Win a $100 Shopbop Gift Gard ~Giveaway~

Happy Fall!!
We have been pretty spoiled around here with the nice weather, but it is going to be changing fast. This week it was sunny and warm, great weather for wearing J Brand Shorts .
But tomorrow, the more fall like weather will be heading our way. It is going to be dropping to like the 50's and I will be wearing Rich & Skinny jeans.

With the fall temperature changes, my daughter and I need to go shopping and supply our closets with some new clothes. I was thinking that she might like the PRPS Japan and a cute little top to go with those boots she wanted. She is alittle picky and I'm sure if I pick it out or like it, then she won't agree. Either way, we will be shopping this weekend. Do you want to go shopping? Are you in need of a new fall and winter wardrobe?

Great news!!! One of my lucky readers will win a $100 Shopbop Gift Card to go shopping. Spend it as you like. There are so many choices. The possibilities are endless.

MANDATORY/REQUIRED ENTRY:
Please visit Shopbop and leave me a comment sharing what items you would like.

EXTRA ENTRIES:
To receive these extra opportunities for entries, you must fulfill the first REQUIRED entry. But in addition you can:


■Follow me via Google Friend Connect (1 extra entry)
■Subscribe via e-mail (1 extra entry)
■Add @Shawnmh to your Twitter -Leave me your twitter ID (1 extra entry)
■Add @Shopbop to your Twitter -Leave me your twitter ID (1 extra entry)
■Tweet this giveaway on Twitter. Be sure to include a link to this contest page (Leave me the link)(1 extra entry/this may be done daily)
■Add my button to your site AND/OR add me to your blog roll.(1 entry for each)
■"Like" me on facebook (2 extra entries)
■Blog about this contest: Add a link to this post (5 extra entries)

This giveaway is open internationally ,for anyone to win. Please leave a separate comment for each entry.(Please make sure if you are anonymous you leave your email address with your comments.)

This giveaway will end on October 10th at 11:59 pm Est. The winner will be notified and have 48 hours to respond to my email or another winner will be chosen.


Disclosure: Shopbop is offering this giveaway to one of lucky readers.

Win a $40 Sam's Club Card to Purchase Yoplait Yogurt ~Giveaway~

Whether you start your day with a yogurt or enjoy it as an afternoon snack, Sam’s Club can help you stock up on your family’s favorite Yoplait yogurts at great, everyday low prices. With their extended yogurt selections, featuring new Yoplait Light with Granola and Yoplait Spongebob Squarepants Go-Gurt , finding the flavors, and prices, you love just became even easier.

The delicious Yoplait Light yogurt that you know and love is now paired with 100% natural granola and real fruit, perfect for a convenient breakfast or snack. I just found this at our local Sam's club and I love the taste.
While my son loves the great taste of the Go-Gurt, the Spongebob packaging makes it a favorite for his school lunches.

With savings made simple at Sam’s Club, fill your refrigerator, and uncover your Yoplait moment by sharing when you like to take time to enjoy your favorite Yoplait flavor.


This one is my daughter's favorite. Sometimes she wants strawberry and sometimes she wants the blueberry, she changes her mind so often that this variety pack is the best to buy for her.

Win it!!!


One of my lucky readers will win a $40 Sam’s Club gift card to use to purchase your favorite Yoplait yogurt treats.

MANDATORY/REQUIRED ENTRY:
Please leave me a comment sharing which of the Yoplait yogurt products available at Sam’s Club you are most excited to try. (If you are not a Sam's Club member, you can find the selection here.)

EXTRA ENTRIES:
To receive these extra opportunities for entries, you must fulfill the first REQUIRED entry. But in addition you can:


■Follow me via Google Friend Connect (1 extra entry)
■Subscribe via e-mail (1 extra entry)
■Add @Shawnmh to your Twitter -Leave me your twitter ID (1 extra entry)
■Add @YoplaitYogurt to your Twitter -Leave me your twitter ID (1 extra entry)
■Add @Sam's Club to your twitter--Leave me your twitter ID (1 extra entry)
■Tweet this giveaway on Twitter. Be sure to include a link to this contest page (Leave me the link)(1 extra entry/this may be done daily)
■Add my button to your site AND/OR add me to your blog roll.(1 entry for each)
■"Like" me on facebook (2 extra entries)
■"Like" Sam's Club on Facebook (2 extra entries)
■"Like" Yoplait on Facebook (2 extra entries)
■Blog about this contest: Add a link to this post (5 extra entries)

This giveaway is open to US residents only. Please leave a separate comment for each entry.(Please make sure if you are anonymous you leave your email address with your comments.)

This giveaway will end on October 8th at 11:59 pm Est. The winner will be notified and have 48 hours to respond to my email or another winner will be chosen.




"Disclosure: The Sam’s Club gift card, information, and giveaway have been provided by Sam’s Club and Yoplait through MyBlogSpark."

Ten Tips for de-cluttering & Organizing kids toys

My son used to have a big problem with leaving his toys everywhere!! We had to put an end to that! Well, he still has to be reminded to pick up even at age 9 but now he is getting better at that.

I'm sharing my ten tips which help us to de-clutter and stay organized.

1.)Utilize Your Space.
Depending on how much room you have, it seems like you never have enough. Make use of your space and try to keep all toys either in your playroom or child's bedroom.

2.)Keep toys picked up after use. Try to make this a fun activity and make it a daily routine. (just like brushing your teeth before bed.) This save you alot of time later too if it's done each day/night.

3.Use Under the Bed Storage Totes. We keep all my sons cars and trucks in a long tote and keep it under his bed. This keeps them all in one place and saves space too.

4.)Buy a bookcase or bookshelf. This takes up less space and keeps all your children's book organized. You can keep all the different book types organized too. This really works great as the kids age. We keep all our book organized by reading level. This especially works great if you have different aged children.

5.) Separate toys by Category. This keeps it easier to find toys if they are grouped together. ( Example: we keep cars in one tote, legos in another and pokemon cards in a binder.)

6.)Use Shelves. We keep all our board games on shelves in the closet. This helps to keep the closet more organized and easy to find.

7.)Use Ziploc Bags to keep all your puzzle pieces and card games in. This helps you not lose pieces. Label them if needed.

8.)Keep Board games in the original boxes. Then everytime they are played. Make sure that all pieces are there. This way the game rules are there too. (This is a good idea if you plan to pass these games on to other siblings or sell in a garage sale.)

9.) Use Pop Up Toy/laundry hamper. Keep all your children's "Dress Up" clothes in one and keep all your teddy bears clothes in another to keep everything organized.

10.) De-clutter/ Donate. When it's time to buy new toys. Donate those toys that have not been played with to a younger family member or donate them to a homeless shelter or Salvation Army. I like to do this right before the holidays. This way your child feels good about giving his toys away and it makes room for the new ones.
Also, about twice a year I go through the toys and as your child ages, you can pass on the ones they get to old to play with.

I hope you find these tips helpful. AS your child gets older, you will notice you have way to many toys. I always noticed that the younger ones liked to play with those large cardboard boxes, so don't get carried away and buy too many toys. You will only have to find more room to store them.




Disclosure: I wrote this blog post while participating in the SocialMoms and Hot Wheels® blogging program, for a gift card worth $40. For more information on how you can participate, click here.

Mitochondrial Disease Awareness Week Sept 18-24

This is my niece Kennedy. She just turned 10 years old about a week ago. She has Mitochondrial Disease and has many health issues from having this but she is a happy girl. You can find out more about Kennedy on my sister's blog. Also you can read more about other children with this disease too.

Mitochondrial Disease is? So many of us have never even heard of Mitochondrial Disease. I hadn't until a few years ago when we found out that my neice has this. This is an uncureable disease that is affecting our children by becoming severly ill and causing so many heartaches. This is a disease that we need to spread awareness on Right Now. We need to find a cure Soon for this disease - To help save the lives of our babies and children.

This is information provided from United Mitochodrial Disease Foundation

About Mitochondrial Disease:

Mitochondrial diseases result from failures of the mitochondria, specialized compartments present in every cell of the body except red blood cells. Mitochondria are responsible for creating more than 90% of the energy needed by the body to sustain life and support growth. When they fail, less and less energy is generated within the cell. Cell injury and even cell death follow. If this process is repeated throughout the body, whole systems begin to fail, and the life of the person in whom this is happening is severely compromised. The disease primarily affects children, but adult onset is becoming more and more common.

Diseases of the mitochondria appear to cause the most damage to cells of the brain, heart, liver, skeletal muscles, kidney and the endocrine and respiratory systems.

Depending on which cells are affected, symptoms may include loss of motor control, muscle weakness and pain, gastro-intestinal disorders and swallowing difficulties, poor growth, cardiac disease, liver disease, diabetes, respiratory complications, seizures, visual/hearing problems, lactic acidosis, developmental delays and susceptibility to infection.

WHY IS RESEARCH SO CRITICAL?

There are no known treatments or cures for mitochondrial disease.

Mitochondria may play a far greater role in human health than scientists and doctors have realized. Any health concern that is an energy problem could be related to the mitochondria.

Further research into the mitochondrion and primary mitochondrial diseases (those due to genetic defect) would benefit millions of people. It would offer hope to the thousands suffering from this debilitating and often fatal disease and provide a broad range of new therapeutic approaches for attempting to treat these other very common and incapacitating illnesses and conditions.

MITOCHONDRIAL DEFECTS ARE A CENTRAL FACTOR IN HUMAN HEALTH AND DISEASE.

Mitochondrial dysfunction is at the core of a surprising range of very common illnesses and conditions, and represents a promising new avenue for their treatment. As the mitochondria are responsible for producing energy, any illness that has an energy problem could be related to the mitochondria. Diseases in which mitochondrial dysfunction have been implicated include:

• Alzheimer’s Dementia, Parkinson’s disease, Huntington disease, Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS), mental retardation, deafness and blindness, diabetes, obesity, cardiovascular disease and stroke. Over 50 million people in the US suffer from these chronic degenerative disorders. While it cannot yet be said that mitochondrial defects cause these problems, it is clear that mitochondria are involved because their function is measurably disturbed.

• Even autoimmune diseases such as multiple sclerosis, Sjogrens syndrome, lupus and rheumatoid arthritis appear to have a mitochondrial basis to illness.

• Mitochondrial dysfunction has been associated with a wide range of solid tumors, proposed to be central to the aging process, and found to be a common factor in the toxicity of a variety of physical and chemical agents.

Now that you have read this information...You know why we need to help in this awareness campaign!! Please keep Kennedy in your prayers!

Gabby, God's Little Angel

Betty Crocker Fun da-middles Prize Pack Giveaway

Put a smile on your child’s face with a great tasting cupcake! Betty Crocker® Fun da-middles™ are the first boxed-cupcake mix of its kind that will leave you pleasantly surprised with their sweet center! Delight your family and watch the smiles unfold as you greet them with the delicious, fresh-from-the-oven taste of new Betty Crocker Fun da-middles cupcakes.



Available in three delicious flavors, Vanilla Cake with Creamy Chocolate Filling, Chocolate Cake with Creamy Vanilla Filling, and Vanilla Cake with Creamy Vanilla Filling, Fun da-middles cupcakes are a fun and portable treat that children can take everywhere they go!
With Fun da-middles, you’ll never need to frost cupcakes again. Because after all, it’s what’s on the inside that matters.

They are super easy to make!! They have combined the cake mix and filling pouch in one box. You just make your cake batter like normal,(following the box instructions, adding eggs and water)then fill the cupcakes up part way, add the filling, then add the remaining batter and bake. Fun da-middles cupcakes have a special creamy filling that bakes inside the cupcake. No need for frosting!

Watch this great how-to video on making Betty Crocker Fun da-middles.



I made these Betty Crocker Fun da-middles (Vanilla cupcakes with the vanilla filling) for my kids as a special treat for their first day back to school. They loved them!!
They are not just for kids, because my husband loved them just as much. I love how easy they are to make! They taste and look so good, my family thought that I spent alot of time making these. I can't wait to try the chocolate ones. These can be a great treat for any and every occasion.

Want to try them? Here's a printable coupon for $0.85 off new Betty Crocker Fun da-middles.

Or Win it!!!



One of my lucky readers will win this prize pack! Includes One sample of new Betty Crocker Fun da-middles cupcake mix, One cupcake pan, One oven mitt, One package of cupcake liners and One box of cupcake gift notes

MANDATORY/REQUIRED ENTRY:
Please leave a comment sharing an upcoming event or gathering at which you would most like to debut the new Betty Crocker Fun da-middles cupcakes

EXTRA ENTRIES:
To receive these extra opportunities for entries, you must fulfill the first REQUIRED entry. But in addition you can:

■Subscribe via e-mail (1 extra entry)
■Follow me via Google friend Connect (1 extra entry)
■Follow me via NetworkedBlog (1 extra entry)
■Add @Shawnmh to your Twitter -Leave me your twitter ID (1 extra entries)
■Add @BettyCrocker to your Twitter -Leave me your twitter ID (1 extra entry)
■ Tweet this giveaway on Twitter. Be sure to include a link to this contest page (Leave me the link)(1 extra entry/this may be done daily)
■Add my button to your site AND/OR add me to your blog roll.(1 entry for each)
■"Like" Betty Crocker on facebook (2 extra entries)
■"Like" me on facebook (2 extra entries)
■Blog about this contest: Add a link to this post (5 extra entries)

This giveaway is open to US residents only. Please leave a separate comment for each entry.(Please make sure if you are anonymous you leave your email address with your comments.)
This giveaway will end on September 28th at 11:59 pm Est. The winners will be notified and have 48 hours to respond to my email or another winner will be chosen.



*Disclosure: The Betty Crocker Fun da-middles product, information, and giveaway has been provided by Betty Crocker through MyBlogSpark. This is my honest thoughts and opinion.*

Heelys Review

I had heard of Heelys before but I didn't know... that they are Awesome!!

Heelys are the original shoes with wheels in the heels that allow you to transition from a walk to a roll by shifting your weight to your heels. This Two-in-one shoe lets you take life at your own pace. With the wheels out, the stylish designs perform and look just like any other shoe. When you easily put the wheels in, you roll at a different speed. They are the Ultimate Transformer! In just three easy steps you can interchange from "walking shoes" to "skate shoes" and change back as often as you like.

Look how stylish these are...

I received Wave Style 7673 Black Heelys to review. I picked these out of the huge selection, because I thought these were more neutral and could be worn by myself or my son. Well, I'm glad that I tried them first.(Since, he claimed them!)It's funny that my 9 yr old son and I can wear the same size shoes. These are made of quality materials and great workmanship. They are comfortable to wear as regular shoes and fun with the wheels in. It took me a few times to get the hang of the skating part but with practice it became much easier for me. I think that for adults these shoes would provide great exercise. For kids, they won't even realize the exercise part because of all the fun they provide.
These are the same ones as I received, just in white instead. You can get heelys in many different colors and styles and you can get them in youth and adult sizes. Check out the Heelys collection here


This is my son wearing his heelys. He absolutely just loves these! He is allowed to wear these shoes to school but not with the wheels in. (For some crazy reason, our school does not allow it.) But, when he gets home from school, he puts the wheels in and the fun begins.

My nephew had been watching Connor have so much fun wheeling around with his heelys on that he even tried them. He loves them and wants a pair too! The first time, he got a bruise from running into our Foosball table, but after about 10 minutes he really got the hang of it. I recommend that parents and children read the Heelys playbook with all the rules and safety advice that should be followed before they wear their heelys the first time. You can visit Skating 101 where you can watch a video, or learn how to become an avid skater.

*Disclosure: I received a pair of heelys for the purpose of this review, Thanks to Heelys and Business2Bloggers. This is my son's and my honest thoughts and opinions*