In comes Elmer’s Bag It Forward! While, you are shopping for your supplies pick up a few extra for someone who can’t buy supplies for their children.  If you are looking to get the most for your donation, Walmart is a great place to start! They have amazing back to school prices on supplies that last from now until school begins! No need to wait for a sale with Walmart’s roll back pricing.

Help Elmer’s Help Adopt-A-Classroom

Helping classrooms in need this back to school season is as easy as 1 – 2 – 3

1.  Write a post about this charity blog meme

2. Send a virtual bag of school supplies to another blogger and challenge them to join the #bagitforward movement

3. Link up your post at BagItForward.org

Easy peasy! Elmer’s just donated $10 for your post to Adopt-A-Classroom!

Here are the details of the program

Elmer’s will donate up to $10,000 to Adopt-A-Classroom with your participation. Join now!

The Elmer’s Virtual Bag It Forward is charity blog meme, bloggers are able to raise $10 per blog post for Adopt-A-Classroom by writing a blog post and donating a virtual bag of school supplies . Elmer’s will donate $10 per each post written to Adopt-A-Classroom, up to $10,000.

HOW CAN YOU JOIN? It’s easy.

• Participate in the Elmer’s Virtual Bag It Forward and by giving away a virtual bag of school supplies and creating a blog post with specific rules described below.
• Elmer’s will donate up to $10,000 to Adopt-A-Classroom.
• You can give as many virtual bags as you want.
• The Elmer’s Virtual Bag It Forward will officially begin at 12 AM EST on July 22, 2010 and end at 12 PM EST on August 12, 2010. Blog posts submitted to us before or after that time period will not be counted.
• The blog post link has to be submitted in the comment section below for your participation to be counted.
• In addition copy and paste the following text into your blog post:

ELMER’S VIRTUAL BAG IT FORWARD RULES

• Copy and paste these rules into your blog post.
• Create a blog post giving a “virtual bag of school supplies” to other bloggers or write about your Back to School shopping trip at Walmart.
• Link back to the person who gave you a bag of school supplies.
• Let each person you are giving a virtual bag of school supplies know you have given them a bag.
• Leave your link in the Elmer’s Virtual Bag It Forward comment section. You can also find the official rules of this virtual #bagitforward program there.
• Elmer’s is donating $10 for each blog participating in the Virtual Bag It Forward Donation to Adopt-A-Classroom (up to total of $10,000 for blog posts written by August 12, 2010).
• Please note that only one blog post per blog url will count towards the donation.

I’m sending my Virtual Bag to Kim at Clumber Kim and challenging her to #bagitforward with Elmer’s!

Now for the moment you have all been waiting for….. The winners chosen by random.org are

Candle Maker Store Prize Pack

# 39 Ellen Beck

Type A Mom Conference Ticket

#12 Andrea H

Congratulations and enjoy your prizes! I will notify each of you via email and you will have 48 hours to claim your prizes or new winners will be chosen.

Thanks for hanging in there with me!

Dearest Annie,

One year ago today you made your grand early entrance into our lives, our sweet baby girl to add to the mix of all the wild and crazy boys!  You were so tiny, so beautiful and so perfect.

10  short weeks later your left our lives as unexpected as you arrived.  I think of you every day and cry huge tears for you.  You will be in my heart forever.

The day I got the call that you were being rushed to Children’s Hospital, Pookey and I were at the mall and we bought you the cutest little purple tutu.  I had our photo session all planned, you in your tutu and pearls on mema’s white couch and me behind my Nikon snapping away.  I still have that tutu packed safely away under my bed, and although you never wore it, it will always be yours.

Today I sent you a balloon and blew out a candle for you, Happy 1st Birthday Annie, I love you to the moon and back again

Aunt KiKi

Her and her family had recently moved into a new home so they could have more room to take in mother who has been ill. They were just getting settled into their new home and now it will be months before they can live there again.

Melissa has done so much for so many people and she is a bright spot in our blogging community, help me make a bright spot in her day by chipping in to help her and her family.

Love you Melissa, I wish I lived closer so I could do more, you have done so much for me

What a chance to win a ticket to the Type A Mom Conference?

I have a contest running right now in conjunction with The Candle Makers Store that I need help promoting.  For each activity listed below that you complete to help me promote the Candle Makers Store contest, you will receive an entry for a chance to win a ticket to the Type A Mom Conference!

How To Enter

You are only required to complete one task to be entered to win. However, the more activities you complete, the more chances you have to win! Make sure you leave a comment for each thing that you do.

• Tweet about the Candle Maker Store contest by using this tweet “Do you like candles? Win supplies to make 48 candles from @craftymamaof4 & @candlemakerstor  http://bit.ly/aZSzfM” (you can do this up to 3 times a day each day until the contest ends)
• Tell your friends on Facebook about the Candle Maker Store Contest (you can do this once a day each day until the contest ends.
• Mention the Candle Maker Store Contest on your blog and put a link up to the contest.
• Send 5 friends the link to the Candle Makers Store contest, be sure to cc me on the email. Kim@craftymamaof4.com (you get one entry for every  5 people you email)
• Have another idea of how you could spread the word for me? Go ahead, get creative, then come back and leave me a comment telling me what you did!

PLEASE NOTE:  I am asking you to promote my Candle Makers Store contest NOT this contest to win a ticket to Type A Mom.  The link to the contest I am asking you to promote is HERE.

This contest will end on July 9th at 11:59 EST.  One winner will be chosen by random.org and will receive a ticket to the Type A Mom Conference (conference ticket ONLY).  The winner will be listed here on this blog and also notified via email.  The winner will have 48 hours to accept their prize or another winner will be chosen.

Thank you for you help! Good luck

We woke up to a bright and sunny day for day 3, thank goodness the weather was going to cooperate for our last day in NYC!  We still had a several things on our “to do” list and not much time, it was hard to decide what we wanted to do.  We packed up our bags, checked them with bell services and headed to Bryant Park.  One thing I really wanted to do was see the Statue of Liberty.

We didn’t have time to take the tour to the Statue of Liberty so we opted for a ride on the Staten Island Ferry instead, it was a really nice ride with a great view and the best part….its FREE! I like free lol.

After a great boat ride, we hopped back on the subway and headed to the Empire State Building. I have heard that the wait time can be really long and we were on a tight schedule so I asked the guy at the ticket booth how long the wait was and he said 25 minutes.  Not bad so we gave it a try.  I don’t know where this man learned to tell time, but his 25 minutes was equivalent to 90 minutes in real time!  I felt like I was at an amusement park, just when  you think you are gonna get on the ride you turn the corner and urg! there is another winding line waiting for you.  Oh well, I’m glad we did it, next time I go I would love to see what it looks like at night.

We got out of the Empire State Building just in time to run down the street to meet up with RoleMommy at the Atari offices for a preview of their new game Sandlot Sluggers.  We didn’t get to stay very long because we had a flight to catch but it was nice to see some familiar faces while I was in NYC

Photos from Beth Feldman’s Flickr

We had about one hour left before we had to get on the bus to the airport and we still had a few things on our list, China Town, Ground Zero and Serendipity.  There was no way we were gonna squeeze in the first two and my daughter was NOT leaving NYC without going to Serendipity for a sundae.  We told the waiter we had exactly 45 minutes to get in and out and he quickly served us up some awesome ice cream.

Fueled by hot fudge for dinner we dashed back to the hotel to get our stuff and made it to the airport with a few minutes to spare.

We had such a fantastic time!  Thank you to Affinia Hotels for extending the offer to us your hotels really are first class all the way  I can’t wait to return to NYC with all my bloggy friends for BlogHer in August!