Minnie & Daisy BFF Book & Magazine Review + Giveaway!

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

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

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

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

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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There Are No More Babies in My House

We recently bought my three-and-half year old daughter two new car seats.   We took out the bulky and difficult (but super safe) five-point harness contraptions and replaced them with the more stylish one-click seatbelt booster seats in each of our family’s cars.

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Bye-bye bland five-point harness (left) and “hello” to a more stylish booster seat (son’s green seat on left, daughter’s new pink chair on right)

Swapping out those seats was not only a rite of passage for my daughter, moving to a “big girl” chair – but also for The Hubs and me.  Those seats were the last bits of baby gear in our home and I’ve come to the realization that there are no more babies in my house.  No more cribs, pack ‘n plays, strollers, high chairs, sippy cups and potty chairs in this household!

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The Circus Is Coming To Town And It’s “Built To Amaze!”

My family is expecting to get some exciting thrills and chills when we go to see “The Greatest Show On Earth” next week!  That’s right — Ringling Bros. Barnum & Bailey’s new show “Built To Amaze!” is coming to the NYC area with 23 shows at Brooklyn’s Barclays Center from March 20 – April 1, 2013.

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“Built To Amaze!’ is based on a child’s natural curiosity of how things all around us work and takes the audience through the stages of creating an actual circus.   More than 110 of the world’s best performers representing 17 countries along with 95 exotic and domestic animals assembled, creating never-before-seen, heart-pounding performances.

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Necessity Is the Mother Of Invention Means Moms Are Ingenious!

They say that necessity is the mother of invention, and as a mom, I have to totally agree.  From talking with other moms, I’ve come to the conclusion that when any of us are facing a difficult or unpredictable situation, the mind goes into overdrive and inventive and ingenious solutions are born.  Heck, some moms have even made profitable businesses out of their ideas/solutions.  Just walk down the aisle of any baby store or search the internet and you’re sure to find a creative solution for whatever your situation or need.

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Meet This Chica!

In our house, she is the ultimate rock star.  She has a killer wardrobe, cool friends and awesome adventures.  My daughter laughs and shrieks with delight when she sees her.  Who is this hip chick?

It’s Chica the Chicken!

chica3Preschoolers may already know Chica as one of the many fun characters from “The Sunny Side Up Show” on the cable network Sprout.  Now Chica gets her own weekly series, “The Chica Show” which premieres on NBC Kids starting this Saturday, February 9.

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The Dreaded “C” Word…..

In some way, shape or form, I’ve been a mediator my entire life: as a child, between playmates fighting over crayons; while co-captain of my high school volleyball team, between my teammates and our coaches; in college as the vice president of my sorority, between my fellow sisters and our executive board; and in my career as a PR professional, between my company and the media.   Since I often came out on the winning side of things, I thought I was a pretty successful negotiator.

compromise2That is, until I became a mom of two children.

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