Bristle Blocks Spinners by Parent’s Magazine Toys

Posted on by Mandy

To say that my son was over the moon when our bucket of Parent’s Magazine Toys Bristle Blocks Spinners arrived would be a serious understatement. It was a seriously rainy and cold day, we were stuck inside, and when that box arrived it was just the boredom buster we needed.

bristle blocks

I was familiar with Parent’s Magazine because I have been a reader going on almost 5 years now. I knew their publication was committed to bring parents the most informative and relative information on raising children, but I wasn’t very familiar with their toy line. However, just like the magazine, I was more than impressed with the quality of this particular toy and the fact that it has held my son’s attention for a couple of weeks now and stood up to the rough and tough play he puts his toys through.

This 57 piece set of Bristle Blocks Spinners came in a large bucket (which makes storing them a breeze) and the tag attached also had some neat ideas for cool things to make. Here’s what we came up with:

bristle blocks
bristle blocks
bristle blocks

This toy has provided us with literally hours of fun and creative play and it’s also a great therapy tool for my son’s sensory issues. We’ve enjoyed them so much and recommend them heartily to anyone looking for a great set of blocks backed by Parent’s Magazine’s high standards of quality.

Emergen-C Kidz

Posted on by Mandy

With the cold and flu season about to be in full force I’m sure many parents are starting to stock up on the multi-vitamins to help keep little bodies supplied with the vitamins and minerals they need to help stay healthy.

Emergen-C has a new fun and fizzy multi-vitamin drink out for kids called Emergen-C Kidz. Emergen-C Kidz complete multi-vitamin formula contains a whopping 24 essential nutrients, choline, which supports healthy brain function, and has 500mg of Vitamin C to help kids stay healthy year round. Emergen-C also has no artificial flavors.

I was glad to see that E.B. liked the sample we were sent. He’s usually very funny about what he will drink, but he gulped this right down. Emergen-C Kidz comes in three flavors:

Strawnanaberry Blast
Orange Pineapple Explosion
Cherry Yumberry

Christmas Letter 2008

Posted on by Mandy

Dear E.B.

Your mommy is very ashamed to admit that this year she was feeling a little Scroogy about Christmas. Oh, I had every intention of making Christmas fun and special for you as we’ve always tried to do since you were born, but in my heart I just wasn’t feeling the holiday spirit. There were so many reasons as to why (and someday you will understand grown up things like the economy and all of that) and I had just about made up my mind that we would just go through the motions this year for your sake.

But then the end of November began approaching and our town started to hang up Christmas lights. The downtown shop owners decked their stores in lights and Christmas trees, the store aisles became filled with green and red decorative holiday items and you began requesting to watch The Polar Express over and over. (It’s your favorite Christmas movie and has been since you were a little over a year old) We also started driving around town and the neighborhoods checking out everyone’s Christmas lights and decorations.

And it’s during our rides around town checking out lights that you exclaim, “Look Mama!! LOOK!!”, “Isn’t it beautiful!!!”, and “Look at dat!!!” Or, “Turn, turn!!!” when we reach the street that you know has the most Christmas lights. You helped me decorate our Christmas tree the day after Thanksgiving. You helped Daddy hang up the lights outside, and everytime you see someone close to your age in a restaurant or store, you wave and call out, “Merry Christmas!” as loud as you can.

This is the first year that you “get” what Christmas involves and I wish more than anything I could bottle it up and save it all. All the excitement, all the wonder, and all of the times you quitely whisper, “Mama, is it Christmastime?” while I rock you to sleep each night in the rocking chair beside the Christmas tree.

Were it not for you, E.B., I would be too busy to notice the beautiful lights and sounds. I’d be too busy to watch Christmas movies. I’d feel too old and silly to make wish lists. I would stress over gift-buying. In essence, I would miss everything so simple, special, and wonderful about Christmas.

And because of you, all of those Scroogy feelings I had about the holidays are gone.

And yes, sweetie, it is Christmastime.

Love,

Mama

Good Reads

Posted on by Mandy

One thing I love about Bloglines is that is has a feature that “clips” a blog post for you from your feed reader and saves it in a clippings folder where you can refer to it later on. I was browsing through my clipped posts tonight and thought I’d share a few good reads with you all.

Special Exposure Wednesday- No, I Am Not Special

As Everyone Sleeps

I Brought My Suitcase, Lord

The Inigo Montoya Guide to 27 Commonly Misused Words

Self-Censorship and Other Scary Things

BoardReader

Time Management In The Blogosphere

Delgo

Posted on by Mandy

delgo movie
I recently had the opportunity to see a sneak preview of the trailer for the new fantasy action-adventure movie Delgo which will appear in theaters on December 12. The all star cast of voices includes Freddie Prinze, Jr. (Delgo), Jennifer Love Hewitt (Princess Kyla), Anne Bancroft (exiled Empress Sedessa) as well as Chris Kattan (Filo), Val Kilmer (Bogardus), Lou Gossett Jr. (Nohrin King), Michael Clarke Duncan (Lockni Stonesage Council), Kelly Ripa (Kurrin), Burt Reynolds (Delgo’s Father) and Sally Kellerman (Narrator).

From the press release:

The story takes place in the magical land of Jhamora which is divided between two cultures – the Nohrin, winged masters of the skies, and the Lockni, the terrestrial tribe who harness the mystical powers of the land. When Delgo (Freddie Prinze, Jr.), a reckless Lockni teenager, forms a forbidden friendship with the spunky Nohrin Princess Kyla (Jennifer Love Hewitt), hostilities between the two peoples escalate, setting the stage for an exiled empress (Anne Bancroft) to exact her revenge and reclaim her rule.

Falsely imprisoned, Delgo and his best friend, Filo (Chris Kattan), must put aside their differences to join forces with a sworn enemy, Bogardus (Val Kilmer), and travel to the mysterious land of Perran to rescue Princess Kyla. Here they encounter fanciful creatures and discover more than just a kidnapped princess, they learn the value of different cultures and the importance of working together.

I’ll admit the characters are a little strange looking to me, but the quality of the animation is outstanding and the movie does offer up an important lesson in character. Delgo is rated PG and has a running time of 90 minutes.

Oh My Dear Saints and Stars Above

Posted on by Mandy

It’s happening again.

Hubby came down with a serious case of Christmas spirit and is now outside in the freezing cold decorating our front yard. With lights. And fugly plastic candy canes that light up. And blue icicles. Blue. Nevermind the fact that I went and specifically purchased WHITE icicles to hang from our house so every light would be WHITE and match the rest of the lights we put up. I also thought the blasted plastic candy craps…erm…canes…had “disappeared”.

To add insult to injury my mother purchased E.B. a huge inflatable Christmas holiday yard ornament of some sorts….she was telling me about it over the phone and she lost me at “inflatable”. My ears began to ring, my head started swimming, and my plans of a tasteful holiday yard were once again blasted to smithereens.

Halp!

And We Were Thankful

Posted on by Mandy

Thanksgiving is always a welcomed holiday here around the Cracked House. We wake up early enough to catch the parades on TV, I busily prepare homemade mac and cheese and then we make a mad dash out the front door to make it to my aunt’s house for dinner before noon.

Here are a few pictures from this year’s Thanksgiving:

My aunt’s door:

Beautifully decorated tables:

See that big black pot on the stove? It only holds the best cornbread dressing EVER. I am so serious, people.

More pretties around the house:

Hope you and yours had a great one, too!