August 26: National Heroes Day!

Are you aware of this day? Do you still remember all our national heroes who have made a big difference for our country's freedom?

Some of the Filipinos today tend to forgot to commemorate and redo all the heroic acts of our national Heroes. They fail to remember that even a simple act of kindness can be considered as a heroic act.

Just like what EFREN PEÑAFLORIDA does. He is a hero awarded in which he advocates to support the education of the children who are greatly in need.

You too can be like Him! You too can be a Hero in your own way!

Here are your Seven (7) Steps of becoming a champion:

(1) Be Optimistic. You cannot win if you don't believe you can win. Your mind and outlook have an incredible impact on your performance.

(2) Identify your natural talents. Everybody is different, some people are naturally better at certain things than others. A champion knows what their gifts are and seek to develop them.

(3) Discipline Yourself. People who win a lot are often very good at self-discipline. They can develop a plan and follow it, and maintain motivation and will power.

(4) Practice makes perfect. Keep trying until you have reached the level you want to be at, and then keep working to maintain that level. Repetitions become instinct or muscle memory.

(5) Don't get disheartened when you lose. If you keep trying your time will come. Nothing sucks worse than losing, so fear of losing or resent of past losses should motivate you to "go the extra mile" in your training.

(6) When you do eventually win, congratulate other participants. Remember no one likes a bad winner or a bad loser! Also important to remember, winning is not the end of it, unless you don't intend to keep doing whatever it is you have become a champion at.

(7) MOST IMPORTANTLY, HAVE FUN! Losing sucks, but if you sacrifice what makes you enjoy doing something just to be good at it, there's not much of a point to it anymore, unless you're doing it for a living... Then you've gotta grind it out or find a new profession.

We Love Handmade Birthday Bash Giveaway!

Welcome to the We Love Handmade Birthday Bash Giveaway hosted by To Sew With Love and co-hosted by To Cook With Love and Stay at Home Mommie. 

  For this giveaway, there will not just be 1 winner but 5 winners! There is a Blogger/Shop Owner Prize Package, a Crafter's Prize Package, and two open to all prize packages. You can, of course, enter to win all prize packages! 
I am thrilled to join this giveaway with lots of awesome prizes at stake winners have a higher chances to win.
This giveaway will end on August 30, 11:59 PM EST and is open worldwide, 18+. This giveaway is void where prohibited. Good luck and enjoy!
For the open to all prize packages, there are three packages to be won! (There's still a blogger or handmade shop prize package worth $135 to be won HERE. So if you have a blog or a handmade shop, you might want to enter this giveaway, too!)
For the crafters and DIYers out there, here's the prize package for you!

Crafter Prize Package: - your choice of 2 Ruby Jean's Closet sewing patterns - $10 GC + FS to Motto Miquette  -  a crochet hat pattern from Hover Creations - the Sweet Digital Scrapbook kit by Tracy Ann Digital Art - a set of 18 place cards/mini cards by Whimsy Pics

Open to all Prize Package 1: - your choice of Babee Crafts infant's onesie or tee valued at $20 + FS - 2 Emma Bemma's Bows and Accessories' shabby chic chiffon metal headbands valued at $12 each + FS  - a fabric birthday crown by AmieAnn @ Pinkapotamus - amethyst ring + FS from Priscilla's Jewelry - your choice of one wristlet clutch by Fifi @ About Blogging Time - your choice of 2 crochet hats of any size by Y-Creations

Open to all Prize Package 2: - $10 GC to Edor - $10 GC to Claire de Lune Jewel - $10 GC to Michabella - your choice of vintage ring by Virginia @ Flypaint - 2 earrings + FS from Thrifty Bunny - a necklace, earrings and bracelet set valued at $20 + FS by HelloK Charms
And as a bonus, one lucky entrant will win a $25 GC to SV Soaps.com

To win any of the 4 prize packages mentioned above, enter through the Rafflecopter form below:

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Disclaimer: An email address is required to enter. Giveaway will end at 11:59 EST on August 30, 2012. The winner will be chosen randomly through Rafflecopter Random Selector and contacted via email. A reply to the winning email is required within 48 hours before a new winner is chosen. The winner's entries will be verified -- please make sure you follow the instructions and submit the entries correctly. Only one person per household may enter. You do NOT have to be a blogger to enter. Open worldwide, ages 18+. This giveaway is in NO way sponsored, endorsed or administered by, or associated with Facebook, Twitter, Picket Fences, Pinterest, etc. Information collected is NOT collected by these sites. In signing up for this promotion, participants release and indemnify aforementioned sites from all liability. By entering this contest, you may be choosing to opt in to newsletters and other emails from To Sew With Love, To Cook With Love and/or it’s sponsors, opting out of emails does not jeopardize your chances of winning. To Sew with Love and other participating blogs are not responsible of shipping the giveaway prize. 

Joy of Green Cleaning Giveaway!

This Review/Giveaway is done by Kathy's Freebies & Savings

Do you enjoy keeping the environment clean by being green? I've recently been trying to be as green as possible. I love to help keep the environment clean, and save energy. I always recycle everything that I can. The one thing I have trouble with, is green cleaning products. They always seem to be more expensive. I'm happy to introduce to you The Joy of Green Cleaning by Leslie Reichert.

Leslie Reichert's mission is to teach and encourage others in the art of green homekeeping. She is the founder and president of The Green-Clean University. Leslie helps teach simple steps to keep families and pets safe from hidden toxins and health risks.

The Joy of Green Cleaning has many recipes to make green household products. I figured that since i'm reviewing the book, I might as well test out one of the recipes. I chose to try the baking soda scrubbing paste. It only requires three ingredients, and those are baking soda, dish soap, and water. I used this on my bathroom sink counter top. I had a spot on the counter top that needed to be cleaned off, so I thought this would work out perfectly. After mixing all the ingredients together, I took a sponge and started scrubbing. It worked out wonderful! The spot was completely gone. I love that these recipes are all green. I'll be using many more recipes in the near future. I can't wait to try them all out!

If you enjoy cleaning the green way, then I would recommend checking out ,The Joy of Green Cleaning. What a great way to clean your house without toxins, and save money as well. A helpful tool for all moms out there who wants to have a cleaner and greener home plus it's budget friendly.;)Most of your ever day products are used in these recipes. For a low price of $10 you can order your Green Cleaning book today.

They have offered one of my readers a book for free! All you have to do is enter in the rafflecopter below! Good Luck to everyone!

    a Rafflecopter giveaway

Back to Preschool Blast Giveaway!

Back to school is right around the corner for many children. There is excitement in the air!

But this excitement can be lost on the younger child(ren) in the family. 

This Giveaway has been put together with those older toddlers and preschoolers in mind. 

Do you have a young child in your family who would like some great art supplies, games and an educational DVD? Would you like some learning activities to work on with your child? Well read on to see what you could win. 

Tots and Me along with my co-host Baby Costcutters and a bunch of great bloggers are excited to bring you this great giveaway.

First of all there are going to be 

5 winners!!

The Grand Prize Pack is worth $368 and includes all these great prizes:

 

You can read my review of Crayon Rocks here.

Crayon Rocks has graciously supplied a 16 Count Bag of the winners choice.

  

You can read my review of For Small Hands' 3D Feel and Find Wooden Game here.

For Small Hands is donating a 3D Feel and Find Wooden Game.

You can read my review of Rock 'N Learn's Dance with the Animals here, and their brand new DVD Sight Words 2 here.

Rock 'N Learn is letting the winner choose which DVD or CD they would like.

Additionally, you can head over right now and use this coupon code JQ7711 for 25% off DVD's or CD's on the Rock 'N Learn Site.

 

You can read my review of The Orb Factory's Magnetic Mosaics My First Picture Maker here.

The Orb Factory will give the winner their own My First Picture Maker.

  

You can read my review of Blue Orange Games' Tell Tale Fairy Tales and Spot It! Jr Animals here.

Blue Orange games is graciously supplying both Tell Tale Fairy Tales and the Wooden Game CooCoo the Rocking Clown.

You can read my review of Early Expert Spanish Online Subscription here.

Early Expert Spanish is offering a 1 full year subscription of their interactive Spanish.

You can read my review of Endless Games' A Bee C Matching Game here.

Endless Games is supplying the winner with their very own A Bee C Matching Game.

You can read my review of Teach My Toddler All-In-One Kit here.

Teach My is offering the winner their choice of All-In-One Kit.

You can choose from Teach My Baby, Teach My Toddler or Teach My Preschooler.

You can read my review of Frecklebox.com here

There are so many great personalized gifts to choose from and the winner will get a $40 Gift Card to go shopping at frecklebox.com.

You can read my review of The Creativity Institute's Gulf Alive CD/Coloring Book Set here.

The Creativity Institute has offered this same set to the winner.

You can read my review of What Children Need to Learn to Read here.

Learner's Lane has offered to give the winner a copy of the book and the CD with the music and rhymes from the book.

I have not yet received the Doodle Roll due to some unforeseen circumstances. I will review it as soon as I can.

But you can check out their site to learn a bit about them. I have heard they have a new product out, which is the item I was going to be receiving for review and giveaway.

Doodle Roll is supplying one of their new Doodle Roll Products.

Starfall.com is offering a 1 month free preview of more.starfall.com

I will be doing a review of more.starfall.com soon.

My girls have used it for a year and a half and they love it.

Additionally these wonderful bloggers have donated some great prizes to the Grand Prize Pack

Discovery Toys Mom has donated a Discovery Toys Giant Pegboard

Mary's Cup of Tea has donated 2 Wee Can Too Edible Fingerpaints.

Leetle Baby has donated School House Rock Earth DVD

and

Mommy Bear Media has donated a $10 Gift Code to mommybearmedia.com

Additionally I would like to extend my thanks to the following bloggers for helping to supply a $25 Gift Card 

(store to be determined)

Oliver's Labels-By Jennifer, Mom to Grandma, Zephyr Hill, Stuff I Love,  Love, Peace and Tiny Feet

But that's not all! Some of these great sponsors have offered to supply additional items toward a 2nd Place Prize Pack.

Crayon Rocks is offering a 8 count bag of Crayon Rocks.

The Orb Factory is offering Magnetic Mosaics Metal Jr. 

Blue Orange is offering Spot It! Jr animal.

Doodle Roll is offering another new Doodle Roll

Teach My is offering a single Teach My Preschooler Kit.

Learner's Lane is offering an additional copy of What Children Need to Learn to Read.

Early Expert is offering an additional 1 yr subscription.

More.starfall.com is offering another 1 month free preview.

3 Additional Winners will also receive a 1 month Free Preview of more.starfall.com

To enter this giveaway just complete the tasks in the Rafflecopter below. Please make sure you actually complete the task if you say that you do as I will be verifying. This giveaway will run until August 25th at 11:59 pm and is open to US residents 18 and over. 

Sing Loud Cd Review/Giveaway

This Review/Giveaway is done by Kathy's Freebies & Savings

Another great giveaway to enter and this time it's not for kids only but for the whole family to enjoy it! I don't think that I could ever live without music. Music is such an important part of my life. My family and I listen to music every day. My kids are always getting in to the music by dancing and singing along. It's great to find songs that are appropriate for my daughters, as well as sounding good. Usually I listen to pop, rap, country, hip hop, rock, and more. My kids usually listen to the same thing, since they are still young. They can't really decide what they really love yet.

I was given opportunity to review the Sing Loud cd by Melissa Green. Melissa Green taught preschool in New York City for two years before her music career. She has been writing and performing music for families for nearly a decade. The Sing Loud cd has a list of twelve songs, with a run time of 34 minutes.

• Baby I Love You
• Sing Loud
• Four Nickles and a Dime
• The Playdate
• Get Up
• Aboard That Train
• Free to Be... You and Me
• Two Birds
• Heyo
• We Got the Beat
• My Love
• Will I Dream in Colors?

I really enjoyed the music. It's a great family cd. My children were dancing along with the music and having so much fun. One of my favorite songs was We Got the Beat. I'm sure you have all hear this song before right? Melissa makes this song sound wonderful! I loved many of her songs. They really are great songs for my children. Every time I put the cd in, I would find them dancing along. I would reccomend this cd for anyone that has young children.

You can order your own Sing Loud cd for just $12.99. Melissa has a few other cd's as well, that may interest you. Wouldn't you love to win this cd for yourself? Well, they have offered to give one cd away to one of my readers! Just enter in the rafflecopter below for a chance to win!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

20 YEARS OF MOOSE GEAR WELCOMES ZAIJAN JARANILLA TO ITS FAMILY

Moose Gear celebrates 20 years of being one of the leading brands in kids fashion. It has definitely gone a long way when it began as it now has the Moose Girl line for girls.

Through the years, Moose Gear has established itself as one of the trendsetters in children’s fashion. This is due in large part to the quality of its pieces and how it has provided up-to-date designs with a wide array of selections that both moms and kids alike love. The material Moose Gear uses are made of 100% cotton fabrics that feel good on the skin. Its collection ranges from loose shirt and polos, button down polo shirts and jackets that come in classic shades to fun shades, loose and tight-fit denim jeans, and shorts in plaid and cargo styles perfect for active boys who play a lot. Boys really need clothes that can withstand their rough and tumble world. Clothes like Moose Gear are built for boys.

Moose Girls clothes, on the other hand, offer the latest in young female wear. The Moose Girl line showcases the hippest tween trends as the selection offers pieces embellished with sparkles and sequins. These come in bright, happy colors, with top quality graphics for fashion tops, stylish shorts, leggings, pants, and skirts, which every girl want.

Aside from its fashionable clothes for kids Moose Gear and Moose Girl are also known for their brand ambassadors. The brands have been family to a lot of Goin’ Bulilit kids such as Nash Aguas, Sharlene San Pedro, Mika Dela Cruz, Angelo Garcia, Aaron Junatas. At present, its brand ambassadors are Bugoy Carino, Izzy Canillo, Xyriel Manabat, Blythe Gorostiza and ChaCha Cañete. And now on its 20th year, the latest addition to the Moose Gear family is no less than Zaijan Jaranilla.

Zaijian‘s popularity soared to great heights when he played the role of Santino in ABS-CBN’s top-rating teleserye, "May Bukas Pa." He also starred in “Noah” and “Ikaw Ay Pag-ibig.” Zaijian is indeed perfect for the brand that also exudes his wholesome and playful personality. Now, he plays the lead role in “Lorenzo’s Time.”

Moose Gear is available in all SM and other leading department stores nationwide. Visit its Facebook fanpage, www.facebook.com/moosegear for more product info.

World Friendship Day!

The United Nations has recently declared the 30th of July to be the official International Friendship Day. Several countries in Asia, however, use the first Sunday in August as Friendship Day, since that was the earliest date proposed. The reason there are two dates for Friendship Day is that it was separately created at two different times by two different people.

On this day, people around the world celebrate friendship by giving gifts and throwing parties with their friends. Traditionally, cards and flowers are exchanged, as well as hand-woven friendship bracelets. World Friendship Day has become even more popular with the advent of new technologies spreading it far and wide. With cell phones and social networks, it’s easier than ever to say hi to friends!

How do you keep a friendship going? Here are some strategies that can be use:

1. Use Facebook, Twitter, or other social media. One of the biggest obstacles to keeping friendships going is time.

2. Show up. Nothing can replace seeing someone in person. Go to a party, go to a wedding, go to a funeral, visit a newborn baby, make a date for lunch, stop by someone’s desk. Make the effort.

3. Make the effort to say "This made me think of you." We’re all busy, and keeping in touch can feel like a lot of work. One strategy that works for me is to write “this made me think of you” emails whenever I see something of interest to a friend.

4. Think about what's fun for you. People like to socialize in different ways. Maybe your friends like to go out drinking on Friday nights, or to go to the movies, but if that’s not fun for you, suggest different plans.

5. Don’t expect friendship to happen spontaneously. As with many aspects of happiness, people often assume that friendship should flow easily and naturally, and that trying to "work" on it is forced and inauthentic. Sometimes friendships naturally arise, but sometimes they don’t.

A YugaTech Giveaway: "Own this Sony Xperia P"

This is the first time i write a blog post giveaway about a gadget and am thrilled because i too joined this fab giveaway at yugatech.com and want to share u also out there so you can too join that makes us happy both lol. ;) But seriously i have a long desire to win a gadget i have so many contests that i am joining but none of these are lucky or i am not lucky enough to win i hope one day it would be good to be true. I want to win this Sony Xperia P because of the one feature i love most about it is the 8megapixel that sure enough to capture impressive photos and videos i need not to worry even i don't have a new cam in handy but with Sony Xperia P,i can capture every single moment together with my son. And here's the giveaway link for you too to join.;)