Thrive Time for Teens Review (family style)

A couple weeks ago we received a board game called Thrive Time for Teens to review. This was perfect since we have 2 teen daughters. Thrive Time for Teens is a game geared toward teaching teens about financial responsibility in a fun way. This game involves real-life scenarios such as going to college, buying a car, giving to charity, paying monthly expenses and even starting a business.We sat down together at the dining table (snacks and all) to play the game for ourselves. Everyone had a financial tracking sheet to document everything along the way.

I will admit that it was a bit confusing at first so we suggest you read the instructions fully to understand the game better. The girls were amazed when they had to use their credit card to pay for things that they did not always have to cash for. I think they were not crazy about having so much debt! You really had to make some tough decisions about things that can impact your finances. My husband and I really enjoyed playing this game with our children. The game truly allowed our girls to learn financial concepts in a fun way instead of the typical parent lecture...believe me, the girls are happy to get out of any of daddy's lectures any way they can!!

Here's what the girls had to say:

Briahnna (age 13): "I really enjoyed this game and how it is so much like real life. I'll definitely play this game again!"

Chardonnay (age 15): "I like the game a lot. It's a great way to teach one to manage money. It's something they don't teach in school so this is a great way to learn and I love it."

Thrive Time for Teens can be purchased online for $29.99. It makes a great gift for birthdays and holidays. You can also donate a game to your favorite organization as a way of giving back to your community. We plan to play again over the long weekend. Our family would recommend this game for sure and we hope you will check it out.

Disclosure: We received a free game for review purposes and no other compensation was received. All opinions are 100% our own.

Wordless Wednesday

Three generations....

Can you tell William loves to read?

Random bits

I have not been posting very much lately so I thought I would share a couple random photos I have taken over the past several days. This one would have been cuter if the kid had his eyes open and his feet on the ground. The moment he sees the camera coming he takes it as his cue to act a fool.
I started some hot pepper seeds in an egg carton and transferred them into my makeshift plant pots made from milk bottles (see I can be green sometimes). I am not sure how big I should let them get before planting them into big containers. Advice anyone? Kristin will probably know :)

We have been doing a whole lot of this. William has a new song called "read". I consists of only the word read and it goes to the tune of "Happy Birthday to you".... read read read, read read read... read read read, read read read (you get the idea)


So how's that for random bits? Please share something random with me...

The boy who refuses to grow up

Our family took a last-minute trip to the mall today to get some volleyball shoes for the girls. As soon as we entered it was like Christmas to who other than Dwayne. He gets all excited when he sees the gumball machines and before he could ask if anyone else wanted a gumball he was already getting a couple for himself.

Look, he has cheeks filled with gumballs. He got all bent out of shape when Brie put her quarter in one of the machines and got two for the price of one. He actually pouted *shakes head* Y'all shoulda heard him smackin' loudly. He said it was very necessary to chew like that. Like I say, if I never had a son I would not have missed out on much.

Nutella® is what's for breakfast!

**Contest Closed**
Winners are #6 Kristin, #40 Yakini & #165 SalanderServant--Congrats!

Growing up in a West Indian home, we never ate what the other "normal" kids ate for breakfast. Where everyone had pancakes, pop-tarts and cereal, we had channa (chick peas), boiled eggs and sardines (yeah no laughing please)... Not your everyday kind of thing. One memory I do have is Nutella® hazelnut spread. I won't lie, I did not care for it so much. Funny thing is I got a jar of it about a month or so ago and between me and the girls we devoured it in about 4 days. I guess I did not appreciate it since our family seemed to be so different. The great thing is my kids love it. It is made with high quality ingredients including hazelnuts, skim milk and cocoa. The texture is so unique and irresistible. It tastes great on whole wheat toast, bagels and waffles <---ask me how I know ;-) Nutella® contains no artificial colors or preservatives and is a great change from the "normal" breakfast foods.

Getting hungry yet? How would you like a jar to try for yourself? The generous folks from Nutella® have offered me to give away 1 jar to 3 Momfiles readers.
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*Here's how to enter (mandatory)- Let us know if you have ever tried Nutella® before and what you ate it with. If you have not tried it then what do you think it would be good on top of? Please be sure to leave a valid email address if you do not have a Blogger profile.

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This giveaway is open to US Residents only and will end on Sept 7, 2010 at 9:00 PM EST. 3 winners will be picked at random and notified by email.

Disclosure: I received one jar of product as compensation for my post. All opinions were 100% my own.