• Giveaways

    Stress Free Kids Giveaway

    July 19, 2010 - By 

    This is a contest I’d like to enter myself. Stress Free Kids sent thriftymomma Sea Otter Cove a couple of weeks ago and we’ve been using it in our house since. Sea Otter Cover is one of several excellent books from Lori Lite, the founder of Stress Free Kids. I first heard of this entrepreneur and author when she landed herself on Shark Tank to pitch her amazing line of books for children and teenagers. The books, and also CD sets, are designed to help with anxiety, stress, anger, relaxation and emotions. What I love about this book is simple: it…

  • Parenting - parenting - special needs

    Weekend Warrior – Sensory Solutions

    July 18, 2010 - By 

    My amazing blogger friend over at adoption of jane has returned to her weekend warrior post and so I am once again inspired to contribute something from our life with Ainsley. My daughter Ainsley has sensory processing disorder and fetal alcohol spectrum disorder. None of this is her fault and yet many people in our world treat her as if she is able to control a physical brain injury that incurred prior to her birth. That is enough to make me crazy, and lately it is sadly wearing on her, as she gets older and starts to see differences between…

  • family

    Welcome Wednesday and Waterpark Love

    July 14, 2010 - By 

    I am bringing Welcome Wednesday here with hopes of introducing more readers to my well received travel blog. Follow http://www.takeitfrom-me.blogspot.com/  for more information about Welcome Wednesday. Also today I am including my water park roundup…As some of you know, I blog for Mom Central Canada and have been promoting Lay’s Chip Trips. I posted my review of Great Wolf Lodge, Niagara Falls recently on main blog at http://www.thriftymommastips.blogspot.com/ There are many worthy family-friendly locations at the falls and this one was totally worth the drive. I am a big fan on family water park fun and we have visited a few…

  • family

    Kobo Ereader Review

    July 13, 2010 - By 

    This is my sad review of the Kobo ereader. Sad because I have had to return my fun new toy since I was only reviewing it. I know that purists still argue ereaders are ruining book publishing and are not the same as books. But I had this for almost three weeks and loved every minute of it. A recent piece in the London Free Press notes that ebooks are outpacing regular books at library checkouts for the first time ever. The interesting thing about the Kobo is the fact that it’s changing the market for consumers. That’s good news for most of…

  • family travel

    Niagara Falls – Americana Review

    July 10, 2010 - By 

    Three years ago we decided to take our young family to the falls for a fun birthday/graduation celebration. Great Wolf Lodge was fairly new and we were novices at waterparks anyways. Truly, we weren’t sure how a little girl with SPD (sensory processing disorder) and a variety of other diagnoses would manage all that input at three-years-old. So we opted for an affordable spot called the Americana Waterpark Resort. Well, we loved it. We stayed there for two nights under $250 a night and visited Marineland for the first time and just really truly created lovely memories. Americana sends thriftymommastips…

  • family - family travel

    My Happy Birthday Deals and Follow Friday

    July 9, 2010 - By 

    Well Happy Birthday to Me and I hope this rain clears for Sunfest this weekend. London, city I have grown to love, has the best festivals all summer long and this truly is one of them. Try not to miss it. In the mean time, here are my finds for this week and take a minute to check out myFriday Follow bloggy friends. Follow the first person on the list. List your blog and find some new fans. Saturday only: Old Navy $1 Flip Flops. Getting some of those for sure.Toys ‘R Us has five days of deals ending on…

  • family travel - Travel

    Have a Great Wolf Day! – a review

    July 8, 2010 - By 

    We went on so many water slides at Great Wolf we shrank. As promised this is my review of Great Wolf Lodge. Up until this past weekend it, in fact, felt as if we were the last family on earth to visit the infamous family waterpark. But having heard from several of my reades over the past two weeks I know now that’s not the case and many are waiting to hear if it’s worth the money. I have to say we were pretty much thrilled with this trip. We decided to celebrate my daughter’s ninth birthday and combine that…

  • family travel

    Welcome Wednesday and Waterpark Love

    July 7, 2010 - By 

    Well here it is Wednesday already this week and I am back bloghopping. All you have to do to join in is follow http://www.takeitfrom-me.blogspot.com/ I plan to post some reviews tomorrow and all next week. My schedule for blogging is jampacked, but for today I want to leave you with this selection of images from Great Wolf Lodge in Niagara Falls. It was fun, but wait for review tomorrow. Good clean water park fun that caters to children and young families. See the great living room, or lobby, here. My kids loved the talking oak tree and wildlife.

  • Parenting

    Tooth Fairy Tales and How to Fix the Fails

    July 7, 2010 - By 

    My Payton has had a wobbly tooth for about one month now, so we’ve been anticipating the tooth fairy visit for a while. Her wobbly teeth seem never to be nudged along by prying hands or crunchy foods or anything else for that matter. She is content to let them fall out when they are ready and that’s okay by me. It’s the kind of girl she is. Cautious and happy to just take life as it comes.   Our Tooth Fairy Adventures Anyways, it is the sixth or seventh tooth she has lost. The process should be firmly entrenched…

  • family

    My New Vlog

    July 3, 2010 - By 

    Well, in the spirit of growth I am trying my first vlog. That’s right. Mama’s giving this a shot and she got her self a brand new little camera thingy (read: gadget) just in time for summer. Wahoo!! No stopping me now. So this is me telling you all about my excellent, cute, adorable and sporty new Kodak Playsport. $159.99. Good price and well watch vlog to see the rest. PSST. I will get better at this, by the way.