Arm & Hammer Power Gel 1st Birthday Photo Contest

 I found a cute contest for First Birthday Pictures. I so am entering my little guy into this one! He looked sooo cute on his big day! Fingers crossed I win one of the great prizes!

To enter the contest, parents can simply submit an entry form, one messy photo of their child celebrating his or her first birthday and a 50-word or less caption to www.PowerGelParty.com through June 15, 2011.
The top five finalists, as determined by ARM & HAMMER®, will be unveiled on the site on July 18, 2011 and consumers will be invited to vote for their favorite until July 31, 2011.  The finalist with the most consumer votes will be the Grand Prize Winner and receive "The Ultimate Kids Birthday Party", valued at up to $5,000.
The other four finalists will receive a one-year supply of ARM & HAMMER® Power Gel Laundry Detergent and a $250 party supply gift certificate. Also, just by entering the contest, parents have the opportunity to win one of 500 free bottles of ARM & HAMMER® Power Gel Laundry Detergent through a random drawing.
For more information please visit www.PowerGelParty.com.

Alex Toys Little Hands Clay Pictures Review and Giveaway

Alex Toys provides children with quality creative products to help them create and use their imagination through art and various crafts. We got to review the Little Hands Clay Pictures. The set came with 8 colors of clay that never dry out, three 3-D pictures, 3 picture frames and 3 printed background cards. You set up the card behind the picture frame, background card and plastic tray, then you copy the pattern with the correct color of clay in the tray. My son loved all of the bright colored clay and we had fun creating the pattern, the fish was our favorite! 

This was a fun project and taught my son about patterns and helped him with his fine motor skills. I did have to help him a bit more than I thought I would have to because it said ages 3 and up, but it was still a great art project for us. I love that I can find great places like Alex Toys to find the supplies we need for the types of activities I know my son did while he was in daycare. We can have creative learning at home and I get to be the one to enjoy his finished masterpieces. I look forward to watching him become more of an artist and when his little brother can join in.

Alex Toys are a quality product and we are definitely going to be purchasing more art supplies and crafts from them in the future! The have everything from art supplies, bath toys, craft products, beads and jewelery making, as well as products for babies! Lots of great things to check out for sure!
 

Here is some information about Alex Toys from the web site:

"We started ALEX in 1986 with a line of high quality basic arts and crafts products for children. Over the years, ALEX has grown and today produces over 1,000 items in expanded categories of toys: imaginative and dramatic play, fashion and jewelry, whimsical children’s furniture, Rub A Dub_® and Tub Tunes_® bath toys, ALEX Little Hands_® preschool products and ALEX Jr._®, developmental, plush and bath toys for baby! Our attention to quality and design has not gone unnoticed. Many ALEX products have received the most prestigious honors in the industry including over 300 awards from toy review organizations and leading consumer magazines. ALEX products are currently sold in over 80 countries worldwide in the upscale specialty market through a myriad of retail stores, catalogs and websites."

GIVEAWAY:

For our Moms Leaving the Workforce Event ALEX Toys has generously offered one of our lucky readers the chance to win Little Hands Clay Pictures.

To Enter This Giveaway:
Mandatory entry is to Like Alex Toys in Facebook.

*Leave a comment telling me your a Facebook Fan  and be sure to leave your email address*

Extra Entries can be done after you leave a comment for the mandatory entry:
If the extra entry says 1 extra entry leave 1 comment and 2 extra entries leave me 2 comments and so on.

-Follow Alex Toys on Twitter +2

-Follow The Coupon Queen Bee on Twitter +1

-Like The Coupon Queen Bee on Facebook +1

-Follow this blog on GFC (top right corner) +3

-Enter the other Alex Toys giveaway on our blog +3

-Enter any of the  giveaways during the Moms Leaving the Workforce event +2 for each you have entered.

-Blog about this giveaway and leave me the link to the post +5

*Limited to US residents; 18 years old and above. Giveaway starts March 24 , 2011 and ends on April 3, 2011 at midnight PST.  Winner will be emailed and has 48 hours to respond before another winner is selected. I was not paid for this giveaway or post. I was provided for free the item in the pictures for this review.

Disney Movie Sneak Peek: Sharpay's Fabulous Adventure

 

Coming to DVD and Blue-ray on  April 19, 2011 is new Disney movie Sharpay's Fabulous Adventure starring Ashley Tinsdale. This movie is about the character from "High School Musical" Sharpay Evans. The theme of the movie is pursing life long dreams and believing in yourself with all the pink and glitter Sharpay brings! Plus she has her cute little dog. I love when Disney moves have pets in them. I adore my Lab, shes the only other girl in the house so we have to stick together.

This film is rated G so the whole family can enjoy it together. Being in a house of all boys I have to watch cute movies like this by myself but I love them. I have always been a Disney fan and these kind of movies are cheery and cute. I look forward to watching this one and wanted to share the sneak preview of the movie with you, my readers. I know so many of you have girls that will enjoy this one.

Sharpay's Fabulous Adventure has a facebook page so you can stay up to date on the fun of the movie. The twitter handle for the movie is @DisneySharpay. 

Curly Girl The Handbook Review and Giveaway 2 Winners

Now that I have had my hair made over and learned to use a flat iron I realize most woman want the hair they don't have. If your hair is straight you want curly. If its thick you want thinner and if its thin you want it thicker. I LOVE the fact that I have curly/wavy hair! I can wear it curly but also with tools have it straight. If it was the other way around it would be harder to go from straight to curly.

There is a great book called Curly Girl The Handbook by Lorraine Massy. Its about a celebration of having curly hair! How you can take care of it, the different types of curls, which for me I had not thought about the variation of curls. There really are so many types of curls. Mine is more wavy down to curls on the bottom. But if I don't use the right conditioners and a blow dryer its curly and frizzy all over. Frizziness is probably the biggest complaint for curly hair. I have tried many things to fix it and some work some don't. I like how the book gives you at home remedies and tips for picking a hair stylist for your curls. I had not considered how a stylist can effect your curly hair. I have always thought as they are cutting it that its going to be shorter than they think since when it dries it curls up. Also how highlighting your can needs to be done with care and consideration of your curls. I loved how it said if you see someone with great curly hair ask them where they get it done, I would so do that!

Another thing I had not considered is if a man has curly hair and the issues he might have. The book touched on that and what types of styles a man could get. Also included is a section on how to get your kids to love their curly hair. I think this would be especially helpful to a mom who doesn't have curly hair but her children do.

This book is really helpful and definitely a celebration of curls! The book is full of facts and tips with a CD included. The CD has step by step instructions on how to cleanse, trim and style your curly hair. This book would be great to give to a teenager with curly hair to realize your curls are awesome and many woman pay lots of money to have curls. We must embrace our hair because it is apart of us!

You can buy this book at Borders or Amazon or better yet win it here!

GIVEAWAY:

 Workman Publishing has generously offered 2 lucky reader the chance to win a copy. This would be great for yourself or to give as a gift.

Here is how to enter the giveaway.
MANDATORY Entry:
LIKE Workman Publishing on facebook

*Leave your email address in your comment so I can contact the winner*

Extra Entries: Can be done after leaving a comment for mandatory entry.
If the extra entry says 1 extra entry leave 1 comment and 2 extra entries leave me 2 comments and so on.

-Follow Me on GFC (right top corner) +2
-Follow The Coupon Queen Bee on Twitter +1
-Like The Coupon Queen Bee on Facebook +1
-Follow Workman Publishing on twitter +2
-Visit Workman Publishing and tell me another book you would like to have +2
-Enter any of the other giveaways during the Moms Leaving the Workforce event  and leave a comment on which giveaway you entered. +2 for every giveaway you enter.
-Blog about this giveaway and leave me the link +5

*Limited to US residents; 18 years old and above. Giveaway starts March, 23 2011 and ends on April 2, 2011 at midnight PST.  Winner will be emailed and has 48 hours to respond before another winner is selected. I was not paid for this giveaway or post. I was sent a free copy of the book mentioned in the post from the publisher for my review.

Ditch the Joneses Book Review

Ditch the Joneses, Discover your Family, How to Thrive on Less than Two Incomes by Cathi Brese Doebler is a book about planning, learning and adapting to living on one income. The author is a Mom who knew before she even had children that she wanted to be a stay at home mom. She and her husband started making plans before her boys were born so that the could survive and thrive on one income. By planning and understanding what it takes she started to do more and more research on others desires to stay home and their struggles. Doebler took this information and started teaching classes to other parents on how they could try to be home with their families more.

In the introduction she says that this book is for parents who:

• Desire to reduce their hours to part-time
• Desire to stay at home full-time
• Desire to explore new ideas with time and financial management
  
• Desire to consider options while deciding on their family's lifestyle

Throughout this book Doebler talks about everything from Planning before your first child is born, the savings you actually do make by staying home and not paying for childcare and work expenses, ways to save money when you are home, and how to keep in touch with the business world if/when you want to return to work. She also talks about defending your decision to those who may not understand your desire to stay home. When I left the corporate world I knew that there were people who would not understand why I would want to be home 24/7 with little children when I had this great paying job and daily adult interaction. This book reminded me that there are always going to be people who don't understand your decision to stay home and that you have to do what makes you happy, not everyone else. Doebler also points out the importance of continuing to network in order to maintain future employment opportunities, reaching out your community as well as spending time with other new parents. Even though you chose to stay home with your children does not mean that you have to cut out everyone who is not in the same situation as you may be. Keeping in touch is the key to future options.
I really like how she also touches on how to keep your sanity when you do cut your hours or stay home. She reminds you that you cannot do it all and to take time to ease into your new situation. Not to assume now that you are home that you can attack that "to do" list in a week. You are home to raise your children and be there for them, not necessarily there to make sure your house looks like Martha Stewart's house (my words not hers).
This is a great book and resource for parents wanting and hoping to make that leap into a one income family. It is a reminder that we are lucky to be able to stay home and that there are so many others out there that want to be in your shoes. With the right planning and resources in most cases it can be done, this book can help you achieve that goal.

You can buy Ditch the Joneses, Discover your Family, How to Thrive on Less than Two Incomes by Cathi Brese Doebler on Amazon or you can get the Nook Book version at Barnes & Noble.