Check out the Spooktacular Weekend Sale going on at Lovable Labels!!!

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Sometimes great memories are made over the simplest things. It doesn’t have to be a trip to Disney or the Grand Canyon but great times can happen anywhere, even around the kitchen table sharing a glass of juice or snack with your child. We have had so many special times around our table whether it’s myself and an early riser sharing some toast and jam or the whole family enjoying a meal. Little secrets shared and conversation that just make me sit in awe of life through their eyes.
Welch’s believes in the magic of “kitchen table” moments, and has been helping families enjoy them for generations. In the time it takes to drink a glass of juice or share a sandwich, a special moment can happen. That’s why Welch’s just launched a new movement called “Share what’s good™” It’s all about sharing those special moments that occur each day with family, friends and loved ones – whether it’s at home or on the go. At Sharewhatsgood.com you’ll find a variety of great content from fun family ideas to delicious recipes. You can share photos of your every-day moments and see how others are doing the same.
The “Share what’s good” Photo Contest Details:
As part of the Share what’s good campaign, Welch’s has launched the “Share Your Moments” photo contest! From 9/16to 10/25 upload a photo of your favorite family moment for a chance to win $5,000! While there is only one grand prize, everyone who enters will get a $1.50 coupon for Welch’s 100% Grape Juice – or $2.00 if you share the news. Visit Sharewhatsgood.com to enter.
You can visit Welch’s Facebook Page, Follow Welch’s on Twitter and Instagram!!!

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Babies and children love to browse through books well before they can read, and if children can explore their books independently, it helps to plant a love of books and reading from right from the crucial early years.
Here are some ideas to get your kids loving reading!
Studies show that more books in the home lead to greater academic achievement in children. 8 out of 10 kids who have books of their own at home are more likely to be above average readers*. And if you’re a confident reader, you’re more likely to do better at school, and love reading more. Kids love getting books as gifts and treats. Give kids the feeling of ownership by putting their books in a special kids bookcase or book box.
*Source National Literacy Trust, Book Ownership Report 2011.
“Let children choose their own books, from an appropriate selection. This helps build a lifelong love of reading.” Building Blocks US Dept Health and Human Services
What’s more, kids do judge books by the cover! They need to see the front covers of books (and the often beautiful artwork), rather than the books’ spines to decide whether it’s worth picking up or not.
If kids can choose what they read, then they enjoy reading more. Nerdy Book Club has 5 great reasons to get children to take control over what they read. Publishing expert Michael Norris also advises parents NOT to equate reading with ‘good’ behaviour!
Reading together is a brilliant way to end the day, to have a cuddle or while away a train ride, and of course, starts children off on their journey of reading. Despite the hype about ebooks, most parents still prefer print books for their kids. Print books give young children a complete sensory experience; touch, smell and feel of the pages as they turn them, and which builds up their love of books and reading.
3 out of 4 parents and kids, plump for print books for bedtime stories*. Kids get to use all of their senses, and often kids’ books use flaps or pull outs to add to the story (like the surprise ending in Abigail by Catherine Rayner, or the classic Dear Zoo by Rod Campbell.
*Source Reading is Fundamental/Macy’s 2013
What do you think? Have you made a reading corner at home? How do you get your kids browsing?
This is a guest post from Tidy Books who make brilliant bookcases that get kids reading. To find out more, visit Tidy Books.
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A little ranting going on this morning and I am calling out all of the people who say that Fall is their most favorite time of the year. They talk about warm, crisp days filled with apple picking, sipping pumpkin flavored beverages and jumping in piles of crunchy, colorful leaves. Hayrides, picking pumpkins and just sitting and admiring the changing colors are all on their list of favorite things to do. That’s all well and good unless you live in upstate New York. We don’t have Fall most years, in fact the leaves start falling in July. I can’t tell you how many colored Autumn leaves I find on my lawn all Summer. In August the nights get cold enough that you put the heat on in the car at night and sweatshirts are required.
Before even the official start of Autumn we have frost warnings, are using the heat and building roaring fires in our fireplaces. Sure there are some days when we have a taste of true Autumn but never a season of it. We seem to move from Summer right to Winter with a short stop at Autumn beginning late August. My husband laughed when I told him that he needed to finish the new porch railings a few weeks ago because we would never get to paint and stain if he didn’t because soon the snow would fly. Let’s just say he’s not laughing now.
Saturday was so cold and windy we cancelled a family photo shoot due to the conditions. Fall to me is one of the most depressing times of year, not true Fall but our Fall. Everything dying, the thought of a Winter that lasts to late May (I kid you not it snowed mid May here last year), is not uplifting for me. I love Spring (again if we had one) and Summer which is entirely too short since it ends mid August. So far today looks fairly okay outside, so I will enjoy one of the last days of true Autumn even though it’s technically still Summer and better fit that pumpkin latte in quick before the chance passes me by. That’s what you have to do when you live in the state of 2 seasons, Winter and Summer.
Enjoy some photos of Fall in upstate New York that I took in July (I jest a little). It is beautiful when we get one or two true days of Autumn.

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Get Ready For Petacular Escapades!
Littlest Pet Shop: Petacular Escapades
Bring the Fun-Filled Adventures Home on DVD
October 1st 2013 from Shout! Factory Kids
Blythe and her best friends — Zoe the spaniel, Pepper the skunk, Sunil the mongoose, Russell the hedgehog, Penny the panda, Vinnie the gecko and Minka the monkey — are back for five more exciting adventures in the Littlest Pet Shop! On October 1, 2013, Shout! Factory Kids, in collaboration with Hasbro Studios, will release Littlest PetShop: Petacular Escapades on DVD. This collection features encounters with legendary parrots, movie stars and Blythe’s sudden inability to understand the pets! All of these adventures and more happen in these petacular episodes of The Littlest Pet Shop!
Littlest Pet Shop: Petacular Escapades delivers captivating entertainment the whole family can enjoy and contains a brand new bonus sing-along. Featuring all-new original music by Daytime Emmy® Award nominee Daniel Ingram and the vocal talent of Ashleigh Ball, Tabitha St. Germain, Nicole Oliver and Peter New, Littlest Pet Shop currently airs on The Hub TV Network in the US. Fans can pre-order their copies of the collection now by visiting ShoutFactory.com
Episodes Include:
Blythe’s Crush
Dumb Dumbwaiter
Lights, Camera, Mongoose
What Did You Say?
Terriers & Tiaras
Bonus Features:
Sing-Along
Shout Factory is sponsoring a giveaway on Mommy Ramblings! One lucky blog reader will win their own Littlest Pet Shop: Petacular Escapades DVD. Thank you to Shout Factory for the review DVD and for sponsoring this awesome giveaway on Mommy Ramblings!!! Open to US residents.

Littlest Pet Shop: Petacular Escapades DVD Giveaway on Mommy Ramblings Rules:
Please enter the giveaway using the Rafflecopter widget below. Good Luck!!!
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Adora® Calcium is a chocolate calcium supplement in decadent Dark Chocolate and creamy Milk Chocolate. It is the only calcium supplement made with rich, all-natural, premium chocolate. Crave Your Calcium® The secret Adora® formula that has us craving calcium nationwide was developed by Thompson Brands, a chocolatier with a rich, celebrated heritage since 1879. We can all thank William Thompson, one of the earliest innovators in the American chocolate industry, for Adora’s great taste. He founded W.H. Thompson Confectionary in Meriden, Connecticut over 133 years ago and, to this day, the company continues to be a manufacturer based entirely in the United States. From the intricately foil-wrapped chocolate bunnies that are a must-have on Easter morning, to the chocolate cigars that announce a baby’s joyous arrival, his chocolates have had the ability to make any occasion sweeter.
After over a century of perfecting the art of chocolate molding, the team at Thompson Brands believed chocolate offered more than just great taste. Enter Adora® – and the idea of craving your calcium! Adora Calcium Supplements were introduced to the world in 2006 in all-natural, premium milk and dark chocolate, and designed so that two delicious disks a day provide 100% of the Daily Value of calcium plus the addition of vitamin D3 for improved bone health and magnesium for optimal absorption. And, the proof is in the chocolate – as recent studies continue to report, adequate calcium and vitamin D throughout life, as part of a well-balanced diet, may reduce the risk of osteoporosis.
I was recently sent some of the premium dark and milk chocolate Adora calcium supplements to try. They were really good and you could definitely not taste any aftertaste. It was delicious and delivers some much-needed calcium via a chocolate sweet treat. Really, what more could a girl ask for? If you want to make sure you remember to take your calcium get some Adora and believe me you will remember to take it!
Adora is sponsoring a giveaway on Mommy Ramblings! One lucky blog reader will win a bag of milk and a bag of dark chocolate Calcium supplements. Thanks Adora for the review supplements and for sponsoring this sweet giveaway on Mommy Ramblings!!! Open to US residents.

Adora, Calcium Supplements, Made With Premium Chocolate Giveaway on Mommy Ramblings Rules:
Please enter the giveaway using the Rafflecopter widget below. Good Luck!!!
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Richard Scarry’s books have been a part of my childhood and went on to be favorites of my children as well. I think many of you can say the same. Richard Scarry’s Busy, Busy Town is an oversized book full of all the busy happenings around town. Kids love seeing and reading all the fun things the residents of Busytown are doing.
Welcome to Busytown where everyone is on their way to work. The Busytown grocers stock and sell fresh food; the bankers keep the money safe; the doctors and nurses make sure everyone is healthy; the postal workers collect and deliver letters; the sanitation workers collect trash and recyclables; the lumber workers chop trees to make furniture and houses; and the workers at the docks, railroads and airports help transport people and freight. But it takes even more careers and professions than that to keep this busy town running.
Richard Scarry is one of the world’s best-loved children’s authors EVER! Generations of children all over the world have grown up spending hours poring over his books filled with all the colorful details of their daily lives. No other illustrator has shown such a lively interest in the words and concepts of early childhood. For himself, whenever he was asked how old he was, Scarry would always put up one hand and laugh, saying, “five!”
Born in 1919, Richard Scarry was raised and educated in Boston, Massachusetts. After five years of drawing maps and designing graphics for the U.S. Army, he moved to New York to pursue a career in commercial art. But after showing his portfolio to one of the original editors at Golden Books, he found the perfect home for his children’s books.
The assignments first given to Scarry tended to be Little Golden Books that featured popular characters of the day, such as Winky Dink, Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, and Smokey the Bear. EventuallyScarry created many original characters such as Lowly Worm and Huckle Cat. But first came Nicholas, a young rabbit clad in red overalls, for the now-iconic board book I Am A Bunny. After Scarry married children’s textbook writer Patricia Murphy, she wrote many stories for him as Patsy Scarry, including the bestselling Little Golden Books Good Night, Little Bear and The Bunny Book. In his extraordinary career, Richard Scarry illustrated over 150 books, many of which have never been out of print. His books have sold over 100 million copies around the world, and are currently published in over twenty languages. Richard Scarry, Jr., also an illustrator, carries on his father’s work today under the name of Huck Scarry. Richard Scarry passed away at his home of Gstaad, Switzerland in 1994. He was posthumously awarded a Lifetime Achievement Award from The Society of Illustrators in 2012.
Random House is sponsoring a giveaway on Mommy Ramblings. One lucky blog reader will win their own Richard Scarry’s Busy, Busy Town! Thank you Random House for the review copy and for sponsoring this great giveaway on Mommy Ramblings!!! Open to US residents.

Richard Scarry’s Busy, Busy Town Giveaway on Mommy Ramblings Rules:
Please enter the giveaway using the Rafflecopter widget below. Good Luck!!!
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OWN THESE TWO SPOOKTACULAR DVDs NOW
FROM SHOUT! FACTORY
R.L. Stine, the reigning king of children’s horror, is back with two all-new DVD collections from the award-winning second season of the Hub Network’s hit television series “R.L. Stine’s The Haunting Hour: The Series.” Now available, Shout! Factory, in collaboration with the Hub Network, has unleashed R.L. Stine’s The Haunting Hour: The Series – Volume 5 and Volume 6 on home entertainment shelves nationwide. Guaranteed to excite kids and their families with creepy chills, each DVD collection is packed with spooky stories and all-new bonus content guaranteed to thrill you and your parents like never before.
Delivering spine-tingling tales, the award-winning “R.L. Stine’s The Haunting Hour: The Series” features guest star appearances from some of young Hollywood’s biggest names, including Dakota Goyo (Real Steel), Liam James (The Killing), Joel Courtney (Super 8), Dylan Minnette (Awake), Riley Griffiths (Super 8). Jean-Luc Bilodeau (Kyle XY) and Frankie Jonas (Jonas L.A.) Join these talented young actors as they coax you through the creepy and crawly stories of The Haunting Hour’s outrageously fun second season.
“R.L. Stine’s The Haunting Hour: The Series” is currently presented Saturdays at 6 and 6:30 p.m. (ET) on the Hub, Network a television destination for kids and their families. The popular children’s anthology series recently received the 2013 Daytime Emmy® Award for Outstanding Children’s Series from the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences, and is a recipient of multiple Parents Choice Awards.
Setting the gold standard for contemporary horror for kids, world-renowned children’s author R.L. Stine has penned hundreds of horror stories and sold over 400 million books worldwide. Stine is the recipient of a Children’s Choice Award, and holds the Guinness World Record for the #1 best-selling children’s book author for three years running.
R.L. Stine’s The Haunting Hour: The Series – Volume 5 DVD
Episodes:
Scary Mary, Part 1
Scary Mary, Part 2
Swarmin’ Norman
Flight
Pumpkinhead
Bonus Features:
A Look Behind The Screams
Original Promos
R.L. Stine’s The Haunting Hour: The Series – Volume 6 DVD
Episodes:
Creature Feature, Part 1
Creature Feature, Part 2
Brush With Madness
Sick
Mascot
Bonus Features:
A Look Behind The Screams
Original Promos

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Growing Up Online Free eBook
How did YOU teach your children to surf the web safely?
The More You Know Learning Series, in collaboration with NBC News, has launched Growing Up Online, the FREE eBook for parents to keep their kids safe on the Internet!
Our kids have never known a world without the Internet. They’re spending more and more time on the web, so teaching them about using technology responsibly and safely is critical. Use the #GrowingUpOnline Blog App and take the quiz to see if your child is ready to safely surf the web!
Download the FREE Growing Up Online eBook and be sure to watch all four entertaining comic book stories as a family, which show real situations that may occur when your kids go online.
This free eBook provides easy-to-use information that addresses the growing concern about kids’ online privacy and cyberbullying in a unique and engaging way. Growing Up Online is packed with important tips that every parent should know!

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Rush to get Digital HD and Digital HD 3D Versions
Available for Purchase October 8, 2013
Celebrate MU’s Homecoming on Blu-ray, DVD and On-Demand
on October 29, 2013.
This Fall, Disney•Pixar celebrates homecoming with the release of “Monsters University” on Digital HD and Digital HD 3D on October 8, 2013, followed by the 4-Disc Ultimate Collector’s Edition Blu-ray 3D Combo Pack, 3-Disc Collector’s Edition Blu-ray Combo Pack,
3-Disc Blu-ray Combo Pack, DVD and On-Demand on October 29, 2013.
After scaring up big laughs in theaters, the in-home release of “Monsters University” opens its doors to the movie in stunning high-definition Blu-ray, and provides hours of all-new bonus material, in-depth behind the scenes features, deleted scenes, the animated theatrical short “The Blue Umbrella” and much more. Directed by Dan Scanlon (“Cars,” “Mater and the Ghostlight,” “Tracy”), produced by Kori Rae (“Up,” “The Incredibles,” “Monsters, Inc.”), and written by Dan Scanlon and Robert Baird & Dan Gerson (“Monsters, Inc.”), “Monsters University” marks Pixar’s 14th consecutive film to debut at number one at the box office.
Ever since college-bound Mike Wazowski (voice of Billy Crystal) was a little monster, he has dreamed of becoming a Scarer—and he knows better than anyone that the best Scarers come from Monsters University (MU). But during his first semester at MU, Mike’s plans are derailed when he crosses paths with hotshot James P. Sullivan, “Sulley” (voice of John Goodman), a natural-born Scarer. The pair’s out-of-control competitive spirit gets them both kicked out of the University’s elite Scare Program. To make matters worse, they realize they will have to work together, along with an odd bunch of misfit monsters, if they ever hope to make things right. “Monsters University” bravely explores themes of self-discovery and the revelations that come with growing up.
Joining Crystal and Goodman as part of “Monsters University’s” monstrously talented voice cast are Steve Buscemi (voice of Randy Boggs), Helen Mirren (voice of Dean Hardscrabble), Alfred Molina (voice of Professor Knight), Charlie Day (voice of Art), Sean P. Hayes (voice of Terri Perry), Dave Foley (voice of Terry Perry), Nathan Fillion (voice of Johnny Worthington) and Aubrey Plaza (voice of Claire Wheeler). Featuring a score from recent Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee and award-winning composer Randy Newman (“Monsters, Inc.,” “Toy Story 3“), MU also includes music from Axwell and Sebastian Ingrosso of Swedish House Mafia.
Are your little monsters apprehensive about the start of the school year? Professor Knight is here to help with his Top Tips for Surviving School:
4-Disc Blu-ray 3-D Superset (3D + 2BD + DVD + Digital Copy)
3-disc Blu-ray 2-D Superset (2BD + DVD + Digital Copy)
3-Disc Blu-ray 2-D Combo Pack (2 BD + DVD)
High-Definition & Standard Definition Digital
Includes:

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