In this household you will hear many many genres of music. I love music and definitely listen to different styles depending on my mood. My guys on the other hand seem particularly drawn to country music, so when I heard about Rascal Flatts’ new release Changed, I knew I had to get in on that and let all of you know about it too.

Although country is not necessarily on the list of music I personally listen to most often, I do love a few artists in particular and Rascal Flatts definitely falls into that category. Their music is inspiring and for the most part uplifting and I love that. Admittedly, when you go into the realm of country, not all of it is necessarily appropriate for kids to really be singing around the house (you know what I mean!), so I love artists that I can trust in that department.

Changed features some amazing songs and is, of course, an excellent album that my oldest son CJ definitely gives a huge thumbs up. He couldn’t wait to play it and kept calling me back into the room to listen to this song or that song that he was enjoying! It was great!!!

Changed is this musical trio’s 8th studio album and is filled with great songs like “Changed” and “Banjo” which are both great songs! Be sure to check out the Banjo video here and grab this album for yourself, if you like country music at all, you’re sure to love it!!!

Disclosure: I received a copy of Rascal Flatts Changed cd as part of a One2One Network campaign. As always, all opinions expressed are solely that of the author and are honest regardless of compensation. You can read our full disclosure policy here. 

Because not every summer day will be nice, it’s just a basic fact that I’ll have to plan many indoor activities to get us through the summer as well. So, the timing of the Redbox Summer of Fun & Games Sweepstakes couldn’t be better!

To celebrate summer fun, Redbox is asking moms, “What’s your family’s favorite video game to play together?” Plus, they are rewarding 2 lucky families with a chance to win $10,000 as part of the Redbox Summer of Fun & Games Sweepstakes.

UPDATED: I just got an email announcing a special surprise…since Redbox is launching Game Rentals today, they are giving 3 of you a chance to win 5 Free Game Rental Codes each! Join the conversation and tell us your favorite family game to be entered to win.

For us, I have found that the favorites change as the kids get older, or even sometimes as they get different gaming platforms. Overall though I’d have to say that the long standing favorites are the Lego video games, especially Lego Star Wars followed closely by Lego Indiana Jones!

So this week’s summer activity tip is creating a fun indoor day for your family to just have a blast playing games!

Put together a box filled with video, card and board games that your family doesn’t get to play often. Keeping it such a rare treat will make any rainy, grumpy or sick day a lot brighter!

With any activity, kids are going to want food, so having plenty of snacks on hand (especially if they kind of go with the theme of the selected games from the box) is a definite must.

Because not all summer days are sunny, and sometimes the kids getting on each other’s nerves, it’s nice to have a fun day planned that will be totally unexpected!

Redbox is celebrating summer family time with a great line up of family-friendly titles, awesome savings and two chances to win $10,000 as part of the Redbox Summer of Fun & Games Sweepstakes.*
4 Easy Ways to Enter:

1.  Enter your email address at www.redbox.com/summer

2.  Rent a movie or game at a redbox kiosk (and provide a valid email address at checkout)

3.  Reserve a rental online at redbox.com

4.  Text ‘SUMMER’ to 727272

Enter to win today!

This is a sponsored conversation written by me on behalf of Redbox. The opinions and text are all mine.

*Each item rented earns one entry, regardless of how long it is rented, up to three entries per day. Limit 3 entries per day, regardless of entry method. The sweepstakes begins May 27, 2011 at 12:00 a.m. CT and ends on August 1, 2011 at 11:59 p.m. CT. No purchase necessary. See official rules at www.redbox.com/summer.

Snow. It’s the one thing that can make life as we know it completely come to a screeching halt. After a long four day weekend for the children, everyone was gearing up for a short 4 day week.

But it was not to be. Although school was in session on Tuesday, with the exception of the high schooler, my boys didn’t go. Apparently, we were some of the few families snowed in at the time so they had decided to go ahead with school… o terrible idea!

As the snow fell continually through the morning, and the power went out in the frigid temperatures, the phone calls to my husband must have been increasing. My concern for our oldest son was definitely not unwarranted as he went to school before the real weather situation was apparent.

Sure enough, school let out early, and since transportation is horribly unreliable on our road in the snow hubby was there to pick him up and cart him around for the rest of the day.

So, in addition to the lovely four day extended weekend we have now had a full winter break that will extend yet another day… at least.  Fun times I tell you, fun times.

Although I enjoy my boys, when we are all enclosed in our miniscule house with freezing temperatures outdoors, sometimes the walls feel like they are closing in a bit. Time to pull out all the miscellaneous craft supplies, games, puzzles and anything else I can find.

Then there’s the laundry.

Can I see a show of hands of mothers who hate laundry in the winter?

Yes, I see you over there sister! The children go outside to frolic in the snow and come back to the house frozen, red nosed, dripping and completely soaked from head to toe about 20 minutes later.

Out of those clothes, into the warm shower, clothes into washer… rinse and repeat about 10 times on a snow day.

Ok, so I’m exaggerating just a smidge. But there’s definitely additional laundry, that’s the plain truth.

And when you have stuffies exploding in your dryer and leaving their lovely filling all about … sigh! I’m just not so sure my dryer will ever be the same……

When I was contacted about the Imagination Movers going on tour around the country I think I held my breath just a little. Ok so I’m making it a tad dramatic, but my 5 year old twins LOVE them and I know that it would be an amazing and memorable event for the twinkies to attend.

I love that they simply “get” that small children love movement, fun songs and lots of color.  I have to admit that Warehouse Mouse is quite possibly an all time fave with my little guys.

They are on tour now so be sure to check out their tour page for details on when they will be coming to a city near you.

There aren’t a lot of events that I would go out of my way to take my little ones to, but knowing how much they love Imagination Movers and also knowing how entertaining any tour they do will be definitely makes me want to take them.

We will be there so maybe just maybe if you see a family with some crazy twins and lots of other boys it might just be us .

Disclosure: The Big Warehouse tour is providing my family with tickets to a local event. As always all thoughts, words and opinions are completely mine and totally honest. You can see my disclosure policy here.

This year I received an iPad for Christmas. For a uber frugal mom that also happens to be a tech lover like me it was such a wonderful and indulgent surprise. In the few days I have owned it, not terribly surprisingly it has become much more frequently used than my computer.

I am, of course, writing this post from my iPad in fact. Since I have used and loved my iPhone for the past two-and-a-half years, I have been more than pleasantly surprised by all the iPad has to offer. Also having been dubbed “Queen of Apps” by my family, it isn’t surprising that I have filled a few pages with apps to try out.

The discovery of one app in particular however, has been an unusual surprise… because this app just happens to to be so revolutionary it is quite possibly not only my favorite app ever, I also believe that it will actually completely change social media as we know it.

I’d like to introduce you all to Flipboard.

Why? you may ask… because, even if you barely know what social media is, this app will change the way you use Facebook, Twitter, feed readers and much more.

As a mom, blogger, business owner and friend, I want to keep up with my friends both online and off. Flipboard allows me to do this all in one place in such a beautiful way (I know that sounds weird, but trust me I wouldn’t say it if it wasn’t true).

I have several of my very favoritest bloggy friends subscribed to on Google Reader, but I simply never have time to login to the reader and go through it. Again, Flipbook comes to my rescue here by offering all the latest content from my favorite feeds in a beautifully laid out magazine format complete with pictures and links.

Ok, about now most of you are probably thinking that this sounds great, but what if you don’t have an iPad? Well, when I said I believe it will revolutionize the future of social media, it’s because I believe that Flipbook will be expanding to most other mobile devices before long.

It’s totally free. If you have an iPad, install and try it out today, you won’t be sorry. If you don’t, be on the lookout for it to come to a device near you soon.

For the first time in 7 years Sarah McLauchlan has just released a brand new album called Laws of Illusion. It’s available today and I can tell you it is beautiful. She is one of my favorite artists and I even have a Sarah McLauchlan “station” on my Pandora app and account.

Her music is soothing, meaningful and simply beautiful… as is her voice. So I was so excited to participate in this project and get my hands on a CD right before the release. Click on the continue reading link to see a video of one of the songs, if you love it make sure you grab a copy of the CD at a local retailer.

Disclosure: I received a copy of the CD Laws of Illusion to review as part of the Sarah McLachlan project with One2One Network. As always this simply gives me an opportunity to present you with an honest review.

What do 20 soft tacos, double trouble twins, a car full of boys and basketball have to do with each other?? In my world that is a trip to see the Harlem Globetrotters.

Heading out right before dinnertime to drop of the twinkies with grandparents and meet my brothers required that we grab a quick bite on the way. Hello Taco Bell and 20 soft tacos for the 6 – 19 year olds.

Yes, based on some rather unpleasant recent experiences when taking the Twinks places we decided not to take them.

So what are double trouble twins?

Actually that’s the nickname my oldest son and youngest brother earned when they were very small. They have been practically inseparable since CJ’s birth and capable of creating a fair amount of mayhem. Even though they are older now they still like to call themselves that.

Where does the basketball come in?

Well, that was the most fun part of all! Every single one of the boys from the 6 year old to the 19 year old and even myself and my husband enjoyed every second of an amazing Harlem Globetrotter’s game!!!!

If you haven’t taken your children to see these guys, DO IT! Don’t hesitate it is entertainment that will NOT soon be forgotten. Every moment of the experience (yep, it is definitely fully an experience) will be cherished and filled with laughter.

So save up to see them the next time they are in a town near you, this is definitely something that I recommend families do!!!

Disclosure: My family was given tickets to attend a Harlem Globetrotters event in a city near us. As always, all opinions are honest and solely those of the author. You can see our full disclosure policy here.

Images provided by the Harlem Globetrotters and used with their permission.

Yep, it’s been a few weeks since I’ve shared a song that is speaking to me, here’s this weeks though. Safe by Phil Wickham from his album Heaven & Earth.  I hope it blesses you today.

My new favorite Christmas song!!! Sung by Audrey Assad on Chris Tomlin’s new Christmas album, Glory in the Highest.

This is another song that I’ve been listening to a lot lately. In the middle of a crisis I hope and pray that I will sing this song!