For the third year in a row, Domino Sugar is the presenting sponsor for Share our Strength’s® Great American Bake Sale to help fight childhood hunger. The Great American Bake Sale raises money to fight childhood hunger across the U.S. by encouraging individuals, families, organizations and schools to hold bake sales and donate the profits to help Share our Strength provide millions of meals and snacks to America’s children.

As part of this campaign, Domino provided me with a $25 gift card to buy ingredients so I can buy the ingredients I needed to bake up some delicious goodies to have at our neighborhood bake sale and since it’s just too hot to have one here in South Carolina (believe me, we tried – we had the whole thing planned out and it was so hot we couldn’t have it), I’m giving away the gift card to one of my readers so they can host a bake sale of their own! (more…)

Ugh.  Thinking back to the days I used to walk around in shorts, I remember my thighs rubbing against each other and I’d be miserable because they’d hurt so bad.  The friction created by constantly rubbing your skin together is so uncomfortable.  I remember trying to use lotion to help with the friction and I wished there was a product on the market that would help me with this problem. Since I couldn’t find anything to help, I wore skirts to avoid the feeling of the shorts irritating my skin but in this summer heat because I felt like everyone could see the irritation and I was super embarrassed about it. Even wearing my cute little skirts caused irritation because of the stinkin’ heat making my thighs sweat, henceforth causing the same discomfort but with less embarrassment. (more…)

Remember when we were kids and we played with the Rubik’s Cube?  I do.  I knew my dad could solve it no matter how I switched it up but I never could.  Instead, I carefully pulled the stickers off and replaced them so I looked cool but everybody could tell because of the sticker residue and the fact that half of them peeled off in the corner (or completely).

Had I known the possibilities and concept behind the Cube, those stickers would have stayed on and I’d have been kept entertained for hours!

I’d say that the Rubik’s Cube is back but it never left.  I simply grew up and had kids and it looks like the toys that hold their interest the longest are the classics I played when I was a child!  I love it (because I can play with it, too)! (more…)

I recently received a copy of Glory of Heracles to review and as a mother, this wasn’t the type of game I’d sit down to play myself (I’m still obsessed with Nintendogs) so I was thrilled when I found out I was heading to Upstate NY where I stay at my friends house.  Her son is ten years old and as my thanks for letting me spend the week there with my kids, I gave him the assignment of playing the game as much as possible and walking me though it.

In the world of RPG (Role Playing Games), the Glory of Heracles is the latest release for the Nintendo DS and I’m happy to say my little friend is thrilled with it.   Rated E (for everyone), I think this is a great game for a Mother to give her child to play.

Alex (my dutiful game tester) compares the Glory of Heracles to the Final Fantasy series because of the battle choices and magic involved.  If you choose to utilize the magic, you’re taken into a mini game that is beneficial because as you progress through the game they get more difficult.   (more…)

“I want!  I buckle!”

That’s the standard saying in this house from my two year old son, Joshua.  Everything, everywhere.  Grocery store carts – “I buckle!”, Car seat – “I buckle!”.  He buckles.

I do a lot of reviews and I always accept the ones suitable for my family (and me, I’m a fan of me) and when I was contacted by BuckleyBoo about their line of buckle items for toddlers, it was like the angels sang from above.

I little dramatic, you think?  NO.  Not when you’re child is mine.  Buckle.  Buckle, buckle, buckle.

I vlogged the cutest thing you’ll ever see so instead of me writing about our experience, you can see it first hand.  Before you watch the short clip that is so cute you’ll melt into the floor, I’ll give you a few details about the company-

Toddlers are fascinated with buckles, often bypassing a “developmental” toy to play with the buckles on their diaper bag or highchair.  Emily Ross and her mother, a child psychologist, observed this fascination with buckles and created BuckleyBoo, a collection of stuffed toys and crib accessories that encourage cognitive and motor development while appealing to toddlers with a bevy of buckles!

BuckleyBoo toys encourage cognitive development through multi-stage learning.  Starting at 15 months, a child embarks on a developmental journey where each mastered task serves as a springboard for the next level of learning.

Matching is the first developmental step with BuckleyBoo.  The child learns to scan and match the five brightly patterned ribbons, i.e., match polka dot to polka dot and stripe to stripe. At 18 months, children are ready to buckle, but are still not able to unbuckle, making BuckleyBoo a toy that is shared between parent and child.  Now that they have five of their own buckles with which to play, toddlers will likely leave all the other buckles in their environment alone. At three years, children will have both the physical strength and the problem solving skills to buckle and unbuckle which will keep them busy for hours and add another year of meaningful play while they continue to use their lovable BuckleyBoo pal in their imaginative play.

The BuckleyBoo line includes a variety of animal characters including BuckleyCat, BuckleyBunny and BuckleyMonkey, among others.  The line includes three-buckle and five-buckle versions. The BuckleyMobile includes four removable Click Buddies, which are both finger puppets and rattles that buckle into a cloud canopy and can be clipped onto a stroller for the toddler on the go.

All BuckleyBoo products are available at www.buckleyboo.com and retail for $20-$30 (depending on size) and $50 for the crib toys.

Toddlers are fascinated with buckles, often bypassing a “developmental” toy to play with the buckles on their diaper bag or highchair.  Emily Ross and her mother, a child psychologist, observed this fascination with buckles and created BuckleyBoo, a collection of stuffed toys and crib accessories that encourage cognitive and motor development while appealing to toddlers with a bevy of buckles! BuckleyBoo toys encourage cognitive development through multi-stage learning.  Starting at 15 months, a child embarks on a developmental journey where each mastered task serves as a springboard for the next level of learning.