My boys love to create beautiful masterpieces of art and with the website http://www.littlebirdtales.com we now have a fun way to share their artwork and even tell others a little bit about it.  The littlebirdtales.com is so easy to use!  Step ONE just scan and upload your child’s artwork to the site.  Step TWO edit the art by adding text, drawing digital art and/or adding a voice or voices.  Step THREE watch and share the slideshow you and your child just made.   Not only is the site a great way to encourage your children’s imagination it is also a great way to go GREEN.   By using the service in this way, parents can teach children to be creative without using precious natural resources and can also practice what they preach by becoming more eco-conscious in how they share their family memories.

Caleb and Brayden worked together drawing 6 pages about three brothers (conveniently named Caleb, Brayden and Andrew…lol!) that went into a haunted house on Trick R Treat night.  After I had each page scanned and uploaded Brayden and I set down and told a little bit about each page and told the story.  When we were done we all enjoyed watching our Little Bird Tales creation.  I love that you can add your child’s voice.  What a great way to capture a moment in time.

Right now until October 31^st littlebirdtales.com is offering a 20% discount code and a contest to win $250…

Parents can sign up for a free 90-day trial account to get started instantly or can subscribe to Little Bird Tales for one year and 100 MB of storage space for only $24.95 a year. To celebrate the launch of the site, Little Bird Tales is hosting an online contest where kids can submit an ending for their tale “How Little Bird Got His Name” that includes a name suggestion for “Little Bird,” a picture, text and audio. One lucky winner will be selected to win $250 cash, $250 donated to the environmental charity of their choice and a free 3-year membership to the site.

For more information on Little Bird Tales and how to enter the “Name the Little Bird” contest, please visit: http://www.littlebirdtales.com.

Disclosure: I received a subscription to this program to try out for myself and present this review.  Please feel free to read our full disclosure policy here.

Fall is here, with it are cooler, shorter days that tend to be darker.  Here in Washington, the rains are actually not as bad as normal, we’ve had a lot of sunny fall days…I actually do not remember having so many gorgeous fall days.

So this year, for me the fall gloomies are taking a little longer to set in, but for many the changing of the seasons means a definite change in attitude.

Focus, attitude, perspective and purpose are all ways to maintain…or lose…a great mood.   The choice is, ultimately, up to us.  The problem is that I don’t always feel like “making it work”.

As the weeks progress through fall and winter, I’m likely to offer a variety of suggestions.  Since I often know that a day may be gloomy as soon as I start getting up, today I want to make a few suggestions for starting your day.

Shower!

There’s nothing better than a nice warm shower on a cold gloomy fall morning.  Especially an uninterrupted one.  So many of us moms let this part of our day go a little, but if you have an opportunity to do this, spend a little extra time just letting the hot water wash over you.  Make sure you lock the door too.

We have only one bathroom, and honestly, I usually leave the door unlocked in case anyone has to use the toilet or sink while I’m showering.  We haven’t had any issues with privacy doing this, but when they open the door all the hot air rushes out and it totally kills the comforting affect of the shower.  So, on gloomy days, warn everyone that the door will be locked so they’d better get their business done before you go in.

Comfort Breakfast

Have a favorite breakfast?  Love cocoa or a great mocha in the morning?  Take time to make and really enjoy it on days when your mood is less than fabulous.  Going through a morning on an empty stomach is bad enough, but when you’re not in a great mood, it becomes even worse.

Forget the House

This may seem like the strangest suggestion of all.  I’m not telling you to get out of the house, though that may be exactly what some of you need.  But, go into the cleanest room (nonexistent in my world, but we’ll ignore that fact for a moment) and take the little ones with you.  Cuddle with them, read them a story, play blocks with them, watch a quiet kid movie.  You get the idea.  Lay low.  If you try to do laundry, dishes, clean house and more while entertaining your little ones, your mood is likely to just keep going downhill.  Save those activities for a little later, when your children are napping or having their quiet time.

Yes, there are a lot more suggestions I could make, but for now, I’ll leave it at that .  I think a surprise recipe for a magnificent mocha/cocoa is in order next week…be sure to come get that!

Do you have trouble getting your kids to drink water?  Well, you need to give Wat-aah! a try.  The boys and I took the Wat-Aah Summer Challenge and I took our bottles of Wat-Aah to the county fair.

Before I get to our day at the fair let me tell you a little about the product.  Wat-Aah comes in four varieties; Brains, Body, Bones, Energy.

• Wat-Aah! Body is plain, purified water

• Wat-Aah! Brain contains added electrolytes

• Wat-Aah! Energy contains added electrolytes and oxygen

• Wat-Aah! Bones contains added calcium

All four varieties are water that contains absolutely NO sugar, artificial flavors or colors! (more…)

Kellogg’s Pop-Tarts are celebrating their 45th Anniversary, and to commemorate they have teamed up with renowned pop artist Burton Morris, who created the famous coffee cup painting that hung on the “Friends” Central Perk set!   Burton has designed five special edition Pop-Tarts boxes with his fun Pop Art designs.  These boxes can be found in stores everywhere now.

As part of the celebration Burton Morris has also came up with some great tips on how families can be creative together.  His creative tips are fun, easy and inexpensive.  You can visit www.poptarts.com/popart and click on the “Burton Morris and More” tab to get more information.  Below you will see a short clip of Burton Morris talking a bit more about his creative ideas for families.

Right now over at www.poptarts.com/popart Pop-Tarts and Burton Morris are hosting Pop Art T contest.  You and your children can create art on T-shirts featuring one of Burton’s designs or use some of his other ideas to design your own shirt.  You then can enter the shirt you designed into the contest.  You can also vote on your favorite designs.  Each week the shirt that received the most votes will receive a Burton Morris print.  Burton himself will be picking a grand prize winner.  That person will win a day with the artist to tour an art museum, visit Morris’ studio and paint an original work together that the winner can keep.  Pretty cool prize – visit www.poptarts.com/popart to enter!

Disclosure: All of our reviews are honest and forthright.  I received a sample of the product in order to ensure that I was writing about something I have tried first hand and have experience with (thus the honest review part).  You can read the full disclosure policy here.

About Shana:

Shana is a SAHM of three boys and blogs over @ www.my3wisemans.momblogcentral.com

Have you ever opened your washing machine to find an unpleasant odor? Or maybe your linens smell like mildew. It is hard to get your clothes clean and smelling fresh if your washing machine doesn’t smell good. Well, here is a great product that will remove washing machine odor called Smelly Washer!

Smelly Washer eliminates the embarrassment of moldy smelling clothes, towels, and linens. It is a green product that is safe for our environment. It is the only available washing machine cleaner that will remove mold odor or smells of mildew from clothing or towels. So, not only will this product eliminate washing machine smell, it will freshen up your towels and clothing.

Smelly Washer is guaranteed to eliminate washing machine odor by adding just 1 tablespoon to your load. If you would like to try out this wonderful product, Smelly Washer is offering a 10% discount on your order by using this coupon code: afroginmysoup on the order form.

This is truly a great product, and I was excited when they sent me some to try first hand!  Almost all of the new front loading washing machines need to be cleaned regularly (check your instructions to see what the frequency for your machine is) and I really love being able to use an environmentally friendly product to do so!  Just sprinkle a capful in your washer, have the machine agitate it around a bit and turn the machine off overnight so that it can do it’s job.  Then, first thing in the morning, run the rinse cycle and voila, you’re good to go!

With Easter and Passover just a few days away, many of us moms are turning our thoughts to the Holiday meal. Are you looking for a great recipe to add to your menu? What about ideas in using some of the most trusted brands?

MakingLifeBetter.com has lots of great tips and recipes to help you plan that perfect family get together. We all know that things are tough right now and we are watching what spend.

How does saving even more money on that meal sound? Right now you can get up to $20 back on your ham or turkey purchase by mail when you buy $40 in Unilever products during the month of April. Look in the coupons of your Sunday April 5th, paper for all of the details.

Some of the great Unilever products are Shedd’s Spread Country Crock, Bertolli Sauce, Knorr Rice and Pasta Sides, Breyers and Ragú, just to name a few. Be sure to check out MakingLifeBetter.com and your Sunday paper for more Unilever products to help make your Holiday meal a memorable one!

Special thanks to Mom Central for sponsoring this review .