Win a Beautiful Lassig Diaper Bag Set

Diaper bags have certainly changed since my son was born.  I’ll admit being a bit jealous of the cool styles they have now.

I was given a beautiful bag set from Lassig to see it’s quality for myself and I like it very much.

modern-diaper-bag-set

Go ahead and click on the picture for a larger view.

As you can see, there are two bags.  One is a large, roomy messenger bag style with a changing pad hidden away in a zipper compartment on the bottom of the bag.  The handle is long and adjustable to be comfy for you.  The smaller bag can be carried alone of it fits nicely inside the messenger bag.  It has an insulated zipper spot for a bottle and several neat compartments for keeping things organized.

If I had a baby with all of those baby things to tote about, I’d use it in heart beat.  (Honestly, I’m tempted to use it anyways LOL!)

But, it’d be a shame to let it be used for less than it’s intended purpose, so I’ll be giving it away to one of our blessed Mom’s Talk Network readers.

We like to keep giveaways simple around here:

#1 Like us on Facebook.

#2 Comment here to let us know you did :)

We’ll draw one winner at random on Wednesday May 22nd at noon Eastern.

Please note that we can only ship to a winner within the US. 

Filed Under: Pregnancy, Shopping Tagged With:

Top 10 Summer Camps Picks for 2013

Summer camps offer supervision while giving kids many other benefits as well. There are so many camps to choose from it’s hard to tell you about them all, but here are some worth putting in the spotlight.

Top 10 Summer Camps

Long View Ranch

This camp is located in the foothills of East Tennessee. Long View Ranch is for rising 4th-12th graders. The camp offers water shining, canoeing, horses, paintball, and arts and crafts just to name a few.  Their goal is “to build relationships with friends and with the Lord that will last for the “long view of eternity.”

Circle F Dude Ranch

After 61 years of summer camp experience, this Florida camp is for kids’ ages 6-16 and/or family adventures. They keep their guests entertained with over 25 different activities including excursions to major theme parks like SeaWorld  and Magic Kingdom. They submit a natural setting on 500 acres of land with three endangered species and 65 horses. A special note, after six years of being a camper there a camper owns their own horse.

iD Programming Academy

Got a teenager between the ages of 13-18 who loves technology? iD Programming Academy has camps located in various states throughout the US that is perfect for the young inventor because the instructors focus on teaching code, app development, and robotics engineering. Students who plan to go into this field of study gain accredited continuing education units for attending. This would be a solid camp for education and fun for your young adult.

Falcon Camp

This camp for kids ages 6-15 is located in Northeast Ohio. This adventure has something for various types of kids. It offers archery, riflery, drama, sailing, woods lore and more. They keep the ratio of campers to adults 1:4. The atmosphere of this camp is what makes it stand out against the rest.

Emagination Computer Camps

Emagination is a camp like none other. It offers kids ages 8-17 the chance to spend their summers learning new technology things, but still enjoy loads of summer activities. They have locations in Georgia, Illinois, Massachusetts, and Pennsylvania. Their camp sessions also include weekends.

Camp Hilltop

Camp Hilltop is located in the Catskill region of New York. There are sixty fun activities for the campers to stay entertained. They focus on team building skills primarily. They even offer first time campers a discount for attending their summer camp.

Camp Cody

Camp Cody has been in New Hampshire since 1926. They take care of kids ages 7-15. They offer team and individual sports. They also cover the performing arts, waterfront activities, and special trips.

Relativity School

This summer program in Beverly Hills, CA for teens is all about gaining knowledge on all things media. For a future movie producer, this program would help them see what the life would truly be like. They learn how to create original content, shoot on Hollywood sets, and even learn sports photography with a Sports Illustrated pro.

Aquatic Science Adventure Camp

If you have a kid ages 9-15 who is a science lover, then Aquatic Science Adventure Camp located in Texas is for them. They will get to experiment with many factors of the marine life. The campers will also learn how to scuba and snorkel. The best part may be the glass-bottom boat ride.

Camp Highlander

Camp Highlander is your traditional summer camp based in North Carolina. Their motto is they want campers to leave their camp having “learned life lessons such as courage, honesty, integrity, and faith.” They want their campers to have built lifelong relationships and memories. They even offer family trips.

This is just a few short snippets of information about some of the most interesting summer camps I came across while doing research.

Care to share about your favorite camp memory?

 

Filed Under: Entertainment

Win a Whiter Smile from Mom’s Talk Network

We were offered a free sample of Crest 3D White Whitestrips and the opportunity to give a package away to one of our readers.

Sounds like fun to us!  We said yes and a few days later they were here.

I was pleased to see that we had indeed been given full size packges valued at around $45-60 each.

whitestrips

I started using the strips right away and I was glad to see that they stay put very well.  I was able to drink water during the two hour ‘treatment’ and they didn’t slip.  Indeed, you have to get quite a grip on them to pull them off.

After two days my teeth were a bit achy and sensitive.  It wasn’t outright painful, but I was annoyed by it.

After eight days of use, (missing one day), this is my smile. (I wish I had thought to take a nice close up before beginning. This is the best shot I could find to compare it to.)

white-smile

  • I’m happy with the results. My teeth are whiter than they were before.  I am curious about how long they’ll last and whether I’ll have any long tasting sensitivity issues.
  • Would I use it again?  If I were looking to whiten my smile for an event, I believe I’d use this product again.

Where To Find:

Now, to give away the extra package provided to us!

Note: You must be in the US to win.

Easy Giveaway Entry:

Like Mom’s Talk Network on Facebook and leave a comment below letting us know.  Entering is that simple!

We’ll draw one winner at random on Wednesday, May 15th at Noon Eastern Time.

Update:  Congratulations to Joan DeMartin of Ohio!

Filed Under: Beauty & Style

Summer Reading Ideas To Keep The Learning Alive

keep-summer-learning-alive

There are many reasons why kids and adults alike can’t wait for summer time to arrive. The kids want a break from school!  However, this is prime time to work on shoring up important skills – like reading.

Here are a few fun reading projects to tackle.

The New State Question Game

This game covers many different aspects of education for children. It covers reading, reading comprehension,  and even history. The rules are pretty simple to follow.

  1. When a family travels and crosses into a new state, stop at the first visiting center.  These centers are filled with brochures about the state, give one to each child.
  2. They also have a huge map of the state with those little “you are here” stickers on them so you might want to make a stop there and challenge kids to find certain locations for fun.
  3. Back in the car, have each child study their brochure for a period of time.  When the time is up, parents can collect the brochure or let the kids keep them for reference.  Then it’s time for questions!

It isn’t a test, it’s supposed to be fun.  Throw in questions about the state’s history, capital, birds, and other bits of detail concerning the state.  You might surprised at what your kids picked up on.

If it’s a round trip, when the family is on the way home the parents can ask the same set of questions to see what the children retained from their trip.

You Might Find Something Fun To Explore

If you’re willing to follow your children’s curiosity, these visiting centers point to nook and cranny places that are worth visiting.  These places offer additional educational experiences for all involved. They also offer up the chance to create memories that were unexpected. Not to mention, it makes a great conversation piece for kid’s future essays that they will have to write about their summer vacations.

Turn To Tech On Scalding Hot Days

Summer heatwaves are made more survivable by our tech gadgets.

If you have a smart phone or tablet, there’s a slew of educational apps for all subjects and all age groups on both Apple and Android systems available for free.

If you don’t have a handheld gadget to work with, there are also several programs available to use on the computer.

Fun Online Reading Resources

  • ReadingEggs.com – This program helps kids from ages 3-13 years old. The kids earn eggs as they progress on levels at their own pace. Theses one-on-one lessons are designed based off the child’s particular needs.
  • Headsprout.com  – This is a site designed for K-1 graders.This is an intensive online lesson plan for young kids to follow along with to learn how to read. The first level offers 40 individual lessons for the child to progress through. They guarantee that when your child is done with those lessons that they will be able to read up to a first grade reading level with this program.
  • ABCMouse.com – This is a perfect website for PreK-K students. It is filled with all the resources to teach them standard curriculum. The best part is the child BEGS to be able to do it. A parent can give the child freedom to explore this site, and they will learn something new or have fun refreshing up on skills they have already learned.
  • ReadingHorizons.com – This is a site for people age 4-adult. They offer different bundles filled with resources both online and offline to help a person conquer reading.

Enjoy Your Local Library This Summer

If you’re local library has air conditioning, it will become a favorite hideout for your family.

Many libraries offer a reading program that includes challenges and host educational events throughout the summer months.  Warning: A parent may end up reading to their child quite a bit MORE during these challenges. It’s so worth it though!!

Do you have some favorite ways to encourage more summer reading time?

Filed Under: Parenting Tagged With:

10 Great Podcasts with Mom in Mind

Looking for some new recipes? or for a laugh at the end of the day?  There are so many Podcasts now available for Moms that can really help you relax and unwind.  There is something for everyone!

Why Do Moms Love Podcasts?

As a Mom we are constantly looking for new ways of doing things with our kids or tips to get through an important milestone in their life.  I used to go to books to find out everything that I needed to know, but isn’t it great that we can just turn up the volume and go about our day while getting that information over our computers or phones and most of them are Free.  It is a little more personalized too.  You can find a Podcast on almost any topic that you are looking for in the world of Parenting and even when you need a good laugh or two there are Podcasts just for that too!

Informational Podcasts for Mom

Tsh from the blog, Simple Mom, teaches and shows other moms and parents how to stay organized and live simply through her Simple Mom Podcast.  She talks with other Moms and discusses the best ways to get organized, plan parties and so much more that being a mom entails.

 

The Mom Podcast, started in 2010, hosted by Nancy an award winning author, Shelley a Southern Mom of twins and Stacy a Mom of Nine.  They each definitely have a unique perspective on parenting and they discuss a whole range of parenting topics bringing in experts at times.

 

Hosted by Cheryl, a mother of eight, The Mighty Mommy Podcast is a little different in that the podcast is done in only five minutes, but if you are a mom sometimes that is all you have time for!  However, that five minutes is chock full of information on many different parenting topics, that you will learn so much even in that small amount of time.

The Power of Moms Podcast really empowers you as a Mom, giving you relateable advice and giving you the confidence you need to get through even the more challenging parenting moments.  April hosts this podcast with a variety of different guest hosts.

 

Entertaining and Humorous

Heather and Kate can make any parenting topic entertainment worthy.  Naptime Radio will help you kick back and relax and as a Mom you are going to definitely relate to their informational but entertaining broadcasts.  You feel like your sitting around with your friends drinking coffee and talking about important topics that all of you are going through everyday.

Hosted by Cristen and Caroline and part of the How Stuff Works Network, The Stuff Mom Never Told You Podcast explores topics that we have all wondered about but never thought to ask about with a humorous twist.  Have you ever wondered who started Pinterest? or about hormones and the “friendzone”.  This podcast explores so many interesting topics that moms will definitely enjoy learning about.

Manic Mommies began in 2005 and is hosted by Kristin and Erin, two working Moms.  They have celebrity guest interviews and expert guests, as well, including a pediatrician and a parenting expert.  Even though the podcast focuses on two working Moms it can definitely be appreciated by all Moms, because that discuss topics that most moms will relate to.

Cooking and Crafts

Janice and Liz are Dietitians, Moms, and cookbook authors.  They get how it is to make sure everyone is happy at the dinner table and how there is just not enough time in the day.  Cooking with the Moms shares recipes and simple cooking tips that are sure to get your inner cook to come out and serve up some healthful, wonderful family meals.

Have fun cooking with your kids!  In the Two Kids Cooking Podcast, Sophia, Alex and their Mom share their cooking experiences with you.  This podcast is a little different in that most come with a video too.  Cooking is a great way to spend time with your children and this podcast shares great and healthful recipes that are fun to make with your kids.

Melista is teacher that has a background in Early Childhood Play.  Raising Playful Tots focuses on using play to educate our kids.  In her podcast, Melitsa and her guest hosts, share creative ideas and activities to do with your children and you also get a great background and insight into educating kids.

Parenting Information in the Digital Age

Can you believe how amazing it is that you can just listen to a Podcast and learn everything there is to know about any topic imaginable.  It is unbelievable how much technology has impacted even the parenting realm.  I love that I can listen at any time that I want, even if I am in the thick of changing a diaper and cleaning the kitchen.  Remember you do not need an Apple device to listen to Podcasts.  Most have a website that you can visit to find out a different way to listen.   They are just like a radio show that you can listen to whenever you get the chance!

Filed Under: Parenting
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