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From The Mommies here at The Mommies Network!

***** The Mommies Network is a 501c(3) non-profit organization dedicated to helping moms find support and friendship in their local community. We were founded April, 2005 and currently have 100+ communities in 33+ states with over 31,000 active members.

Its not a rumour! So the announcement has been made that now Facebook will have clickable #hashtags. The social network wants to make it easier for users to find content already on Facebook, and functional hashtags are the first step. According to Facebook, many users already post hashtags anyway, so why not make them work. Hashtags will be both clickable and searchable, so, for example, topics like #NSALeaks or #NBAFinals will now exist.

Instagram and Twitter already use clickable hashtags and make things much easier to search and find what you are looking for or items you have in common with others maybe.

If you are interested in increasing your social media knowledge, use those #hashtags and learn as much about how they are used that you can.

Watch for the hashtag #MommiesNetwork for information, pictures and some great posts and tweets!

As kids, we loved our summer breaks. As parents and teachers, we sometimes wonder if it derails a kid?s progress in school. Often referred to as "the summer brain drain," the worry is that too much down time allows students to not only fritter away what they might have learned in the previous school year, but it also gets them out of learning mode.

If you're concerned about this, let me suggest a few things that might ease the problem and help plug the drain.
If you think about it, kids look forward to their summer break with such enthusiasm not simply because it means no school, but because it also means lots of fun activities. Well, why not think about all of the ways you can weave learning opportunities into those activities?

Examples: If you're taking your kids out to a baseball game, talk to them about the way a player's batting average is determined. Even if they only keep track of a player's average for that one game, it becomes a fun math project for them. If a guy gets one hit in four at-bats, they'll suddenly understand where the .250 average comes from. (For your own help, one hit divided by four at-bats.)

If you take them to the aquarium, why not have them research the history of sharks. Why sharks? Well, besides the fact that they're fascinating animals, their history dates back literally tens of millions of years, and it provides a great opportunity for young people to learn about how some species die out, while others evolve and mutate into the familiar creatures we see today.

Kids love going to the movies. I know a parent who did something fun after taking her son to see one of his favorite superheroes in a summer action flick. She challenged him to go home afterwards and create his own comic book, featuring that superhero. It allowed him to come up with his own unique story (you KNOW I love that!), and it also challenged him artistically. He ended up breaking out the colored pencils and creating an eight-page masterpiece, completely illustrated. He felt like a total rockstar afterwards.

Going on a long road trip? Why not use the time in the car to investigate the geography along the way, or invite the kids to plot different courses on a map, complete with details on distance and ETA. Today?s innovative new tech tools can make it fun.

And, of course, there are so many more that you can come up with. Just because the kids might be out of class for a long break, it doesn't mean that their brains have to shut down completely. The goal is to find fun activities that will embellish their experiences out of school. They'll love it, and you probably will too!

If you have other suggestions, comments here would be appreciated by many. Thank you, and enjoy the summer!

Our Building A Better Student Guest Blogger:

Dom Testa is an author, speaker, morning radio show host, and has kept a ficus tree alive for twenty two years. He?s also the founder and president of The Big Brain Club, a non-profit foundation that helps young people embrace the idea that Smart Is Cool. More info at www.DomTesta.com.

photo credit to MomAdvice.com

Recipe:

Baked Blueberry Donuts with a Lemon Glaze

Ingredients:

2 cups cake flour (or 1 3/4 cup all-purpose flour + 1/4 cup cornstarch)
3/4 cup sugar
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
zest from 1 lemon
3/4 cup milk
2 eggs, lightly beaten
2 Tbsp butter
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 cup blueberries, halved

Lemon Glaze:
1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
1 Tbsp milk
1 Tbsp lemon juice (from the lemon you zested)
1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Directions:

Whisk together the cake flour, sugar, baking powder and salt into a large bowl. Add in the lemon zest and whisk this into your dry ingredients. Pour in the milk, eggs, butter and vanilla extract. Gently mix the ingredients together. Be careful not to over-mix the batter. Fold in the halved blueberries carefully. Lightly grease a doughnut pan with non-stick cooking spray. Carefully spoon the batter into the doughnut pan, filling each one halfway. Bake the doughnuts at 400 F for 8-9 minutes. The donuts will remain light in color, but should spring back when pressed.

For the glaze: Put the powdered sugar in a large bowl. Add in the lemon juice, milk and vanilla extract. Whisk to combine. If the glaze is too thick, add additional lemon juice or milk, 1/2 teaspoon at a time until desired consistency is reached.

Once the doughnuts are done baking, let them cool in the doughnut pan for 4 minutes. Carefully remove the donuts from the pan. Dip one side of each doughnut in the glaze. Set the doughnuts on top of a cooling rack with a baking sheet underneath. Allow the glaze on the doughnuts to dry and serve immediately with big glasses of ice cold milk.

Prep Time: 5-7 minutes

Total Time: 20 minutes

Serving Size: 12 donuts

Read more at http://momadvice.com/blog/2011/08/baked-blueberry-donuts-with-a-lemon-glaze#8xmIJtzhcrOytEAP.99

Enjoy your Donuts today!!

Social Media Saturday with The Mommies Network

Recipe:

Baked Blueberry Donuts with a Lemon Glaze

Ingredients: