I am a modern Mother.  A mom of today.  A wife of a software engineer with a love for all things electronic.  With two boys, there is a multitude of toys and electronics throughout my home.

I have a pretty small family.  Lots of extended family, but as far as kids go, my 2 boys are it on both sides of immediate family.  The youngest of 4, the only sibling I have with a child is my older sister and her son (my nephew) is about to turn 20.

My husband is the older of 2 and his sister doesn’t have children.  Needless to say, my kids are SPOILED ROTTEN.  Not by us, which you could tell if you took a look at any of my posts from the Mom Dot Christmas of Dreams Party.  I don’t need to buy gifts for my kids, I can barely keep up with paying for the batteries required to operate them!

Too often, the batteries cost more than (or equal to) the toy itself.  With Swings, cars, trains, musical instruments..the list goes on.  If we want to run one toy, we’ll sometimes have to pull the batteries out of another just to get it running!

I was recently given the opportunity to put some batteries to the test.  Rayovac is confident in their products, and want consumers to be able to focus more on enjoying the product they purchased than worrying about battery cost and life. (more…)

Wondering what to get your child for Christmas?  Think about heading over to Target and checking out the line of toys brought to you by Parents Magazine.  The philosophy at Parents is ‘When the toy does less. the child does more’ and I couldn’t agree more.

My kids are the only in the family right now.  They are therefore overloaded with toys.  We have toys that beep, move and hurl objects.  Blasters, computers, a full size arcade Basketball set.  My boys have it all.  What are their favorites? (more…)

If anyone has ever seen my button, you’d see that I used a picture I took of my boys at the zoo.  Jake stuck his face I the one hole and Ryan help Josh up to the other while I snapped the picture.

Well, I came across a web site this morning called Made Up Memories where you can choose a storyline and upload a picture of your child’s (or anyone else’s) face.  It has you adjust the picture to fit in the allotted area by scaling it up or down and rotating it and then it asks for the individuals name.

Once you’ve finished, you simply hit enter and wait a moment and you get a great story that you helped make!  You can choose from a princess story for little girls (but I’m thinking about putting my brother’s face in there he he), a non-stop action comic strip about a super hero for little boys and a very funny spoof about holiday “it” toys like Tickle Me Elmo and Furby.

After you watch the movie, you have the option of saving it or emailing it to friends and family.  I can’t stop creating stuff.  I have a hilarious picture of Jacob from a few weeks ago where he decided to bathe in swim goggles and I put that into the spoof on toys and just about peed my pants.

My special, special boy

When the movie is done, you have the option of sending it to anyone you want or you can save it to your desktop if you register an account with Memeo Share, the easy way to share photos, videos and more with friends for free.  I’ve made 3 movies and Jake keeps asking me to replay them for him over and over.

If you’re looking for a good laugh and a wonderful video memory to share, check it out.  It’s free and people love it.  I’ve already sent it out to some people and got ‘how did you do that’ replies back!

When Jake opened his new Sesame Street Building Set by K’nex, I was both excited and apprehensive. Any toy that has parts to put together usually ends up in pieces strategically placed on the floor where my foot just happens to step.

Sesame Street has always played a large part in our home. I watched it growing up and I love seeing all the same characters with my 3 year old when he watches. His bedroom is an Elmo wonderland and we have a battery operated Christmas Cookie Monster singing carols all year round.

I sat on the floor with Jake and put the pieces in front of him, telling him he can make his very own Oscar the Grouch. Complete with his worm Slimey, stickers and an activity sheet, Jake took a look at everything in front of him and asked for help. (more…)

Everyone knows I’m the Nintendo DS’s biggest fan.  I don’t leave the house without it.  One of my favorite games is Nintendog, because it teaches Jacob about responsibility and ownership.  He faithfully logs in daily to pet, feed and walk his dog and even though we actually have a real dog of our own, this gives him a dog of his very own to love.

Next month, SouthPeak Games will introduce the 21st century baby doll with the new My Baby Girl and My Baby Boy series for Nintendo DS. The new baby doll is designed to allow children to nurture, engage and raise their baby at their own pace with their own sensitivities, instincts and style. How they raise and relate to their baby will be their very own personal experience. (more…)