Thursday, September 26, 2013

Once Upon This Rock: Lullaby Renditions of Christian Rock Review



There are very few kids cds that I enjoy, and even less lullaby cds. In fact I think there are two. This is one of them.
When I got the chance to review this CD my first thought was "Do I know any Christian rock songs?!" Turns out I know all of them! I really didn't think I would know any, although I am Christian I didn't think I listened to Christian rock. I love hearing these songs in a new way. It makes it easy to listen to because I know the words to the songs. Plus the instrumentals are pretty.
When I got the CD it was actually pretty close to bed time so I put it in our cd player and turned it on for the kids. I was really surprised when D asked to be put to bed! We listened to about 5 songs and he got very sleepy and went to be easily. They usually go to sleep pretty easily but never ask to go to bed! I was thoroughly impressed. This is my new go to CD when I want to get them sleepy. It usually works!
I think Jammy Jams is a great idea and would suggest it as a baby shower gift or just for a fun CD to buy!

Friday, September 20, 2013

Rock 'N Learn Alphabet DVD Giveaway and Review




Children sing along with catchy tunes for each letter, play musical games, and learn old and new alphabet songs as they reinforce letter recognition skills, learn letter-sound relationships, and develop a richer vocabulary. As a special bonus… on the alphabet DVD version, children learn to print each capital and lowercase letter, as well as numbers 0 through 9. Plus, the recently revised DVD now features exciting animation.

We recently have started a “home school preschool” with Dexter, he is three and to young for public pre-k and I am not ready to have him away from me yet! So we started with his ABC’s first. First I started by having him do little activities and flash cards every day. We did one letter at a time and within about two months he had gotten all  his letters! I was really surprised but I noticed he wasn't retaining them. He would know them for a day or two but then when reviewed them I could tell he wasn't to sure of them.
When I heard about the DVD at first I was a little skeptical. I am a very um.. stubborn mom. I usually always think, there is nothing a tv can teach my child that I can’t. Both my boys are not allowed allowed to watch tv, if you want to know why you can read about it here. Anyways I read over the description and thought okay maybe this will help him. After contacting the company I received one dvd to giveaway and one to review. When it came I was pretty excited.
As soon as we started watching it I felt a little more at ease with the thought of my child watching tv to learn. He was pretty glued to the TV so I was glad it was only 35 minutes. That is our max TV watching time. I feel like he did learn a lot from it and it has helped him with retaining the letters.
It shows both the upper and the lower case of the letter that you're learning. It reinforces letter recognition which is what seems to be helping him remember his letters better now!
There is a special bonus at the end of the DVD we do on days we don’t watch the movie. The goal is to  point each capital and lowercase letter. It also goes through number 0 – 9.
It’s not something that I will use as a main learning tool, but that is just because of my TV stance. It is so great for little ones and has helped reinforce what I am teaching Dexter. I can see how a lot of parents would use this as a main tool for them to teach their kids. It was informative and easy for kids to follow. 

http://rocknlearn.com! 
Enter the Rafflecopter below to enter to win a copy of the Rock N Learn Alphabet DVD!

a Rafflecopter giveaway I received one or more of the products mentioned above for free using Tomoson.com. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will be good for my readers.

Thursday, September 5, 2013

Complimenting strangers.

How my kids act in public.
On a typical day this is how you will find my kids acting in public. Max is hitting Dexter in the head screaming "NO" while Dexter is pushing him back and stealing his toy. And yes they are both in pajamas out in public at 7pm because I was done parenting for the day. 98% of the time this is my kids.
 But there are these rare moments when they behave. Usually no one but me sees them and often I feel as if I am hallucinating. The other day though a phenomenon happened. After running 3 errands with both boys which were even boring for me I knew we had to run into the bank to close an account. I almost didn't do it. I thought "gosh this is about to be the worst trip in the world they are going to be holly terrors!!" But I knew it had to be done. So I cringed as I pulled into the parking spot and got the boys out.
They were surprisingly well behaved as we walked into the bank, sat down and waited our turn. I didn't even have to play my ridiculous I spy game. When you play I spy with a three year old it usually goes like this "I spy a red wall!" the red wall is usually right in front of us then I cheer loudly when he locates it. But not today, today he sat down and read a book next to me and max just quietly sat in our Boba carrier. When it was our turn it took over thirty minutes to get my account closed. the whole time Dexter just sat in a chair next to me smiling and Max just laid his head on me every now and then calling out "MOMMA!!" happily.  After our grueling boring thirty minutes of sitting we were then told to go over to the long teller line so I could withdraw the rest of my money. 
Before we left though the young guy that was helping me smiled at me and said "Your kids are very well behaved." 
WHAT? MY KIDS?! HAHAHAH. These monsters can tear apart a clean room in less time than a f4 tornado. 
But this time I just got to smile and soak that compliment in! YES my kids were well behaved. Neither of them were crying neither of them had any bloody body parts. Neither of them peed their pants. They were the definition of perfect. And oh how I loved someone else saying that to me. 
Then as we passed the grocery store on the way home I thought about how I still needed milk.. was it worth it!? we just ended our errands on such a good note... do I dare go in?
I did. 
As we got out I noticed there was one of those obnoxious race car buggy's you know those giant carts. The ones that you inevitably run into every end cap and human on every isle. You can't push it around with any sort of style or grace and have to laugh and say to every person "heh their new drivers!" yeah I got one of those cause their two seaters.. after getting two cookies I began to push no shove my cart towards the milk. I was playing silly games with the boys and I may have kissed them a few to many times. Then I heard it. My favorite words of all time. 
"You can really tell you love those boys"
You see there was no way this sweet old lady knew how much I love hearing those words. Or that it has been almost a year since someone has said that to me. I do really love my boys but I feel like it hardly ever shows. She also didn't know that I had received another rare compliment earlier. She didn't know how much these words meant to me. She didn't know I was going to hang on to that sentence hours later as my kids were throwing food at each other and my three year old was screaming "NO I ONLY WANT OATMEAL!!" and I thought I could no longer go on. There is no way to know what someone else is going through and how even a small compliment can change their day, their week, or just the way the feel about themselves for an hour.
It may seem silly but just those two compliments have made me feel like maybe I am getting my act together maybe I am finally starting to be a good mom again. Maybe I can handle my children.

So if you are ever out and you think a nice thought about someone maybe you should say it out loud. You never know how much they need to hear those words. I know I often need them and I am sure so do others. 


Monday, September 2, 2013

Corset Chick Corset Top Review

Recently I was asked to do a review of a croset from CorsetChick.com I was really excited because I don't often get to review things for me. Mostly just the kidos! So I got asked to pick my three favorite Corsets. I was told to spend under $30 which at first I was really bummed about because seriously who can buy a corset that is worth anything for under $30!? Well much to my surprise almost all their corsets were under $30! and many were less in their clearance section.
One thing they did have that I loved were the Corset Dresses! I thought they were all so cute! They were more than $30 though so I didn't get a chance to review one of them but I may have to go back later and buy one. Although I have no idea when I would have a use for one all I know is I want one. 
So when I ordered my Corset top I was a little disappointed that I had to go up in sizes. Normally this wouldn't bother me but I have been working hard to lose all the baby weight and I am finally getting somewhere! So I normally wear a size M but had to go up to an XL! It was a little upsetting but I got over it. However when my corset top arrived it was a 2-3XL. Which at first I thought okay so now the sizes are even more off?! but turns out they just sent me the wrong size.  The return process is easy but to be honest I probably will never return it because I am to lazy and forgetful!
This is the corset I received:

Description:
Corset has zip-up closure on the side, underwire cups, and laces on the back and it comes with matching G-string

  • Corset has zipper on the side, underwire cup support, and laces in the back for a perfect fit.
  • 12 light-weight bones through-out
  • Corset finished in white satin
  • Fully adjustable criss cross ribbon lace back
  • Corset is 15' in length
  • Cut shorter at the back for added comfort
So while I can't tell you how it fit I can tell you the materials seem nice and like they are sturdy. The lace feels itchy and the cups don't seem very bra like, they are just flat. Also in the description it says it zips up but it doesn't. It has clasps which I don't really like. 
The corsets from Corset Chick, come with a matching thong, I received a solid black one however, I'm really not at all impressed with the thong.  It's basically a large piece triangle shape with a little elastic for the g string, and feels like cheap material.
Corset Chicks has sizes for everyone. You can find a corset to fit anywhere from a size Small (2-4) to a 6X (18-20).  Stay up to date on sales and promotions at Corset Chicks by liking their Facebook page and following on Twitter!I received one or more of the products mentioned above for free using Tomoson.com. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will be good for my readers.

Sunday, September 1, 2013

Woolzies Dryer Balls.

I have always used dryer sheets since I started doing my own laundry, I never thought about the chemicals or what else was really in them till  I had babies. Especially since I was cloth diapering they became something that I no longer could really buy. I started having a lot of clingy sheets and staticy clothes. My dryer time with my diapers was super long (2 hours!) and I thought there was nothing I could really do! Since we live in an apartment right now I could no longer line dry my clothes. So I was thrilled to start using Woolzies Dryer Balls which is a non-toxic fabric softener and we have been delighted with its’ performance ever since. Each hypoallergenic Woolzies Dryer Ball is handmade using premium New Zealand wool and it is even safe for people with wool sensitivity.
The dryer balls cut down on the amount of time your clothes stay in the dryer. The first time I used them my clothes actually stayed in their longer! I was a  little upset. My husband figured out later that it was because my dryer senses weight and since the weight of the balls is not changing the timer kept resetting! After figuring that out we started doing our own cycle by choosing the heat amount and time amount. My drying time has cut down by about 10-15 minutes. I also love how much money this is going to save me, Woolzies last for 1000's of loads. So to get 1,000 dryer sheets I would have to spend about $54. So not a ton of savings there but every little bit counts!
One thing I don't like is that I have to put essential oils on the balls after I dry my clothes in order for them to smell nice and not just clean. I don't really like adding any more steps to doing laundry! But if you don't care about pretty smelling laundry I am sure this won't bother you!
 Each box contain six Woolzies for use in your dryer and is available for purchase for the MSRP of $34.95 with free shipping in the United States.
So go visit Woolzies to learn more about these awesome dryer balls or to purchase this product now.
Connect with Woolzies on Facebook and Twitter to keep up with their latest updates!I received one or more of the products mentioned above for free using Tomoson.com. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will be good for my readers.