Oh, Brother

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I just replaced the ink cartridges in my new(er) printer. You see, that’s really quite remarkable, since I use my Brother All-in-One Inkjet for every thing from printing documents to copying most of my kiddos’ worksheets for the beginning of the school year.

Aside from the Ink Save Mode, there are many features that make this printer a good fit for our family. It’s an affordable machine, it’s easy to use and multi-functional. Not only can I use it for our school needs, but I use it for scanning and printing pictures and other images, faxing documents to my clients, and best of all – it’s flexible wireless network interface enables sharing with all of our networked computers.

The Brother All-in-One Inkjet is definitely a great little machine to add to your home office of school room… It’s got everything you need, and more.

Benefited review

Moon Dough

My kiddos were extremely excited to try the new Moon Dough Barnyard Playset that we received just before our vacation. Well, I pulled it out today and let them all go to town…

Not only is Moon Dough incredibly messy, but it was difficult for my youngest little guys – the targeted age for this set -to use the mold in just such a way to actually create the barn animals. Noah lost interest fairly quickly, but the twins came to the rescue and were able to create smooth and consistent cows, roosters and sheep for Ben.

Moon Dough looks and feels like wet sand before molded, however it resembles big, fluffy marshmallows when molded into fun shapes. All in all, I think my kiddos enjoyed making a huge mess, mixing the three colors that came with the set, and squishing the dough between their fingers.

I’m thinking that, although the dough is never supposed to dry out and it really is easy to clean up, we would need to purchase Moon Dough Refill Packs if the kiddos ever want to play with it again. I suppose it’d be fun to add a few more colors to the mix!

I received this playset to review as a member of Team Mom. No monetary compensation was received. As always, all opinions are mine.

Good Fun

What does Zach like to do during an otherwise long and boring car ride?

Visit more Wordless Wednesday participants at 5 Minutes for Mom and Angry Julie Monday.
Visit Wordful Wednesday participants at Angie’s Circus.

A Day in the Life of the Youngs

So, after a very eventful morning, I decided to chronicle our day, as it happens. Oh, how I wish I took pictures this morning….

8:45am – Mommy wakes up with a head cold and declares it a PJ day. Meanwhile Noah spills his bowl of cereal in.the.living.room.

11:50am – Ethan tells Noah not to eat the Nesquik and makes him some chocolate milk instead.

11:55am – Mommy finds chocolate powder all over the counter and kitchen floor and helps Ethan clean it up.

12:05pm – 3 kids in the tub + goggles = water everywhere. The bright side? The bathroom is clean.

12:30pm – Mayo is splattered everywhere. Someone didn’t screw the lid on tight.

12:50pm – Mommy needs a nap. So does Ben and Noah. The big question — Will they get one?

1:10pm – No nap. Look at what Ethan found in his bedroom…

…

{shudder} Apparently it’s a Velvet Ant (?).

1:13pm – The Youngs promptly remove the bug from their house.

2:40pm – Three of the Young children are caught sneaking Red Vines and are immediately sent to their rooms.

3:01pm – The doorbell rings. It’s Neighbor One and Neighbor Two. Mama Young explains that her kiddos are having quiet time, asks that the neighbor siblings not come back to knock on the door again, but assures them that her kids will get them when they can play.

3:05pm – Mommy attempts to nap with Noah and Ben.

3:48pm – Ben was finally settled and Mommy fell asleep at some point, but both are now disturbed by Noah, who is being a stinker…

…

4:36pm – Mommy is awakened a second time… this time by both Noah AND Ben.

5:01pm – Mommy is awakened a third time by a knock at the door. Yup… Neighbor One.

5:05pm – Daddy calls to say he can’t take the twins to soccer practice.

5:06pm – There is another knock at the door. Neighbor Two.

5:32pm – The twins start getting upset because they can’t find their soccer socks and they are running out of time.

5:38pm – Mommy tries to figure out how to get the twins to soccer practice without waking Noah up from his slumber. He’ll be awfully cranky…

6:10pm – Back from the soccer drop-off, without a hitch. Woot!

6:20pm – Mommy realizes that she had planned to put a lasagne in the oven for dinner, but it’s too late now. Unless the Young family wants to eat dinner at 8:30. Hmmm….what to do?

6:26pm – The phone, that has been missing since Daddy called and talked to Zach, is found… It had been off the hook this whole time. Mommy calls Daddy to see what he wants to do for dinner. No answer on his cell phone.

6:55pm – Daddy finally calls back. He’s already eaten dinner, but he’ll pick up the twins from soccer practice. Mommy starts dinner for the kiddos. Looks like it’s a Ramen and veggies kind o’ night.

7:30pm – Noah was not supposed to bring his bottle of Gatorade in to the living room, but it looks like he did, since a huge red spill is discovered right next to the couch. NO-AH!

8:12pm – Ben declares that “the egg is broken” as he stands in front of the fridge with the broken shell in his hand. Don’t ask why, but someone had decided to take all of the eggs out of the carton and place them in the fridge door. You know, where the butter usually goes… ‘Cause that makes sense.

9:03pm – The house is back in order, the twins are finally getting some dinner, Uncle Chuck is here to visit with Daddy, Faith is here to play with the Young kiddos, and a Wordless Wednesday post has been scheduled for tomorrow. Mommy is now calling it a night.

**Today was a crazy day, but it’ll be fun to live-blog “a day in the life” after we’ve established a normal school routine… Stay tuned!**

Back-to-School With Lunchables

We’re all looking for healthy lunch options this back-to-school season, right? Well, the Lunchables team is committed to feeding kids’ potential by providing food that parents can feel good about and kids will enjoy, so they’re expanding their most wholesome product line with two new additions: Chicken Strips and Chicken + American Sub Sandwich. In addition, more fruit can now be found in Lunchables lunch combos with the addition of DOLE Mandarin Oranges to a couple of their varieties. I don’t know about you, but my kiddos LOVE mandarin oranges!

What else is the Lunchables team up to?

Back for its second year, the Lunch Note Promise campaign aims to help parents provide their kids with words of encouragement to help them realize their potential. Parents can go to lunchnotepromise.com to promise to include a lunch note in their kid’s lunch box. For every parent who makes the promise, Lunchables will donate $1 – up to $100,000 – to creative learning programs at the local Boys & Girls Clubs of America. Parents can even download cool stationery templates with kid-approved designs.

Lunchables also wants to help kids realize their creative dreams, and I’m excited that they are partnering with me to sponsor a fun and hands-on art party in just a couple of weeks! My talented and über-creative Aunt Theresa will be coming to help the kiddos in attendance create artistic masterpieces! (Let me know if you’re local and would like to come… I’ll send you an invite!)

Speaking of creativity, Lunchables is asking kids 6 to 13 years of age to tell them their big idea for a movie, song or video game for a chance to work with a professional mentor in their category, like Kevin Jonas of the Jonas Brothers band, to bring it to life. What’s more, the winners will also see their idea come to life as either a movie, song or video game in 2011. Your kids can enter the Created by You contest, by visiting Lunchables.com and clicking the “Created By You” icon.

Oh, I almost forgot — We went on our Lunchables-sponsored field trip to the Exploratorium, with the Reed family, just before our vacation.. I can’t wait to tell you all about it. Stay tuned!

Story Time with Hallmark Recordable Storybooks

As much as I try I just don’t have time to read to my little ones as often as I would like. That’s not to say, of course, that I never read to them… I certainly do. BUT, after the second (or even third) time reading the same book, I have to call it quits.

Enter our recent favorite book – Hey Diddle, Diddle! Nursery Rhymes for Story Time. With this fabulous Recordable Storybook from Hallmark, I can read it once with my kiddos, as I record my own voice, and then they can listen to the story and read along, any time they like, even if I’m busy. The fun part? They can read it over and over on their own, as well, re-recording the story as many times as their little hearts desire. How cool is that?

video – Hey Diddle, Diddle!

The Hallmark Recordable Storybooks come in many different titles and are perfect for creating a unique gift for your own children, or even the kiddos in your life who may be far away. Great for grandparents to record for their grandchildren, and a wonderful gift for family members serving overseas to send to their own children at home.

Hallmark has given me the opportunity to share their Recordable Storybooks, not only with you, but also with a local charity. I am so excited to be able to give 10 of these fun books to our local chapter of Troops Need You. Through Troops Need You these books can be sent overseas, so daddies separated from their children can record a special story for their children as a surprise gift.

Also, two of YOU will win your very own copy of Hey Diddle, Diddle! Nursery Rhymes for Story Time just by leaving a comment here on this post before September 21st!

I just know y’all will love these books as much as we do!

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