Author: Melissa

three year old cuteness

Melissa 1 Comment

“Colin, can you spell your name?”

“C-O-3-2-E.”

I think we need to work on spelling still.

***
Colin’s enthusiasm is contagious. When something good happens, like pizza or he gets to have a snack or watch Looney Tunes on tv, he says, “That is really really AWESOME!” with ‘awesome’ in a high voice a la Barney Stinson. (Not that he knows who that is, but he really just sounds just like him.) Then he does the “Oh, Yeah!” dance:

This kid cracks us up!

***
And for your viewing pleasure, the Turkey Song. Which we heard approximately eleventy billion times in the past week.

2011 holiday toy gift guide

Melissa

I wasn’t going to do a gift guide this year, but we have so many amazing products that we’ve discovered this year, I couldn’t resist!

disclosure: some of these items were received as products for review, some are just things we think are cool. almost all of these are affiliate links.

Corolle Mon Premier Baby Doll | Ages 18 months-6 years, $24.95

Absolute classic! Corolle Baby Dolls are the gold standard. A soft bean filled body allows this doll to posed and played with like a real baby, their eyes open and close and they even smell like a real baby! (That vanilla scent is wonderful – kids love to snuggle them up!) And they never break, these dolls can even stand up to a pesky little brother. Corolle dolls are made in France.

Fisher-Price Shake ‘n Go! Disney/Pixar Cars 2 |Ages 18 Months -7, $49.99

This is the top of Colin’s list! We have several of the Shake ‘n Go cars and they are really fun to play with, so a whole track to race them on sounds awesome! Anything with Cars is a pretty safe bet for preschool boys.

KiwiCrate Membership | Ages 3 – 6, $19.95/mo
This is perfect for the crafty kids! Each month, kids will receive a themed crate filled with art projects, science experiments, imaginative play, and more. Each crate includes all the materials (and instructions) so kids can open the box and enjoy! Crates can be purchased by month ($19.95 each) or a one year-subscription (with one free month included). Select a subscription length of 3, 6, or 12 months. Shipping is free. My girls thought the crate was amazing and said they would love to get one every month. This would also be a great idea for traveling – if you’re headed to Grandma’s house for a week, have one sent ahead so the kids have a fun activity waiting there!

Little Miss Muffin | Ages 3 – 6, $15


We fell in love instantly with Little Miss Muffin! She is the sweetest thing – my girls loved playing with her. (See our full review here.) And its has more for sensory development than typical stuffed toys, as kids can flip the dolls in and out of the cup and sniff the yummy scent of their doll. Check out the Little Miss Muffin Website – its packed with activities, and tons of yummlicious recipes!! And follow Little Miss Muffin on facebook of more yummy updates!

BigJigs Heritage Playset Princess Palace | Ages 3 & Up, $129.95


This enchanting wooden fairy tale palace will be under the tree waiting for my Gracie this year! Beautiful white, pink and blue exterior, with two towers, hanging balconies, working doors and windows, a removable roof, rope ladder, a secret entrance for you to find to hide from the witch and a set of 6 wooden figures are included to provide lots of fun imaginative play. BigJigs Toys are worth the investment – these are toys that will last for your grandchildren to use someday! For boys, check out King Arthurs Castle!


Kazam Balance Bike | Ages 3-6, $95.95
kazam bike

This is amazing – with the KaZAM Balance Bike, your little one will never have to use training wheels. Balance bikes are the easiest way to teach kids to ride a bike: training wheels do not teach kids balance or proper bicycle steering, but the KaZAM bike does. We’re a huge fan of this method of teaching (which my husband got turned on to when visiting Europe where all the kids use these!) and Colin, my three and a half year old, is thrilled for his first step towards a big boy bike!

Jake & The Never Land Pirates: Season 1 | Ages 2-5, $20
For any little boy, this is a safe bet! Jake and the Neverland Pirates is the #1 series for boys ages 2-5 on cable. It is fun to watch, silly and educational at the same time. My son Colin loves it and sings the songs constantly. And, really, can you even go wrong with pirate stuff as a gift for boys at any age?

Corolle Les Cheries 13″ Fashion Dolls | Ages 5-12, $20


Corolle has created a new line of dolls designed for older girls. They each come in a fashionable outfit (we have the ballerina doll, which my little ballerina, Grace, loves). The best part? Each doll’s hair is individually rooted, so it can be brushed and styled. We’ve had several dolls with ruined hair thanks to my hair stylist daughter.

Ezy Roller | Ages 4-14, $99

Ezy Roller combines the control of a bike and the fun of a scooter. The Ezy Roller has won tons of awards, including the Parents’ Choice Recommended Award  and ASTRA Toy of the Year Award. My kids absolutely love it – they get flying on this thing! Its perfect for the kids who seem to have every outside toy under the sun. Its great exercise to boot!

Kindle Fire | Ages 13 and up, $199

The Kindle Fire will be one of the hottest gadgets this holiday season. Friends have it already and it is pretty awesome. My daughter has been begging for an iPod Touch to play games and loves to read on our Nook, so this looks perfect. I would buy this any day over a DS or PSP.  You can check email, browse the internet, play games, read books, watch movies, listen to music, etc. For older kids, this is the MUST have gift!

 

fashion friday: eye candy

Melissa 2 Comments

This week, I spent a lot of time on Polyvore for my fashion blog, All Things Chic. It is seriously so much fun. Since I’m crazy busy getting ready to travel tomorrow, here are a few of my favorite creations this week! Enjoy!

Early in the week, I did a post on How to Wear Blazers. You have a blazer, right? Instant update to your wardrobe and you’ll wear it forever, even if you don’t spend a ton of money on it. (See my blazer bargain in What I Wore Wednesday.) I love the look of denim, a blazer and a scarf:

classic blazer

I also wrote a post about my current obsession with gray and brown. I know they used to say you couldn’t wear them together, but please, please ignore it. They are both neutrals and they look fabulous together!! I am completely, totally in love with this outfit:

cozy perfection

Then, yesterday, I shared a post on how to wear brights. I confess that I own approximately zero brights. But I found such cute stuff that I really want to add something. If I had an office job, I would be all over this. Isn’t it cute? I love how the polka dots in the top add some fun… and the red skirt! Perfection! (Note to self: buy red skirt!)

polka dots for the office

Which is your favorite look?



then he peed on the ipad

Melissa 6 Comments

Last week we got an iPad. My superstar husband WON IT at his company’s annual meeting. Because he rocks like that. It certainly put a sunshiney glow on my awful awful time of dealing with head lice (eww) while he was there. I literally screamed when he pulled it out of his bag! So excited! Since the only thing better than an iPad is a FREE iPad, right?
The whole family has been loving it. We had been planning to buy one and, now that we have one, I can say it would totally be worth the money. The kids love playing games on it, drawing and such, although it does make me nervous when they carry it around. Last night, Colin was quietly and innocently playing with his favorite iPad App
 while laying on our bed. My husband and I were downstairs helping the girls.

Then, we heard crying. We ran upstairs to see what happened. Colin was standing in the bathroom in a puddle of pee… next to the iPad. He had peed on it.

Yes, you read that right.

He peed. ON THE FREAKING IPAD.

I almost had an aneurysm right there. We figure he had to go potty, but didn’t want to stop playing, so he brought it with him and then had an accident with the iPad in the line of fire.

Thanks to genius Apple engineering, the iPad is fine. Lucky for Colin.

This kid is SUCH a punk.
For the record, he is never, ever allowed to drive my car.

i’m back

Melissa 1 Comment

Well, I learned one this past two weeks: Lice SUCK.

Lets never, ever, ever talk about it again, okay? I’m going to try and erase it all from my memory. Because thinking about it makes me itch.

See? Now I’m itchy.

Darn it.

Going to stop thinking about it again now.

***

Anywho, I have a bunch of cool gift ideas to share with you this week! And cool stuff like that. Oh and did I mention that we got two little cute  kitties this weekend?

This is Hazel:
And this is our yet-to-be-named girl kitty:
I’ll try to get a better picture of her. When she is still for longer than 1/2 a second!

my little pirate

Melissa

Colin loooves pirates! He was even a pirate for Halloween, see?

Obviously, being three, he’s a little young for Jack Sparrow. One of his favorite shows is Jake and the Neverland Pirates – one of the most popular shows on Disney Junior. (Disney Junior is my favorite children’s programming channel and they are launching a 24-hour Disney Junior channel in 2012! Woo-hoo!!) Its really not suprising that Jake and the Neverland Pirates is the #1 series for boys ages 2-5 on cable. It is fun to watch, silly and educational at the same time. Colin absolutly loves it and sings the songs constantly.

I have to say, as a parent, I really like this show. Its not annoying to watch (because you know many children’s shows are torture  for grown ups!) and it has great lessons. I love the episode when the kids find Captain Hook’s hat. One of the characters says “Maybe we should keep it! Thats what Captain Hook would do if he found our hat.” Then Jake said, “Well, we’re not like him. We’re going to do whats right.” LOVE THAT MESSAGE! That is exactly the type of thing we are teaching our kids and I love that I found a program that is backing that up!

We got to watch a special preview of the holiday episode, “Its A Winter Never Land! / Hook on Ice” which was so cute. I loved how even Captain Hook gets into the spirit! Even my older kids thought it was great.  The episode premieres on Friday, December 2 (8:30-9:00am) on Disney Channel and we’ll be recording it on the DVR to watch that night to kick off December!! Check it out –
 
The only thing that drives me crazy about Jake? The songs (sung by Sharky and Bones of the Neverland Pirate Band) are so stinking catchy that they are in my head all. the. time.  My kids looooooooove the Soundtrack and beg for it in the car. And we watch our Jake & The Never Land Pirates Season 1 DVD all the time.

If you have any little boys in your life, anything Jake and the Neverland Pirates would be a safe bet for a gift!!!

disclosure: i received a box of jake and the neverland pirates goodies to facilitate this post. as always, all opinions are my own. and colin’s.

darling holiday cards from tiny prints

Melissa

Holiday cards are always a little stressful for me. Mainly because my kids completely lack the ability to all look nice at the same time. Maybe its because we have three – but there always seems to be one kid looking off in every single picture. No matter how many we take! Honestly – we’ve taken 300 pictures in a photo session and not had ONE single useable one. Thank goodness for digital photography, that’s all I have to say.

This year, I bit the bullet and got their pictures taken. And we got one!

How cute are they? For the first time in years I can do a one photo holiday card!! Yay!!!  Off to Tiny Prints!! Tiny Prints has my favorite cards every year, so they are always my first stop! MY only problem is that there are so many cards I love, I can’t decide! One great tip I learned last week at a local event with Tiny Prints, hosted by my friends Julie and Kelly that featured local family photographer Dottie Foley, was to choose your card FIRST then pick backgrounds and outfits. So smart! I hate when I fall in love with a card and my pictures don’t fit.

Here are my three favorite cards that I can’t decide between….

LOVE the mix of traditional words with untraditional fonts.

super simple, very sweet

i love that noel!! gorgeous.

Which do you like best? Or head over to Tiny Prints and show me one that you like better!

disclosure: i am part of a christmas card campaign with tiny prints. i was provided with holiday cards and, as always, all opinions are my own.

little miss muffin

Melissa 1 Comment

You know how Grace is obsessed with being a chef — she loves cooking and baking! So how perfect is Little Miss Muffin for her?

These dolls are too too cute! She was thrilled when she saw Little Miss Vanilla and tore her out of the box for a big hug!

She is just too cute. Now whenever we cook or bake, Little Miss Vanilla has to help 🙂 Such a lovely idea for the little bakers in your life!  She has had so much fun taking her in and out of her muffin cup. And its has more for sensory development than typical stuffed toys, as kids can flip the dolls in and out of the cup and sniff the yummy scent of their doll.

Little Miss Muffin is available at Toys R Us and I found Little Miss Muffin on Amazon for under $15!

Check out the Little Miss Muffin Website – its packed with activities, and tons of yummlicious recipes!! And follow Little Miss Muffin on facebook of more yummy updates!

disclosure: we received a little miss muffin to facilitate this review. as always, all opinions are my own.

teaching kids about money through giving

Melissa

This post was underwritten by BMO Harris Bank, which offers a matching $25 on a new savings account opened for your child through their Helpful Steps for Parents program. Learn more at bmoharris.com/parents.

I have found that teaching kids about money is very challenging. Especially when, like us, you live in an area that has income levels that are well above average. This has given my children (and us, actually) a very unrealistic idea of what is a ‘need’ as opposed to a ‘want.’ For example, my eight year old daughter’s Christmas list includes an iPad and “real Uggs, not the fake ones.”
I really, really wish I was joking about that.

So what do we do? How do I teach my kids to value money when they are surrounded by people who throw money around? When I indulge them so often with books at Barnes and Noble or that small toy from the dollar section at Target?

First we started giving the kids allowance. But that didn’t really help. They just liked to sit in their room and count their money like Scrooge McDuck. Then we went on a spending freeze. Mommy and Daddy stopped buying them books, toys and general whatevers in the store. Boy, did that get their attention. If they really, really want Pokemon cards, they need to look at the price, look at their $2 a week allowance and decide if its worth it.

Initially they were blowing through they allowances as soon as we stepped foot in Target. But now, after 2-3 months, they are saving their money. Ellie decided she really wants an iPod Touch. Much cheaper than an iPad and more her size. She is saving her money to try and get a used one. My other daughter has started saving for another American Girl doll. I was amazed that they set their sights so high! I was expecting them to save $10 or so!

Our other lesson with allowances is how to give. They tithe their allowance to church the first Sunday of the month. Then, every year at Christmas, we all give a portion of our Christmas money to buy a farm animal for a family in need. It is so simple, but I cannot even describe how this has affected my kids. We watched the videos of how a single goat can save a family from poverty in Africa.  I remember them saying, “What a cool play house!” And I had to explain that the tiny house with the dirt floor was that family’s home. They were truly amazed and humbled that they could make such a difference in a family’s life with so little.  And they were instantly excited to help. They gave so generously last year – they were able to buy a goat!


This year, when the catalog arrived, they were looking through deciding what their goal was – maybe a sheep or some ducks? Then they came up with an idea. If we got more people to give, we could buy even more! We should get our friends involved! Long story short, our girls are organizing a bake sale on December 5th to raise money to buy farm animals for Africa. They are working with about 20 kids and planning a huge sale. Their goal is to buy a sheep and a goat.  I can not even tell you how proud I am of them! Not only are they excited about giving, but they are mobilizing their friends to do the same.
I was selected for this sponsorship by the Clever Girls Collective. To learn more about BMO Harris Bank, visit their website http://bmoharris.com/parents.