Let’s Get Ready with Cedar Valley Publishing

Get back in gear for the new school year with these unique finds for kids.

Covering everything from knapsacks to lunch boxes, these fun yet functional choices for back to school shopping are all available online!

Click Here to read more…

http://survey.constantcontact.com/survey/a07e2jt9qs1fxj10zrs/start

Thank you for your participation!

I am a Home Based Working Mom as well as an author, publisher, consultant, speaker, motivator, keynote, spokesperson and Mom CEO.  My publishing “house”, Cedar Valley Publishing, has sold over 60,000 books and was just voted as a top 50 Children’s Publisher!  And I mean “house” literally!

Here are my tips on how to work at home with kids and balance it all:

• Plan to do something fun each day for the kids: host a lemonade stand for a few hours, have a pie or water fight, do the water balloon toss, create a chalk masterpiece on the sidewalk, have a picnic lunch at the park, go to the beach for a few hours, take a hike, ride bikes - the more you make it fun the more they are willing to let you work. 
• Empower them into the process.  Find things that they can help you with for your business! From adding postage on mailings, to helping balance the checkbook, answering the phone, helping me think of things to tweet about, to being involved in video blogging, add them to the team! My kids know my email backlog and will often ask me how many I am behind and they motivate me to get caught up and celebrate when I can get catch up! They will challenge me to get say 20 more done and then we can play!
• Work around their schedule so they still have summer fun activities:  take them to swimming lessons and bring the blackberry; have a picnic in the park for lunch and if you end up spending more hours playing, make up the hours before they get up or later after they are in bed.
• Find backup: a college student or high school student to help during days when you simply can’t be interrupted during conference or client calls and media requests.  Find sitters that your really kids want to “play with” who are home with you while you are working in another room. 
• Set the boundaries with your kids and explain they get to be at home with you, rather than at a daycare all day, but this is a privilege that can not be abused or off to daycare they go.  If you have older kids who have never experienced a daycare, see if you can do drop off service for a few hours and then ask them to make the choice:  home or daycare.  They might like the activities of playing with a room full of other kids and if that is the case, try to build in this drop off service as a once a week treat, depending on your budget or they might love being at home and help to work hard with you to make this work.
• Have a safe area where you can see kids playing outside.  They sit outside my work window and have tea parties on the covered porch and make that into their playhouse while I working inside or they drive up and down the driveway, outside my window on their bikes or dribble the basketball up and down the driveway or play catch where I can see them!  If they are playing in the backyard, away from my window, I grab some work and take the phone in the room that I can see in the back yard.  While they are in the house, I fold laundry in the same room that they are in and make it into a family activity!
• If I am on the phone and snap my fingers they know they are being too loud and I explain to my clients that I work from home around the kid schedule.  I can make their lunch while I am on the phone and multitask with only my kids knowing that we are all in the same room.  I have done conferences from the car, using my speaker phone and letting them listen to the conversation from the backseat, playing their hand held video games with the mute on their sound and they like to hear what is going on in the business.  They often get to listen to my phone messages to give them a taste of what running our family business is all about! I ask their opinion and make them feel a valued team player because they are - they are made up if the demographic I am trying to reach.
• Network with other work-at-home moms and do day swaps - I will have all the kids on this day if you can take them on that day - no money changes hands and it is a win/win for you all.  Many times the other kids occupy your kids and you can actually get a bit of work in between the fun!
• Take time to practice balancing!  A tight rope walker doesn’t just wake-up and walk around a rope, 500 feet up in the air without first practicing!

Smiles - Stacey

Check out my hometown hero JR Salzman!!  I have been a fan of his for years.  As a five-time World Logrolling Champion, he was voted ESPN Outdoor Sportsman of the Year back in 2005.  He was already a hero before he left for a tour of duty in Iraq. 

When tragedy struck and he was wounded, I cried for days and prayed for him and his family. 

I am so proud of his amazing journey!!  He made me cry again last week but these are joyous tears.  Standing ovation to JR – as he won another World Logrolling Championship!!  He certainly rocks and rolls!!  Woo Hoo!

Click Here to read about his latest accomplishment - his seventh Logrolling Championship title!

Blue like Play Dough is one mother’s journey in everyday life to make time with God.  Tricia Goyer had me laughing and crying every step of the way.  I can certainly relate to the 2,345th reading of Good Night Moon, the death of a much loved Grandpa, juggling homework, Puff the Major Dragon living in my own oven and finding those moments when you know that God is molding your direction. 

This is a candid real life account of life as a mother that every mother can understand.  I am thankful to still play with play dough with my girls—soon I too will be worrying about driving, teen pregnancy and discussions about suicide!

So many exciting things happening with this book. Besides the blog tour, Tricia will also be hosting a FACEBOOK Launch Party and the Get One, Give One Campaign (GO-GO)!

Follow the button for info about Go-Go campaign. What an AWESOME way to give back!

Follow the tour - see what other’s are saying about this fatanstic book!

Author, Mother, Risk-Taker

Four and a half years ago I went through a divorce. It was crazy and difficult. I had thought I would never, ever, ever be the woman who would have to go through that experience. But I did.

I have four beautiful children. At the time of the divorce they were 2, 4, 11 and 13 years of age. My second child was born with Downs’ Syndrome. I was 41 years old. Many factors contribute to the challenges of a divorce. 

A litany of questions came up for me at that time in my life. So much of my personal identity was related and linked directly to my marriage. I was a mother and a housewife. I struggled – well, no — I fought – I fought hard to understand who I even was. 

One day a few years after the divorce, a friend of mine gave me a beautiful bright blue book with an image of a white balloon on the cover. The book was titled, Just Who Will You Be?, by Maria Shriver. No single question had weighed greater on my mind following the divorce – I kept thinking, “Just who will I be?” I read that book and struggled to answer the question. But I could answer another question, and that was, “Who am I not?” I knew that I could not be the person who held onto pain and anger. 

A few days after reading Ms. Shriver’s book, I stumbled across a quote from Mister Rogers — yes, that Mister Rogers. It was, “So in all you do in all of your life, I wish you strength and the grace to make the choices which will allow you and your neighbor to become the best of whoever you are.” I knew that I wanted to live a life of “strength” and “grace.”  I knew that I wanted to share those qualities with everyone in my life.  

Following my divorce I had searched and searched for a storybook I could share with my children that would explain what was happening in their lives. I found several wonderful books published on the subject of divorce, but they mostly featured make-believe characters like talking teddy bears.  I wanted a real child’s face for my children to see and identify with — a real face that would help them understand that other real children had been through a divorce and that it was not just a made up “character” story. I soon realized that I could write the book that I was searching for, and by doing so fulfill a great need.

And that is how I came to write the children’s book Sending Love, My “Different-Functional” Family. The story is told through the eyes of my (then) 5-year-old son, Joshua. Just like us, children identify so much with their parents, family, school and friends. When something happens, and these touch points are changed and altered, the child is left asking, “Who am I?” I wanted my children to understand that a divorce is not their fault. I wanted them to understand that they are LOVE, that they were created in love, and that they are still loved — like crazy.

The miracle I experienced by writing this book was the healing of my own heart as I tried to live “strength” and “grace.” My relationship with my children’s father was completely transformed. He helped with the photography in the book. We teach our children that they are still part of a wonderful family — a beautiful “different-functional” family.

Looking back, writing this book was my “it” moment – the moment when life extended a mirror to me, allowing me to look deeply into my own reflection. As my eight-year-old daughter said when she was learning to skateboard, “Sometimes you are scared, but you just have to suck it up and do it.” Taking this risk and pushing myself to write the book gave me the chance to make real, deep personal discoveries, and it also gave me the opportunity to pass on some small encouragement to those following me on the same path.

For more information about The Women’s Conference, please click here.

For more information about Lori Hilliard, please click here.

Are your children ready for the new school year? 

Certainly, new clothes, book bags, notebooks etc. will help students start the new school year off on the right foot.  But, what happens two weeks later when the new clothes are dirty, the book bag is torn, and the pens are lost?

Accent On Success®, a nonprofit organization dedicated helping students succeed has developed a goal setting program to help them for the entire school year. The program is free and can be downloaded from their website at GoalSettingForStudents.com/free-stuff.html.

Why is this goal setting program unique?  Too many times goal setting is taught in school as a half hour component of a much larger program like character education, alcohol and drug prevention, dropout prevention, etc.  How many 5^th graders are going to make goal setting a habit after only thirty minutes of instruction? 

This goal setting presentation helps adults teach students how they can apply the goal setting principles in school.   It is an organized, easy-to-implement, eight part resource that gives students specific examples and opportunities for practice. The presentation gives them six ways identify and overcome potential roadblocks and shows them how they can measure their progress toward reaching their goals.

This goal setting program identifies six “Bummer Words” that can hold students back from reaching their full potential. And, it gives students the five YES! Count on Me words that will positively change their lives. They learn the importance of taking responsibility, minimizing excuses and helping others.  Importantly, this free resource helps students understand that adults are there to help them - but that it is a two way street - they have to help the adults also.

It is being used by parents, teachers, administrators, counselors, group leaders and after school programs to prepare students for the future.  John Bishop, the Executive Director had three goals when he wrote the award winning Goal Setting for Students book. Those were: to help students take more responsibility for their education.  To help teachers reach more of their goals in the classroom and to include parents in this collaborative educational experience.

Why is goal setting important for students?  Goals help students turn their dreams into reality. With goal setting students learn about themselves. They learn what they like, what is important and what areas they need to work on to improve. Goal setting teaches them how to take responsibility for their efforts or lack thereof. Goal setting teaches them how to take a large, seemingly impossible task and break it down into very doable parts. These important life skills are their life’s compass and helps students navigate through life’s journey and define their future success.

This nonprofit’s mission is to help students succeed in school and in life.  Their free resource, available for downloading by anyone in the world is helping Accent on Success reach their goal.

Contact:

John Bishop, Executive Director
Accent On Success
St Louis, MO 63104
www.GoalSettingForStudents.com
314-664-6110 (office)   CST
314-651-1479 (cell)

Four teenage girls escape from a miserable foster home existence to a world where anything is possible.

Nadya has always dreamed of being a Nature Princess, whatever that is. Opal would settle for a castle with a moat and a matching prince to accessorize with her wardrobe, while Crystal would give anything to be a pretty knight in pink armor. And Sam would just like to be left alone.

Then one night, a genie-like being offers to whisk them away from their decrepit foster home for a whole year to a place where their most deeply treasured fantasies can come alive. No catches, no questions asked, no strings attached. Well, sort of…

Because upon arrival, nobody told these four ordinary girls that among other things they would be pursued by a mysterious Black Knight’s horsemen; imprisoned by a bad-tempered King Bear with an infestation problem in his Enchanted Forest; and going up against a Fairy Colony with militaristic ambitions.

R.J. Amado in association with Sweetie’s Books/Sensations Publishing invites YOU to join Opal, Sam, Crystal and Nadya on an unforgettable one-of-a-kind fantastic journey that is quite unlike anything else you will ever experience. Because when making it through the year means no less than coming home together, nothing else matters.

Everland Volume I: Opal’s Book of Winter
“It’s only the beginning.”

The Foundation is paving the way for the “Everland” fantasy trilogy. The next great literary global superpower? It can be, but not without you! Join today and invite your friends to join too. After all…”Resistance is futile.”

To join this amazing foundation, please become a fan of The Everland Foundation on Facebook.

Loved Kristi Frank on The Apprentice, and she’s even more charming in person!

For more information about Kristi Frank, please click here.