Today, April 22, 2010 is the 40th anniversary of Earth Day! On Earth Day and Every Day, Native Waters offers Earth-Friendly Alternative to Traditional Bottled Water. “Earth Day is the perfect time to for individuals to adopt environmentally-friendly habits,” said Rodger Cohen, co- founder of Native Waters. “We still believe that recycling is the best solution for the PET plastics that are used in bottled water. However, with 70% of these bottles currently ending up in landfills, Native Water is a practical alternative that can help preserve our planet.”
Native Water is bottled in ENSO Bottles, a biodegradable and recyclable PET plastic bottle. [read more…]
For those of you with an iPhone, iPod Touch or (jealous) an iPad, Family Fun has a great little app for you: the Family Fun Craft Finder App! You can search for crafts by age, time and season, then use the shopping list generator to get yourself a nifty little list of supplies needed for your project. This would be perfect for all the times I’ve found myself ’stopping by’ Michael’s on the way home without a particular purpose besides picking up some fun crafts to keep the kids busy. No more random supplies filling up our art drawers, I will now have a plan for those pipe cleaners and googly eyes! [read more…]
The Deanna Dimarzio Fresh Faces Contest is now open for voting! Visit our FRESH FACES: CAST YOUR VOTE page now to vote for your top boy and top girl choice to be the next cover model for Deanna Dimarzio Photography!
Voting will be open until noon on Saturday, February 20th. Winners will be announced here on South Shore Mamas on Sunday, February 21st!
We’ve got some real cuties, so check them out and get voting! Good luck everyone!
Enter the Care.com Valentine’s Day Contest for your chance to win a romantic trip for two to Los Angeles!
Care.com is hosting a contest in conjunction with New Line Cinema and Warner Bros. Pictures’ film “Valentine’s Day.” Twelve Finalists will receive 2 tickets to see Valentine’s Day the movie, plus a one-month Care.com membership, perfect for finding a movie night baby sitter! One Grand Prize Winner will receive a trip for two to Los Angeles, including round-trip airfare, a two-night stay at SLS Hotel at Beverly Hills, dinner for two at the Bazaar at SLS, and a private VIP tour of the Warner Bros. Studio lot, where Valentine’s Day the movie was filmed!
[read more…]
Local photographer Deanna Dimarzio, owner and founder of Deanna Dimarzio Photography, makes getting that perfect picture of you little ones so much easier by bringing the studio to YOU. Book a portrait session with her and she will bring her mobile studio to the location of your choice, whether it’s your home, a local park or the beach. Check out her online protrait galleries for samples of her amazing work. Deanna photographs children, families and weddings, as well as school dances and sporting events.
Deanna also puts a fun spin on the ordinary portrait session by offering Home Portrait Parties. Invite friends and family to your own home, (or another location of your choice) for a portrait session. Each guest will get a 15-minute photo mini session, and are welcome to bring family members, pets and props. The party host will receive an 8×10, 2 – 5×7’s and 8 wallets just for hosting, and there are no session fees for anyone who attends! The adults get to socialize, the kids get to play, and you get beautiful photographs of your family at the end, what’s better than that! (Clients will be able to view thier photos on Deanna’s website within 2 to 3 days of the party).
FRESH FACES CONTEST!
Right now Deanna is running a FRESH FACES CONTEST and has chosen us to help announce it! (It’s our first contest here at South Shore Mamas, we’re very excited!)
This contest is all about finding a new cover model for Deanna Dimarzio Photography, one boy and one girl. Each winner of this contest will receive a free session, a free 11×14 print, and a $40 gift card to Old Navy to pick out a new outfit for the shoot! [read more…]
I’m one of those people that likes to reorganize the house all the time. I move furniture, I reorganize cabinets, I swap toys and bins from upstairs to downstairs. The coat closet gets changed up at least three times a year. Last week I was looking at the SSM layout and felt like it needed some freshening up, so it got a whole new look!
All the same information is still here, just juggled around a bit. [read more…]
In our house we always seem to end up with doubles of Happy Meal toys, or some that we just don’t want (like the NERF projectiles from a couple months ago for example). Did you know that you can take your unwanted, unopened toys to McDonald’s when they have a prize that the kids DO want, and trade up? How great is that! This morning we traded in our extra Avatar toys for some Alvin & The Chipmunks prizes that were missing from our collection. Woohoo!
I love to take pictures. I constantly annoy the children by pointing a camera in their face at just about every occasion. I take my camera to the park, to the zoo, out for a morning in the snowy yard. I squat down and snap away as they ride bikes, play football, finger paint and color. I’m very annoying.
Thank goodness for digital cameras, because for every 100 pictures I take, I might get 5 good ones. And that’s after they’ve been cropped, centered, and adjusted for the ever-annoying red eye. But the end result, that perfect capture-the-moment photo of my little babies, is always worth it.
I recently read a couple of great blog posts with some helpful advice for getting those perfect photos of your kids. Inspiration: “How to Work with Children… Not Against Them” and Inspiration: “How to Work With Children Part II” , written by Keli Hoskins (Kidnapped by Suburbia). They have some really good advice, and inspirational photos too. I’m definitely going to give some of her ideas a try!
Mommy dilemma: When (and how) to take away the beloved pacifier from your baby/toddler?
My oldest son had a pacifier (his ba-ba) for naps and bedtime until he was three years old. My second child never took a pacifier, which was nice because there was nothing to wean him off of, but he was (and still is) a terrible sleeper. My darling daughter just hit the 18-month-old mark on Christmas Eve and she still takes her ba-ba to naps and at night time. Hubby and I are trying to decide if we should take it away now, or wait…
One problem is, she just learned the name for it. In the middle of the night, or first thing in the morning, we’ll hear a tiny voice saying “Ba-ba? Ere ba-ba?” over and over until one of us comes in to rescue the ba-ba from wherever it fell to.
Also, I’m just dreading the week we actually decide to take the thing away and the ensuing ’rough’ nights because it guarentees I’ll get even less than my nightly 6 and a half hours of sleep. (Hubby could sleep through an earthquake).
Regardless, I’m thinking of options…
The Binky Fairy. Here’s the plan: Gather up all the binkies, put them in a little bag or box, and hang them from a tree in the yard. [read more…]
Let this coming year be better than all the others. Vow to do some of the things you’ve always wanted to do but couldn’t find the time. Call up a forgotten friend. Drop an old grudge, and replace it with some pleasant memories. Share a funny story with someone whose spirits are dragging. Vow not to make a promise you don’t think you can keep. Give a soft answer. Free yourself of envy and malice. Make a genuine effort to stay in closer touch with family and good friends. Find the time to be kind and thoughtful. All of us have the same allotment: 24 hours a day. Think things through. Forgive an injustice. Listen more. Be kind. Apologize when you realize you are wrong. Try to understand a point of view that is different from your own. Few things are 100 percent one way or another. Lighten up. When you feel like blowing your top, ask yourself, “Will it matter a week from today?”. Laugh the loudest when the joke is on you. The sure way to have a friend is to be one. Avoid malcontents and pessimists. They drag you down and contribute nothing. When courage is needed, ask yourself, “If not me, who? If not now, when?” Take better care of yourself. Remember, you’re all you’ve got. Walk tall, and smile more. You’ll look 10 years younger. Don’t be afraid to say, “I love you.” Say it again. They are the sweetest words in the world. If you have love in your life, consider yourself blessed, and vow to make this the best year ever.
~ Ann Landers
