Fun Stuff | Faith and Family Reviews

Archive for Fun Stuff

Baby Magic Bath Caddy Baby Review

Posted by Brande on April 8, 2013
in Fun Stuff, Gift Ideas, Kids Stuff, Kids Toys, Reviews, Shopping

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.

Baby Magic Bath Caddy Baby Review

Move over Baby Magic shampoos! Baby Magic now has baby dolls! This adorable little 8 inch doll smells REALLY good. She has that new baby powder smell. Mmmmm… takes me back. The Baby Magic dolls are perfect for little hands.

She comes in a bath caddy basket with a duck, shirt, headband, small towel, and I can’t forget 3 pretend Baby Magic bottles. Our Baby Magic is currently drying off in our bathroom. My daughter really enjoyed giving her baby a bath, the baby doll was however a bit slippery once she was wet (but, really most babies are, right? lol….). The duck, bottles and towel were great for pretend play and she enjoys washing her baby each tub time.

Here is our Baby Magic Baby before her first bath.

This is a great gift idea!

” target=”_blank”>
Baby Magic Bath Caddy Baby is available at your local box store.

Share and Enjoy

{5 comments}

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!

Share and Enjoy

{No comments}

Eggy Sight Words App Review

Posted by Brande on March 30, 2013
in Education, Fun Stuff, Parenting, Reviews, School, Techie Stuff, Technology/Electronics

Here’s the next review of the Eggy Apps – Reading Eggs Sight Words. Available for your Apple products.

Eggy Sight Words App Review

When you first begin this screen will pop up and they will ask you to select a level. This app has a total of 10 levels and 250 sight words.

The options are Chicken Run, Turtle Tap, or Penguin Plunge.

All of the options games are the same, it just matters on your animal preference you’d like to start with first. You are given a sight word and then eggs are tossed around they have many sight words on them. If the egg matches your word you touch it and the app will say the word. If you choose the wrong word or miss your sight word it cracks. As you continue to play the game the eggs go faster, watch out for the flying animals, objects and rotten eggs! Don’t forget to collect puzzle pieces and happy face eggs along the way!

When you continue on to the next round you spell the word. It will toss eggs into the air with letters on them. Then you choose which eggs spell your sight word.

They have a bonus round with gold eggs – you must try collect/tap 100 eggs. If you tap an animals, pan, or other flying object, the game ends and you need to retry. This is a great hand eye coordination tool.

In the tools section you can select and appropriate setting – Slow (age 3-4), Medium (ages 4-5), Fast (ages 6+).

Really cute app, my 4 year old daughter did okay when the eggs were going slow, once the eggs sped up it was hard for her to keep up. This will be a great app for her once her motor skills and eyes can recognize the words faster. When the eggs were going really fast, it was hard for me to keep up sometimes. lol….otherwise, great learning app!

Look for my next Eggy App Review – Eggy Reading

Share and Enjoy

{No comments}

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!

Share and Enjoy

{One comment}

Eggy Alphabet App

Posted by Brande on March 25, 2013
in Downloads, Education, Fun Stuff, Kids Stuff, Parenting, Reviews, School, Technology/Electronics

The Eggy Alphabet App is available for your iPad and/or iPhone in the iTunes Store.

When you start up this app, it asks for your child’s name and each time you log in it will welcome your child.

The home page has 2 available activities “Letter” and “Letter Game”.

When you select “Letters” a friendly voice will tell you to select a letter.

After selecting a letter, they will direct you to select an activity. Your child can select an upper case or lower case letter for their activities. The available activities are Dot-to-Dot, Draw the Letter, Copy the Letter, or Letter or Not?

Dot-to-Dot is just that connecting the numbers to draw the letter. It will make your child repeat the letter Dot-to-Dot several times with numbers, then they will take away the numbers are show just dots, then take away the darkened letter to make your child draw the letter by themselves. I really like the repetition of the letter.

Draw the letter is just that. They give you a blank page and your child will draw the letter.

Copy the letter – they give you the letter and arrows to give the direction your child should use to write the letter.

Letter or Not? and the Letter Game (From the home page) – It will give you different pictures and ask if the picture starts with that letter. For example see below.

Does the word insect start with the letter i? In this case yes, it does. The next picture may be a vase or flowers.

When your child finishes a level they receive a critter. We received “Mr. Cheese the Mouse” for playing for 10 minutes straight and “Blue the Whale” for completing our first Dot-to-Dot activity.

This is a great learning app for your beginning readers, writers and learning the alphabet for your little ones.

Best of all Moms & Dads, you can check their progress!

Look for my next app review – Eggy Sight Words!

Share and Enjoy

{3 comments}

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!!

Share and Enjoy

{23 comments}

Shari’s Berries

Posted by 278Wife on March 21, 2013
in Food and Treats, Fun Stuff, Gift Ideas, Reviews, Shopping, Uncategorized

Gourmet chocolate covered strawberries and melt in your mouth cheesecake is the key to my heart, and oh boy did Shari’s Berries deliver! I have ordered many gifts from the Internet; flowers, photo gifts, music, etc., but never strawberries nor cheesecake. This gift was intended for myself, but as soon as my husband saw what arrived, I was forced into sharing.

To begin with, the ordering process was very easy. Although they have a multitude of products, it is easy to search for exactly what you are looking for. You can search by occasion, strawberries, chocolate lovers, bake shop, gift baskets, or specials. You can even type in what you are looking for in the search engine and all of your options will come up. Once you decide what you would like to purchase, you are given the choice of what product you want. For example, I chose the Cheesecake Trio and Full Half Dozen Fancy Strawberries, but in the ordering screen I had the opportunity to upgrade to a full dozen fancy strawberries. The next step is to choose the delivery day. When you click on the calendar it shows you when standard delivery would be, and when standard delivery plus an extra fee would be. Once you place the product in your shopping cart, you have the option to include an extra gift such as a card or a cookie. The site then walks you through the checkout process, which is very secure and user friendly. You can order as a guest or create an account. I created an account and am very happy I did. I cannot tell you how many discount codes I have received for future orders. In addition I received a confirmation e-mail with my order number, an e-mail when my order was being shipped with a UPS tracking number, and an e-mail when my order was delivered. This is important to me for future orders. I like to know when my gift arrives at the intended location so I know when I should receive my thank you phone call!

When the package arrived it was very nicely packaged with an ice pack that kept the yummies nice and cold. The strawberries were carefully packaged in a tray with each strawberry in their own indent so each one was perfect on arrival. As soon as I opened them I wanted to take a bite! I restrained myself, though, and put them in the fridge. They suggest eating them at room temperature, but I like my strawberries cold so I kept them cool. I received a total of six dipped strawberries. Two were milk chocolate dipped in nuts, two were milk chocolate dipped in chocolate chips, and two were white chocolate dipped with milk chocolate swirls. Both my husband and I loved all three kinds, our favorite was definitely the milk chocolate dipped in chocolate chips. They were simply mouth-watering! It is suggested that the strawberries be eaten within 48 hours and we did not have a problem doing that; they were so delicious!

The cheesecake also arrived in a seperate box. When I first opened them, I was surprised by how small they looked. I thought they could be eaten in about three bites. The cheesecakes looked absolutely deluctant, though. Even though I thought they looked small, I decided to be nice and split them with my husband. Each cheesecake had a plastic wrapping around them to keep them in contact, which was very easy to remove. Once I unwrapped one and split it in half, I was pleasantly surprised that it wasn’t as small as I had thought. Half of one was a perfect amount for me. The three different cheesecakes included a New York Cheesecake, a white chocolate cheesecake with a chocolate candy on top, and a chocolate rocky road cheesecake, which was by far our favorite! The cheesecake was the perfect consistency, not too heavy and not too light. We thoroughly enjoyed them! The cheesecakes need to be eaten within five days or they can be frozen.

Overall, Shari’s Berries was truly a great experience. I loved the comfort of shopping online and choosing exactly what I wanted. The ordering process was very easy and I loved the confirmation e-mails and coupon codes for future orders. The packaging was great, everything arrived looking perfect. Best of all, both the strawberries and cheesecakes tasted out of this world. Shari’s Berries is a great company to order through that offers quality gifts for every occasion.

To place an order go to:

www.berries.com/mothers-day-berries-sbn

For coupon codes to use on your order go to:

http://www.berries.com/coupon-codes.aspx

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.

Share and Enjoy

{29 comments}

STRIDER Bike Review

Posted by html404 on March 19, 2013
in Exercise, Fun Stuff, Kids Stuff, Kids Toys, Reviews

Our boys love their bikes. And the Strider Bike is a perfect product for introducing toddlers and young children to the biking world.

The Strider Bike is very easy to put together. My husband did so quickly and easily in a few minutes. Nookie had a ton of fun helping him as well.

The overall quality of the Strider Bike is impressive. It’s sturdy and perfectly safe for even the youngest toddlers. The seat is soft and has a nice little cushion for those little tushies.

My youngest two boys have been riding the Strider Bike indoors since it’s still too cold to use it outside, and they love it. It’s the perfect size for them and even my older kids thought it was cute. Although we did have to explain to them why it didn’t have any pedals.

We wondered if the lack of pedals would make Nookie go through some adjustment, but he was easily able to ride the Strider Bike! And our youngest son has also been using the Strider Bike and because of that, he’ll be so much more ready to ride a bike with pedals this summer.

We highly recommend Strider products. Not only do our boy’s love their brand new Strider Bike, but they get two thumbs up from us as well!

You can find all Strider Bike products as well all the other styles of the Strider Bike at:

www.striderbikes.com

Strider also has the Strider Life forum, which is a community to share stories and photos of your children enjoying their Strider Bikes.

Share and Enjoy

{8 comments}

Sassy Non-sters

Posted by 278Wife on March 19, 2013
in Baby Products, Fun Stuff, Kids Stuff, Kids Toys, Reviews

When I hear the brand name Sassy, I immediately think of bright vibrant colors and baby friendly, and that is exactly what their new line of toys called Non-sters are. They are named after the way babies babble. Each Non-ster personality possesses a baby trait. Some of their names include Ci-Ci, La-Lee, and Buppy-Uppy. Each toy has a specific age range, a list of what they promote, and ways to help your child interact with the toy. They are of very high quality and sold exclusively at Target.

I had the opportunity to review four different Sassy Non-sters. First was Ci-Ci lullaby and lights. This is a soothing toy for children. Ci-Ci is absolutely adorable with her green pig-tails, orange ribbons, pink with green polka-dot tutu, and ballerina shoes. The colors are so bright and cheery, and she has many different textures. Gently squeeze Ci-Ci’s hand and the heart in the center of her tummy lights up and soothing lulllaby music plays while the lights change color. You can also change the lullaby music to a heartbeat. It comes with batteries, which is definitely a plus! Ci-Ci promotes interaction, self-soothing, and discovery. It is for 0+ months, and I can see babies playing with it through a year old.

La-Lee discovery spots was the next Non-ster I received. La-Lee was very silly looking with green spikey ribbon hair, different colored ears, and different colored and textured spots. What a surprise I had when I touched any of the four different spots down La-Lee’s tummy and silly sound effects emerged! This would definitely occupy babies for hours! This Non-ster also comes with batteries and promotes interaction, cause-and-effect, and imagination. La-Lee is recommended for 0+ month children, but even my three year old had a ball with it.

Besides Non-sters that light up and play music, they also have books and carrier attachments. The books are absolutely adorable and have so many features. Ci-Ci’s book has a velcro strap at the top so you can attach it easily to a carrier or stroller. Each page has very bright colors and patterns that are very appealing to babies’ eyes. Pages include crinkle textures, a mirror, and a place to insert a photo. You can even personalize the back with the child’s name. You can also buy Ci-Ci as a chime & chew carrier attachment. A very durable velcro strap makes it easy to attach to a carrier. It has a nice sounding chime inside, and a dangling pink heart that is great for chewing on when teething. Again the colors are very bright and vibrant, and the quality is very high.

Overall I was very impressed with all four Sassy Non-ster baby toys. I plan on buying them as gifts for many of my friends who are expecting. Their colors, textures, and features make them great baby toys. You can see all of the different Non-sters at http://www.sassybaby.com/nonsters.

Share and Enjoy

{10 comments}

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.