Rave & Review

Keep your kids active with the Yvolution Y Glider XL {giveaway}

We're always on the go as a family, so my kids are very used to us walking for hours. But, my son tends to get tired quickly and would ask to sit in the stroller after only a little bit. We used to fight it and make him walk, but these days we just use our secret weapon and he's able to keep up with us for miles and miles.

Meet our secret weapon: the Yvolution Y Glider XL Scooter

Seattle: get your Santa pictures at Northgate Mall

Are you in the Seattle area? If so, you are definitely going to want to head to Northgate Mall, part of the Simon family of shopping centers, before the holiday season is over. While you're there, find your way to their holiday display by Kay Jewelers to get your pictures taken with Santa. This year was our fifth year seeing the Northgate Mall Santa and we absolutely adore him. The Northgate Mall Santa is incredibly popular, but we've been so lucky in the past and we continued to be lucky again this year. Even before we got in line for pictures, Santa was waving the kiddos over and talking with them while we were shopping and waiting for my sister and her family to arrive.

Strictly Briks fosters creativity while taking your brick creations to new heights

My kids love LEGOs. They could play LEGO for hours and hours each day, building their own custom homes, businesses, cars, and even mini figures. I love how creative they are and how they can occupy themselves quietly for long periods of time designing, building, and then playing. Basically, it saves my sanity a few times a week at least.

But, the thing that drives me crazy? Their LEGO worlds spread out from one room to the next in a thin layer across the entire floor. They will have built a sprawling playable LEGO house with multiple rooms, and instead of it being organized like a traditional house that is built up for space saving reasons, their creation will look more like a crazy maze that spans the length of the room.

You know that LEGO table we bought so the LEGOs would all be up off the floor and we wouldn't have to deal with tripping over LEGOs all over the floor? That's been all but abandoned thanks to a thin layer of LEGO pieces that perpetually cover it no matter how hard I try to clean it up each week. So, there's a thin layer of LEGOs over the best place to play and then they play on the floor which I have firmly insisted is a horrible idea numerous times. Sigh.

The best photo blankets from Collage.com {review & giveaway}

Every year when the holidays roll around, it’s basically a guarantee that at least some of the presents I give will be picture gifts. I'm the photographer in my group and I have file after file full of pictures I've taken throughout the year of all of our many events. So, it's expected that I would gift some of those pictures as surprises for loved ones, but there's only so many framed prints you can possibly make. So, I’m always looking for fun, personalized photo gifts and that's when I turn to Collage.com. A few years ago, I posted all about how I love Collage.com for sending picture presents to loved ones all over the world, and it's still my go-to for long distance presents to loved ones. But, this year I got a chance to enjoy one of their amazing photo gifts for myself.

I ordered myself the Custom Sherpa Photo Blanket that arrived just days ago and it’s now one of my most favorite things I own. Seriously, I love it that much.

How do you prepare for cold and flu season?

This post has been sponsored by Pfizer Consumer Healthcare. All thoughts and opinions are my own. Do you ever just watch your kids playing, snacking, and interacting with other kids and mentally plan out how you're going to deal with whatever sickness they bring home from it? No? Okay, maybe it's just me. But with three kids ranging from 2-9 years old, sometimes it feels like no sickness ever passes our family by.

Maybe it's all the independent schedules, the hands-on interaction with other kids, or maybe it's the fact that my little one likes to employ the "5 second rule", but whatever the reason, we deal with more than our fair share of illness. This basically means that cold and flu season is a constant struggle to stay healthy, and to minimize any illness that hits home. This year has been especially bad and it's just the beginning of the season!

This means we're doing lots and lots of hand washing, sanitizing gel whenever it's not available, and teaching the kids how germs spread by watching some {admittedly pretty creepy} youtube videos about how germs spread.

Find all of your kitchen needs at Kitchen Collection in Seattle Premium Outlets {$25 GC Giveaway}

Does your kitchen need a refresh? Or maybe you're expecting guests this fall and winter and need some fancy new gadgets to make entertaining easier? If so, Kitchen Collection at Seattle Premium Outlets was made for you. Kitchen Collection provides unique and high quality products at exceptional values, from the basics all the way to professional gear for the gourmet chef, and a great selection of As Seen On TV items. Shop their awesome selection of bakeware, gadgets, cookware, small electrics, cutlery, and high quality refurbished kitchen electrics and manufacturers’ closeouts and you will see what sets it apart.

Sick Just Got Real: How do you handle summer germs?

This post has been sponsored by Pfizer Consumer Healthcare. All thoughts and opinions are my own. I have kids, which means it's a constant struggle to balance the sometimes not-so-clean activities of young kids without becoming the anti-bacterial gel wielding mom. This year has been especially bad and while I'm tempted to sanitize every surface they *might* touch, I also want my kids to be able to just be kids, too. I want to make sure they can see and play with their friends and not miss out on crucial lessons, and I definitely don’t want them missing out on summer fun due to illness. To combat illness, we implement these basic rules for keeping healthy:

1)    Wash hands frequently, and make sure kids know how to wash properly.
2)    Staying home when we’re sick – no need to send the illness around the playground, library, or playdate.
3)    Keep a healthy routine. With healthy amounts of activity, good diets, and plenty of sleep, we manage to avoid quite a few illnesses a year.

Sharing our love of Cars 3 {Fandango and Cars gift pack giveaway from Autotrader}

For the past few years, we've been mega fans of the Disney-Pixar Cars franchise. It started when my son saw the first movie when we was tiny and he was so smitten with things that go and the fact that the films gave backstories and personalities to humanize cars, trucks, and other vehicles.

After seeing Disney-Pixar's Cars for the first time, he began to collect the Cars diecast cars with any money he was given. We now have hundreds {I wish that was an exaggeration} of those diecast Cars and toys, all cataloged and stored in special display cases in my son's room when they aren't being played with. But, they are constantly being played with so they don't sit displayed for long. I told you, they are mega Cars fans.

Summer loving with Entenmann's Little Bites {prize pack giveaway}

Entenmann’s® Little Bites® provided us with information, coupons to redeem product, and a gift card so that we could try the new muffins and share our thoughts with our readers. As always, all thoughts and opinions are 100% our own and do not reflect the opinions of Entenmann’s® Little Bites®.

Summer days are the best. We have little to no schedule, we spend most of our time outdoors, and friends to hang out with are always a few minutes away. This year has been the summer of playdates and it seems like I always have a few extra kids at my house running around and having fun with my kiddos.

Making The Pledge with Entenmann’s Little Bites {prize pack and $25 VISA gift card giveaway}

Want a delicious on-the-go treat that your kids will absolutely love? Entenmann’s® Little Bites® muffins are baked soft and moist and then packed in easy to grab on-the-go pouches so they can be enjoyed just about anywhere. They are made with real ingredients, and never contain any high fructose corn syrup, which means parents love them as much as kids do. In fact, more than 10 billion Entenmann’s Little Bites snacks have been enjoyed since they were introduced in 1999. That’s a whole lot of happy kids. So, can you believe we had never tried Entenmann’s® Little Bites® until last week?  They sent us coupons to purchase a few boxes of Entenmann's Little Bites along with some information and a gift card and we promptly went to the store to choose our favorite flavors. My kids are aghast that something as delicious as Little Bites existed and they weren’t enjoying them regularly.