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Timestamp: 2010-02-06 22:18:46 UTC

Are you ready for the Big Game??? It’s coming up! Are you excited?

Who are you rooting for to win???

Me? I’m not sure… I just know that this is a great excuse to PAR-TAY!!!! I have always loved the Super Bowl, and throwing a party for the big game is just so much fun… but it can be expensive, especially after all those presents and meals you just bought for the holidays! Walmart knows that saving money is a big New Year’s Resolution for many people this year, and  Walmart can help you do just that, while planning an excellent Super Bowl party!!!

Walmart is offering shoppers excellent savings on game time snacks as well as full home entertainment installation packages ranging from $99-200. They want to make sure that your family’s HDTV set up s working perfectly for the big game!

Walmart is helping families pull off their Game Time Party for as low as $44 with these great items:

One package of Oscar Mayer Meat Hot Dogs (8 ct.)
One package of Johnsonville® Bratwursts (6 ct.)
Two packages of Great Value™ Hot Dog Buns
Two bags of T.G.I. Friday’s™ Frozen Appetizers
One Hormel™ Supreme Party Tray
12” Chocolate Chunk Cookie
Two boxes of Nabisco Wheat Thins or Triscuit Crackers (8 to 10 oz. box)

Talk about some great deals!

Check out the Game Time site on Walmart.com too! There are delicious and creative ways to get ready for the big game, including how to plan a party on a budget!

Want to win a $50 Walmart gift card??? Just leave me a comment telling me your favorite SuperBowl moment!

You may gain additional entries by doing either or all of the following:

* Subscribe to Mommy Brain Reports via RSS or Email and leave me a comment telling me you did so! If you already do, leave me a comment!

* Follow me on Twitter and tweet this giveaway by clicking the green Retweet button, or by copying the statement below:

Save on your Big Game Party with Walmart & Enter 2 win a $50 Gift Card from @mommybrain! http://bit.ly/d2TK8v

Leave me a comment letting me know each time you tweet!

You may enter as many times via tweet as you wish, but:

* you must leave a comment each time for it to count.

* you must have a comment from someone else in between your comments

(To prevent SPAM, comment moderation is on, so your post *may not* be visible right away. I do check them frequently and will approve them asap!)

Entries will be accepted from January 29 – February 5 @ 5pm EST. Winner will be chosen at random. Winner will be notified via email and will have 48 hours to respond to claim their prize. Winner must be a resident of the USA. Again, you must leave a comment for each option you choose to enter. *Rules subject to change without notice*

Good Luck!

My girls are having fun getting ready for the Big Game party!!!

**Walmart provided me with two $50 Walmart gift cards for my participation in this program. One I’m keeping to get some snacks for us, and the other I’m giving away!

I tend to do most of my shopping at Walmart though because I always find such great deals on my groceries and other items!

We have this “issue” in our house. One night, several months ago, Daddy told the girls “When you wake up in the morning, wake me up. Let’s let Mommy sleep in.” They actually listened to him.. It was amazing. What we didn’t know, was that they listened too well! From that day on, they have come into our room early in the morning and woken up Daddy. Most mornings, it’s ok, but there have been a few where we just wanted to sleep in a little. Really… just a little :).

Anyway, we came across this product called My Tot Clock, and I contacted them to see if they were interested in a review. They were! Thank goodness! So here I am, with two 4 year olds, a My Tot Clock, and well, a better idea that it’s going to take something a little stronger to keep my kids in bed longer. I’m KIDDING! (sorta)

The My Tot Clock is a really neat way to teach children:

a) How to tell time

b) How to tell when it’s time to get up, nap, study, go to bed, and yes… even the dreaded Time Out.

The front of the clock has a great analog clock, with a color changing background according to what time it is, and the designs on the front are interchangeable. We have the standard night time sky, and were also sent the super cute princess design as well. The girls LOVE it! The kids don’t know it, but the back of the clock is where all the magic happens. It has a digital time display, and all of the controls for each function. You can set the wake up alarm, bed time story, and durations for Time Out, Nap time, and Encouragement, or as I like to say… Quiet Activity Time! Each function changes the clock face to a different color. Yellow for wake time, light blue for nap, green for encouragement, red for time out, and dark blue for night time. I love it because it sets up some guide times for the girls. I can tell them that they need to work on their study books for 20 minutes, or take some time to read in their room so I can work on some  things around the house. The clock will turn green, and when that time is up, it will turn back to yellow and alert them.

The My Tot Clock also has a great alarm clock! It plays a song for them to wake up both in the morning and at nap time. The nap and bed time buttons can be set to play a story, play music, or play some “white noise” after the story. There is also separate volume buttons for each audible function, so you can set the story to be quieter than the wake up alarm. Oh.. and the stories can also be changed by purchasing the Tot Clock Treasures. They’re little cartridges that hold different stories like Goldilocks and the Three Bears, Sleeping Beauty, The Hare and the Tortoise and many more.

The My Tot Clock retails for $49.95. Additional face plates are $9.95 and each of the Tot Clock Treasures cartridges are $9.95

It’s really a very cute way to teach your children how to tell time, and about the concept of time. It may also help you get them on a better sleep schedule since the bed time story starts automatically each night at the time you set it for!

Thank you to My Tot Clock for sending us a My Tot Clock, princess face plate and two additional cartridges for this review. My girls won’t go to sleep without their story each night! Now.. about getting them to actually stay in bed until the alarm goes off each morning… :)

This is a Sponsored Post written by me on behalf of HealthyTuna.com. All opinions are 100% mine.

As a child, I wasn’t a very big fan of eating fish… of any sort. But since living in Japan, I’ve grown to love many types of seafood. One of my favorites being tuna. It’s so easy to use, and it’s a great source of protein, Omega-3 (which is a good type of fat) and Vitamin D… and I’ve just recently found out that it’s been part of a couple of scientific studies with pregnant women!
I took a look at these studies with tuna and pregnant women, and was quite impressed with the results.

First, a study at Harvard Medical School, that was published in the Journal of Clinical Nutrition stated that they studied over 25,000 Danish mother/child pairs to determine the overall effect of maternal fish intake during pregnancy on child development. They found out that based on their interviews the women with the highest intake (2 oz per day on average) had children 25% more likely to have higher developmental scores at 6m and nearly 30% more likely to have even higher scores at 18m. I’m sure that these results are probably not typical, but if it’s even remotely true… I think I’m very glad that I ate my fish when I was pregnant with my girls!
The second study I read about was regarding depression in women, especially pregnant women. They stated that they found moms-to-be who ate no seafood were 50% more likely to have symptoms of depression than those who ate seafood at least three times per week. Not a good statistic! Recent science is suggesting that depression during pregnancy can increase the risk of

• Having a caesarian section
• Delivering prematurely or a low birth weight baby
• Lowering cognitive test scores and babies’ brain & behavior development
• Having depression following pregnancy.

It sounds like seafood is healthier than many people think.. and it’s so easy to get those recommended servings into your diet, especially with tuna fish!

We sometimes make a simple green salad and add in some healthy tuna on top of it. We’ll add in carrots, red onion, olives, some cheese, and then only a light sprinkling of some red wine vinaigrette dressing. It’s perfect as a side dish or make it a larger salad, and it’s a meal! For snacking, I’ll often grab a handful of whole grain crackers, and put some tuna on top. It’s healthy, and good!

For more information about the benefits of Tuna, or seafood in general, check out healthy tuna.com!

Today is the last day of voting… My girls asked me if I was going to be able to get healthy with the new exercise. I told them that I had hoped so, and that I needed lots of votes. They asked if they could tell more people to vote for me, and asked me to make a movie of them… My sweeties.. They are such hams…

Well, here it is :)

And don’t forget to join us at the Twitter Party, when the winners of this Mamavation Campaign will be announced! After you vote, go over to the post, and RSVP!

** This is a totally family friendly post! :)

Well, since getting home from my lovely weekend in sunny Cal-i-for-ni-a… things have been slow here at home. I’m still reducing my caloric intake, and making sure I do more than sit my bootie in front of the computer.

This weekend, we spent more time out than in, and only ate out once. This is a HUGE deal for me. We used to spend most of the weekend out, and just grab food while out and about, but this weekend was different. We made sure that we ate at home more, thus being able to keep track of what we ate. The one time we did go out, I made sure to eat a good mix of what was offered, but only eat a smaller amount, and save the rest for lunch the next day. Don’t get me wrong. A few months ago, I could’ve finished that whole plate no problem, but now, I’m seriously trying to be conscious of what I eat and how much. I haven’t started keeping a food journal just yet. I’ve been using my “Lose it” app on my iPhone, but not religiously. I need to get better at that. We’re going to start using a food scale at home, just to try to keep our portion sizes down. It’s going to be hard at first, but I know that once we do it for a while, it’ll get a lot easier.

Oh, and we’ve done something else that I never really thought of. Instead of using our normal plates, which aren’t even the big ones of the set, we switched to our smaller rectangle plates. Think small plate that sushi would be served on. Yes… it’s a very small plate. But you know what… It’s working. It’s proof to me that my eyes, and brain for that matter, are key to this whole weight loss thing. I eat what’s on my little plate, and I’m full. Seriously. I’m not filling up the big plate, I’m not even filling up the middle plate, but the smallest plate, and I am actually full when I finish. Another hint to what we’re doing… We’re making the main part of any dish our veggies. Yes, 1/2 of the plate is veggies, and the other 1/2 is split between meat, and something else that tastes good, but isn’t the best thing to fill up on.. You know.. the good things, potatoes, pasta, rice, etc. But, again, we’re eating the better options of those too. Red potatoes instead of brown/white, Whole Grain pasta instead of the dreaded Enriched Flour pasta, and brown rice instead of white. Minor changes, but we make them all work…. and it’s work”ing”. I had to put a belt on my blue jeans today. It was bad enough I needed a belt. All I have to say… HECK YEAH!

So, voting is going on now through the 21st… That’s this THURSDAY! Please please, vote for me, once per day (top right hand corner) on http://www.mamavation.com… I’m MommyBrain.. in case you couldn’t guess that! The winners will be announced at the #Mamavation twitter party on the 21st!!! Oh how I pray I’m one of them!!!

Thanks everyone! See you later this week!

Future bestselling authors from North Carolina (WOOHOO!) and New York

On January 15th, 2010, MrsP.com announced the names of the two Grand Prize winners in its first annual “Be a Famous Writer” contest.  Gabrielle Fuller, 8, from North Carolina, takes top honors in the 4- to 8-year-old category with her comic fairy tale, “Pretty Princess and Funky Frog.” In the 9- to 13-year-old category, Isabella Penola, 12, from New York, charmed the panel of famous judges with her poignant tale of an elderly gardener, “Spattered Mud and Crushed Petals”.

“Like everyone, I’m concerned about the state of education in America.  But based on the quality of writing for my contest, I’m happy to say a lot of teachers out there must be doing a wonderful job,” said TV star Kathy Kinney, who portrays Mrs. P and is one of the creators of the website.

The Grand Prize winners will have their stories produced as videos featuring Mrs. P, which will be presented on her popular free, interactive digital website. Original artwork by award-winning illustrator, Robin E. Kaplan, will help bring the stories to life. The videos will be posted for a limited time on the website (www.MrsP.com) beginning in March for viewers all over the world to watch and enjoy. In addition, each winner will receive an actual bound copy of the story and illustrations as a keepsake to treasure for years to come. Powell’s Books (www.Powells.com), the largest independent bookseller and the sponsor of the contest, will provide the Grand Prize winners as well as the 8 other finalists with gift certificates to its store.

The judges for the writing contest included four top professionals in the writing field: Dave Barry, Pulitzer Prize-winning humorist and author of dozens of bestselling books; Andre Bormanis, writer and producer of the popular fantasy series, Legend of the Seeker and author of Star Trek: Science Logs; Craig Ferguson, host of the CBS Late Late Show and author of the acclaimed novel, Between the Bridge and the River; and Diana Leszczynski, author of Fern Verdant and the Silver Rose, a comic adventure recently selected as a Smithsonian Notable Children’s Book and currently being developed as a motion picture.

The MrsP.com writing contest is an annual event and runs every September. It was created along with the website to encourage a love of reading.

Next year…. my girls are so totally entering!!! Your children should too!!