Add NatPat To Spring and Summer Must Haves

Spring is here and my family and my daytime class kids are suffering from allergies. Soooo I was very happy to receive a colorful envelope from NatPat Health and Wellness Patches. 

These cute "sticky" patches are not only helpful for your child but look adorable too! 

NatPat patches are easy to peel and stick on your clothes and are SAFE for kids. 

Allergy Relief Patches relieve allergy symptoms like stuffy noses and congestion. It will clear airways and reduce inflammatory responses from seasonal allergies. 

Itch Relief Patches are placed over the itchy "bite" area of nasty pests like mosquitos. 

Zen Stickers uses sweet orange essential oil to elevate mood, reduce tension and enhance clarity. 

Sensory Touch Stickers use a textured surface to provide tactile stimulation which will help regulate restlessness energy and enhance focus. Great for kids with anxiety, stress and sensory needs.

Mosquito Repellent Stickers have over 60 colorful, fun designs that last for 8 hours. For kids 0-2 place 1-2 stickers, 3-5 place 2-3 stickers and ages 6+ 2-4 stickers on your clothing near exposed skin. 

Focus Stickers help sharpen your mind for school, sports and life with the use of peppermint essential oils.

Breathe Easy Stickers are great for those who have clogged up noses. Before you turn to medicine stick on of these close to the top of your shirt and allow the natural blend of eucalyptus, menthol, camphor and essential oils work!

Sunny Patch tell you when it is time to reapply sunscreen. Place a patch on the skin, cover the patch and skin with your favorite sunscreen but when the patch turns purple it is time to reapply.

Sleep Promoting Stickers use a formula of specially crafted essential oils to bring on sleep. 

Over 1 MILLION MOMS have reviewed the product, they have thousands of reviews on Amazon and the company is ran by 3 dads! NATPAT is available in close to 10,000 major and independent retail doors as well as in various online platforms. Check out their Amazon store 

 

Just Finished Barbie - It Was So Much Fun And Everything I Hoped

 

Barbie 

The highest grossing film of the year, as well as in Warner Bros. history from writer/director Greta Gerwig will be available this holiday season. 

Synopsis:

To live in Barbie Land is to be a perfect being in a perfect place. Unless you have a full-on existential crisis. Or you’re a Ken.

The Review:

• Greta’s take on Barbie was so much fun. I couldn’t have imagined a better world. It was colorful, girly and everything my inner child would have wanted if she had all the Barbie things when she was a child. We got mostly off brand things but I longed for the car, plane, pooping dog, and all the fantastic Barbies and Kens. I did however have Growing Up Skipper and was so excited to see her in the movie.

Now that I have seen it I could not imagine a more perfect Barbie than Margot. She and Ryan were amazing and I loved all the familiar faces. America Ferrera, Will Farrel, John Cena, Rhea Perlman and so many more. It was amazing. 

If you loved Barbie growing up watch this movie that was fun but had a feminist message that my 18 year old daughter seemed to enjoy. We don’t need Kens to be successful, to run the world and we both loved Gloria’s (America Ferrera monologue about what woman are expected to be and do and all without complaining. 

It is literally impossible to be a woman. You are so beautiful and so smart, and it kills me that you don't think you're good enough. Like, we always have to be extraordinary, but somehow we're always doing it wrong.

We have to be thin, but not too thin. And you can never say you want to be thin — you have to say you want to be healthy, but also you have to be thin. You have to have money, but you can't ask for money because that's crass. You have to be a boss, but you can't be mean. You have to lead, but you can't squash other people's ideas.

You're supposed to love being a mother, but don't talk about your kids all the damn time. You have to be a career woman, but also always be looking out for other people. You have to answer for men's bad behavior, which is insane, but if you point that out, you're accused of complaining.

You're supposed to stay pretty for men, but not so pretty that you tempt them too much or that you threaten other women because you're supposed to be a part of the sisterhood. But always stand out and always be grateful. But never forget that the system is rigged, so find a way to acknowledge that — but also always be grateful.

You have to never get old, never be rude, never show off, never be selfish, never fall down, never fail, never show fear, never get out of line. It's too hard! It's too contradictory and nobody gives you a medal or says thank you! And it turns out in fact that not only are you doing everything wrong, but also everything is your fault.

I'm just so tired of watching myself and every single other woman tie herself into knots so that people will like us. And if all of that is also true for a doll just representing a woman, then I don't even know." 

There was so much eye candy. The set design, the outfits, the hair, makeup, OMG the jewelry, dance scenes. The details were incredible. I cannot wait to watch again and see what I missed. 

• 
  
• Cast: Margot Robbie , Ryan Gosling , America Ferrera , Will Ferrell
• Director: Greta Gerwig
• Studio: Warner Bros.
• Genre: Comedy
• Run time: 114 minutes
• MPAA rating: PG-13

DISCLAIMER: I RECEIVED A DVD FOR MY HONEST OPINION. NO MONETARY COMPENSATION WAS OFFERED

• 
  

Unplugged Play: What's In Ned's Head With Teens

Summer means lots of fun! Picnics, Outings, Beach, Park, Pools, etc. But there is still a lot of downtime and kids can get sucked up into the TV, Computer and Gaming which is why I love Unplugged fun. Playing games with my kids was and still is one of my favorite things to do and we had a blast with What's In Ned's Head we have  we have played many times now adding our own things to Ned!

What's in Ned's Head?

 Reach inside Ned's ears and nostrils to find out what's in Ned's head!

• Can you find the object on the card you were dealt?

• Be the first player to find the correct object to win!

• Quick to learn, easy to play

This was so much fun! I cannot wait to bring it to my preschool class so they can try to guess but for now my kids are not ready to give it up! One day!

Is It a Photo Album, Journal or A Family Project? Whatever You Want To Call it, The Adventure Challenge Rocks

The Adventure Challenge books are my new favorite thing to do with my daughter. There are a Couple's Edition, Family Edition and Friend's Edition. The purpose is to unplug, and reconnect with people and have fun. 

We have since ordered a Polaroid Instant Camera since starting our Family Edition of The Adventure Challenge. This is such a wonderful idea and makes a wonderful gift for families, newlyweds, new parents, engagements, etc because it is a photo album and journal but also a surprise because you don't know what you will be doing until you select what you will be doing based on prompts from the book.  We went out with our camera and thought let's do one of the challenges.  

We were so excited to get started and selected a challenge based on how much money we had in our pockets and the time of day.  

This is what makes the book so wonderful. The prompts tell  you how much it would cost if anything for you to do the challenge. It tells you if you need to leave the house, what supplies you need, if it is messy, what time of day it is and if you will be eating. Now that just might by my favorite prompt. 

The one we selected said it would only cost .10 and that we could do it anytime at home. We scratched it off and it said we should buy yarn. I haven't been to Walmart or anywhere since the Pandemic but as soon as I can I will. Not sure where I could find yard for .10 but it seems like fun.  Then you take a photo of your challenge to post in the book. The book has double sided tape so you can just affix the photo right next to the challenge and then a spot for journaling.

The Table of Contents shows me that there are going to be some very fun challenges in our future. 

I cannot wait to give the Dating Edition to my niece. She and her boyfriend Charlie are going to have such a good time filing this out. 

Baby Gifts For Valentine's Day

I am fortunate this year to have babies in my life again. At 50 many of my friends are done having babies but since I am in the work force again, there are many of my younger co-workers having babies and I couldn't be happier. Last week one of my daughter's teachers had a baby girl and I can't wait to see her. My daughter is so excited that she wanted to give her something for the baby so we picked up a book. I LOVE giving books, a blanket and a key ring. 

I am so excited for her to see these gifts. The first one we picked up was a Kleynimals  rattle. 

 

You know babies love playing with your key ring even if you have baby toys for them while you are out and about. This is perfect. There are three arctic animals gracing the rattle. Pippi the Polar Bear, Scout the Snowshoe Hare and Otto the Snow Owl.  The rattle is dishwasher safe and 100% Stainless Steel and American made. Babies will love the shiny metal and jingly sound. 

 

And because I love giving books I chose DK's Baby Touch and Feel; I Love You book published by 
Penguin Random House. My kids used to love touch and feel books. This one is perfect for little hands and has the most adorable assortment of teddy bears, sparkly ribbon, kittens, puppies, baskets and more
  
The last item in her gift bag is this cute security blanket with a bunny rattle. I am in love with this and have purchase two of them over the past 3 years.

This is a nice size baby blanket for baby. They come in white, blue and pink and since our new little friend is a girl we got a pink one. The photos can't even get across to you just how soft these are. My daughter begs for one of her own every time she sees one in the house. The bunny rattle has a pocket to keep it in so you don't misplace your kids lovey.

 

Outlander Fan Gift Ideas

If you know someone who loves Outlander and I know about 4 on my Christmas list this year; these are the perfect gifts for them.

  

The beautiful music of Outlander is inspired by music of the time period 1700s. It is cheery, haunting, heartbreaking and completely memorable with a whole lot of Scottish influence. The CD has 22 songs and over an hour and 18 minutes worth of music you will find yourself transported back to your favorite parts of Season 2 and then some.

I have some favorites that I keep going back to like a song entitled Faith with such gorgeous piano and strings and The Uprising Begins which has quick fiddles and is very upbeat. 

 

Milk Unleashed

The kids go back in 9 days and while I am very sad about it, I can't wait to see what they learn this year and how they grow. We are starting to grab some snacks and lunch ideas for the kids lunchboxes and this giveaway couldn't have come at a better time.

Milk Unleashed is the perfect addition to our back-to-school planning.

As this is my first time hearing of Milk Unleashed I am excited to here about the shelf-stable milk for lunches and all the kids’ other activities. We are constantly on the go and I worry about the juice boxes so we constantly bring water. This will be an added addition to the kids lunch and go boxes.

Gogo Crazy Bones Make My Kids and Friends SOOOO Happy - Home Party

We had the BEST day yesterday. We spent Wednesday preparing and getting excited about our Spring Break-Break Up The Week Party. Our schools had too many snow days so the kids only have a three day spring break. Three days off means, a quick week and what better way to schedule play dates with all our friends than to invite them all over for a sponsored bash!

We had 15 kids and 10 moms over for the most organized party I have ever thrown. I had an agenda, itinerary and was literally waiting at the end for people to just show up.

When I tell you Gogo took care of me for this party...I mean really took care of me. I had 13 books sticker books to hand out and I think each kid walked away with 13 Gogos each!

The kids came in. I gave them 15 minutes to get acquainted and run around. The moms and the babies took turns holding each others kids and everyone was smiling and happy. I sat back and watched so happy to know that all my friends are now friends.


I asked the kids to sit on the floor and started handing out books. Once they opened them.

Here I am telling the kids about the books and the Gogos. I love that my son is the only one paying attention.

Then I proceed to tell them about the Gogos inside and asked if any of them had ever heard of them. Before this campaign, my kids and I  had never heard of them. Two little boys ages 6 and 7 both have two of them at home.  We spent some time talking about the stickers and the books. Each Gogo comes with a sticker which you can put on that particular Gogo in the book. The moms were all impressed and asked if they could find these in the stores now. I told them us and more would be coming out throughout the year.

Next I asked if anyone wanted more Gogos, everyone raised their hands. We played 3 rounds of Freeze Dance and whomever had the craziest freeze won a prize (thank you Gogo!). Next we talked about collecting and trading. There was one trade.

Next we played another 3 rounds of Freeze Dance were I gave out even more Gogos. The boys won each time with one of them even kicking himself in the shoulder in his freeze dance.

Next we played a basket game where I set up a huge empty container for the kids to toss their Gogos in. Whomever got the most in won another package of Gogos!

My kids Gogo Crazy Bones!

The kids were beyond excited and love that they can carry their Gogos in their pockets. They loved the fact that there are so many different Gogos and I overheard four talking about starting a collection. The moms love that they are small.

News Break to My Friends: In May pick up the Silver Tin with painting Gogos.

If one picture can sum up how crazy we are for Gogo Crazy Bones, this would be the one!

IN ZANESVILLE by Jo Ann Beard

What I Can Tell You:

What a great read. I was transported back to my childhood. Of sleep overs at my friends in the camper on her families property. Of Dusty Springfield and American Bandstand! Of first crushes and fears. Of dysfunctional families and too much time to think.  Of babysitting and snow cones. Ahhh...I miss those day.

Jo Ann is a wonderful storyteller creating interesting characters out of the most basic personalities. The kids who are invisible to most because they tend to fly under the radar.  The girls are 14 and full of life and thoughts way beyond what the rest of the world give them credit for. Jo Ann writing seems almost autobiographical, with quiet realism.

Yoplait Save Lids to Save Lives MyGetTogether Event

In support of Breast Cancer, Yoplait and MyGetTogether sponsored a really fun get together for me and some of my girlfriends. I received the "My Get Together" box on Monday afternoon and Tuesday via Facebook sent an invitation to 14 local friends.

Today 6 girlfriends and I sat around a lovely table display of Yoplait Yogurt, a pink ribbon cake, fruit and more to discuss the topics that are important to us; Yoplait, Yogurt, Breasts, Breast Cancer, Early Detection, Halloween, Kids, Husbands and the additional random drama in our lives.

After playing with the yogurt for a while we finally ate some.

There are so many flavors and varieties.

After 2.5 hours our first guest was ready to go (her baby was due for a nap) so we gathered up our lids, cleaned them off and they are ready for the post office.

Here is how you can mail out your lids.

We had a great time and the winner of the Yoplait Save Lids to Save Lives Bookmark was Sandra the founder of The Baby Bindle Company which you will be hearing more about in the coming months.

Thanks to MyGetTogether and Yoplait for sponsoring my educational and inspiring Get Together.

Taking the Pen To Paper Challenge

Basically, this means I will be mailing a note card out every week instead of a quick email or Facebook blurb. Along with the note card I will send a blank note card for the recipient to use for their own use.

I am old enough to remember when letter writing was very important to me. After moving to Brooklyn from Millbrook after my mom passed away, and leaving all my friend, we would write long mult-page letters back and forth to tell each other what was happening in our lives. I remember the feeling of getting that letter in the mailbox and sitting down to devour 8-10 handwritten pages of information. In fact, I still have a lot of these letters in my storage/memory box.

Email, Facebook, MySpace, Texting, IM'ing have taken over where we used to write letters or even phone a friend. My birthday this year, I received over 35 greetings on Facebook but only 4 birthday cards. Weird right!!

If you plan on getting back to the personal art of writing to your friends and family, (something to be treasured for ages), check out Pear Tree Greetings, an online stationery company that loves to help people connect, whether it's via a personalized note card, Christmas Card or birth announcement.

Do you save the hand written notes you receive? I have trouble throwing personalized things away, especially letters and pictures

Here is my first note card which will be going out to my amazing friend Olga. She is beautiful person. Her heart is enormous. She and I worked together many, many years ago. I love her entire family and consider her youngest, a great friend. She is truly one of the nicest people I know. We haven't seen each other in 5 years. It is hard when she works two jobs and is taking care of her parents too! She will always hold a special place in my heart. She used to give me the most amazing gifts with little notes. One Christmas she gave me a Johnny Mathis Christmas CD because she knew that he was someone my mother loved (if you are reader of mine, you know that my mom died when I was 12). She wrote that only special people liked Johnny Mathis and that she and my mom would have been great friends.

I adore her!

Knowing her, she will write the note card I include back to me. That would be nice.

LilyMe Jewelry Review

They have tons of color cords to choose from and you can get the charm engraved with up to nine letters of your choice.

Great for birthdays, Mother's day, graduation and or other gift opportunity.  What I loved about it also, is that the cord fits my wrist AND my 5 year old daughter's wrist. She loved that we could share the bracelet but I would love to get matching ones for us. Saying Mother and Daughter.

You can selected plated gold or sterling silver for the charm depending on your taste.

Want something else? No problem. There are tons of charms to choose from from Flowers, to hearts to butterflies and more.

FireFly Rain by Richard Dansky - A+ Writing and Storyline

In A Nutshell: This is a much needed change from the books I have been reading, while they are good, entertaining, well written this one was all that and called me from wherever I had laid it. I NEEDED to read it. The story starts out rather normal and slowly builds into a psycological thriller that had me unsure how it would end.

What I Can Tell You: This is Richard Dansky's first original novel and I am anxiously awaiting his next piece of work. The storyline is different, the writing spectacular and reminded me of Stephen King. Before children I was a big Stephen King fan and read and owned every book. After my kids, I gave up books that were considered horror. Firefly made me want to revisit the horror section of the book store. The need to finish the book and find out who was doing what and why the Fireflies stayed off the property was driving me mad. I sat at the kitchen table until I finished the last 60 pages with my cup of coffee growing cold.  I highly recommend this book if you are a fan of the mystery, terror, horror genre, or if you really want to read a fantastic book.

VistaPrint Photo Book

When I was a kid, I loved pulling out the old family albums to see the pictures of my family from before I was born. Now, I have all my photos beautifully archived on my computer by Month and Year but the only way I view them is on a slide show on the computer. Back before I did this I had beautiful pictures printed out that I now house in many, many envelopes with the Month and Year written with a marker on it. .

When did I become so electronic?

A few years ago I made my husband an album using all the photos of him and the kids since they were born. It is beautiful and the kids love looking through it. It is the one thing they can do without me having to turn on the computer where they can see what they looked like when they were babies.

I believe it is time to create some more photo books.

Last month I started a folder on my computer of all my favorite shots from last year. I am only up to May but hope to be able to create myself a book by the end of the year to send out to my Dad, my in-laws and get on for myself for Christmas. The prices are so reasonable and the books come in so many convenient sizes depending on your needs.

SciGirls, New PBS Show For Girls!

I love the idea behind SciGirls on PBS.

As the mother of a very intelligent, inquisitive, inspiring, soon to be 5 year old girl; I want her to know that she doesn't have to wait for the prince to come and be her everything. That she can and should do what she enjoys. I also want her to know that girls can do anything boys do. Want to play baseball, play it. You want to wear pants, wear them! You want to explore, climb it! 

I Love the combination of real girls and the animated narrator! In my opinion, GIRLS will love this show. Girls learn Science differently than boys, this is the perfect show to get them excited about Science.

Books for Girls 10-15

Last month I received a copy of All that Glitters and Truth Or Dare. These books are part of the Scenario Series where you get to pick the ending. You decide how the path the character makes. Truth or Dare (Source) Lindsay Martin is faced with a tough choice: Does she give in to peer pressure and make her friends happy or does she do what she knows is right—even if it means losing her friends forever? Tween readers make the choice in this interactive story and see how the consequences change Lindsay’s life. Includes a contract and prayer to remind the reader of the importance of making godly decisions. This book deals with a situations involving peer pressure, alcohol, disobedience, sneaking around and lying. All that Glitters (Source) Drew Daniels finally has what she thought she wanted—popularity and a cute boyfriend. But now she’s faced with choosing between pleasing her boyfriend and doing what’s right. Tween readers make the choice in this interactive story and see how the consequences change Drew’s life. Includes a contract and prayer to remind the reader of the importance of making godly decisions. This book looks at peer pressure, drug & alcohol use, lying and purity.

Note from Maria: These books obviously deal with some tough situations as stated above, please use your discretion. Only you know your girls and what they should read. The books are written for ages 10-15 but know your child.

My 13 year old niece Samantha (that's her above) came to spend the weekend with me and noticed my pile of books to review. When she asked if she could help, I handed her Truth or Dare. She read it in a day. Then she moved onto All That Glitters and read that one just as quickly. On her way home she wrote up the review and text'd it to me. Here is her take, in her words.

My review on the book was it was good and showed how sometimes it seems right to go with the rest of the group but that its better to not give in to peer pressure. and it was very realistic it could happen to any one. and it may be hard because all your friends are doing it but in the long run you would be very proud of yourself and it shows how you have really grown up . the book overall was inspirational sometimes I give in to peer pressure but most of the time i surround myself with people that love me and wouldn't do that to me because they understand what i am comfortable with and what I am not. These books are great for anyone to read and see how hard it is for someone to face a choice that really isnt easy. I love that I was able to choose the path and enjoyed the stories. I never read anything like this and it was great to be able to select the ending.

Learn about the Scenarios series HERE. Order your copy of Truth or Dare or All that Glitters. Decisions, decisions! How is a girl supposed to choose? Lessons of right and wrong are put to the test in the Scenarios series, where you can test your decision-making abilities in an eye-opening, but safe, way. Each book follows a character up to the point where she has to make an important, life-changing decision—then it’s your turn to choose. Will your choices lead to a happy ending?

What Samantha did get to check out was the fabulous site by Nicole O'Dell for Scenarios For Girls. Click the Pretty Daisy above and you will be transported to the site. This is the perfect site for young girls. I hope that it is still around when my daughter is old enough to be on the computer. I will be mentioning it to all my mom friends whose daughter's are within the age range. Love it! Here is the schedule for the Scenario For Girls Website.

Schools Out But An Idle Mind As They Say..

Hey everyone!

Summer is here and the kids are getting out of school for a hopefully, fun, safe summer.

In my house like a lot of my friends homes, we continue to promote school, learning, explorer and fun activities to keep the kids motivated.

I remember when I was a kid, summer came and it was awesome but by the end of July I was bored. My sisters and I sat around looking for our mom to give us things to do. Kids love routine and they love learning.

My son was able to review a KA Reader book entitled Coming Home. We read the story together then went online to the webscene to watch it play out. The characters are cute, funny and colorful and my son enjoyed putting faces to the characters we were reading about in the book. I loved the word patterns used in each lesson and the themes used throughout the lesson.

My daughter and I worked on one of the Busy Preschooler books called Celebration of Letters A and B. What I love most about this type of lesson is that your child wants to learn. We have held "mommy school" for years now. Mostly we work on worksheets, counting, colors and hand play together and my kids expect and want to do it. But some of my friends wait until the end of the summer and want the kids to do some work to get them back into school groove. Kids aren't happy which leads to mom not being happy. With IBW you set the child up and they don't even know they are learning.

We particularly loved the ABC Trace. My daughter had a great time "painting the letter".

I really appreciated that beside a lesson plan there was a visual lesson to go along. Most children are very visual and this helps to push the point home while remaining fun and interactive.

Each lesson book is in English and in Spanish, easy to use and full of opportunities to promote school readiness.

Twilight Fans Gift - Etsy Find

Looking for a stocking stuffer for the Twilight Yesterday I received a necklace I ordered from Etsy seller Atlantis804. The necklace was going to be a gift but honestly...I love it too much to part with it.

I think even Bella and Edward (my desktop background) would approve. Doesn't it look like they are looking at their newborn or something?