kids - Ewokmama

AT-AT Attack Battle Game Review & Giveaway

May 2, 2013 By Ewokmama

Are you ready for Star Wars Day? If your family is a lover of Star Wars, you can celebrate this epic day (May the Fourth) by winning the Angry Birds Star Wars AT-AT Attack Battle Game by Hasbro!

Now, we don’t play Angry Birds at our house. We tried the app – both Jack and I – but it just made us too angry. It is aptly named. Something about those pigs laughing at us hysterically when we don’t beat a level is too much. It was better for us to erase the game than it was to slam our phone and iPad against a wall.

We do love the concept of Angry Birds, though – a puzzle game where you fling birds at jerky pigs hiding in cleverly configured bunkers. Puzzle games and snark are right up our alley! When the Angry Birds Star Wars game came out, I really wished we did like the game (even if they did leave out the ewoks). So I was delighted to see that Hasbro created a physical game to putter around with. Who doesn’t love flinging flying objects in order to knock things down?!

We received the Angry Birds Star Wars AT-AT Attack Battle Game to test out. Here’s the description from Hasbro:

Stack, launch, and destroy with the AT-AT ATTACK BATTLE GAME, which includes 21 blocks to create the signature AT-AT, a LIGHTSABER LAUNCHER and 12 ANGRY BIRDS STAR WARS figures — including two that are exclusive to this set! Players can also unlock ANGRY BIRDS STAR WARS in-app content with a special code in each pack. (Approximate retail price: $39.99; Ages: 5 & up. Available: Now)

Now, I know this doesn’t have anything to do with the actual playing of the game, but I have to give a shout-out to Hasbro with regard to the packaging. There were no zip-ties and only one plastic tray to contain the bird and pig figures – the rest was cardboard folded in creative ways to keep the pieces in order. We got the whole set out of the box in about 30 seconds! THIS is frustration-free packaging!

My friend Sabrina and I went to town setting up the pieces for Jack (we were excited, okay!). The plastic headpiece for the AT-AT was a bit tough to put together, but it is sturdy so I think it will outlast many wallopings by flying birds. There is a beginning suggestion for how to set up the pieces on the AT-AT platform but there are a bunch of different configurations you can come up with – it’s a bit like Tetris. I’m sure if you’ve played the app enough, you can mimic some of the set-ups you’ve seen there.

There are four birds and eight pigs that come with the set. Each of the birds has a hole in the bottom that you place on the peg on the launcher (it looks similar to a sling shot). You hold the base of the launcher with one hand and pull down the lever with the other, then let go. The launcher sends the bird flying right at the AT-AT and those jerky pigs! It’s REALLY satisfying to knock down a bunch of blocks and see the pigs fly. Bonus: If you miss, the pigs don’t make a peep!

Launching things is one of Jack’s favorite past-times these days, so this game had his interest right away. He didn’t seem to have any complaints, although it took him a few tries to figure out how to aim the launcher and determine the necessary distance for his target. Once he got the hang of it, he didn’t want to stop.

I could see older kids getting bored with this ‘game’ somewhat quickly, though – it doesn’t have any rules so it’s more of a toy than a game. Also some may be bothered by the fact that it takes much longer to set up the blocks than it does to knock them down. Jack thinks setting up the blocks is part of the fun, though.

Side note: At a $40 retail value, I would have loved to see this game come with a carrying case because once you assemble the head of the AT-AT, it won’t fit back in the box it came in. If you have babies or toddlers in the house, you’ll want to keep the pig and bird figures away from them as they may present a choking hazard.

Do you live in the U.S. and want to win the AT-AT Attack Battle Game and have your own Hasbro GameNight? Entries will be accepted through May 4th. Modes of entry:

Mandatory:

Tweet about this post OR share it on Facebook or Google+ (leave a comment with your tweet URL or Facebook/Google+ info) – 1 entry

Additional Entries:

Like Ewokmama on Facebook (leave comment letting me know) – 1 entry
Like Hasbro on Facebook or follow them on Twitter (leave comment letting me know) – 1 entry
Comment and tell me what your family’s favorite game is – 1 entry

Good luck and May the Fourth be with you!

***

Disclosure: I was provided with the above-referenced product in order to provide my review but am receiving no compensation for this post. All opinions expressed here are my own. For more information on my reviews, please see my disclosure page and my summary of sponsored content.

Filed Under: Gear, Reviews, Shopping Tagged With: at-at attack battle game, family game night, giveaway, hasbro, kids, Photos, product review, star wars, toys 16 Comments

A Plant In A Boot Saves The Day

April 26, 2013 By Ewokmama

Jack has these meltdowns sometimes. He gets so agitated and upset that he starts making all kinds of noises – growling and moaning and seething. He kicks and hits things and looks wild-eyed. He rocks and flails. He is SO UPSET and his whole body shows it. He radiates stress.

When he was a toddler, it wasn’t that big of a deal. It sucked, but it was usually in connection with being overtired and overstimulated. The best way to handle it was to let him go at it in a darkened room. He was smaller and less destructive then.

Waiting it out is harder these days. He can cause real damage to himself and the stuff around him. The dark room doesn’t seem to penetrate the haze and he gets even more upset if we try to hold and hug him.

So last night when Jack went into his tailspin (because I had demonstrated to him why I didn’t like to be climbed on), I was at a loss. He didn’t want to be held or massaged or even talked to. I tried anyway, but he was completely out of control of his own faculties and I had to just get out of the way lest I get kicked in the face. When I reached the point where I just wanted to yell at him to STOP IT STOP IT STOP IT, I realized I needed to leave the room.

I traded places with David and he wasn’t much more successful than I was. Instead of Jack calming down, the tension kept building. David tried to get him to think of happier things but that just seemed to piss him off more. Finally, David passed the torch back to me and left the room.

A few minutes later he came back, this time with one of Jack’s plants. He had recently planted some Dragon Tongue beans and the sprouts are shooting up fast. Jack started to calm when he saw the sprout, and then he had an idea. He asked for a boot and David complied. Then Jack created an ode to WALL-E:

This helped immensely! You can’t help but smile at a plant in a boot, right?

I then offered to read one more chapter from The Strange Case of Origami Yoda (<-sponsored) so that Jack had a bit more time to wind down and all was then well with the world.

But who would have predicted that a plant in a boot would do the trick? What will the solution be next time??

Filed Under: Parenting 101, Photos Tagged With: 6 years old, kids, meltdowns, parenting, tantrums, wall-e 4 Comments

Leukemia, Section 504, and Education Planning

April 11, 2013 By Ewokmama

I met with Jack’s first grade teacher, the school principal, and the district nurse yesterday to discuss a 504 assessment for Jack. If you aren’t familiar, Section 504 is part of the Rehabilitation Act that protects students with disabilities. Since Leukemia is a chronic, life-threatening illness that impacts his learning, working, and performance of manual tasks, he qualifies as disabled. Once a 504 assessment is made and it’s determined that a student qualifies, an IEP (Individualized Education Plan) is typically created to address the student’s needs in school.

Obviously, it’s taken me a while to get in gear and ask for this. The irony of requesting this assessment now is that Jack has caught up to his peers in most areas of concern since he started back to school in October. With that said, he is failing Physical Education, missing quite a bit of school, and his self-esteem and confidence are low. His stress level is difficult to manage even on a good day.

I was nervous going into the meeting. Not only am I still getting used to being an advocate for another person – a person whose needs have changed dramatically in the last year – but I’ve also read complaints about parents’ frustrating experiences with schools when enacting 504. I worried that I might get pushback from the school because Jack really is performing well. Thankfully, the school officials were all very understanding. I feel like we are off to a good start in helping to get Jack some relief.

In our hour-long meeting, I summarized Jack’s medication and treatment routines, explained how his health and side effects of treatment can impact him on any given day, and shared my concerns related to the challenges these things present to his education. Mainly it boils down to the fact that Jack puts forth so much additional effort in order to meet standards because of these challenges that it has compromised his emotional health and feelings about school.

We recorded the following challenges that impact Jack’s ability to learn:

Sensitivity to temperature changes
Bone and joint pain, soreness
Catheter in chest
Lowered muscle definition
Difficulty with coordination
Delayed reflexes
Shortness of breath
Dizziness
Weakness/fatigue
Attention/focus impacted by chemo treatment levels
Monthly steroid impacts mood and ability to cope with expectations
Medication taken at school, can get headache near time of receipt

Based on these things, the school will make accommodations for him to aid his learning in the following ways:

Additional time to complete assessments and assignments
Extra opportunities to repeat and explain information and directions
Extra time to respond to information and questions
Teacher will provide parents with work when child can’t attend school (to be completed if he feels well enough)
PE accommodations, such as alternate responsibilities/tasks
Teacher will remind Jack to eat and take snacks to accommodate his lack of appetite and slowness/distractibility when eating

This plan is a bit vague, but it should be enough to give the teachers the ability to customize the help they give Jack without making it a big production in front of his peers. I’m hoping that the additional understanding of Jack’s health issues from his teacher’s will take some of the pressure off of him and maybe that will even result in less self-injury! That’s my hope anyway.

I felt so relieved when I walked out of that office! I alternately wanted to cry and giggle hysterically. I didn’t have to push for any of this and it felt like I was part of a team that has Jack’s best interests at heart. There are people who have access to things that I don’t and they are going to help my child – we aren’t alone and we don’t have to spend tons of time blindly fumbling around the educational system.

Instead we can spend our time blindly fumbling our way through the parenting of our chronically ill kid! It may be a small victory but I will take it!

Filed Under: Cancer, Cancer Mom, Issues, Parenting 101, School Tagged With: 6 years old, allies in education, cancer, cancer mom, child development, childhood cancer, disabled students, education, emotional health, growing up, kids, leukemia, life, living with cancer, mental health, motherhood, parenthood, parenting, school, section 504 2 Comments

The Great Shoe Struggle Of ’13

March 22, 2013 By Ewokmama

Last week I threw my ~~hands in the air and waved them around like I just don’t care~~ whole self into the challenge of finding shoes for Jack. We did end up finding a pair at Payless. They are Airwalks (really) and look like this:

They only had this single pair in a size 13. 13 is the cap on “little kids” sizes or something. And then they go to 1 again. And have different styles and such. Or something. I’m no expert in kids shoes. Or adult shoes, for that matter. I own a bunch of pairs of Clarks and a couple pairs of Roxy and that’s it. (I’m picky, too.)

Anyway, these shoes aren’t available in big kids sizes. And they are girl shoes – not that I care but another kid at school did make fun of Jack for wearing girls shoes. Kids are jerks.

Summer is coming and we live in a hotter climate that we used to. It’s likely to be 90 degrees regularly this summer. Not to mention Jack’s feet are going to grow. And a single pair of shoes gets worn out QUICKLY. He needs more shoes!

So, like I said, I threw myself into the challenge. I ordered nine pairs of shoes from Zappos (since they do free shipping and returns) in a variety of brands and styles. They all looked lightweight and comfy. They arrived yesterday and Jack tried them all on and in a matter of 15 minutes or so they were all deemed AWFUL.

I have illustrated the reasons below:

My kid can’t even wear Crocs, you guys! Or Keen, Lacoste, See Kai Run, Sanuk, Cienta, or Morgan & Milo. He really wanted those brown Crocs to work – he loved the yeti on them. He chanted “please oh please oh please oh please” while trying them on. Still, no luck.

And yeah, I tried to get him to try them without socks. He refuses to not wear socks. He wears socks to bed! Feet must have socks!

So I packed up over $400 worth of shoes into a box, and back to Zappos they shall go. Thank goodness for a generous return policy!

** This post is not sponsored but I would totally accept money to ease my emotional pain.

Filed Under: Gear, Parenting 101, Shopping Tagged With: 6 years old, growing up, Health, kids, parenthood, Photos, sensory integration, shoes, shoes are uncomfortable, Shopping, tactile defensiveness, tactile sensitivity 5 Comments

Cancer Creeps In

March 19, 2013 By Ewokmama

“In two years and one week we won’t have a million little spoons to wash,” David said to me this weekend. We use two to three spoons each day to give Jack his medication. We’re both looking forward to going through less spoons.

“I can’t lay down like normal because my back hurts. I have cancer and had a procedure today.”

I took Jack to the dentist yesterday, which was also a procedure day. I try to clump his appointments together so that I don’t miss as much work AND so that we can get the crappy stuff over with all at once. Unfortunately I failed to think this through entirely when booking the dentist appointment. Jack’s lower back was sore from the lumbar puncture he had in the morning, so laying down in a dentist’s chair was uncomfortable. I folded up my sweater as cushioning for his lower back.

We made special requests. We do this here and there to ease some of the things Jack goes through. Do you have toothpaste other than mint? Can you put a movie on other than Tangled (it stresses him out)?

Jack yowled the whole time he was getting his teeth cleaned. He went on and on about how awful the toothpaste (first ‘chocolate,’ then watermelon) tasted. I felt sorry for the other patients. I hoped Jack’s yowling didn’t scare them. I held Jack’s hand and asked him to try to be quieter. But when you’re a kid who chews chemo every day, your tolerance for other bad tasting things is lowered. What can you do?

“I think Bri doesn’t play with me anymore because she thinks my Broviac is gross,” Jack told me recently. I asked if the other kids at school knew about his Broviac and he said yes – he had showed them. Some kids are still mistakenly under the impression the tube comes out of his stomach and find that frightening.

Cancer is on my mind all the time. I wish it wasn’t that way but it pops up where I least expect it. We went for a playdate this weekend and I had planned to avoid the topic. But it’s pretty hard NOT to talk about something that permeates every part of your life. Still, I don’t want to be the person who brings down every conversation. Thankfully, I discovered that our hosts were familiar with the disease. The mom broached the topic and I followed suit.

She nodded sagely when I confessed that I feel like I can no longer chime in on a Facebook status when someone’s child is ill, particularly if the symptoms resemble those that Jack had when he was diagnosed. It’s as if I am the bringer of doom and gloom. I allow that little whisper of “it could be serious” to get through. I give credence to a parent’s worry for their child. People stop talking once I have weighed in.

It’s similar to what happened when I was getting a divorce. Suddenly I could see the worry in the eyes of the couples around me – ‘If they couldn’t make it work, what does that mean for us?’

If her child can get a life-threatening disease, can mine?

Everyone knows the answer. It’s harder to ignore the possibility when the evidence of it happening right out of the blue, with no warning at all, is standing right next to you.

Today I mailed out the request for a 504 assessment to Jack’s school district office. It feels strange. Jack is pretty gifted in many areas. He’s also fierce and determined; he’s caught up well with his peers after missing over six months of school. He can do the homework and he is getting 100% on math tests now.

But here I am asking for him to be considered disabled. It feels wrong.

This is the reason I’ve delayed broaching the topic with the school before now. My son, even with Leukemia, has so much compared to so many others. How can I ask for more? His performance would be normal for so many other kids. Most people can’t tell he has problems at all. Isn’t that good enough?

But it’s not about how much we have or how much others don’t. Jack is doing better than expected, but he is struggling a lot in order to do so. Yes, he’s completing his 12-14 pages of homework each week, but it takes him so much longer than it should and it wears on him. He is tired and moody and often feels like he isn’t living (although he uses different words to say so). It’s hard to learn and retain information when you are using up all your energy just to get through the work.

Hell, if I’m exhausted every day, how must he feel? His worries and his challenges are a bit different, but they are so much bigger than he is. He has too much to worry about for such a small guy.

For the last year I’ve been thinking we’ll get used to all this and life will go back to the way it was. I thought we’d eventually make ourselves believe that everything will be just as it would have been otherwise…that all the worry would ebb away. I’ve been waiting for the time when I could worry less about what is going on in Jack’s body and return to thinking about more frivolous things – or even important things like my relationships with friends and family.

But I’m starting to get it. We aren’t going to go back. We jumped the track and now find ourselves somewhere completely different. We have to move forward. I can’t care about many of the things I used to care about – I don’t have the capacity and I’m in a completely different place.

So, to my friends and family and even people I’ve yet to meet: I’m sorry. I know cancer is unpleasant and it might seem like I’m “all cancer all the time” now. I just can’t help it and I hope you’ll forgive me for that. I am still finding my way.

Cancer creeps into everything.

Filed Under: Cancer, Cancer Mom, Parenting 101 Tagged With: 504 assessment, cancer, cancer mom, childhood cancer, chronic illness, Family, friends, kids, leukemia, life, life after cancer, living with cancer, parenthood, special needs 10 Comments

Jack at Age Six

March 7, 2013 By Ewokmama

Jack doesn’t do favorites. He likes all the colors. He likes a variety of cookies and books and animals and activities.

He likes how he looks in black and red.

He doesn’t like obnoxious cartoons. He swears that the sole purpose of Johnny Test is to be annoying.

He prefers Mystery Incorporated and What’s New Scooby-Doo? over the original Scooby-Doo cartoons. He says the artwork looks better.

Jack thinks skateboards are the worst toys ever. He’s “not into” cars or trains.

He’s obsessed with aliens and monsters. He likes dragons a lot, too.

He totally hates it when someone talks about (or jokes about) bodily functions. It will ruin his day and any friendship.

He thinks spiders are cute.

Jack says cancer is “the most boring thing ever.” He doesn’t want to talk about it.

He won’t wear jeans or tank tops. He doesn’t like pants with buttons. He likes knit hats.

He doesn’t drink juice – only water and milk and sometimes Vitamin Water. Oh and he hates carbonation!

Playing in dirt is not his idea of a good time. Sticky things are even worse.

Despite his parents’ love of board games, he’s not that into them. And he’s only now liking coloring – at least if he’s coloring dragons. He did seem to inherit a love of crafts, though.

Jack can read really well. Recently he’s read some 60-page books. We read three books every night before bed – one from school that he reads and two chapter books that I read to him.

Plush animals are probably the number one toy for Jack. He has a ton of them (most are cats or monsters). Several sleep with him at night. When we are choosing the order of books to read at bedtime, he usually selects a plush to make the choice for him.

Our (mostly alive) cat Wicket also sleeps with him.

Jack draws and draws and draws. He’s been drawing since he was 2 years old and was handed a magnedoodle. We have boxes of his drawings and I don’t know what the heck to do with them all! He even draws on his schoolwork!

He’s awesome and I love him to pieces (even when he’s acting like a little jerk).

Filed Under: Babyman, Family, Growing Up Tagged With: 6 years old, child development, first grade, growing up, kids, love, motherhood, parenthood 4 Comments

Everything Is Against Him

March 6, 2013 By Ewokmama

It’s been a hard week. And it’s only Wednesday.

Monday and Tuesday Jack was late to school. This is sadly too common. He is soooooo slow to get anything done and any hurrying I try to do just stresses him out and delays him further. The school office doesn’t blink anymore when we come in late. They also don’t mark his tardies as excused, though.

The biggest issue we’ve been fighting with is clothing. Monday he had trouble with pockets being too bulky. Tuesday it was that the waist of the pants was too loose. Sometimes things don’t feel good on his skin. Or they feel damp (when they are probably just cold). This pair of underwear goes up too high, or this shirt isn’t the one he feels like wearing today.

Today it was all about socks. They bunch up. They don’t fit right. They feel weird when he puts his shoes on. The heel is in the wrong spot. The seam bothers his toes.

His shoes are a whole other story. He wears one pair and the soles are badly worn down. I’ve bought two pairs in the last two weeks and he can’t stand to wear either of them because they are too tight or too uncomfortable. Even though he tried them on at the store and said they fit!

Homework hasn’t been easy. Jack hates to be corrected. We ask him if he’s put forth his best effort and he says no…so then he has to keep trying. And then he says he’s tired. Or he storms off into his room and slams the door and hides because he’s frustrated about having to think. He did this several times last night. I try to get him to focus on doing what he knows first. We can worry about corrections later. But he stumbles over some of the math concepts and gets frustrated when he can’t grasp them quickly.

I don’t doubt he’s tired, honestly. He is difficult to drag out of bed in the mornings (at least, during the school week). He gets to bed much later than I would like because of how long it takes him to eat, and then the hour of waiting time before he can take his pills, and then the dawdling that happens during bed prep time. By the time I get him to bed my evening is gone, too. We’re all tired.

Time is a big problem. He eats slowly and runs out of time to play, which upsets him a lot. At school he hasn’t been finishing his lunch because he’s afraid of running out of time to play. Or sometimes another kid distracts him from eating.

Jack exclaims, “Everything is against me!” or “I never get to have fun!” Then he berates himself – “Ohhhh, why do I waste so much time?!” and smacks himself in the head.

We try to remind him that he has friends and family that aren’t against him. That clothes aren’t out to get him. That he gets to have fun at recess and he gets to watch Scooby Doo and work on various craft projects. We make deals (he’s been a fan of deals in the past) – if he finishes two pages of homework, we can build or color or craft together. We have reward charts for things he needs to focus on – finishing homework, being gentle with the cat, brushing his teeth without dawdling. Various things work for a day or two before they no longer seem to motivate him.

I don’t know how to help Jack. I don’t know how to help myself, either. I feel defeated and so very tired.

Somehow, we need relief.

Filed Under: Cancer, Cancer Mom, Growing Up, Illness Tagged With: 6 years old, cancer, cancer mom, child development, depression, Family, growing up, kids, life, mental health, parenthood, parenting 6 Comments

Almost Spring

February 22, 2013 By Ewokmama

So, it’s February. Barely so – it’s closing in on March quickly! And I will mostly look back on the first two months of 2013 and not remember what the hell I did with my time.

But! Jack got glasses a week or so ago. We found out he is very farsighted and so now he has a pair of glasses with very thick lenses. It bummed me out a bit – another thing for him to have to deal with, and the glasses hide his gorgeous long eyelashes. But his vision shouldn’t worsen with age (this is a genetic thing and not cancer-related) and he can now read more easily and quickly! And this should mean less headaches for him, as well, which I know he’ll appreciate.

The adjustment to having glasses has gone surprisingly smoothly. Jack doesn’t normally handle transitions well, but with the glasses he tends to forget he is even wearing them and I have to remove them at bedtime. His classmates chattered a lot about the change when Jack showed up at school, but as far as I know there haven’t been any problems with teasing.

Jack’s teacher told me recently that he has caught up academically with his classmates! She has been very impressed by and proud of him! This was before he got glasses, so I’m sure that he will continue improving with the aid of being able to see properly. He recently read his first 40- and 50-page books, too!

I’m still a bit mystified by Jack’s social interactions. On any given day he’ll say he doesn’t have any friends or that no one wants to play with him. Yet walking through school and seeing all the kids who say hi to him tells a different story! He even gets hugs sometimes! It also seems that, from what we can interpret from the few details Jack gives us, it’s not that kids don’t want to play with him but that they don’t want to play what HE wants to play OR they don’t play it the way he wants them to. I’m not sure how to help him be more assertive with his needs (it’s taken a ton of work just to get him to tell us when he’s not feeling well – he doesn’t want to upset us!) and also to be less rigid. I’m hoping he’ll get it figured out on his own.

Physically Jack is doing fine. Maintenance continues as normal, although we did have to add Tums to his regimen on the weeks he takes steroids. A 6-year-old with heartburn is a pity (and kinda scary because all he knows is that his “chest hurts;” I already had the worry about when his stomach hurts – kidneys? liver? just constipation?). He’s also had either the same cold or four different colds since before Christmas. But his ANC is good and his exams have been fine so I try to focus on that. Plus, he is definitely growing! The kid needs new clothes and shoes again.

It had seemed we were making progress on the self-flagellation but yesterday Jack got really frustrated with himself for going through several pairs of socks before finding comfortable ones and slammed his forehead against the arm of the couch. He said he didn’t have time to draw that lesson (we were running late for school). And unfortunately he wasn’t feeling well enough to go to therapy on Wednesday since he’d had chemo the day before, so we’ll have to wait until March to address that again with his therapist. Maybe in the mean time I’ll coat the walls and hard furniture with bubble wrap!

So that’s what’s going on with my little ewok dude lately. It’s fairly tame stuff and for that I am grateful!

Filed Under: Cancer, Cancer Mom, Growing Up, Illness, Milestones, School Tagged With: 6 years old, child development, Health, kids, leukemia, life, mental health, parenting, school 4 Comments

Box Tops Pantry Stock Up Giveaway

February 15, 2013 By Ewokmama

If you have a child attending public school, you likely spend at least a little bit of time ripping little squares off the packaging of your pantry contents and collecting them in an envelope to give to your kid’s school. You maybe even hit up your childless co-workers for THEIR box tops. (I can’t be the only one!) I know that since Jack entered Kindergarten, I’ve become much more aware of which products I buy at the store and whether they have the Box Tops for Education label on them. I’m much more likely to choose a brand that will help my son’s school – especially if it’s a better product than the alternative.

Did you know that since its introduction in 1996, the Box Tops for Education program has provided $500 million in funding to schools? That’s a lotta money and it’s the simplest thing in the world to collect little squares of paper and drop them off at your school. These things are on TONS of products that parents buy – food, containers, organizational products, etc.. I guarantee you have these sitting in your cupboards right now. (If you aren’t using them, send them to me! California schools can use all the help they can get!)

Check out this press release detailing the Box Tops program:

Cash-Strapped Schools Welcome Record-Setting Funding from Box Tops
Box Tops for Education® Raises More than $500 Million for Schools

Minneapolis, February 1, 2013 ─ Box Tops for Education®, the nation’s largest school fundraising program, today announced that it has earned more than half-a-billion dollars for schools across the country since it started in The General Mills program began as an experiment on boxes of Cheerios in California with first year earnings of only $1 million. It has grown to include more than 240 participating brands providing needed cash for 90,000 enrolled K-8 schools. At the heart of the program is more than 75,000 volunteer Box Tops for Education coordinators who motivate local school communities to collect the 10-cent coupons which are redeemed for cash schools use for whatever they need most.

To celebrate this milestone, this winter, the program is offering a variety of bonus Box Tops on more than 50 million packages at grocery stores and at btfe.com, allowing shoppers to double their earnings with select products.

School budget cuts have made the program more and more important over the years as it provides unrestricted cash to help schools with their basic operating needs and programs that would not be possible otherwise, such as field trips, textbooks, musical instruments, playground equipment, classroom technology and arts and cultural programming.

“I witnessed the power of the program when I visited several schools in the state a few months ago,” said New Mexico governor, Susana Martinez. “After seeing how easy it was to earn cash for schools, I started encouraging everyone to participate to help students get the things they need most to improve their education experience. I congratulate Box Tops for Education on reaching this impressive level of support for students
everywhere.”

“We are very impressed at how far the Box Tops program has come,” said Mark Addicks, chief marketing officer at General Mills. “To say that we’ve awarded schools more than $525 million through this simple program is amazing to us. However, it’s due largely to our participating brand partners and passionate coordinators that have propelled the program to this level.”

On average, schools in the U.S. earn around $900 annually through the program, but many schools earn more than $20,000 by clipping Box Tops, participating in bonus programs and shopping 300 online eBoxTops® retailers at the Box Tops Marketplace®.

About Box Tops for Education
America’s schools have earned more than $525 million through the Box Tops for Education® program since the program started in 1996, including $47 million just since March 2012. More than 90,000 schools use that cash to purchase items such as computers, library books, art supplies and playground equipment. Schools can earn up to $20,000 by clipping Box Tops coupons from 240 products and can earn eBoxTops by shopping online through the Box Tops Marketplace. To learn more and for a list of participating products, visit www.btfe.com.

Facebook at www.facebook.com/BoxTopsforEducation
Twitter at www.twitter.com/BTFE

To celebrate the awesomeness of this program and their $500 million milestone, I am hosting a Pantry Stock Up giveaway. One lucky winner will get a box full of products with the Box Tops labels right on them. You can stock up your pantry AND help your child’s school raise money at the same time with these tasty items:

New Peanut Butter Toast Crunch® cereal
Nature Valley® Chewy Trail Mix Dark Chocolate Cherry and Protein Salted Caramel
Fiber One® Protein Bars
Progresso® Recipe Starters
Food Should Taste Good® Chips
Green Giant Fresh® Box Tops for Education pencil pouch
Hamburger Helper® Sweet & Sour Chicken and Parmesan Crusted Chicken
Betty Crocker® Mac & Cheese and Au Gratin potatoes
Kleenex® wallet pack and 184 count box
Scott® toilet paper (4 roll) and paper towel roll
Avery® dry erase weekly calendar
Ziploc® bowls and bags
Yoplait® Frozen Yogurt free product coupon

Check it out:

To enter:

Leave a comment and tell me if you collect box tops for your child’s school!

Get extra entries for:

Like the Ewokmama Blog page on Facebook
Like the Box Tops page on Facebook

Please submit a comment for each entry. All entries must be received by Friday, February 22nd.

Please note: This giveaway is open to U.S. residents only.

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Disclosure: Information, products and promotional items have been provided by General Mills and Box Tops for Education and its program partners. For further information on my media policies, see my Disclosure page.

Filed Under: Gear, Parenting 101, Reviews, Shopping Tagged With: box tops for education, box tops pantry stock up, giveaway, Health, kids, parenting, school, school fundraising 43 Comments

The Littlest Disciplinarian

January 22, 2013 By Ewokmama

Living with cancer is no easy feat (duh) and the medications certainly don’t make things any smoother. There are side effects galore and dealing with those on a regular basis can be be SO incredibly frustrating. Aside from the physical effects, Jack has had difficulty with memory and regulating his emotions. Then there are those weeks when he’s on the steroid – and we are all tip toeing around hoping that we don’t make a joke that offends the kid and sends him into a depression spiral.

Jack’s done so amazingly well this past year dealing with all of the cancer crap that it really should come as no surprise that he’d stumble a bit. But still, it was surprising AND alarming.

I don’t recall when it started exactly, but sometime in the last year Jack started to get really upset with himself for forgetting things or doing things wrong and he would react by hurting himself. Sometimes he would hit himself in the face, sometimes he’d bang his head against the wall, and we even saw him push his thumbs into his eyes (cringe!). Not too long ago he came home from school and told me he’d put himself on time out during recess after a teacher asked him to stop bouncing on her shoulders.

We’ve told him over and over again how much we love him, how it’s our job as his parents to protect him and not let anyone hurt him – including himself! We explain that it’s okay to make mistakes and that we are there to remind him of what to do when those mistakes come up. His job is to try to do better in the future – not to punish himself for making those mistakes! This hasn’t seemed to get through to him, though.

Sometime before Christmas I sent a message to Jack’s Case Manager at the hospital to ask for a referral to a therapist. It was clear that Jack was having some anger management problems and we were at a loss as to how to help him express himself better. We were referred to the department’s social worker, who, unfortunately, happens to be the least helpful person who very much would like to help EVER. And so she called me and got some information and then sighed and expressed her sympathy and said she would get me some information so that we could take Jack to therapy. Except she didn’t.

A couple weeks later when I saw her at the clinic and she still hadn’t gotten me that information (and it was STILL an issue), I reminded her. Alas, no help came.

Then, in the epic awesomeness (ha) that was last week, we had another incident that scared the shit out of us. Jack was working on his homework but kept getting distracted by a paper monster sitting nearby. When David attempted to move the monster so that Jack could concentrate, Jack got upset and grabbed the monster and threw it. David reminded him that throwing things isn’t okay, and Jack responded by grabbing his pencil and aiming it right at his own eye. David grabbed it before he could do any harm, thank goodness.

But holy crap! Our six year old almost stabbed himself in the eye with a pencil to punish himself for throwing a paper monster!

So it was time to take matters in my own hands and I made an appointment for him to see a doctor that afternoon. After some discussions with the pediatrician’s office I was then referred to the intake psychologist in the psychiatry department, who gathered more information about our situation and decided we should probably skip the regular intake routine and go straight for an appointment ASAP.

Had Jack had any big changes or stressful situations in his life over the last year? Oh, gee, where do I start??

Has he ever said he wanted to die? Um, no! Shit! He’s six!

Thankfully, we got Jack an appointment with a child psychologist scheduled for Friday. I was told to keep all sharp objects, medications, cleaning supplies and other harmful things out of his reach. Which is just NOT something you expect to EVER hear in relation to your first grader! (And, well, he doesn’t have access to those things anyway! But David did hide his safety scissors from him just in case. And now he’s a bit behind on homework since pencils suddenly posed a threat.)

All of that and Jack wasn’t even on the steroids last week. He started those today!

The appointment went well. Jack liked the therapist and even drew him a picture that he got to keep (which is pretty rare). He and the therapist came up with the idea that rather than trying to hurt himself to teach himself a lesson and help him remember, he would instead draw a picture of what he wasn’t supposed to do and tape it to the wall in his bedroom. This has seemed to work so far – Jack now has a “DO NOT JUMP ON MOM” picture on his wall.

This week is steroid (Decadron) week, though, so we’ll see how it goes. We see the therapist again on February 4th. I’m hoping things won’t be too chaotic in the mean time. We could all use a less eventful week.

Filed Under: Cancer, Cancer Mom, Issues, Parenting 101 Tagged With: 6 years old, anger management, cancer, cancer mom, child psychology, children, discipline, growing up, kids, leukemia, life, mental health, parenthood, parenting, therapy 3 Comments