Don't Fret The Sweat!

Unilever, the makers of Degree, Dove and Suave deodorant offers support for these difficult times.. You know the times where your tween or almost tween starts to have funny smells. {Yeah, I've totally hit that time in my life, and I cried when I bought my son his first stick of deodorant a few weeks ago!!}

The tween years are full of changes. Whether or not parents are ready, their kids’ bodies are trying to tell them something. Increased hormones are causing noticeable differences like growth spurts and strange new odors. But don’t let the unexpected stink scare you; it’s just a sign of great things to come.

Unilever - the maker of Degree, Dove and Suave deodorants - wants to ensure parents and kids remain cool, calm and confident throughout the day - especially during those sweat-inducing moments.

Check out Facebook.com/DontFretTheSweat for money saving offers and expert tips, tools and real life stories about how parents are communicating and transitioning their tweens into confident and self-reliant teens.

So, keep your fingers crossed for me, as my son delves head first into the world of smelly pits and crazy hygeine habits. If I make it through the smell coming off of his feet right now, I can survive anything!!

Special thanks to the One2One Network for presenting me with the opportunity to share this promotion with my readers. By posting this article, I have been entered to win a gift card.

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What did you do with your Tax Refund??

So I was talking to a couple of moms under the gazebo this morning about taxes, and what they were planning on using their refunds for, or what they already used their refund on, and was amazed to hear that there were a handful of ladies that hadn't even submitted their taxes yet.

We usually get a decent sized refund, and this year we put it to good use getting some new things for the new house. Beds (and mattresses) for the kids, a new TV, and linens, mostly, but it looks fabulous now. Pretty soon I will post some pictures, so you all know what I've been up to, (since you know I haven't been posting recently).

Anyway, back to the taxes.. While I was at the gazebo, several websites were thrown around but one of the most popular ones that the moms mentioned was TurboTax. We've used different sites through the years, and this year used another brand, but I took a moment to check it out.

Did you know that Turbo Tax is still offering free online e-file? Plus, their platform looks super easy to use, especially for a stay-at-home mom, whose specialty is baking and carpooling. (Ok, that totally sounded like I slammed myself, but let's face it- math was NOT my strong subject in school!) If you need to file an irs extension form 2009, they have all the tools you need to do it there.

So thankfully we got ours done a while ago, and we still have a little left over from our refund, but I have a feeling we will be using whatever is left to balance out the chemicals in the pool.

If you got a refund this year, what are you planning on spending it on? What did you spend it on already? Did you do your taxes yourself using an online program? If so which one?

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Walmart + P&G "Truth Be Told" Family Movie Night

Finding a good family flick is becoming more difficult in today's society. I remember coming home and catching wholesome after school television, and special Friday & Saturday evening movies that I actually looked forward to. My parents and I would sit and eat some snacks and truly enjoy each others company.

If you've been reading 4BabyAndMom for any length of time, you know that I hate most of the "kids" programming on TV. It's either too mature, too immature, or just 'fluff', in my opinion. With four kids in the 4BabyAndMom family, (ranging from 5 to 10), finding programs that are suitable for all of the age groups is also quite the feat.

It's gotten to the point that we've purchased old school cartoons & movies from Amazon and Ebay to help re-create those Family Movie Nights with-in our own families.

Tomorrow, Walmart and P&G are presenting "Truth Be Told", a family friendly movie night starring Candace Cameron Bure, Ronny Cox, and David James Elliott. I remember Candace Cameron Bure from her role on "Full House", and was eager to see how she played this role. Thanks to Mom Central, we had the opportunity to have a sneak peek at this film before it's official debut.

A love story with a twist, this family friendly flick has something for everyone. An underlining theme of the consequences for telling lies is affluent throughout the movie, and a great lesson for children of all ages. The movie touches on a bunch of real life issues from blended families, to doing "what it takes" to obtain a job, to loyalty and the respect of marriage and family.

Overall, I was very pleased with the movie. There was a brief moment where the little ones had to turn away because of a spooky part, but it lasted no more than a couple of moments. There was no inappropriate touching or sexual scenes, but the chemistry between Candace Cameron Bure and co-star (and hunk!) David James Elliot was definitely there. Again, this movie is a very cute family movie that I highly recommend catching tomorrow evening.

I will warn you that the story line is a little predictable for the adults, and similar to recent movies that have been in theaters over the last year or so (ie: The Proposal) but for a primetime movie on FOX- definitely worth it.

Check out the trailer here:


Feel free to share some of the ways your family enjoys movies or television together. In conjunction with the movie theme, you may also talk about ways you've discussed lying with your children such as: When is it OK to lie? Or even - where's the line between a little white lie and a regular lie?

Be sure to catch "Truth Be Told" on FOX, Saturday April 16 at 8pm EST. For more information, check out the Family Movie Night Facebook page here.

Special thanks to our friends at Mom Central and P&G for the opportunity to screen this movie before its release.




“I wrote this review while participating in a blog tour campaign by Mom Central Consulting on behalf of P&G and received a movie kit to facilitate my review and a gift code to thank me for taking the time to participate.”

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When is enough, enough?

You read everywhere that moms are usually on the go-go-go. From grocery shopping, to driving the kids back and forth to school, to the cleaners, to the pharmacy and back again, "on the go" moms appear to be super-mom's that all of the 'other' moms aspire to be like.

But what's the story behind them? Who are they really? What is their go-go-go mentality hiding?

As a mom of two, ages 8 & 5, I find myself "on the go" a lot, but not nearly as much as many of my friends. Both of the kids are in baseball/tee-ball this season, I'm the PTA secretary and always at an event, meeting, or trying to organize a future event, plus this season I'm running the carpool. Not to mention the "normal" responsibilities of laundry, dishes, cooking, cleaning, etc. In the middle of all of that, we've "officially" started the move, but are in limbo between two houses right now, redesigned our review and receiving department, and are thinking of taking on another mom to help out part time since Marissa has been concentrating on graduating with Honors this semester. Yeah, life is hectic.

For me, I run because I hate the chaos of it all. I'm afraid that if I stay still long enough the stress will get to me and I will utterly collapse. That being said, I do try to unwind a little over the weekend, because otherwise I'm a bitch on wheels, and that's not fair to the husband or the kids.

What really gets me is that at the end of the day, my husband still asks, "So, what did you get done today?", and I still have no answer for him. Yes, I did some laundry, but it's still in the dryer, the food is cooked and eaten, and the kids are in one piece, fed, watered, clothed and in bed, but I still have no idea what I did, aside from racing around in the figure 8 that is my world right now.

So my question to you is: Are you a mom that's on the run? Why do you keep yourself on the go? If you stopped, what would you find? For the "seasoned" parents reading this, how do you successfully balance everything?

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5 Minutes for Mom's Ultimate Blog Party is going on NOW!

For all of my readers that have a blog, run, don't walk over to 5MinutesForMom and join in on the festivities! Expand your network, learn new things, enter to win fabulous prizes.. what are you waiting for??

Be sure to follow @5minutesformom and watch hashtag #UBP11 on Twitter so you don't miss a thing!

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Yoplait Kids-Affordable, Delicious Snack for Kids of All Ages! Coupon, Review + Giveaway

I have a crazy sensitivity to artificial sweeteners, most give me a migraine that could kill a cow. Seriously. My thoughts on the subject is basically if that's what happens to me, what are they doing to my kids??

So, I'm the crazy lady that stands at the grocers counter to read every single ingredient, until I found Yoplait Kids. With an excellent source of both calcium and vitamin D, a good source of protein and the delicious taste kids demand, Yoplait Kids is perfect for our family. It also contains 25% less sugar than the leading kids’ yogurt, and has no high fructose corn syrup, artificial colors, flavors or sweeteners whatsoever.
What I love even more than the great health benefits, is that Yoplait Kids is a great value at just $2.00 for a pack of four, and it comes in three delicious flavors, including Strawberry, Strawberry Banana and Vanilla. Kids will love finding their favorite friends, like Dora the Explorer, (Abbie's favorite!!), Lightning McQueen from the hit movie “Cars” and the Disney Princesses, on every cup.

I've yet to see the princesses on any of the packages in my area, but I'm willing to bet that you all will hear my little lady shreik when she finds them! I typically don't buy food items with characters on them for my kids (yes, 'mean mom', I know..) but honestly, most of "those" products are filled with zero nutritional value, and usually make my kids hyper. They know that if they do get something with characters on it, it's typically a treat. With the Yoplait Kids, they not only getting something fun, but they're getting something nutritious. No matter which way you look at it, it's a win-win. Plus, right now you can print out a $0.50 coupon here, and save when you buy a four pack.

Our friends at MyBlogSpark and Yoplait have put together a great prize pack to help encourage choosing healthy snack options for children, and offered one lucky reader  their chance to WIN!

GIVEAWAY:

One winner will receive a coupon for any variety of the Yoplait Kids yogurt products, along with a Yoplait Kids prize pack. Perfect for accompanying this fun everyday snack, the Yoplait Kids prize pack includes a coupon for Yoplait Kids yogurt, a foldable travel cooler (to take your yogurt on-the-go), a cool four-piece spoon set, a power magnet picture frame, trendy alphabet-shaped “Kiddie Bands”, a great big bounce ball and a “My First Scavenger Hunt” card game for some after-snack fun.

Here's How:

Share with us a great way that you help encourage healthy snacking. What kind of fun food creations do you make and serve your child? Can your child smell a veggie a mile away? Tell us!

Extra Entry Opportunities:

Please leave a separate comment for each entry & include your email address in your comment.

• LIKE the 4BabyAndMom Facebook Fan Page
• Visit Yoplait on Facebook and LIKE their page
• Grab our button and post it to your website or blog. **If you already have our button, please double check the code to make sure it directs to www.4BabyAndMom.com ** 5 EXTRA!!
• Write a post on your blog and link it back to our review. Leave the link so we can check it out and share some comment love! **5 EXTRA!!
• Create your own tweet or R/T the message below, or use the Share button at the bottom of this post to Tweet on Twitter (two per day, spaced out, please)

@YoplaitYogurt gives Kids Healthy Snack Options *Review*Giveaway*Coupon* http://bit.ly/gcMzNd Ends 4/8 #myblogspark

• Follow 4BabyAndMom publicly through Google Friends/Blogger, new friends only, please.
• Bookmark this giveaway on any social media bookmarking site and leave a link back.

CONGRATULATIONS TO OUR WINNER!!

This giveaway is open to residents of the US. One winner will be chosen using Random.org. Contest ends at 11:59pm EST on the date specified. A Yoplait prize pack (including coupon) was provided to us by MyBlogSpark and Yoplait in order to facilitate our review, and will be supplying the winner an identical prize pack.

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