Family * Travel * Food

$100 Amazon GC or PayPal Giveaway

Hi everyone! I hope back-to-school is going well for your family. Although we home-school, we still had to adjust to the school routine. I am so excited to announce that we are doing another great giveaway along with 9 fabulous bloggers. The prize is your choice of $100 Amazon GC or PayPal Cash. Who wouldn't want to win that? 
Leave us a comment and tell us what you would do with prize if you are our lucky winner. Enter below and good luck! 
This giveaway starts August, 29 at 12:00 AM EST and ends September 12, at 12:00 AM EST. USA, 18+. One winner will be randomly selected from all qualifying entries and contacted via the email they provide. The winner has 48 hours to respond or new winner will be chosen. The winner will be announced on the Rafflecopter after they have responded.
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Make your own LEGO Minifigure Family

This is a Sponsored post written by me on behalf of LEGO for SocialSpark. All opinions are 100% mine.

Are any of your kids a fan of LEGO building sets? My daughters loved them when they were younger and my son is really getting into them lately. He has a LEGO kit in mind and is hoping Santa will leave it under the tree for Christmas. LEGO has the neatest site called LEGO Minifigure Family. You can make your very own LEGO family! The site is so easy to use and not only were we able to create each family member, we also got to include our pet. We could never leave out our little Milo! It is neat that you can choose skin tones, facial features and of course, outfits for each family member.
Little William was mesmerized watching me build our family out of virtual LEGOS. He was tickled to pick out his very own outfit. I think he makes a mighty handsome Santa! I loved the background choices.  I fell in love with the very classic family room during Christmas background. I had such fun making this that I am using in for my Facebook cover photo. I know you want to go make your very own LEGO Minifigure Family. Wishing you all a very Happy Holiday season! 
Visit Sponsor's Site
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Have a #SweetHalloween with Crest and Oral-B

This post was created in partnership with Crest & Oral-B as part of the #SweetHalloween Program.
It's that time of year again... Halloween! Many families have already been to parties, carnivals and trick-or-treat events. Of course the candy is overflowing and kids (parents, too) are indulging. We went to a trick-or trunk event at my daughter's school and we came home with tons of candy. Can you imagine Halloween without candy? Check out this super quick and cute video of how these kids react to the Halloween "treats" they are given. 



I know I would never deprive my children of candy at Halloween, within reason. With all of the sugary confections that they partake in, Crest Pro-Health has a great line of oral care products to keep our teeth clean and healthy. Check out the goodies I received from Crest and Oral-B.

You can click here for some great money saving coupons towards Crest products.


I wish you all a very safe and #SweetHalloween :) 
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A fun Halloween surprise for little Spider-man

We headed out yesterday to the annual Trick-or-Trunk event at Brie's high school for some Halloween fun. We didn't let William know that we were going until about a half hour before. He was so excited! He has been really into Superheros and chose to be Spider-man this year. We think he made a great choice!
 Check out those big muscles!
 Oh and that face!
The surprise element of his Halloween fun is that he was going to see a big Spider-man. Little did he know, big sister Brie was behind that Spidey mask. Brie was there already because she was helping out at one of the cars for the HOPE organization. They collect non-perishable food to donate to the community each year. She walked up to him when we got there and called out his name. William squealed when he saw Spider-man. He stood still when Spider-man knew his name and kept talking to him. After a while he said, "Brie Brie?!?" It was the cutest thing. She pulled up her mask and revealed herself. William was so excited! 
Brie wanted to take William for a stroll. Those two were so cute. William had a blast getting goodies and playing on the inflatables. This is always such a fun and safe way to participate in Halloween.
 William got quite an outstanding haul of candy!

I hope you all have a fun and safe Halloween :)
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Introducing Blister the Velociraptor from VTech’s Switch & Go Dinos® (Review & Giveaway)

**CLOSED**
Winner is Mary Somerville- congratulations! 

I was provided with a sample to review by VTech. All opinions are my own as always. 

My son loves dinosaurs. He has so many books, toys and even apparel with dinosaurs on them. Another thing he likes a lot is any type of air craft. Anytime he hears something flying in the sky, he runs to the window to investigate. When we received Blister the Velociraptor from VTech’s Switch & Go Dinos®, he was so excited! His first reaction was, "Wow! Look at the cool helicopter!". When he looked at the box and realized you can switch it into a dinosaur, he was pumped. We couldn't get it out of the packaging fast enough!
Blister the velociraptor is unlike any other of his dino toys. This one makes sounds, speaks, lights up and can be a dinosaur one minute, and a helicopter the next. The helicopter sounds are so realistic and even the dino roars are a bit scary! William loves it and loves to push it around since it will make continuous sound with motion. 
He likes to go up and down the dark hallway floor at night to light the path for Blister to go on a hunt for 'food'. He can play with Blister for close to an hour at a time and really enjoys all of the fun features. Check out this short video to see how it works:

   
The ultimate kid’s toy, Switch & Go Dinos® easily transform between a dinosaur and a vehicle in a few simple steps.Each of the collectible Switch & Go Dinos® feature high-quality electronics and a unique transformation feature to provide a 2-in-1 imaginative play experience. In dinosaur mode, sound effect buttons emit realistic dinosaur sounds and phrases that teach facts about each dino, providing kids with fun and enriching playtime.

Additional Dinos in the Switch & Go line include Jagger the T-Rex™, SkySlicer the Allosaurus™, MC Roar the Giganotosaurus™, Stompsalot the Amargasaurus™, Quiver the Stygimoloch™, Torr the Therizinosaurus™ and Akuna the Velociraptor™ - collect them all!
Be sure to connect to VTech on Facebook

Do you have a dino loving kid at home? How would you like to win one of these fun Switch & Go Dinos® for your child? Go enter: 
a Rafflecopter giveaway

Giveaway is open to US Residents only and ends on September 19, 2013. One winner will be selected at random and contacted via email to claim prize. Be sure to follow contest rules stated in Rafflecopter widget. Mom Files is not responsible for any lost or stolen prizes. Good luck!
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8 Tips for Halloween shopping online

By Scott Fitterman of CouponCactus.com

1. Maximize value with online coupons: When purchasing Halloween costumes, decorations, and candy online always search for coupon codes to save money. Make sure to review your final checkout screen before you make your purchase. Be sure to confirm the items in your checkout are correct and that your promotional codes have been applied.

2. Stay Current. Make sure your results are the most up-to-date discounts and codes online. Take note of any expiration dates for discounts and use discount websites to help you locate the newest deals for a particular merchant.

3. Take advantage of Cash back: Some websites earn commissions from sales made through the site and can share their commissions with you in the form of cash back. It’s just like a cash back credit card. You can earn cash back from thousands of online merchants. If you’re not shopping through a cash back site, you’re throwing money away.

4. Exercise caution when combining coupons with cash back: You can use online coupons and combine the savings with cash back features for extra value, but exercise caution. Some coupon codes disqualify the order for cash back benefits, so read the cash back site’s coupon details very carefully.

5. Make sure you’re really getting a deal on all your Halloween essentials: Most of the time stores offer actual discounts, but as with all things you should do your due diligence and check online to determine how good the price really is.

6. Compare Sites. If you know the exact Halloween Costume you want to buy for October, it pays to shop around at different online retailers to compare prices. Some sites help consumers by providing a list of all online stores in a particular category.

7. Pay attention to shipping costs.  Some retailers make up their low prices by adding costs to the shipping. Be sure you're getting the lowest possible overall price, by double checking your shipping.

8. Exclusivity Pays. Research before you buy to find coupon or cash back websites that offer consumers exclusive online deals for Halloween. If you don’t search before your buy, you may miss it.

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Limited Edition "Head of the Class" Birchbox for Teens

Birchbox is thrilled to announce their latest limited edition box, Head of the Class - their first-ever limited edition box curated specially for Birchboxers-in-training (and for the young at heart!). Just in time for back to school shopping, this box contains all of the necessary essentials to prep for school with style. Teens and parents can snag this box here for just $28 (an $80 value).
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We got a moss ball!

Did  you see this post last week? If so, then this post will make sense to you. I got a moss ball for the fish tank. It is so nice to see the pretty glass pebbles instead of that icky algae. If the moss balls weren't $8 each, I would have gotten about 3. We will see how it goes. So far all of the fish haven't bothered it and it looks cool. It reminds me of a felt ball. Let's hope it helps to keep the algae out of the tank :) 
Do you have any experience with moss balls?
Shelly, Mom Files
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Most husbands have a beer fridge. Look what mine has...

Our family took a trip to Charlotte a couple weekends ago to celebrate William's 5th birthday. Our first stop was the Bass Pro Shop. Actually, we went there 3 times that day! It is Dwayne and William's favorite store. I think they could spend hours in there if you let them. They both enjoy father and son fishing time so me and the girls went our way and the boys stayed at Bass Pro Shop.
When we met back up, I see a styrofoam cooler in Dwayne's arms. I just gave him "the look" and he goes straight into "the pitch". He tells me that the fishing season was getting ready to start and how it would be a good idea to grow his own worms. **Insert stinky face here** Well what is a wife to do... you have to let men do man things from time to time. I listened to his very convincing pitch along with dozens of reasons why his idea was so brilliant. I let him purchase his funky little worm growing foolishness. I won't say that there wasn't any eye rolling involved. 

He ended up not being able to use the styrofoam cooler kit because it was too big for our mini-fridge so he use some of my old food storage containers instead. He poked tiny holes in the tops of the containers.  He purchased some sort of packing material that you add distilled water to that has the food the worms need inside the mix. All that was left was to add your own worms.  
It is all very disgusting to me but I am still amazed at how quickly they have multiplied! I won't talk about Dwayne's debacles with some escapees.
I have told him that as long as I don't have to do anything with his worm growing experiment, he can have at it. Of course the business man in him wants to start selling them. I can't deal with this dude sometimes! I suppose there are worse hobbies he could be into.
And yeah, he is that serious that he has dedicated "worm water". I just can't....

SO, what crazy little hobby does your spouse have?
Shelly, Mom Files
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Wordless Wednesday | Halloween 2012

William dressed up as a scary dinosaur this year...a Carnotaurus, to be exact! That's what he says he was so we just went with it. We were so lucky to find this great quality costume at T.J. Maxx for only $21! We looked in the Halloween Express store and was not impressed by the cheap quality and marked up prices. If you haven't found a costume yet for you little one, I highly recommend T.J. Maxx!

Such enthusiasm, eh?
Shelly, Mom Files
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Making Laundry FUN!

September 23-29 is National Keep Kids Creative Week. Gain recognizes the importance of National Keep Kids Creative Week and believes that there are ways to make laundry more fun. I am so thrilled to be teaming up with Gain to show you a very simple way to make a sometimes boring chore for a kid, a fun adventure! If you ask my son William what his favorite things are he will quickly tell you, DINOSAURS! He carries around everything from dinosaur flash cards, books, toys and loves his dino apps on the Kindle Fire. It has gotten to the point where he can tell you the names of at least a dozen dinosaurs and fill you in on how big they are and what they like to eat.

I figured that dinosaurs would be a great subject to incorporate into helping out around the house and allowing his creativity to shine. We decided to make a "Dino Adventure" laundry basket. You should have seen the excitement on William's face when we were gathering our craft items for the basket project. I came up with the basic idea but had William do all of the coloring, gluing and helping to hold things to assemble.


We started with some dinosaur template cut-outs that we found online. William chose all of the colors he wanted his dinosaurs to be and enjoyed making dino sounds as he colored. He really got into it! His big sister helped him to cut the dinosaur and dino egg shapes out and glue down them down on construction paper to make them sturdier. We attached simple assorted plastic greenery to our laundry basket to give that jungle feel. Once all the dinosaurs and eggs were completed, we punched holes in them and attached them with bag ties onto the basket in between the greenery. To personalize the laundry basket even more, we made a nameplate so William can be proud to have his very own hamper in his room.

 
He just loves the fact that this is his very own basket that he helped create. I think it turned out really cute and it was such fun crafting this masterpiece together. He is already asking about what our next project will be!

He is so proud of his special basket.

I have never seen William so eager to help with laundry before. He very happily loaded all of the dirty clothes in the washing machine.

Of course you must have some good old-fashioned shenanigans to make the chore of laundry even more fun! I am sure William is going to show a lot more effort in keeping up with his dirty clothes. Hopefully I will find more of it in the hamper instead of on the floor!

Won't you join Gain in this great initiative? Have your kids decorate a basket and tag Gain on Facebook. It is such fun! Check out the Gain Facebook page for more details on National Keep Kids Creative Week. You can also follow Gain on Twitter. What creative things will you do with your kids or what suggestions can you share that can bring out your child's creativity

I am being compensated by Gain to share the importance of National Keep Kids Creative Week and Gain believes that there are ways to make laundry more fun. All thoughts/opinions are 100% my own.
Shelly, Mom Files
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Play Time Fun with Playmobil

Playmobil toys are a classic option for indefatigable kids with growing imaginations. With components themed around certain settings like pirate ships or veterinary clinics, each set is charming and vibrantly coloured with parts individually wrapped in plastic for assembly later on. We have picked two of the best ideas for Christmas and birthday presents alike.

The Playmobil Robber Amphibious Vehicle

Aimed at the four to eight year old age group, the Playmobil Robber Amphibious Vehicle is perfect for the child who soaks up pop culture like a sponge and wants to experiment with cops and robber role-play. Parents of younger kids should know that pieces are small enough to be swallowed by children under three, so it pays to be vigilant. The set comes with play money, a case, robbers, police and a getaway amphibious vehicle that's perfect for those last minute dashes away from the fuzz.

Other toys integrate well with Playmobil, and can form an extensive obstacle course all over the lounge room floor. This is a type of toy that really encourages imagination, creative and lateral thinking and fine motor skills.

 Playmobil Vet Clinic

Perfect for the budding animal lover, this vet clinic comes with an ultrasound machine, bird aviary, bunny pen and dog pen. There are also a vet surgeon, a mother and child and lots of animals waiting to be looked after. Easy to construct, the set looks great whether placed on a shelf in the child's room or sprawled out on the floor.

Generally, the great thing about Playmobil is that each set overlaps and interact well with other ones. These ever-expanding world of new characters such as the gorilla and baby set, the farmhouse with market and the forest animal station, are all conceived to increase the imaginative powers of the child. Playmobil is a vibrant and colourful universe of fun in its own right.

Shelly, Mom Files
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Wordless Wednesday

Half-price Tuesday's are back at Monkey Joe's! We are taking advantage of it :)

Shelly, Mom Files
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Mommy Mixology to the rescue! {Giveaway}

Moms, how often do you feel like you want to throw in the towel and run away from home? Sound familiar to you?  I think moms can get really overwhelmed with the duties of the day... from piles of laundry to walking through a sea of toys that you have should have been picked up hours ago. Of course, it's just not realistic to run away so we have to find alternative ways to relax. I received a fun book called Mommy Mixolgy by Janet Frongillo, that is designed just for moms to help you get through those crazy moments in motherhood. The thing that stuck out to me most is the blocks on the front cover of the book that reads "BAR" and also the part that says "A Cocktail for Every Calamity".

This book takes you through the stages of conception all the way to kindergarten. There are some cocktails called "Sleeptastic Sangria", "Cosmopotty" and "STFU Slushie". I couldn't help but chuckle and think, "Yeah, I sure could have used one of these when we were going through that stage!" There are so many great drink recipes for every occasion, even sickness and dealing with the PTA. There's a lot of great full-color photos of the fun cocktails decorated to suit the occasion. You have to check it out!
The book is filled with humorous content that is so easy to relate to. I think this would make the perfect baby shower gift. I guarantee that the mother-to-be would love it! It's a great conversation piece and I really believe any mom with kids of any age would appreciate it. You can purchase a copy of Mommy Mixology at Amazon for $14.95 or $9.99 for the Kindle edition.

How would you like to win a copy for yourself? (One winner) Enter below in the Raffecopter widget.
a Rafflecopter giveaway
This giveaway is open to US Residents only and will end on Sept 10, 2012. Please follow giveaway rules. Momfiles is not responsible for any lost or stolen prizes. Winner will be chosen at random and contacted by email.

I received a copy of the book for review. All opinions are 100% mine.

Shelly, Mom Files
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Our Great Wolf Lodge Experience










We had the great pleasure of experiencing Great Wolf Lodge (Concord, NC) to end our summer off with a splash! Unfortunately, the weather was not the best but it did not stop our adventure. Lucky for us, Great Wolf Lodge has an amazing indoor water park that is kept at a comfortable 84 degrees. Before I go into that, I will start by telling you our first impression when we drove up to the resort.

The entire family fell in love with the beautiful grounds and the enormity of the resort. The gorgeous wolf statues were huge! We were promptly greeted by a gentleman at the front entrance and directed to our parking spot. Then we entered through the front doors and immediately started oohing and ahhing. It was so beautiful inside, almost overwhelming at that! Our experience at the check-in desk was fast and the clerk was extremely professional and helpful. We felt as if we were the only guests on the property with the type of customer service we received. Truly first class!

Once we got our wristbands and room information, we headed up to our Family Suite. What a lovely suite it was! I can't begin to tell you all how clean and pretty the room was. There were so many wonderful details including the signature wolf towel on one of the beds, rustic decor, an in-suite safe, microwave/fridge/iron & ironing board, balcony with table and chairs and one of my favorites... the signature paw print embossed toilet paper. You can absolutely tell how much the resort management and staff care about their guests by how immaculate the property is inside and out. We had an abundance of towels, blankets and extra pillows. The beds were so comfortable and we slept soundly. We were amazed at how quiet it was in our suite since the resort was super busy and packed with so many families. Another great plus is how environmentally friendly the whole facility is by having recycling bins in each suite as well as all over the resort. Even the hair dryer in the room had green standards!

The hubby loved the balcony and enjoyed catching up on some reading and of course, sipping on his Dunkin Donuts coffee. The resort had so many food options to satisfy every family member. Believe me, we tried almost every spot! We had everything from pizza, ice cream, doughnuts, salads and so much more. I think our favorite place was the sweets and bake shop. Hey, we were on vacation!

Although this is not my photograph, I wanted to show you what the indoor water park was like. Truly amazing and everyone had a blast! There was something for every age. The water slides were incredible and the outdoor pool area was very nice and lots of fun! It was almost impossible to get the kids out of the water. Something I noticed was that EVERY lifeguard on duty was very focused and constantly looking around to make sure all the guests were safe. That truly made us feel at ease, especially with a 4 year old that can't swim yet.
The other big highlight of our visit was the Northern Lights Arcade. We ALL had so much fun and I can't remember the last time I laughed that much, non-stop! There were so many other activities but we did not have the time to do everything. We are planning to visit again when it is during the off-season.



Little William loved the story-time at night at the big Clocktower. He was completely mesmerized. He still continues to howl "Great Wolf style", as he likes to put it.
It was hard to get really clear photos with all the crowds and chaos going on but overall, we had the most wonderful experience at Great Wolf Lodge. I truly could go on for hours telling you even more but you need to go check it out for yourself. You and your family would NOT be disappointed! This was the most fun family getaway we have ever been on and we can't wait to do it again!

We want to give a big thank you to the entire Great Wolf Lodge staff for making us feel so welcome and comfortable. There was never a moment that we did not hear "We hope you enjoy your stay". That we did!

Stay connected with Great Wolf Lodge via the web, Facebook and Twitter for discounts and deals. 

I received a discounted rate from Great Wolf Lodge and all thoughts/opinions are 100% my own.
Shelly, Mom Files
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