Today was your chance to own a piece of history. The only privately owned original copy of the historic document - The Magna Carta was sold in auction at Sotheby’s in New York today for $21.32 million dollars.

Why am I mentioning the auction of the Magna Carta on a site about parenting and kids? Because this is a wonderful current event to discuss with your children - and brush up on your own history knowledge as well.

According to Wikipedia, the Magna Carta is an English Charter that was originally issued in 1215. It was written to limit the power of the King and protect the rights of the King’s subjects. One of the more famous clauses habeas corpus - protects the subjects angainst unlawful imprisonment. The Magna Carta had a large influence on the drafting of the US Constitution and Bill of Rights. Today’s constitutional law has evolved from concepts originally introduced in the Magna Carta.

The copy of the Magna Carta that was sold at auction today is one of 17 originals and dates to the year 1297. It carries the orignial wax seal of King Edward I. And it is the only copy of the Magna Carta in the United States.

The winning bidder - David Rubenstein, founder of the Carlyle Group - plans to put the document back on display at the National Archives in Washington.

The seller, Ross Perot, originally purchased the Magna Carta for $1.5 million in 1984. Mr. Perot plans to use the monies from the sale to fund his foundation for medical research and care for injured military veterans.

Parents - share this information with your children and increase the kids’ awareness of world history

I was recently contacted by a representative General Mills to review their new Cheerios Snack Mix. Since I am always looking for healthy ways to fill my kid’s seemingly bottomless tummies, was happy to give it a try.

I promptly received in the mail one bag of the cheddar flavor of Cheerios Snack Mix. Upon tearing open the bag of Cheerios Snack Mix our family’s unanimous vote was - Yum!

Now that the important stuff was out of the way, I took a closer look at the facts.

It seems that I am not the only parent in search of healthy, convenient and tasty snacks for my kids. To provide parents a solution to this problem General Mills created Cheerios Snack Mix. The first step in the right direction is that Cheerios Snack Mix is baked, not fried. It contains MultiGrain Cheerios cereal, Chex cereal, pretzels, crackers, and seasoning. It is similar to Chex Mix (also by General Mills) but in my opinion Cheerios Snack Mix Cheddar flavor is more tasty.

Taking a closer look at the nutrition information, I see that one serving of Cheerios Snack Mix is about 2/3 cup and there are approximately 7 servings in each 8 oz. bag. For our family, that serving size was a little small - 1 cup was more satisfying. Each 2/3 cup serving contains 120 calories, 30 of which are from fat. However, Cheerios Snack Mix contains NO trans fats or cholestorol.

The “make mom happy” factors are that each serving of Cheerios Snack Mix contains 1g of fiber, 3g of protein, 4% of daily value for calcium and a whopping 30% daily value of iron.

Cheerios Snack Mix comes in two flavors - Original and Cheddar. Cheerios Snack Mix retails for about $2.59 per 8 oz. bag. For more information visit cheerios.com.

Cheerios Snack Mix is an excellent alternative to other empty calorie snacks that children like to eat (like potato chips, pretzels, and cheese curls). I, for one, will be adding Cheerios Snack Mix to my weekly shopping list.

This week’s poll is up in the right sidebar- be sure and cast your vote.

Last week’s poll results can be found by clicking the polls tab above. Surprisingly, a good portion of voters are not sending out holiday cards this year.

Every year I am tempted to just skip the holiday card process as well - it would cut down on holiday stress. I still cannot believe how difficult it is to get 4 children to pose for a picture once a year. The arguments, the drama, the OPINIONS…. I am sure Santa didn’t envision this!

If music gives the heart wings, this will make your heart soar:

Is that a blast from the past? This weekend the kids and I watched the DVD’s of George of the Jungle and George of the Jungle 2.

Somehow we missed George of the Jungle in the theaters. Starring Brendan Fraser and Leslie Mann this movie contained comedy for children and adults alike.

Produced by Disney, rated PG, and extremely corny.

We loved the first George of the Jungle. George of the Jungle 2, the sequel, didn’t have the same kitsch as the first one but it was entertaining just the same.