Mom Knows Everything

Congratulations to Jocelyn from Hip Mama's Place and Hip Mama Blog who is the winner of the All Children's Furniture toy contest. Congratulations Jocelyn.

Don't forget to enter my other contests!

Aidan showing his daddy the proper way to reel a fish in.

With school starting back up in a months it's time to start thinking about buying school supplies. Purchasing school supplies can be very expensive depending upon what grade your child is in. In the lower grades there isn't a lot you have to purchase, but when you kids get in the higher grades the list can be very long. One way to help cut down on the costs of school supplies is by checking the flyers. I know going from store to store is not only time consuming, but with the price of gas sometimes you really aren't saving much money. I have a way around this. Me and my sister get together with our kids lists and the flyers. We decide what stores we need to go to for the best deals and we tag team. One goes to one store and picks up what they need and what the other needs while the other person does the same. This way we both end up saving money and time on school supply shopping.

Stop by next week for more thrifty hints on how to save money!

I love water lilies! They are so pretty and I find that it's so interesting that something so beautiful can grow in just water.

Ice cream is one of the best things about summer! My kids love eating ice cream on a hot summer day. Ice cream is not necessarily the best thing a 30 something women who has given birth to two children should be eating. I've eaten so much ice cream this summer that I've come to a conclusion, ice cream is bad. Well, it's bad for my weight anyway. I'm going to have to give it up or I'm going to have to start crushing diet pills on as toppings for the ice cream. So that's it, no more ice cream for me.....well, maybe just a little bit of ice cream.

Don't forget to enter one or all of the fabulous contests I am holding.

All Children's Furniture toy contest where the winner gets to chose between one of three wonderful toys featured below. Contest closes midnight AST July 29th with the winner to be announced the following day.



aden + anais infant muslin sleeping bag contest. Contest closes midnight AST July 31st with the winner to be announced the following day.

Worst-Case Scenario Survival Handbook: Parenting contest. Contest closes midnight AST August 7th with the winner to be announced the following day.


Be sure to enter and good luck!

My eldest sister emailed me some of her daughter, my niece's prom pictures. Isn't my niece beautiful! I remember her being a chubby little girl who loved cats so much all her clothes had to have a picture of a kitty cat on it. Man they grow up so fast! One moment they are playing with dolls and the next moment they are picking out a prom dress that matches their dates tux and tuxedo shirt. I have a few more years before I have to go through this with Aurora, but it really makes a person think about just how fast their kids grow up.

This week's theme/prompt is - TAILS - "In Five Years"

This is TAILS so your post needs to be about you specifically. Tell how you think you or your life will be different in five years. Will it be better or worse? Why will it change? Anything is ok as long as it fits the theme. =)

In five years I will be.....What you really expected me to tell you my age??? Okay how about I tell you my kids ages in five years. My daughter Aurora will be 20 and my son Aidan will be 9. Okay, maybe that's kinda giving my age away, but I guess age is just a number right? In five years time I no longer will have a teenager living with me. I imagine Aurora will be out on her own. Aidan will be finishing elementary school. Me and hubby, well hopefully we will be better off financially because the large bills will be paid off by then. I certainly hope to still be blogging and keeping in touch with all my wonderful blogging friends.

What do you think you will be doing in five years time?

This is how I start my mornings. How do you start yours?

Camera Critters is a weekend meme, about what else but critters, created my very own BBFF, Misty.

Kuzco, one of the llamas at our local zoo loves to pose for the camera. He is kinda a handsome fella isn't he?

It's raining. It's been raining all day and it's supposed to rain all weekend. That means that I have five very bored kids here all weekend. I was hoping that it was going to be nice so the kids could go in the pool and I could relax by the pool on the outdoor pillows and read, but it doesn't look like that is going to happen. I guess I'm going to have to break out the board games and lego to keep the kids entertained this rainy weekend.

Through My Eyes Fridays is a weekly meme created by one of my dearest blogging buddies TinaL.

This is what you see when you look through my eyes...


Aidan in need of a haircut. Don't get me wrong, I LOVE HIS CURLS, but they are so messy that I'm getting tired of losing the battle against the poof. I actually took a poll on Facebook with my friends and the majority of them said to either leave it long or just a little trim. What do you think?

This weeks thrifty hint of the week is hand me downs. Raising kids is expensive and the way kids grow out of their clothes is unreal! A great way to save a little money is by having a clothing swap with friends or relatives that have children. In my extended family we have lots of kids around the same age and we often hand clothes down to each other. My teen aged daughter gets clothes from her older cousin and then she gives her clothes she doesn't want or wear anymore to another cousin who is younger then her. My son gets clothes from an older cousin and when he out grows then we give them to his younger cousin. It's a great way to save money on clothes and most kids out grow their clothes before they wear them out so the clothes are still in great condition.

Stop by next week for more thrifty hints on how to save money!

Aidan loves cuddling on the couch watching cartoons with his daddy. But, this is what happens everytime they do, they both fall asleep.

As a parent a know the value of good quality toys at a good price. All Children’s Furniture is an online store that does just that. All Children's furniture sells everything from toddler beds to toys. Their website is easy to use with products categorized by product type, brand, and price. Not only do they have an amazing selection of products, but they also have amazing prices and often many of these products are on sale. Currently they are having a great limited time promotion where all orders over $69 have free shipping.

The wonderful people at All Children’s Furniture think you will love their products so much that they have given us a selection of three toys for a winner to choose one from that way you can pick what toy you think you child will like the best.

The first prize to choose from is Hot Wheels T-Rex Rampage Playset.

-Chomp up an entire city or save it from dino destruction.



The second prize to choose from is High School Musical 3: Senior Year Tree House Moment with Gabriella and Troy Doll Gift Set.

-High School Musical 3: Senior Year Tree House Moment Troy and Gabriella Doll gift set play out the scene with Troy and Gabriella dolls as they sing their signature duet "Right Here, Right Now".

-Both are dressed in perfect detail from the movie in this gift set to treasure.

-For ages 6 and over.

-Includes both Troy and Gabriella dolls.




The third prize to choose from is Little Tikes Bumble Bee Buggy Ride-On.


-Ride-on.

-Adorable bumble bee styling and unique personality.

-Four casters for easy maneuvering.

-Product size: 30.5" W x 16" D x 23.5" H.











There will be one winner who gets to choose one of the great toys featured above. To enter this contest do one or all of the following for extra entries.

-Leave a comment on this post telling which toy you would like to win.

-Twitter about this contest for an extra entry.

-Subscribe to my feed for an extra entry.

-If you don't have a blog/website just leave your name and email address in the comment section along with your toy selection.

-Blog about this contest using this text you can copy/paste into your post.

Mom Knows Everything.com is having a great toy giveaway sponsored by All Children’s Furniture who carries everything from toddler beds to toys. Stop by before midnight AST July 29th to enter to win!

-Contest is open to Canada and US residents only. Contest closes midnight AST July 29th with the winner to be announced the following day. Prize will be shipped to you directly from All Children’s Furniture.

*Be sure to let me know in the comment section if you Tweet, subscribe or post about this contest for the extra entries.

This week's theme/prompt is HEADS - Wear *OR* TAILS - Where

Use any form of either word to make a post using either theme/prompt. You can even do both!

Have you ever noticed that kids like to wear certain articles of clothing all the time? That I can handle, but how my 4 year old son wears his undies is just plain weird. You know how on kids undies there is often a picture on the butt of them. Well, my son has to wear them backwards so that when he puts them on he can see the picture. Is it just my kid or does your kids wear their undies backwards too?

I made some banana muffins on Saturday and they are almost all gone already. The kids loved them so I thought I would share the recipe with you.

4 Large ripe bananas (mashed)
3/4 Cup white sugar
1 Slightly beaten egg
1/3 Cup melted margarine
1 Teaspoon baking soda
1 Teaspoon baking powder
1/2 Teaspoon salt
1 1/2 Cups flour

Mix the mashed bananas, sugar, egg and melted margarine together. In a separate bowl mix the dry ingredients together. Gently mix the wet and dry ingredients together. Pour into muffin tins and bake at 350 degrees for about 20 minutes.

This is just one of the many recipes for banana bread and muffins I have, but it is one of the best and easiest ones. I recently transferred all my recipes to online backup. It's so much easier finding a certain recipe now instead of searching all my cook books for a particular one.

Did you ever hear that old saying 'Be careful of what you wish for because you just might get it'? Well that is exactly what happens in Coraline. Coraline, played by Dakota Fanning, is a an eleven year old girl who just moved to a new apartment with her parents. Coraline feels like her parents never have enough time for her and wishes she had different parents. While exploring her new home Coraline finds a small door that leads to another world, or more exactly another set of parents. These parents at first seem perfect to her, but things are always what they seem at first.

Coraline is a stop motion animated movie, available in 2-D and 3-D, from the amazingly talented Tim Burton of 'The Nightmare Before Christmas' fame. It is based on Neil Gaiman's children's book and is screen-written and directed by Henry Selick. Coraline stars the voice talents of Dakota Fanning (War of the Worlds), Teri Hatcher (Desperate Housewives), John Hodgman (The Daily Show), Ian McShane (Deadwood) and Keith David (Crash).

The kids really enjoyed this movie as well as I did. The 3-D effects were absolutely amazing! At one point I really thought there were dragonflies in my living room. Not only did the kids enjoy watching this movie, they watched it over and over and over again.

One of the things that I thought was amazing about the movie was the gardens. Universal Studios has setup this amazing website called www.coraline3dgarden.com that you can have a lot of fun with. You need to print a picture off of the website, hold it up to your web cam, click through with your mouse on the sign and flowers, then blow into your microphone and be amazed at what happens. Note, you do need to have ActiveX plug-in installed on your computer as well as a web cam and microphone.

Here is the Coraline official movie trailer.



Here's a video about voicing the characters with Teri Hatcher.




Here are some scenes from the movie.

Coraline is available on July 21st. It comes in Blu-ray™ Hi-Def combo pack, 2-Disc Collector’s Edition DVD and single disc DVD. All of these feature a 2-D and 3-D version with 3-D glasses included. There is lots of added bonus features on the Blu-ray™ Hi-Def combo pack, 2-Disc Collector’s Edition DVD which include a digital copy of the movie. You can purchase this movie retail stores and at online stores such as Amazon.

Camera Critters is a weekend meme, about what else but critters, created my very own BBFF, Misty.


I took this picture last week when we went to the zoo. Isn't this the most adorable little guy! He reminded me of the Christmas movie about the little donkey. Actually we were supposed to go to the drive-in that night, but because hubby couldn't get the night off from work we decided to make a special day for the kids instead. We took them to the zoo, went for lunch, and then did some shopping at the mall. Of course Aidan got a toy and Aurora picked out a necklace/earring set as well as some new acne treatment cream because her face has been breaking out a lot lately. All in all it was a pretty great day.

The Worst-Case Scenario Survival Handbook: Parenting is one of a series of the Worst-Case Scenario Survival Handbooks by Josula Piven, David Borgenicht, and Sarah Jordon. Not only does this book have some amazing helpful hints for parenting, it is also very funny.

The Worst-Case Scenario Survival Handbook: Parenting deals with everything from infants to grown children. This includes "How to Deal with a Screaming Baby on an Airplane", " How to Deal with a Smart Aleck", "How to Soundproof Your Teenager's Room", "How to Survive Empty-Nest Syndrome", and many more situations parents face.

The Worst-Case Scenario Survival Handbook: Parenting is the perfect book for any parent and would also make a wonderful gift for any expectant parent. You can find more information about The Worst-Case Scenario Survival Handbooks and lots of helpful hints at www.chroniclebooks.com/worstcasescenario.

If you would like to win The Worst-Case Scenario Survival Handbook: Parenting

• Leave a comment on this post.
  
• Twitter about this contest for an extra entry.
• Post about this contest for an extra entry.
• Subscribe to my feed for an extra entry.
• If you don't have a blog/website just leave your name and email address in the comment section.
• Contest open to Canada and US residents only.
• Contest closes midnight AST August 7th with the winner to be announced the following day.

*Be sure to let me know in the comment section if you Tweet, subscribe or post about this contest for the extra entries.

Through My Eyes Fridays is a weekly meme created by one of my dearest blogging buddies TinaL.

This is what you see when you look through my eyes...

Aidan posing! Aidan loves to have his picture taken and decided that he needed to have his picture taken with this plastic owl.

This weeks thrifty hint of the week is all about saving money while grocery shopping. We all know how expensive it is to buy groceries, but there is a few things you can do to cut down on your grocery bill.

The first thing is check out various grocery store flyer's. Just because you shop at one grocery store all the time doesn't mean you have to.

Check out the competitor stores flyer's and see what they have on sale this week. Another thing is you don't have to buy all your groceries at one store. If one store has some of the things you need on sale purchase them there and buy the rest at another store that has the rest on sale.

Clip coupons! You can save lots of money simply by using coupons while purchasing your groceries.

Another thing you can do to help save money in the long run is when something is on sale that you normally use buy a few of it. If toilet paper is one sale for a great deal then buy a couple of them, you know you'll use it. If meat is on sale then buy extra and put the extra in the freezer until you need it. As a general rule as long as it was frozen fresh and is vacuum sealed meat can last up to a year in a freezer. If it is on sale, has a long shelf life and you know you will use it before the expiry date then pick a couple up. It will save you money in the long run.

One more thing you can do is buying your produce at a produce stand or local farmers market. during harvest time you not only can get great prices on produce, but you also know it's fresh.

Stop by next week for more thrifty hints on how to save money!

Keeping our babies safe is the most important thing to parents. aden + anais can help us do that. aden + anais is a company created by Australian mothers in the U.S. who were looking for muslin wraps for their babies. Muslin wraps are a staple of Australian mothers who know the benefits of using them on their babies. Muslin is a lightweight breathable fabric that allows your babies body to not become overheated. It becomes softer with every wash. Most importantly, it also reduce the risk of SIDS.

aden + anais has a wide selection of products including infant sleeping bags, swaddling blankets, hooded towels and washcloths. You can view their products by clicking here. You can purchase the products online or check the website www.adenandanais.com for a store near you.

I think aden + anais products are so wonderful and a necessity to all parents with babies and thanks to the wonderful people aden + anais I am giving away a muslin bag size small, up to 6 months old, pictured above.

If you would like to win this wonderful product for you or for a friend simply

• Leave a comment on this post.
  
• Twitter about this contest for an extra entry.
• Post about this contest for an extra entry.
• Subscribe to my feed for an extra entry.
• If you don't have a blog/website just leave your name and email address in the comment section.
• Contest open to Canada and US residents only.
• Contest closes midnight AST July 31st with the winner to be announced the following day.

*Be sure to let me know in the comment section if you Tweet, subscribe or post about this contest for the extra entries.

My niece and my son love playing their Nintendo DS gaming systems. Here they are playing Diego Dinosaur Rescue which is a cute educational game about dinosaurs.