5/16/11: A Fun Griswold Family Road Trip

We love to take roadtrips.  One we have taken twice is to Sunset Beach in North Carolina.  Here are some blog posts about it.  And yes that is a real Tiger.

We have a great time at the beach there.

And we have a ton of kids there.

Of course on a family road trip you need snacks.  My kids know that I love Twizzlers.  At Halloween they will make sure to pick Twizzlers at some of the houses to give them to me.

 In fact when I started at my current company my husband and I went to BJs and he bought me a big tub of Twizzlers thinking it would help me make friends at work as co-workers would stop by to grab one.  It worked.

 By going to the Twizzlers web page you can win instantly every day!  ENTER DAILY for a chance to win a GPS Unit, a digital camera, National Parks Guidebooks

- OR -

Win the GRAND PRIZE - a vacation to your favorite American Landmark!

Daily entry runs from 5/15/11 - 9/4/11! 

There are also Traveling Families a.k.a. Ten families, a.k.a. the TWIZZLERS Traveling Families, will embark on the ultimate family road trip this summer to celebrate the TWIZZLERS LANDMARK SUMMER promotion. From Rhode Island to Seattle, the families will pass along a TWIZZLERS -inspired vehicle as they visit U.S. landmarks along the way. Follow their travels here!
Where are you heading this summer and what snacks will you be bringing with you?  Comment and let me know.

Disclosure: I am entering a contest for a Twizzlers Landmark Summer promotion prize pack as a member of the Mom Bloggers Club with this post.

5/11/11: Wordless Wednesday - Waiting for Spring To Go Do This!

Why is is still so flippin cold here in Boston, we need time at the park!!!!!

UGGHHHH!!!!

5/10/11: FREE CD for my Blog Readers to Start a Preschool

Everyone knows how important Preschool is to children and how it helps with the adjustment to Kindergarten.  I know my kids went for two years and it really benefited them. 

Have you ever wanted to start your own Preschool in your home?   Well there is a great program for preschoolers, and thought you'd love to hear about it because it can also help you earn some extra money and there is nothing to lose as this is a FREE CD!

I just finished listening to this FREE CD from Joy Anderson where she tells you all her secrets about how to START A PRESCHOOL (not a daycare) in your home!

http://www.startapreschool.com/blog/evanandlauren

Here's the best part!

She wants everyone to know about this great option, so she's giving all our blog readers a copy of her FREE CD too! Go grab yours now! Click the link below to go get it:

So why is she giving out all these FREE CDs?

Well, 3 years ago she was a single mom and had to find a way to create a full-time income at home or be forced to go to work and put her kids in daycare! Everyone told her to start a daycare, but she knew she'd be exhausted after the long 12 hour days!

Then she stumbled upon the idea of starting a preschool (teaching preschool classes for just a few hours each day to children ages 3-5) and within 30 days, she made enough to keep her kids out of daycare... and keep her at home with them!

Over the past 3 years, she's taught over a thousand men and women how to start their own preschools. "But that's not enough," Joy told me, "because I know there are still thousands more women in the world feeling hopeless about their financial situation. NO woman should feel that their only options are to get a job and put their kids in daycare, or to start a daycare themselves. There IS another option--perhaps a better option for some women--and I'm here to share it with the world!"

So grab your FREE CD right now to find out how starting a preschool can bless your family's life! (And feel free to forward this link to anyone you think might benefit from it!)

http://www.startapreschool.com/blog/evanandlauren





5/7/11: Bloggy Boot Camp Boston - My First Blogging Conference

I attended my first Blogger conference.  The SITS (the Secret to Success is Support) girls ran this conference.  It was such a great experience for me to learn so much from other people who have a passion for blogging too.  I had never seen so many other people who liked to do what I do. 

I was lucky enough to go on behalf of Juice in the City who also sponsored the coffee break portion of the event.

They are looking to expand in to Boston and at the conference hoping to find some bloggers interested in becoming a LBC (Local Business Consultants) or a broadcaster.  For LBC's, the application is here.

There's a video on how Juice in the City first got started here.  For another article that does a good job of describing everything from beginning to end, check out the article done by the Patch

The whole experience was not intimidating which was nice.  I felt like everyone was super nice and helpful.  I was able to hear many inspiring speakers including my friend Mommy Niri talk about using Social Media for good.  I learned so much about branding, partnering with companies, legal aspects of blogging, and how to build my following.  I hope it leads to great things in the future.  Even if it doesn't help my blog significantly I got to meet some really cool people and share my blog with them and that makes it all worth it.

  Here is the pile of business cards I need to go through of bloggers I met at the conference. 

Disclosure:  My ticket to Bloggy Boot Camp was provided by Juice in the City.

5/5/11: Mom's Night Out at the Burlington Mall

Tonight my parents were nice enough to pick up the kids from Gymnastics and take them out to shop for Mother's Day and go to the Pancake House so that I could go to Mom's Night Out at the Burlington Mall.  My friend Mommy Niri was also sponsoring it and there with a table with lots of cool prizes so I thought I would go and support her.  We met back in a Gymboree class when our kids were little and bonded over the fact that our kids were both the same ages.  When we met we had our littles ones in Baby Carriers as the other one ran all over Gymboree class.  She has done an awesome job with her blog so check it out.

Check out her spread!

And even a cake with her logo.

After I got home there was the most beautiful rainbow in front of our house.  I had to take a picture of it. 

I even got my nails painted at the Mall for free so that was cool.

5/4/11: Wordless Wednesday - Happy Mother's Day Mom!

Happy Mom's Day, to my Mom who is also named Gilda, pronounced Jillda!  You will always be my best friend.  Love ya!

4/29/11: Big Apple Circus Fun!

Today we went to The Big Apple Circus!  We had so much fun and got to sit in the front row.  Our seats were really afordable also at $17 a piece after a discount code.

What a fun show and you are so close to the action, even if you aren't in the front row.  It is such a small seating area, any seat is a good one.  There were animals and Acrobats and all kinds of acts.

 These girls were amazing!  They bent ways I didn't know the human body could bend.

Me and Lauren on our girls day out with Claire and her Mommy.

 Hi there.

More acrobats.

Lauren enjoyed the ponies.

 So cute.

The girls had such a good time and Lauren said it was a Great Show!

4/27/11: Wordless Wednesday - Happy 3 Year Blogoversary

I can hardly believe that tomorrow is my Blogs 3 Year Blogoversary! 

Wow how time flies, and how far we have come.  Here was my Welcome Post 3 Years ago!

4/27/11: Make Mother's Day Moms4Moms Day

The Moms4Moms movement uses social media to support moms around the world this Mother’s Day, and I couldn’t be prouder or more happy to be part of this important campaign with all these other amazing bloggers.

Did you know?...

-  One mom dies (maternal death) every 90 seconds!

-  15% of all pregnancies result in complications during labor and delivery and sometimes are fatal.

-  Pregnancy is the biggest killer of girls ages 15-19.

-  For every woman who dies in childbirth, 20 more suffer from debilitating complications.

****We have the knowledge to prevent 90% of all maternal deaths.***

These numbers are truly shocking to me and it breaks my heart to think of children growing up without their mothers because something happened to them during childbirth.

Despite Mother’s Day celebration of motherhood, hundreds of thousands of women worldwide die during pregnancy and childbirth. The US ranks 50th in terms of maternal health care, meaning that 49 other countries provide better care! Moms4Moms’s goal is to “really make Mother’s Day about moms” by promoting the allocation of at least some of the money spent on gifts to mothers in need.

Leveraging the power of social media, Moms4Moms plans to raise awareness and funds for Christy Turlington Burns’ organization Every Mother Counts.

The Facebook page “Moms4MomsDay” focuses on two initiatives: micro-donating, which encourages everyone to give as little as $5, and old cell-phone donation through the group Hope Phones, which refurbishes old phones and donates the proceeds.

What if we each donated just a little bit of what’s spent every year on Mother’s Day? What if we asked for handmade cards and a donation to everymothercounts.org instead? Instead of a dozen roses from well-intentioned but completely unoriginal hubby, a life could be saved.  Moms4Moms is a movement started by Holly Pavlika, founder of the blog Mom-entum.  She partnered with the following twelve influential moms and bloggers to create Moms 4 Moms Day: Erica Diamond womenonthefence.com, Audrey McClelland momgenerations.com, Molly Gold gomominc.com, Beth Feldman rolemommy.com, Niri Jaganath mommyniri.com (I happen to know Niri personally and used to go to Gymboree classes with her), Katja Presnal skimbacolifestyle.com, Kelly Loubet everydaychildhood.com, Julie Cole mabelslabels.com, Linda Grant nycsinglemom.com, Katrina Carefoot ficklefeline.ca, Dagmar Bleasdale Dagmar’s momsense and Sherry Aikens babypop.com

We need you....

We are all reaching out to our large social media following to enlist other women to post about Moms4Moms to raise awareness and ask for donations on a singular day, April 27, hopefully across the U.S and globally.

There was also a huge #moms4moms Twitter party and since the project started, that hashtag was mentioned almost 21 million times on Twitter. Amazing!

Every Mother Counts is Christy Turlington Burns’ campaign to increase education and support for maternal and child health. The keystone of the campaign is http://www.everymothercounts.org/, an interactive platform providing the tools to raise awareness, education and action.

Want to help? Easy: spread the word by stumbling and tweeting this post, or share it via Facebook or e-mail. Ask people to donate a part of their Mother’s Day gifts. Or feel free to take any facts from this post and write your own post about Moms4Moms, even after today. We can all make a big difference in raising awareness — and donations – for maternal health.

Moms, did you have the birth experience you hoped for? Why or why not?

Were you confident in your own abilities to labor and deliver?

Whether your birth experience was empowering or left you feeling powerless, we have the power to make a difference. YOU have the power now to make a real difference.
Do something today.

4/24/11: Easter Festivities

As always we had a fun filled Easter weekend.  Finally the weather cooperated and it was beautiful on Easter Sunday.

We even got to go for a walk along Wollaston Beach, it was so nice out.

The Easter Bunny made a stop at our house and brought the kids wonderful baskets full of cool stuff.

The reveal Easter morning.

We colored Eggs.

We had an Easter Egg Hunt.

All dressed up ready to go.

All the cousins at Nonna and Nonno's house.

What a great weekend!

4/22/11: Allepo Shriner's Circus

We went to the Allepo Shriner's Circus for the 4th time.  We always have fun at this Circus and the kids are entertained for 2 1/2 hours for only $10 each.  Pretty good deal.

Lauren having fun!

The Elephants, there was a baby one, he was so cute.

4/20/11: Wordless Wednesday - Happy Easter!

4/20/11: Hop in and Join the April Blog Hop

It is almost Easter so why not join in the April Blog Hop from bloggy moms.