Tips for Engaging Kids Early in Oral Care

Ages 6 – 7:

• Show, don’t tell.  Each day I shared our morning oral hygiene ritual with my son.  He liked the time we spent and he felt like it was something important because I made time to coach him.
• Make oral care fun.  Incorporate games into the routine.  Who can swish their mouth rinse the longest without laughing?  Who can floss and make the funniest face?

Ages 8 – 10:

• Clean to the beat.  Put on your favorite song and brush to the beat.  Make sure you find something that lasts at least 2 minutes with at least an additional 60 seconds for rinsing.
• Let kids decide.  Letting your children select which toothbrush, floss, and toothpaste they want to use is a sure fire way to get them involved.

Ages 11 – 12:

• Recruit others.  Get other family members involved.  Influential family members make a powerful impact on your kids’ behavior
• Embrace the power of a smile.  At this age kids are self-conscious so it is important to help them build confidence.  A clean, healthy smile is a great way to do that.

Our favorite products were the Smart Rinses because they have a built in mechanism that measures the precise amount of wash to rinse with.  We found this saves a lot of money (no wasted product) and it gives us piece of mind that we are using the right amount of product.

$100 Walmart Gift Card Giveaway & Listerine Products Package

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Disclosure: I received products and compensation from Johnson & Johnson and The Motherhood as part of my participation in the Oral Care Challenge. All thoughts and opinions expressed in this post are my own.

Welcome to the March into $pring Giveaway! I’ve teamed up with 19 other blogs to give you the chance to win over $750 in gift cards! Each participating blog is giving away a gift card worth $25 or more!

Here on Life with Lisa I am giving away $25 cash (via PayPal) for one reader.

Once you’ve entered my giveaway, make sure to enter each participating blogs on the linky at the end of this post.

Enter to win $25 cash:

Please leave a comment below letting me know your favorite thing about Spring.  This is a mandatory entry.

Once you enter you can gain additional entries by doing the following:

For every individual giveaway you enter from the blogs below leave a comment with a link (1 entry per blog).

Tweet about this giveaway. (1 entry per day)

Follow me on Google +. (see sidebar)

Post this giveaway on your Facebook page. (1 entry per day)

Post about this giveaway on your blog or giveaway linky. (5 entries)

Visit each participating blog and enter their giveaway for more chances to win! Click on each blog name below to be directed to their individual giveaway.

Disclosure:  This is a personal sponsored giveaway.  Random winner will be drawn after giveaway closes on March 31,2012 at 11:59 pm EST.  US only.  A special thank you to April from Christian Clippers for all her hard work putting this together.

Be sure to enter my

$100 Walmart Gift Card Giveaway

while you are here!

Music is a very powerful thing.  In our family we are HUGE music fans and not only do we play Rockband on a regular basis, but we watch American Idol together as well.  Our Family Night celebrations are centered around Coca-Cola and American Idol – a great combination if I may say so myself.

This week they announced 14 of the 24 semi-finalists on this season’s American Idol: Baylie Brown from Krum, TX; Colton Dixon from Murfreesboro, TN; Creighton Fraker from Queens, NY; Reed Grimm from Ellsworth, WI; Heejun Han from Flushing, NY; Jen Hirsh from Agoura Hills, CA; Haley Johnsen from Beaverton, OR ;Joshua Ledet from Westlake, LA; Phillip Phillips from Leesburg, GA; Jessica Sanchez from San Diego, CA; Chelsea Sorrell from Stokesdale, NC; Elise Testone from Charleston, SC; Erika Van Pelt from South Kingstown, RI; and Brielle Von Hugel from Staten Island, NY. We are cheering on the Georgia boy, Phillip Phillips.

If you need ideas on how to spend your Coca-Cola Family Night you can visit MCR.com/family, you will find exciting contests, instant wins, rewards, recipes and games—with many fun American Idol based activities for your family!  Do you need some incentive?  How about FREE Coca-Cola, FREE Pringles, Hand-held Video Recorder (to video tape your family STAR), and the newest American Idol – The Hits Volume 1 CD to get you started?

Coca-Cola Family Night #Giveaway Winner Jamie Brigham

What can you win?

• (1) Handheld Camcorder
• (1) American Idol – The Hits Volume 1 CD
• (1) Coca-Cola and Pringles coupon

How do you enter?

Leave a comment letting me know how you spend your family night.  This is a mandatory entry.

Are there additional ways to enter?

Definitely!  For each entry be sure to leave a comment letting me know…

• Follow me on twitter @lisasamples
• Tweet about this giveaway using the #CokeFamilyNight and directing them to this post to enter (can be done daily)
• Follow @CocaCola on twitter
• Tweet about our upcoming Twitter Party: “Join @lisasamples & @CocaCola 2/28 at 7pm EST to discuss #CokeFamilyNight – win Movie Tickets & Video Cameras http://ow.ly/9fLSR” (can be done daily)
• Follow me on Google +
• Follow me on Pinterest
• Pin something from my blog onto Pinterest
• Comment on any non-giveaway post (1 entry per comment)

#CokeFamilyNight Twitter Party

This winter—Coca-Cola and American Idol are teaming-up to spice up your nights by creating fun ways for your family to bond. With the colder temperatures, it’s the perfect season to gather the family together and watch America’s favorite talent competition and create your own memories.  Join me on February 28th at 7pm EST on Twitter using the hashtag #CokeFamilyNight to talk about recent Family Night memories!  You could win on of ten flip cams to help record Family Night memories or five sets of AMC movie theatre passes!

Disclosure: The prize was provided by Coca-Cola, but Coca-Cola is not a sponsor, administrator, or involved in any other way with this giveaway. All opinions expressed in the post are my own and not those of Coca-Cola. Entrants must be 18 or older and located in the US only. Winner to be chosen at random on February 29th.

Twitter Party Disclosure:  Coca-Cola provided me with a gift card as a token of appreciation for hosting this Twitter Party. The prize was provided and may be shipped to the winner by Coca-Cola, but Coca-Cola is not a sponsor, administrator, or involved in any other way with this giveaway. All opinions expressed in the post are my own and not those of The Coca-Cola Company. Entrants must be 18 or older and located in the US only. Winner to be chosen at random.

 Giveaway: Winners have been notified.

Share your tea time must haves for a chance to win a year’s supply of Lipton Tea, a tea kettle, a tea box, a mug/saucer set, a travel tumbler and a $50 gift card to Amazon.com! In addition three random comments will be chosen from my post to win their own box of Lipton Green Tea Superfruit.

For Valentine’s Day I thought I would share one of my new finds, the new Lipton Green Tea Superfruit! This isn’t your normal Green Tea by any means, the Lipton Green Tea Superfruit is not at all bitter.  The natural sweeteners of the Superfruits like White Mangosteen and Peach, Purple Acai and Blueberry, and Red Goji and Raspberry take out the bitterness normally found in a lot of Green Tea.

My favorite of the teas served hot was the Purple Acai and Blueberry paired with an Oreo Truffle. The perfect iced tea blend for me was the White Mangosteen and Peach (directions for both Hot and Cold tea are on the box).

Oreo Truffles Recipe

• 1 lb Oreo cookies (3 sleeves)
• 8 oz cream cheese (room temperature)
• ½ t vanilla extract
• 1 lb milk chocolate (we use bark)
• ½ lb white chocolate (we use bark)

1. Grind cookies into a fine powder using a food processor. Blend the cookie powder, cream cheese and vanilla extract with mixer until thoroughly mixed making sure no cream cheese is visible.
2. Form mixture into small balls by rolling and place on cookie sheet lined with wax paper. Refrigerate for 45 minutes.
3. Line two additional cookie sheets with wax paper. Melt milk chocolate in a double-boiler. Once chocolate is melted dip cooled balls into mixture coating well. With a slotted spoon lift coated balls out of chocolate and let excess chocolate drip off. Place on wax-paper-lined cookie sheet.
4. Melt white chocolate in a separate double boiler. Using a fork or small spoon, drizzle white chocolate over coated balls.
5. Refrigerate until cooled and store in airtight container, in refrigerator.

Now that I have shared what I would pair with these refreshing Lipton Green Tea Superfruits, I want to know, how do you enjoy your tea?

Share your tea time must haves for a chance to win a year’s supply of Lipton Tea, a tea kettle, a tea box, a mug/saucer set, a travel tumbler and a $50 gift card to Amazon.com! In addition three random comments will be chosen from my post to win their own box of Lipton Green Tea Superfruit.

This is a sponsored conversation written by me on behalf of Lipton Green Tea Superfruit. The opinions and text are all mine. Official Sweepstakes Rules.

Is saving money important to you when it comes to purchasing groceries?  With most people it is, that’s why companies like Community Foods is so important.  The company will be all around Metro Atlanta each month featuring deals on various foods, fresh from farmers.  Each month they post a delivery schedule on their site featuring the special, right now you can order 40 lbs. of boneless, skinless chicken breast for $1.69 a pound.

How it works

The process is easy.  Visit Community Foods site and look for your nearest location on the events calendar, when you find the location nearest you simply click on it and hit the Add to Cart button.  Once your order is complete print out a receipt as proof of purchase.  On the date of pick up all you need to do is show up at the designated location during your scheduled time, pull your vehicle up to the tent/truck, display your receipt either via smartphone or hard copy and they will load your order in your vehicle.  It really is that easy.

February/March locations:

Orders are currently being taken for the following areas: Dunwoody, Roswell, Alpharetta, Cumming, Norcross,  Johns Creek, Suwanee, Duluth, Stockbridge,  McDonough, Hampton, Smyrna, Marietta,  Kennesaw,  Woodstock, Douglasville, Austell/Powder Springs, Dallas/Hiram, Gainesville, Lawrenceville,  Athens, Decatur, Tucker, Stone Mountain, Snellville, Sharpsburg, Peachtree City, Fayetteville, Lithonia, Conyers, and Covington.

Follow Community Foods on Twitter and Facebook

Disclosure: This is a sponsored post and I will be testing out their product and services for free next month.

I recently got to try out Zinio the world’s largest digital magazine marketplace and immediately fell in love.  Not only are the prices affordable (especially if you grab one of the Daily Deals), but the application can be used across multiple devices including tablets, PC’s and smartphones.  I subscribed to Food Network Magazine, Taste of Home Magazine, and Star (for my celebrity gossip fix) and can read them anywhere via my Galaxy Tablet.

The Daily Deals are really ingenious too, featuring a different deal, beginning at 12pm EST every day including discount subscriptions, mini-subscriptions and bundles!  I have been keeping my eye on those as well.  Everyone loves a deal!

So, if you are looking for a gift idea for that special someone who loves to read – think Zinio!

Zinio has offered to giveaway 10 free subscriptions to 10 of Life with Lisa readers as a special Valentine’s Day gift.  The subscription is good for any monthly, digital magazine from Zinio’s library of more than 5,000 titles from around the globe.  Titles include Dwell, Shape, Parenting, Working Mother and more.

Celebrity Chef Richard Blais is up against Master Chef Thomas Griffiths in this years Campbell’s AdDress Your Heart Cooking Challenge and for every vote from now until March 1, 2012 Campbell’s is donating a dollar to the American Heart Association’s Go Red for Women Movement.

I am partial to Chef Richard Blias’ Spicy BouilliaBlais and wanted to share the recipe with you.  I haven’t tried making it yet, but I do have almost all the tools, Campbell’s ingredients, and spices to do so thanks to Campbell’s and if you enter the giveaway you could have them too!

Chef Richard Blais’ Spicy BouilliaBlais

Prep: 55 minutes
Cook: 20 minutes
Makes: 4 servings

2 lemons, medium
2 tablespoons plus 2 teaspoons olive oil
1 medium carrot, peeled and diced (about 1/2 cup)
1/4 cup celery, sliced
1/2 cup fennel, diced
20 cloves garlic, peeled
1 small onion, diced (about 1/4 cup)
4 teaspoons fennel seed
2 teaspoons dried oregano leaves, crushed
2 teaspoons dried thyme leaves, crushed
4 cups Low Sodium Spicy Hot V8®
4 cups Low Sodium V8®
8 clams
1/2 cup fresh basil leaves, chopped
4 fresh halibut fillets (about 12 ounces total)
4 fresh scallops
4 fresh shrimp, peeled and deveined
1 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/2 cup fresh parsley, chopped
1 can (10 3/4 ounces) Campbell’s® Healthy Request® Condensed Cream of Chicken Soup
1 slice Whole Grain 100% Whole Wheat Bread, toasted and cut in quarters

1. Grate and zest lemon and squeeze the juice from the lemons into separate containers, set aside.
2. Heat 2 tablespoons oil in a 12-inch skillet over low heat. Add carrot, celery, fennel, 12 cloves garlic, sliced, onion, fennel seed, oregano and thyme and cook until the vegetables are soft but not browned, stirring occasionally.
3. Add vegetable juices and clams to the skillet. Increase the heat to medium and cook until clams open. Remove clams from skillet, cover and keep warm. Cook the remaining vegetable juice mixture until reduced by one-third. Stir in basil and half the lemon zest.
4. Season fish, scallops and shrimp with the black pepper. Heat 2 teaspoons oil in separate 12-inch skillet over medium-high heat. Add fish, shrimp and scallops and cook until browned on both sides and cooked through. Sprinkle with the remaining lemon zest, lemon juice and parsley.
5. Visit Campbell’s Kitchen for the rest of the recipe.

 
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It is always a struggle for me to find a restaurant to eat at with my family that offers healthy alternatives for weight conscious people.  Fortunately companies like LongHorn Steakhouse have realized that this is important and have created the “Flavorful under 500″ menu.

“Flavorful under 500” is a new menu section LongHorn has introduced as part of our ongoing commitment to providing our guests with greater choice and variety. We’re committed to providing our guests with a broadly appealing menu featuring a variety of fresh steak, chicken and fish entrees. Our “Flavorful under 500” entrees include a:

• ·         7-oz. Flo’s Filet
• ·         6-oz. or 8-oz. Renegade Sirloin
• ·         7-oz. LongHorn Salmon
• ·         8-oz. Grilled Fresh Rainbow Trout
• ·         6-oz. Sierra Chicken

All entrees are paired with steamed vegetables or green beans and a side salad, and the complete meal is less than 500 calories. (Paired with steamed vegetables or green beans only at lunch.)

I recently went to our local LongHorn and ordered the 7 oz. Flo’s Filet and it was great.  I also got green beans and a side salad.  It was a nice change to eat out with my family and not beat myself up over how bad my meal might be for me.  I didn’t feel hungry afterwards (actually I couldn’t eat it all) and I didn’t feel like I was being robbed of a flavorful meal.  I think LongHorn did it right.

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