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My little Sammy turns seven today. I don’t know how that happened… it doesn’t seem possible that he’s been around that long. 

It doesn’t seem possible that he was ever not here.

Sam is a great kid, if I do say so myself. He’s so sweet, and he’s hilarious and kind and fun to be around. 

In the past year or so, Sam’s developed an obsession with comic books and super heroes. He and Andy take a trip to the comic book store every week to get the newest editions. Last weekend they went to their first Comic Con.

  

It’s hard for me to put into words how much I love this kid. I am so grateful for the seven years we’ve had with him. Here’s to many, many more.

Summer vacation is a great time for kids to relax and unwind. But sometimes there’s a little too much relaxing and unwinding, which can result in some of the hard work they did during the school year going down the drain. In fact, a 2011 RAND study found that by the end of summer, students perform, on average, one to two months behind where they left off in the spring.

That’s a depressing thing to hear… and I can only imagine how I’d feel about that statistic if I were an elementary school teacher, working hard day in and day out to feed knowledge into those little minds!

One way to reduce some of the Summer Brain Melt (that’s the technical term) experienced by kids everywhere is to participate in enriching activities over the summer. And a fun way to do that is by participating in Brain Chase.

Brain Chase, a five-week online summer learning challenge for second through eighth graders, is a massive global treasure hunt powered by reading, writing and math. The prize? A golden mechanical treasure – and a $10,000 college scholarship.

Here’s a video that shows how it works:

Pretty cool, huh?

Brain Chase includes:
– 5 weeks of structured challenges on external reading and math websites

– Weekly writing exercises with feedback from credentialed teachers

– Weekly progress reports emailed to parents

– Exclusive access to an original animated adventure series loaded with hidden puzzles and clues

– 3 adventure tools mailed to your home to help solve special bonus challenges

– Participation in a massive global treasure hunt for a golden trophy containing the key to a safe deposit box holding $10,000.

We’ve got a special offer for Mommin’ It Up readers! Brain Chase would like to give you all 15% off your total purchase. Just use code MOMMINITUP15. Visit BrainChase.com for more information!

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This post was written in partnership with Brain Chase and The Motherhood.

As I mentioned yesterday, April, or as we call it in our house BirthMonth, is nearly upon us. My kids will be 7 and 11 in a few weeks, and I’m not sure how to even process that.

Sam’s celebrating his day by taking a couple friends to a bounce place, but Kate’s having a full-on party. She and her BFF Rachel have close birthdays and they share the same friends, so they’re having a combined pool party together. And, because they are extremely great kids, they are asking the attendees to forgo gifts and instead bring a donation to the Ovarian Cancer Research Foundation, in memory of both of their maternal grandmothers.

I’m going to be incapacitated in recovery (from surgery, not from drugs) at the time of their party and won’t be able to contribute a whole lot to the day itself, so I offered to handle the invitations.

It just so happened that minted. emailed and asked me to take a look at their designs and share them with you!

minted. has a whole section devoted to birthday party invitations, and there’s a filter function that helps narrow down the choices based on size, theme, price, gender, and age range.

Here are a few that caught my eye:

The bookworm owl has zero to do with a pool party theme, but it immediately jumped out at me because it is perfect for Kate and Rachel – they are both total bookworms and for some reason have a thing for owls at the moment! So cute.

I like that this is pretty neutral in the theme department and that it just looks fun!

This would have been perfect for either of Kate’s last two parties at the skating rink! And they’re slightly nicer than my lame attempts at photoshop.

Until Rachel’s mom came up with the brilliant idea of a combo party, I thought this was in my future. Shudder!

I love this one – it might be a winner!

While I was browsing, I couldn’t help but notice a few invitations that would be perfect for Sam…

Next time you’re looking for party invitations, thank you cards, stationary, decor, or gifts, head over to minted. But beware – everything is so cute that it’s impossible to choose!

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This post was sponsored by minted.com. All thoughts and opinions are my own.