“A blast from the past! Anyone remember this old Mott’s commercial? It has always made me laugh! What other fun commercials do you remember from your “younger” days?

Looking for after school snacks that are easy to make and so delicious?  I am always looking for something easy that is not straight out of the box.  After a hard day at school they love a little something homemade.  Try these Mott’s recipes and let us know how much the kids enjoy them!

Apple Sauce Energy Bars

Combine quick oats, dried fruits, and Mott’s applesauce to make a snack bar they will love

Healthy Kids’ Smoothie

Mix Mott’s Apple-Grape juice, yogurt and berries and watch them drool.  There is nothing like a healthy smoothie on a hot day after school.

The Big Dipper

With Mott’s Healthy Harvest Applesauces combined with yogurt, you get a quick and yummy dip for skewered fruits.  Choose their favorites…apples, grapes, bananas or strawberries!  It’s like their own “fondue”.

Have a recipe you love?   Share it in the comments.

Thanksgiving is barely over, but already the stores are playing Christmas music and my kids’ thoughts have turned to dreams of red-and-green wrapped candy and presents under the tree.

No matter what your religious beliefs, the winter seems to bring about plenty of opportunities to celebrate something. Here are some ideas from around the blogosphere to help you and your kids kick off the winter holidays–whichever ones you celebrate–with a kid-friendly craft:

Christmas:

Make your own advent calendar. Check our Dollar Store Crafts for instructions on how to make a fantastic–and decidedly green–advent calendar from a recycled cereal box. Or try making this Countdown to Christmas wreath from FaveCrafts.

Hanukkah:

Create a bag to hold coins (chocolate, of course) using these easy instructions from Education.com or embroider this pretty bag from Purlbee.com. Or try making an edible marshmallow Dreidel like this one on EdibleCrafts.craftgossip.com.

Kwanzaa:

It’s still a little early for the blogosphere to be hopping with Kwanzaa crafts, but Kaboose.com has a nice list with easy-to-use instructions.

Which winter holidays do you celebrate? Do you have a great resource for crafts and activities to help you kick off the season?

Football, turkey, family, laughs … these are the things that Thanksgiving is made of. From all of us here at the More to the Core blog, to all of you: Have a wonderful, safe, happy and joyous Thanksgiving Day!

When the ladies of the More to the Core blog aren’t writing about family, parenting and nutrition here, we are busy rearing our kids and working on other writing projects. What are we working on this week?

• Meagan wrote about the perils of mom venting – and how she chooses to have a happier life by focusing on the positives.
• Dawn rounded up a bunch of Halloween photo contests. And you still have time to enter almost all of them!
• Sarah (that’s me!) talks about car activities to keep your kids busy on the road. Are you taking any trips soon?

Can you believe Halloween is here already??? Well we can and for that special occasion we wanted to share some ghastly and ghoulish Halloween recipes from all around the web. Hope you enjoy these eerie treats with everyone!

Martha Stewart – I Scream Sandwitches

Pillsbury – Crescent Mummy Dogs

Chow – Tricked out Caramel Apples

Epicurious – Halloween Spiderweb Cookies

Elle’s New England Kitchen – Worm Covered Rotten Apple Bars

All Recipes – Bat cupcakes

Wanda’s Halloween Cookbook – Jack-O-Lantern Pizza

Delish – Disgustingly Delicious: 8 Gross-Looking Halloween Recipes

And don’t forget to enter our Mott’s Halloween Costume Photo Contest! – We are giving away a $500 target gift card to the member who uploads the Halloween kids costume photo that gets the most votes.

Happy Halloween!!

I love rules! Just yesterday, my son came home and said, “We have to respect school property — that’s a rule, you know. What’s property mean?” So funny. I went on to give examples of how to be respectful, like not writing on your desk, and making sure trash goes in a garbage can. He got the point.

I think kids need to have rules, even from an early age,  and there should be appropriate consequences when the rules are violated. But sometimes, we’ve got to get real.

I’m of course referring to the recent over-the-top school rule enforcement that made the news — the first-grader who brought a glorified spork to class and nearly faced 45 days in reform school for the oversight. After lots of media coverage, the school district reversed their decision. Thank goodness common sense prevailed, even though it took a few days of grief for that poor family.

Hopefully, educators took notice and will use some discretion and common sense the next time something like this happens. The idea of zero tolerance at the first grade level is plain silly. In this case, confiscating the item and consulting with the parents to let them know an item like that could be dangerous, and therefore should be left at home, would have been effective, don’tcha think?

So far, nothing outrageous has happened in my limited school parenting experience, but I’ve heard other parents talk about some seemingly unfair punishments. There’s the teacher who made one boy pick up a dirty tissue of the floor and throw it out even though the tissue wasn’t his (ewww!). Apparently she didn’t believe it wasn’t his. I heard about another kid getting detention for drinking from the water fountain after gym class without asking permission. Poor kid was thirsty! Or how about when the whole class gets punished for something only a handful did? As annoying as all of these minor incidents are, you can see why a teacher would resort to these methods. Teaching children to respect property, ask permission, and behave as a group are all good lessons to impart.

And, of course, keeping weapons out of school and ensuring that our children safe is perhaps the most important concern educators have.  But somehow I don’t thin a first-grader with a camping tool isn’t the one we need to be afraid off.

Parents, sound off: What school rules do you thing are over the top? Answer in the comments section below!

-Dawn Papandrea

Yesterday, my youngest two boys and I visited a local riverfront park. My intention? To let them run off some steam and allow the outdoor air to absorb some of their shouting and yelling and general energy-slash-chaos.

I admit it: I’ve been cranky lately. We still haven’t completely adjusted to the start of the school year. I feel like I’m always slightly sleep-deprived and running just a bit behind. The boys have been more on edge than usual, bickering, instigating fights and whiningwhiningwhining. And with the weather getting chillier, we haven’t been getting out enough. I always mean to, but when I’m already overwhelmed and tired, the thought of heading out on a chilly day is sometimes more than I can bear.

But tonight, I figured we’d go to the park and the boys would do their screaming and yelling on the swings and slides. At least then it wouldn’t be bouncing off the walls directly back into my ears.

As it turned out, the boys wanted nothing to do with the slides and swings. Why would they, when there were LOGS to climb on?

Hundreds and hundreds of yards of logs, laid end-to-end. And then there were STONES, huge stones you could jump on and over, as far as a five-year-old’s eye could see.

We were there for well over an hour, and the boys played on the logs and stones the entire time. I got out my camera and followed along behind…silently. For once, it was nice not to have to hear the sound of my own voice.

There were some accidents…

And a booboo or two…

But for the most part, the boys played cooperatively and peacefully and enthusiastically together, leaping and climbing from log to log, and from stone to stone.

Until they reached the end …

When we headed back to the car, pink-cheeked and out of breath, we were all noticeably more relaxed and happy than we’d been just a couple hours before. Once again, I was reminded how much we all—kids and grown-ups alike—need that time outside to be at our best.

And sometimes? Forget fancy toys and playground equipment! Tonight, I was reminded just how fun some logs and stones can be.

Have you and your kids discovered some simple outdoor pleasures lately? Post in the comments below!

This year for Halloween, I decided I wasn’t going to add to the candy overload when making up little goody bags for my son’s classmates. After all, they’re already getting so many sugary sweets on their trick-or-treat treks, and there seems to be cupcakes with orange and lack sprinkles at every turn. I figured the other moms would appreciate a glucose break.

It’s been a challenge coming up with items beyond pumpkin pencils and little ghost and bat erasers, but if you look around, you can find some cute things. At supermarkets and drug stores in my area, I found mini Disney-themed markers and notepads, Halloween tattoos, spider rings, foam stickers, and small cans of Play-Doh. What’s cool is that these all came as multipacks and were really low cost — way cheaper than if I bought massive bags of candy.

Along those lines, I must say that I was very impressed with the variety of trick or treat goodies that my son received around my neighborhood last year. One couple gave out apple juice and small bottles of water to the kids thirsty from walking — what a great idea! Another woman kept unopened value meal toys from fast food restaurants all year long and gave those out as her treat. I also liked the fact that some people had pretzels, raisins, or mini granola bars that we used for school snacks for the couple of weeks following Halloween.

The point is that as a mom, I appreciate when people think outside the candy bag and add some variety to the giant pile of SweeTarts and Tootsie Rolls. This year, I’m going to try to do my part, too.

Moms, what type of treats are you giving out, and how do you feel about non-candy treats?

As parents get more and more conscious of food safety, it’s natural that they want to look into alternatives to the traditional sweet treats that have always been passed out for Halloween. The good news? The alternatives go beyond pennies and oranges.

In fact, you can have your organic and ethical sweets – and eat them too.

Check out Real Moms Guide for a guide to greener Halloween treat alternatives.