HoneyBaked Ham Store Review and Giveaway!

HoneyBaked Ham provided me with a giftcard to spend in their store. I bought the rest from them with my own money. The opinions I share about the food are my own, and HoneyBaked Ham did not tell me what to say. In fact, they won't agree with some of my opinions.

Here's my to do list:
Run a 1/2 marathon
Make sure kids get to music class
Grandma comes in town for a visit
Our city Easter Egg Hunt
Go with the kids to a friend's birthday party at a bounce house place
Promote two giveaways that are happening on my blog
Promote two giveaways I'm doing on another blog
Do homework for my Coursera class
Complete lesson plans for upcoming week

That's a pretty crazy list for a week, but that's actually my list for one specific day. The biggest issue? My family still expects to eat. I know it's crazy, but they want 3 complete meals and a snack. Turns out explaining the importance of fruits and vegetables has made this even more complicated. They won't let me serve cereal for every meal.

That's why I was so happy to learn about the HoneyBaked Ham store in Plano, TX. I had never been to one and didn't realize the variety of things they have. Of course they have ham, but they also have turkey, sides, desserts, mixes, and condiments. I don't like ham and neither does anyone else in my immediate family. I'm fairly certain I'm not supposed to say that in my review, but it is true. However, my family loves turkey. We were able to pick up fully cooked turkey breast - baked in the honey glaze - already sliced. This seems like a simple thing, but having it already sliced saves me time.

We also bought mashed potatoes, spinach artichoke dip, broccoli rice casserole, and cornbread stuffing. Each of these is individually packaged and can be heated in the oven or in the microwave. Another great benefit - all of them can be frozen and cooked from frozen. I have a deep freeze with plenty of storage space, but my refrigerator is often full so this saves me space. Once again it's the little things that help.

The most difficult decision to be made at the HoneyBaked Ham store is which dessert to pick. We were good and only picked one, though they were all tempting. We passed over the cheesecake, pecan pie, and chocolate mousse cake. We decided to get a coffee cake. Then we had to pick a flavor. We ended up with the banana walnut, but were tempted by the other flavors as well.

We also picked up a couple of other items because one stop shopping is more efficient! We needed some pancake mix (made with real blueberries) and some mustard. The food was all excellent and so easy to prepare. For a formal family meal, I highly suggest the HoneyBaked Ham store. If you are as busy as I am, you should buy your Easter meal from here. If you aren't as busy as I am, would you like to help me? I could really use it...

There are some specials going on that I wanted to tell you about.

• In-Store Specials
• $54.99 Easter Ham & Turkey Combo – Pair a Turkey Breast (approx. 3 lbs.) with your choice of a Boneless Ham (approx. 3.5 lbs.) or Quarter Ham (approx. 4.5 lbs.)
• $22.99 Turkey Breast (with any Half or Whole Ham purchase)
• $24.99 Easter Brunch Bundle – Cinnamon Walnut Coffee Cake and Honey-Spice Bacon
• Heat & Share Sides: Two for $13.99, three for $19.99

They are also offering a coupon off Ham to all of my readers just go here: Coupon.

HoneyBaked Ham is sponsoring a giveaway! 20 people will win a $50 giftcard to spend on anything at their closest HoneyBaked Ham store.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Educents Deals

There are times I go months without buying (or even being tempted) by things on Educents, however this week there are a few things I have my eyes on and I wanted to share with my readers. (That is an affiliate link.)

Today

Health Pack includes:

1 Handwashing Kit

• Includes germ detection powder and gel, and a UV light key chain to demonstrate how germs are spread and how following the hand washing tips in the Activity & Instruction booklet (also included) can help cut down on the spread of germs and keep you healthy!

• Also includes GIANTmicrobes Character Stickers, a Sniffles Mirror Cling to remind kids to wash their hands often, and a GIANTmicrobes Common Cold Key Chain.

1 Soap Dispenser

• Microbe shaped soap dispenser is a fun reminder to wash away germs.

1 Cold Plush

• Billions of people a year catch the cold. Now you can get one too! Learn all about the Common Cold with this cuddly companion. Each 5 to 7 inch doll is accompanied by an image of the real microbe it represents, as well as information about the microbe.

1 Flu Plush

• This guy may not look too tough, but don't let his cute looks fool you! Once he and his friends show up you're in for a pretty lousy time. Learn about his weaknesses so you can avoid unwanted encounters.

Monday (4th)

I have purchased this deal before and LOVED it. 

1 year subscription includes 12 Young Scientists Kits

Each kit includes:

• Activities and projects exploring the exciting world of science with topics such as magnets, weather, minerals, batteries, planets, stars, senses, acids and bases, forces, tornadoes, human body, volcanoes, and more (36 topics in all). 
• Special instructions given by Celsius the Science Bug to explore each topic. Easy to follow adult instructions are also included. 
• Manuals are between 8 - 16 pages.
• Filled with materials such as chromatography paper, owl pellet, minerals, magnets, mirrors, thermometers, rulers, pH paper, brine shrimp and much more!

Tuesday (5th)

Forever Passport to Grammaropolis includes

• Unlimited access to every part of speech for up to 5 students
• 8 different parts of speech
• 20 animated shorts
• 9 animated music videos
• 28 different quiz categories
• 9 illustrated books
• 5 student accounts

Wednesday (6th)

Each set includes:

• Reusable wall decals
• Printed with Permanent Ink that won’t run, fade, or peel
• Can be stuck and unstuck over and over again with no damage to walls, paint, or wallpaper! (They will even stick on textured walls)
• Each set is 24” by 40”
• Choices include: Thanksgiving, Christmas Tree, Gingerbread House, Holiday Wreath, Nativity Set, Snowmen

There are more deals than just these, but these are the ones I'm looking at this week. If you use my affiliate link I will get credit, which I use to buy more curriculum for my kids. I promise to review all of the curriculum on here. Have you tried any of these? We love the Science kits, but I would love to hear your opinion on the others.

Digital Field Trips

While we love traveling and believe the best way to learn is through hands on, we can't visit everything. I've recently learned about digital field trips. I was given the chance to try it out for free, but all opinions are my own.



I looked at the options: The Desert, The Rainforest, and The Wetlands. I decided to start in the rainforest. After downloading the program to my computer, which was quick and easy, I started exploring. Before any trip, you need to know where you are going. You start with a map of the world and have to find the correct continent. I was headed to Central America. It narrowed it down to the country, region, and finally my destination. I know my geography loving kids will think this is awesome. It also lines up nicely with the Montessori curriculum they use a school.

Once on site, you have many different ways of exploring. I started with the field trip option. There are many markers throughout the trail with interesting things to discover and learn. You get a 360 degree view and can hear the sounds of each area. Spotting animals and interesting plants kept me interested and wanting to click on things to learn more. It builds on curiosity. When you click on an animal it tells you about it's habitat, food sources, and how interrelated everything is in the rainforest. You learn about animal defense systems, the human impact on the area and more. My favorite part is getting to climb the ladders into the trees to see everything that lives in the canopy.

There are many details thrown in that surprised me. In addition to getting to see the rainforest, this field trip also went into a cave, in the river, and in a cabin for lunch. There are games to play trying to figure out how animals and plants are interrelated. There is a map of where current rainforest are as well as a map showing where they used to be located.

For younger kids this would be fun to just let them explore. They can move around clicking on what interests them and they will certainly learn. For lower elementary kids I would create a scavenger hunt. For older elementary or even middle school students I would have them create a worksheet for me to complete. I'm sure they would listen for the most obscure facts and after I answered the questions, they would have to grade it, thus reinforcing the concept in multiple ways.

I'm looking forward to exploring the other two field trips. I highly suggest this program for anyone who is learning about any of these environments and can't take a physical trip. If you can take a trip to the rainforest, the desert, and the wetlands I would love for you to have me come along - you know to help with the educational aspects. :)

You can buy one of these digital field trips for as little as $40 (normally $65) right now through Educents (That is an affiliate link.) You could get all three for $102 (a $195 value).