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Growing up, I know I played a lot. Whether playing dolls, school, or making up some kind of game, I remember playing a lot with my friends in our backyard patio or theirs. So far, though, my four year old hasn’t been able to experience that same play time with her peers. I don’t even know if there are any kids her age in our neighborhood. Perhaps when she starts school next year, it will become easier to find playmates for her in the area. Until then, we will continue to be her primary playmates, something else that is different from her childhood and mine.

You see, I don’t remember my parents being as involved in play time as I know my husband and I are with her. Sure, I know my mom did play dolls with me sometimes, but for the most part, I remember playing with friends and my brothers more than with mami y papi. That may also change for baby girl now that she’s about to have a baby brother.

Still, I actually love our family play time and know that both my husband and I have a lot of fun actively playing with our daughter. I can’t imagine that will change too much in the coming years.

This Thanksgiving weekend has been one where we’ve done quite a bit of playing as a family. The fact that there’s been no school or work, has allowed us to slow down and enjoy our time together more. That’s definitely something I’m thankful for.

Some of our favorite activities we enjoy as a family that I’m thankful we get to do on a regular basis include impromptu dance parties in our living room, game nights (whether board games or family video games), and movie nights. Each allow all of us to participate and often bring about interesting conversations with our four year old, plus lots of laughter.

As our baby girl grows and her soon-to-be baby brother shows his personality, our family play time will be enhanced and expand to include many more activities. One we look forward to is bike riding, but she hasn’t mastered the skill just yet.

What family activities or play time are you thankful for? Did you get to enjoy some of them this Thanksgiving?

Disclosure: I am a Shout Brand Ambassador through a compensated Mom Bloggers Club member program. This post was written in conjunction with the program, but all opinions and thoughts are original.

This post is part of a paid campaign.

The normal fall activities that you are probably accustomed to doing with your kids are not ones I’ve ever done. The pumpkin or apple picking, hayrides, and leaf raking are things I did not grow up doing nor have I done them since becoming an adult. A couple of reasons probably contribute to this: I’ve always lived in places with tropical weather (Puerto Rico and Florida) and they are not customs traditional to the Puerto Rican culture.

Since neither Puerto Rico nor Florida have a true change of season when autumn arrives, not many trees really shed leaves for us to rake. I can’t really remember the last time I’ve had to rake leaves. It was probably many many years ago. Some of the other fall activities are ones that my family never did. Now that I have a family of my own, perhaps in the coming years we’ll participate in apple picking or browsing a pumpkin patch. I’m sure our baby girl and soon-to-be baby boy will eventually hear of these traditions and ask for them to be introduced into our families. And so, traditions and cultures evolve.

Still, even without such activities, fall does allow for more outside time in Florida. The intense heat begins to die down and we even get some days that include a nice breeze. We definitely get to enjoy more time at the park, local amusement parks, and just taking a walk by one of the many lakes nearby.

Of course, when you have a busy schedule every week, full of work and school, you sometimes have to make the time to go play and have fun. We try hard to make weekends fun. There are definitely those weekends where we need to concentrate on errands or housework, but even then, we try to make at least one fun outing in between the chores. For example, we may clean up around the house in the morning, then take the afternoon and head to the park for baby girl to run around and play on the playground.

Living in Orlando, we’re of course lucky to also live close to many amusement parks. Our family holds annual passes to one of the parks, so we can often head out for a day (or half-day) of fun – especially now that the weather will be more bearable.

We may not do traditional fall activities, yet, but we still manage to have fun and have time together as a family to play. Maybe this year we’ll check out a pumpkin patch and see how we like it.

How do you make time for play and what are some of your favorite fall activities?

Disclosure: I am a Shout Brand Ambassador through a compensated Mom Bloggers Club member program. This post was written in conjunction with the program, but all opinions and thoughts are original.

Shout wants you to know: Shout knows play is so much more than fun and games. Studies show that unstructured play helps kids build fundamental skills like problem solving, coping, and conflict resolution. In other words: play is how kids become happy, healthy adults. Fall has arrived with crisp, cool air and new reasons to go out and play. So, let your kids take that rewarding jump into a pile of leaves. Take at trip to the park and watch their imaginations run free. The one thing you won’t do is worry about their clothes; play should get messy and Shout can help.

This post is part of a paid campaign.

I am thankful for my husband for many reasons. As I’ve mentioned before, he is a great father and a supportive husband. But, one of the things I truly love about him is how creative he is – not only professionally, but also at home. He is mostly the one to come up with fun activities and games we can play with our daughter. His mind works in a manner which mine does not, allowing him to come up with lots of fun on the fly.

We all know that play is an important part of children’s lives. There are even studies that show just how important unstructured play is for helping kids developmentally. Because of that, the brand Shout is giving parents a chance to give their kids a reason to play. Through the Go Play Sweepstakes, Shout is giving away a grand prize of the Super Sunshine Castle playset from Rainbow Play Systems. Additionally, you can also enter to win one of four weekly giveaways for a $200 gift card to Growing Tree Toys. The deadline to enter is September 14, 2010.

I know a big playset in our backyard would be awesome! I can just imagine our baby girl and soon-to-be baby boy playing for hours – during our “winter” months, of course, since it would be downright wrong of me to let them play too long in the Florida summer heat. Good luck if you enter to win!

Disclosure: I am a Shout Brand Ambassador through a compensated Mom Bloggers Club member program. This post was written in conjunction with the program, but all opinions and thoughts are original. And, no playset will be received.

After posting 21 People You Should Follow on Twitter, I’ve connected with many more people in the last two months. A lot of them are moms.

That got me thinking that there are people out there who specifically want to connect with moms.

Moms are great to connect with on twitter. They often provide really useful tips and retweet information they find interesting. Moms can be great advocates for you, your product, or service.

So, how do you find moms on twitter?

I know of five quick and easy ways:

1. Look through Wendy Piersall’s (@emom) Ultimate List of Moms on Twitter. The list started off innocently enough and includes many more moms listed in the comments section.
2. Join the twitter moms social network and connect with plenty of moms who have already joined. Myself included.
3. Search for the keyword mom on twitter. Or any other mami-related keyword(s) you want to use.
4. Join the Moms on Twitter group at the Mom Bloggers Club social network. The group currently has almost 700 members. That’s a lot of moms!
5. Participate in twitter parties that are often attended by moms on twitter. You will connect with plenty of party participants in a short amount of time. I know of two popular party groups:
   • Site warming parties hosted by Resourceful Mommy
   • Girl’s Night Out (GNO) hosted by Mom It Forward

How else have you connected with moms on twitter? I’d love to hear your tips in the comments.

P.S. Follow me on twitter! I’m a mom too.