Product reviews and videos of stuff for parents and their children
Finally! I’ve been waiting for the cute boy hairstyle for years – and looks like the little guy (and his hair!) are ready for Spikes.
Mission accomplished yesterday at Snip-Its. With the help of some spiky sticky gel 
We caught Kyle last night quickly glance at himself in the mirror – pause, and then look back and say, “Wow! I’m handsome. ”
Love it. And I love my sweet boy. I can’t imagine life without this cutie.
Merry Merry! Are you exhausted? Hope everyone had a wonderful holiday! I’m exhausted but at the same time totally exhilerated by all the excitement and happiness. Can’t wait for 2012 and more new adventures!
After a fabulous and non stop week of entertaining out of town guests, hosting parties for friends and family, and volunteering in Kenzie’s Kindergarten class to build gingerbread houses and help out another day for her holiday party – we are ready to just FINALLY relax.
Today we just stayed in our PJ’s till 2 PM before going for our runs – and now we’re off for a family movie – to see Chipwrecked with the Chipmunks. The kids can’t wait! Here’s them enjoying some of the fun during Christmas.
Kyle FINALLY received his 1st boy dress up – a knight costume I bought him in London. Now maybe his sister will stop dressing him up as a princess or fairy with wings! Kenzie is holding her most cherished and requested gift from Santa this year – a stuffed “Girl” Gingerbread Man – Only $7 at Barnes & Noble so Santa was VERY pleased with to fulfill this request!
And here are the kids with their cousins for their annual holiday “show” – Kyle starred as a Santa and showed up on stage with a big surprise – wearing a full beard – made out of shaving cream. Quite a memory!
Kenzie and her cousin Lindsay loved dressing up as some kind of pirate bandits – they must have paraded up and downstairs some 25 times in different get ups. It’s so fun to see all the kids having such a grand time together with their relatives- what family is all about!
Did you know that your local Fire Engine Volunteers will likely come to your house – with the Fire Truck -for a birthday party?
Simply incredible. And every little boy’s dream.
I’m pretty sure this was the best gift we could ever give to my son Kyle for his 4th birthday and truly it was a gift to ourselves too as we got to experience his joy & wonder – and that of all the little preschool aged kids celebrating with us. Seeing the Fire Engine pull up to your house – for a good reason of course – is VERY exciting Even for the Moms!
The kids were in awe of the demonstration with the Fireman as he showed the kids all the tools and pretty much let them touch everything. As if that wasn’t enough – every single kid was able to RIDE in the fire truck for about a 10 minute loop in our neighborhood and the surrounding vicinity.
The birthday boy even got to ride 2 times ..and on his 2nd trip I was able to ride with him in the Front Seat. It was super duper cool and was Kyle’s favortie part of the entire experience.
After all the glory of the Fire Engine – the kids all went back inside to continue with our original party plan – that of an “Elf” style Birthday party complete with candy canes, cookie decorating, pin the nose on the reindeer, cupcakes, and hot chocolate.
This was all Kyle’s idea and inspiration. Very cute!
Kyle blew out his candles – with some help from his buddy from school Nate. As you can tell, Kyle is struggling to master the candle blowing out skill. He practices hard – and seems to be able to do it correctly- but fails miserably under the pressure of the real deal in his excitement to puff out those candles.
His efforts make for some memorable moments and photos!
On top of the Elf-like festivities, I just added in the Fire Engine as a fun extra activity and was never sure I’d be able to talk to the right people to make it happen -luckily 3 days before the party I was able to connect all the dots and get our local Valley Forge Volunteer Fire Co. to agree to come. They were FABULOUS! And we are beyond grateful for their service to the community and their willingness to share their knowledge and rocking Fire Truck with our kids.
If you’d like the Fire Engine to visit for your son or daughter’s birthday party, just call your local Fire Company. Most likely they will agree to do it – they just request you make a donation. Makes for a super party and gives you a chance to donate to a good cause too. The older kids loved it too as Kenzie, age 6, is now asking for her 7th birthday party to be a Fire Engine party too.
We had snow before Halloween so why not Santa before Thanksgiving?
Yes, kind of crazy I know. I’m not so about rushing life, but my cuties are only little once so I’m embracing the holiday spirit and going full steam ahead with their excitement this year.
I do hate Christmas stuff out in stores before Halloween is over, but once Halloween is done, I’m okay with ramping up the holiday mood. So when I heard that our local Exton Mall was hosting a big welcome Parade for Santa Claus that included music with the “Mummers” we were all over it.
The kids were thrilled to see Frosty, Rudolph, and Mrs. Claus along with the celebrity of the fest – Santa during the parade. (And only from the festivities as we wouldn’t allow an official “sit on Santa’s Lap” visit yet!)
From a kid perspective this party was fabulous and totally surpassed my expectations – free Santa hats and elf hats for everyone – even the parents!
Free Hot Chocolate galore, chocolate chip cookies & fresh baked cinnamon rolls.
Men on stilts, silly clowns, and holiday tunes played live from the Mummers.
Mix all that fun together and share it with friends and Kenzie & Kyle were living the dream. What more could a kid want?
Woohoo! The kids did their first live news segment with me on Fox 29 in Philadelphia today. It was a super experience and Kenzie and Kyle loved getting to play with super cool specialty toys all morning long to their hearts content.
Even though we had time to kill in the green room, I never once heard a complaint about boredom! And Kenzie loved the big mirrors and activity of being in the studio.
And we all had a ball surfing around on the Spooner Board. An absolute must have that I never had the opportunity to test out prior to our prep for this segment.
Doing this piece was extra special since it supported buying locally from your neighborhood toy store. We were able to celebrate the best toys from specialty toy manufacturers versus the “big box” brands – these toys don’t get the commercial air time but are seriously incredible for imaginative play – my kids never tire of toys like these!
As a bonus – the kids were both so excited that their “must have” toy – the Calico Critter Camper made the Best Toy List from Astra Toys for Neighborhood Toy Store Day. Here’s the full list of “Best Toys for Kids” if you click this link or the badge.
The Pretend and Play Teaching Cash Register was a huge hit with both kids too. What kid doesn’t love counting money or charging credit cards? I love that this currency actual looks real too -especially the coins!
We topped off our exciting day with a trip across the street to get up close and personal with the Liberty Bell. I can’t believe we did all this before 10 AM this morning!
What a day! Yesterday was Kyle’s “special day” as we were invited to host a Mega Bloks Thomas the Train party for all Kyle’s friends. My little guy 3 year old guy was able to shower his entire preschool class with a new set of Thomas Mega Bloks. The kids were obviously THRILLED with the chance to get a new toy and the Moms appreciated that our 3-4 year old kids are now old enough to just enjoy playing together while we can casually supervise the building games.
After preschool, everyone caravaned back to our place for Pizza, Juice Boxes, and Mega Bloks. All 9 kids from his were able to attend plus a few siblings.
Take a peek at our pics. Kenzie is missing thanks to PM Kindergarten - and yes she was v. sad to miss the festivities, but we explained this was Kyle’s chance to host a fun Classy Mommy party since so often she’s the one who gets to reap the fun.
Here’s Kyle and I before we opened the DieselWorks Thomas & Friends Mega Bloks set.
All the Mega Bloks waiting for curious kids to explore and open them up. We loved this kits. They sell for about $15 and the box stores the blocks but when you flip it upside down it is literally a train track set – complete with an awesome hill for the trains to roll down.
Dislcosure: Thanks to Mom Select and MegaBloks for providing us with these toys to host a party for our friends. I wasn’t paid to host this event, but we love working with great brands for children and couldn’t resist this opportunity to shower our friends with fun. AS always all thoughts and opinions are my own.
Full speed ahead! We are gearing up for the holidays at a record pace this year after Halloween. The kids are just too excited for all things Christmas and since these childhood moments are so fleeting, we’re embracing the holiday spirit full force to maximize everyone’s enjoyment.
Here are the kids super surprised and excited to open a package on Thursday full of all the ingredients to have our own family movie night – popcorn, cool popcorn containers, caramel corn, and a holiday themed DVD – Beethoven’s Christmas Adventure.
Here are the kids sporting their adorable Gingerbread Pajamas on Friday night after dinner as they prep for our Family Movie night. At almost age 4 and 6, these cuties couldn’t be more ready to embrace the holiday spirit and every story or tale about the season.
This is the perfect movie to get in the mood for the holiday.
The Kids final verdict on the flick …. they gave it a rave review. The story is about an Elf who lost Santa’s Toy boy and needs the help of a young boy and Beethoven the dog to rescue the magical toy bag to save Christmas. There’s also a nice Mother/Son story involved too. The kids were most impressed with the talking dogs (or ability for the Elf to understand the dogs “barks”) and of coure the actual Elf. I also thought the movie was very cute for kids and it 100% kept their attention for the 80 minutes.
Kyle’s final comment before going to bed after the movie ended was a plea for us to pretty please decorate the entire house for Christmas while he was sleeping as he was just sooooo excited to get ready for the holidays. Love it!
Here’s Dad cuddling with Kyle. The kids are seriously just too cute at this age. I don’t want it to ever end as they are still totally little, silly, cozy and cuddly – and oh so excited to do fun things with us as a family.
As they get older, I know this will pass…. boo hoo!
Disclosure: We received this family movie kit and the movie Beethoven’s Christmas Adventure as a sample product to facilitate our review. As always, all thoughts and opinions are our own.
Building snow castles, gigantic
snowball, and an igloo in October. Hard to believe trick or treating came after
our 1st snowfall. Crazy but true!
I over extend my kids just like I over extend myself…. Luckily they adore all the activities and gymnastics is a huge favorite. See their smiles?
I feel like the worst Mom ever …. not to mention I feel heartbroken for my sweet boy.
Kyle adores the dentist and both he and his sister beg to go to the dentist as they think it is so fun and exciting. They love taking care of their teeth and as Parents, Mike and I felt we were doing everything just about right when it came to Dental care category.
Daily brushing, no juice except at a party, no gummy treats and so on.
His 6 year old sister has never had a single cavity.
I would have said YIKES if I heard sweet Kyle had 1 or 2 cavities. To hear he had 8 just made me feel sick to my stomach and obviously gave me a gigantic case of mom guilt. I nearly fell over as each x-ray was revealing additional cavities.
The Dentist was shocked too… as they look beautiful upon his exams. However, his teeth are close together and we suspect Raisins to be the only culprit in his diet after much discussion on what could possibly have caused this much decay.
His teeth look gorgeous – literally as I brush them I think how cute and perfect his teeth appear. Even the hygenist commented they looked so good, but it was his first round of X-Rays that revealed the decay – basically in between all of his teeth. My poor little guy!
We’re now flossing 2x per day and we will try to tackle the first round of 2 serious cavities in the office. If it doesn’t work, she’ll sedate him at the hospital and bang out all 8 at once.
Sigh. Do your kids have cavities? How did they fair getting them filled.
Here’s Kyle’s happy photos before the bad news.
