Labor Day weekend is coming up–do you have plans to travel? Before you load the kids into the family car, take a moment to consider the condition of your tires. The folks at Goodwrench have provided a great source of information on tire safety, available to help make sure your family enjoys what’s left of the summer travel season, safely! Keep reading to find out how you can win a prize pack from Goodwrench! Finally, a giveaway for the guys!
According to the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration (NHTSA,) 660 fatalities and 33,000 injuries occur every year due to tire-related problems.
How scary is that? Luckily, my husband is quite diligent about maintaining our vehicles, and this includes regular home tire inspection. In fact, when we received a tire tread gauge from Goodwrench, he immediately went outside to check the tires on our vehicles. As parents, it is especially important to ensure that our tires are in excellent condition. We are driving around with precious cargo, after all!
Be sure to visit Goodwrench.com to learn more about your tires, and what steps should be taken to help make sure you are ready to roll!
How about a giveaway?
WHAT YOU WILL WIN:
A prize pack from Goodwrench, including the great hat and the tire gauge pictured above! This is a great prize for the guy in your life (whether it be your dad, boyfriend, husband, brother, or friend!)
HOW TO ENTER & RULES:
You can enter multiple times for many chances to win! Please take the following steps to enter the contest, and make a separate comment below for each entry (ie., if you are a fan of Dear Crissy on Facebook (hint, hint), comment and say so). You have lots of chances to win! 18+, USA.
MANDATORY ENTRY (worth 1):
Visit Goodwrench, and tell me something you learned about tire safety.
EXTRA ENTRIES IF YOU (worth 1 each):
Follow via Google Friend Connect (see my sidebar!)
Subscribe to DearCrissy.com via Email.
Vote For Us on Top Baby Blogs (vote every day for extra entries!)
Like Dear Crissy on Facebook
Follow @Crissy on Twitter
Tweet Daily: just use the re-tweet button at the bottom of this post!
EXTRA ENTRIES IF YOU (worth 5 each):
Blog about this contest, linking to both Goodwrench, and Dear Crissy.
Contest ends Sept. 13th, 2010, 11pm EST. Winner will be drawn randomly. Best of luck! :)
Disclosure: I received a hat and tread card from Goodwrench. No other compensation was received, and opinions are completely my own.
Having a hard time finding unique, modern, innovative products for your little one? Never fear, because I have an online retailer to share with you that I am really in love with–Trumpette! Keep reading to find out more about a special giveaway (5 winners!), exclusively for Dear Crissy readers!
The cliché may go that you can’t judge a book by it’s cover, but I find it almost always true that you can judge a shop by it’s storefront. I am attracted to stores online that provide me with a clean shopping interface, crisp images, and cool stuff. Trumpette’s baby gifts and apparel stand out immediately as not only adorable, but funky and fresh. Exactly the kind of items I love buying for little E.!
This week we’ve been having a blast playing with Evan’s new Howdy cow from Trumpette. Howdy is a rubber bouncy cow, and as you can see, the kid approves. Evan is actually perhaps not quite coordinated enough to fully appreciate the wondrous bounciness of this toy, but that’s a good thing, because he is only going to enjoy Howdy more as he gains control. I can totally see him playing with his Howdy for years to come.
The Howdy cow is simply a soft, rubber bouncing toy that you will need to inflate before use. Such a simple toy, but what kid doesn’t love to jump and bounce! See below to find out how you can be one of FIVE, yes five, lucky Dear Crissy readers to win a Howdy Cow from Trumpette! Also, be sure you check out Trumpette’s Facebook page, become a fan, and tell them where you came from! :)
WHAT YOU WILL WIN:
A cool Howdy Bouncing Cow for your active kiddo! Retail value: $38.50. Note, 5 will win!
HOW TO ENTER & RULES:
You can enter multiple times for many chances to win! Please take the following steps to enter the contest, and make a separate comment below for each entry (ie., if you are a fan of Trumpette on Facebook (hint, hint), comment and say so). You have lots of chances to win! 18+, USA
MANDATORY ENTRY (worth 1):
Visit Trumpette, and tell me which items (in addition to the Howdy Cow) you think look awesome!
EXTRA ENTRIES IF YOU (worth 1 each):
Follow via Google Friend Connect (see my sidebar!)
Subscribe to DearCrissy.com via Email.
Vote For Us on Top Baby Blogs (vote every day for extra entries!)
Like Dear Crissy on Facebook
Like Trumpette on Facebook (tell em’ who sent ya, if you feel inclined!)
Follow @Crissy on Twitter
Follow @TrumpetteInc on Twitter
Tweet Daily: I want to win a Howdy (bouncy rubber cow!) from @TrumpetteInc, @Crissy, & DearCrissy.com! #toys http://retwt.me/1OxS9
Contest ends Sept. 12th, 2010, 11pm EST. Winner will be drawn randomly. Best of luck! :)
Disclosure: I received a Howdy Cow from Trumpette for this review. No other compensation was received, and opinions are completely my own.
As a wedding photographer, I am invited to share some extraordinarily emotional and intimate moments with my clients. I mean, I’m with the bride and groom through their entire wedding day, from that jittery getting-ready phase, to the exchanging of vows, and finally, the celebratory finish. Do you want to know which event on the couple’s wedding day will put me into near-tears, without question, invariably, EVERY SINGLE TIME? You guessed it–or at least read the title of this post–the mother and son dance.
During the first wedding I photographed after having Evan, this came as a total shock to me. I didn’t anticipate experiencing such an intense rush of emotions, but when the lights go down and I see a mother, any mother, dancing with her newly-married son my heart just aches. I watch the mom smiling at her boy through the lens of my camera, and my head is filled with a flurry of images of my own kid. Someday my sweet, innocent, beautiful little boy will grow up and (hopefully) get married.
After that first wedding where I nearly cried my eyes out while trying to photograph the mother and son dance, I have tried to prepare myself beforehand. Unfortunately, it doesn’t seem to matter how much I try to block it out, I am pretty much victim to a painful lump in my throat through the entire song.
It really seems like most of the spotlight at weddings is put on the first dance, which is understandable, and the father and daughter dance. Not that the mother and son dance isn’t appreciated, but taking third place in the lineup means that many of the guests may have become bored with the sentimental slow songs, and their attention has wandered.
Well, I am paying attention, and I am sure that I am not the only mom of a boy in the room feeling the urge to cry a little. The relationship between mother and son is unique and special, and I am so blessed to know that every single day of my life.
I was chosen recently to represent SHOUT as a Brand Ambassador, and I could not be more thrilled! I have always recognized SHOUT as the stain remover, but have been so pleased to learn more about this brand’s fresh philosophy. One phrase that I read on SHOUT’s website that really struck a chord with me is, “Spills and stains are bound to happen when you live life to the fullest.” Isn’t that the truth!
As the mother of an active toddler, I am sometimes fighting an internal battle between the urge to keep my little guy neat and clean, and allowing him to explore, and maybe even get a little messy, which let’s face it, is a lot more fun! To help encourage your kids to play, learn, and live life to the fullest, you should enter the SHOUT Go Play Sweepstakes!
Deadline for the contest is Septbmeber 14th, 2010, so enter to win now!
Signing up for the SHOUT Go Play Sweepstakes is simple, and once entered, you will be eligible to win a weekly $200 gift certificate to Growing Tree Toys (one of my favorite online retailers, and hey, I was their Featured Blogger recently!) Of course, the grand prize (boy, is it GRAND!) is a Super Sunshine Castle from Rainbow Play Systems. This playset is the stuff dreams are made of.
I’m pretty sure the mom or dad who enters the SHOUT Go Play Sweepstakes and wins this playset for their child is going to get the award for Parent of the Decade.
Stay tuned over the coming weeks and months, as I will be bringing you more exciting information about SHOUT and their incredible line of stain removing products. For now, roll up your child’s sleeves and let him or her go play–you can leave stains up to SHOUT!
Disclosure: I am a compensated Brand Ambassador for SHOUT, in affiliation with Mom Bloggers Club.
Every week since I found out I was pregnant, I have received an email from BabyCenter updating me on the progress of my little guy. For the first nine months, of course, they were pregnancy updates; since giving birth, the subject line of the emails have included the word “baby.” I felt more than a little emotional this month when my usual weekly note from BabyCenter appeared in my inbox and included the words, “Your Toddler This Week.”
My baby is a toddler? Really? He is in fact doing some toddling, and at times when I look at him from across the room, quietly spinning the wheels on his favorite car, I realize that my chubby little boy is maturing into a… kid.
Evan’s thirst for knowledge at this age is just fascinating to me. He is interested in learning more about everything in his environment, and makes a great effort to say new words every day. Some of the more adorable words he has picked up lately include tattoo, wheel, tractor, and shoes. He can pick out Daddy’s tattoos, and I’ve had to explain the difference between a tattoo and a freckle, because when he finds a freckle on my arm he immediately says, “tattoo!”, which I think is just the sweetest thing ever.
It’s funny that as your child grows, each phase seems to bring with it new and wonderful milestones and experiences. I really feel like Evan and I are starting to become pals, which is so fun. Right now he thinks the funniest thing in the world is someone smelling his feet and proclaiming that they are, “PEW, SO STINKY!”
He is also really starting to enjoy books, and as a mom with a degree in English, I can’t tell you how happy this makes me. I have been reading to him in the evenings before bed, and he listens quietly.
I think I’ll keep calling my toddler a baby, for a while longer, but he’s definitely growing up and I just love who he is becoming.
