The cost of your jar of peanut butter that services the 1,500 peanut butter sandwiches children eat by the time they graduate high school is going up in price. This price increase is just in time for Peanut Butter Lover’s month. As of now you should see an increase of up to 40% in your favorite brand Peanut Butter options which in my household means more money spent because my five and nine year old LOVE peanut butter and I have started the habit of eating an english muffin with peanut butter almost every morning for breakfast.
I personally always purchase the store brand peanut butter but with the bad crop this year and farmers being paid more to grow other crops the peanut industry is just not where it used to be. People can see a price increase as of this week on their favorite brands of peanut butter and you can blame the weather, poor crop and just the fact that peanuts don’t have a huge selling price when compared to other crops farmers can grow.
I wonder what the world will be like in a year with high priced peanut butter, something that is used in so many households so often.
So in celebration of National Peanut Butter Lover’s month I ask you this; what will you do to save money on your favorite pantry food item, peanut butter?
I am sure some have been waiting and wondering what is up with the new menu option 2011 Holiday Gift Guide but it’s just an empty table with images and words….
Well now you will be able to see the must have products this year – check out the 2011 Holiday Gift Guide by Happily Blended and leave a comment below with your feedback, tweet it out, share on Facebook – whatever your little heart desires and remember if you share the 2011 Holiday Gift Guide page on Twitter, Facebook or leave a comment below it can be counted as an extra entry into any holiday giveaway going on through out November!
Let me know below if you shared this and let me know in a comment on a giveaway post too if you want to have an extra entry for sharing the 2011 Holiday Gift Guide!
This is it, we are into November and today is my sixth giveaway for the 2011 Holiday Gift Guide at Happily Blended! Today’s feature is a $50 Gift Certificate to WallQuotes.com, but first I get to share what I chose for my beautiful daughter as a review of their products!
About Belvedere Designs Wall Quotes
Uniquely designed vinyl wall art for inspiration and making your home the true place where family unites for happiness. You can select from a wide range of quotes for girls, boys, family, home and even relationships just to name a few category options on Belvedere Designs website.
My Personal Thoughts About Wall Quotes
Now I have worked with this company in the past and must admit I am addicted to their wall art because I love filling my home with positive messages and now this time around I get to fill my daughter’s room with some joy. Lately with the changing in body and dealing with issues with other girls, my daughter has been having a difficult time and I have too. I am Mom and should know most of the answers or at least be able to put a smile on my daughters face. It seems sometimes we don’t have all of the answers, but we can provide a fabulous, positive environment at home for our children to flourish to their full potential.
Enter my wall quote, “Be Your Own Kind of Beautiful” is a message I share with my daughter often and since her favorite color is pink I had WallQuotes.com customize her look for her favorite color, a pink butterfly with black lettering as shown in image on top of this blog post. My daughter chose to have her positive message right above her bed so when she walks into her room she sees this positive message and smiles!
Both my daughter and myself are happy with not only the high quality of the WallQuotes.com products but also the ease of placing it on the wall, even my nine year old daughter was able to help place these vinyl letters and image on her wall with me.
Get this For your own Family! Yes, I said it, one person will be randomly selected to win a $50 Gift Certificate to WallQuotes.com!
Prize:
1 $50 gift certificate code to use on WallQuotes.com
Can You win Two times?
The sponsor will not fufill prize if you win a Gift Certificate for WallQuotes.com on another blog. Yes you can enter on multiple blogs, but you can only claim the prize from ONE blog, not multiple blogs.
Open To US only
Entries Close:
11:59pm EST On November 22, 2011 – any comments left after this date and time will be considered invalid entries.
Winners Chosen using Random.org
Winners will be announced live on site & emailed directly with a link to the winning announcement post. The Winner has 72 hours to submit me their shipping & contact information or else another person will be randomly selected.
HOW TO ENTER TO WIN – You may complete any or all of the following:
Leave a comment on this blog post. {1 entry – leave one comment}
Visit Belvedere Designs website and come back here to tell me what Wall Quote you would want if you won this giveaway. {1 entry – leave one comment}
Leave a comment on another non-giveaway blog post on HappilyBlended.com. MAX 2 times per DAY. Then tell me in a comment below what post you commented on. { 1 entry each – leave one comment for each blog post, no more than two per day}
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Since November is National Child Safety Protection Month I thought I would share some things I do around my home to ensure my children are safe. I am the work at home mother of three children; two boys who are 3 and 5, one girl who is 9 years old, the boys are the most curious of my three children and so most of my safety tips are for young curious children like my double trouble team.
Image via Wikipedia
Safety Tip # 1 — Scissors Look Cool, but are Not Cool
One day my youngest apparently woke up with the love of scissors, maybe it’s from all that craft time his sister and I spend together or maybe it’s just the fact that he is a boy and scissors look like a pretty cool tool to have. Either way, my three year old quite honestly is not going to be using adult scissors whether supervised or not, it’s simply my rule. At age two my son learned that he can use kitchen chairs and his step stool to his advantage when getting something he really wants from a high area. Luckily for my son, I a mom who pays attention, however, mistakes do happen even when you feel you watch your children super close which is why I have made a serious rule to have all scissors hidden up high in a place that my three year old can’t even see them to be tempted to find a way up to them.
Safety Tip # 2 — Sleeping Parents May not Mean Sleeping Toddlers
I co-slept with my daughter most of the first three years of her life and even after that she was still sleeping in my bedroom most of the time in her own toddler bed and I kept my bedroom door locked but for the most part my daughter never had the curiosity my sons have about her world. Once I had boys I knew that their curiosity of their world could get them into trouble should they wake mid night and wish to creep out of bed to investigate their world while their parents were sleeping. This is when I decided that my sons would sleep with a baby gate on their door no matter what. Then it happened, the boys learned how to open the baby gate and/or climb over it to get out of their bedroom, yes we even attempted TWO baby gates with hinges on top of each other to keep the little curious creatures inside their room but it was only a matter of time before they learned to climb that. My sons now sleep with their bedroom door shut and the door knob turned backwards so that I can lock their door at night. The boys also have a baby monitor in their bedroom so I can always hear them while sleeping.
At first I thought the idea of locking my sons in their bedroom was a really bad idea, but I have discussed this with both their counselor and pediatrician to find that this indeed may be the best thing for them and isn’t being used in a way of fear, the boys have had their door locked at bedtime with a baby monitor for a couple years now with great success. The boys know when they wake up to yell into the baby monitor and then down I come to get them out of their bedroom. It works wonderful for us, even for this mama who was reluctant to use such a safety method to ensure they don’t have free reign of house overnight.
So there are two of my safety tips for today … what do you do to ensure your children are kept safe inside of your home?
The question was asked after dinner when my five year old son was pretending to have a big pregnant belly. Don’t ask where he came up with this idea because I am not pregnant nor are anyone he is around, that I know of. The statement was made “Mama look I am having a baby in my belly” and the nine year old daughter replies “Aj you can’t have a baby, only girls have babies”. Leave it to me to correct my daughter, “well technically sweetheart boys have babies too, they just don’t give birth to them” and as I spoke those words I realized what I just started.
The nine year old says to her five year old brother “okay then, boys can have babies because they can be Dad’s but they just don’t have to deal with the pain of having a baby”. I see where this conversation is heading and I am not sure how to move forward with it, I am sort of laughing and thinking of a quick response, but I have nothing. All that I could lend to what my daughter said was a giggle with a grin, because that is all that would come out. My daughter has it correct, boys don’t have to deal with the pain of having babies, but I much prefer to use the word men and woman not girls and boys. Just saying.
So it begins, my five year old son asks “well then how are babies born?” not sure how to reply because I am still blown away with my daughter’s statement, she decides to tell her brother “I don’t really know and I don’t really care to have this conversation”.
I didn’t have to come to the rescue with this conversation, it was avoided because Aj was no longer interested in having this conversation because his big sister wasn’t engaging him. They moved on.
I haven’t thought about how I would explain this to my children before. I have mentioned that babies grow inside of woman’s bellies and that they eat from an umbilical cord but never have the kids really cared to ask exactly how the baby gets inside of mommies tummy.
I know this question will come up so how do you explain how a baby is born in lament terms for a five and nine year old?
Today, the second Tuesday of November is called Young Readers Day and although no one can seem to find whether there as an act of Congress to deem this a national holiday, many schools do take this day seriously and celebrate with reading. As a mother of three children I am proud to say that all of my children have been raised with books; books during down time, books before bed and well books just for fun. With that being said, you can often find my youngest son at age 3 sitting to read a book while waiting in the lobby at his pediatricians office or maybe even while waiting in the van for his siblings to get out of school.
Reading in van parked in driveway at home
Many teachers and doctors will tell you that reading for just 20 minutes a day can encourage a lifetime of reading in a child and I have three children that have provided this theory to be correct. You see, my oldest is a girl who is now nine years old and reads well above average for her age. My middle child is a boy and at age 5 he may not be found curled up reading up a book but he still loves having two books read to him at end of day before bed. My youngest son is now three years old and will not only curl up to read his favorite books by looking at the pictures and recalling the story as Mama read it to him, but he will also sit on the couch while his sister reads him a fun storybook.
I am proud to be raising young readers, because it’s so difficult with technology advancing and pretty much doing everything for us these days to encourage old school sit down reading time. Take 20 minutes a day to read to your children, if you didn’t start at birth like me with the kids that is okay, it is never too late to start encouraging a love of books with your children.
What are you waiting for? GO curl up and enjoy young reader’s day with your young readers!
Enter your link if you wrote about Young Reader’s Day on your blog, I want to read your stories too:
This is it, we are into November and today is my fifth giveaway for the 2011 Holiday Gift Guide at Happily Blended! Today’s feature is a new DVD that releases tomorrow, Tuesday November 8th; Beethoven’s Christmas Adventure!
About Beethoven’s Christmas Adventure
‘Tis the season to celebrate with everyone’s favorite St. Bernard, Beethoven, in an all-new, heartwarming holiday adventure where the hilarious canine speaks for the first time! When Henry the elf (Kyle Massey, TV’s That’s So Raven) flees the North Pole with Santa’s sleigh and his magical bag of toys, he crash-lands the precious cargo in a suburban neighborhood tree. But when the bag ends up in the wrong hands, it’s up to heroic Beethoven and his teenage pal, Mason (Munro Chambers, TV’s Degrassi: The Next Generation), to rescue Henry, fetch Santa’s toys and save Christmas for children everywhere. Featuring an all-star cast, including Tom Arnold as the voice of Beethoven, it’s a barking good time for the whole family!
What I thought About Beethoven’s Christmas Adventure
I am already a HUGE fan of this famous St. Bernard. I have seen every single movie there is that has Beethoven in it which means of course I adored watching Beethoven get into his normal trouble he always seems to accidently get into. This was a classic holiday movie that brings a family close during the holidays. I walked away with the understanding of the movie to mean {to me anyways}: Sometimes life gets so busy that we don’t realize who we are ignoring. Take a moment each and every day to talk to your family, spend even just a moment of your time with them no matter how busy. Life is too short to not take time for loved ones all year round.
Save $3
Coupon is available only while supplies last. Valid 11/8 to 12/31. It can only be redeemed in-store, not online.
Download a Free Interactive Desktop Wallpaper
Watch the Trailer
Get this For your own Family! Yes, I said it, TWO people will be randomly selected to win their very own Beethoven’s Christmas Adventure DVD!
Prize:
1 Beethoven’s Christmas Adventure DVD
2 winners – one DVD each
Can You win Two times?
The sponsor will not fufill prize if you win Beethoven’s Christmas Adventure on another blog. Yes you can enter on multiple blogs, but you can only claim the prize from ONE blog, not multiple blogs.
Open To US only
Entries Close:
11:59pm EST On November 20, 2011 – any comments left after this date and time will be considered invalid entries.
Winners Chosen using Random.org
Winners will be announced live on site & emailed directly with a link to the winning announcement post. The Winner has 72 hours to submit me their shipping & contact information or else another person will be randomly selected.
HOW TO ENTER TO WIN – You may complete any or all of the following:
Leave a comment on this blog post. {1 entry – leave one comment}
Leave a comment on another non-giveaway blog post on HappilyBlended.com. MAX 2 times per DAY. Then tell me in a comment below what post you commented on. { 1 entry each – leave one comment for each blog post, no more than two per day}
Tweet up to THREE TIMES max per day, please leave 2 hours in between each tweet. Use the Retweet button above on this blog post. { 1 Entry per tweet – leave a comment for each tweet with URL to the tweet}
Subscribe to Happily Blended via email, newsletter or RSS feed. Leave one comment below telling me which method you are subscribed. { 1 entry – Leave one comment} — YES current subscribers count!
Follow this blog publicly on Google Friend Connect {right hand sidebar}. Leave a comment telling me your GFC username. {1 entry – leave one comment} YES current followers count!
Have fun and good luck!
Notes from the sponsor:
**DVD Retail $19.98 each
**Giveaways open to US Mailing Addresses Only.
**Giveaway & Screener courtesy of Universal Studios Home Entertainment
Although this is just wrong on so many levels, it is also quite funny! I had tears in my eyes after watching this video because I can so see my children responding in such ways as this but what made me die the hardest in laughter was the last two children, one of which says “what the heck” then proceeds to tell the mother that “she will get a tummy ache” for eating two bags of Halloween candy. This is just quite simply priceless.
Would you do this to your kids? Tell me what you thought of the video!
I co-slept with my daughter most of the first three years of her life and even after that she was still sleeping in my bedroom most of the time in her own toddler bed and I kept my bedroom door locked but for the most part my daughter never had the curiosity my sons have about her world. Once I had boys I knew that their curiosity of their world could get them into trouble should they wake mid night and wish to creep out of bed to investigate their world while their parents were sleeping. This is when I decided that my sons would sleep with a baby gate on their door no matter what. Then it happened, the boys learned how to open the baby gate and/or climb over it to get out of their bedroom, yes we even attempted TWO baby gates with hinges on top of each other to keep the little curious creatures inside their room but it was only a matter of time before they learned to climb that. My sons now sleep with their bedroom door shut and the door knob turned backwards so that I can lock their door at night. The boys also have a baby monitor in their bedroom so I can always hear them while sleeping.
