Fisher Price TRIO Building Set Review and Giveaway

Disclosure: I received this product for free in exchange for this review.

When the Fisher Price TRIO Building Set arrived, I unpacked it and set it on our kitchen counter to wait for my big kids to get home from school. K-Man (my 5-year-old) noticed it immediately.

Did you get this for me Mom? Thank you!

Unfortunately we didn't have time to open it for a few days--torture for the poor boy. Can we open it NOW Mommy? (In hindsight, I shouldn't have shown it to him until he was able to play with it--my bad.)

The day he was finally able to open it and play with it he was almost shaking with excitement. K-Man loves to tinker and build and create; he gets that from his Boppa. He took the toy up to his bedroom to play out of the baby's reach and safe from her destruction.

I admit when the package arrived and I saw that the age recommendation was 3-5 years I was a little worried the toy would be too simple for K since he's on the oldest end of the range, but he was playing happily and quietly in his room for a good 20 minutes before I ventured upstairs to see how he was doing.

The video is dark and my son's room is a mess, but I think it's clear that he likes the new toy.

What I like about it is that it came with a storage tub with a lid that he could use to build his creations on. The pieces seem sturdy enough that even K will probably not be able to break them.

Would you like to win a set for your little builder? Leave a comment on this post and tell me who you would want to win this set for. You can earn another entry (leave another comment with the link) if you tweet about this giveaway! I'll choose a winner on Monday September 28th.

Can't wait to try the TRIO Building Set? Get a $5 off coupon here, but hurry! This coupon expires Oct 1.

Lance Sandwich Crackers

This is a compensated review from BlogHer and Lance Snacks

I discovered this year that Miss M (my 7-year-old) is supposed to bring a healthy snack with her to school each day. This is new this year, because previously she ate lunch one hour earlier in the day. I have to admit that I panicked a little at the thought. These snacks that I’m sending…the teacher will see and be able to judge whether I adhered to the healthy rule or not. I admit to seeing the healthy line a little blurry. I could see in my mind’s eye the Cheetos Snack Crackers I’d bought, sitting in the pantry waiting for the lunch that they will eventually become a part of. Are those healthy snacks? I mean it’s crackers and some (granted, Cheetos) cheese spread, but probably not the healthiest choice nonetheless.

When the sandwich crackers I’d forgotten I’d said I would review arrived I was hopeful. Here may be another solution to my healthy snack dilemma. You see, I was sent sandwich crackers from Lance, Inc. (and BlogHer). But these are no ordinary sandwich crackers. The crackers are whole grain! As someone who shops for and tries to buy only whole grain bread, buns and pasta this was exciting news. (I know, I need to get out more.) They come in three varieties, all of which my family was able to try: Real Peanut Butter on Whole Grain, Real Cheddar Cheese on Whole Grain and Real Sharp Cheddar on Whole Grain.

The sandwich crackers arrived on a Friday, so I wasn’t able to send them to school with Miss M for her snack that day, but I did bring them in the car with me when I went to pick her and the K-Man (my 5-year-old) up from school. I figured they’d make a great after school snack too.

Miss M didn’t take long to voice her opinion of the Real Sharp Cheddar variety. “Mmmmm! These are yummy Mommy!” I didn’t even have to ask what she thought of them, and she declared them yummy upon the very first bite. I’d given K-Man the Real Peanut Butter variety and while I did have to ask him what he thought of them his answer was equally positive.

That Saturday when the kids asked for their snack I handed them each the Real Cheddar Cheese variety and heard “Yay!” in response. “I love these!” Miss M exclaimed. Lest you think I am padding this review, I can assure you I am not. This all happened exactly as I describe. So I thought I should test out at least one of these crackers myself to see what the fuss was about. You know what? They are pretty tasty.

You can bet they'll be going to school with the kids for their snack times!


What sorts of snacks to you send to school with your kids?

Check out the rest of the BlogHer Reviews.

Learn more at Lance's official site.

Sun Laundry Detergent Review and Giveaway!

It worked out conveniently for me that prior to vacation I was sent not one, but two laundry products to try. If you've been on a vacation at least one week long, especially if you have kids, you'll know that you return home to laundry, laundry, laundry. We're closing in on being home 1 week and I've probably done 8 loads of laundry. My husband (yes, he does laundry and I even try to discourage the habit. I know! I'm crazy!) probably has done 3 loads.

So this time I tried out Sun detergent. In the interest of full disclosure, I've tried it before. I bought a bottle at the Dollar Tree last year before vacation in case we needed to do some laundry. To be honest, I didn't take much note of the product at the time, which in my eyes means it worked A-OK.

I was sent the scent (ha ha! Man I am so juvenile) I requested, "clean and fresh" and it does, indeed, smell clean and fresh. I guess. I tend to buy the detergents that are dye and perfume free, but this scent didn't offend me at all. I do admit I was a little surprised at the scent when I opened the bottle and later opened the washing machine. I'm not used to smelling anything!

As far as the cleaning went? Well, I didn't notice any real difference than our usual detergent so that seems like a plus to me. I'm one of those people that will look at you and faintly register that you look different, then the next person will come along and exclaim "Oh your new haircut/ plastic surgery/shirt is so awesome!" and then I'll look at you again and say "Yeah! Totally what she said!" It doesn't mean you don't look awesome, because you do. And by the way, is that a new shirt? Because you look so hot in it. And your hair is kicking it today.

Tangent. Sorry about that. This seems to be the new wave of reviews from here. I have limited brain power and limited time.

That's not to say that you don't look fabulous, because you do.

Because you look so great I'd like to give you something.

I have 3 coupon packs.

They will be comprised of most, if not all, of these coupons.

1 free bottle of Sun Burst liquid laundry detergent
$3 off Windex Outdoor All-in-One Glass Cleaning tool starter kit
$1 off Pledge Fabric Sweeper for Pet Hair or $1 off any Pledge furniture care product
$2 off Neutrogena Pure & Free Baby sunscreen product


To get a pack, leave me a comment. Okay so not just a comment. Tell me about your favorite book. If you can, tell me what to do with my hair because it is not at all pretty.

To gain another entry, tweet about this giveaway. Come back here and leave another comment with the link to your tweet for it to qualify.

Purex Complete 3-in-One

::Phwwooo::

Wow. It's dusty in here.

I have a few things that I'm testing out right now but having trouble finding the time to write the reviews!

But, I did just get back from vacation which always produces mountains of laundry. And as luck would have it, I was sent a package of the new Purex Complete 3-in-1 Laundry Sheets to try.

Before I tossed one of the sheets in the washing machine, I did ask my husband if he thought they'd be okay to use. We have a septic system, so we can't use powder detergent in our machine and I wanted to make sure he thought these laundry sheets would be safe for our septic tank. He said he thought they were fine, so I tossed it in.

To be honest, I don't use fabric softener most of the time, so this was sort of new to me. The sheets have laundry detergent, fabric softener and dryer sheets all in one sheet. You throw the sheet in the washer and transfer it along with the clothes to the dryer.

I did like the convenience of the product though. Sometimes I get the big bottles of laundry detergent and they can be heavy and messy. With these sheets there was no mess, basically toss it in and forget about adding product for that load of laundry from start to finish.

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I do want to share this little bit from the info that I received before I tried the product. Purex has teamed up with Kivo.com to support women-owned businesses. If you buy any Purex Complete 3-in-1 Laundry Sheets, you can support a female entrepreneur of your choice (find a listing at http://www.purexchangeslives.com/) by entering the bar code from the package. For every bar code entered Purex will donate $1 to that entrepreneur.

NOTE: Make sure if you do buy this and you want to support these women that you save the bar code from the package and don't pull off the plastic over wrap and throw it away! (Hence throwing away the bar code.) That's what I did. Bummer.

Thomas and Friends Live! On Stage

Last weekend my husband and I packed the kids into the car and headed to the Target Center in Minneapolis to see a very special friend.

My kids have loved Thomas and Friends for years. K has several of the die-cast trains and several movies. He's watched Thomas on PBS.

When I received an email from MomSelect that said I could get 4 tickets to see Thomas and Friends Live! On Stage: A Circus Comes to Town I jumped at the chance. We've only been to one other show like this (The Wiggles) and it was when K was only 2 weeks old and M was just 2 years old. Now they are both at ages that they will probably remember the show for years to come. Ms. D, because she is younger than 1 year old, didn't need a ticket so we all got to see the show!

From almost the moment we stepped into the arena, my son K seemed overwhelmed. He was uncharacteristically quiet and subdued. I think the sheer size of the building and the excitement really got to him. Once the show started, he smiled and his mouth dropped open in awe. He still was fairly subdued for him though, and I think it is because of how loud the show was. I didn't think it was really too loud but my son tends to be very sensitive to loud noises so I know it was too loud for him to watch comfortably. Make no mistake, he still enjoyed the show and will be talking about it for a while.

My oldest child, Miss M, was much more excited about the show and enjoyed it a lot more than I even expected her to. She actually had tears in her eyes when the show started she was so happy (I wonder where she gets that from?). (Yeah, so I was a little teary at how excited the kids were too.)

I think the child that enjoyed the show the most in some ways was Ms. D. She danced in our laps at every song and clapped her hands. She was entirely enthralled with it all.

The show was fast-paced and broken into two parts with a 15-minute intermission between two 45-minute segments. I was surprised to look at the clock and find that 45 minutes had passed when the intermission was announced.

I thought our seats were particularly good--in the lower elevated seats only a few rows up--but given the size of the stars of the show I think you'd be hard-pressed to find someone who said they had a bad seat.

Of course they were selling all sorts of Thomas memorabilia, all high-priced, but standard for that type of show. We managed to escape buying any of it. We did, however, have to spend only slightly less than $4000 for some pop, popcorn and cotton candy. (Yes, I'm exaggerating but the prices on food were typically high too.)

The arena was not nearly as full as I thought it would be, but I suppose with the economy as it is, shows for children are not high on the spending priority list. We also attended a late afternoon show...perhaps the other shows had more people attending.

I would definitely recommend the show if you have even a passing Thomas fan. It was a great way to spend an afternoon with my family.

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I'd also like to thank MomSelect and Unilever for sending me a great "Mom's Night Out" package of goodies that will help next Thursday while I am having a night out for the book club I'm joining!

MilkBank

When my first baby was born, I really wanted to nurse but circumstances led to me pumping exclusively for her for six months. During that time I pumped more than she drank, so I froze several months worth of breast milk as well. At the time, the best method to store the milk was in a zippered breast milk storage bag. I noticed that my daughter didn’t seem to like the milk as much after it had been frozen and sort of wondered why.

The Parent Blogger’s Network sent me a new milk storage and feeding solution. Now that I’ve seen the MilkBank system and read about what it does I understand why she didn’t like the frozen milk as much. Too bad MilkBank wasn’t around then!

The MilkBank is a system of bottles and storage containers that vacuum seal the milk inside the phthalates-, PVC-, and BPA-free plastic bottles. In fact, even the packaging is free of these harmful plastics. The system comes with a hand pump that removes the air from the bottles. It’s the air trapped inside the storage containers that causes milk stored in traditional ways to degrade. With the air removed from the containers the milk stays good and retains more of the nutrients for longer than 6 months in the freezer.

Another great feature of the system is that you store and feed with the same containers. No more fumbling with the plastic bags and hoping you don’t spill any of that milk that you worked so hard to pump! And these bottles are guaranteed to not leak, which is another big plus in my book. How often have you been feeding your baby only to realize the milk is running out the cracks in the bottle instead of going into your baby’s mouth?

When I pumped some milk for Baby D before I went out to dinner last Friday, I had the opportunity to try the system. At first, I admit I was a little intimidated by all the components. I also wasn’t sure I was vacuum-sealing the bottle correctly. But I was really making it harder than it was. (I can’t be the only mom who makes things harder than they need to be, right?) I poured the milk into one of the containers, grabbed a storage cap and placed it on top of the container, put the pump on top and pumped 2-3 times to pump out the air. Then I thought that I hadn’t done it correctly so I checked and tried to pull the top off and discovered it was on tightly and the vacuum seal had indeed worked!

This system is definitely worth checking out for any new or expectant mama. It would make a great shower gift. Are you expecting or a new mama? Know any? You could win a starter kit just like the one I reviewed. Just leave me a comment here and tell me what feature of this system seems the best to you. (Bonus points if you go to the web site and tell me about a point I didn’t discuss here.)

Get an extra entry if you tweet about the giveaway. Come back and leave me the link to your tweet for it to qualify.

The winner will be chosen Friday February 27th.

Dreambox Learning: Where Kids Have Fun Learning Real Math

DreamBox learning is a brand new online educational teaching tool that focuses on teaching kids math skills from Kindergarten-age through 5th grade. The lessons are individually tailored to each child and offers additional games “just for fun” as rewards for the children’s work.

The registration for the site was quick and easy. I was able to set up a parent account and accounts for each of my two older kids in one step. I logged in with my email address and the password I’d just set up and called my 6-year-old over to try it.

Then I walked away to start cooking supper. M was playing the games with no help from me, which told me that the site was easy for her to understand and the games were explained well. When I returned to check on her a few minutes later she looked up at me, smiled, and said, “This is fun!”

She played for about 15 to 20 minutes before I told her it was time to log off. She moaned and whined about it, so it must have been fun. I’d watched her do a few of the learning games and could hear the site telling her how she was doing. The activities she was doing were asking her to indicate which group of things had more than the other.

K, my 4-year-old son, also tried out the games, and although he was not as interested in it as his older sister, he did play for about 10 minutes the one time he played. He won’t start Kindergarten until this summer though so he’s just not quite old enough for it yet.

M, on the other hand, asked to play again and again almost every day. Unfortunately we were pretty busy for the first few days and she didn’t get to use it as much as she wanted to.

Dreambox sent me emails after the kids used the site to tell me what they played and what concepts they were learning, which I thought was a nice feature. They also sent me emails when my kids hadn’t been on the site in a few days, reminding me that they would get the most out of the site if they played for 15 minutes or more at least twice a week. I had mixed feelings about these reminder emails, finding them a helpful to remember to ask the kids if they want to play the games (which M almost always said yes) but also finding them a little nagging because my kids didn’t have a lot of time to be on the computer every week.

The kids each had their own account and were able to choose a picture password from a group of 9 photos. The kids appreciated that feature since they see me having to enter passwords for websites and they like to be grown up too.

Both kids enjoyed the learning games, although M, my 6-year-old got more out of the site than my 4-year-old did (though he is not in the target age anyway, as I noted earlier). They seemed to enjoy the games, yet were definitely still learning.

The subscription price, however, at $8.33 or more per month is a little expensive for our family given how little time my kids actually had to play the games with all the other activities (and homework!) that we have to do each day. They do offer a free trial that I can guarantee is worth the time checking out. You will be able to see if your children have the time to devote to it.

Overall, if your child needs additional help in math, or if you just want to reinforce how well your child is doing with math concepts DreamBox Learning delivers a fun learning experience. My first-grader especially enjoyed playing and learning and liked that she recognized the concepts from her schoolwork. She was very proud of herself each time she earned a token to play the fun reward games.

Find out what others are saying about Dreambox at PBN.

The Winners

I will update this post with winners of all the giveaways here at the Zoo Review!

TRIO - Chelsea

MilkBank - Damselfly

Strawberry Shortcake DVD - Ashlie-Mommycosm

Show Me How - FADKOG

Build-A-Bear-Workshop - quitecontrary1977

Precious Girls Club- all commenters won something

My Baby A to Z - cardwear

Strawberry Shortcake

One of my best friends in elementary school had an extensive Strawberry Shortcake doll collection. When I went to her house to play, she would inevitably truck out the dolls and want to play with them together. I was more of a Barbie girl, and Hot Wheels cars girl but I still had fun playing with those fruity scented dolls.

The first time I saw a Strawberry Shortcake DVD once I had kids of my own I bought it purely for nostalgia’s sake. My son will occasionally ask to watch that when my 6-year-old daughter is at school.

So when I had the chance to review a new Strawberry Shortcake DVD, Strawberry Shortcake: Happily Ever After, I didn't hesitate to say yes.

I told the kids they'd be able to watch the DVD as soon as M finished her homework, but then we decided to keep the momentum of good will and productivity going so the kids hammered out their Valentines too. Then we sat down to enjoy what I hoped to be a berry berry good show. (You knew there would be at least one of those, right?)

Both kids were singing along with the catchy (and slightly irritating) theme song as the movie started. Honestly I have the theme song running through my head for days after I hear it.


The kids both immediately quieted down once the story began. The movie has songs throughout to help tell the story. The first song was about being pretty on the inside that not only had a great message, but also had my daughter swaying along to the beat.

My 4 1/2 –year-old son watched too and neither kid did much moving for the entire 45-minute show. It takes quite a good show to make my son sit still that long so he must have enjoyed it.

The movie was divided into two stories, one an adaptation of Sleeping Beauty and the other an adaptation of Rapunzel. I appreciated that the movie had two main messages that were both very positive: the first about not jumping to conclusions and giving your friends a chance to explain, the second about being true to yourself even when others try to change you.

Following the show, I immediately heard from my daughter “I liked that show Mommy. It was cool.” My son chimed in “Yeah, we liked that show. Can we watch it again?”

Have a Strawberry Shortcake fan at your house? Leave me a comment here telling me about any memories you might have of Strawberry and the gang and you could win your very own copy of this movie courtesy of PBN. I'll have one of my kids draw the winner on Sunday.

While you're at it, check out what the other bloggers had to say about this movie, and enter for two more chances to win.

Or if you don't want to wait, click on over to Amazon if you want to buy Strawberry Shortcake: Happily Ever After today.

Show Me How

I confess I was sent this book a while back by Harper Collins and I put it aside with the intent to look at it later. Well, later became later and later until, well, it's now.

When I finally picked up the book to check it out I was a little surprised to find that there are very few words to read in the book. Perfect! I have little time to read these days.

Show Me How: 500 Things You Should Know Instructions for Life From the Everyday to the Exotic by Lauren Smith, Derek Fagerstrom teaches the reader how to do things step-by-step through simple drawings. It really reminded me of the instructions you get for putting furniture together--well, the kind of furniture that comes flat in boxes that you can buy at Target or IKEA.


The back of the book reads: Life explained. One step at a time. Simple, step-by-step instructions on how to do 492 things practically everyone needs to know... and 8 that no sensible person would ever do. This made me want to search in the book for the things that no sensible person would ever do!


Some of my favorite things to learn from the book included weave a French braid and write with invisible ink, however the book also covers such things as what the different types of facial hair are actually called and how to fend off a shark.


Every reader will come away from this book learning at least one thing she didn't know before!

The good people at Harper Collins are going to give one copy of Show Me How to one of my readers! Just leave me a comment and make sure I have a way to contact you (leave your email address in your comment if you don't have a blog with your email posted).

I will have one of my kids draw the winner on Saturday.