As Moms, we all have our own recipes for giving our kids the best possible childhood and a great start in life. Whether those ingredients include encouraging our kids to try their hardest or promoting their imagination and creativity, our hope is that our children will grow up to be happy and well-adjusted adults. Family time is an undoubtedly important part of that recipe, and making sure the family sits together at the dinner table at least once a week is a great, but challenging way to fit it in.

Ragú® offers moms hundreds of nutritious, convenient, delicious and affordable meal ideas- perfect for busy families on the go. From making sure the kids get their veggies (Ragú® red sauces contain more than a full serving of veggies in every half cup of sauce) to skip-a-step recipes like No Boiling Lasagna and No Frying Chicken Parmesan, Ragú® understands your hectic lifestyle and desire to feed your family quality meals at a great value.

Now, Ragú® is teaming up with actress and mom Molly Ringwald to promote the Recipe for a Good Start Contest asking moms to share their recipes for a good start for a chance to win a $5,000 college scholarship. By visiting www.recipeforagoodstart.com, you’ll have a chance to submit your recipe for a good start in life and your original Ragú® recipe that has the family running to the dinner table! Three first prize winners will be awarded a family trip to New York City where they will compete in a nationally televised Ragú® Recipe Challenge for the chance to win the ultimate prize of a $5,000 college scholarship.

go to www.recipeforagoodstart.com to learn more information and enter this amazing contest!! I have a few recipes floating around in my head now. After you enter them in the contest, log into our forums and post them to share.

Disclosure: I was entered for a chance to win a Ragú® family package in exchange for this post. No monetary exchange took place.

I sooo wish they would bring Dunkin’ Donuts back to Denver!!! In the meantime, check out their free sample!

What’s behind the best mom? Coffee of course!!! I got another great email of another great contest!

If there is anyone deserving of a pick-me-up, it’s certainly Moms! With our demanding schedules and sometimes sleepless nights, it’s no wonder that some Moms set their coffee makers to automatic brew. If you’re one of the many Moms who rely on a caffeine boost to jumpstart your day, you might be familiar with an organization that consistently delivers quality java- 100% Colombian Coffee.

100% Colombian Coffee is found in numerous brands of coffee because demanding consumers the world over are aware of the importance of its origin. So next time you are shopping for coffee, look for the 100% Colombian Coffee logo – your guarantee to the “richest coffee in the world.”

Coffee drinker or not, you definitely don’t want to miss out on the 100% Colombian Coffee “See What’s Behind the Best” sweepstakes. By visiting www.whatsbehindthebest.com, you’ll have the opportunity to learn about the philosophy behind 100% Colombian Coffee and enter to win great prizes. The grand prize is $10,000!

You should enter this to win one of the great prizes! I know I will be!!!

www.whatsbehindthebest.com

**disclosure, I am working in partner with BSMMedia and 100% Colombian Coffee to win prizes for myself and to giveaway to our readers.**

I got an email about a great contest! Pimp My Laundry Room, sponsored by Wisk! What a great idea! I mean, it’s the one room we are in 24/7 as moms right?! Why not jazz it up! Mine is a bit drab, linoleum floors, a cabinet with a fake drawer, some upper cabinets, nothing special here at all, but my washer and dryer make up for it. When we moved I forced, er, asked my husband to spring for a good washer and dryer. Front loaders, with the drawers underneath so I don’t have to hunch over. I love them!

Anyway, here are the contest details I was sent in an email…

If there is one chore that Moms are familiar with, it’s laundry. For many of us, it’s a daily occurrence that gives new meaning to the phrase “spin cycle!” That’s why it’s not surprising that laundry rooms are among the most frequented areas of the house for Mom….unfortunately, they tend to also be some of the most uninspired rooms in the home when it comes to design. Luckily, Wisk® Laundry Detergent understands and wants to help!

If your laundry room is plain and boring or a downright dungeon, you just might be in desperate need of a laundry room makeover. Wisk® Laundry Detergent is teaming up with TV’s Designing Spaces to pimp-out one laundry room in dire need of a face-lift as part of the Wisk® Pimp My Laundry Room video contest.

Just enter a short video from March 1 to March 29, 2010 at
www.LaundryHE.com explaining why you deserve a laundry room makeover and Wisk® could be on your doorstep with their partners-in-design, Whirlpool’s DreamLaundry® Solutions team led by Bill Thomas and Emily Johnston, owner of the interior design firm EJ Interiors and founder of Materials Girls Blog. Together, they’ll take your laundry room from drab to fab in no time thanks to a laundry room makeover complete with a new Whirlpool® High Efficiency (HE) washer/dryer set and a year’s worth of Wisk® HE Laundry Detergent. Even better, she’ll get to star in her very own episode of Designing Spaces!

The top Finalists will be featured on LaundryHE.com from April 12 – 19 and the Grand Prize Winner will be chosen by popular ballot so be sure to get your friends and family online and voting! Even better, a vote is an automatic entry to a sweepstakes for a year’s supply of Wisk HE Laundry Detergent.

Become a fan on facebook as well and find out all the rules and how to enter. http://www.facebook.com/wisk?v=app_10442206389

**disclosure, I am partnering with BSM Media to bring you this amazing Wisk contest with product giveaway**

Donated by Eileen:
1. Satin Hands Pampering Set – choice of Peach Scented or Frangrance Free – Retail value $34.00 – Hethyr
2. Limited Edition Romantic Petals Gift Set – retail value $32.00 – Cara
3. $25 gift certificate for Mary Kay – Emily (for an outside anonymous donor)

Donated by Lissa:
4. Felt Food Set (French toast, syrup, strawberries and poseable whipped cream) – Nini

Donated by Chayla:
5. Mt. Man Gift basket – Leia

Donated by Marie:
6. Simply Fun Game (you can choose from Eye to Eye, Farkel, Ribbit, Take Your Pick, Linkety, or Kahootz) – Katie

Donated by Kate:
7. hand knit Who Hat (made in your choice of colors) – Mandi
8. hand knit Market tote – Melanie

Donated by Emily:
9. $25 Fuddruckers Gift Card – Marie
10. iphoodie – Tracee
11. $15 Mc D’s gift cards – Katrina & Lissa
12. relishrelish.com 3 month subscription – Anna
13. relishrelish.com 3 month subscription – Cara

Donated by Hethyr
14. deskclock/frame – Susan

And the Zoo/Museum Membership goes too….. Drumroll please… KATE!!!

Winners were selected by www.random.org Everyone was assigned a set of numbers in the order in which they were purchase and random picked them out, well, randomly.

Congrats to everyone! According to paypal… We raised $350.42. Not sure how the .42 got in there!

Thanks to everyone helping to raise money for this awesome cause!!! www.havenfriends.org

*To collect your prize, please contact the donator. If you won a prize from me, PM me with your email address, postal address and phone number.

One of our awesome mommies was chosen to be part of a great review program for newborns. Watch for more of her reviews to come!

The other day I received the Fisher Price ‘Newborn Rock‘n Play Sleeper’ free of charge as part of a product review program and it could not have come at a better time! It’s like part bouncy seat and part bassinet in one. I was a little skeptical at first thinking it was just a big bouncy seat, but it’s really great and it has so many different uses. My daughter had come down with a cold and was having a terrible time sleeping flat at night because she was congested. This is wonderful because it provides a comfortable and safe incline for her to sleep in at night. During the day it is really nice because it is light enough to move around the house and rocks just enough to soothe her back to sleep or to keep her happy. It was very simple to put together, probably took 3 minutes and it folds up nicely for easy storage or to use when traveling to grandma and grandpa’s house. I really like this and I don’t have anything negative to say about it! Great product!
~ Erin

In the afternoon/evening of Friday, February 19, we may experience some downtime. Please check here for updates and progress. We are upgrading the software to fix some bug issues, searches incomplete, formatting, etc.

I will also be installing a mobile version of the software soon and hopefully even a fecebook bridge. Keep checking back for more exciting changes!

~ The Admin Staff

Raffle for ColoradoMoms!
We’ve had lots of donations! See below for the list. Raffle tickets are $1 each, or 6 for $5. you can say which prize you would like to enter for, or just say random and we’ll assign you a category. Put the prize name or “random” in the paypal notes field. The paypal acct is momcom All proceeds are to support The Haven House www.havenfriends.org

Prizes!

Top Prize:
1 yr family membership to your choice of Denver Museum of Nature and Science, Denver Zoo or the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo in Colorado Springs!!

Donated by Eileen:
1. Satin Hands Pampering Set – choice of Peach Scented or Frangrance Free – Retail value $34.00
2. Limited Edition Romantic Petals Gift Set – retail value $32.00
3. $25 gift certificate for Mary Kay

Donated by Lissa:
4. Felt Food Set (French toast, syrup, strawberries and poseable whipped cream)

Donated by Chayla:
5. Mt. Man Gift basket

Donated by Marie:
6. Simply Fun Game (you can choose from Eye to Eye, Farkel, Ribbit, Take Your Pick, Linkety, or Kahootz)

Donated by Kate:
7. hand knit Who Hat (made in your choice of colors)
8. hand knit Market tote

Donated by Emily:
9. $25 Fuddruckers Gift Card

Raffle tickets will be sold now through Feb. 28 with Prizes chosen shortly thereafter. All prize winners will be directed to the donator they won from to claim prizes. If you have any issues, please PM myself of Hethyr.

Odds of winning depend on number of tickets sold. Purchase is necessary. For a list of winners, send a SASE to… ah nevermind. my legalese needs work. Winners will be posted when drawing has finished.

please mark payment type as “gift” so we will be able to avoid fees and give the most amount of money possible to this great cause!

Do you remember Rainbow Brite? If you were like me, 25 yrs ago you were obsessed! I had all the dolls and sprites and watched every commercial and show like it was a Jonas Brothers concert in this day and age. LOL

Hallmark sent me some Rainbow Brite CDs. They have games and puzzles and an animated short and more! I have 3 boys but this is my guilty pleasure! It’s awesome! If you log into our forums, you can get a chance to win one of these CD’s FREE!

Check out www.coloradomoms.com for more info. And don’t forget to to to www.rainbowbrite.com for more free episodes!

Check our our “giving moms” section for more details! Raffle tickets are $1 each or 6 for $5. Lots of awesome prizes!!!