Holiday Kindle Paperwhite Blogger Giveaway Sign-up

This is such a fun time of year to have giveaways, especially for things everyone wants to get their hands on! Excited to be participating in this one. If you’re a blogger who signs up, please let them know I sent you. =)
This giveaway will begin on Thursday, December 12th at 12:01am and ends on Tuesday, December 31th at 11:59pm. One winner will be randomly selected from all valid entries to receive a Kindle Paperwhite Prize Pack!  Prize Pack includes:
Kindle Paperwhite _ $ 139 value
$50.00 Amazon.com Gift Card
All 12 e-books featured in this event!
Click Here To Sign Up!
Details:

• Each blogger receives 1 free link of choice (Twitter, Pinterest or Instagram).
• Additional Links can be purchased at $3 each. These links can be Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and/or Pinterest.
• We have 3 co-host spots available for $15 each. This includes your choice of links (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and/or Pinterest) and you get to host one of the pages (Twitter, Pinterest, Instagram or Facebook) during the event!
• The giveaway html will be sent out by Wednesday, December 11th and posts must be live by noon on Saturday, December 14th. We will send out reminder emails for those who forget to post.

Payments

• Payments can be made via Paypal to childrenteachingmama@gmail.com

There are 2 BLOGGER PARTICIPANT GIVEAWAY CONTESTS
(YOU can win prizes, too!!)

• The blogger who refers the most bloggers to sign up will win a $10 Amazon gift card! Announcements are not mandatory, but are a great way to increase sign-ups so you can win. If you’d like, feel free to cut/paste the event details above as your own announcement post with a link here or to the sign-up form.
• An additional $10 Amazon gift card winner will be chosen from the bloggers who post an announcement. So, post an announcement on your blog and you have another chance to win!

We are looking forward to this Giveaway and hope that you will be a part of it! This is going to be such a great giveaway and we hope you will be a part of it! We would love if you could share the post with your friends and followers via Facebook and Twitter with the widget at the top of the post. This is a good way to increase sign-ups, which also increases your change to win a gift card!
Sign Up Here
Read more at http://thismamaslife.com/indie-author-kindle-paperwhite-prize-pack-free-blogger/#riTelTF6Tj13haWz.99

What I Was Blogging About A Year Ago

About a month ago, something prompted me to look back at my blogging over the last couple of years. I knew my blogging had changed since the end of last year, I just hadn’t realized how much.

This year I pretty much stopped blogging anything personal. As soon as January hit, we had moved in with my family and I got a new full time job. I had a huge learning curve and that meant blogging went on the back burner for the most part.

I stink at time management so, even though I work full time, my hours are kind of all over the place. Working from home, probably isn’t the best thing for me because of my bad time management. Oh, and my ADD works against me too in this.

I also noticed my Alexa number went up in a huge way! In fact, I think for a while it had doubled. A large number is NOT what you want with Alexa. My pageviews decreased by half as well. I mean, it makes sense since I wasn’t blogging much and the only thing I was blogging about was (hanging my head in blogging shame) sponsored posts.

One of the things I had started at the end of the year last year was doing a homemade meal on Mondays and linking up to Delicious Dish Tuesday. I was cooking something every week and it made me feel so good about how I was feeling my kids. Then we started packing to move, moved in with the parents, and cooking big meals went to the wayside. UGH and I really still want to be doing them.

I had also started doing the Writers Workshops on a pretty much weekly basis. It was so nice to be writing something that was personal and not paid for. Yes, I do those sponsored posts because they help my family financially, but I would much prefer to spend my time blogging about every day life.

Not sure if anyone is like me, I always have good intentions, but my follow through always tends to be lacking. Again with the “UGH”! So, I’m going to try and get Writers Workshops done and maybe after the new year I’ll start doing something on Mondays with food again. We’ll see, but what I do know is, I don’t want to be so unbalanced with my blogging again in the next year.

Time to get my bloggy back!

The Prompts:

1.) What were you blogging about a year ago today? What has changed?
2.) A childhood friend.
3.) A hobby you would pursue if you were the type to pursue hobbies.
4.) A trend you’re not much a fan of.
5.) Something your child did or said this week that made you smile.

Everyday Living With My New 4G Samsung Tablet #IntelTablets #shop

 

This past summer, my dad was on a roll updating family members with new tech gadgets . Being an Android fan, he bought Buddy a tablet for his birthday, he and my mom both got new cell phones (Samsung 3 and Samsung 4), and he got me my first tablet.

Unfortunately, my dad searched for tablets for sale on eBay and got me one from there. I have to say, his first mistake was the issue. Lol I took my brand new spanking tablet to Peru with us and it was the only time it worked. Once we got home, it wouldn't charge, keep a charge and eventually, it wouldn't even turn on. Poor Dad. I felt terrible.

Buddy's Samsung Tab 7 worked pretty well and he would put his laptop the side and use the tablet. He didn't use it for more than getting on to YouTube and watching videos or playing his apps.

No, for me, I have a behemoth laptop that I got on sale about a year and a half ago and it's just a monster. After getting my laptop, I stopped using the desktop. I now have a brand new shiny, Samsung Galaxy Tab 3, and I have a feeling my laptop will be left in the dust. I've only had it a week and it's already been put through the paces!

I had to take my laptop to Best Buy because it needed some TLC and there I got my first lesson on the Galaxy Tab 3's amazing functions. Buddy was with me and when the guy who is a new employee started showing me all of the bells and whistles, well let's just say, his ears perked up. The guy showed us all of the fun features and I have to say, it's the coolest thing. You can sync up multiple Samsung and play your music through them all at once. It was a really cool demonstration! Best Buy is where I'd go to snatch this baby up!

I couldn't wait to start playing with mine! When my new toy came it wasn't even out of the box before the boys were calling dibs on it. As if! No way, this baby was mine, all mine! Ugh, okay, so I'm a mom and I may not have stayed true to that thought.

My Tab 3 came last week and we headed down to Williamsburg for Thanksgiving. I wasn't going to take it, but it figured it would come in handy in case the kids got bored or I needed to get anything done online. I brought my laptop for work, and I was hoping to avoid that as long as possible. We were gone for 3 days and I never charged the tablet once while we were there. The battery life is freaking long! I've had it for a week and have only charge it once since its initial charging when it arrived!

While we were there, I took some pictures of the family and played around with some of the apps that came with to enhance the photos or make the party! Just...wow! Something I have to become proficient in, but it gives me so many options. I learned the first day that I can't take pictures in low light from the back of the device because there isn't a flash. That means being intentional about my surroundings. I went outside to take photos because the scenery down in Williamsburg is wonderful.

Our sweet time there came to a quick end and we headed back home for the night. Sunday we headed to church with Fred and the kids. I used the YouVersion Bible app to follow along with the son. My son had always used my phone. It was so much nicer to see it on a 10.1" screen! After church I had the kids try and find a movie to watch because we were heading up to PA to have Thanksgiving and I thought a movie would entertain them. Unfortunately, they didn't find any that were cheap. Maybe next time!

I've only had this for a week, but I'm loving it! I'm even writing my blog post on it. I had written it on my laptop, but edited to see how well it would work on the tablet. There isn't a LiveWriter app so I'm writing this in blogger. My photos will be edited on my laptop because I can't use picmonkey.com on the tablet. There will be an editing app soon enough I'm sure. =) Oh, and we'll be heading to mom & dad's this weekend. Guess who's going to show off being tech gadget ahead of their dad? Ya, this gal!

Wordless Wednesday: Thanksgiving Family

We headed down to Virginia to spend time with the extended family! We had an amazing time there. We missed the 2 families that weren’t able to come, but happy for who was there.
Thanksgiving cousins
Fred met the extended family for the first time. Well, the boys’ side. And it was only on set of aunts and uncles, not the 3 we expected. I have a unique and wonderful relationship with my ex sisters and brothers-in-law. We’re still pretty close. They welcomed him in warmly!

My sister-in-law flew my oldest daughter out to spend Thanksgiving with us and we all had such an amazing time with her. One of the best people you will ever meet in your life!

We missed FROZEN the day after Thanksgiving and also Saturday because they were sold out! This never would’ve happened at our main theater up by our house in MN. Just sayin’!

Baby and I decided to jump out of the car on the way home and walk through the shops. My sister-in-law came back a little while later and we kept on wandering. The next morning, we tried the 2nd movie and no luck. We decided to walk through the shops again and Baby saw a dude with a MN sweatshirt on. Turned out he was from an even SMALLER town than ours in central MN, but the one right next to ours. In MN that made us neighbors and pretty much related!

Turns out my oldest son has pretty bad allergies to cats. I mean, we knew this, but having been gone from our cats for almost a year, this is what he looked like after being here for several hours…

It was just his one eye, but man, he looked like a mess when I got home from picking Baby up at the airport! Thank goodness for allergy meds and allergy eye drops!

I refused to go out Thanksgiving Day, but just after midnight, we headed to Kohl’s and Target for some deals. It wasn’t bad because both stores were like a normal shopping day, just at a weird hour.

Hope your Thanksgiving week was good.

Be sure to check out Full Time Mama!

The Best Gift For My Niece This Year! #ScentSavings #shop

We were so excited to spend Thanksgiving with  the boys’ cousins and aunt and uncle. The plan was to celebrate Christmas for the kids after Thanksgiving and my oldest niece was getting a Britney Spears Fantasy perfume set. It was hard to choose when we were at Walmart because there were several fragrance options!

Figuring out what to get a teenage girl who is fashionable and has her own style, can be a challenge for an aunt who doesn’t have the greatest fashion sense. Her sisters were easy to shop for. I got them FROZEN dolls. My nephew got the new Diary of a Wimpy Kid book, too.

The boys needed to go shopping with me to help give me ideas on what to get their cousins. Of course, when it came to the fragrance to pick for Elisa, they were absolutely zero help! The Walmart we went to didn’t have a perfume section, but they were getting ready for the Black Friday sales and had out holiday display quads. They were extremely picked over and the tester for several of them weren’t available. I chose the pink Fantasy because being a girly girl, pink would be right up her alley.

When we got to Williamsburg for Thanksgiving, my oldest daughter, Elisa and I went out shopping and I tried to sneak getting her to try the scent, but we were jipped again and couldn’t find a tester at the other Walmart. lol I just couldn’t win.

Saturday night the boys’ uncle went out and got a Christmas tree, but we were so busy there wasn’t any time to decorate it. When we were going to open presents, we ended up doing it in the family room with all of the kids tearing into their presents! I didn’t even see what the boys got until the festivities were done. Oy

After we finished up with the quick present exchange, we took a gazillion photos in ever possible combination you can imagine. That’s kind of how we are, especially me when it comes to picture taking. I never want to miss a moment! Cousins together, parents and kids together, just the ladies together, all the guys, all of the girls, everyone altogether, it was probably half an hour of family photos!


When you purchase one of the fragrance gift sets, you get a code for a free ring tone. Her phone wasn’t getting a great signal so we had to go online and figure out which Celebrity Voice Ringtone she wanted. Oh my gosh, by far, Taylor Swift was the best. Heck, I’d even have it as a ring tone!

Speaking of Taylor Swift, seeing how my oldest is a millennial, she would probably love the gift sets, too. In fact, this year, her close friends all went to a Taylor Swift concert in a different state for my daughter’s birthday. They wore hand designed shirts that actually got them into a special section for TS fans!
And seeing how I love getting meaningful and thoughtful gifts, the Taylor Swift set would be a great reminder of her time at the concert! Why yes, I’m cool like that! Definitely go to http://www.scentsavings.net to find out more for Chistmas present ideas!

At the end of the night, Elisa had found a perfect spot for her new pink Fantasy gift set, right in the pink bathroom! lol It’s a bathroom that makes you feel like you’re in Portugal, which is where her mom is from. The sink is dark pink with white flowers and the walks are a dusty pink. Add in the best gift she’ll get all year, boom, they have a happy new home!

Are you like our family? Do you celebrate Christmas at Thanksgiving or earlier than the 25th?