Father's Day gift idea- Books! {giveaway}

**Contest Closed**
Winner- #39 Joanna~ Congratulations!

It's hard to believe that Father's Day is just around the corner. It is not always easy picking out just the right gift for the important dads in our lives. My husband is a simple man and he is a big lover of books. Not just any books~ Business related books. He has a collection of business books he has acquired and gained a lot of knowledge from over the years. I really think it is the key to what has made him an expert salesperson and speaker. I received the 3 books pictured below. My husband was thrilled and has already cracked open Mind Gym. I know he will enjoy taking some important lessons from all 3 books. Why not give dad the Gift of Eloquence, Entrepreneurship, and Savvy Investment Strategies this Father's Day?!



Banker to the World / William Rhodes: A highly respected global banker who has been a major player in every global financial meltdown for the past 50 years, shares his 8 leadership lessons, demonstrated by compelling stories from the front lines.

What Works on Wall Street / James O'Shaughnessy: One of the bestselling investment books of all time—completely rewritten to provide the newest, most innovative strategies for the market as a whole, as well individual sectors. The fourth edition – completely revised and updated to reflect new statistics and information – will be released this fall 2011! More to come.

Mind Gym / Gary Mack and David Casstevens: Drawing on his work with some of the top teams in professional sports, noted sport psychology consultant Gary Mack shares with you the same techniques and exercises he uses to help elite athletes build mental "muscle." These 40 accessible lessons and inspirational anecdotes will help you gain the "head edge" over the competition.

How would you like to win all 3 books? Just leave a comment letting us know which title looks the most interesting. If you would like additional entries you can also:

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~ leave an individual comment per entry method.

Giveaway ends June 10, 2011 at 9:00 PM EST. Please leave your email address if you do not have a Blogger profile. Open to US Residents only. Winner will be chosen via random and will be contacted via email. Good luck!

A Father's Love | Book Review & Giveaway (closed)

Contest Closed
Winner is #4 Kristin~ Congratulations!

I had the pleasure of reviewing the book called "A Father's Love" written by David Goldman. A lot of you might have followed the story of David Goldman going on a 5+ year crusade to bring his son home from Brazil. This book started out as a love story from a movie and then into a nightmare. Thankfully there was a happy ending for Mr. Goldman and his son Sean.

I am not a reader at all but I read the entire book in 3 days. It really captured my heart and opened my eyes to so much to things that I did not know about child abduction overseas. Mr. Goldman wrote this book in great detail and with such grace and dignity. The way he handled himself when dealing with the authorities was amazing. As much as his world was shattered he somehow managed to keep it together. I am not so sure I would have been able to handle things like he did if anyone took my child away from me. In this case it was his own wife.

"A Father's Love" was the perfect title for this book because that is what you felt from each page you turned. If you are interested in purchasing this book you can find it here. It is available in hardcover, audio CD/audiobook or Kindle Edition. I really enjoyed reading it and I think you will too. Be sure to have a tissue box next to you just in case! I admit I did shed tears, I was really moved.

I am pleased to be able to host a giveaway for one Momfiles reader to win a copy of A Father's Love. I think this would make a great Father's Day gift!

To enter: Please leave a comment letting us know if you followed the David Goldman story.

For additional entries you can Tweet, mention on Facebook, add the Momfiles button to your blog or follow me on Twitter and/or Facebook. Just leave a separate comment for each entry method to count.

Contest is open to US Residents and will end at 9:00 PM EST on May 24, 2011. Please leave a visible email address if you do not have a Blogger Profile. Winner will be chosen via random.org and will be contacted by email. Good luck!

Disclosure: I received a copy of the book for review purposes and all opinions are 100% mine as always.

William's new book | Rocket Town

We received the cutest new book for William called Rocket Town by Bob Logan. I took the book out of the package and handed it to him and he immediately said "rocket ship!" Look at that big grin! Lately William has shown a big interest in rockets so I knew this book would be right up his alley.

Rocket Town is a very cute board book that shows the adventures of an astronaut and his dog as they travel through where else~ Rocket Town! They encounter all kinds of rockets: a shark rocket, hot air balloon rocket and even a school bus rocket~ this totally fits in with a little one's imagination. There is a countdown at the end that is a big hit with William and he wants you to go back to it over and over again. It's a simple book great illustration.

William really loves pointing out all of his favorite rockets. I think this book is ideal for a little boy and makes a great gift for any occasion. I still prefer board books at this age since boys tend to be a little destructive!
You can purchase a copy of Rocket Town here.

A little about the Author and illustrator: Bob Logan has worked as a story artist on feature animations such as Madagascar and Open Season, as well as Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs and is currently working on the upcoming Puss in Boots! Logan’s picture book, The Sea of Bath, charmed readers with fun and sweet illustrations, and Rocket Town will delight parents and children alike with colorful and imaginative rockets.

I received a book to review and no other compensation was received. All opinions are 100% mine as always!

William + School = HAPPY!

William's favorite thing to do these days besides fishing is going to "school". He loves when it is time to practice his alphabet sounds and words on the computer. You would not believe the squeals and excitement that comes out of this kid over lesson time. I hope this love for learning is here to stay.
**Please pardon his tongue chewing!

Adopted Ed Review

I received the sweetest book called Adopted Ed by Darren Maddern (illustrated by Erin Fusco) to review. Although I am not adopted nor my children I do know many people who were or have children that were adopted. I really love how simple this book is for younger children to understand. The illustrations are very fun and lively and really help tell the story. It is a heartwarming and encouraging story about overcoming bullies and being proud of who you are.

I really think this is an excellent resource for parents, grandparents, family members and elementary school teachers to read since adoption is so common. The end of the book shows some famous people you might not have known were also adopted.

Darren Maddern is just one of the many millions of adopted people throughout the world today. You can learn more about him here. Please check out Adopted Ed on Facebook and Twitter.

I received a copy of the book from One2One Network for review purposes only.

My boy loves Dora and friends

It is amazing how much little William LOVES Dora the Explorer. He is always requesting to watch Dora and Boots. He is lucky that we can watch it On Demand through our digital cable. It's neat when you hear your toddler counting in Spanish from 1-10 and saying words like mountain, crocodile lake, rain forest or even "We did it!"

I think Dora the Explorer is one of the best preschool programs on television and I was thrilled to receive a complimentary copy of the new Dora the Explorer magazine! I love the fact that all of Dora's friends are featured, giving it a more gender neutral feel. The issue is filled with fun activities like coloring pages, matching games, puzzles, stickers and more. William sat down quietly and went through each page thoroughly and I was taken back by how much he knew. I admit, I did remove the stickers and hide them because I don't want to see what he might try to "decorate" with them :)

He was really into this particular page. He loves telling me what all the objects are. He is enjoying his magazine! I think that if he was a year older he would be able to do more of the activities in it. It's a great magazine and I would totally recommend it to any Dora fan.

Flashback Friday

This was taken when the little guy was about 14 months old. Look at those cheeks! Of course Milo (Wi-wo) is never far behind. I hope everyone has a great weekend!

Wordless Wednesday

Three generations....

Can you tell William loves to read?

ABC Genius!

Each and every day our little William is absorbing so much information and is broadening his speech. He has gotten to the point that he can tell you what any letter of the alphabet is without it being in alphabetical order. He loves doing his daily lessons and cheers and claps for himself when he knows he has done a good job. I wish I had a proper video to post but if you have a toddler then you understand how hard it is to get them to sit still for more than 5 seconds. William is thriving and is showing signs of maturity by listening a little better and trying to make better choices. The evil mom "look" is finally working on him. I have to say that he has been really well behaved in the past month and is a lot easier to look after. I know they go through phases so I will enjoy it while I can! Perhaps we are slowly moving out of the terrible two's stage? I guess time will tell.

The one thing that can keep my 2 year old still

My boy generally is non-stop as any toddler boy might be. There is one show that he loves so much and it will actually keep him sitting in one spot for the duration of it. Thankfully it's about reading (his favorite activity) called Super Why! What a neat little show and it is full of great lessons in reading and grammar usage. I am so glad my boy loves it! Have you or your little one ever watched this show before?

Father & Son night time ritual

Just about every night Papo has quiet reading time with William. It usually starts out this way.

Before long it ends up like this.

Nickelodeon launches Dora the Explorer's 10th Anniversary

I just wanted to pass along some information to all the Dora fans and parents of younger children. Nickelodeon has launched Dora The Explorer's landmark tenth anniversary with 'Beyond the Backpack' pro-social campaign to champion school readiness. You can read the full press release here.


BURBANK, CA - MARCH 02: Actress Salma Hayek attends Nickelodeon's launch of Dora The Explorer's 10th anniversary with the 'Beyond The Backpack' Campaign held at the Nickelodeon Animation Studio on March 2, 2010 in Burbank, California. (Photo by J Vespa/WireImage)

The boy just loves books!

You gotta love this kid. He's really "into" books!! We keep a bin just for books and somehow he always manages to sit IN the bin! I am so glad he was occupied so I could snap a few photos :)

Testing the Ice-Children's Book Giveaway

I was recently contacted to review the book Testing the Ice by Sharon Robinson (the daughter of baseball legend Jackie Robinson) and Illustrated by Kadie Nelson. I along with my two teenage daughters read this book individually and shared our thoughts and opinions about it. We all came to the same conclusion that the book was well written and the illustration was beautiful and unique. I really think this book is about bravery and unconditional love of a father. I won't lie, I had tears in the end. This book would be a great asset on any bookshelf and because it is an easy read, it would be great in the elementary school classrooms. It is a big book so you can really see the details in the pictures. Testing the Ice also makes a great gift especially with Holidays coming up.

Here is your chance to win your very own copy. Our sponsor has offered one grand prize winner the opportunity to win a copy of the book along with a cute scarf, hat and mittens (no specific color) gift pack. 4 additional readers will win 1 copy of Testing the Ice.



Here's how to enter:
Mandatory- *Simply leave a comment relative to the post. Comments that say "thank you" or "count me in" will be deleted. Want an additional entry? (You must complete the above method to qualify for extra entries)

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Example: Win a Testing the Ice gift pack from @momfiles http://bit.ly/o4d4m #giveaway

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*Be sure to have a visible email address in your comment if you do not have a Blogger profile. Giveaway is open to US residents only. Deadline to enter is November 28, 2009 at 11:59 pm EST. Good luck!

Special thanks to Scholastic for sponsoring this giveaway and providing Momfiles with a copy of the book.

New Books, Low cost

We purchased William some new books over the weekend since shows so much interest in them over toys. I really don't know what it is but he really does not ever play with toys unless they belong to the dog. We found these fantastic board books that retailed around $10-$12 per book for a only a few dollars each. They are very brightly colored and larger than normal books for the birth-3 years of age. He just loves them.

This kid is so smart that he has a favorite book called Kitty Up! If you ask him where Kitty Up is he will find it underneath other books and say "up!" It's just the cutest thing. I love to read to William especially when I catch him glancing over at my face to watch my expressions. I get all into it to keep him interested. He will look at me at the exact same sentence every time I read a particular book.

The great part about his new books is that he won't be able to destroy them very easily like books with actual paper pages. Let's just say we have had a few casualties along the way! Don't let that innocent face fool ya!

When William gets too quiet

Some days I have that quick moment that I have to leave William alone to do a simple task. When I hear silence I get a bit worried and wonder what he's doing that he's not supposed to. Is he playing with the dog's water bowl? Did he find his way into the bathroom or one of the bedrooms?? Is he trying to open the front door?

Lately I have been catching him doing this:

He "reads" to himself. How cute is that??