A Family Christmas in Branson

This is a Sponsored Post written by me on behalf of Hiltons of Branson. All opinions are 100% mine.

Christmas is hands down my most favorite time of the year. I love everything about Christmas, from baking Christmas cookies, decorating the Christmas Tree, and watching Christmas movies. I always envision a perfect family Christmas (but with all the hustle and bustle, all my planning may not go so perfectly, LOL!), and with the Christmas packages that the Hilton Hotels of Branson are offering this year,I feel like they had me in mind!

For example, the Hilton Promenade at Branson Landing is offering "It's A Wonderful Life" package starting at $329 per night that sounds wonderful! Not only does this package come with tantalizing discounts for all that holiday shopping and eating, there is also a spa treatment at the Aspire Medical Spa included (perfect for my daughter and I!) But I have to admit the package that really calls my name is the "Santa’s Coming to Town Package," starting at $189 per night. My kids would love Story Time with Mrs. Claus in the lobby of the Hilton Branson Convention Center Hotel and with Santa himself delivering presents, cookies and milk to guest’s rooms...the munchkin boys would be ecstatic! Both packages run from Nov 15 thru Dec 23,

It sounds picturesque and family inspired. Between carolers "decking the halls" with holiday music, and shops and restaurants decorated in festive Christmas lighting, visits with Mrs. Claus, spa treatments, and so much more, a Christmas in Branson sounds like a dream I would love to experience with my family!

Review and Giveaway: The Mama Doni Band "Chanukah Fever" CD

Fun and silly, funky and happy are the best words to describe the music on Mama Doni's latest album, "Chanuka Fever: 12 Macca Beats for The Whole Family."

Mama Doni, aka Doni Zasloff Thomas, is a talented and hip mother of two young children, who has been immersed in Jewish life and music since she was a little girl. Sharing her passion with her preschool music students inspired Doni to start writing and recording her own songs, and in 2008 Mama Doni released her first album, "I Love Herring."

Winners of the Simcha Award at the 2008 International Jewish Music Festival, Amsterdam, The Mama Doni Band serves up happy joyful music in a wide variety of styles from reggae to rock with blends of Klezmer and even disco along with a few other genres mixed in.

My "review panel" (aka, my munchkin boys) and I were quite excited to listen to this cd. After all, who can resist some "good toe-tapping, hand clapping, all-out jumping and wiggling, goofy smiles ear to ear," music?? And that is exactly what Mama Doni has created, in my humble opinion (and my review panel's opinions!)

We had fun, sang along, giggled and grooved. That's what I love about this music....it makes my kids "happy in their tummies." And those words makes this mommy happy in her heart.

You can buy the Mama Doni's "Chanuks Fever" CD online  and put some smiles and "happy" in your families "tummies" too!

Or, WIN A COPY HERE!!

To Enter:
Visit the MamaDoni Website, and listen to the song selections from the Chanuka Fever CD. Leave me a comment telling me which is your favorite. (Ours, by unanimous agreement, was "Latke Man")


Extra Entries:

1. Join The Mama Doni Band Group Page on FaceBook (3 entries)

2. Tweet this contest and leave me a comment with url. ( get an extra entry for each day you tweet.)

3. Follow me on Twitter. (3 entries)

4. Become a fan of  Happy Healthy Families on FaceBook. (3 entries)

5. Follow my blog (widget  on left sidebar)


6. Paste the Happy Healthy Families Button on Your Sidebar or Add to Your Blog Roll.

7. Favorite Happy Healthy Families on Technorati.

8. Blog about this giveaway and leave me the url. (3 entries)

The Details:
Open to US addresses.
Contest ends December 9th at 11:59 est.
Winner will be drawn by Random.org, and notified by email.
Winner will have 3 days to confirm or new winner will be drawn.
Please leave valid email address or active blog link w/ valid email address.

I received a copy of the Mama Doni "Chanuka Fever CD" to review. I received no monetary compensation and all opinions expressed here are completely my own and my munchkin boys.

Make Money With Twitter!

This is a Sponsored Post written by me on behalf of Sponsored Tweets. All opinions are 100% mine.

Have you signed up for Sponsored Tweets with your Twitter account yet? I finally did, and I am excited to see what happens! I have been seeing the links and badges on other blogs, and have been curious for some time now. But alas, I am a certified procrastinator, and I put signing up on my list of "something to do tomorrow." Tomorrow finally came, hehe, and mow I am officially signed up!
 
What I didn't know is that celebrities have signed up for this program, like  Kim Kardashian, Bob Vila, Sister Hazel and Leann Rimes. Also, Everything  is designed with ethics and safety in mind.They have a great   disclosure engine, referral program and API. (For which they are looking for twitter developers to use the API in new and unique ways.) Tweeters remain in complete control of their accounts at all times. They do not auto-inject ads; every tweet must be manually reviewed and approved by each tweeter, and there is  a strict Code of Ethics, which includes:

Mandatory Disclosure
Freedom of Authenticity,
Freedom of Choice
Transparency of Identity

It took me two minutes to sign up. All you need to do to sign up for sponsored tweets is to set your price, add a category and some keywords then wait for offers to from Advertisers. And when you receive offers, you always have the choice of accepting or rejecting them. Simple. I am so excited and can't wait to see how this goes!

Let Go of Those Eggos!!

There is trouble a-brewing in frozen waffle land : There is an Eggo Waffle Shortage. Shocking, I know and maybe a tad frightening for all us mommies  who depend on those frozen miracles of breakfast entrees on crazy school mornings (and weekend mornings too.......so I'm not the "hot pancakes on the griddle type mom....what can I say??)

So if you have noticed an empty space in the freezer section at the market....where normally you would find the "Chocolate Chip Eggo Waffles, and The Blueberry Eggo Waffles," and such.....get used to it. And/or find a substitute for the toaster. Kelloggs has posted this statement at the top of their website:

"Some of your favorite Eggo products are out of stock nationally. We are working hard to fix this short-term issue." 

Will it really be short-term however?  I think not. Kelloggs also has a statement saying that this dreaded waffle shortage could last......ready?.......Eight Months! Ack.

So now you are probably feeling sad for my kids. Frozen waffles for breakfast? What kind of mother feeds her hungry children frozen waffles.

I have just this to say:

Sometimes I let my kids eat waffles for lunch too.,


Thankfully, Kelloggs  understands my angst, and have left these words of comfort as well:


"Eggo is working around the clock to bring everyone's favorite waffles back to store shelves as quickly as possible.  We hope to regain full distribution of Eggo products by the middle of 2010. This is a top priority for Kellogg Company."

I feel better. Top priority . Thank-you Kelloggs!

Tweet A Cause For Make A Wish!

This is just a wonderful and truly awesome way to share the spirit of love and joy this holiday season!  LeapFish has joined forces with the Make-a-Wish Foundation to adopt an ill child’s dream and help make that dream come true. Tweet-a-Cause, a social media fundraising initiative, will give Twitter users the power to grant an ill child’s dream to go to Disneyland, one Tweet at a time. LeapFish will donate 5 cents per Tweet to the Make-A-Wish Foundation until $10,000 has been raised and the child and his family can go to Disneyland.

 

Meet Jacob!  Jacob, age 4, has a rare and life-threatening disease that has affected him since birth. He has one big wish in life –- to go to Disneyland with his family.  LeapFish and the Make-a-Wish Foundation have joined forces to help him achieve his wish through Twitter. With just a simple tweet, we can all the Greater Bay Area Make- A -Wish Foundation raise $10,000 to send Jacob and his family to Disneyland for a week!

All you have to do is go to tweet-a-cause,and click on the "Tweet Now" button. That's it. Your tweet will be sent and matched with a $.05 cent donation from LeapFish! And there is a "Progress Meter" on the tweet-a-cause page that you can check to see how close we are getting to the goal of $10,000 and sending Jacob to Disneyland!

The campaign will run from November 16 through November 27, 2009. LeapFish will match each Tweet with 5 cents to a target of $10,000 which will get Jacob and his family to Disneyland.

Let's all help Jacob get his wish. 

Oxfam America Unwrapped

Christmas is an exciting time for most families, and it is definitely a time when my kiddos cannot wait to ask Santa for just about every toy they have seen on TV the last month. My daughter, who is 12, is just as anxious and excited to see what "goodies" she can get this Christmas as her two younger brothers. It does bother me, alot, to see such materialism around the holidays. And I always look for ways to help my children understand how fortunate they are and how we should all do what we can to help those less fortunate.
 Oxfam America Unwrapped has provided a way for my daughter and I to help another family or entire community this season, and for my daughter to experience the wonderful feeling of giving. When you buy a gift from OxfamGifts.com, your recipient gets a card with the image of your specific gift and the money goes toward providing lasting solutions to poverty, hunger, and injustice in over 100 countries.
It is simple. You select a gift from the 60 items they have. From a school meal program for one child for only $25.00 to rebuild a primary school for $1500, there is a gift for everyone that will be the perfect one.
After you select the gift, you’ll receive a free card with the image of your specific gift. You can personalize the card online and have it sent directly to your friend or loved one. Or you can have the card delivered to you to write your own message.

Your donation will go to the people who need it, and where it will have the greatest impact: to improve the lives of people living in poverty. Oxfam America is committed to creating lasting solutions to poverty, hunger, and social injustice.
Our family has much to be grateful for. No, things are not perfect, and there are many problems we deal with daily. But I know in my heart we are very lucky and blessed, and all of us take so much granted everyday. I hope everyone can take a look at the Oxfam site, and help provide things, water, for instance, for those in need.
And to see  how your donation affects the lives of people around the world, log on to the Oxfam America Unwrapped website and click on the “How your donation helps” section.

I wrote this review while participating in a blog tour campaign by Mom Central on behalf of Oxfam America Unwrapped and received a credit for a gift on the Oxfam site.

Kelloggs Fruit Loops and Apple Jacks With Fiber: Review

The kiddlets and I were recently recruited for a Kelloggs Taste Test between Kelloggs regular Fruit Loops and Apple Jacks, and their new fiber-added cereal versions. Tough as this assignment would be (yes, I am giggling here) on my family, they all courageously agreed to be involved.

Seriously, when the package of Kellogg Cereals was delivered to us, you would have thought Santa himself had made the delivery. My munchkin boys could not have had bigger smiles plastered on their faces. And my 5 year old knew...just knew...that he was going to be allowed to indulge in his favorite cereals, because after all, it had something to do with mommy's work. Smart kid.

Inside the big box, we found boxes of  Kelloggs cereals. We had the regular Fruit Loops, the regular Apple Jacks, and boxes of Apple Jacks with fiber, and  Fruit Loops with Fiber. Four big family- sized boxes of cereal. I believe I saw tears in my children's eyes for a minute. We normally are an oatmeal kind of breakfast family. We do get cereal, but not as an everyday breakfast option. I have found my boys to be so much more pleasant to be around when their sugar content is low. Very low. But they love "cereal mornings" when we have them! And they are in heaven when on occasion I let them have a snack with cereal.

Anyhoo. Back to the taste test. I decided to do this test over a few days time instead of all at once. So the first day I gave the boys the regular Fruit Loops and the regular Apple Jacks. No surprises here. They were very happy and gobbled up their cereal, making sure to drink up the milk at the bottom of their bowls. (Which I might add, is one of the perks in serving cereal to my kids....it can be difficult to get them to drink milk these days.)

 The next morning I substituted the Fiber added cereals for the regular cereals without mentioning this fact to the taste testers, of course. Again, no surprises. All was bliss as the kids munched contentedly on their cereals, and again, the milk was slurped up. Hmm. I next decided to pour two bowls of cereal for the hubby. One was Fruit Loops regular, the other with Froot Loops with Fiber. I had him take bites of each without telling him which was which. He enjoyed both bowls, and could not say which bowl had the fiber and which didn't. Hmmm. So I then had the hubby pour me two bowls. I tasted both bowls, and while it was more a guess than a "know for sure" thing, I did pick out which bowl had the fiber-added cereal. But both bowls of cereal were yummy as usual.

The following morning I gave my kids the regular Apple Jacks (did I mention how happy my kids were during the test tasting days???). All smiles and empty bowls. Next day was the fiber-added Apple Jacks. Again.....happiness and milky chins prevailed at the breakfast table. No complaints. No left-over cereal in the bowls. Nada. Just kids asking for rmore. Which they did not get.

Again my hubby and I did our part. And again the hubby had no clue. And this time I could not tell any difference. Both bowls of Apple Jacks tasted the same to me.

So as a mom, I appreciate the added fiber Kelloggs added to the cereals. While I still will limit how much and how often my kids eat cereal, I can honestly say that when I buy Kelloggs cereals, I will have no problem picking the Fiber Added cereal over the regular.

Read more about the importance of fiber in our diets, and Kelloggs' nutrition, here.



"I wrote this review while participating in a blog tour campaign by Mom Central on behalf of Kellogg’s and received boxes of Froot Loops and Apple Jacks and a gift certificate to thank me for taking the time to participate."