Mixbook Review and Giveaway (With Discount!) CLOSED! Winner emailed!

Like all moms, I have millions of pictures on memory cards. I literally have four FULL to capacity memory cards of my kids! I also never have went to get all these pictures printed, so I was absolutely elated when Mixbook offered me the chance to review their online scrapbook service.

Ok, I am going to describe Mixbook to you guys. Its like you have all the scrapbooking supplies that you need, but don't have to worry about choosing the right glue or cutting your photos crooked. I'm left handed, but cut with my right hand so everything is always crooked.

Mixbook lets you choose a theme if you have a lot of photos from a specific season or holiday, but everything is totally customizable. If you don't like one page in a ready made book, then you can just take it out. So cool.


They had my scrapbook printed and mailed to me the same week I ordered, too! Love, love fast shipping. I had so much fun choosing my images that it took me a couple days to get my book done, but you can easily upload your images and have a themed book ready to print in just a couple hours. You can also choose no theme and choose all your own backgrounds, stickers, text and photo embellishments yourself.

The resulting book is amazing. You can add text anywhere, so you could even make your own family story book for kids.

Mixbook has decided to provide one of you guys, my readers, a free 20-page, 11x8.5 landscape, hardcover Mixbook photo book for FREE! The winner will get a totally customized by you book printed and shipped. All you need to do is choose your photos and customize the book.

Mixbook is also offering everyone a 25% discount on their products! Just use the code MMYTO625 at checkout for the discount. The code can be used only once per customer.

Here is how to enter:

MANDATORY: Be a follower of my blog, and tell me your favorite Mixbook product.

Extra entry- Follow Mixbook on Twitter and leave your Twitter ID in a comment

Extra Entry- Follow Cloth Diapering Mommy on Twitter and leave your ID in a comment.

The contest is open to international readers, so everyone can enter! Winner will be chosen on July 1st. Mixbook sent me a free book in exchange for my review, but the opinions expressed here are my own.

I Live With Little Smarties

I just have to brag for a moment. My kids are constantly impressing me with their involvment, committment and success in school. I recently attended parent teacher conferences and was so excited to hear how well my youngest daughter, S, is doing in school.

First, I have to explain S at home. She is a sweetheart, totally into drama (like, acting on stage except she acts through normal conversations. Its hard to explain, but its like living with an actress 100% of the time!) She builds forts, has a ten second attention span, and is generally go-get-'em. I love all of this about her, but the attention span kills me! I was sure that, when she started first grade, the teacher would be sending me a note with something about ADHD in it sometime soon, but it never happened.

Anyway. I walk into her classroom to hear the teacher literally gush about how wonderful it is to have her in the class. Not only that, they are actually setting a group up in her classroom just for her to help teach other students some concepts that they are having a hard time with! How excited I am as a parent to have a child who not only understands her education, but that is also willing to spend her time helping others.

I really am blessed to have kids that succeed academically and that love school in general. I personally disliked school and everything about it, so I guess I am doubly blessed in that regard.

Getting Creative with Bum Genius Artist Series- How do you get crafty?

So, Bum Genius is giving away a full set of their new diapers, from the artist series. They challenged parents to answer this question: How do you encourage a creative, artistic spirit in your baby, toddler or young child?

Well, first of all you have to understand that A) I homeschooled my kids for about ten years, and I am about to start with my preschooler, so crafting is just part of life and B) I LOVE creative things. I am a freelance writer, I have published poetry, and I sew and write in my spare time. And scrapbook.

All of these things lead to our life naturally including art, writing, and other creative endeavors. We have always used art to learn, such as the time when we made paper mache globes to learn the continents or all the times we made collages to learn letter sounds.

I could seriously write for hours about how important art and creativity is to kids. It was always one of my main goals to have children with creative spirits. When we bought toys when my older children were small, I always went for crayons, paper, finger paints, and bottles of glitter FIRST. We never had children who wanted the newest toy, but would instead ask for yarn to make a teddy bear or a composition book and pencils to write a story or draw a picture.

Crafting is fun, but it is also a great way to help kids develop. Different activities help develop their hand and eye coordination, and also helps them learn complex materials much sooner. I love crafting, too, so I know that it helps that they were, and are, constantly surrounded by art and crafting.

My kids still love drawing, reading and writing stories. They aren't as interested in making crafts as they were a few years ago, but they do sew and do other projects on a weekly basis. School also takes up a lot of their time, so they don't make as many things as they once did.

I still make sure they have all the things that they need to use their imagination and creativity, however. Having a great imagination is a tool that can easily allow a child to use items around the house to make something new, even if you don't stock up on crafting items like I tend to do.

You can check out the new artists series from Bum Genius here: www.cottonbabies.com and www.bumgenius.com

Wow, They Grow So Fast!

My now 10 month old baby has started letting go when he stands. It is just amazing and overwhelming how quickly babies grow in the first couple of years. Maybe its because I have six kids, and know that babyhood is so, so fleeting, but I really want to just remember every moment and enjoy it as it comes.

I think some people think I am weird because I don't mind holding my sons bottle for a few more months, or waking up in the middle of the night to feed him. Really, it's the least I can do to let him grow at his own pace in return for giving me so much happiness. I've always felt that way, though, through all six of my kids stages and ages. Just to let them be happy as kids is enough for me.

There is so much pressure on kids to grow up too quickly. Kids who don't know about adult things are often made fun of in school, but I know that protecting my kids for as long as I can really lets them enjoy life, without the stress of dealing with adult situations.

And tonight, when my son wakes up for the third time in three hours, I am not going to make him hold his own bottle, and I am not going to get irritated because I am sleep deprived. All I really have to do is look at his little curls highlighted by our night light, and I am just happy to be a Mom, even if I can't sleep more than four hours a night. Its a blessing that I am thankful for every single day.