I’ve mentioned that I am terrible at choosing baby toys, right? I always go for the most complicated and (apparently) un-fun toys available because they are always snubbed by my kids. But, one of the cool perks of blogging is that I get sent new toys to review. And very often they are toys I never would have chosen on my own.

For instance, the Nest & Stack Buckets that I got the chance to review thanks to eBeanstalk. I would never have chosen these mostly because they are so simple. But, as it turns out, simple is a really good thing when it comes to baby toys because Trav loves these stacking buckets. In fact, all three of my kids love these.

They stack them, use them to “stir” their make-believe meals, wear them as hats, use them to amplify their voices, & a thousand other things that I never would have thought of just by looking at the picture on the outside of the box. They love them. Which means I love them. Traveler, in particular, has fun playing with them for long stretches of time and it has served as a reminder to me that the most basic baby toys are usually the best. He’s learning to stack, to sort, to put the shaped blocks through the right size hole, and most importantly to play his own way with an open-ended toy.

If you’ve got an older baby/young toddler this is a perfect toy to introduce colors, sizes, and sorting. And if you’ve got older siblings to your little one you might find that even they can find creative ways to use this toy, too!

(eBeanstalk provided a Nest & Stack Bucket set for the purpose of reviewing.)

I hate bugs. HATE them. Even thinking about them while typing this gives me chills.

But, I love the peace of mind that comes from knowing I’m not exposing my kids to tons of dangerous poisons so (despite how much I loathe creepy crawly creatures) two years ago we cancelled our pest control service. We did it partially because it was expensive but mostly because the idea of all those toxic chemicals around my babies freaked me out. I considered other options but ultimately I’d pretty much just given up on the idea of having a safe pest control option for our house.

And that is problematic because those creepy crawly creatures I hate? They love to live in this old house of ours. Whether it is spiders or ants or the especially horrible Palmetto bugs (a.k.a. Giant Flying Tree Roaches) they always manage to find their way into our house during the warm weather months.

But, all hope is not lost because I was really excited to learn about EcoSMART pest control for the home. EcoSMART offers a variety of solutions for pests inside and outside the home which I love since I can rid my house of those aforementioned crawling bugs of terror and something to rid my garden of the pests that target our vegetables. Their products use organic plant oils that targets systems which exist in insects only and leave other animals, birds, fish and (most importantly) your family safe from dangerous toxins.

Now, for the really exciting part. EcoSMART has offered to give one very lucky reader the pest control Value Bundle of their choice! Whether you need roach killer, garden pesticides or natural ant killer they’ve got what you need. To enter click over to the EcoSMART site and check out the value bundles they offer. Come back and leave me a comment letting me know which one you’d pick and be sure to include contact info or a link back to your info!

Comments will close Monday, March 29th @ 11:00 p.m. EST and the giveaway is open to all residents of the continental United States. Good luck!

The English-Lit major in me gets all tingly when it comes to new pens and pencils. I love writing utensils. So, when I got the chance to join other Paper Mate moms and host a commercial viewing party for Paper Mate pens during the Olympics this year I was excited. Unfortunately, Atlanta decided to get its annual shut-down-the-city snow storm the exact night of my party and ended up canceling the night’s festivities.

But, I’m a creative girl so later we ended up making up Paper Mate goody bags and delivering them to our would-be guests with info on the pens and info on seeing the commercial on-line. It was a traveling Paper Mate party!

Indulge me a moment while I geek out about the cool pens I got to try. Paper Mate sent me the Gel Pen, Design Pen, Silhouette Mechanical Pencil, and the Biodegradable Pen & Mechanical Pencil. First, my favorite? The Paper Mate Gel Pen. It was super smooth to write with and I have a feeling Thomas is going to try and steal it from me in the near future. Which is why I’m keeping it in a locked box under my bed. Okay, not really. But considering that Thomas is a pen hoader and steals and hides his favorite pens I might need to consider getting security for this pen.

I also loved, loved, loved the Biodegradable Pen & Mechanical Pencils they sent me. It’s actually compostable and will biodegrade back into the soil because it is made with…wait for it…CORN! How cool is that? I can actually compost these in our backyard compost when we’re done with them. And they write really well so it isn’t like your sacrificing writing quality  for green living which I also love.

(Biodegradable Pen)

The pens were super cool, the goodie bags were fun, and the chance to travel around and share a cool giveaway with friends despite the weather made our traveling Paper Mate party a success. Take that, Blizzard of 2010! And thanks, Paper Mate, for all the cool pens & pencils you sent for me to share. You made this geeky English major very, very happy!

(Paper Mate provided pens for this review. All opinions are genuine and my own.)

The first Christmas is the hardest one for me. I look forward to it. Shop like crazy. And build it up in my head as the best Christmas ever. Inevitably, all of my children have ended up sleeping through the present opening and being completely disinterested in everything I got them. So, this year I’m trying to think a bit simpler about Trav’s first Christmas. I’ll be picking up a few little toys and some more practical items and hoping that I can actually get the combo right. And in case you’re interested in what a total non-expert is picking up for her baby’s first Christmas, here is my guide to (my) baby’s first Christmas presents:

1. Something to sort, play with, and chew on. Aren’t those a baby’s three most favorite playtime activities? It’s definitely my baby’s three favorite playtime activities. So, here a few of the chewy, sorty playthings he’ll be getting this year.

Playskool Wheel Pals Racing Fleet, $18.99 — I got the chance to try the garden themed version of these out a couple weeks ago and Traveler loved them. They’re simple and chunky and perfect for little hands. Plus, I love that they feel very boyish since this is the first time I’ve ever gotten to buy boy toys!

Toss ‘n Play Crazy Ball, $26 — I love this ball! It’s soft, colorful, and made by a momprenuer. What’s not to like? I think it’s going to be a great little toy for Trav to play with!

Egg & Cup and Peg & Cup Montessori baby toys, $10 — I love these little toys. They are so simple and are great for developing fine motor skills.

2. Something to sip on. When I did a totally informal Twitter poll of what other moms give as a baby’s 1st Christmas present sippy cups were high on the list. And I think it is a pretty great idea and I’m totally stealing it for this year. I’ve been researching good BPA-free cups and here are a couple that look like they’d be good for a transitioning baby.

Thinkbaby Trainer Cup, $8.99

NUBY BPA Free Flip-it Straw top sippy, $6.99

3. Something to wear. Babies (my babies, at least) are always in need of cute clothes. And for the 1st Christmas I like to take advantage of the limited time period when I can able to buy them clothes as a present without them complaining. So, Trav is getting a few cute things to wear this year. Etsy has a ton of great sellers who have the most adorable baby clothes. Not the least of which is this cowboy onesie from bambinamia. You have to check out their store because they have the most adorable things for babies and toddlers!

Six Shooters Onesie, $18

Yoda hat, $25 — Okay, so Trav already has this, but if you’re looking for an adorable hat for your little one you have to check out this Etsy store. It is hands down my favorite! Not to mention, every where we go people stop us and tell us how much they love this hat. And if you’re little one is more the Princess Leia type she’s got one of those hats, too!

So that’s it. My not-so-revolutionary gift guide to a baby’s 1st Christmas. Stuff to chew on, stuff to sip from, and stuff to wear. We’re keeping it simple this year. And I like it better already.

(Dear FTC, all items in this list are things I have picked out on my own for Trav’s 1st Christmas. I did receive Playskool Wheel Pals to try beforehand and have since purchased a set on my own. I was not paid for any reviews in this post. Love, Me.)

I don’t generally buy baby toys. I did with Kai and, honestly, they were all pretty much a waste. It’s not that I think all baby toys are a waste. It’s just that I never really know which ones to get and I pick them based on whether I would play with them which, as it turns out, is not the best method for picking toys.

So, when MomSelect and Fisher-Price gave me the chance to try out the Laugh & Learn Fun with Friends Musical Table I was excited. Because, to be honest, I probably wouldn’t have gone out and spent $45 on a toy I wasn’t sure would be fun for a baby to play with.

You may have been following me on Twitter the day I got the Table and the Smart Bounce & Spin Pony (I’ll be reviewing that soon!). It couldn’t have come on a better day. Traveler is now mobile and as such needs to be entertained 24/7. This table was (and continues to be) a lifesaver!

Even though he’s crawling he’s still too little to use it standing up which is why I love that the legs come off so it can sit on the floor. I put in his crib or on a blanket on the floor and I’ve bought myself some sanity while he enjoys the lights, colors, music and words. It has a mode that teaches Spanish, a mode for music, and a mode for letters & numbers. My favorite thing about it? With the legs off it is super easy to throw in the back of the car and take it along to playdates or out of town trips.

The box says it is for ages 6-36 months and since Trav is just now 6 months old I get the feeling we’ll be getting lots of mileage out of this toy. And the best part is that it has been a way for Ivy (who is 3) to actually sit and play with her brother. She’s fascinated by the toy and will sit with him and enjoy repeating the Spanish words over and over.

I think now that he’s standing up and cruising (seriously, at 6 months?!?!?) I’ll put the legs on and let him try it that way. I’m sure it will add a whole new dimension of fun to it and give him the chance to practice an important new skill while playing with letters and numbers!

Now for the best part. Fisher-Price has offered my readers a $20 off coupon to download. Go here and download the coupon today before it runs out!

A Fisher-Price Laugh & Learn Fun with Friends Table was provided to me for the purpose of this review. Please see my Disclosures page for more information on my review policies.

At the risk of outing myself as one not belonging to the group of intellectually elite who enjoy going to depressing art house movies that no one really “gets,” I’m going to tell you what I thought about the Where the Wild Things Are movie.

In a word? Mind-numbing. Wait, is that two words? Oh well. I told you I wasn’t a member of the intellectually elite.

Let me start by saying that Where the Wild Things are is one of our favorite books and we were thrilled to hear it was being made into a movie. So, we lined up for the earliest Saturday show with kids in tow very excited to see it come to life on the screen.

But, oh. my. gosh. It was awful. No kidding. Awful.

I’m trying to think how to tell you what I hated (yes, I said hated) about the movie. Was it the very adult themes of loneliness, melancholy, and discontent? The beyond depressing home life of Max? Or the ridiculously inappropriate (for children) and unnecessary  relationship problems the Wild Things were experiencing? Perhaps it was that within the entire movie there was not one shred of real hope or happiness. Not even a glimmer. Not even in the end.

I think critic Edward Douglas said it best when he said, “Jonze has produced a gorgeous $80 million Muppet Movie in the shape of an art film that will bore kids as much as it will depress adults.” And that is precisely it. I said it right after the movie and I’ll say it again, it reminded me of Samual Beckett’s “Waiting for Godot” if it had been performed on Sesame Street. It was strange and dark and absurd and if they hadn’t been wearing monster costumes there would be nothing at all in the this movie to even make you think it was for kids. I agree with Rafer Guzman from Newsday who said, “The film is essentially a parade of negative emotions — sorrow, anger, jealousy, regret.” It was depressing from start to finish.

Don’t get me wrong. I can appreciate a good dose of melancholy as much as the next tortured poet, but at least make it interesting. And don’t sucker me into dragging my kids into it.

I will say two things about this movie. It is shot as beautifully as it looks in the trailer. That much is wonderful. And the cinematography is very true to the book’s illustrations. The soundtrack is also really, really good. We listened to it for a couple weeks before the movie came out and really loved it. So, maybe the trick to enjoying this movie is to watch it on mute with the soundtrack playing? That might actually work.

As for the content of the film? I’m trying desperately to wipe the movie from my memory so it doesn’t totally taint my love for the book because that would be the biggest tragedy of this film.

So, if you’re curious, check it out. Let me know what you think. But, I’d think twice before I took young kids to see it since the defining moment of our experience was when Kai looked at me and said, “Mom, I thought this was a kid’s movie? You didn’t tell me it would be such a sad movie.”

And it was sad, indeed.

Snow White Diamond Edition

My girls are big fans of the Disney Princesses. All of them. Buy them anything with a Disney Princess on it and they’re in. In fact, last Christmas Santa brought them the whole Disney Princess Barbie set. Mostly because “Santa” wanted to play with the dolls, too. And, FYI,  “Santa” totally called dibs on brushing Mulan’s hair. Just for the record.

Anyway, the set came with a Snow White doll. But, since our Barbie collection was sorely lacking in boy dolls (and despite how lovely she was) Snow White was dubbed the “Daddy” doll. Which meant she got to mow the yard and kill all the spiders. Poor Snow White.

Last week One2One sent us the new Snow White Diamond Edition Blu-Ray/DVD Combo Pack. Since Snow White has been in the Disney Vault since before my girls were born they’d never actually seen the movie. To them she was just, well, the “Daddy” princess. But, Snow White is one of my favorite Disney movies and I knew they’d love it, too, so I was pretty excited to give them a chance to see it. And love it they did! We don’t have a Blu-Ray player so we didn’t get to enjoy all of the great Blu-Ray features, but the list is long enough that is would totally make me rectify that situation.

This new Snow White Diamond Edition features:

Picture & Sound

* First time ever in high definition 7.1 sound
* Disneyview - expanded viewing experience

* All-new Music Video Disney Family Play

* What Do You See? - Decipher the scambled image

* Mirror, Mirror on the Wall - Which princess are you most like?

* Jewel Jumble - test your matching skills

Backstage Disney

* Snow White Returns - Newly discovered storyboards. Was Walt planning a sequel?
* Hyperion Studios - Explore Walt’s original studio

* The One That Started It All - See how Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs forever changed the world of movies

Classic Bonus Features

* Dopey’s Wild Mine Ride Game
* “Heigh-Ho” Karaoke Sing-along
* Disney through the decades
* And More!

–

The movie itself was just as good as I remembered. The girls loved the songs and were enchanted the whole time it was on. It’s funny because I’m always skeptical of whether they will enjoy older animated movies since new ones look so different to me. But, there is a reason Snow White is a classic because the story and the songs and the beautiful animation whisked them away into a fairy tale world and they loved it. Which, of course, means I loved it.

And even though we weren’t able to experience all the Blu-Ray extras my girls did love this new (to them) Disney princess. So much so, that I have a feeling our Snow White doll will finally get a break from being the “Daddy” from now on. Which I think is great. As long as they leave Mulan alone…

A copy of this DVD was provided to me for review. Please see my Disclosure section for information on my review policies.

When the folks at Ebeanstalk offered to send me a toy to review I was intruiged. Because my kids? They are tough on toys.

Ebeanstalk is a really cool site that I was familiar with long before they ever contacted me to review toys. It has big selection of quality kids toys with unique things you won’t find other places. The toy they ended up sending me, the Activity Bus from Plan Toys couldn’t have been more perfect to send our way. And it was much needed on the day they sent it because it kept the girls busy and gave me no less than one full uninterrupted hour of peace. Perfection!

More and more I’ve been trying to buy old-fashioned toys. You know the kind. The ones made of wood with quality parts. Ones that don’t require AAA batteries or complicated instructions to play with. Which is why I loved this toy.

Plan Toys are great because they’re wood toys and incredibly well made. They’re green, educational, and (most importantly) fun! The bus was adorable and turned into a classroom, too, so it was multi-functioning. It actually reminded me a lot of the Waldorf style toys (though more colorful) because it allowed for more imaginative play than some of the plastic loud sing-song toys that have only one way to play with them.

The girls loved the little people, the desks, and all the possibilities the bus offered. I loved that the toy was one I could feel good about the kids playing with. Actually, I’m anxiously waiting on them to add infant toys to their line so I can pick up a few for Trav to play with!

**These pictures of the event brought to you by my fantastic 5-year-old blogging assistant, Kai.**

Though my girls already loooved them some Dinosaurs, our trip to Dinosaur World seemed to amp it up to another level. Which is why last weekend when we got the chance to take the girls out to Dinosaurs & Donuts to check out the exciting new things coming to GPB during Dinosaur Week (September 13th-18th) it was perfect timing!

We got a chance to screen the new show Dinosaur Train, from The Jim Henson Company, that will be debuting during Dinosaur Week. We’re big fans of GPB anyways because they make me feel much less guilty about the time we do end up spending in front of the TV and my girls LOVED this newest show! If you’ve got kids who are into Dinosaurs in the least little bit you (and they) will be excited about this newest show. Be sure to check it out during Dinosaur Week at 9 AM and 10:30 AM and then at its regular time weekdays at 8:30 AM!

And if your kids are as into Dinosaurs as mine are, they’ll love the upcoming Dinosaur Week because all their favorite shows will be featuring Dinosaur themed episodes. See what I mean? Educational and distracting enough that you can take a shower while you’re kids are enjoying cartoons about their favorite subject. Thank you GPB. I might never be able to take a shower in peace and quiet if it weren’t for your programming!

Thanks again to the folks at GPB for the chance to come out and have some fun while previewing this cool new show!

If there is one domestic chore I am terrible at staying on top of it’s laundry. If I told you how many times I had to dig for clean clothes for every member of our family you would be horrified. Truly.

In fact, just this morning my husband scoured the house for a clean pair of khakis because I’d apparently forgotten to wash anything but dark clothes for the last, oh, 4 loads. True story.

And if you saw the mountain of clean clothes on top of the washer and dryer? Yeah, you’d probably think I’m the worst housewife ever. (And, I’m not sure you’d be too far from the truth.)

The thing is, I don’t actually mind doing laundry. In fact, I like the actual process of washing/drying. But the putting away? That is the part that throws me off every time. And I end up dreading the putting away process so much that I avoid laundry altogether.

I’m trying to get better. Really. And today I’m tackling the laundry. All day. I’m not stopping until it’s under control. But, I’m wondering if maybe you can help a girl out?

I just recently got a chance to try a bottle of Sun Burst Laundry Detergent to help me out in my laundry endeavors. And they want you to have a chance to try it, too!

First, though, I’ll tell you a little bit about what I thought about it. My favorite thing about it? It’s cheap. I mean, inexpensive. Because I totally hate spending money on soap. I mean, after all, isn’t that literally throwing money down the drain? But I also hate clothes that don’t smell/feel clean. So, when I discovered that this stuff did a great job, smelled good, and was super cheap? I was sold on it. It’s even HE compatible which is awesome.

So, if you’d like to give it a try here’s your chance. I’ve got 5 coupons good for one FREE 45.4 oz bottle of liquid detergent or one 49 oz box of powder detergent in any scent. And all you have to do to enter to win is help me with my laundry. No, really.

Leave me a comment below with your favorite and most helpful tip for getting laundry done or staying on top of laundry and you’ll be entered to win!

So, go ahead, give me your best tips for controlling the laundry monster.

For more great projects, head over to Tackle it Tuesday at 5 Minutes for Mom!