Sun Protection:101

Dislcoure: I am a Goddess Garden Ambassador and I have been provided products and compensation in exhange for this post. All opinions are mine alone.

Growing up in Miami, I've learned a thing or two about sun protection. To be honest, I really started to worry about protecting my skin from the sun in my late twenties. I don't want to be an old lady with leather skin. I also want to prevent skin cancer. I've seen many friends and family deal with skin cancer and I try to prevent it for me and my family as much as possible. With summer right around the corner, I thought I would share some of my sun protection tips with you!

Wear sunscreen. I know you hear this over and over in commercials and from your mother, but please wear sunscreen. I use Goddess Garden sunscreen on all of us. I use Goddess Garden because it's organic and chemical-free. Goddess Garden produces premium sunscreen products that go on sheer and provide serious protection from the sun using only plant-based ingredients and naturally-occuring minerals. We love to be outside and I make sure to always put suncreen on all of us before we step out, especially to the park or the beach/pool,

Apply a facial sunscreen.  I know that alot of people do not like to apply sunscreen on their face because it can be greasy or make you break out. I apply a sunscreen to my face every morning.  I use the facial sunscreen from Goddess Garden because it isn't greasy and my face hasn't had any breakouts. It's light and smells delicious.

Wear hats and sunglasses. You can always count on me wearing sunglasses. Eyes can get sunburned also and a good pair of sunglasses can't help prevent this. I also wear a hat when I am at the park, beach or pool. I don't need any extra sun on my face.

Use sunscreen year-round. The sun's UV rays are powerful all year-round. Wear sunsreen every day. It will become a habit quote quickly and you will be an example to your children to always wear sunscreen!

Again, I'm sure you have heard and/or read these tips many times but it's never enough when it comes to sun proection. Please, please, please remember to apply sunscreen before going out. Remember to apply sunscreen to your hands and ear lobes. They get more sun than you think!

Tell me: Do you apply sunscreen everyday?

Opening Night Amazingness!!!

Last night was one of the funnest nights I have had in a long time. If you follow me on Instagram (@scggirl) you already know that we went to the opening night Miami Heat vs Washington Wizards game for the 2014-2015 season. On top of being there for opening night, it was Adrian's first Heat game. We decided that this was the year where we would start taking him to games and opening night an early birthday gift for him (his birthday is November 10th). We made the right decision! I have never seen him so happy and nervous!

Warning: Most pics are phone pics!!

First thing, we rode on the train. He had been asking me to ride the train for years now but there was never really an occasion to take him. By the way, the train is the Metrorail, an above ground rail train that took us to downtown Miami where the American Airlines Arena is. Way easier than driving downtown, paying $30-40 for parking and then being stuck in traffic.

When we arrived at the arena, I took this picture. This picture will be printed out and framed for sure!

The tickets we purchased for opening night included an early access pass. We went to one of the back entrances and were allowed into Section 112 at around 6pm to watch the players warm up!

Adrian is a BIG Birdman fan so he was super excited when Birdman came out to warm up!

I wanted to make this night extra special for Adrian so I made sure he was part of the High Five Club!

The High Five Club is an experience for the kids. They get to line up on the court and high five the players as they come out to the court for the game! I wasn't able to go down there with him but I was able to download these pics from the HEAT fan site.

Adrian is int he row on the right, sixth kid. If you look closely, he looks terrified! 

When they brought him back to me, he was ecstatic. "Mommy, I touched Dwayne Wade's hand! and Mommy, Birdman is bigger than last time!" He had met Birdman before! Maybe he grew a few inches? LOL!

After that it was gametime. Adrian was able to keep up with the game but since he had never been to a basketball game before, he just looked and listened for a bit. When he figured out that you could yell and trash talk, it was on!! Definitely saw a new side to him last night, unruly sports fan!

We had a wonderful time! The Heat beat the Wizards 107-95. It was a great opening night game. I'm hoping Adrian is old enough to remember this special day for years to come, I know I will!!!

Have you taken your kids to a basketball game? 

A Visit To The Pumpkin Patch

A couple weeks ago we headed out to the Coconut Grove Pumpkin Patch. We have some small local patches but this is the big one that only comes once a year. It sets up for a weekend in October at Peacock Park. We try to go every year and always have a good time. Our pumpkin patches are not like the ones you might be used to. Like I mentioned, they are at a park, not a farm or field. There is only a portion that not under tents (because it's scorching hot) and it's really a marketing free for all.

We did one nice family picture, thanks to Jet Blue, and yes our next big family vacation is to the Bahamas next year!!

Taking a picture of these two is like trying to take a picture of toddlers. They complain, they squirm, they barely smile. This is the best of about 25 that I took of them.

These two sit, pose and smile. One or two pictures and I get what I want. 

We tend to do much better when all four are int he picture together. 

Picking pumpkins....

There's a big pumpkin decorating tent where you pay $5 per child and they get a mini pumpkin and can decorate it.  It's totally worth it to get out of the sun and the kids enjoy the craft time.

 Meanwhile, I went on the hunt for an alcoholic beverage, pumpkin beer! Let's face it, I'm not as crafty as JC!

Of course there was an Elsa, because why wouldn't Elsa hang out at the pumpkin patch?

It made her day!

These two are always camera ready! 

After pumpkin crafting came the rides. There was a giant slide, swings, a rocking boat and some bouncehouses. The lines were about 45 minutes per ride so the kids chose the slide and the boat.

This might be my favorite picture of the day. The boys were all gung-ho about riding the boat but when it swung high, the brave ones ended up being the girls! Look at Adrian and Gian's faces!

We did have a wonderful time together. One day we will get to go to a proper pumpkin patch with lots of pumpkins and hayrides and apple cider. Maybe next fall!

Volunteering In The Classroom

If there is one thing I love is volunteering in Adrian's classroom. It's a great opportunity to show him that being involved is important. Teachers have lots of fun ideas but with limited time and budget, it makes it hard to get those ideas off the ground. In come the classroom moms. I take every lunch break and day off of work that I can to volunteer in the classroom. I've being doing it for the past two years and it's really so fun. Anyway, a couple of weeks ago, another one of the second grade class moms asked if I could come in and help her decorate the classroom doors for Halloween and take fall pictures. I was there the next morning ready to create!

There are 4 second grade classrooms so we decided to have a Mummy Door, a Monster Door, a Frankenstein door and a Dracula door:

 This is Adrian's classroom door:

The kids are thrilled with their doors. This even created a rivalry with the first grade classrooms who later decorated their doors as well!

We also took fall pictures of the kids. We asked for donations of fall items from the teachers and other parents and created an adorable setup:

Here's Adrian's pic so you can see how cute they looked. I am currently putting them in decorated frames so the kids can take the pictures home to their parents next week!

I;m already scheduled to be back in the classroom on Halloween for trick-or-treating, pumpkin carving and a "create goo" science experiment! 

Do you volunteer in your child's classroom? What fun fall stuff do their teachers have planned?

YAY! It's Friday!

Hello everyone and let's all yell "YAY! It's Friday!" from the top of our lungs (unless you are at work or near a sleeping baby, then maybe you can whisper!) Of course, this will a post of completely random things that I have not had a chance to write about yet, but that's OK, it's part of the Friday fun!

1. Last weekend we went to the Coconut Grove Pumpkin Patch. As hard as we Floridians try, we can never get that authentic pumpkin patch feel but we do try. Anyway, JetBlue had the cutest setup and we just HAD to take a family picture.

2. The pumpkin patch was the end to one of the most insanely frustrating weekends ever. On Friday night, there was a random lightning storm and lightning struck super close to our house. Do you know what happens when lightning strikes super close? Well, if you don't know, the electricity travels through cable wiring, fries cable boxes and HDMI inputs on your TV's. True story. Can you imagine getting home on Friday night to no TV or cable with 3 kids? Pure insanity! Well since I obviolsy have no idea how to entertain children, we ended up at Brandsmart at 9pm buying a new TV:

Oh and the cable installer didn't come until Sunday afternoon, while we were at the pumpkin patch. Thankfully, my mother stayed home, if not, we would probably still be cable-less! #firstworldproblems

3. After you spend the afternoon forcing your children to pose for pictures using the nice camera, this is what they do when you pull out the cell phone:

I don't blame them! This is one of the best pictures ever!

4. I'm still on the pumpkin-everything kick. Check out my cart at the grocery store:

5.  I'm hoping for a much  more relaxing weekend. All I have planned is a movie date with Adrian and maybe some costume shopping. We are going to go see the Boxtrolls. Have you seen it yet?

Once again, Happy Friday and I hope you have a fabulous weekend!!

Linking up with EVERYBODY!!

   

Keep Trick-or-Treaters Hydrated With Spooky Drinks!

Disclosure: This shop has been compensated by Collective Bias, Inc., and its advertiser. All opinions are mine alone. #SpookySnacks #CollectiveBias

I love Halloween! It's always so fun to get dressed up and go out trick-or-treating with the kids. One thing about Halloween in South Florida is that it's HOT!!! Our evenings don't really cool down much and trick-or-treaters tend to get hot and sweaty in their costumes. This year, I decided that in addition to Halloween snacks, I would offer trick-or-treaters a bottle of water to help keep them hydrated. I had to make it fun though so I decided to dress up my water bottles and create a hydration station where kids and adults alike could pick out something spooky fun to drink while they are out and about!

I purchased the smaller 12oz bottles of water so the bottles are perfect for small hands. Then I created some spooky printables to wrap around the water bottles. I made Ghost tears:

Essence of spider silk:

And Witches Brew:

along with a "Pick Your Poison" sign for the table. I printed them all out at a local office supply store, cut out the water bottle labels, wrapped them around the bottles and then taped the two ends together in the back. So easy and simple! I also purchased a couple 8oz cans of orange FANTA for the adults. 

If you don't want to create a spooky drink table at your entryway, you can always just set up the bottles with some pumpkins and stay in the Halloween spirit!

Did you know?

All Dasani bottles are made from plant resin and are a special shape that won't fall over int he fridge. They are good for the environment and sturdy, unlike most "green" water bottles. 

The water bottles and Fanta were purchased at Walmart. They were actually less expensive than buying candy. I purchased enough to hand out about 20-30 bottles of water or soda.

FREE PRINTABLES

Below are the printables I used for the water bottles. I printed them on 8 1/2 x 11 glossy cardstock at a local office supply store. You could also print them on picture paper. Just right click and save your favorite or download all the printables below!

This "Pick Your Poison" sign is a 4 x 6 image. You can right-click and save or download below!

Download all printables here!