Family — Page 13

A credit card with training wheels

Helping Guide Your Kids to Financial Independence

Does your daughter ever look at you less like her M.O.M. and more like her A.T.M.? If it seems like every time you turn around you’re reaching into your wallet to give your kid a little cash then the Bill My Parents SpendSmart card is the perfect solution. It’s basically a pre-paid debit card that also works at ATMs and lets you fund it the from your credit card or bank account. You can add money in on a weekly or monthly basis, or just as needed for her desperate quest for the perfect pair of jeans. You get notified when purchases are made and, because it’s a debit card she can’t spend more than she has, which not only teaches her to make better financial decisions, but also doesn’t risk her credit rating.

Easy Peasy for them – Safe for you

It’s taken everywhere Mastercard is accepted and there is a nominal monthly, reload and ATM fee. Best of all, if it ever gets stolen or you see that she’s shopping like a Kardashian you can shut down that card faster than you can say, “OMG!”

So teach your kids how to spend responsibly and keep them out of your wallet.

What do you think?

Ok – Confession time. When I was in high school, I didn’t always spend the money that my parents gave me the way that they had intended it to be used. They’d give me lunch money for the week… I’d eat a granola bar instead, and save it for the weekend to go out with my friends. And I was a GOOD kid, lol. Imagine what the bad kids are saving up their money for, right? That’s what makes this such an awesome tool for parents – it gives you a way to monitor what your kids are up to, and where they’re spending their money – without getting too nosy.

More Great Ways to Use a PrePaid Card for Kids

This would be so helpful for tons of other situations too – Babysitters, the kid who mows your lawn, giving a tip to your paper boy/girl… You’d just give them a card, and auto-load it with payment instead of always trying to remember to have cash on hand. If you’ve used this, leave a comment and let me know what you think, and how it worked for you! And for more great tips – Follow my Smart Solutions and Tech Made Simple boards on Pinterest too!

Digitwirl.com Rocks!

Digitwirl is the weekly web show that offers simple solutions to modern day problems. In 3 minutes, Digitwirl brings busy women the very best time, money, and sanity-saving technology, and then teaches them how to use it, step-by-step. Digitwirl was created by technology lifestyle expert Carley Knobloch, who uses lots of technology to manage her busy life as mom of two and entrepreneur. Become a subscriber to get weekly show alerts and exclusive deals at Digitwirl.com, or follow Digitwirl on Twitter at @digitwirl.

Posted by Meagan Paullin on March 19, 2012 Filed Under: Busy Mom Solution | 3 Comments

Celebrate Mom: Win the perfect gift! The Forever Moments Giveaway!

“A man’s work is from sun to sun, but a mother’s work is never done.” – Author Unknown

Every mom deserves something special this Mother’s Day – and what’s more meaningful then a personalized piece of art featuring photos that capture those favorite family moments? We all love the look of a handmade scrapbook page, but we don’t all have the time or talent to make it happen, right?

Perfect Busy Mom Solution!

The Forever Moments makes it super simple to create a showstopper for anyone’s family photo wall! Learn more about how to make your own custom scrapbook page in just minutes – and enter to WIN your favorite design too, just in time to surprise the special mom in your life. Remember – Mother’s Day is coming up May 13th!

Want to create a design today? Use online coupon code SUNSHINE to save 25% off your entire purchase at The Forever Moments until March 30th!

Enter to Win!

Use the easy peasy Rafflecopter form to get your entries in! There is NO mandatory entry – Just fill in as many, or as few, boxes as you like – the more entries, the better your chances of winning. And you can come back each day too, for the bonus Tweet entry! Feelin’ lucky? Check out that big list of giveaways in my sidebar too!!

Have Fun & Good Luck!

{Disclaimer: I received a complimentary design from The Forever Moments, so that I could go through the selection and order process, and check out the quality of their work. All opinions, photos, and overuse of exclamation points are 100% my own :)}

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Posted by Meagan Paullin on March 16, 2012 Filed Under: Giveaways | 34 Comments

Celebrate Motherhood with the Forever Moments….

“The moment a child is born, the mother is also born. She never existed before. The woman existed, but the mother, never. A mother is something absolutely new.” – Rajneesh

That is my favorite quote of all time. It describes how I feel about becoming a mother – so simple, and so perfectly. My life changed dramatically the day Abby was born, and she is the total sunshine of my life. I had never planned to have children, and was overwhelmed by what a beautiful experience it was when I unexpectedly became a mother a year and a half ago. I’ve cherished every single moment since then – Through the sleepless nights and endless diapers, to the new toddler tantrums and catastrophes. It’s a hard job, but the benefits package kind of rocks.

“I love my mother as the trees love water and sunshine – she helps me grow, prosper, and reach great heights.” – Terri Guillemets

Want to celebrate YOUR favorite mom moments? The Forever Moments has an amazing way to help you do so – They get your favorite photos out of a box, and into premade scrapbook pages that are as unique and beautiful as your family! Each piece is handmade just for you, with perfectly detailed embellishments, and your own personalized names and dates. You can purchase them with or without a frame, and there are so many layouts, colors, and designs that you are guaranteed to find the perfect fit for your favorite moment.

“Being a mother is learning about strengths you didn’t know you had, and dealing with fears you didn’t know existed.” – Linda Wooten

This is my favorite photo of my little family… It was taken very late in the fall, and there was actually some snow on the ground already! But the totally amazing Amber Miller found one spot that was still bright with colorful fall leaves, and was able to capture the three of us sharing a fun moment. A super special picture needs an equally special presentation – and I just love the design of this Family Portrait design. {Tip: This design is able to fully customized with your family name. Long story, but Mike, Abby, and I all have different last names right now – we’re in the process of changing his. So I just had it printed with a basic message of “Our Family” instead.} It’s surprising how hard it is to get a really great picture, of a picture – But trust me, this looks even more beautiful in person. The details are all made from such high-quality paper, with gorgeous texture. It’s the perfect addition to our family photo wall, there is a perfect design choice just waiting to be created for your own photo wall – and this would make a perfect gift for a special mom in your life for Mother’s Day!

“Most of all the other beautiful things in life come by twos and threes, by dozens and hundreds. Plenty of roses, stars, sunsets, rainbows, brothers and sisters, aunts and cousins, comrades and friends – but only one mother in the whole world.” – Kate Douglas Wiggin

Celebrate the special mother in your life this year with a gorgeous, handmade, and totally unique piece of art from The Forever Moments! Check out the amazing selection of Mommy Moment design choices, or browse any of the other great categories too – like family, celebrations, sports, baby & more! And since it’ll be super hard to choose just one – I’ve got a special coupon code just for my readers!

Use code SUNSHINE to save 25% off your whole purchase, until March 30th, so that you can stock up on additional gifts, and create the perfect piece for yourself, too!

The Forever Moments doesn’t just make products that look good, they DO good too – Instead of more candy or gift wrap, why not encourage your school to offer these pre-made, personalized scrapbook pages for their next school fundraiser? They can help you set up a great fundraising campaign, and your school earns 30% of purchases! Another way that The Forever Moments does good is by recognizing how difficult life is for the families of America’s military. For every Military layout purchased, they donate a $1 to BlueStarFam.org, a wonderful group doing awesome things to support military families!

Love it? Then enter for a chance to WIN your favorite design – The Forever Moments Giveaway!! – Good luck!

Posted by Meagan Paullin on March 16, 2012 Filed Under: Shopping, Deals and Coupon Codes, Busy Mom Solution | 25 Comments

Family Game Night: Super Mario Bros Wii #CouchCritics #CBias

Super Mario Bros Family Game Night

These are my nephews – Mario and Luigi. I mean, Cade and Cole :) For this weekend’s family game night, we rented the new Super Mario Bros game for the Wii from Redbox, and the boys really got into character. They are BIG fans of Super Mario Bros! And I admit, so am I. I’m a child of the 80’s, and you just can’t help but think of your childhood when you play this new version of Super Mario Bros – So much fun! It was a perfect choice to bring the kids AND adults together.

Shopping for Game Night Goodies

I was super excited about this week’s game night – My dad moved to Seattle a few months ago, so the kids haven’t seen him since last November. He had a really serious surgery recently, and is finally feeling better again. He was coming over to stay with my brother and I for the weekend, and I was SUPER excited to see him! So, Abby and I headed to Walmart on Friday afternoon, to pick up some great goodies for our game night with Grandpa. Here’s what I had on my list – and you can see our whole shopping trip on Google+ for more pictures too:

Lasagna, garlic bread, and salad for dinner: Because, you know, Mario is Italian and all. I also got some mini-pizza rolls for appetizers, and drew little mustaches on them with tinted sour cream :)
Star Cookies: Sugar cookies cut into stars, frosted yellow, with little faces drawn on. To look like the stars in the game. Um – ended in disaster. I’m not sure how to get the cookies to stay really pointy and sharp – mine turned into puffballs, and looked NOTHING like the stars on the game, lol.
Mushroom Cupcakes: I planned to make yellow cupcakes, frost them red, and then add little white polka dots – like the mushrooms on the game. Another disaster! I could NOT get the frosting for the spots to set. I made little dots on waxed paper, and put them in the freezer, so I could have great disks to place on the frosted cakes. Nope – they wouldn’t set. I made totally sloppy looking mushrooms. They were yummy, but not pretty. I get an A for effort, right??

How can you mess up a candy bowl?

I figured I’d also make a big Mario-themed candy bowl too, for everyone to much on through the night. You’d think that there is no WAY to mess this up, right? But – we couldn’t find ANY of the candies I wanted! The holiday candy we were shopping in above, had been switched out to only Easter – but I’d been hoping to find gold coin candies in with St. Patrick’s Day supplies. Then we headed to the “regular” candy section, for Fireballs and bright M&M’s, but no Fireballs either! So, I settled for the mixture below – M&M’s to feature the Super Mario Bros bright colors, gold-wrapped Rolos instead of coins, and Cinnamon Disks instead of Fireballs.

Game Over for Game Night??

Well, even though most of my desserts didn’t work out the way I planned – they did all still taste good! And everyone had a BLAST. I even went to Amazon later that night and ordered the new Super Mario Bros Wii game for the kids – it was that fun. Like I said – it’s such a great game for kids AND adults, since pretty much all of use remember playing this as a kid. This brand new version for the Wii is similar enough to make you feel nostalgic, but new enough to feel fresh and fun.

Redbox Makes Family Nights Easy!

You can find a Redbox Rental Kiosk at just about any grocery store these days. That makes it super easy to put together a family game or movie night – Head to the store to pick up supplies for dinner and snacks, and then grab your favorite movies and games on your way out. You can even check out the selection online from home, and reserve your favorites before you shop – if you want to plan a theme night like we did! I used to think that Redbox was only for movies, but lately we’ve been changing up family night to include games too, and it’s a blast.

Love Redbox? Follow them on Twitter and Facebook to get updates on cool new products and promotions – even free rental codes!

{Disclaimer: This shop has been compensated as part of a social shopper insights study for Collective Bias. #CBias. All photos, opinions, and kitchen catastrophes are totally my own.}

Posted by Meagan Paullin on March 11, 2012 Filed Under: Uncategorized | 3 Comments

Behind the Scenes of ‘Chimpanzee’ from Disneynature

CHIMPANZEE hits theaters everywhere on April 20th!

I already knew that I wanted to see this movie. I love animals. I love nature. I love Disney. And Abby gets so excited when she sees the previews for this come on the TV. I hadn’t paid too much attention to the TV previews, since I very seldom watch television. So when I found the trailer for this movie in my email today, I wanted to take a minute and check it out. And now – It is a TOTAL must-see for me. Check it out yourself in this behind-the-scenes video….

True-Life Adventure

Disneynature takes moviegoers deep into the forests of Africa with “Chimpanzee,” a new True-Life Adventure introducing an adorable young chimp named Oscar and his entertaining approach to life in a remarkable story of family bonds and individual triumph. Oscar’s playful curiosity and zest for discovery showcase the intelligence and ingenuity of some of the most extraordinary personalities in the animal kingdom. Working together, Oscar’s chimpanzee family—including his mom, Isha, and the group’s savvy leader, Freddy — navigates the complex territory of the forest.

Disneynature

“Chimpanzee” is the fourth release for Disneynature, the first new Disney-branded film label from The Walt Disney Studios in more than 60 years. The label was launched in April 2008 to bring the world’s top nature filmmakers together to capture a variety of wildlife subjects and stories.

Coming Soon

In theaters Earth Day 2012, Disneynature’s newest True-Life Adventure introduces Oscar, a young chimp whose playful curiosity and zest for discovery light up the African forest until a twist of fate leaves Oscar to fend for himself with a little help from an unexpected ally.

“Like” CHIMPANZEE on Facebook: Facebook.com/Disneynature

Posted by Meagan Paullin on March 8, 2012 Filed Under: Fun Stuff | 1 Comment

Sneak Peek at The Lone Ranger – with Johnny Depp!

Sneak Peek at the new Lone Ranger movie – with Johnny Depp!

Yep, you read that right – that guy on the left is Johnny Depp, in his new role in the pretty epic looking film update – The Lone Ranger. I have very few details, but it looks pretty awesome…

From producer Jerry Bruckheimer and director Gore Verbinski comes Disney/Bruckheimer Films’ THE LONE RANGER. Tonto (Johnny Depp), a spirit warrior on a personal quest, joins forces in a fight for justice with John Reid (Armie Hammer), a lawman who has become a masked avenger.

THE LONE RANGER will be released in May 2013 – How are we gonna wait that long??

Posted by Meagan Paullin on March 8, 2012 Filed Under: Fun Stuff | No Comments

Little Hands & Big Hearts – #CleverMembersUnite #spon

Giving back has always been really important to me. As a little girl, I grew up very poor. My dad got really sick, and my mom was raising 4 kids under the age of 6. We relied on help from our community to get through those years – which made me realize how much that help can matter to someone in need. As I’ve become a mom myself, I better appreciate how hard it must have been for my mother back then – so it’s important to me to give back when I can, to support other mothers with families in need.

“Be the change that you want to see in the world.” – Mahatma Ghandi

Growing up with very little makes me very appreciative of what I have now. And donating extra food, clothing, and toys to organizations in our community who get them to families who need it helps me remember how lucky I am. So I want to pass that on to my daughter, so that she grows up with compassion and empathy for others too. She’s only 19 months old, so she is too young to fully understand these concepts – but we still include her in our volunteering campaigns, so she can grow up surrounded by great people doing good things. And she is already just the sweetest little giver – if she has a cookie, she’ll share half with you. If she’s got a dolly to hug, she’ll bring one to you too. I love that she’s off to a good start… {hopefully that attitude of giving and sharing sticks around through the terrible 2’s, right?}

“Don’t judge each day by the harvest you reap, but by the seeds you plant.” – Robert Louis Stevenson

One amazing group of great people doing good things is the team over at MembersUnited. They have put together a very unique way for families to donate money to some really wonderful causes – You choose your families donation amount, and then you get to vote for your favorite cause. Imagine American Idol – Each week you come back to check out the group of amazing charities to choose from, and vote for your favorite to help them make the next round. Reading about all of the different organizations can really start some great conversations with your kids, and help them realize that there are so many needs, and so many ways to help!

“One person giving $20 is a drop in the ocean. One thousand people giving $20 brings clean water to a village for a lifetime.” – Members Unite

Thinking about big world problems can sometimes feel overwhelming – what could I possibly do to make a difference? But, with a site like MembersUnite.com, you can really see how your dollars and your vote are making a difference!

For as little as $5 bucks a month – the price you’d pay for one latte, or one Happy Meal – you and your family can get started making a difference. My goal is to inspire 10 of you amazing readers to sign up, and get your families involved with this amazing organization! If you do join – leave a comment here to let me know which cause YOU chose to support!