9/1/12

Brand New Coupons to Print

offer expired

Fan Appreciation Giveaway - Win Wizard of Oz Blu-Ray Disc

Who wants to win a brand new
70th Anniversary Edition of
The Wizard of Oz
on Blu-Ray Disc?

This giveaway is a Fan Appreciation Giveaway
sponsored by Planet Weidknecht!

Open to US; ages 18+ years.
Ends midnight ET 9/15/12.
Good luck!

Lots of New Winners

Wow, look at all these new winners!

Rock N Learn PreSchool Ready for School DVD - Elizabeth Groves
RevitaShape Anti Cellulite Cream - Jeanette Mays
HABA Color Fun Pegging Game - Debbie Jackson
Victorian Wax Seal Necklace - Lori A Galbraith
$25 Gift Code to Hadaki Bags - Valerie Taylor Mabrey
DewStop Humidity and Condensation Fan Switch - Carole Carlson
Adventurous Motorcyclist's Guide to Alaska - Jaime Nicole
Squatchi and Safees - Tamar Swe
$10 Amazon Gift Code for Top FB Fan - Jeanette Mays

Don't miss the giveaways posted HERE!

Too Cool for School Giveaway Hop


Welcome to the Too Cool for School Giveaway Hop hosted by BloggerPR! Summer has come to an end, which means it is time to send the kids back to school. This event runs September 1st - 9th, giving you plenty of time to visit all the blogs in the linky list below! Each blogger is giving away prizes valued $20 or more, so you don’t want to miss out! Good luck and have a great school year!

Planet Weidknecht is giving away a 
Harry and David Apple Snack Box
Filled with six delicious apples, 12 oz. almond n peanut butter, and 12 oz. of roasted salted trail mix, your children's after-school snacks will be the talk of the town! ARV $29.95
Read my review HERE!
To enter just fill in the Rafflecopter form below. You must be at least 18 years old and a US resident. Good luck! Giveaway ends 9/9/12.

Harry and David Apple Snack Box - Review

Getting your family to eat healthy isn't that difficult. When you buy delicious, nutritious foods for your fridge and pantry, that's what they're going to eat! Harry and David has a wonderful selection of Back to School gift options that are perfect for kids, teenagers, college students, and adults. Fruits, peanut butters, trail mixes, pretzels, peanuts and more will tempt everyone in your family to nibble on the good stuff! I received the Harry and David Apple Snack Box for review and my family was ready to help me sample it immediately.
Inside the gift box was six beautiful apples with crunchy almond and peanut butter, plus a bag of roasted salted trail mix. I cut one of the apples in half, then used a melon-baller to scoop out the seeds. Using a spoon, I stirred up the almond and peanut butter and filled the apple centers, then smeared some extra across the apples. (Check out our peanut butter cookie recipe HERE!)
The roasted, salted trail mix is a mix of raisins, cashews, peanuts, sunflower kernels, pumpkin seeds and almonds. I sprinkled a handful on top of the almond peanut butter and it's the ultimate in healthy fall themed snacks!
Everyone in my family LOVED the Apple Snack Box. Everything was fresh, delicious and high quality. I've never tasted anything from Harry and David before this and I am very impressed. I will definitely be checking out all their back to school snacks! You can shop with Harry and David ONLINE, plus follow them on Facebook and Twitter. Be sure to enter to win an Apple Snack Box at the link below!
Enter to win a delicious, healthy Harry and David Apple Snack Box from Planet Weidknecht in the Too Cool for School Giveaway Hop, from September 1-9. Just click HERE to enter!
Disclosure: I received these products at no charge in exchange for my honest review.

8/29/12

Wedne$day Wealth Giveaway Link Up

Maybe today will be your lucky day!
Enter these many giveaways and link up yours!

8/28/12

The Next Steps in my Life

So, today I announced my intention to retire from daycare. My daycare's final day of operation will be May 31, 2013. Apprehensive? Yes, a bit. Excited? Yes, a bit.

Why? My boys will be graduating from high school in the spring. They are already applying to colleges and this huge house will be very empty. I think it is time for me to move on as well. 

What's next? My husband and I will be putting this huge house up for sale in the spring. We are hoping to purchase a small house, maybe about 1100-1300 square feet, just big enough for the two of us. 

What will I do? My own plans are to finalize a training website for online childcare training classes at http://www.onlinechildcaretrainings.com/. In addition, I will be setting up early childhood education consulting and training classes on-site for daycare centers. I will absolutely be continuing my blogging, offering reviews and giveaways, and much more. 


My Boys' First Day of 12th Grade

Dear Ryan and Johnathan:
I can hardly believe this is your last year of school. In just three months, you'll both be 18 years old. In ten months, you'll graduate high school and begin your own lives. In the meantime, I get to enjoy you as my "little" boys for a little while longer. I'm so proud of you!
Love Always, Mom

Five Tips to Avoid Getting Sick this Labor Day Weekend

Labor Day is around the corner and families are planning their last minute vacations and day trips. The last thing you want is for your kid to get sick when they are supposed to be enjoying themselves during this holiday weekend. Plus, if your kid gets sick it’s more likely you and others in your family will get sick too. Dr. Yael Halaas, an ear nose and throat (ENT) doctor in the NYC area, came up with these great tips on how to avoid getting sick over Labor Day weekend.

1. Sanitize everything!
One of the first ways to ruin a vacation together is catching a cold on the plane. Carry antibacterial wipes and wipe down every surface you may touch on the plane. Wipe the belt buckle, food tray and latch, volume control, and armrests. The airline crew cannot clean all these surfaces between flights which can harbor contagious viruses and bacteria.

2. Wash your hands
Wash your hands especially before touching your own or a loved one’s eyes, nose or mouth. When traveling, it is impossible to avoid contact with surfaces that many others may have touched. To avoid those bugs contaminating your family, wash your hands.

3. Be proactive
On family vacations with everyone close together, take Cold-EEZE at the first sign of a cold to shorten the duration, minimizing the amount of time you are sick to better enjoy your vacation. Cold-EEZE zinc lozenges have been found to decrease the duration of colds by nearly half in studies by Dartmouth Medical Center and the Cleveland Clinic. Also, by shortening your cold, it minimizes the chances of spreading the cold onto your family members.

4. Be prepared
Carry medications with you to minimize the impact of a cold or illness so you can all still enjoy your trip. Useful medications include analgesia like Tylenol or allergy medications for adults and children. Adults may also want to have some decongestants handy just in case.

5. Be healthy
Good hydration, good nutrition and exercise go a long way to giving the body the support it needs to stay strong.

Source: Dr. Yael Halaas, ear, nose and throat doctor. Featured on The Doctors, FOX News and ABC New York.

San Antonio, Texas, Education Workshops #MillerLite #DallasCowboys

  

MILLER LITE, DALLAS COWBOYS AND ¡ADELANTE! TEAM UP TO SUPPORT HISPANIC EDUCATION WORKSHOPS

Former Cowboys Defensive Lineman, Tony Casillas Featured as Speaker on Importance of Achieving a Higher Education

WHAT: ¡Adelante! is hosting a series of sponsored educational workshops that feature two motivational speakers including former Dallas Cowboys Defensive Lineman, Tony Casillas, and MillerCoors 2010 LĂ­der of the Year, Raul Magdaleno. Casillas and Magdaleno will talk with parents about the importance of achieving a higher education.

WHY: Miller Lite’s “Scoring for Education” program runs September 1 through October 31 in Texas (excluding Houston) and Oklahoma. Miller Lite will make a contribution to the ¡Adelante! U.S. Education Leadership Fund in honor of Hispanic Heritage Month based on sales of select cans of Miller Lite during the promotional period.

The Miller Lite sponsored workshops offer:
· Tips to help parents prepare early for college
· Motivational speakers to inspire and educate parents on how to make wise choices for their family’s educational future
· Food and beverages will be served

Find out how you can participate and contribute by visiting, http://www.adelantefund.org/adelante/Adelante_Con_Los_Padres.asp

WHEN: Wednesday, September 5, 2012, 6-8 p.m.

WHERE: Westside Family YMCA, 2900 Ruiz, San Antonio, TX 78228
*Next stops: Dallas, El Paso, McAllen
CONTACT: Brenda Herrera, 312.577.1751, [email protected]

8/27/12

Blogger Opportunity #NASCAR #Racing #MountainDew

Do you love racing?
Do you love NASCAR?
Do you love Mountain Dew?
Do you love Diet Dew?
Do you love Dale Earnhardt Jr?
Got a blog, Facebook, and/or Twitter?

Click HERE and join the Dew Crew!


Content and/or other value provided by our partner, Mountain Dew.

Another Winner

Hooray for Julie Hoag
winner of the Avon Professional Hair Color Kit!

Enter more great giveaways HERE!

Tinkertoy Vehicle Building Set - Review

The name Tinkertoy may drum up some nostalgic memories for you, as it does for me, but these newly redesigned Tinkertoy pieces are substantially different from the ones I used as a child. I remember a box of wooden spools and wooden sticks. The Tinkertoy Vehicle Building Set now includes bendable rods, wheels, a propeller, and even pieces to build a person.
The pieces are all made from plastic and this 78-piece American-made set also comes with a colorful builder's guide with examples for creating a truck, a helicopter, a sailboat, and more. The pieces easily snap together for long-lasting play and even the box is designed with a snap-on lid for storage.
Created for ages 3 years and up, the Tinkertoy Vehicle Building Set encourages creativity, small motor skill development, and inspiring play. My three preschoolers sat down together to explore their new Tinkertoy set. I showed them the builder's guide, but they were more interested in the brightly colored pieces.
The youngest is almost three and although she could assemble some of the pieces, it does seem a bit advanced for her. She had more fun matching up the pieces into sets of similar colors. My four year old is a child with special needs and he was mostly interested in the pieces that assembled into a person.
My three year old found the propeller and immediately wanted to build a helicopter. His design was quite original and he changed it midstream and created a "walking robot that sprays water." He even added a face to his robot. I love his imagination!
As an early childhood teacher, I like the redesigned Tinkertoy set and feel the pieces are safer for children than the sets of my childhood. I think this would be awesome in a kindergarten classroom as a free choice activity and an excellent gift for a little boy's birthday. The only thing I would change about it would be to include more generic pieces, such as the spools and posts, so the creativity can expand even more. It's a perfect add-on set for a basic Tinkertoy builder set! You can purchase the Tinkertoy Vehicle Building Set and other specialty sets at http://www.knex.com/. Be sure to follow them on Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest too!
Disclosure: I received this product at no charge in exchange for my honest review.

8/26/12

A New Winner is Announced

Shelley P. has won the
Fresh, Fast and Fabulous Cookbook!
Congratulations!
Didn't win this time?
Enter more giveaways HERE!