Our Smart Baby

Join the virtual Easter egg hunt over at beliefnet and if you find all the eggs you have a chance at winning flowers every month for a year! Sound fun?

Go on over there and get started today. You will need to find all ten eggs to be eligible for the prize drawing.

Labels: Easter Games, virtual easter egg hunt

I found the cutest little rocker shoes today for babies. Almost makes me want another baby boy or girl just so I could dress my baby in those cute shoes. These shoes are adorned with red guitars and are soft-soled for comfort.

I found these baby rocker shoes and lots more on SpoilMeInStyle.com and they can be yours for only $24.00.

Labels: rocker baby shoes, stylish baby shoes, toddler shoes

Since Easter is coming soon I thought I would round up some fun Easter games for my son and I came across a whole bunch of arcade easter games online courtesy of Kaboose that I want to share with you too. You can go straight to the games by clicking here.

Some of the Easters games are:

The Great Easter Egg Hunt

The Great Jelly Bean Grab

Eggs of Destruction.

Looks like tons of fun for ages 4 (pre-k) and up. My 6 year old son will really like these games when I show them to him after dinner this evening.

Labels: Easter, Easter Activities online, Easter Arcade, Easter Games, family and Easter

Our 6 year old son loves playing games online. Many of them have educational value and some of them are just for pure entertainment. Here is a great list to get your started. These are the places online that our son likes best and we are continually searching for new ones. If you have any you'd like to have added to this list please let us know in the comments section. Many of these sites are appropriate for age 3 and up.

CartoonNetwork.com

Nick.com

NickJr.com

Bratz.com Ok. Shocker, right? Nah. He goes there for a Aquarium/fish game only. Your child can raise fish in an aquarium and then sell them.

GarbagePailKids.com

Pbskids.org

Starfall.com

webkinz.com (For this site, your child will need a code from one of the plush animals)

Sesame Street Workshop

FamilyFun.com

Disney.com

Kaboose

Labels: online games for 6 year olds, online games for boys, online games for kids

How do you & your children celebrate Easter Sunday?

For most children, Easter is ALL about the Easter bunny, hunting decorated eggs, and those big chocolate bunnies. Our children are no exception. They love coloring the eggs, getting the Easter baskets, and eating the goodies that accompany their baskets.

Since we celebrate Easter, it's hard for me to imagine someone NOT celebrating so I wanted to ask who celebrates this holiday and what exactly are your Easter celebrations? What does your family do? Do you attend religious services? Do you buy easter baskets for your kids? Do you dress your boys and girls up in fancy clothes? What is Easter all about for your family? I'd love to hear about all the differences.
And, for the next week until Easter we will be featuring lots of posts, sites, and resources about Easter. Easter is Sunday April 8th, 2007. Happy Easter.

Labels: Easter, family and Easter, family celebrations, holidays

I was browsing the Imperfect Parent website this morning and came across their clothing line called Tiny Tantrums. I have to say that these shirts for parents are right up my alley and are absolutely adorable.

One of the t-shirts says, "Release Your Inner Screw Up"... Now what parent wouldn't want to wear that? Um, well, I'm sure I could think of a few but I'm not one of them. ;)

You can get the tee to your right for only $16.99 plus the cost of shipping. Not a bad deal. So get to shopping over at Tiny Tantrums, a part of the Imperfect Parent website.

Labels: imperfect parent, mom shirts, motherhood tees, parent style, parent tees

The Flour Pot, a cookie boutique online, is donating cookies to a local Philadelphia Ronald McDonald House for every drawing about kindness they receive from kids.

Here are the rules: The Flour Pot says to draw a picture about kindness or how to make another person happy or explain in writing how to be kind to a person or how to make them happy.

For every drawing or writing that the Flour Pot receives, they will give a cookie and message to a child there.

This is a wonderful way to get your child involved in a cause.

The deadline is May 31, 2007.

For complete information please go to the FlourPot website.

Labels: cookie boutique, kids and causes

My 6 year old son is amazed at how our planet works and all the fascinating topics within it. The Discovery channel is showing an 11-part mini series event starting 8pm March 25, 2007 on Planet Earth.

If you want a fun & educational experience for kids ages 4 and up who are interested in the Earth, oceans, animals and the like then you should watch the program coming soon.

You can also play games or buy the DVD at the discovery.com website. An educational game you can play right now is the Planet Earth Animals matching game. Our 6 year old will adore this. I suggest browsing the entire site along with your child. It's quite informative.

Labels: discovery, educational tv for kids, planet earth learning tool for kids

My family and I use hand sanitizers religiously. However, I recently found out about the issues with hand sanitizers possibly being dangerous due to the alcohol content as well as having the ability to create those bad super germs. You can read more about that here. So I went back to using plain old soap and water for a while.
A few days ago I was given the opportunity to try out a new alcohol-free hand sanitizer product called the Germ Zapper. We received it just in time to really test it out.

We all know how well hospitals (obviously) are known for germs and people getting sick just by visiting. Well, the day I received my GermZapper Atomizer Pen and foam in the mail, my husband was rushed to the ER and admitted to the hospital. We were in germ heaven. So we took the GermZapper Pen with us. It came in very handy and I was so surprised at the ease of use for our two young boys. One spray even provided up to 4 hours of protection! Wow!

While using the GermZapper hand sanitizer we didn't have that sticky feeling we normally get with most hand sanitizers nor did we experience any strange smells. I also found out that it was doubles as an effective first aid antiseptic for minor cuts. Another great addition to a great product.

Overall, my review of this product is absolutely positive and I recommend it to anyone with children. It's the smart hand sanitizer. It's the smart hand sanitizer because it is alcohol free, hypoallergenic, safe for children, promotes good bacteria, and improves skin condition. That's a lot of good stuff.

Naturally, it's going to be a little more expensive than your every day harsh hand sanitizers. But it's well worth the extra money. The GermZapper Atomizer Pen sells for around $3.99 and the foam sells for around $6.95. You can purchase these in stores and through the GermZapper website.

I'd love to hear your thoughts on this product.

Labels: germs, germzapper, hand sanitizers, product reviews

Morphogenix Media has just introduced the first broadband channel specifically devoted to Moms. RealSavvy.tv will be streamlining 100's of short video segments from it's PBS show Real Moms, Real Stories, Real Savvy

For more information and to read the press release in it's entirety, go here and while you are at it, join RealSavvyMoms.com, it's FREE!

Labels: broadband channel mom, real moms, real savvy moms

RealSavvyMoms.com is interested in hearing your birth stories. Submit your story and you could win a prize. Your story could also be published on the RealSavvyMoms.com website in their pregnancy section.

Submit your story today HERE and you could win one of ten Eloise In Hollywood DVD's.

Deadline to enter is: April 6th, 2007

Labels: birth stories, eloise in hollywood, mom contest, real savvy moms

MommyTalk.com is having a fun NCAA tournament contest.

Mommy Talk members (it's free to join) can join in on the bracket selection/pool with cbssportsline.com and win a $50 American Express Gift Card. Two runners up will get a MommyTalk picture frame.

It looks like if you want to be a part of this, you better hurry and make your selections before the first games tomorrow.

Sound cool doesn't it? I think I'm gonna go on over and sign up right now. That $50 gift card sounds nice!

Labels: 2007 ncaa tournament brackets, mom contest, mommy madness, mommy talk

The Celebrating Women's Day 2007 online event kicked off yesterday. Celebrating Women's Day is a special event for women in honor of International Women's Day (3/8/07). This year, the Celebrating Women's Day Online Celebration will be held on March 13 through March 15th. For more information and to join in the celebration ( you are certainly welcome), go to CelebratingWomensDay.com

Here is a brief schedule of events...

You can listen to various women speak on various topics

you can join in on a chat session

you can enter to win some prizes!
Here is the complete schedule of events with many of them being tonight and tomorrow.

Labels: celebrating womens day, online celebration

BabiesOnline.com is celebrating their 10th anniversary online this year. They are giving away Pregnancy Alert/Mom To Be wristbands to all expectant mommies in the U.S.

The pregnancy alert wristbands come in pink or blue. Get yours while supplies last and help celebrate babiesonline.com 10th anniversary. Get your free wristband here today.

Happy anniversary BabiesOnline!

Labels: free stuff, free wristband, freebies, mom to be, moms, pregnancy

I was recently sent a Dove SkinVitalizer to review. Normally I don't buy these kind of products but I was excited to try this Dove product anyway after hearing about it.

The Dove SkinVitalizer is an electronic facial massager. It comes with cleansing pillows in either Gentle Exfoliating or Energy Glow. I think I would have preferred to have the Energy Glow pillows sent to me due to my skin type but I was given the basic for all skin types kind. However, I'm not complaining :)

On the first day of trying the SkinVitalizer I had mixed emotions. The massager felt good on my face but I experienced a mild tingling/burning sensation which overall I think had a lot to do with my skin type. On the second day, I was more than pleased. I had worn makeup that day and the massager worked really well in getting the makeup off quickly as well as making my face feel very smooth afterwards. Now, two days later, my face is still smoother than it normally is and actually looks better too.

Overall, I give this product two thumbs up. It makes taking off makeup easier than doing it with a washcloth. And, the product says that it promotes anti-aging as well as many users reporting an overall improvement in the appearance of fine lines after only 4 weeks of use!

However, at the same time it means constantly buying new cleansing pillows and packing an extra item when going on trips. But I think it's worth it for the easy cleansing and smooth feeling. It's not a product I will probably use daily but I will use it when I need to take makeup off. The only thing different I would prefer is to have a combo skin cleansing pillow.

For more detailed information you can go to doveskinvitalizer.com and also get a $3 off coupon to use towards your purchase.

Labels: dove, dove skin vitalizer, facial massager, reviews

As I was putting together some parenting toddler resources, I thought about structured play and activities for toddlers and preschoolers. Sometimes I don't think I provide enough structure for my boys. I let them run and play with whatever they want until they are tired. I don't set out a schedule of activities for them to do on any given day. I basically just let them do what they want. I do, however, offer up suggestions or activities when they seem to be lost on what to do...or bored.

Do you think toddlers and pre-k kids need structured activities?

Should they be exposed to more creative,make-believe , and imaginative play with less boundaries?

Overall, what's your take? Is more or less structure better or does it simply depend on the family?

Labels: creative play, make believe play, preschool, structured activities, toddler