Frito-Lay Variety Packs is partnering with the Choose Your Own Adventure series in perfect time for back to school shopping!  During this promotion, you will be able to purchase Frito-Lay Variety Packs that have a code on the packaging to download three original digital Choose Your Own Adventure books online.

One of the things that makes being a parent so much fun is seeing my kids enjoy the same things I did when I was young. Correct me if I’m wrong..when you were young nothing was more exciting than mom coming home with a multi-pack snack bag of chips that had all of your favorite flavors in it.  Mix that with a Choose Your Own Adventure book.. Shut Up!.. the fun just didn’t stop! I LOVED Choose Your Own Adventure books when I was a kid and now my 11 year old son loves them too.  These books are a fabulous way to occupy kids for hours and keep kids interested in reading during the summer break which is so important.

During this special Frito-Lay and Choose Your Own Adventure books promotion families can not only choose their own snack adventure but a book adventure to go with it.  Pretty great huh?

Look for the promotional displays in your local store.

GIVEAWAY!

I have a $25 gift card and a boxed set of Choose Your Own Adventure books for one lucky The Mommy Insider reader. Leave a comment below to enter and get extra entries for each item you complete from the list below.
Entries accepted through 11:59 July 23rd.
Winner will be contacted via email and must respond within 24 hours or an alternate winner will be chosen.
Contest open to U.S. residents age 18 and over.  No P.O. boxes.

Update: If you entered this contest before you saw the contest entry form below, don’t worry.. all of your entries will be counted!

Be sure to tell us in the comments below what you’ve done (Twitter, Facebook, etc)!

To enter leave a comment telling me why you want to win these prizes, in the comments below.

Extra entries:

• Follow @mommyinsider on Twitter – 2 entries
• Like The Mommy Insider on Facebook – 2 entries
• Sign up for our email newsletter – 2 entries
• Blog about this giveaway on your own blog – 4 entries
• Tweet this: “I entered to win a $25 gift card and a boxed set of Choose Your Own Adventure books at http://wp.me/plszx-2jr @mommyinsider”

Frito Lay and ‘Choose Your Own Adventure’ Books – Special Promotion and Giveaway is a post from: The Mommy Insider. It looks like you are reading this post in your favorite RSS reader. Don't be shy..hop on over to check out our current giveaways, coupon codes, and to share your comments!

Goony Goo Goo and GaGa Too

Like I’ve said in previous book related reviews, Madelyn LOVES to read.. or rather, be read to, at this age.  From what I’ve seen, most 3-5 year olds get hooked on something and it becomes part of their routine.. for a long time.  Such is the case with Goony Goo Goo and GaGa Too written by children’s book author Kia Morgan Smith.

Goony Goo Goo and GaGa Too is a tale of two sisters Selena and Celeste who are less than enthusiastic about their new baby brother.   They don’t understand why he can’t talk or walk and at the first indication that ‘Baby Boy’ understands what the girls are saying, the girls go on and on assigning him chores and such.  Mom is none to happy about the girls attitude about Baby Boy and gives them a piece of her mind by explaining to them that Baby Boy isn’t their servent boy and that the girls should appreciate their little brother for who he is and what he can do.  The book is whimsically illustrated by Brandon Fall.

Click this link to buy Goony Goo-Goo and GaGa Too on Amazon.com.

Here’s a brief video of Madelyn showing off the book and her favorite children’s book author:

Follow Kia Morgan Smith on Twitter

Follow Kia Morgan Smith on Facebook

GIVEAWAY!

We are giving two lucky readers a copy of Goony Goo Goo and GaGa Too. To enter, leave a comment (click to jump to comments) below telling us why you want to win.   Get an extra entry for following us on Facebook here and and an extra for following us on Twitter here.  Be sure to leave a comment telling us that you are following us and include your Facebook & Twitter ID’s so we can give you extra entries!  Entries accepted through November 29th.

Goony Goo-Goo and GaGa Too! Madelyn is HOOKED on this book is a post from: The Mommy Insider. It looks like you are reading this post in your favorite RSS reader. Don't be shy..hop on over to check out our current giveaways, coupon codes, and to share your comments!

If I ask Madelyn (4 yrs old) if she wants to me to play a game with her or read to her she choses to read.  I love that!

Madelyn has so many more books than Sebastian (11 yrs old) did when he was her age.. he would have rather played with toys than read.

Madelyn’s bedtime routine includes that I and/or my husband 3-5 books to her. While I try to choose relatively short books so as to not drag bedtime out, my husband reads long books.  Yay, Daddy!  I’ll be honest.. by bedtime, I’m just ready for her to go to sleep so I prefer to read shorter stories.

Madelyn has three stacks of hand-selected ‘bedtime books’.. sorted on her bookshelf in order of importance.  A few of Madelyn’s favorite bedtime books are Tuck Me In by By Dean Hacohen and Sherry Scharschmidt, A Bedtime for Bear By Bonny Becker, and Moon Dreams By Ruth Martin.

A Bedtime for Bear is about a Bear who, when impish Mouse comes to spend the night, is in for a rude—and very funny—awakening and is the companion story to the New York Times bestseller A Visitor for Bear.

In Moon Dreams Luna loves to look at the moon.  But Luna wonders where the moon goes during the day and each night, after desperately trying to stay awake, her dreams taker her on a journey as she searches for the moon far and wide.

Tuck Me In.. one of my favorites.  Who needs to be tucked in? Turn each page until all baby animals–and little readers–are cozy and ready for sleep in this bedtime ritual.  Tuck Me In is the last book we read at night because after tucking all the baby animals in, in the book, Madelyn is ready to be tucked in.  Thank goodness!

We recently acquired two more bedtime stories, Interrupting Chicken and Switching on the Moon, so stayed tuned to see which stack these books end up in on Madelyn’s bookshelf!

Enjoy,

Bedtime Stories for Preschoolers is a post from: The Mommy Insider. It looks like you are reading this post in your favorite RSS reader. Don't be shy..hop on over to check out our current giveaways, coupon codes, and to share your comments!

My 4 year old daughter loves Fancy Nancy books.  Her favorite Fancy Nancy book is Fancy Nancy and the Late, Late, LATE Night.  She likes it when Nancy says “that’s a  fancy word for..”.   She’s learned a lot of fancy words from Fancy Nancy books, that’s for sure.

Summer is slowly slipping away from us but while your kids are still out of school and looking for fun things to do, below are some fantastic (and easy!) tips on how to throw together a kid-friendly tea party…Fancy Nancy style!

HOST YOUR OWN FABULOUS FANCY NANCY SOIREE

Summer is here and what better time to celebrate and invite friends over for an elaborate tea party Fancy Nancy style!   Fancy Nancy has the most fabulous (that’s a fancy word for great) ideas on how to throw the most magnificent and fanciest tea party in the neighborhood.

Here are a few tips supplied by THQ to help you put on a great tea party!

1)      Select a spectacular theme.  Be as ornamental as you can be!

2)    Pick a charming location, and pique guests’ senses by taking them to different locales without leaving your own backyard. For example, Nancy loves speaking in French.  Host a French-style tea party, complete with French foods and desserts. Fancy up the menu and invites with French words.

3)    Prepare edible arrangements and delectable treats.  Surprise guests with petite hors d’oeuvres or squared cucumber sandwiches.

4)    Set the table with your most colorful and fanciest tea sets.

5)    Pin The Tiara on Fancy Nancy!  Purchase a poster of Nancy.  Blindfold your guests and have them tape a paper tiara on the poster. Whoever is the closest to Nancy’s head, wins a splendid prize!

6)    Have your guests create a fancy party hat and beautiful jewelry complete with all the glitter, jewels and ribbons one can find.  Ask guests to bring their favorite fancy dress-up item, such as a boa or a tutu.

7)    Don’t let anyone leave without a spectacular goodie bag filled with costume jewelry, delicious candy and a variety of tea samples!

THQ also invites you and your friends to an interactive tea party with Fancy Nancy Tea Party Time for Nintendo DSi™ and DS™! The popular children’s property Fancy Nancy™, published by HarperCollins Children’s Books, makes its video game debut on Nintendo DSi™ and DS™ systems this fall.   I don’t know how excited my son will be about the game but you can bet I’ll enjoy it!  In Fancy Nancy Tea Party Time!, girls of every age can play as Nancy and become the fanciest girl around.

* If you host a Fancy Nancy Tea Party, send us photographs.. we might feature them on The Mommy Insider!

Find and buy dozens of Fancy Nancy books at Amazon.com here.

Visit the Fancy Nancy website to view all of the Fancy Nancy books, play Fancy Nancy games, send eCards and more.

How to host your own Fancy Nancy tea party is a post from: The Mommy Insider. It looks like you are reading this post in your favorite RSS reader. Don't be shy..hop on over to check out our current giveaways, coupon codes, and to share your comments!

If I had to say just one thing about this book it would be - confidence booster.

I often feel like I’m the only mom in the world that’s overwhelmed.  I’m constantly trying to balance work and family life.  More often than not I’m dissapointed in myself at the end of the day because there’s still a pile of laundry on the floor, my 4 year old’s bedroom is a mess, one of my kids didn’t bathe, or I fed the kids macaroni and chicken nuggets.. for the 2nd time that day.  Lucky for me, I recently read Balance Is a Crock, Sleep is for the Weak by Amy Eschliman and Leigh Oshirak and have a different outlook on things.  I now know that other moms.. that’s you.. yes you!, suffer the same mental challenges that I do every day and it’s OK that we feel challenged and overwhelmed.  This book made me realize that it’s normal to feel overwhelmed and stressed out and that I don’t have to put on a show.  Ever since reading Balance is a Crock, Sleep is for the Weak, I’ve asked moms I meet what their stress level is on a scale of 1 to 10.  I often get a strange look, then a very quiet, whisper-like answer of either 10 or 12.  It’s always as if it’s a secret.  Why don’t moms feel like we can tell other moms that we are stressed out and overwhelmed instead of putting on the June Cleaver show and holding all of our stress in?  Reading this book provided a release of some serious tension.. I felt it and you’ll feel it too.

Amy and Leigh are veteran working moms who share their un-censored survival secrets and personal experiences with readers.  Amy and Leigh’s funny, honest stories and useful advice cover topics ranging from quick and easy cooking and organization, to work travel and doctor’s appointments. I found Balance is a Crock, Sleep is for the Weak to be a very easy read and actually looked forward to sitting in my reading chair (not used often) after the kids went to bed, to read this book.

Balance is a Crock, Sleep is for the Weak is an indispensable guide for working mothers and the perfect gift for expecting and new moms.

Buy the book.

Like Balance is a Crock, Sleep is for the Weak on Facebook.

Disclosure: The Mommy Insider received a copy of Balance is a Crock, Sleep is for the Weak for purposes of this review, free.

We are giving 3 lucky readers a copy of Balance is a Crock, Sleep is for the Weak!  To enter, leave a comment telling us what your biggest daily challenge is whether it’s work, working out, exercise, your husband (ha!), or your kids.  Don’t want to leave a comment?  Also, follow @mommyinsider on Twitter and @theofficemoms for an extra entry per follow.  Be sure to leave your Twitter ID in your comment so we can confirm that you follow and give you 2 or 3 entries!

Entrants must live in the U.S. and be over 18 years old.

Entries accepted through August 24th, 2010.

Balance is a Crock, Sleep is for the Weak – A Book Review and Giveaway is a post from: The Mommy Insider. It looks like you are reading this post in your favorite RSS reader. Don't be shy..hop on over to check out our current giveaways, coupon codes, and to share your comments!