This mornings Chicago Sun-Times mention for And Twins Make 5!

Our year long commitment to Trend Micro's The Digital Joneses study is making headlines here in Chicago!

As readers may recall, our family is 1 of 7 in the U.S. participating in a study aimed at safeguarding the digital lifestyle of families.  Sandra Guy of the Sun-Times interviewed Alicia Peiffer, another Chicago area blogger, and myself about our involvement in this research thus far.

You can find Sandra's article here:
Tapping Moms in Web Security

You can also catch up on my various posts on The Digital Joneses study via the links below:
Our Family is part of The Digital Joneses
Digital Joneses 1st Challenge: Trend Micro tests Our Security IQ
The Trend Talk: Discussing Online Safety with the Kids
Spring Cleaning? Don't forget to Digitally Declutter

Our family is currently tackling the latest challenge which involves "safely staying connected on the go".  Watch for our results of that task in a post soon.

Summer Through the Looking-Glass: The Unlazy Days of Summer

My Summer breaks as a child consisted of day after day swimming at the local pool.  My childhood Summer evenings were spent playing games like ghosts in the graveyard or catching lightening bugs in saved jelly jars with perforated lids.  Each Summer break would feature a 10 day road trip to somewhere new, a trip to the zoo, a movie on a rainy day, a lemonade stand, a few backyard cookouts, a sleepover, and a couple bike rides.

In those days, kids weren't expected to make good use of their Summers.  Lazy days spent just hanging out and having fun were the norm.  They were casual Summers with a dosage or two of "wonder" sprinkled on top.

New Dole Real Fruit Bites #Giveaway

Summer Break is just two short weeks away for my crew.  Two weeks, yikes!  Time for this Mommy to get working on signing them up with a few summer activities to occupy at least some of that idle time.  I also need to keep restocking the house with healthy snacking options.  I don't know about your kids, but some of my kids tend to snack more when they get too terribly bored.  I find that when keeping them busy fails, keeping a variety of healthy options available is my best defense.

Disney's Private Island Castaway Cay: Day 3 of our Disney Dream Cruise

We arrived at Castaway Cay for day 3 of our Disney Cruise aboard the Dream Ship.  For those of you unfamiliar, Castaway Cay is Disney's privately owned Island in the Bahamas.  It's only visitors are those who come for the day via Bahamian and Caribbean Disney cruise ships such as the Dream.  Conveniently, the Disney Cruise Ship Line is able to dock right at this island port making embarkment and disembarkment as easy as walking a gangway.

Pampers Pandora Radio + Toys"R"Us/Babies"R"Us Gift Card Giveaway

As a Pampers Baby Board member, it likely comes as no surprise to readers that I was armed with my Pampers wipes even while visiting the beach in the Bahamas last week.  Nor should it astonish that I brought Pampers UnderJams to insure my twins kept our bunks on our cruise ship nice and dry.

However, one might be surprised to hear that Pampers currently has their own radio stations on Pandora.

A quick note for Doc McStuffins Fans! New Episode May 18th

The premiere of "Doc McStuffins" back in March of this year became the #1 most-watched preschool series launch in cable TV history in Adults 18-49.  This means I'm not the only parent watching this one right along with my kids.  My favorite character beside Doc herself, Hallie the Hippo.  Guess I better get Birthday shopping!

Taking time to smell the flowers: Epcot Flower & Garden Festival by HGTV

While at Epcot last week, we took special notice of all the Disney character topiaries scattered around.  These topiaries are all just amazing.  I'm thinking hubby and the older boys really need to step up their landscaping skills.  A Peter Pan scene complete with the crocodile would take our swingset to a whole new level of play, right?  There had to be over a hundred different creations that have been on display since March 7th with the last chance to see them being May 20th.

Mother's Day: Celebrating Mom with Dollar General and Procter & Gamble (Giveaway)

On the upside, I woke on a cruise ship on Mother's Day.  The downside is that I spent the vast majority of the day in the Orlando airport before finally boarding our flight to O'hare.  However, I can hardly complain after having been on a wonderful week vacation with hubby and the kids.  My oldest even had flowers waiting for me when we finally arrived home.  I'd say in the grand scheme of things, I'm feeling like a well celebrated Mom.  How about you?

Back Home in My Own Bed: Sleep Number Chat May 21st

We had a fabulous time on our recent vacation as you can likely tell from my various vacation posts.  However, I must admit I missed my bed at home.  Frequent readers likely recall we received the Sleep Number M7 Mattress back in March for review and have been sleeping with a new level of comfort ever since.  Don't get me wrong, I'd willingly endure average mattresses for another week if it put me back at Disney World or aboard the Disney Dream Ship again!  Having said that, I'm not surrendering my Sleep Number completely.

Our Cruise Aboard the Disney Dream: Day 2 Nassau & Pirate Night

Day 2 aboard the Disney Dream Cruise Ship began with our arrival at Nassau, Bahamas.  While we originally had planned to just stay aboard and just enjoy all the ships offerings, we made a last minute decision to disembark for an hour or two to take a quick look around the Straw Market and a peak at Long Wharf.  We spent about 2 hours checking out Nassau and all re-boarded the ship around lunchtime.

Enjoy Life Cookies (at home, at Disney World, & aboard the Disney Dream Cruise Ship!)

Shortly before leaving for our recent Disney World and Disney Cruise Trip, we were sent all four flavors of the New Enjoy Life Crunchy Cookies to sample.  With two out of five kids having various food allergies, we have become loyal fans of Enjoy Life products and were thrilled to get the chance to try their latest cookie offerings.

Our Disney Dream Cruise: All Aboard for Day 1

We arrived home Sunday evening from our 3 day cruise aboard the beautiful Disney Dream Cruise Ship. Our time aboard the cruise ship was the perfect follow up to our family's 4 day Disney World Adventure.  It provided a bit of downtime for hubby and I, some playtime for our 3.5 year old twins, and some fun with peers for our older kids.  Combine that with good food, excellent theatrical presentations, well done cabin accommodations, and a bit of Disney magic to get a great time for everyone in our group.  In fact, we all unanimously agreed we'd go on a 7 day Disney Cruise in a heartbeat.