reviews

November 21, 2013

cute (and safe) school lunches

Melissa

Ditch that passe brown bag! Lunchboxes can be adorable, too!

I’m a huge fan of SkipHop for the kids. They have SkipHop lunchboxes almost every year! My favorite this Owl Lunchbox.

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But Colin prefers the Penguin!

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For older kids (or grown ups) this polka dot lunchbox is adorable!

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I got this one for Colin for next year – how fun is this pirate lunchbox!
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But its not just about having a cute lunch box! Keeping your kids’ lunches safe is important.

Tip #1: If the lunch you’re packing contains perishable food items like cold cut meats, eggs and yogurt, make sure to pack it with freezer packs or keep it otherwise chilled. Harmful bacteria multiply rapidly in the “Danger Zone” — the temperatures between 40 and 140 °F (4.4 °C and 60 °C). So, perishable food transported without an ice source won’t stay safe long.
Tip #2: Frozen juice boxes can also be used as freezer packs. Freeze juice boxes overnight and use as freezer packs. By lunchtime, the juice should be thawed and ready to drink!
Tip #3: Pack lunches in an insulated, soft-sided lunch bag. Lunches with perishable food items can be unsafe to eat by lunchtime if packed in an old-fashioned brown paper bag.
Tip #4: If there is a refrigerator at school, tell your child to keep their lunch inside. But leave the lid of the lunchbox or bag open so that cold air can better circulate and keep the food cold.
Tip #5: After lunch, discard all leftover food, used food packaging, and paper bags. Do not reuse packaging because it could contaminate other food and cause foodborne illness.

Visit FoodSafety.gov to learn more tips for best food safety practices.

November 19, 2013

world toilet day giveaway

Melissa 185 Comments

Today is World Toilet Day.

I know what you’re thinking. There’s officially a day for everything now. But why do we need a day for a toilet – something everyone obviously already knows about?

Because there is a huge population of the world who doesn’t have one. In the US, we tend to take our access to clean, running water for granted. But While the Western world grapples with ways to reduce the amount of water used in our clean, abundant and convenient bathrooms, almost half the people in the world lack a safe way to go to the bathroom. We have traveled many places where THIS was considered a nice bathroom:

Across the world, over 1.5 billion people are living without access to sanitary water or a proper toilet. The open pit latrines common in these places increases the spread of disease through transmissions from flies and other insects. This isn’t a matter of indoor plumbing or giving people nicer bathrooms. This is a SERIOUS health issue across the globe.

EVERY DAY 2,000 CHILDREN DIE FROM LACK OF PROPER SANITATION. Do you know what that means?

One thing is abundantly clear: this is a serious issue. American Standard saw this as a problem and created the Flush for Good campaign to try to help.

A team of American Standard engineers conducted field research in villages located in the Rajshahi region of Bangladesh in 2012. Based on their findings, the American Standard team invented a cost-effective, hygienic toilet pan called SanTo that uses ingeniously simple mechanical and water seals to reduce disease transmission by closing off pit latrines from the open air, keeping flies out. Plus, they’ll help reduce the occurrence of odors, thus improving sanitation and quality of life for users.

For every Champion toilet purchased, American Standard will donate one sanitary toilet pan for a developing country. You can also help on Facebook, with a sanitary toilet pan being donated for every 100 likes and shares.

I am so pleased to be supporting this campaign. I love that American Standard has latched on to a cause that is related to their products and is doing what they can – not just to donate money – but to EDUCATE people about this important global health issue.

win it!

One lucky Girlymama reader will win a $200 Gift Card to Home Depot, courtesy of American Standard!!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

One winner will be selected at random and will be notified by email. Winner must have a U.S. Mailing address. For other contest rules, see our giveaway policies page.

November 13, 2013

eMeals: making mama’s life a bit easier

Melissa

Meal planning is KEY to keeping my sanity these days. Our new town is very quaint and sweet – and has ZERO fast food restaurants. So if I don’t have something planned, I can’t swing by a drive thru – we’re having scrambled eggs!

eMeals sounded like a dream come true! It provides easy recipes with concise directions and a grocery list for budget minded and busy people. Get delicious eMeals weekly meal plans everyone will love – its a new way to organize and simplify the usual chaos of dinner at home. Its brilliant.

First – just choose a meal plan based on your eating style, your family size and even your favorite grocery store. Then, your meal plan arrives in your inbox —complete with seven simple, creative, family–friendly dinner recipes (each includes an entrée and side dishes) AND you’ll receive a detailed grocery list organized by section and – here’s the amazing thing – its coordinated with the weekly sales your selected stores. So you save money too!

eMeals sounded like a dream come true! You can search meal ideas by type or diet or whatever! I did the Slow Cooker Clean Eating plan, since we are SO CRAZY busy in the evenings and the slow cooker is perfect! But if we want to change our meal plan, we can do so. Maybe in spring or summer, I can try something else.

So now, every week I get a menu plan AND a grocery list. ZERO work, all ready to go. BAM!

ITS AMAZING, Y’ALL!

And the cost? $58. PER YEAR. That’s less than $5 a month for a little angel to take one tedious chore off your back! Totally worth it! I highly recommend eMeals!

disclosure: i’m an emeals blogger. i was given a complimentary membership, but was not compensated for this post.

October 30, 2013

lundby dollhouse: chic and tons of fun

Melissa

Our Lundby dollhouse has arrived… and we LOVE IT! Gracie is just loving this fun, stylish dollhouse and all of its fun accessories. Check it out:

Lundby doll houses are typical examples of modern dream homes – in miniature format: 1:18 scale. All of their houses are based on the same fundamental belief – that the urge to play lies in the details. And this conviction obviously applies to the interior design, fixtures and furniture too. They were the first in the world to install electric lighting in their doll’s houses. And when you look at their products, you see painstaking attention to detail and design. No detail is too small to be overlooked.

So far, we’ve furnished our sitting room, dining room and kitchen sets. And the attention to detail is all I can see, as I mentioned in the video. The sitting room is actually a 10-piece set includes an upholstered pink sofa and armchair, 2 contrasting cushions and a sleek white coffee table. PLUS a fluffy area rug, a soft white afghan, 2 books and 1 game box. The kitchen sets (there’s two) include things like chrome-look kitchen sink and countertop, glasses, food cartons, bowls, a bottle of dish detergent… And the hours of play ensue!

My daughters are completely in love with Lundby. They literally play with it every day – and so do their friends! They are dying for the rest of the furnishings for their house – for a bedroom set and bathroom set, as well as some kitchen furniture. Gracie really wants the twin babies and Eliza is asking for the dog family, so our Lundby home will have some pets. Its truly a little dream home!

disclosure: we will be partnering with lundby to highlight their products with our audience, so we will be receiving products to facilitate posts. as always, all opinions are my own.

October 23, 2013

new toys from peppa pig!

Melissa

We are SO enjoying some new Peppa products from Fisher Price!!

Featured in this video:

Peppa Pig and the Busy Day at School book ($12.99) Follow the adventures of Peppa in school as she learns her numbers, letters and more!
Muddy Puddles Bathtime Peppa ($12.99) Make the bath more fun with Peppa and George! Watch Peppa’s muddy spots disappear in warm water. The set’s storage container adheres to the tub wall with suction cups for easy storage.
Bedtime Peppa ($26.99) Get ready for bedtime! This plush doll sings lullaby songs, oinks and even plays a counting sheep game.

All these toys are available at Toys R Us.

disclosure: thank you to fisher price and candlewick press for sending these products to facilitate this post. as always, all opinions are my own.

September 30, 2013

flush for good: you can improve sanitation conditions worldwide

Melissa 160 Comments

I am so pleased to be partnering with the Flush for Good campaign. This important campaign is designed to increase awareness of the global water sanitation crisis and to stimulate action that protects the health of all people through well-engineered plumbing solutions. In the US, we tend to take our access to clean, running water for granted. Across the world, over 1.5 billion people are living without access to sanitary water or a proper toilet. American Standard saw this as a problem and created the Flush for Good campaign to try to help.

Having traveled all over the world, my husband and I have seen the deplorable water conditions so many people live with. You really haven’t lived until you’ve used a public toilet in rural India. And you think the bathrooms at the rest stop on the turnpike are disgusting? I remember the Ganges River in India – telling the kids not to go in, because you could see how awful the water was. The Ganges was ranked among the five most polluted rivers of the world, with astounding amounts of sewage and industrial waste. The problem is exacerbated by the fact that many poorer people rely on the river on a daily basis for bathing, washing, and cooking. And we were at the top of the river, so it wasn’t even as bad!

I will never forget this picture my husband took in Haiti. I had to crop it, because the little boy was not dressed, but this a a boy, playing is a river filled with raw sewage in Haiti.

He lived in a tent city, atop a hillside outside Port-au-Prince. His family lost everything in the earthquake. This water – THIS water – was their source of water for drinking, washing and cooking.

This should not be. We can fix this.

EVERY DAY 2,000 CHILDREN DIE FROM LACK OF PROPER SANITATION. For every Champion toilet purchased, American Standard will donate one sanitary toilet pan for a developing country. You can also help on Facebook, with a sanitary toilet pan being donated for every 100 likes and shares. These sanitary pans create a barrier that prevents cross-contamination between open latrines and the people that use them.

I am so supportive of this campaign. I love that American Standard has latched on to a cause that is related to their products and is doing what they can – not just to donate money – but to EDUCATE people about this important issue.

win it!

One lucky Girlymama reader will win a $200 Gift Card to Home Depot, courtesy of American Standard!!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

One winner will be selected at random using the And The Winner Is plugin for WordPress and will be notified by email. Winner must have a U.S. Mailing address. For other contest rules, see our giveaway policies page.

September 19, 2013

back to school round two with staples giveaway

Melissa 45 Comments

Well, it time for our second annual Back-to-School shopping trip, where we buy everything we forgot the first time! (I’m not the only one, right?)

Except now we’re facing crazy temptation when we go to Staples – they’ve expanded their educational supplies section and the prices are divine. Now, right along those school supplies and copy paper, you can find brands like Crayola, Leap Frog, Melissa & Doug and more, at select Staples stores and on Staples.com.

First off, if you’re a fan of Crayola brand crayons (who isn’t?) then you’ll want to head to Staples and take a look at their “crayon wall.” Now you can pick up an empty tin and customize it with your own set of colors. From Wild Watermelon to Mac and Cheese to Royal Purple Glitter – the choice is yours! Gracie’s would be entirely pink and purple. Colin’s? He would want every color EXCEPT pink and purple. That’s how we roll. We like to be complicated like that.

Remember fresh crayons as a kid? WHAT was more exciting?

We took advantage to beef up our TAG by LeapFrog library. Colin is obsessed.

We got him one last year and it has been a lifesaver. He is so proud when he can sit and ‘read’ just like his big sisters! We were thrilled by the great selection of Tag books we found at Staples. The prices were competitive and we even found one in 3-D. Total coolness! Staples had a ton of options from brands like Crayola, Melissa & Doug, Leapfrog and Alex Toys – all brands we know and love in our house!

win it!

One lucky Girlymama reader will win a $25 Gift Card to Staples!! To enter, tell us what you would buy at Staples.

Additional entries:

2. Like Girlymama on Facebook to keep up with what’s happening on our site (then comment here to tell us!)

3. Tweet about this giveaway on Twitter & follow me on Twitter @MelissaAngert

I entered to win$25 gift card to Staples from @MelissaAngert #giveaway! Enter here: http://girlymama.com/?p=6214

One winner will be selected at random using the And The Winner Is plugin for WordPress and will be notified by email. Winner must have a U.S. Mailing address. For other contest rules, see our giveaway policies page.

September 19, 2013

lundby: every girl’s dream house

Melissa

We have way too many toys. Moving really drove that home for us. Even after our yard sale and taking a bunch of stuff to Goodwill, somehow we still have too many.

I’m on a mission – no more junky plastic things that break moments after they are out of the box. Nothing with batteries and makes loud, unnecessary noise. We have enough of that on ur won, thanks.

I’m ready to invest in a few nice toys that my kids will play with for years, are well-built, last forever, and have the ability to hold their attention.

So, we’re thrilled to be working with Lundby.

Lundby is The story of Lundby doll’s house begins in 1945, when Axel and Grete Thomsen moved back to Sweden from Denmark. They settled down in a small neighborhood named Lundby in the northern part of Gothenburg. Grete started designing and building a doll’s house and furniture for her niece. It was so popular with her niece’s friends that they decided to go into business… and the rest is history.

Gracie and I are so excited to be working with Lundby and to get to create our own dream house. Its so chic and sleek, that I can have it on display in your living room and it will fit right in. No hiding this toy in the playroom for us! We have been pouring over the Lundby catalog, planning out how we want to decorate. There are endless furniture options – and even some DIY opportunities! You can print up your own pre-sized wallpaper from the Lundby website – free of charge.

We are going to have so much fun with this. We can’t wait!

disclosure: we will be partnering with lundby to highlight their products with our audience, so we will be receiving products to facilitate posts. as always, all opinions are my own.

September 10, 2013

ode to school supplies

Melissa

I confess: As much as back to school shopping is stressful and annoying, I LOVE shopping for school supplies.

Like seriously.

New notebooks and folders. A fresh planner. Binder clips. (I have a serious thing for binder clips.) And new pens.

I LOVE pens.

I firmly believe I can never had too many pens. Partly because my daughters have inherited my pen obsessed gene, so they are always stealing them from me. But also because they are just fun. I actually write in my planner with a different color for every family member.

I love the Bic Z4 Roller most – its smooth and perfect for keeping my planner organized. They come in classic colors and cool neons (that my kids immediately confiscated.) But the Bic for Her is a close second. It writes beautifully without bleeding through the pages.

And the girls are loving them too! They promptly stole all of them except the boring blue and black ones…

I’m not alone right? Other people love school supplies too, right?

disclosure: bic sent me a selection of school supplies to facilitate this post. as always, all opinions are my own. although my love of pens probably makes me biased 😉

July 11, 2013

summer movie night with teen beach movie

Melissa

Our family loves a good movie night! Once a week, we all snuggle up on our family room and watch a movie together – complete with popcorn of course! Well, this next weekend, we know what we will be watching!! My kids are soooooooooo excited about Teen Beach Movie, a breezy musical comedy that’s sure to get us up dancing and singing! The film is a fun, modern take on classic beach party movies, and includes a feel-good message about the importance of believing in yourself and following your dreams. From the previews we’ve seen, we are totally pumped to tune in!

My girls just love Austin & Ally, so they are super excited to see Ross Lynch as Brady – one of two surfers who take the last wave of summer, one that mysteriously takes them into a classic beach party movie, Wet Side Story. There, it’s surfers versus bikers for control of the beach hangout… and everyone spontaneously breaks into song and dance. Brady and McKenzie must try to return to present day, but their lives may be changed forever when they inadvertently change the movie’s romantic storyline — and the movie’s handsome surf guy, Tanner, is falling for McKenzie while biker girl Lela is swooning for Brady.

It sounds like “Greece” meets “West Side Story”… I can’t wait! And the music we’ve heard is super catchy! Make sure YOU tune in on July 19th at 8pm ET/PT and see this cute film for yourselves!

Disclosure: I received Disney Channel “Teen Beach Movie” products in exchange for a post about the film. As always, all opinions are my own.