There’s no way this is going to be wordless because I am SO PROUD of my little guy. He’s had a rough time at swim lessons until last week. He had a sudden turn around and now he’s a CHAMP. He seriously went not trying and crying and screaming every time it was his turn to swim. But for the past two lessons he’s been a pure joy, trying very hard and doing an awesome job. I’m so proud of him!
My little swimmer!
I look forward to seeing your photos!
Whether your child is starting his first solids or heading to school with a packed lunch, fruits and vegetables are a vital part of baby’s diet. This collection of bibs, placemats and board book make eating fun while teaching little ones about fruits and vegetables. And, with the modern style of DwellStudio involved, fruit on the plate isn’t the only thing that looks fresh and good enough to EAT.
We received a collection of green eating goodies from Chronicle Books, including placemats and bibs to use on the go and a great board book from DwellStudio.
I’ve been admiring the Bibs to Go from DwellStudio since I discovered them through the Marriott Tots Travel Too program. Both the bibs and the Are You Eating Something Green? placemats are like a pad of paper where you tear one off when you want to use it. I really love the material of the bibs – they’re made of a waterproof disposable material that’s not like plastic or paper. The bibs hook together around the back of the neck and you can apply a sticker to keep it in place. The bibs are brightly colored with cool graphic prints, and are a good size for both kids.
The Are You Eating Something Green? placemats are kind of small, so they are almost more for useful keeping kids occupied than to protect a table top. The placemats feature fruits and vegetables of similar colors on one side and black and white drawings perfect for coloring on the other. I know crayons are a lifesaver at restaurants for us, and the placemats are fun and a great way to teach about eating healthy foods.
DwellStudio’s EAT book is a short and sweet look at your little one’s favorite fruits and vegetables. My daughter loves books and food – so this is a match made in reading heaven as far as she’s concern. I like the look of the book – so modern – and the size (a short and sweet 7 inch square board book.)
To Buy… I love the simplicity of the EAT book, it’s graphic and great to look at. My daughter is very into the book and is a big eater, so it’s been really fun to read with her.
Or Not to Buy… The Bibs to Go and Are You Eating Something Green? placemats are rather big and bulky to actually throw into your diaper bag. I wish they were folded in the book or came more compact for use on-the-go.
Shop! Are You Eating Something Green? is $9.99 for 36 placemats, Bibs to Go is $12.99 and includes 20 bibs, and the EAT board
book is $6.99. Enjoy the Friends & Family Summer Sale now through July 28th, get 35% off plus FREE ground shipping with promo code FRIENDS.
How to Enter: Visit Chronicle Books Children’s Store and leave a comment with another book you’d like to read with your little one.
Bonus Entries – valid only after completing the first required entry. Please leave a separate comment for each you do.
Giveaway ends August 4 – open to US & Canadian residents.
Every year Etsy has a Christmas In July sale, and it’s going on right now! From July 15-25, participating shops offer all sorts of discounts, from a percentage off to free shipping. To find the sweet deals, visit Etsy and search using “christmas in july.” (Pictured at left: Santa & Rudolph Finger Puppets by Sweet Melly Jane.)
Now’s the time to revisit some of your favorite shops and to find a few new faves. Check out some of my top Christmas in July picks for $10 or less…
Row 1, left to right: Flower Hairclip by Sweet Daisymay, Reversible Cotton Boutique Baby Bib by Our Little Messes, Blue Whale Bodysuit by CollieOllieDesigns.
Row 2, left to right: Felt Chocolate Chip Cookies by Littlepicklepotamus, Artote Mini by Bells & Whistles, Newborn Hat Baby Beanie by Cupcake Card Company photo by Sissy Starr.
Happy Shopping!
When I was asked to participate in the Streamline Your Routine campaign with Eggo and TheMotherhood, I assumed it was because someone is taking pity on me. Like, someone had somehow caught a glimpse of the chaos that is a morning in my house and knew I needed a change of routine to streamline my morning. And I do.
A typical morning in my house goes something like this:
There has to be a better way. Help me! Seriously, what are your tips for streamlining your morning routine and making it work?
In an effort to streamline the morning routine by providing a quick, well-balanced breakfast, Eggo created a one of a kind breakfast food to combine favorite breakfast items into one convenient (and yummy) food.
Eggo Real Fruit Pizzas are an all-in-one combination of fruit and warm toasted granola on an oven-baked cinnamon and maple-flavored crust. Available in Strawberry Granola and Mixed Berry Granola.
The Fruit Pizza can be microwaved in one minute or baked in the oven. While I think I would prefer it baked for a few minutes in the oven, it probably doesn’t surprise you to find out I was always in too much of a hurry to bake it and instead just popped it in the microwave. The Fruit Pizza rests on one of those crazy cardboard things to make the crust crispy (which actually prevented the tell-tale microwave rubbery crust).
I admit I was totally skeptical about this idea and wasn’t sure how I’d like it. I was very pleasantly surprised. First, I like that it includes real fruit – that tastes like real fruit. It’s surprisingly flavorful for a frozen meal – the mix of yogurt, fruit and seasoned crust is really good. On the downside, it’s a bit pricey and while I could easily eat a whole pizza on my own, it’s a tad on the high calorie count if you’re watching your figure. (The serving size is 1 pizza and Mixed Berry Granola has 390 calories and 13 grams of fat, Strawberry Granola has 400 calories and 12 grams of fat.) But I was being generous and shared one with my husband and one with my daughter.
Shop! Eggo Real Fruit Pizzas are available now in the frozen section of grocery stores nationwide.
How to Enter: Leave a comment telling me your best tip or piece of advice to help streamline a mom’s morning routine.
And, you’ll want to make it good because the best tips and tricks will be compiled on the Eggo Best Tips for Enjoyable, Organized Morning on TheMotherhood. From those, one person will receive a GRAND PRIZE including product samples and Eggo Mugs.
Giveaway ends July 28 and is open to US residents only.
We’ve shared several of your boy birthday parties so I’m so excited to share this very girlie party submitted by Kate. For her daughter’s third birthday she put together a gorgeous Flower and Ariel themed pool party.
A prominent decoration throughout was Tissue Paper Pom Poms that Kate made herself using this Martha Stewart Tutorial. Don’t they look awesome?
She also created a birthday banner using colored paper from a scrapbook store and printed letters. She used ribbon to string the letters together.
Her daughter looked like one of the Pom Poms in an adorable pettiskirt Kate found at a boutique sample sale. The birthday shirt is from Three Sweets on Etsy.
Little party goers were treated to adorable favors consisting of flower clips from Blissful Moments in buckets from Target filled with Ariel goodies from Party City.
Kate actually made these amazing flower cupcakes based on instructions in the What’s New, Cupcake?
Even though everything looks perfect, Kate says she learned a few things. “We hired Ariel to show up ….but it didn’t have the full effect. Think the kids were too young for her. A bouncy would have been better.” She also reports they had TONS of food leftover. My guess it that everyone filled up on those scrumptious looking cupcakes!
This party was submitted for the All Things Birthday event. We’d love to share your party, too. (And to say thanks, you get FIVE BONUS Entries into every All Things Birthday giveaway!)
What would you do with one free hour to yourself? Would you read a book? Call a friend? Catch up on e-mail or Facebook? Sleep? Never underestimate how saving 2 minutes here or 5 minutes there will quickly add up over a week, a month, or the year! By adding these simple time-saving tips to your day, you can give yourself more time to do what YOU want to do… not what everyone else in your family is asking you to do!
It’s a Race: A race against the kitchen timer! Set the kitchen timer to 10 minutes and do a turbo-clean immediately after your kids fall asleep (note: fall asleep, not immediately after putting them down or you are bound to be interrupted by their multiple requests to use the bathroom and have one more glass of water!). You’ll be amazed at how much you can do in 10 minutes when you are (a) focused on the task and (b) not distracted by your little rascals.
Stack the Bags: Ever take out the trash, come back in the house and get distracted, only to return to the trash can later with a handful of kitchen scraps to find the bag hasn’t been replaced? The next time you take out the trash, place a handful of trash bags at the bottom of your trash can. When you take out the trash, before walking the trash outside, replace the bag with one of the bags at the bottom. It serves as a hidden storage spot and will ensure that you aren’t left with an empty trashcan in the future!
Batch is the Magic Word: Do all your errands at once. Write your errands on an “Errand List” and do them all on one day. Also, plan your route to be driven in a clockwise manner. By running your errands in a clockwise direction, you will always be making right turns – therefore avoiding the time-consuming left-turn lights! In the same light – cook large batches of cookies, lasagna, etc. all at once and freeze the rest for later. It’s so nice to pull out a home-cooked meal without the prep and clean-up needed when starting from scratch!
This Key is Hot: Do you have websites that you visit frequently? Or documents that you refer to all the time? Using either Quicksilver for Macs or Autohotkey for PCs, hotkeys are set up to perform a particular task with just one keystroke. Though it may take a few minutes to learn the ropes (check out tutorials on Google or YouTube), once these hotkeys are in place – they will save you hours throughout the course of the month!
Chilling on a Dime: You are minutes from opening your door to guests and you realize that you have not yet chilled the wine. Rather than put it in the freezer and worry about leaving it in too long, simply pour a bucket of ice into the wine bucket, add enough water to cover the ice and then top the ice water with a few tablespoons of salt (the salt will cause the water temperature to drop much more quickly). Add the bottle of wine and stir 2-3 times. Let sit and within 25 minutes, you will have a perfectly chilled bottle of wine.
The Magic of Rice: If you are having trouble cleaning out the bottom of the decanter, put two tablespoons of uncooked rice, warm water and a little soap. Mix it all around and rinse with water. The rice will help you reach the places where sponges and other cleaning brushes fall short (this is also a great trick for cleaning baby bottles)!
This helpful time saving advice is brought to you by Zoolu!, a mom’s one stop shop to save you time and money. Use the code TSMROCKS for 10% off your purchases and get free shipping on orders over $75!
Running errands just got easier with the Quinny Zapp, the ultimate lightweight and compact stroller. Get the Zapp and other Quinny strollers an accessories at Zoolu!
[ Image courtesy: cema]
A crown from The Merry Crown Society is a fun and colorful way to add extra flair to your child’s birthday, or any day for that matter! You can choose from crowns to fit your party theme such as the Princess Posey or the Yo Ho Ho Pirate. In addition, there are lots of crowns with a more general theme like the La La Lovely Garden or The Royal Crown. It would be so much fun to arrive at a birthday party with one of these in-hand for the guest of honor!
The Merry Crown Society is run by two merry ladies from Maine – Bonnie & Mallory (mother & daughter). At the moment, Bonnie does the sewing while Mallory runs the business/store side of things. We love bright colors, buttons, and felt… as you can probably tell.
Each crown is handmade using eco-fi felt (felt made from recycled plastic bottles.) A piece of elastic is enclosed in the back to allow for a variety of different head sizes. Pellon interfacing is used between the layers of felt to give a sturdy & non-floppy effect. All of this careful construction means that your little one can wear her or her crown day after day.
Since we’re in the middle of our ALL THINGS BIRTHDAY EVENT, we just have to showcase our most favorite crown of all: The Yummy Cupcake. Check out the cupcake ribbon and adorable button sprinkles. It doesn’t get anymore festive than this!
Shop! The crowns at The Merry Crown Society are affordably priced between $17-$20. The Christmas in July sale is on… BUY ONE CROWN, GET ONE 25% off! You can purchase one of these brightly colored, festive tot toppers at The Merry Crown Society on Etsy.
How to enter: Visit The Merry Crown Society and tell us which crown you would choose if you won.
Bonus Entries - Valid only after completing first mandatory entry. Please leave a separate comment for each you do.
It’s finally finished! We’ve spent hours collecting the best birthday gifts for kids and the result is the Birthday Present Shopping Guide. The kids birthday present gift guide includes everything from a $13 personalized puzzle to $400 doll house, the best green toys, gifts to get moving and the best personalized and handmade finds.
Click to see ALL The Shopping Mama Top Present Picks!
You can always find all the The Shopping Mama Shopping Guides on the menu bar at the top of the page. We really hope you’ll use the guide as a resource when you’re shopping for your child’s birthday or that you’ll check it out for ideas next time your little one receives a birthday party invite.
Take a look… what’s your favorite birthday gift idea?
And, by the way, the Shopping Guide contains affiliate links so when you purchase you are supporting The Shopping Mama.
Moms: find a pre-screened day care center near you.
Want to find creative Halloween costumes? Visit our friends at FancyDressBall.
If you are looking for information about partnering with The Shopping Mama™ blog, please email for a current Media Kit. The Shopping Mama™ was founded by Kate Marsh Lord in January of 2009 to share the latest and greatest in gear, clothes and toys for kids. After graduating law school and moving around the world with her Air Force husband, Kate settled down and had two beautiful little ones. The children changed her online motivation from researching legal issues to tracking down the
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