Raising Girls with Discovery Girls **giveaway**

I have two daughters.  That's really no secret here.  They are almost 11 and 7.5 and every day is a challenge to make sure they grow up happy, healthy, wise, respectful, with a realistic view of the world without hiding from them until they are grown or totally freaking them out.  It's.  A challenge.

That's one of the reasons I have come to love Discovery Girls magazine.  I feel that like content is realistic, enjoyable, and appropriate for them to sit and read.  I also think that the magazine and their new Fab Girls Guides help put girls at ease about things they might not feel like talking about all day long.

 My youngest daughter is on the tween horizon.  She peruses the magazine but not with the intensity that my 10.9999 year-old does.  My oldest is in middle school.  I feel we have a great relationship, but I know sometimes it's easier to read about why your friends are catty and rude than it is to rehash the day with your Mom.  That's where these materials really have value for me.

Both girls loved the 10th Anniversary Collector's Edition and read it together on a long car ride up north.  Even sisters are allowed to enjoy quizzes and reading about other girls' embarrassing moments together, and that made Mom very happy.

I have an opportunity to share these great items with you and I am excited to do so!  Today's giveaway includes:

• 1 complimentary year subscription to the magazine (a $20 value!)
• 1 set of our Fab Girls book set ($40)
• 1 10-Year Anniversary Collector's Edition, which will encompass 10 years of the best content from our magazine! ($10)!

To enter you must "like" My Life of What Ifs on Facebook.  Then leave me a comment below stating that you do in fact, "like" me and who you would share these lovely prizes with.  Daughter?  Granddaughter?  Sister?  Niece?

You can earn another entry by "liking" Discovery Girls magazine on Facebook too, and leaving a separate comment telling me you did so.  Make sure any and all entries contain your email or a way to contact you.

So, like away.  Leave a comment or two and good luck raising your daughters, no matter how old they are or how many you have.  Luck is always needed, and appreciated.

Disclosure: This review was made possible by Mom Spark Media, all thoughts are my own. Contest ends Friday, September 16 at 11:59 pm ET.  Winner will be chosen at random through Random.org.

Totino´s says "Learn a Ton when School is Fun" **giveaway**

It's funny the memories that stand out from childhood.  One of my fondest memories was going across the street to my Grandma's house whenever my Mom and Step-Dad went out, had to work, etc. because on those nights we always had Totino's pizza rolls for dinner and I got a big glass of Pepsi with ice.  We would sit and watch TV eating our pizza rolls (with salt, shhh) and drinking our pop.  Good times.

Totino's Pizza Rolls are still something I keep on hand as a treat for my kids when we are pressed for time, or just for fun.  They are extremely valuable when you have extra kids for the night too.

This school year, Totino´s® is partnering with Box Tops for Education and giving away one million Bonus Box Tops (equivalent to $100,000) to help bring fun ideas to life both inside and outside of the classroom, through the "Learn a Ton when School is Fun" sweepstakes:

• This school year, four participating schools in the Box Tops for Education (BTFE) program will each win 250,000 Bonus Box Tops, equivalent to $25,000, from Totino´s to help fund a fun project at their school. Visit www.BTFE.com/Totinos to view official sweepstakes rules.
• You can start, or continue, to earn cash for your kid´s school by collecting Box Tops coupons from hundreds of products, including Totino´s.
• AND this back-to-school season, Totino´s^® Party Pizza^® and Pizza Rolls^® Snacks will feature double Box Tops on select varieties, to help you earn even more for your kid´s school!

Fun is an essential part of learning. Continue to help make your kid´s learning environment more fun and exciting by taking advantage of these simple opportunities from Totino´s - enter the "Learn a Ton when School is Fun" sweepstakes for your chance to win 250,000 Bonus Box Tops, and serve up a quick and delicious after-school snack with Totino´s Party Pizza and Pizza Rolls Snacks,  while collecting double Box Tops from each.

Totino's through MyBlogSpark provided me with an awesome pack of games and free coupons and I have one to give away to you!

The Totino´s "Learn a Ton when School is Fun" prize pack includes a Brain Quest Smart! Game, Micro Rubik´s^® Cube Key Holder and draw string backpack, and coupons for a free package of Totino´s Pizza Rolls Snacks, Totino´s Party Pizza and new Totino´s Pizza Stuffers.

You can enter to win this awesome Totino's prize pack one of three ways.  If you choose any or all methods you have to submit separate comments all containing your email address for the additional entries.  You can:

• Share in a comment what type of fun project you would use the 250,000 Bonus Box Tops ($25,000 value) to fund if you won the Totino´s "Learn a Ton when School is Fun" sweepstakes.
• Share one of your fun memories from when you were in school and how you could help to create a similar experience at your child´s school
• "Like" the Totino´s Facebook page, and please leave a comment here to notify me that you are a fan.

Be sure to visit the Totino´s website, Totino´s on Facebook, and the Box Tops for Education Sweepstakes website.

And if you wondered why schools collect Box Tops in the first place.  Here's a video (and more will appear on the You Tube sidebar) from a Totino´s Fun-Atic! Totino's Fun-Atics are Box Tops Coordinators who are bringing fun to their local schools.

Disclosure: The information and prize pack has been provided by Totino´s through MyBlogSpark.  Contest ends Wednesday, September 14 at 11:59 pm ET.

Shout out to eat out and get a Chili's Triple Dipper!!

One of the things that has happened quite frequently since I've gone back to work full time is that we eat out.  A lot.

The last six weeks of school or so, at least in our house, are insane.  Soccer practices, soccer games, field trips, band concerts, field day, girls scout parties, and so on, and so on.  It doesn't leave much time to plan a meal or to actually cook one.  So we often find ourselves out at the same restaurant, ordering the same things.

But last Saturday we were surprised to have our oldest gone until about 9 p.m. and our youngest gone for the night, so we went to Chili's and found out that good things do come in three's so we ordered the new Triple Dipper appetizer.

My three favorite things to have on one plate are steak, mashed potatoes and something gooey and chocolate, but since I was sharing with my husband we picked boneless buffalo bites, potato skins, and southwestern egg rolls.  Oh.  My.  Goodness.  Look at that!  It's a meal, in and of itself!  Oh and we had a dip for each, talk about Yum!

In addition to the Triple Dipper I also had a Top Shelf Raspberry Margarita and the Fajita Trio.  Needless to say I rolled myself home.

I would love for you to have an opportunity to roll yourself home too, so I am offering up a $20 Chili's gift card so you can Shout Out to Eat Out and see that Good Things Do Come in Three's and then enjoy a Chili's Triple Dipper of your own.



All you have to do to win the $20 Chili's gift card is fill in the name of my blog- My Life of What Ifs in the google doc field below, click submit, and then leave me a comment stating that you did so!

You can earn extra entries by doing any of the following, just be sure to leave a comment for EACH entry.

• Tell me your 3 favorite foods you would like to have all on 1 plate.
• "Like" Chili's on Facebook 
• Follow @Chilis & @Shoutout2eatout on Twitter
• Create your terrific trio located on http://www.shoutouttoeatout.com/ and comment with the URL link
• Opt-In to Chili's email club here http://bit.ly/m6HYef (You'll receive a free appetizer certificate too!)
• Tweet this "At @Chilis Good Things Come In 3's! Check out @2Wired2Tired http://bit.l/linkyrave for 200 chances to win in the #tripledipper linky rave!”
• Write a post on your blog about your 3 favorite foods you would like to have all on 1 plate and mention the Shoutout2eatout.com promotion. Then comment with the URL link.

Good Luck, enjoy and don't forget to fill in the name of my blog below! 

Contest ends Sunday, June 12 at 11:59:00 p.m ET.  Winner will be chosen via random.org and will have 48 hours to respond or another winner will be chosen.

I was given a $20 virtual Chili's gift card to try the new Triple Dipper and a $20 gift card to give away.  All opinions expressed are mine and mine alone.

I tried the new Wendy's Pick 2 menu and you can too!!! GIVEAWAY!

Last week I was invited to an awesome luncheon at the Wendy's on Northwestern Hwy in Southfield.  A bunch of us Michigan Bloggers all gathered together to try out the new Wendy's Pick 2 menu.  We had a great time getting to know each other and talking about this great opportunity to try something new.

There are 28 different combinations you can walk away with with this new menu.  For me, I opted for a half BLT Cobb Salad with Avocado Ranch dressing and a baked potato.  My dear friends Tonya and Amy who attended with me, went with the Apple Pecan salad and they both said it was fantastic.  One complimented their salad with a baked potato and one with a side of chili.  Isn't this fun?

It was a great opportunity to see the faces behind the words and avatars I have been following for some time now, and I hope we meet up again soon.

Here's a pic of the whole group, I am the floating head third from the right. :)

I have an awesome opportunity for a lucky reader to try the new Wendy's Pick 2 menu as well.  I am giving away a Wendy's gift card and you can enter two ways:

1. "Like" My Life of What Ifs on Facebook, then return here and leave a comment telling me you did so!
2. Leave another comment telling me what your Wendy's Pick 2 combo would look like.

If you only want to enter once then you can combine the above actions.  If you already "Like" MLWI just leave me a comment saying that you're a MLWI Liking Pioneer!!!!  Just kidding.  Kind of.

One winner will receive a $7 Wendy's gift card to purchase your own Pick 2 Combo.  It's a beautiful thing.  Right?

See more of our lunch in my whrrl story below!

More check-ins at Wendy's

Powered by Whrrl

Contest runs through 11:59 p.m. on Sunday, October 24,2010.  Only residents of U.S. and Canada may enter, and must be 18 or older to win.

Disclosure:  I am working with TheMotherhood and Wendy's, and they purchased my lunch, provided a giveaway and have compensated me for my time.  However, all opinions expressed in this post are my own.

Say Boo to the Flu Winners!!!!!

It's time to announce the two Say Boo to the Fly contest winners!!! Each recipient will receive a flu prevention gift basket (with Clorox hand sanitizer, disinfecting wipes, a $25 Target gift card, a trick-or-treat bag with goodies like Silly Bandz, etc).

The two winners per random.org are......
Random Integer Generator
Here are your random numbers:
10
6
Timestamp: 2010-10-18 15:02:49 UTC

Comment # 10 is....
js22 said...
I pledged. Hope someone has cheap flu shots!
Thanks for the giveaway!
email in blogger profile.
October 17, 2010 2:16 PM

and comment #6 is...
MOMFOREVERANDEVER said...
took the pledge
October 9, 2010 7:23 PM

Thanks so much everyone for entering!!!!!

Don't forget to say Boo to the Flu AND WIN!!!!!

Don't forget about the Say Boo to the Flu event in Troy on Saturday.

Fox News Detroit even did a segment about this great event!

And now, to add a cherry to the top I am offering a super cool Say Boo to the Flu giveaway!!!!

Just visit the Say Boo to the Flu website and take the pledge to vaccinate your family against the flu.

Once you take the pledge come back to My Life of What Ifs and leave me a comment!  Two lucky commenters, chosen at random, will each win a flu prevention gift basket (with Clorox hand sanitizer, disinfecting wipes, a $25 Target gift card, a trick-or-treat bag with goodies like Silly Bandz, etc).
So take the pledge!!!!!  This is an awesome event!

Winners must be in the U.S. and 18 years of age or older.

Disclosure:  I am working with TheMotherhood and The Clorox Company, and they have compensated me for my time.  However, all opinions expressed in this post are my own.

Girls' Life Guides: 'tween-appropriate and a giveaway

I am the mom of a tween.  I have the mentality of an older sister. 

So, while I am trying very hard to have an honest, we-can-talk-about-anything kind of relationship with my oldest daughter, I am also killing myself on the inside so that I appropriately tell her that the hand-me-down padded bra she received from her older cousin isn't quite necessary yet for her barely-there buds.  And I resist the urge to hand her a box of kleenex and tell her what she could do with them.

This Mom stuff is hard.  As a 38-year-old with a 16-year-old smart ass attitude it's a challenge not to say bra too loudly in Target.  It's difficult not to yell "Do you think he's cute?" whenever a cute boy is in the vicinity.  There are rules for public and there are rules for home.  'Cuz if the Jonas Brothers are on the tv screen, I'm gonna pick on you. I only have so much self-control.

Amidst my childlike antics I also have a worrier.  I'm a worrier, she's a worrier, wouldn't you like to be a worrier too?  Or, shootin' out the walls of heartache, bang, bang, I am the worrier.

And I don't want the little worrier to freak out about anything more than she already does, thus causing me more worry.  Make sense?

So needless to say I was quite pleased when I learned that Girls' Life Magazine and Scholastic had published a set of Girls' Life Guides that can answer questions for my little worrier in the safety of her own space, without her mother yelling "How about a froggy BRA?" too loudly nearby.

Now, don't get me wrong.  I am not washing my hands of this subject and telling my daughter to just read a book.  These are great books with awesome illustrations and they are written in a way that won't cause my tween any more anxiety.  But I am still here, still involved, with the words "is he your BOYfriend?" on the tip of my tongue.

The first two books in the series, Girls' Life Head-to-Toe Guide To You and Girls' Life Ultimate Guide To Surviving Middle School were released earlier this spring.  They are chock full of advice from pimples and periods to first day jitters and opening your locker.

The series is written by Karen Bokram, Publisher and Founding Editor of Girls' Life magazine and girlslife.com.  I am proud to hand these to my pre-pubescent pretty and say "take a look, let me know what you think...cough...hair...down there...cough".  No really, these are great books.

In September the next two books in the series will be released Girls' Life Guide To A Drama-Free Life and Girls' Life Guide to Making Smart Decisions.  But in the meantime I have a set of the first two books to giveaway to you!!!

All you have to do is leave me a comment below telling me about your tween/teen and how you hope the Girls' Life Guides can compliment what you are already teaching and sharing with your daughter.  For a second entry you can become a follower of my blog or follow me on twitter.  Be sure to leave a comment for each entry for more chances to win.  Be sure to leave your email in the comment so I know how to find you.

Now tell me- what color is your BRA???  Just kidding.  I really dont want to know...

P.S.  I also recommend Scholastic's BFF Quiz Books- Chocolate Or Vanilla? (Quick Quizzes for Bff'S), Sweet Or Spicy? (Quick Quizzes for Bff'S) and Friend Or Flirt? (Quick Quizzes for Bff'S).  They shouldn't be taken to seriously but are great entertainment for when stricken by a case of "we're boorrrrrrrreeeeed". 

No purchase necessary to enter. Winners will be selected randomly through http://random.org/. Entries that do not follow all of the entry requirements will not be considered. Open to participants in the US only, 18 years and older. Contest ends May 16, 2010 at 11:59:59 p.m. EST.

I was given a set of the Girls' Life Guides for review. The opinions expressed in this post are mine and mine alone and are not influenced in any way by anyone.

Win tickets to a Day Out with Thomas at Greenfield Village!

I know many of you have children that love them some Thomas!  I've seen the train tables and other paraphernalia in your homes.  I've seen you enjoy the program with the help of George Carlin, Alec Baldwin and even Ringo Starr.  So now with my help you can take your lovely little offspring to see the real thing at Greenfield Village...

All aboard for the best birthday party ever! Thomas the Tank Engine™ is coming to town to celebrate with all of his fans. Thomas, the beloved and courageous storybook engine, is set to roll into Greenfield Village for the Day Out With Thomas™: The Celebration Tour 2010, presented by HIT Entertainment, a worldwide leader in children’s entertainment, and sponsored by MEGA Brands, a leading toy company.

This fun-filled event offers preschoolers and their families the opportunity to take a ride with a 15-ton replica of Thomas the Tank Engine, star of the popular Thomas & Friends™ series. Children will ride along with their favorite hero on his latest adventure. The tour, now in its 15th year, will make stops in more than 45 US cities and is expected to welcome more than one million passengers in 2010. This year also marks Thomas the Tank Engine’s 65th publishing anniversary and fans are invited to partake in some choo choo-riffic celebratory activities!

WHO: Thomas the Tank Engine

WHAT:

• A 25-minute (approximate) ride with Thomas the Tank Engine
• An opportunity to meet Sir Topham Hatt, Controller of The Railway 
• Activities for the whole family, including arts & crafts, storytelling, video viewing, live music, a magician, puppet shows and much more
• A special display at every DOWT location celebrating 65 years of Thomas the Tank Engine
• 2010 commemorative merchandise and giveaways, including a mini-view finder giveaway that tells the story of Thomas’ upcoming adventure, Misty Island Rescue

WHEN: April 23-25, April 30, May 1-2 and May 8-9, 2010

TIME: 9:30 a.m.-5 p.m.

WHERE: Greenfield Village, 20900 Oakwood Boulevard, Dearborn, MI

Tickets for Day Out With Thomas: The Celebration Tour 2010 are on sale now and available by calling Ticketweb toll-free 866-468-7630, or by visiting http://events.hitentertainment.com or thehenryford.org. Ticket prices are $18 for members of The Henry Ford, ages 2 and up. Non-member tickets – which include admission to Greenfield Village – are $40 for adults, $39 for seniors (ages 62 and up), $34 for youth (ages 5-12) and $18 for children (ages 1-4).

For more information and directions contact The Henry Ford at (313) 982-6001 or visit thehenryford.org. For information on Thomas & Friends, visit http://www.thomasandfriends.com/.

OR TRY TO WIN THEM HERE!!!!

One lucky winner will receive 4 free tickets to attend a Day Out With Thomas™: The Celebration Tour 2010 at Greenfield Village! The winner will be notified via email and will need to respond within 24 hours or a new winner will be chosen.

To enter for a chance to win, you are required to do the following two things. Make sure to leave a comment for each entry requirement:

1. Become a follower of My Life of What Ifs either by RSS, Facebook Networked Blogs, Google Connect, Blogger Follow, or any other way and leave me a post telling me how you follow!
2. Leave a comment on this post telling us who you would take to see Day Out With Thomas™: The Celebration Tour 2010 and why they would love to attend!

No purchase necessary to enter. Winners will be selected randomly through http://random.org/. Entries that do not follow all of the entry requirements will not be considered. Open to participants in the US and Canada 18 years and older. Contest ends April 20, 2010 at 11:59:59 p.m. EST.

Disclosure: I was provided with complimentary tickets to Day Out With Thomas™: The Celebration Tour 2010 to give away and to attend. The opinions expressed in this post are mine and mine alone and are not influenced in any way by anyone.

Another chance to win a Red Gold tomato kit!!!!!

If you REALLY wanted that Red Gold vintage tomato tin with all the goodies inside but you didn't win it here, then click on over to DetroitMommies.com and enter to win one there!  You do not have to live in Detroit to enter, that's just the name of the site :)  So go enter!!!  Now!!!!

Tomato Basil Pizza recipe and Red Gold Tomatoes **GIVEAWAY**

Red Gold Giveaway **Winner**

So you checked out my post about Red Gold tomatoes, and you viewed my Whrrl about Tomato Basil Pizza, and some of you were interested so you left comments.

In fact, there were 14 comments- and guess what?  We have a winner!!!!

And the winner is Cheryl!!!!!  And yes she did promote the giveaway on her facebook page.  I checked :)

So shoot me an email Cheryl and I will have your package sent to you!  Congrats!!!!

Red Gold Fresh Tomato Basil Pizza and a **GIVEAWAY**

I like to try new things and I like to be surprised.  I also like to tell people about new things and about when I am surprised.  So when Red Gold sent me a note asking if I would be interested in giving away a Red Gold kit that looked like a vintage tomato can, that was also full of Red Gold goodies, I had to say yes!

They also sent a recipe for Fresh Tomato Basil pizza which you can see me make in that Whrrl widget down below.  It's a very simple recipe and very tasty.  It's great for a party where you can cut it into small pieces, since I felt it was very rich tasting!

To enter to win your very own Red Gold Vintage Tomato Can of Goodies you must do the following:

1.  Leave me a comment telling me your favorite way to eat tomatoes!!!!  Sliced with salt and pepper?  In a dip?  On a salad?

You can also gain additional entries by subscribing to my blog by way of the RSS feed, blogger follow, networked blogs or google friend connect, or following me on Twitter @Swanngirlz.  Leave a comment for each one you do telling me you did so.

So go check out my Whrrl!  Leave me comments!  Win fun stuff!

No purchase necessary to enter. Winners will be selected randomly through http://random.org. Entries that do not follow all of the entry requirements will not be considered.  Open to participants in the US and Canada 18 years and older. Contest ends March 16, 2010 at 11:59:59 p.m. EST.

Disclosure: Red Gold provided me with this tomato kit and one to give away free of charge. The opinions expressed in this post are mine and mine alone and are not influenced in any way by anyone.

**GIVEAWAY** Win tickets to Rosalind Wiseman's Girl World Tour 2010

Parenting is no easy task and we all know that already.  But parenting girls and hoping that they have better self-esteem than we do, that they're independent yet loving, and strong-willed but not bossy is a tall order.  Rosalind Wiseman had an idea about that and that is why she is hosting the Girl World Tour 2010. 

Wiseman, the author of Queen Bees and Wannabes: Helping Your Daughter Survive Cliques, Gossip, Boyfriends, and the New Realities of Girl World is traveling the country talking to Moms* & daughters (ages 8-14) about confidence, friendships, sweat-inducing moments and common mother-daughter challenges. This fun-filled evening of mother-daughter bonding will celebrate Rosalind’s latest books, feature an interactive discussion Q&A session and a book signing will follow. The two-hour event is sure to get mothers and daughters talking, laughing and connecting.

Detroit's Girl World Tour 2010 stop is this Thursday, March 4 from 7 - 9:00 p.m. at Hillsdale Middle School 775 N. Center Street, in Northville! 

I have been invited to attend this event with my nine-year-old Ryann and I have two sets of tickets to giveaway to two lucky readers!

You may also purchase tickets by visiting Next Chapter Books located at 141 E. Main Street, Northville MI 48167, by calling 248-465-0010, or on their website.  Tickets are $40 per pair and additional tickets may be purchased for $20.

Each pair of tickets includes: admission to the event, one copy of each of Rosalind’s latest books, and a gift bag featuring free samples of Dove go fresh deodorant! The admission price also includes a one year subscription to Family Circle, (valued at $6.13). Offer details and Rebate information will be available at the event.

Parents will receive Queen Bees & Wannabes: Helping Your Daughter Survive Cliques, Gossip, Boyfriends, and the New Realities of Girl World and daughters will receive Rosalind’s debut young adult novel Boys, Girls, and Other Hazardous Materials.

*Any adult with a young girl in their life is welcome to attend the event. Fathers, big sisters, Girl Scout troop leaders, aunts, etc. are all welcome! Attend with the 8-14 year old girl in your life and share important conversations about her friendships, growth, and development.

To enter simply leave one comment below stating how old your daughter is and what you hope to learn at Girl World Tour 2010.

You may earn additional entries by following My Life of What Ifs on Network Blogs or Google Friend Connect, both of which are further down on the right sidebar. Just leave a comment stating you are a follower. If you comment anonymously please remember to include your name and email in the comment!

Because this event is only three days away...

This giveaway ends Wednesday, March 3 at 11:59:59 a.m.  The winner will be notified by email and must respond by 5 p.m. ET on Wednesday, March 3 to claim their prize.  You must be 18 years or older to enter and from the U.S. or Canada.  Only entries following the above requirements will be considered.

Disclosure:  I was given complimentary tickets to this event.  The opinions above are mine and mine alone.  I was not influenced by anyone at any time.

We have a winner!!!!!

The lucky winner of all you see here is...


First let me say that I had 25 comments on this post. That may not be a lot to some, but to me it was HUGE!!!! I hope all of you will continue to visit and tell your friends. There will be more opportunities like this one.

So, as you can see below I went to random.org and asked for a number between 1 and 25.



And random.org picked 23!!!!!!



Unfortunately my comments are not numbered. I will work on that for next time, however, it's not that hard to count to 23 so I did and below is the winning comment!!!!!

So Heidi, please email me your address etc. at swanngirlz at comcast dot net and I will notify Cheerios and MyBlogSpark so they can mail out your awesome prize pack!!!!!

Thanks so much everyone, this was a ton of fun!

Win This!

You can win a box of Cheerios, all five books featured in the Spoonful of Cheerios campaign, AND a $25 Barnes & Noble gift card.

You can win all that just by answering one of these questions...

• What is your story time ritual with your children?
• What is your favorite children’s book?
• If you could be a character from a children’s book, who would it be?

... in the comments section here. You can comment/enter once a day until Sunday, November 1 at 11:59 p.m. So get crackin'!!!!!

My First Giveaway!! Cheerios offers a spoonful of stories

I have always loved to read. Yes, there were times when it became a chore because you were required to read things that were less then interesting (high school, college?) and that dampened my love a bit, but as I got older I learned to love reading again.

Now, I am trying to instill a love of reading in my girls. I want them to feel the power of a good story, and love a book so much you can't put it down. Ryann likes to read but she doesn't love it. I don't know if it's an attention span issue or what, but reading is not the first thing that comes to her mind when looking for things to do.

Jayden looks at books and then says "I can't read yet!" Well, that's partially true, she's in kindergarten and is learning words quickly but still wants to be a "non-reader". She does make up her own stories to go with the pictures which gives me hope that once she can read completely on her own she will be sucked in to the story and read with reckless abandon.

Cheerios also knows the value of reading and over the past eight years, they have given away more than 40 million children’s books by distributing them free inside cereal boxes and have donated $3.2 million to First Book, their non-profit partner, which provides books to children from low-income families.

The program is part of Cheerios’ ongoing commitment to helping parents provide their children with a healthy, nutritional and educational foundation. Beginning this month, Cheerios is again bringing books to the breakfast table, by providing six million children’s books free inside Cheerios boxes. The books are for children ages 3 to 8 years old, and include a brand new book in the popular “Trucktown” series, available only inside Cheerios boxes. And for the first time, all five books have been specially printed in both English and Spanish.

Through MyBlogSpark™, Cheerios provided me with a free box of cheerios and a copy of each of the five books available, as well as the prize pack below to give away to one of my readers.
The prize pack includes a box of Cheerios, all five books featured in boxes of Cheerios- Junkyard Fort, Sleepyhead, Ballyhoo Bay, Tea for Ruby, and What's Under the Bed?- and a $25 gift card to Barnes & Noble!

My girl loved all of the books, and Ryann thinks it's very cool that they are printed in Spanish too.

All you have to do to enter is comment on this post and answer one of the following questions.

What is your story time ritual with your children?
What is your favorite children’s book?
If you could be a character from a children’s book, who would it be?

You can enter until Sunday, November 1st at 11:59 p.m. and I will post the winner, selected at random, on Monday, November 2nd.

So, comment away and I wish you all luck! Thanks to Cheerios and MyBlogSpark™ for providing this awesome giveaway!

****edited to add**** feel free to comment (enter) once a day!