FyrFlyz Toy Party and Review #FyrflyzParty

November 26, 2011 By Anne

I was able to host a FyrFlyz party from Mom Select. I had a bunch of the neighborhood kids over and the had a great time!

Hunter says this – “The best toy ever!”

The FyrFlyz toy is a a light up toy attached to a string. You swing the string around and round and then pull on the string and the lights spin in all directions and look so cool in the dark. I caught a few pictures during the day and an awesome video later that night.

All the children loved this toy. It states 8 and up and I suppose it’s because younger children don’t have long enough arms to hold the strings and keep the toy from hitting them in the face.

Savannah and a friend, they are 3 and 6 had to hold it a little more in, but they were able to play along.

Check out this video!!

These retail for under $10 and come in different colors. These would make awesome gifts! You can purchase these at any stores, like Toys R Us, Amazon and more

We received a party pack from FyrFlyz and Mom Select to facilitate this review. Opinions are our own.

Anne

I'm a mother of 2 who likes to get involved in too much! Besides writing here I started a non-profit, I'm on the PTO board, very active in my community and volunteer in the school. I enjoy music, reading, cooking, traveling and spending time with my family. We just adopted our 3rd cat and love them all!

Costume Super Center Review

October 30, 2011 By Anne

We bought a lot of costumes this year. Eight in total. Two costumes each. I can’t believe we did it, but we did!! We went to Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween and SeaWorlds Spooktacular Event and I wanted differnet costumes for each day. I know crazy, right?

We went to one of those pop up costumes stores and they were high priced. We did purchaes a few there, though. Then I ordered three of them online at Costume Super Center. Shopping through them gave me the chance to read reviews from real people. The costumes we ordered we great. I wish I had purchased them all through them.

I also recieved a costume for review for Savannah. I checked all the Halloween Costumes and came up with this one.

You can also check the Halloween history section for some cool inof about Halloween. I never knew the jack o’lanterns came from a man named Jack, who could not enter heaven because he was a miser. He could not enter hell either, because he had played jokes on the devil. Hence, Jack is a damned soul doomed to wander in darkness until Judgment Day.

Halloween is not the only time to wear costumes. Kids love to dress up any time of the year, at least mine do. Last year I bought Savannah a costume for Christmsa and this year, I plan on hittting the stores for those half off costumes.

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Do you children play dress up throughout the year?

I recieved a costume in order to faciclatate this review. Opinions are my own.

Anne

Beanie Designs Hat Review/Giveaway

October 28, 2011 By Anne

Ever since my daughter was an infant, I always wanted to put tose cute little baby hats and baby headbands on her. I tried over the years to put barrets and pnies in her hair with no luck. Everytime, she fussed and I took them off. Now Savannah is almost four and I can finally get her to wear her hair up if only for an hour or so. But she like to wear hats on occasion, so I was excited to be able to review a beauftul, crotched hat from Beanie Designs.

Beanie designs has gorgous infant hats and little girl hats, even some for boys. You have to check them out! The pictures alone are worth a look. So cute!! Plus they are all handmade out of soft organic cotton.

A little bit about the company:

What do you get when you add together a crocheting husband, a stay at home mom, and a growing family? For us, Beanie Designs was the answer!

The beginnings of Beanie Designs

Not many ladies can say their husband taught them to crochet. Well, my wonderful husband took the time to teach me the intricate art of crochet, and I have been addicted ever since. At first I crocheted to relax. Then I became obsessed with crocheting adorable little hats and blankets for my daughter. Soon I realized the total satisfaction of sharing my one-of-a-kind creations with other mothers, and Beanie Designs was born!

We recieved the purple sun hat in purple. Purple is Savannah’s favorite color. We both loved it on sight. The stitching and deisgn are wonderful. the flower comes seperate and I almost thought they forget it, until my son said, no there it is. It’s packaged seperatly to keep it safe.

Look at some of these pictures. Here is a newborn hat.

Here here is a baby winter hat – so flipping cute!

Beanie Designs wantto give one Mommy Has to Work reader their hat of choice!! See contest below.

You can check Beanie Designs out on Facebook and Twitter and of course on line.

Anne

Painted Owl T-Shirt Review/Giveaway

October 27, 2011 By Anne

Looking for children’s clothing that is eco-friendly, cute , affordable and made in the USA is not an easy thing to do. I came across Painted Owl and fell in love with their t-shirts!

Painted Owl has shirts for toddler and youth sizes. Their shirts are certified organic cotton using water based inks. The cotton is grown and spun in the USA. I think that is totally cool!

How Painted owl started from the owner Suzi McLaughlin:

It’s all about the …..”
SUGAR! My daughter Madeline and her dad were making cinnamon rolls one sunny winter morning. While spreading the butter and sugar mixture on top of an enormous slab of dough, Maddi proclaimed as she rolled her eyes and licked her lips, “It’s all about the SUGAR!” So we started creating apparel for kids celebrating all the things that make their world go ’round. And yes, sugar is one of them.

Another great thing about Painted Owl – they donate 3% Children’s Charities. They choose charities or organizations dedicated to improving children’s lives, health, and resilience following abuse or neglect. Each month a different charity will be featured. That’s such a great way to give back.

I received a shirt for Savannah. I choose the It’s All About the Adventure t-shirt from Painted Owl. I choose a larger size, so it fits her a little big. The shirt is super soft. It is a tagless shirt, which I love. I wish all shirts were tagless. Savannah loved wearing and was quite upset that when she got a drop of spaghetti sauce on it. But with a little spray and wash, it’s clean as new. The shirt washed and dried well. I would totally recommend Painted Owl.

This would make a great gift for anyone, especially those eco-friendly friends and family.

Painted Owl would like to offer a t-shirt of choose and size to one Mommy Has to Work reader, (a $27 value). Please see contest below and good luck!!

You can follow Painted Owl on Facebook and Twitter and of course check them out on line. Shop now and use MOMMY20 and get 20% off your order!!

I received a t-shirt to facilitate this review. All opinions are my own.

Anne

Married Mom, Solo Parent – book review

October 25, 2011 By Anne

Ever get the feeling that your the only parent in your marriage?

There are parenting books for everything – divorced, step parenting, widowed. But what about married moms that feel like a single mom?

When I married my husband and took the rule of step mom to three young boys, I never knew what it would be like on those days when Don worked a full 24 hours. I bought every kind of parenting book on the market and never saw one that dealt with fathers being absent. Now those boys are grown and we have two children of our own and NOW my husband has MS, there are periods when he is not able to parent like he wants to. He is worn out, tired, dizzy and its at these times I feel like a single mom.

I was asked to review Married Mom, Solo parent and thought I could learn a few things and I did!

The author, Carla Anne Coroy, is a mother of four whose husband traveled frequently for his job and when he was home, he preferred to play games on line. In this book she tells how she coped and what to do and what not to do if you are in a similar situation.

Highlights:

The Emotions of Solo Parenting – I know this applies to me. I get emotional and angry at my kids, when I’m not really angry at them. I’m upset at the situation not them! There a lot of tips to how to deal with this.

Life in the Community – Talks about the importance of making friends, especially friends in similar circumstances.

Make the Most of Mealtime – I love this chapter. We started doing this a few years back and I love the fact the we all sit down together and eat and talk about the days events. We do this even if hubby is not well.

The last chapter is told by Carla’s husband. Its nice to hear the other side of the story too.

While this book is a little on the biblical side, its chalked full of helpful information for any mom, really. I m sure I will refer to this book for years to come!

I would recommend this book to any mom! Carla tells it like it is. I love her writing, it’s like she’s talking to a good friend.

You can purchase this book on Amazon.

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Do you ever feel like a Married Mom, Solo Parent?

I received a copy of this book in order to facilitate this review. Opinions are my own.