Lowe’s offers a great ‘Build and Grow’ Clinic for kids every few weeks. This Saturday, October 13th at 10am the kids will be building a Ghoul Bus to get into the Halloween spirit.
The first 50 to register and be present at the store will receive the kit, an apron, and goggles. the recommended ages is 1st-5th grade.
For more information, store locations, and preregistration visit Lowe’s Build And Grow here. They also have fun activities, kits you can purchase and family projects.
When you become a Mom, keeping your kids safe becomes a priority. With three little ones, I am constantly having to child-proof cabinets and drawers, move things out of their reach, and buy the latest safety products. When it comes to car safety, we have been on the hunt for a new booster seat for our three year old. He is outgrowing his convertible car seat and we wanted a booster seat that would last for long time. After weeks of searching with no luck, I was introduced to the Compass B570 Booster Car Seat by The First Years.
After the box arrived, my husband installed the seat into our vehicle immediately (he’s very impatient) while I finished reading up on all the features and settings. When my husband returned inside quickly, I thought something was wrong. There was no way he installed it already. He always has a difficult time securing car seats (shhh, don’t tell him I said that). Nope, I was wrong. He was finished installing it! The booster seat installation was easy with the lower latch anchor attachments. The back is also self-adjusting, creating the perfect fit for any type of seat. I am still in shock it was that easy.
Time to test it out. When Ethan saw his new car seat, he was thrilled. It was something new and it was more of a ‘big boy’ seat to set him apart from his two year old brother. When I buckled him up, I could easily adjust the shoulder belt (up to 1.5″) and the lap belt to fit him comfortably. The first thing he did was play with the arm rests, moving them up and down and up and down. As he was doing that, he noticed the cup holders on each side. I think besides the comfort, this is his favorite feature. They are removable, which is good for me because I can easily take them out and clean them by running them through the dishwasher. He loves them because he can have his cup in one, and he removes the other one and holds snacks in it.
Five-star “Ease of Use” government rating from NHTSA (National Highway Traffic Safety Administration)I know next year when my two year old turns three, I will definitely be purchasing another one. He already tries sitting in it, but his brother makes sure that doesn’t happen. Ethan and I are very happy with the First Years booster seat and I highly recommend it.
Purchase the Compass B570 Pathway Booster Car Seat for just $99.99 at local retailers (find a location near you) or on Amazon.com (currently on sale for just $85).
Learn more about The First Years products at thefirstyears.com. For the latest information and updates, follow them on Twitter, become a fan on Facebook, and subscribe to their YouTube Channel.
Disclosure – I received the named product at no cost to conduct this review and was in no other way compensated. All opinions expressed are 100% mine.
Before I was a Stay-at-Home Mom, I was an Office Manager. I remember each year being responsible for informing employees about open enrollment and answering any questions they had regarding their health insurance benefits. However, I normally didn’t get many questions or changes in plans. Employees were typically only worried about the amount that was coming out of their paycheck rather than the coverage they were getting. This can be a costly mistake and Aflac conducted the 2012 Open Enrollment Survey of the Aflac WorkForces Report to learn more about open enrollment and employee benefits.
Open enrollment is the period that companies hold to allow employees to enroll in or change their current health benefits. It only occurs once a year, typically in the fall, and last for only a week or two. The choices you make can not be changed for the whole year, until the next open enrollment period, so it is extremely important to understand the process and your options.
Aflac found that only 16% of workers are confident they are NOT making mistakes during the open enrollment process. That is such a low percentage! Some common mistakes found:
Choosing the wrong coverage can be very costly. The cost of coverage and out-of-pocket expenses are on the rise and employees are frequently worrying about unanticipated medical expenses. 24% of survey respondents say they have the wrong coverage and benefit options. With that and other benefit mistakes, over 56% believe they are wasting up to $750 a year! That is a lot of money wasted due to mistakes and lack of knowledge.
To get the most out of open enrollment and reduce your chances of wasting money on benefits, I recommend following a few suggestions.
For more information on the 2012 Open Enrollment Survey of the Aflac WorkForces Report, view the infographic and visit AflacWorkForcesReport.com.
“I wrote this review while participating in a campaign by Mom Central Consulting on behalf of Aflac and received a promotional item to thank me for taking the time to participate.”
Old Navy is having one of there famous 1 Day Wonder Sales today! Get fleece coats for only $15 each in-store or online. There is a limit of 5 per customer while supplies last. I am getting one for the whole family today!
This Saturday, October 6th, Home Depot is having another FREE workshop for kids, ages 5-12. The event is 9am – 12pm. This month they are making a Fire Truck! The kids will not only get to keep their completed project, but they also receive a kid-size orange apron, commemorative pin, and certificate of achievement.
Visit their site for more information and to find a local store.
At least once a day, you can catch my three year old singing “Spider-Man. SPIDER-MAN. SPIDER-MAN!” I really have no clue where it came from, but one day, him and his two year old brother decided they were huge Spider-Man fans. I don’t mind at all. I myself am a fan of Spider-Man and my husband has been anxiously waiting to see ‘The Amazing Spider-Man’ movie since we never had a chance to see it to the theaters. The movie’s DVD release date is November 9th. However, I just learned not only can you pre-purchase it now at Walmart, it also comes with access to an UltraViolet digital version that can be viewed on October 30th!
Reasons why to pre-purchase ‘The Amazing Spider-Man’ at Walmart:
This past weekend I headed to Walmart to pick up the pre-purchase box of ‘The Amazing Spider-Man’. When I got back to the electronic section, I easily spotted the pre-purchase boxes with the new releases.
For only $24.96, I got the pre-purchase of ‘The Amazing Spider-Man’ Exclusive Blu-Ray + DVD Movie Gift Set which includes the Blu-Ray + DVD + UltraViolet Combo Pack and a Bonus DVD & Limited Edition Mask DVD Case.
Cars and dinosaurs. Those are my sons’ two favorite things. They always want to play with cars, dinosaur toys, or watch either on TV. When it comes to toys, my sons tend to get bored with them quick and it is hard to find ones that capture and keep their attention. So what kind of toy could really make them go crazy (in a good way)? How about one that is a dinosaur and a vehicle in one. That’s what VTech has created with their new Switch & Go Dinos.
I received two (of the seven) Switch & Go Dinos for the boys to play with and they exceeded my expectations. I have seen the commercials advertising them, as my 3 year old always makes sure to get my attention to tell me to ‘buy that’ every time it is on. I didn’t realize how big they are and how many features they actually have. Within a few simple steps, each one can transform from a vehicle to a dinosaur, and vise versa. They each have a screen in the front that is animated with the vehicle drivers or the dinos eyes. There are so many features to the dinos, I probably still don’t know them all.
We first played with the Attila the Ankylosaurus Dinosaur. This heavy construction vehicle comes with a wrecking ball, tow hook, and a trailer. The tow hook can be used to tow around other Switch & Go Dinos. There are over 70 sayings and sound effects that it makes. My sons loved towing around the trailer and playing with the wrecking ball. When the Attila is switched into a dino, the wrecking ball is now a powerful tail and with the push of a button, the tail moves. I really love that there were two parts to the toys so my sons could each play with a different part as they played together with it.
Next, we got out Brok the Brachiosaurus Dinosaur. This is the king of the Switch & Go Dinos. It comes with a smaller race car and a Pterodactyl. When it in the car mode, it can carried a car, including the race car. With just the pull of the spoiler, the race car launches down for front of the car and the Pterodactyl launches out of the car. They had so much fun launching the car. This was one of my two year old’s favorite features. When switched to the dino, Brok towers high and can move his neck and head all around. This Switch & Go has over 80 different sounds effects and sayings from real-life sounds, fun facts, and cool phrases.
The dinos are heavy duty and I know my boys will test their durability (they aren’t really gentle with their toys). I really love all the different sound effects and sayings that each one has. Normally with new toys, it takes about ten minutes to memorize its sayings and I get annoyed hearing the same thing over and over again. Not with the dinos. I still notice something new every time they are playing with them. The sounds effects are also very realistic. I can’t tell you what my sons’ favorite things are about the toys, because they get so excited just seeing them and the excitement doesn’t die down as they continuously play with them. I can see the dinos being in our household for a very long time.
I would definitely be purchasing more of the collection for my boys. You can purchase the Switch & Go Dinos at national retailers near you, or on Amazon.com.
VTech is holding a Show & Tell Contest on their Facebook page! To enter the contest your child can DRAW or BUILD their own Dino, and no purchase is necessary! Submit your entry by October 1st, for your chance to win a lifetime supply of VTech toys, one of 25 Dino toy sets and more!
“I participated in a campaign on behalf of Mom Central Consulting for VTech. I received VTech Switch & Go Dinos product samples to facilitate my review.”