There isn't much that excited me more about this time of year than the movie The Nightmare Before Christmas. It is pretty much the perfect Halloween/Christmas movie...ever. My kids love it. I love it. The soundtrack is perfect. If you have yet to see this movie, you should probably stop reading this now, rent it online, watch it, and then come back. Go ahead, I'll wait.

Good. Now that we have that out of the way let's continue. Now that we have established that this is the best movie to watch right now, you know why I have to make a Jack Skellington lunch for my kids every Halloween. This year, we were pretty busy so I made an easier lunch. I hope this can encourage you to use this last day before Halloween to make your own Nightmare lunch!

A Beat Bugs Snack and Netflix Gift Card Giveaway!

This post is sponsored by Netflix. Come together with the Beat Bugs and enjoy a new family show inspired by the music of the Beatles. Now Streaming!

Have you ever found a show that is meant for young kids, but one way or another, the entire family gets sucked in? For our family, this is the show Beat Bugs on Netflix. If you haven't seen it, Beat Bugs is about a group of fun little bugs, who learn important lessons, while singing songs inspired by the Beatles.

This is how it usually works in my family. My youngest asks to watch Beat Bugs. We turn Netflix on. The older kids sit down to watch. Humming along ensues, parents stop to watch, and so and so forth. You get the picture. The whole show is pretty much addicting.

In fact, when my in-laws were visiting recently, my father-in-law and son watched Beat Bugs on the iPad. They had a touching bonding moment while they sang the songs together. What we have found

Skeleton Sandwich Lunch With Video Tutorial

If you want to make a quick and simple Halloween lunch, this is for you. The big day is almost here and my family has a ton of fun with decorating and dressing up. We usually do a family costume and this year we are going as the Incredibles. The plan is to have a small neighborhood party and then go out trick-or-treating. This doesn't leave much time for Halloween lunches, so I literally made this in five minutes. The tutorial video is below. So surprise your kids and they will love it like my kids did!

The Coach Who Broke My Tooth and Impacted My Life

I have partnered with Life of Dad and U.S. Cellular for this promotion.

Who helped you become the person you are today? Everyone has people in their lives who have helped them in their journey. When you play sports, many times that person is a coach. I played sports from the time I was five years old until my freshman year in college. There are plenty of people who helped me along the way. As I was looking at all of the coaches who have been nominated for U.S. Cellular's Most Valuable Coach Award, I couldn't help but think about some of the coaches I have learned from.

My older brother was there guiding me when I was young. He wasn't a coach in the official sense, but he taught me the basics of pretty much every game. We would play sports (real ones and games we made up) until the street lights came on outside. The neighborhood was our ball field. The neighborhood kids were our competition.

In college I played baseball for a short time. My school had a club team, and we had fun but worked hard. The crazy thing was that my coach at the time went on to be a TV show celebrity. He appeared

3 Ideas to Do Good and Unleash Your Child's Inner Hero

This is a sponsored post in partnership with Stride Rite. All opinions are my own.

My family loves Halloween. We're so excited that it's almost here. It really can't come soon enough! Every year we plan out our family costume themes. Last year we dressed up as characters from Back to the Future, but this year we are going as a family of superheroes. Actually, if my kids had their way we'd be dressing up as superheroes every year. Is it the same in your house? I imagine when October 31st hits, there will be tons of kids running around my neighborhood using their imaginary superpowers to try and get more candy.

One of the groups of superheroes that my kids love pretending to be is the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. In fact, we found these shoes from Stride Rite which my sons would probably wear everyday if they could. They're actually perfect to wear for Halloween and to continue wearing the rest of the year. Plus, your kids can flip the straps around to change what turtles they want to be that day.

With as much as we love experiencing this Halloween season, something we like much better is finding ways to help our kids think beyond themselves. This year we decided to take a weekend and think of three ways that we could help do good for others. Halloween might be about showing your outer hero, but we want our kids to know that every day we should think of ways to unleash our inner hero and help those around us. Here are three ideas that you can easily do this weekend!

9 Halloween Shows to Stream With Your Family on Netflix

I am a member of the Netflix Stream Team. I was provided resources for watching Netflix, but all opinions are my own.

Halloween will be here in a matter of days and you probably have costumes ready, candy bought, and decorations ready to put up. We have two of those three done, decorations will hopefully happen soon! However, the last thing we usually think about are seasonal movies and shows for this time of year. Don't worry, I did my Netflix research and collected nine different shows and divided them by age group for you. All of them are streaming on Netflix right now. Whether your kids are young, or about to become teenagers, I rounded up the perfect shows to make your Halloween fun...and maybe a little spooky!

5 Must-Visit Family Friendly Destinations in Atlanta, Georgia

This is a sponsored post in partnership with Homewood Suites. I was compensated but all opinions are my own.

When you visit (or live in) a city there are must see attractions that you would be crazy not to visit. This is especially true if you are visiting a place, and you don't know when you will be back. You need to prepare and make the most of your time there. This isn't just for you, but for your kids as well. You are not just taking a trip, you are in the middle of building a lifetime of memories with your family.

The traveling that you do with your kids now will stay with them forever. I remember when I was a kid and the amazement I felt at the Boardwalk, the fun we experienced in the San Juan Islands, and the pure delight of Disneyland. The smells, sounds, and sights will be forever etched in my mind. I want my kids to experience new adventures like this for themselves. It's for this reason that we took a #DadTime father and kids trip to Atlanta, Georgia. We had never been to the South before and Atlanta was a quick plane trip away from our home. What we discovered was a plethora of family-friendly options and experiences that will be talked about for years to come. Here are the top places you need to visit to maximize your time in Atlanta with your family.

Halloween Mickey and Minnie Mouse Ears Lunch

My family has been dreaming of Disney World lately. Since we moved to Oklahoma, people all around us have gone to the Magic Kingdom, and we have always wanted to take our kids there. It's also Halloween. One of my favorite memories with my family is visiting Disneyland at this time of year. It's not only magical, but it's magical in a completely spooky kind of way! Hopefully we can take our kids to the Magic Kingdom sometime soon, but until then I thought I would make a Disney themed Halloween lunch for them.

How to Bake like a Cake Boss, Get a Free Extended Warranty, and Dance Like a Rockette

I am part of the Swiffer Fanatic ambassador program. This is a sponsored post, but all opinions are my own.

If you have ever wondered how to pack a week's worth of experiences into two days, I was recently shown how. Last month I was fortunate enough to travel to New York with a group of bloggers, and Swiffer, and was blown away by what we learned. In a few short paragraphs, let me attempt to take you through what I learned there.

How to Make a Winnie the Pooh lunch

This is a sponsored post in partnership with Chobani. All opinions are my own.

Sometimes your kids just need a little more Pooh in their life. Lately we have been reading some of the Winnie the Pooh stories at bedtime and my kids love them. In times where more Pooh is necessary, I like to break out Chobani Tots Greek Yogurt Pouches featuring Winnie the Pooh! They are super easy to add to your kid's lunches and my children can't get enough because they taste so good. In fact, we love them so much I made a fun lunch recipe around them!

Since we are big Chobani fans here at my house, my wife has literally convinced people in the grocery store line to leave the line and go get Chobani Flips, we also have a pro-tip for you. For a fun after school snack we put the Chobani Greek Yogurt Tubes in the freezer. The kids think it's a treat and we love it because the yogurt has all natural ingredients. They are great for on-the-go as well. Now that you have your after school snack tip, check out this easy lunch recipe!

Star Wars Kylo Ren Lunch

I think my kids could go for a Star Wars lunch pretty much any day of the week. In fact, if it was socially acceptable for my son to wear Star Wars clothes and/or costumes wherever he went, he would drape himself in them. Last year we tried to get my kids to dress in Back to the Future costumes with us. Would they do it? Nope. What did they want to be? Star Wars of course. My daughter was Princess Leia and my son only wanted to be Kylo Ren. Can you relate at all? Well, I figured it was time to make my son a Kylo Ren lunch. It was actually pretty simple. See how I did it below!

An Apple Sauce Sandwich Lunch

This is a sponsored post in partnership with Tree Top, but all opinions are my own.

Apples and school go together like peanut butter and...wait I guess that doesn't work for this lunch because I'm not using jelly. Technically I'm not advocating using peanut butter either. Well, you get my point. Since school just started for many of your kids, I thought it would be really fun to create a completely different type of sandwich idea. I wanted to bring an interactive element into it as well, so this is something that your kids actually finish once they have lunchtime at school! Read on to find out how to do that.

Besides the interactive recipe below, I wanted to add an additional level of fun. I came up with an idea that any parent can do. Use the Tree Top Apple Sauce pouch to create a lunch note word scramble. All you need is a permanent marker to circle the letters on the back to make a secret message. Make lines at the top so your child knows how many letters are in each word. Then they unscramble the letters and put them in order. Below is a pouch where I created a mystery note that, when unscrambled, says, "I love you." It's easy and fun!