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The Christmas Web – A Christmas Tradition

Posted by html404 on April 9, 2013
in Books, Family Stuff, Fun Stuff, Holidays, Home, Kids Stuff, Kids Toys, SALES

This is a compensated post.

We’ve all probably participated in “Christmas in July” events or sales, I know I have multiple times over. It’s fun! Christmas is one of our family’s favorite holidays. Each of us has our own Christmas family tradition passed down from one generation to the next, but have you ever started a new holiday tradition? We have started a couple and our children have really enjoyed them.

If you are looking to start a new family tradition, consider www.ChristmasWeb.com The Chirstmas Web comes in a gift set – a hard covered, unique story book titled, “The Christmas Web” and three magic wands in nice packaging that can be used as a display as well. It’s a very cute idea to have children (or adults too!) find their special Christmas gift by following a literal web.

The Christmas Web retails for $39.99, however, right now there’s a “Spring Sale” going on and they are just $29.99. A 25% discount with the code SALE. Just enter the word SALE in the promotional code box to get the 25% discount at www.ChristmasWeb.com. One these are gone the price will go back to $39.99

Direct link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VjAXh74jYZA

We received The Christmas Web and our younger children liked it and said it was a nice idea and a sweet story. A couple of them even asked when we could use the wands and I told them at Christmas. The next question was, “When is Christmas?” Then the children were trying to figure out how long they had to wait! We look forward to creating a new tradition this Christmas. Then again maybe we could try it for one of our children’s upcoming birthdays. Whether it’s Christmas or in celebration of some other event, I know our children will enjoy having fun following the Christmas web to discover a special treat or gift at the end of the line.

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Speedeebee!

Posted by Professor on April 4, 2013
in Family Stuff, Gift Ideas, Girl Stuff, Kids Stuff, Kids Toys, Reviews, School, Uncategorized

Can you beat the best? Are you the speediest in the hive? Join the fun with the ultimate word game. Roll the dice to serve up your challenge and be the first to call out a word. May the brightest bee prevail!

Speedeebee is another awesome game from Blue Orange Games. Speedeebee has 150 fun challenges and four alphabet dice. Players race to find words containing or excluding the letters shown on the dice. Speedeebee keeps everyone buzzing with exciting simultaneous play. There are no waiting turns in this family word game! The variety of challenges and dice combinations makes Speedeebee different every time it’s played!

Contents of the game:

50 cards
4 alphabet dice
Illustrated rules

Skills of the game:

Cognitive speed
Vocabulary
Spelling
Reaction time

This game is recommended for ages 8 to adult and accommodates 2 to 6 players.

Click here to see the game in action!

Our Review:

We LOVE this family game! This is certainly a new favorite for family game night at our house! Speedeebee gives the brain a workout! We loved that this was not only a fun game but also a great learning tool! This game is reminiscent of speed tests at school… it gets the children (and adults) into the practice of thinking quickly. We played this game as a family…and had a blast. Even my 4 year old had a great time identifying letters on the dice. Even though she could not spell we adapted her role to finding letters. The game is age appropriate from 8 and up…but we did not want to exclude our little one from family game night. My other two children who are 7 and 9 played the game with ease (my 7 year old is reading at a higher level so this game was appropriate even for him).

As a mom and “collector” of family games I love that this game is in a small convenient tin. No large box to store and it travels nicely. This game fits easily on our game shelf and can easily be put into a purse or bag for travel use! I also love the fact that the container is made of tin… so often the sides of our game boxes break and I need to tape them up…no worries here with strong tin construction!

Overall, what a fun family game! This was truly enjoyable to play! This is definitely an addition to our family game night and impromptu game nights!

For more information about this and other Blue Orange games please visit:

http://www.blueorangegames.com/

Faith and Family Reviews received the following product in exchange for writing a review. While we consider it a privilege to receive free products to review, our reviews are our honest opinion and thoughts of the product.

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Sleepy Boy – Wordless Wednesday

Posted by html404 on April 3, 2013
in Family Stuff, Fun Stuff, Kids Stuff, Wordless Wednesday

This week’s Wordless Wednesday photo is of Jr. when fell asleep on his brother’s shoulder as they were watching Pink Panther on my iPhone. The children set him down or he laid down naturally on my big purse on the floor. Too precious! It’s a lot calmer around the house when this little guy is asleep. When he’s awake he’s into everything and anything!

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KidsEmbrace

Posted by html404 on March 29, 2013
in Community Issues, Family Stuff, Kids Stuff, Parenting, Safety

Kids safety is very important to parents. Especially when it comes to transporting children in a vehicle. Most states require a child to be in a car seat. Here in Illinois children are required to be in child restraint system until 8 years old or they fit into a car’s seat belt safely. It’s our job as parents to choose child restraint equipment that is safe to use and properly installed. Sometimes though toddlers can be tough when it comes to getting them into their car seats. My little sister was. Most of our children have done ok. They seem to just get sick of sitting period on long trips! Pretty normal for a child.

For those tougher toddlers, I imagine KidsEmbrace toddler car seats would appeal to these ever-growing, ever-changing children and make them want to sit in their car seat…at least for a time.

Boys familiar with Batman would love the Batman car seat. Girls would love the Dora Explorer seat. KidsEmbrace offers affordable, yet fun car seats for kids.

Have you heard of KidsEmbrace? I hadn’t until now.

This is a featured post.

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Fun in the Snow – Wordless Wednesday

Posted by html404 on March 27, 2013
in Family Stuff, Fun Stuff, Kids Stuff, Seasonal Stuff, Wordless Wednesday

I think this photo says it all – family fun in the snow!

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Zingo! Sight Words Review – TimeToPlayMag.com

Posted by Brande on March 22, 2013
in Education, Family Stuff, Fun Stuff, Kids Toys, Reviews, Shopping, Uncategorized

I was very excited when I won an opportunity to review “Zingo!”for Timetoplaymag.com

I couldn’t wait to tell you about it!

The Thinkfun Company is spot on with this early learning game!

Zingo! Sight Words is a Pre-K version of the classic game of bingo except with frequently used words.

After choosing your Zingo! card, slide the “Zingo! Zinger”. It drops 2 (Two) words, if one of the players has one of the corresponding words on their card, they first must say the word then they may place the word tile on their Zingo! card. Play continues until all 9 spaces are covered then the winner yells “ZINGO!”

Of course you can play the game in other ways. You can have 3 in a row or patterns (X, four corners, picture frame or Z for Zingo!), try multiple cards for more advanced players.

Zingo! is recommended for Pre-K to 1 and I would agree with the age range. My daughter is 4 and not reading yet, however we used matching words so our game slowed down. I would say the word and she would repeat it, then she needed to find it on her or my card.

The only thing I found bothersome is you need to scramble the 72 tiles before you play for the first time. My daughter loved scrambling the tiles, but we needed to put them back int the “Zinger” before we could start the game. The other thing I noticed was the tiles were easy for me to push back in the “Zinger” but a little hard for my daughter.

Great Game! We will be purchasing Zingo! for upcoming birthday parties!

ZINGO!!

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My Very First Easter Story Sticker Book

Posted by html404 on March 18, 2013
in Books, Family Stuff, Fun Stuff, Gift Ideas, Holidays, Kids Stuff, Reviews

Easter is less than two weeks away and this is my first post about anything pertaining to Easter. We don’t even have any plans yet either, which is how it has been for the past few years. Our children, however, have been enjoying My Very First Easter Story Sticker Book by Lois Rock; illustrated by Alex Ayliffe.

This is a traditional Easter story book about Jesus dying on the cross, however, it leaves out why He died. Yes, He died to make the world a better place, but He died for our sins. That little piece of truth was missing, which was disappointing and seemed dumbed down, in my opinion.

My Very First Easter Story Sticker Book has a twist on the traditional books, as it has an activity at the bottom of each page and children can put stickers in the appropriate pages.

My almost 7 year old and 5 year old loved this book. They really enjoyed putting the stickers on the pages and were eager to finish putting them on – I made them do it in stages so to make it last longer. They just finished it up tonight.

This book may be purchased through Kregel Publications for $5.99 and is paperback.

Faith and Family Reviews received the following product in exchange for writing a review. While we consider it a privilege to receive products to review, our reviews are our honest opinion and thoughts of the product.

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Happy St. Patrick’s Day

Posted by html404 on March 17, 2013
in Family Stuff, Fun Stuff, Holidays, Seasonal Stuff

Happy St. Patrick’s Day! Or as some say, Happy St. Paddy’s Day! Especially to all of you who are Irish!

Today is usually a day when you can witness the Chicago River being green. Yesterday they dyed it that color in celebration of today’s Irish holiday. The St. Patrick’s Day parade was also yesterday, plus there are other special celebrations of this day going on around the city. Visit the Chicago St. Patrick’s Day 2013 website.

To be honest we have never really done much other than maybe wear green for St. Patrick’s Day. I have witnessed the Chicago River being green, but have not attended the parade or any other of the St. Paddy’s Day festivities.

Here are some fun facts about St. Patrick’s Day (source: Chicago Tribune):

– There are some 36 million people in the USA who boast of an Irish heritage. 9x that of the population of Ireland itself!

– St. Patrick’s Day was originally a religious Christian holiday. The holiday honored St. Patrick who shared his Christ with Ireland in the fifth century.

– Today the holiday is a celebration of everything related to the Irish.

– March 17, 1762 marked the first St. Patrick’s Day parade in the world. It was held in New York City.

So do you celebrate St. Patrick’s Day? Are you wearing something green, cooking something green or attending any St. Patrick’s Day festivities?

Another inspired post from Mama Kat’s writing prompts: Write a blog post inspired by the word green.

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Clevamama

Posted by 278Wife on March 12, 2013
in Baby Products, Family Stuff, Fun Stuff, Kids Stuff, Kids Toys, Reviews

Clevamama is a company that strives to create products that make the lives of parents easier. They sell baby products for bath time, bed time, feeding, and safety. I was sent four different products to review including an Infant Formula Travel Container, ClevaPortions freezer and storage pots, a Splash & Wrap Baby Bath Towel, and a Clevabath Extra Long Bath Mat. All four Clevamama products were of great quality.

The Infant Formula Travel Container looks similar to other formula containers on the market, but have a few unique characteristics that make it that much better. It has three seperate compartments to hold three premeasured amounts. The container is tall so it can hold at least two scoops of formula in each section. It features an easy pour spout that is longer than others I have tried. This is a huge plus for me, since sometimes water from the bottle would splash back into the formula container making a mess. This is almost impossible to do with this formula container. It also has a secure snap top lid and special finger grips on the side for easy pouring. Best of all is it is BPA free and dishwasher safe for easy cleaning!

The ClevaPortions freezer and storage pots are a great product for parents who make their own baby food. It features eight storage pots with individual lids. Each pot can be removed seperately without using any of the other pots. Basically, you can make eight different pots and freeze them, and only take one pot out at a time when it’s time to eat. This makes it a breeze for travel in that you only need to bring as many pots as you’ll need, rather than bringing an entire tray of baby food. You also have the option of using only a few pots a time, rather than the whole tray. Many of the other baby food storage systems I’ve used you must unthaw the entire tray or try to pop out one of the “food ice cubes” yet more than one would always come out for me! The whole Clevaportions tray is a little smaller than an ice cube tray. Each pot holds up to 2oz of food and are safe to use from freezer to microwave. You can either feed from the pot or push the food out into a bowl. For me, I just feed right out of the pot. Who wants to do more dishes? Not me! The pots are dishwasher safe and see through so you can see what is inside of each pot. I love this product and highly recommend it to moms!

The Splash & Wrap Baby Bath Towel is another genius product designed by Clevamama. I cannot tell you how many times I have gotten soaking wet from taking my son out of the bathtub. With this towel, it is almost impossible for this to happen! The towel features straps that snap around your neck so the towel fits like an apron. Then you simply lift your baby or toddler out of the tub, place them inside the towel and you can hold them without your body getting wet. The towel also features a hood, so their head doesn’t get cold and straps on each side that you can tie around your waist (I didn’t feel the need to use these). Wearing this towel like an apron makes it easy to dry your child off since both of your hands are free. The towel is 100% cotton, is machine washable, and is VERY absorbent. It fits a newborn all the way through a four year old. It is ultra soft, even after washing it, and has a cute neutral teddybear on the hood. This was definitely one of my favorite products!

Lastly, I was able to try out the Clevabath Extra Long Bath Mat. I love that it covered pretty much the entire bathtub, and not just the middle. It has many little suction cups all over the bottom to keep it secure to the bottom so it doesn’t move. These did not work as well as I had hoped they would. Only about half of them would stay suctioned down, but the mat still did not move. The material is made of a soft non-slip material that is ultra cushiony and dries very fast. The bath mat also came with a free kneeling cushion. This was great! My knees always hurt after bathtime, and this cushion is made with the same material as the bath mat, so it was very soft and very cushiony. Overall a good product.

Clevamama offers many unique baby items that definitely make it easier on parents. I cannot wait to see what they will come out with next! Check out their website to see where their products are sold.

http://www.clevamama.com/

Faith and Family Reviews received the following product in exchange for writing a review. While we consider it a privilege to receive products to review, our reviews are our honest opinion and thoughts of the product.

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5 Things to Do in Our Town During Spring Break

Posted by html404 on March 11, 2013
in Family Stuff, Fun Stuff, Home, Kids Stuff, Seasonal Stuff, Travel

We do not have a lot planned while my mom is here. Our beast is out of commission. It broke down a couple of weeks ago right at the end of a farmer friend’s driveway when we were visiting to learn more about goats. Our 14 year old has been interested in goats for…oh…about five years or more I’d say. We gifted her an educational goat class through one of the local farm organizations one year for her birthday and this year we plan to give her a goat. So what we’d do, but what another family chooses to do on Spring Break will probably completely different.

Here are 5 things to do in our town during Spring Break:

1. Go to the theater. Surely there’s one family friendly one playing.
2. Visit a park. Depending on the weather you might be able to hit a few during the week of Spring Break.
3. Go to the Farmers Market.
4. Coordinate a visit to a local farm. This is for the sake of other families since we live on a farm. But even so we enjoy visiting other farms and learning from them.
5. Travel to Chicago to visit a museum or Shedd Aquarium. This is something we plan to do in the fall when the public schools are back in session and the crowds are minimal.

So what is there to do in your town during Spring Break?

Inspired by another one of Mama Kat’s writing prompts: 5 things to do in your town during Spring Break. Mama Kat’s prompts sure came in handy when it came time to do up blog posts in advance for my mom’s visit!

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