🆓 💸 Free October Food Deals

🧸 Editors Pick Montessori Games

Author

Markey Battle
October 02, 2023

Happy Monday Mommas! Let’s hope all the coffee and sleep you got this weekend set you up for a successful week. We’re just kidding, nothing can set us up for a Monday. ☕️🚀

What to expect in today’s 🍋Lemon Mommy:

  • How to teach your toddler to play more mindfully 🧸

  • Gilmore Girls Coffee Cake Cookie Recipe. Say less. ☕ 🍪

  • All The Comfy Shows We’re Binging this Week 📺

  • Free Food Deals in October 🍕 🌮

  • Lemon Shots 🍋 🥃

  • Friday Fun Fact Answers

  • Monday Motivation

What is the Montessori Theory and How Can it Help My Toddler Become More Independent? 🧸

@roxybondoc

You want to start Montessori Method but don’t know where to start? Start by preparing your child’s environment. Materials are visually ap... See more

Have you heard of the Montessori theory before? Maria Montessori developed the idea and centers around the key principles of Independence, Observation, Following the Child, Correcting the Child, Prepared Environment, and Absorbent Mind. Sounds fun.

But to put this theory in the simplest of terms, the Montessori theory provides a space for kids to grow and learn independence and self-discipline. So how do you employ this method in your home?

We would suggest that before you go all-in on this, you get the book, The Montessori Toddler: A Parent’s Guide to Raising a Curious and Responsible Human Being. But if you want to get started while you wait for the book to arrive at your doorstep. Here are some tangible steps that one Momma took to Montessori her home:

  1. Pull All the Toys Out of Storage

  2. Organize Them into Groups Based on Purpose

  1. Display One or Two Items from Each Group on the Shelves

  2. Store the Others Where Your Toddler Can’t Access Them, but Switch Them Out Every Few Weeks

By using this method, you’re ensuring that your child is playing with all of the toys that they own, but they’re not getting overwhelmed by options or becoming numb to their toys.

When they start playing, make sure that your toddler doesn’t take more than one toy out at a time. When they’re done playing with one, teach them to put it back before they grab another. While it might take some time to get this method down, the overall effect is more mindful play and independence, which we could all use more of in our homes.

Here are a few of our favourite editors pick of Montessori Toys 😀 

All the Free Food Deals in October 🍕 🌮

Did you enjoy last week’s National Coffee Day? The only thing better than coffee is free coffee, and that mindset applies to all kinds of food. That’s why we’re setting you up for success this October and letting you know about all the free food deals you need to snag before it’s too late. And don’t worry, we’ll keep you updated on all of these.

  • October is National Pizza Month! 🍕

  • October 1-7: MyPanera Week 🥖

    Join MyPanera this week and reap the rewards!

    • October 1: Coffee Day and Sipper Savings

    • October 2: $2 off Macs (on the MyPanera app)

    • October 3: $0 delivery feel + Panera At-Home Deals

    • October 4: BOGO 50% off Sandwiches (on the app)

    • October 5: 20% off eGift Cards (online only)

    • October 6: BOGO 50% off Soups (on the app)

    • October 7: MyPanera X Dr. Pepper Bready, Set, Score Challenge

  • October 4: National Taco Day 🌮

    • California Tortilla: Get a free taco coupon with purchase

    • Chronic Taco: BOGO tacos all day long

    • Fuzzy’s Taco Shop: Rewards members get two free tacos with a $5 purchase.

    • Long John Silvers: Customers get a free taco with the purchase of a meal, combo, or platter.

    • Moe’s: Free Eggo Tacos at all locations

  • October 28: National First Responders Day 🇺🇸

  • Deals for this day haven’t gone live yet, but if you’re a first responder, be sure to check with your favorite chains to see if they’re offering any freebies on this day. Here’s a quick look at past deals.

  • October 31: Halloween 🎃

  • Several chains will give you a free treat (no matter what your age) when you wear a costume to their store. Again, these dates haven’t been announced yet, but when they are, we’ll let you know.

All The Comfy Shows We’re Curling Up With This Season 📺

Now that we’ve talked about one of our favorite comfort shows for the season, it only feels right to shine a spotlight on a few of our other seasonal favorites. If you need some inspiration, here’s a quick list of our favorite shows and where they’re streaming:

Drama

  • Gilmore Girls: Netflix

  • Parenthood: Amazon Prime Video

  • This is Us: Hulu

  • Scandal: Hulu

  • Grey’s Anatomy: Netflix & Hulu

  • Sex and the City: Hulu & Max

  • Gossip Girl: Netflix

  • New Girl: Hulu & Peacock

Comedy

  • Parks and Recreation: Peacock

  • The Good Place: Netflix

  • The Office: Peacock

  • Schitt’s Creek: Hulu

Spooky

  • Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Hulu

  • Supernatural: Netflix

  • The Vampire Diaries: Peacock & Max

Yummy Lemon: These Coffee Cake Cookies are the Quintessential Gilmore Girls Snack ☕ 🍪

If you’re not planning on snuggling up on the couch and watching Gilmore Girls this weekend, what are you doing? Autumn is the perfect time to binge this early-2000s comfort show, but what’s better than binging the show? Making some of the amazing recipes that are featured in almost every episode.

Thankfully, with the help of TikTok creator @thepalatablelife, we have the perfect Gilmore Girls coffee cake cookie recipe out there.

Ingridients:

  • ½ cup butter (softened)

  • ½ cup vegetable oil

  • 1 cup brown sugar

  • 1 egg

  • 1 tsp vanilla

  • 2 tsp cinnamon

  • ½ tsp baking soda

  • ½ tsp baking powder

  • ½ tsp salt

  • 2 + ½ cups flour

Streusel:

  • ¼ cup butter (softened)

  • ¼ cup brown sugar

  • ⅓ - ½ cup flour

  • ½ tsp cinnamon

  • Pinch of salt

Icing:

  • ½ cup powdered sugar

  • 1 Tbsp milk

  • Splash of vanilla

Directions:

  1. Preheat the oven to 350ºF.

  2. Make the dough. Combine the butter, oil, and brown sugar and stir until the mixture is smooth. Once the color is lighter and the texture is fluffy, add the egg and vanilla and mix again. Finally, add the remaining cinnamon dough ingredients and stir until just combined.

  3. Make the streusel. Combine all of the ingredients in a bowl and mix with your hand or a spoon. Start by adding ⅓ cup of flour to the mixture, but if the texture isn’t crumbly enough, add more in increments of 1 tablespoon each.

  4. Use a large cookie scoop to scoop balls of dough onto a lined baking sheet. Make an indent with your fingers on the top of each cookie, then sprinkle a couple of tablespoons of streusel into the indent.

  5. Bake the cookies for 10-12 minutes.

  6. While the cookies are baking, make the icing. Whisk all the ingredients until the texture is smooth and running.

  7. Once the cookies have cooled completely, drizzle them with icing and enjoy!

Lemon Shots 🍋 🥃

🚗 Bad news for Hyundai and Kia drivers: over 3.4 million vehicles have been recalled due to a fire risk. Both companies promise to replace the anti-lock brake fuse at no cost. Until then, park your car outside.

🎰 Las Vegas hospitality workers voted to strike on Tuesday of last week. The union hasn’t set a walkout date, but if this goes through, it will be the first time The Culinary Workers Union has gone on strike for over three decades.

🌊 On Wednesday last week, President Joe Biden declared a federal emergency for the Mississippi River. The river is experiencing a saltwater intrusion, combined with the lack of rain in the area, is threatening the water infrastructure in New Orleans.

🎤 After defending gender-affirming care for trans youth on Armchair Expert, Jonathan Van Ness succumbed to tears, saying they were, “So tired of having to fight for little kids because they just want to be included.”

📀 Say goodbye to Netflix’s DVD delivery service, as Friday was the last day you could have ordered them. Netflix has officially shut down its five remaining DVD distribution offices in California, Georgia, New Jersey, and Texas.

🎮 On Thursday morning, GameStop announced Ryan Cohen, billionaire and activist investor, as the franchise’s chief executive, chairman, and president. Shockingly, Cohen will not receive a salary or compensation for this position.

Friday Fun Fact Answers

If you’re still wondering if you’re smarter than a celebrity, these answers might shed some light on the subject. Here are Friday’s trivia answers.

  1. He Got Game

  2. A quack

  3. The Bastille

  4. Michigan

  5. Mississippi