I was recently sent a DVD to watch with Willow all about Fruits and vegetables, called Copy-Kids, eat fruits and vegetables. It is a very playful videos of kids eating their fruits and veggies. It seems like so much fun that the kids just want to play along and eat too.

There is something really powerful for children seeing other children do things. It makes them want to try it too. I have seen it work in daycares for both positive and, sadly, negative things. And with this, it really works great for making kids want to try these healthy foods.

The DVD is separated into chapters. Each chapter is focused on that food and shows the kids eating the foods. The foods featured are:

You can purchase the DVD for $19.99 online at their website. Or enter to win one here. Copy-Kids has offered to to give one of my readers a copy of their own. Open to US and CA. Contest ends 5/27 12:01 am.

 
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If you have been struggling to find something that is truly original to give Dad for Father’s Day, Smallprint has the answer! Smallprint’s range of personalized jewelry provides the opportunity to capture your child’s fingerprint, hand or foot print, doodle or writing in fine silver. Smallprint can provide you with the materials to take your child’s hand or foot print in a clean and safe way and then turn them into a beautiful pair of cuff links or a key ring. Amazingly, they can even take the prints they took in hospital on the day your precious baby was born…and turn them into an everlasting keepsake. So even if your child is now grown up, you can still get a piece made. Talk about capturing a moment in time!! Is your attic full of drawings and doodles that have come home from school only to be filed away? Appreciate them forever by having them transformed into a piece of Smallprint jewelry! Equally, what about that first “I love Daddy” message…these cuff links  will melt his heart!

Finally, Smallprint’s original fingerprint range is something else. The pieces are made by the child actually touching the item itself…Smallprint does not use casts or molds. But to do this, you need to be in an area covered by Smallprint (currently restricted to California, Ohio, Virginia, Pennsylvania and New Jersey). “Unique” is an often-used word, but this truly is one-of-a-kind!

What’s more, every piece includes a personalized engraving with your child’s name and age.

All the items on the sites are cute beyond words.

Smallprint is offering one lucky winner the chance to win a pair of its High Fives (hand prints), OR Little Kickers (foot prints), OR Mini Masters (drawings) OR Little Letters (writing) items in the form of either a pair of cuff links (which retail for $160) or a key ring ($150). This offer must close by 25 May 2012, 12:01 am, to ensure that your precious gift can be ready in time for Father’s Day. Contest is open to US.

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And when we were done, she would put all the picture back into the box, say she really needed to get them organized and put them back into the closet.

If you are like my mom and have boxes and boxes of pictures, you can now have them beautifully saved. There are services offered that will take all your precious memories and save them to a cd. Photos to CD is one of the safest ways to store you photos because you can easily have  anew copy printed if you need one, you can give a copy of the cd to all your family members who may want one, and you can easily store them in almost no amount of room, including in a fire-box so you know you will not lose them in case of a fire.

Memories are worth preserving and since you can’t get photos back, I think adding them to CD to protect them is an investment worth making.

Remember my review of the Gold Label Virgin Coconut Oil? Want to win come for yourself? How about now? Tropical Traditions is giving away one quart to one my readers. The contest ends May24th at 12:01 est and is open US and CA.

 
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It comes in several large pieces that are very easy to put together.

It features a ton for the kids to do on it. There is the steps to climb up to get to the main play area.

Willow loves the steering wheels. She loves to go straight for them when she climbs up.

There are 2 rock walls to climb up. One is a higher wall, that Serenity loves, and one is the perfect size for Willow.

There is a great area under the play area. It is great for the kids to sit and play. They can hide and hang out. It can also be used as a storage area. The kids store a few trucks, balls, and bubbles under there and still have room to hang out and play.

And of course there is the slide.

Look how much fun they have:

(I am so mad at myself, Serenity did the cutest pose at the top and I hit the button on the video and it got cut off. Doesn’t it figure…)

But as you can see the girl absolutely love their new climber. We spend every clear afternoon playing outside so this will get lots of use.

If your house is anything like mine, sometimes it is complete chaos. Kids are needing you for this and that, you are trying to do a thousand things at once, while cooking dinner.That is just the way things are. And it can be even harder while trying to grill because you are trying to keep track of the temperature of this steak, and that burger and if this chicken is spicy, or if that chicken has no spice.

Leave it to a busy mom to come up with the a solution. She developed Grill Charms. A small stainless steel charm that gets inserted into the meat before grilling. It tells you what temperature the meat is or if it is spicy or not. No more guess-work.

I was sent the Grill Charms from the spicy collection to try, which was perfect because I love things spicy and have a very high tolerance but Anthony has almost no tolerance for spice at all and really hates things with spice. And usually since Anthony can not tolerate it, I stay away from it, since it can such a hassle to make sure they do not get mixed up.

With Grill Charms, it was supposed to make it easier. The charms show a fiery pepper, a pepper and a pepper with the no sign. It is very clear which is which so even at a glance, it is easy to see which is which. Anthony can come over to the plate, even if I am bust  helping his sisters and get his own chicken. Since Serenity also likes her non spicy to mild she can also help herself. Joey prefers mild to spicy, he knows which ones to choose too. It makes it very simple. I don’t have to dirty several plates, or worry about keeping track. There is no stress or fuss.

Grill Charms are available, starting at $19.99, in the Steak collection, Spicy collection, Charmed Life, Pink collection, The Charming Stuffed Burger gift pack, and the Shark Attack Gift Pack. These are great gifts for dad or for anyone who loves to grill. Want to receive 10% off- Enter “twitter” at checkout.

Sesame Place, located in Langhorne,PA, is such a fun and exciting place for kids of all ages. They have rides and water attractions. The characters are walking around. There is the summer concert event series going on. You can walk down Sesame Street and feel like you are actually there.You can see just how great the park was when we were there in the beginning of the month, here and how much fun the summer concert events are here. But why not see for yourself! Sesame Place is offering to give one lucky Spring Mount 6 Pack a 4 pack of tickets valid anytime during the 2012 season which ends 10/28/12.

Contest ends 6/1/12 and is open world wide, to anyone 18 or older, who is traveling to Langhorne, PA to visit Sesame Place. The winner will receive a 4 pack of tickets, provided by Sesame Place, not The Spring Mount 6 Pack. Winner must respond to original email within 48 hours, or I will choose another winner.
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Winner must respond within 48 hours of my email or I must choose a new winner. Note: These tickets are provided by Sesame Place, Not The Spring Mount 6 Pack. While I will make all efforts to ensure your prize, I am not held responsible

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This contest is sponsored by Mid-Atlantic Door Group

Willow has been fascinated with kites for the past week. I am not sure why. But she has been wanting a kite. Since we haven’t been out to even look for one, we decided to make one on this rainy afternoon.

Supplies:

Construction paper

2 straws

scissors

straws

ribbons and/ yarn

Decorate the construction paper.

Cute it into a triangle.  Glue down the straws from corner to corner. Since they are going to end up crisscrossing each other, use the cut straw to go on each side of the other straw.

Cut a piece of string to hold and a piece of yarn or string for the tails.

Punch a hole into the bottom corner of the kite and tie the yarn into the kite. Then glue the yarn in for a tail to look pretty.

Now let dry.

Now you have  a pretty kite to play with.

This is even a fun craft for 8-year-old second graders.

Or even 14-year-old 8th graders.

Who have a bit of  a different sense of artist direction for their kites.

People love their dogs. They are man's (and woman's) best friend. So why not make sure they are eating the best food they can. Put most people think that making Homemade dog food is too much work.  It doesn't have to be any harder than cooking a meal.

Homemade dog food.is so much healthier for you dog than many of the commercial brands available on the market, especially since you get to decide what goes into it. When choosing the ingredients to go into a recipe, just choose ingredients you feel comfortable with and that you know are high quality and you know your dog is getting healthy food.

Following Easy cooked dog food recipe making food for your dog, is so close to making a meat loaf that it is a piece of cake. It is easy to follow, and includes step by step instructions. The website inslcueds a videos that walks you through the process. You can even see the sweet puppies waiting impatiently for their food. With the exception of 2 ingredients, you most likely have everything you need in you kitchen right now. And before you think that you don't have time to make meals for your dog, if you have time to cook once a week, you have time to make your dog's food. This recipe is that easy.