Gift Your Family a Canon Camera from Best Buy This Holiday #CanonatBestBuy #HintingSeason

The reviewer has been compensated in the form of a Best Buy Gift Card and/or received the product/service at a reduced price or for free.

As parents, aren't we always following our kids around trying to snap as many photos as possible so we can hold onto all of the memories they create? I'm sure it must drive our kids crazy, but it can't be helped. Snapping a quick picture with a camera phone is great but sometimes, you really want and need a high quality photo. Like for holidays, special occasions or maybe for your son's first hockey game, which happened for us over this past weekend. I still remember when my husband bought me my Canon Rebel XS a few years back. I was thrilled and admittedly overwhelmed by it since I had never used a DSLR camera before. Even now I don't know what I am doing half the time, but it still takes way better photos then any of our phones or point and shoot cameras ever took. And years  later it is still going strong. I feel like every family should have a DSLR in the house.

Best Buy is your go-to store for the latest cameras to capture your holiday memories. The Canon EOS Rebel T5i is one of the best-selling DSLRs. This camera makes advanced photography easy and fun, and gives you exceptional image quality, along with a host of features to enhance your creative expression.
• Capture Hollywood caliber full HD video
• Continuous autofocus while taking HD video
• Features an 18.0-megapixel CMOS sensor and a DIGIC 5 image processor to ensure vivid, crystal-clear images.
• The 3" vari-angle touch screen simplifies navigation.

Save $150 on the Canon EOS Rebel T5i at Best Buy*.  Visit Best Buy to learn more.

*offer valid 12/7/14-12/20/14

Wordless Wednesday: Hummingbird Moth

There are tons of these suckers hovering around my ginormous butterfly bush in the yard. They fascinate me for some reason, but I wish I saw more butterflies.

Wordless Wednesday: Vegas View

This is our view from our room at The Bellagio in Las Vegas. My husband and I went on a 4-day weekend trip to celebrate our 10 year anniversary and had an amazing time!

Wordless Wednesday: 2013 Blizzard

A few pictures from last weekend's blizzard. Have I mentioned how much I hate snow?

Not sure what our final total was, but it is somewhere between 18 - 24 inches.

Our back deck was one large snow drift, over 2 feet high.

Just a little bit of snow blocking the front door.

How much snow did you get?

Wordless Wednesday: Winter Wonderland

We woke up this morning to a few inches of snow and no school. I admit that snow is pretty just after it has fallen, but that doesn't mean I like it.

Wordless Wednesday: Cloudy Sunrise

Last week I caught a pretty cool picture of a cloudy sky at sunrise.

Wordless Wednesday: Butterfly

Spotted this beautiful one yesterday afternoon. I love butterflies.

Wordless Wednesday: Beautiful Peacocks

At Connecticut's Beardsley Zoo, they have a good amount of Indian Blue Peafowl roaming the grounds, The males, called peacocks, are the ones with the bright, iridescent colors. On our visit there back in April, I was able to snap quite a few photos. Since they  let them roam freely around the zoo, you will encounter them anywhere and everywhere.

This next one was hanging out with me in the garden area while I waited for my boys. I followed this poor guy around for a good 30 minutes taking an obscene amount of photos.

Seriously, I am lucky he didn't attack me with how in his face I was. He looks pretty annoyed with me.

Wordless Wednesday: Memorial Day Parade

Taking the time to remember what Memorial Day is truly about. Thank you to all of the brave men and women who have fought and continue to fight for our freedom.

Wordless Wednesday: Woody Woodpecker

We have had quite a few visits from this big woodpecker this Spring. He enjoys munching on the tree stumps in the front yard.

Wordless Wednesday: Trader Joe's Treat

I absolutely love Trader Joe's, but I don't get there as often as I would like. Usually only once every few months as it is about 30 minutes away. But I did make a point to stop there on my birthday and I spotted this delicious sounding treat. It has sugar, chocolate and coffee beans in it and you can grind it over toast, into your coffee, etc. I cannot wait to give it a try today! Anyone have any other suggestions of what I can put it on?

Wordless Wednesday: Cloudy Sky

I am still slightly obsessed with taking photos of the sky with my iPhone. It is a fun way to pass the time while we wait for the bus in the morning.

Wordless Wednesday: The Beautiful Sky

I have been playing around with Instagram a lot lately and having some fun with it. Often times I bring my iPhone outside with me in the morning while we wait for the bus and I am able to get some neat shots of the sky to share on Instagram. These are a few of my favorites.

If you are on Instagram, I would love to follow you! Just leave me your username, mine is greenmamaspad.

Wordless Wednesday: Autumn Leaves

The beautiful colors of autumn leaves are really in full swing now across New England. These are a few shots from around our yard.

Beautiful, deep orange and red right in the front yard.

A lovely mixture of reds, oranges and greens.

The ginormous oak tree at the edge of our property.
A huge section fell off long before we bought the house.

I love the bright, vibrant orange.

Wordless Wednesday: Day Lily

I guess I am on a little flower kick these past few Wednesdays. In the nearly 8 years we have lived here, this is the first year this plant has ever bloomed. Every year the leaves grow and I just assumed it was a Daffodil. I was very surprised to wake up to these beautiful Day Lilies the other morning.

Energizer Ultimate Photo Contest plus a Digital Frame Giveaway!

I'm not a real photographer, I just play one on TV this blog. Actually, if there is one thing I am sure of it is that I stink at taking pictures. I have no talent in that department whatsoever. A few years ago my husband bought me an awesome Canon camera for Christmas but I have no idea what I am doing so I still use it as a point and shoot. Some day I would love to take a class to learn how to use my camera better and start taking better photos.

For all of you out there who are talented and take awesome photos, National Geographic and Energizer have teamed up once again to bring you the Energizer Ultimate Photo Contest 2011! The grand prize winner will get to choose their dream trip location from three options: an Alaska cruise of the state’s remote wilderness, a Moroccan odyssey spanning the sea to the Sahara or a 12-day journey into the Himalayan kingdom of Bhutan. Wow, that would be a hard choice!

2010 Energizer Ultimate Photo Contest Winning Photo by Barrett Hedges

The program brings together the society dedicated to inspiring people to care about the planet with the company rooted in developing products that offer high performance with more responsibility. Energizer brought the world’s first mercury-free alkaline batteries to market, commercially available since 1991, and now Energizer® Ultimate Lithium batteries last up to 8x* longer in digital cameras, so you can use up to 8x fewer batteries and create less waste for the planet. A dedication to performance and responsibility is the backbone of the new communication platform at Energizer called now that’s positivenergy™.

2009 Energizer Ultimate Photo Contest Winner by Bernardo Medina

To enter you must go to www.nationalgeographic.com/lithium and submit your best photographs by June 30, 2011. There are six thematic categories and you may enter one photo into each category: animals/wildlife, nature/weather, travel/cultures, family/community, arts/music and action/energy. Jim Richardson, 20-year National Geographic photographer and contest judge, will review all of the submission and then select two finalists for each category. From August 15 through September 15, the public will go online to vote for their favorite in each category. Each of the six category winners will receive a prize pack valued at approximately $1,000. Once the category winners are determined, Jim Richardson will help choose a Grand Prize Winner, to be announced on or about November 8.

Could one of the category winners or even the grand prize winner be you? You won't know unless you enter so head on over to submit your photos and GOOD LUCK!

Please visit www.nationalgeographic.com/lithium for complete details and rules.

Giveaway
One (1) winner will receive a battery-powered desktop mini digital photo frame powered by two Energizer® Ultimate Lithium AAA batteries.

For more chances to win you can visit The Suburban Mom!

Mandatory Entry
Tell me what you love to take photos of.

Extra Entries
- Leave me a tip on how to better use my Canon Rebel!
- "Like" Green Mama's Pad on Facebook. Please leave me your first name and last name initial to validate. Be sure to say hi to me!
- Share this giveaway with link on Facebook. You can do this once daily. Leave link in comment.
- Follow Green Mama's Pad publicly on Google Friend Connect.
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- Follow @GreenMamasPad on Twitter and tweet this giveaway. Tweets are unlimited but must be at least 3 hours apart. Leave link to tweet in comment. You must have at least 50 followers. Please use the following when tweeting:
#Win a desktop mini digital photo frame via @GreenMamasPad. #Giveaway ends 6/17 http://bit.ly/ko5jpH
- Follow Green Mama's Pad on StumbleUpon. Worth 2 entries so leave 2 comments plus your StumbleUpon ID.
- Stumble one of my non-giveaway posts and tell me which one. Worth 2 entries so leave 2 comments with your ID.

This giveaway is open to legal US Residents 18+ only and will end on Friday, June 17 at 11:59pm EST. One winner will be chosen at random using Random.org and will be posted on the Winner's Announcement Page. Winner has 48 hours to claim his/her prize otherwise a new winner will be picked. Please leave your e-mail address in all of your comment(s) so I can contact you. I will not share your e-mail address with anyone, it will strictly be used to notify you if you win. Good luck!

I received a gift card for hosting this giveaway