Tag Archives: Kids

Minnie & Daisy BFF Book & Magazine Review + Giveaway!

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Cuddling up with a good book has always been one my favorite things to do.  I love escaping into the worlds and lives of the people, either real or fictitious, that I’m reading about.   It doesn’t matter if it’s a book that I’m reading myself or one that I’m reading aloud to my kidlets –I start imagining myself as the person in the story and even start reading in their “voice,” which brings much delight to my kids! I ’m thrilled that they also enjoy books and listening to stories.

My kindergartener son recently discovered the many literary and gross delights of Captain Underpants.  It’s different from any of the other books I’ve read to them before because it is a novel, with chapters and multiple volumes.  So far we’ve read through six of the ten books in the series.  Now while my three and half-year old daughter has listened attentively to these books, “Tra La La!,” she did asked me to find a book “just like that,” but for girls.

So we tried out Disney Publishing’s new chapter book series and magazine featuring Minnie Mouse and Daisy Duck.

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Squawk, Paper, Scissors…Crafting With Kids

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“I’m bored!”  “There’s nothing to do!” It’s the two phrases every parent dreads hearing from their children. If I left it up to my kidlets to choose what to do, they’d pick watching cartoons and playing video games (at least my son) all day, every day. As much as I love the boob tube, I don’t want them to turn into couch potatoes so I’m always trying to come up with fun activities that we can do together.

THM-BirdhousesA lot of times that means doing crafts, playing games or working on some other type of project. Doing activities are a great way for us to spend time together, talk about life and create fun and happy memories as a family….at least that’s what I’ve heard and ironically, seen on TV (hey, wasn’t I trying to get my kids away from that evil box in the first place?).

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Earth Day – Our Family Plan Of Reducing, Reusing & Recycling

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Today is Earth Day and it’s the perfect time to teach children how to appreciate our planet, explore nature and learn about ways to protect it. The most effective way to teach our children to live a green lifestyle –with consideration for the environment including the air, land, water, animals and all the people we share the world with – is to show them through example in our own homes.

Earth Day 2013

As a family, we are always working to live a more eco-friendly life.Our family plan isn’t complicated, it’s actually pretty simple.We follow the popular mantra of “reduce, reuse & recycle.”Learning how to reduce, reuse and recycle not only helps the environment by reducing waste, saving energy and natural resources, but it also helps us as a family save some money. Continue reading →

Tiny Bubbles – Review of Little Tikes Bubble Bellies II Bubble Machine

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Bubbles.   There are songs, websites and even Pinterest pages devoted to them.  Bubbles make me happy, whether they are in the wine or floating above my head.  My kidlets love bubbles too. They can go through a huge bottle in one afternoon waving around their bubble wands, or should I say weapons since the kidlets always wind up smacking them into each other in their bubble blowing frenzy!

THM-BubblesWith the weather finally getting warmer, we were able to have some backyard bubble fun this past weekend.  The kidlets had lots of fun and giggles trying out their new Little Tikes Boubly Hippo Bubble Bellies II bubble machine.

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Playing With Chalk

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I know that spring is in the air and that summer can’t be far behind when my driveway starts looking like this, a massive piece of graffiti art! The family is trying to taking full advantage of the warmer weather here in the Northeast by spending as much time outside as possible.

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Both of my kidlets are budding artists and one of their all-time favorite things to do is draw with chalk on our driveway. Sidewalk chalk is a great addition to any outdoor play and is an inexpensive activity that the entire family can enjoy doing together. I love how playing with chalk promotes my kidlet’s imaginations, creativity and even helps with their basic elementary school skills (writing numbers, letters & words).

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Learning To Count – Review & Giveaway David Carter’s 100: Lift the Flaps and Learn to Count!

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Counting is a huge milestone for any child as they are starting to learn and grow.  Now counting to 10 is “easy breezy,” according to my five-year-old kindergartener son, but what about counting to 30, 50, 80 or even 100?  Aside from learning how to count by 1s, my boy is also learning how to count by 5s and 10s all the way to 100.  Sometimes he gets confused trying to remember how the larger numbers progress so I’m always looking new ways to help him to practice his numbers.

davidcarter100book2 David Carter’s 100: Lift the Flaps and Learn to Count! is a fun new picture book that guides children to count from one to 100 with whimsical illustrations and lots and lots of interactive flaps!

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Wreck-It Ralph Read Along Storybook and CD – Review

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We’re getting ready for Spring Break in our household and it’s our first-ever family Disney World vacation!  I’ll have more on our vacation in an upcoming post, but for months we’ve been secretly prepping the kidlets — telling them only a few days before our trip to avoid the daily “are we leaving today” questions — on all things Disney.

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Last fall we took them to Disney on Ice’s “Rockin Ever After” and we’ve have been re-watching both the classic and newer films on DVD including such as “Bambi,” “Cinderella,”  “The Little Mermaid,” “Finding Nemo,” “Beauty and the Beast” and “Alladin” as well as some more obscure titles like “Donald Duck Mathmagic Land.”

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Tired of the Mommy Wars? Take The Pledge To Empower All Moms

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Everyday moms all around the world are under tremendous pressure to make “perfect” parenting decisions, only to find themselves judged by others, especially other moms!  It’s no secret that I think the mommy wars are totally ridiculous (you can read about it here).

As a parent, there are dozens of tough decisions you have to make for your family — from going back to work or not to whether you’ll breastfeed or formula feed your baby and to how your children will be educated and disciplined –  and there is no one right answer.  No mom (or dad for that matter) should be criticized for the decisions they make.  The right answer for any parent is to choose what is right and what works for their own family.

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Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Present “Built To Amaze!” – Show Review

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One of my most vivid memories of high school English, particularly my junior and senior years, is not the teacher or books/plays I read, but a brightly color brochure that hung on the classroom’s front bulletin board.   When someone would forget their homework or answer a question incorrectly, this teacher would point to the brochure and tell us that if we didn’t shape up, the only institute of higher learning we’d be accepted into would be Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Clown College!

Despite my teacher’s attempt to dissuade us, in class I often daydreamed of what it would be like to actually run away and join the circus.  It would be adventurous – working closely with wild animals and dancing high above the crowds on the high-wire without a safety net!  It would also be exotic – performing under the big top and traveling the world, a different city every week!   As much as this life seemed appealing to me, reality set in and I realized that I am in no way a “performer” and would be much better off as a career gal and mom!

Well, I got to be that daydreaming circus girl once again this past weekend when the entire family went to see Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey presents “Built To Amaze!” at the new beautiful Barclays Center in downtown Brooklyn, which is running there now through April 1.

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Photo courtesy of Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey

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Hide ‘em & Hatch ‘em Eggs – Product Review & Giveaway

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Today I’m lucky to have another entry from The Hubs aka @DadandMarried.  The Hubs is a kid at heart and he loves doing hands-on activities with our kiddies.  So when the Hide ‘em & Hatch ‘em Eggs showed up in our mailbox he immediately asked me if he could be the one to review them.  As my blog title says, I am the “Harried Mom” so anything to help this gal out, who am I to argue!!!

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Which came first-the chicken or the egg? It’s a question that’s vexed mankind for centuries, but luckily for my five and three-year olds, they couldn’t care less – it’s all just part of the pageantry of Easter!

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