), we went ahead with it. And the rest is, as they say, history x 5!!! Some other time, we will sit a spell and chat about the challenges of fostering or adopting. But in honor of Mother’s Day, I stand beside all those dear ones who have no mommy to give sloppy kisses or mushy cards or even just infuriate.

Please join the fight - where is the mommy-war for the motherless child?

Enjoy your kids this weekend, because they are the reason you can celebrate Mother’s Day – visit again soon!

About the author: By Julie Hellstrom

Julie is an awesome parent (along with her husband Matt) to five adopted kiddos and the owner of the Positive Parenting Skills website.

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Salt – What is a baseline for intake? Here’s a couple of hints – Ages 4 to 8 : 1900 mg or less daily; Ages 9 to 12: 2200 mg or less daily. Helpful hint – 1 tsp salt = 2300 mg. Watch those processed foods, always high in sodium.

Calcium – kids between ages 4 -8 2.5 glasses daily;  ages 11-15 need 4 glasses of milk a day. Lactose intolerant you say? Here are some substitutes – from Milk Matters:

• Tofu (with added calcium sulfate)
• Calcium-fortified orange juice
• Soy beverages with added calcium
• Calcium-fortified cereals or breads

Refined Sugar – here the options have really opened up over the years. Table sugar is no longer the only (or necessarily the best) option. Per Healthy Eating for Kids, some viable options are:

• Substitute refined sugar sweets for more wholesome, healthy treats such as fresh or dried fruits, unsweetened applesauce and granola as toppings.
• Dilute 100% fruit juices with pure water.
• There are healthy alternative sweeteners for baking – maple syrup, molasses, honey and agave nectar.
• Again, read ingredients.

It does get all rather confusing, and some smart someone somewhere has  developed an app Munch 5 a Day. This is a great way to get kids involved and have fun with technology too!

Come on back soon!

About the author: By Julie Hellstrom

Julie is an awesome parent (along with her husband Matt) to five adopted kiddos and the owner of the Positive Parenting Skills website.

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You see, for some reason we tend to think that the best way to grow up children is the way we grew up. Why is that? Let me share from that blog the part that caught my eye.

When I spent time with friends we giggled in the backseat of the station wagon and bragged about our sticker collections, which Michael Jackson song was our favorite, and how many layers of socks we could successfully roll. My daughter sits next to her girlfriends and they iMessage one another while bragging about how many people have *liked* their photos on Instagram, and debate which game in the app store is their current favorite. I guess the way we manage our friendships isn’t so different, after all, because there’s still a whole lot of giggling. Read full article

This is how I figure it: my boys love video games.  Some, they play them together, like Mario Kart, and some, they each have their own file, like Minecraft. The together ones come in competitive forms and team building forms, like combat games. On the individual games, they share tips, cheats (I know, I know), and some games you can share tools, weapons, potions, etc between games. And I haven’t even hit on the games they play online with their friends who are sitting at their houses. This is not so different than we were kids. How so, you ask? Well let me connect the dots.

As a tweener, I would sit with my friends in my room, sharing makeup, clothes, boyfriend tips, how to outsmart teachers (and parents!), working on the latest Seventeen magazine hairstyle. All while our radio is blaring out The Partridge Family. The only difference here – my kids have their Ipod blaring from the Ihome! And if my friends couldn’t come over – heaven forbid – these things were done via telephone! This would be text message, Skype, or online game sharing now! Don’t even go to the physical exercise part. We weren’t exactly doing the Presidents Fitness test in my bedroom!!

Hmm sounds like there is nothing new under the sun to me. Nice visiting~

About the author: By Julie Hellstrom

Julie is an awesome parent (along with her husband Matt) to five adopted kiddos and the owner of the Positive Parenting Skills website.

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This week I found Two Classy Chicks. It has oodles and oodles of giveaways. Bet there are lots of must haves! My gift or gifts to you! Visit soon.

About the author: By Julie Hellstrom

Julie is an awesome parent (along with her husband Matt) to five adopted kiddos and the owner of the Positive Parenting Skills website.

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See my 14+ yr old is struggling with our lessons of appropriateness on physical contact with the girlfriend. (Her mom and I are on the same page btw!) We are fairly conservative and think hand holding and arm around the shoulders is ok. Hugging is for hellos and goodbyes. Not his idea though. He is a smoocher and a hugger. And is very resistant to being asked to follow these rules. We have notched up the ante to having to tell him in front of said girl so she gets it too. That still doesn’t work. He gets pouty and goes to his room. I’m thinking – boy, this girl is going to dump you like a yesterday’s breakfast! But not yet anyway.

Well I have been ruminating on Rhona Berens comments in my Disappointment blog and the how to teach lessons keep rolling around in my head. This is her take on teaching lessons – “What are the best ways to teach this lesson? What are the best occasions for that teaching? How do we want to show respect to our kids as they’re resisting lessons and stick to the lessons nonetheless?”.  And my man and I have come up with a few things – my husband wants us to talk to him together and separate from the girl. Explaining (briefly) from mans and woman’s points of view. And reiterate the rule.

Here’s the thing – I am stuck on the show respect when he is resisting the lesson part. We are not yellers or shamers, so respect in parenting comes somewhat naturally. Frustration is our biggest threat. So I am going to throw this out to our readers – what do you think respecting our kids while they are resisting the lesson looks like?

Look forward to visiting more ~

About the author: By Julie Hellstrom

Julie is an awesome parent (along with her husband Matt) to five adopted kiddos and the owner of the Positive Parenting Skills website.

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Post children, Fridays have become for me – MyDay. I work from home so while I have more freedom than just on the weekends, I also have different work hours. Many days can start at sunup and last well past sundown. So actually my Fridays are more valuable to me than weekends used to be.  Sweats are mandatory MyDay wear. Washed face only if a quick run to Starbucks is needed and sunglasses seem out of place. Teeth brushing..well yes, I do smooch on my man and kids so that is necessary! Otherwise, I lay low trying to do only fun things that seem to get pushed to the side the rest of the week.

Most Fridays, it happens accordingly. Some not so others. So here’s to Friday – MyDay

About the author: By Julie Hellstrom

Julie is an awesome parent (along with her husband Matt) to five adopted kiddos and the owner of the Positive Parenting Skills website.

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About the author: By Julie Hellstrom

Julie is an awesome parent (along with her husband Matt) to five adopted kiddos and the owner of the Positive Parenting Skills website.

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This Easter for us was like almost any other holiday…..rushed and chaotic.  We want to do the best we can for the 8 year-old we have at home.  Now, we knew Easter was coming.  But even with that prior knowledge, we still discussed it only a few days before it happened. It was like we were surprised that there would be Easter this year or something.  I braved WalMart at rush hour and bought the infamous Easter supplies after work the day before.  I was pretty sure I got everything.  We have our 8 year-old, my two step kids who are 24 and 28, and a grandson, 4.  We have my son’s godparents, and of course my brother and his kids (even though they’re grown, after years of this silliness, I still can’t seem to deny them the traditional basket).

So after work the night before Easter, everything for the big day is in the trunk of the car.  We do our regular thing:  I come home from work.  My husband and I exchange a quick “hello” and an update on our 8 year-old.  We kiss goodbye and he goes to work.  I take over the child care duties which include bath, homework, and reading at bedtime.  After he is in bed he is instructed to not get out or else the Easter bunny will not come.

My son say’s “I know!  Because Easter bunny is bringing me that lava lamp!”

“What lava lamp”  I asked.

“The one daddy and I saw at the mall.”

“How does Easter bunny know you want a lava lamp?”  I asked him.

“Because he knows everything!”  he was emphatic.  “That’s what Easter bunny is bringing me this year for Easter, a lava lamp!”

As soon as he was in bed, I called my husband at work, and he said he would figure something out about this seemingly new development.

So now, of course, as luck would have it, I really didn’t have everything because I knew nothing of any lava lamp.

I went out to the car and piled the goodies and baskets on the kitchen table and got to work.  I started boiling the eggs while unwrapping the movies that Easter bunny thought he was supposed to get, Easter hay, glow-sticks, and bags of candy (and healthy food for the uncle and godparents).  This takes a while, as all of you parents who do this sort of thing must know.  As soon as the eggs are done, I let them cool in cold water, and find the vinegar and food coloring and begin the egg-beautifying process.

After the baskets are all together and the eggs colored, the basket and egg-hiding ritual begins.  By this time it is 1:30 in the morning, and I have been up since before daylight, and can think of nothing else but going to bed.  And I can’t stop thinking about the last minute lava lamp.  How did I not hear about this earlier?

After I get to bed, I fall into a nice sleep.  Suddenly, after about 30 minutes (2:00 in the morning), my son sits up in bed and rubs his tired eyes.  Then he looks over toward the living room and becomes instantaeously excited.  “Mom!  Mom!”  he shouted. “Look!  The Easter bunny brought the baskets!”  I thought desperately about what to say.

“Shhhh!”  I said.  “Its only 2 a.m.  The Easter bunny may still be here.”  I was pretty happy with myself.

The look on his face was something between amazement and horror.  His eyes grew large and his brows furrowed at the same time.  I started to laugh quietly.  The dogs began barking at what I presumed to be raccoons outside.  But his face didn’t change.

“Shhhh!” he persisted.  “Tell Fatty and Pelusa, stop barking!  Mom!  The dogs are going to scare the Easter bunny!”

The whole situation was just too funny, and I couldn’t help myself.  I tried to hold it in.

“Mom!”  he said, now with an angry, fearful tone in his voice.  “Mom! Stop it!  You’re going to scare the Easter bunny!”

“Yes,” I said, “We better be quiet so the Easter bunny won’t leave.  He may still be hiding things for you.” I continued to stifle my laugh.  But he was not having any of it.  He chided me in a serious, frantic manner.  “Mom!  Stop it!  You’re scaring the Easter bunny!”  His teeth became clenched and he was now almost as desperate as he was horrified at my unwelcome giggles.

I told him that if the Easter bunny gets scared, he might not be able to leave all of his goodies, so we better try to get back to sleep now. He agreed, but could only lie still as a board, with his eyes wide open, as if in some kind of trance.

The next morning my husband came through as he said he would.  After spending all of Easter morning finding the hidden eggs and goodies, and digging through his Easter basket, he found a special card on the counter from the Easter bunny.  Inside of it was a note that Easter bunny had gotten scared on Easter eve, but would be sure to send the lava lamp. “Look!  The Easter bunny left me a card!  And it says he got me a lava lamp!”

The following day the “package” had arrived from “Bunny Lane”.

Do you have any similar stories? Share them below, and click the Facebook like button so your friends can enjoy too!

About the author: By Kris Fino

Kris is wife to Robert and mom to Gabriel, a wonderful little boy. She enjoys animals, especially horses, and likes to write about children, pets, and other things close to her heart!

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The subject? Vulnerability. And Brene Brown hits it in the core. You cannot go away unchanged after watching this, you cannot. Even if all you are is so blessed by knowing you feel worthy to be loved and belong. So if you are tempted to walk away unscathed, that speaks volumes.

So here it is (you may need to refresh the page to get it to show up):

Here’s the direct link if for some reason you can’t view the video here: http://www.ted.com/talks/brene_brown_on_vulnerability.html

It’s 20 minutes long, but like I said the last 8 minutes are the kicker. Grab your cup of coffee and get ready to be different.

Come back after watching and share your thoughts. Let’s chat!

About the author: By Julie Hellstrom

Julie is an awesome parent (along with her husband Matt) to five adopted kiddos and the owner of the Positive Parenting Skills website.

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