Fall Allergys from Children's Claritin #MomCrew

In our family, almost everyone suffers from allergies - some are year round and others are seasonal. I am lucky enough to be part of the Children's Claritin Mom Crew and was sent a back to school survival kit and some tips to share with you!

Some of these tips are extremely practical and others are common sense but I know that sometimes reminders don't hurt.
Here are the tips brought to you by Children's Claritin:

1. Be sure to have Children’s Claritin, the #1 pediatrician-recommended non-drowsy allergy brand, on hand!

2. Multi-vitamins are building blocks to having a strong immune system. Make taking a multi-vitamin part of your child’s daily routine.

3. Let there be light! Mold doesn't like sunlight, so try to keep your curtains open during the day. Should be easy during the summer months!

4. Did you know that most pillows trap allergens, dust mites, and bacteria? Monitor the cleanliness of the pillow your child with allergies sleeps on and replace if necessary.

5. Back to school season means lots of laundry for many moms. Be sure to remove laundry from the washing machine promptly. Allowing wet clothes to sit in the washer means mold can quickly grow there.

6. Monitor pollen counts and adjust outdoor before and after school activities accordingly. Dry, windy days can be particularly high in pollen.

7. Showering or bathing at the end of the day as opposed to the morning can be helpful in removing allergens from body surfaces and hair.

8. Stay hydrated! Always send your child to school with a bottle of water. Drinking lots of clear fluids through the day can help get rid of toxins and flush out body.
9. Peak pollen production typically occurs in early morning, so try to plan outside activities at other times of the day.
Enjoy your school year, and be blessed with good health and under-control allergies :)
Disclosure: "As a member of the Children’s Claritin Mom Crew, I receive product samples and promotional items to share and use as I see fit. No monetary compensation has taken place and any opinions expressed by me are honest and reflect my actual experience."

Back To School

Is it really time to be getting ready for another school year? It sure is!
This year I will have a kindergartner and a first grader, and only one girl at home with me. To be honest, the girls are more excited about the start of this school year than I am. I am going to miss spending the whole day with the kids and going swimming and being able to just do whatever. I am, however, looking forward to the routine and structure (a little bit) that comes with the school year.

Emily, our oldest child, is going to a new school this year for first grade. The elementary schools here are different that anywhere that I have ever seen - there is one school that is entirely kindergarten, another school for 1st and 2nd grades, and a third school for the 3rd and 4th grade. Strange I thought at first, but it is neat that the libraries at each school are tailored to the specific reading levels of the students there, as well as the playgrounds. Since this is only our second year in this community and in these schools we don't know any of the teachers at Emily's new school, but are looking forward to getting to know them!

Natalie, our middle child, is going into kindergarten this year and she is SO excited about it. She went to preschool last year, but that was only half day four days a week - so she has a little bit of a surprise in store for her. Our kindergarten here is full day, which I was originally not a fan of but am now that our oldest daughter went last year and I saw first-hand the benefits. The biggest thing that Natalie is looking forward to is being able to do the monkey bars everyday at recess!
This year is going to be a bit different for us though, as I am also starting back to school this semester. I am having to put my youngest in childcare a couple days a week for a few hours each day. I struggle with this a little bit, because I have never had any of my kids in a care setting where I did not know the person who would be caring for them while I was gone. So it is definitely a little nerve wracking. I have faith that it will all work out fine, and confident that my daughter will benefit from the play time with other children her age.

I think that we are finally done school shopping - clothes and supplies! It was definitely a lot more this year with two in school, I am dreading the days when the girls are all teenagers and want to pick out all their own clothes and shoes...lol!

I hope that your back to school transition, if you have one this year, goes smoothly for you! What is the one thing that you find easiest or hardest about back to school for your family?

Why Worry?

What good comes from worrying?
None that I can find. I am reminded of this most times when things are going wrong. We tend not to worry about much when life is the way we think it should be.
The Bible is clear in its message to us that worrying is a waste of time. We are told

Don't worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done. Philippians 4:6 (NLT)

And we asre asked,

Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life? Matthew 6:27 (NIV)

Today, and everyday, I want to draw closer to God in every way. Pray about everything for everything we think, say, and do is know by God!

Have a blessed day!!

Spring Time

There is something about Spring that takes my breath away. Many things actually!
New life growing up through hard, dry dirt never ceases to astonish me. I am always in awe when I see little tulips breaking through the earth and then blooming! I love it! It reminds me of life, how through the hard times (winter to the flowers) we are strengthened for another season. Praise God!
The sounds once again of the birds chirping is one more benefit of Spring. They are beautiful and my girls love watching them. Funny thing, they sing a lot louder when the bird feeder is empty! They fit in well around our house, ha ha.

This year Spring has brought new joy to our family, my children have discovered a love for....digging for worms! That one took me by surprise. I have a feeling this new hobby was inspired by the book Diary Of A Worm.
We have began our garden with some bleeding hearts that we got from the folks' garden! It was an experience, I  have never transplanted flowers before and I was sure that I had killed them - not even close, they are flourishing here. This is exciting, as it was one of Emily's favorite flowers from her Grandma Nette's yard. We were also give some rhubarb and chives to transplant, and are hopeful that they will do as well.
It has been so warm here that I am tempted to plant the tomatoes and peppers that we have growing indoors outside, but I am sure that as soon as we do it will freeze. Everyone who has lived in this part of Montana for long says that we should wait until after Memorial Day, so that is likely what we will do...
The girls favorite part of Spring so far has been, by far, watching caterpillars grow and enter their cocoons and soon after turn into butterflies! This was so exciting that we had to take Olivia to both girls schools to see the stages. Life is so precious!
These are some of my favorite parts of Spring, what are yours?

ProgressOH! #giveaway

The OH! moment, where you look and feel your best is the new Aha! moment. When was the last time that you had that OH! moment?
Progresso wants to help us have a progressOH! moment :) As I am sure all of you know, progresso makes some delicious soups. But wait - there are LIGHT soups (that have all the flavor!) and are only 100 calories per serving and only 2 points in the Weight Watchers program.

For those of you who like a little competition to win big, Progresso, MyBlogSpark, and I wanted you to know about this:
Oh! wait...there's even more! Since we all know how important it is to look and feel your best (and get the Oh! reaction from yourself and others), Progresso is giving you the chance to win the ultimate ProgressOh! Make-Oh-ver experience in Hollywood*! Three lucky grand prize winners will get to take the ultimate trip full of ProgresOh! experiences - from a head-to-toe makeover to sightseeing in LA!

Here's what you could win:

• Round-trip airfare for you and a guest to Los Angeles, California
• 4 day/ 3 night hotel accommodations
• A head-to-toe makeover, including hair, makeup and a blue dress to get you ready for your own ProgressOh! moment in Hollywood
• Two tickets to this season's live finale of The Biggest Loser
• $2,000 spending money

Here's how to enter:

• Visit Facebook.com/Progresso
• Complete an official entry form
• Share a photo
• Tell us why you love Progresso soup
• Tell us why you deserve a ProgressOh! makeover

Don't forget to tag your content #ProgressOh!

Three grand prize winners will each get the ultimate ProgressOh! Make-Oh-ver from Progresso®! #ProgressOh!

I was sent a fun ProgressOH! pack, and have one to giveaway as well!

 

If you would like to be entered to win a ProgressOH! prize pack, leave a comment telling me what your favorite Progresso soup is. For additional entries tell us about an OH! moment you have had or a tip on how you look and feel your best. Additional entries by following my blog through Google Friend Connect, following me on twitter and liking my blog page on FB. Please leave a seperate comment for each additional entry!

Thank you and good luck. Open to US residents only and will close at midnight on 3-17-13.

 

Disclosure: I was sent a ProgressOH! pack to review in exchange for this post.

 

Swagbucks 5th Birthday - #swagcode

Have you RSVP'd for Swagbucks' 5th Birthday Blowout? It's easy to do, and when you RSVP you're automatically entering yourself to win one of five $1000 CASH prizes. The whole birthday celebration will be a big one - they're giving out 135 Swag Bucks worth of codes, and they're giving away four more $1000 cash prizes on the 25th when they celebrate. You can find the RSVP link on the Swagbucks homepage - just look for the birthday image and click on it to be taken to the RSVP page.

We all search the internet, why not search using an engine that rewards you in cash or giftcards - you choose your reward! Swagbucks is that search engine - it has been around for almost 5 years now, if you haven't signed up yet click here to get started!
If you're not a member of Swagbucks yet, join me and use the code 5THBIRTHDAY during registration - you'll start with 120 Swag Bucks! I've used Swagbucks since 2011 and I've already earned enough Swag Bucks for over $100 in Amazon.com giftcards - with just the searches I was doing before!

Fun, Free Valentine's Printables

It seems like it was just Christmas, like New Year's was yesterday, but it is already February!
Time for Valentine's Day - and all things heart-sy, flowery, pink and red! At least that is how it is with a bunch of girls!!
Here are some fun printable Valentine's Day activities!

This Itsy Bitsy Book came from KidZone you can find some other wonderful stuff there for your child(ren!)

 

Here is a dot-to-dot that I found at Print Activities 

 

 

 

 

To print these, you can click on the picture and it will open in a new window, or you can right-click and download to your own computer to print.

Hope that your kiddoss enjoy them!

 

Take Your Family To The Movies Free!

What was the last movie that your family went to see in theaters? For us it was Madagascar 3! The girls love to go to the theater, but with a family of 5 it is more of a special occasion than a regular way to watch a movie.
General Mills, with select Big G cereals, has a great promotion going on to make it a little easier to have a family night out! If you buy any two specially marked boxes of cereal, you can enter the codes to redeem for a free movie ticket. The free movie promotion is valid from 11/08/2012 through 12/06/2013.
Some of the participating cereals are Cheerios, Cinnamon Toast Crunch, Lucky Charms, Trix, Cocoa Puffs, Golden Grahams, and Reese's Peanut Butter Puffs. I don't know about you, but my family eats a lot of cereal, so I am really liking this!!

Here is how it works ~ you buy the specially marked cereals and enter the codes on this web page and for every two codes you enter, print your Movie Cash certificate good for 1 ticket, up to $12! To find a participating theater in your area, click here.

~*~ How would you like to get a jump start on those movie tickets? General Mills and MyBlogSpark are offering a prize pack to one of you that includes 1 box of a participating cereal and 2 free movie tickets! So you will be half way to your third free movie ticket - sounds like a family night coming soon ;)
If you would like to win this prize package, please enter via the raffelcopter below. Please leave your facebook/twitter names for verification purposes in the comments. Good luck! Open to residents of the USA who are 18 years or older.




a Rafflecopter giveaway Disclosure: I was provided the same gift pack that is being offered as a giveaway from General Mills via MyBlogSpark. All opinions are mine.

Happy Thanksgiving

I hope that you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving, full of fun, family, faith, and friends! We all have a lot to be thankful for!

I saw a beautiful picture of a vegetable tray turkey floating around the web this year, and decided to try it! Not too bad for the first time!!

Know What's In The Air

We have some serious allergies in our family - my husband and oldest daughter are the worst! There is one tool that I love to help me stay ahead of our allergies, the Claritin Allergy Forecast & Report. It tells what is in the air and levels, this is a great tool to use especially when you are traveling and are not sure of what's in the air there.
Hope that this information comes in handy, I have it bookmarked!

I am a member of the Children's Claritin Mom Crew, and am happy to share this tool with you!

Wordless Wednesday -- Finally, we are getting closer!! #WW #linky

Gas prices have been crazy! They are finally starting to go down, thankfully! Here is what I paid this morning

Ok, that is not the regular price of gas, it is with pump-perks :) But I was still happy! Our gas is about $3.49 per gallon for regular. What is yours and what would you like to see it be?

All 3 Bubble Guppies Plush Available!!

Cheap, ships free in two days with Amazon Prime membership!!
All three Bubble Guppies are available right now, but probably not for long -- so don't wait!

Go now, get someone a great surprise!!

Bubble Guppies Gifts For Less!!

Bubble Guppies is one of the hot kids shows on Nickelodeon, and if you have anyone on your shopping list this year who is anywhere from 2 to 6 here are some great gift ideas. These are great prices on Amazon and are selling out fast! Some of them sell out and are restocked, if you order them now you can still get the great price and they will ship as soon as they are in -- the date is available on the product description at Amazon! If you have Amazon Prime, these ship with FREE 2 day shipping!!
   

Halloween Parties at School = Great Lesson for My Daughter

We do not celebrate halloween. My family does not feel like it is an appropriate holiday for us to celebrate as Christians. That doesn't mean that we think other people should not celebrate it. This is our first year with children in school. We have one child in preschool and another in kindergarten - and one more who is Mama's helper all day!
The preschool did a survey, of sorts, upon enrollment and one of the questions asked was if the child celebrates holidays. We put on there that we do not celebrate halloween, or santa at Christmas. The teacher was very kind, letting me know that she didn't know yet what their plans are for halloween but that at Christmas time they do have a visit from Santa. Again, just because it is not what we believe doesn't mean that other people should have the same feelings or beliefs - and that is what I told the teacher.
Kindergarten, apparently, has quite the halloween celebration, complete with a parade of {kids in} costumes. Emily, who is 5, has a great understanding of why we don't celebrate halloween, but was a little sad when she found out that her whole school will be celebrating it. She wanted to just stay home from school that day.
After a few talks, we decided that it is not always easy to stand for what you believe - that sometimes you might be the only one. Then we talked a little about Jesus, and how it was not always easy for Him, and how people actually hated Him for what He taught and stood for. It was one of those ah-ha moments in my daughter's life where she realized that being a Christian will sometimes set us apart from the world. I am glad that she learned this now over a pretty simple matter than later over something much bigger. I am proud of her.
What about you, how do you feel about halloween in general, and about halloween parties at school?

Presidential Election

I am just now finishing watching last night's Presidential debate.
Wow! These two men obviously do not care too much for each other, and they do have some fundamental differences. I have seen and read many posts on blogs, facebook, twitter, etc about each of the two presidential candidates and with references to the debates. I think that in this particular election there are very clear differences as far as policies, morals, priorities, taxes, everything. It's going to be an interesting election!
I am glad that the elections are almost here, because I am pretty tired of the political ads on television, on the radio, in the mail. Speaking of the election -- I hope that all who are able to vote, register and VOTE! It is our responsibility to have our voice heard.
Here is a little video that I came across on facebook one day, it's short and worth the few minutes it takes to watch it!

Wordless Wednesday ~ Fun At The Splash Park

One of my favorite things about our family moving to Billings, MT is that there is so much more for the kids and for our family to do! This is one thing that we never had the opportunity to do living in Carson City/Dayton, NV.... SPLASH PARK

Link up your Wordless Wednesday post here so I can come check it out :)

Have a Blessed Day!!

Madagascar Movie Party!!

I like to move it, move it!

I swear I hear that for days after we watch Madagascar or Madagascar 2!

As a member of the Children's Claritin Mom Crew, I was sent a Madagascar movie party pack! We received DVDs of Madagascar 1 and 2 as well as Children's Claritin syrup and chewable and samples of both Children's Claritin and Claritin, and of course some cute little popcorn containers and Madagascar stickers for the kids.
Madagascar is a fun series of movies, following Alex the Lion, Marty the Zebra, Gloria the Hippo, and Melman the Giraffe from the New York Zoo to the wild and now they are trying to find their way home to the zoo. These movies are fun and full of family-friendly humor, which I appreciate!
I know that we are all excited to see Madagascar 3, which is released into movie theaters June 8! The cast of animal characters join up with a  circus in their new attempt to get home to New York! There is all kinds of fun Madagascar 3 circus-themed activities on the Claritin Facebook page, here so that your kids have some collaring and stuff to do before they get to go see Madagascar 3 in theaters!! You can also check out all things Madagascar 3 and have some fun with the characters here!!

Another thing to check out before heading out to the theater for some hilarious Madagascar 3 circus fun, is the local allergy forecast on the Claritin web site.

Thank you to Mom Select for having me as part of the Children's Claritin Mom Crew!!

Cepia LLC's generousity is AMAZING!! Random Acts of Zhu 2011 #RAZ2011

How many kids do you know who LOVE Zhu Zhu pets? Tons, I am sure! There is a little bit of everything in the Zhu Zhu hamsters line up - original Zhu Zhu pets, Zhu Zhu babies, Kung Zhu Zhu Zhu pets, Zhu Zhu princesses, Zhu Zhu puppies, and Zhu Zhu pets Safari! Plenty of choices for boys and girls alike.

Cepia LLC, the "parent company" of the Zhu Zhu's, has for the last couple years created an amazingly generous program where they donate TONS of toys to charitable organizations through bloggers. I was blessed in being asked if I would like to participate in Random Acts of Zhu 2011! #RAZ2011

One day the FedEx truck pulled up in front of my house and the driver asked where we wanted them, he had over 40 boxes (!) of Zhu Zhu babies, outfits, accessories, and playlands. Each box had somewhere from 2 to 6 products inside of them!

We were able to donate the Zhu Zhu babies that we had received to Lyon County Community Coalition, for the annual Toys for Tots drive. The program director was very excited because, as Zhu Zhu is such a hot toy item, they had received many requests for Zhu Zhu items!
Thank you Cepia LLC and Mom Select  for allowing my family to participate in such an amazing program! We were blessed by #RAZ2011 and have developed even more brand loyalty toward the Zhu Zhu line up because of their desire for every child to be able to have an amazing Christmas!!

We Made It!! And a quick update on everything...

It has been a while! Things are good, though. We made it to Billings, MT and are getting all settled in and cozy! We are in a pretty good neighborhood and are close to everything!!
The drive up here was surprisingly dry, the only snow that we ran into was a little bit around Idaho Falls, praise the Lord! The weather has, until very recently, been pleasantly warm. As you can see, we now have a little bit of snow and our temperatures have dipped below zero. Eeek.
The girls are loving it, they are excited to be able to wear and play in their snow suits and boots!

We are still "shopping" for a church but have found an AWANAs group for the girls, they love it! We are hoping to find the right church for us soon so that we can start being more involved in things, so your prayers on that are appreciated.
Of course we miss Nevada and our family there, but it is fun to be here and have the opportunity to be around family that we only got to see occasionally before. And to have snow that is heavy and wet enough to finally make a snowman!!

Sometimes a Gentle Reminder Of What Could Have Been Is a Good Thing...

It is amazing how time changes things, very few things remain unchanged with time.
I was reminded last night how much EVERYTHING for me has changed in the last 8-ish years. I got a message from an old friend, a friend who has been through a lot with me. In the message she said that she is glad she found me still alive and actually doing good. That statement kind of took my breath away.
Had God not changed my life, I probably would not be alive today. If I were to still be alive in the life I was living, I can guarantee you that there are very few people who would consider me to be doing good.
I needed that reminder. The reminder of how awesome God it. How He can change anything, if we let Him. How much He blesses me with - I have an amazing husband and three daughters and actually have relationships with my family members.
Something that my pastor said in church this Sunday was that whatever we are going through now, God is using to prepare us for what will come next. I think that I appreciate my life now and the people in it more because of my past. I am not sure if that makes much sense, but it is true.
Looking at my life right now, things don't seem so bad. My little gripes about things, seem less important...

Have you had any gentle reminders, that seem to come at just the right time, to help put things in perspective?
Have a Blessed Day!!