Pirates weren’t known for their healthy smiles. Truth is most swashbucklers had poor oral health, and unfortunately, many children in Colorado share this same affliction. As a major supporter of the Real Pirates exhibition at the Denver Museum of Nature & Science, Delta Dental of Colorado, the state’s largest dental benefits provider, is hoping to educate Colorado children and families about how to keep cavities at bay.

Delta Dental of Colorado is giving one lucky LaLaGirl – Twinfinite Chaos reader a family six-pack of tickets to the Real Pirates exhibition. Enter Delta Dental’s Treasure Your Smile Giveaway at www.TreasureYourSmile.com and use promo code 0977 for a chance to win the tickets and be entered into a monthly drawing for a Sonicare® toothbrush and a grand prize drawing for a trip to Disney World®. The Real Pirates ticket contest deadline is Friday, July 10th, 2011.

You can also “piratize” your picture like the one of Kayley and me!

This is a compensated post from Delta Dental of Colorado.

This is a compensated review from BlogHer and So Delicious®.

You’d think, while raising five kids, my husband and I would find enough things to disagree on without having to invent things to argue about. But still, we will occasionally get ourselves all worked up over something silly. It’s almost always a product of our upbringing, too. For example, belly buttons. My husband is completely ridiculous about protecting his belly button at all times. He somehow got it in his head that you can rupture your intestines by sticking your finger into your belly button. No amount of evidence will convince this college-educated man that his information is…flawed. I am just as guilty of sticking to my guns, though. My mom wouldn’t buy us sugar cereals, so I won’t buy them for my kids, either. Even though I know there’s more sugar in the apple juice they drink than there is in the bowl of cereal. It’s weird, the way we tend to stick to our guns over the most ridiculous things.

Recently, we had a discussion about milk consumption. I am not a fan of milk. I’ve never liked it, and I really only use it to moisten my cereal. Contrast this with my husband, who not only adds milk to his ice cream, but will only eat a slice of birthday cake if it’s served in a bowl of milk. He has it in his head that I am heading straight toward osteoporosis thanks to my lack of love for dairy, and he’s convinced that our kids are going grow up with brittle bones because they don’t drink a glass of milk at dinner time. I don’t believe my kids are going to be in leg braces by their teenage years, but I do understand the importance of dairy in their diet. So when So Delicious Dairy Free offered my family a sample of their Coconut Milk, I was intrigued.

I was surprised to find So Delicious Coconut Milk directly above the generic skim milk I usually buy at my regular supermarket, and bonus, it was even on sale. I know lots of folks shop at stores like Whole Foods, but to be honest, I am much more likely to buy organic, “specialty” foods if I can find them at the store I usually shop at. The half-gallon comes in Original, Unsweetened, and Vanilla flavors. The single serve 8-packs come in Vanilla, Chocolate, and Sugar Free flavors. (Mmmm, chocolate!)

So what did we think of it? Well. One of the things So Delicous says to describe their Coconut Milk is, “Tastes Just Like Milk – Only Better!” I didn’t think it tasted like milk. Milk is nasty. This stuff is GOOD. I didn’t chug down a whole glass of it or anything, but my kids did! I served up four little glasses to my kids at dinner, and all but one asked for seconds.

We went through that coconut milk lightning fast, and my kids have been bugging me to buy more of it ever since. They loved it on their cereal, and guess what? I did, too! In fact, we found all sorts of uses for it.

Here are 7 ways to use coconut milk!

1. Pour it in your coffee, instead of that vanilla creamer that doesn’t even require refrigeration.
2. Dip your Girl Scout cookies in it.
3. Add it to your mashed potatoes. YUM. (Uh, don’t use the vanilla flavor for this.)
4. Pour it into your hot oatmeal. (Definitely use the vanilla flavor for this!)
5. Smoothies!
6. Throw it in a lunchbox.
7. Make a cocktail. Hey, those kids have to go to bed eventually.

But the easiest, most satisfying way to use So Delicious Coconut Milk is to just drink it! The taste is smooth, creamy, and refreshing. It’s a good source of vitamin B12 and calcium. It’s dairy-free, soy-free, certified non-GMO, gluten-free, cholesterol-free, kosher, vegan, and hey – it’s even endorsed by Jillian Michaels.

Want to win some awesome stuff? Check out the 100 Days of Change Giveaway on the So Delicious Facebook Page, where one change-for-the-better prize will be awarded every day for 100 days from February 10th through May 20th, 2011. It’s easy to enter! You can log in with Facebook, and enter daily to increase your chances of winning the Grand Prize trip to the Kamalaya Wellness Sanctuary & Holistic Spa.

And if that’s not enough for ya, So Delicious and BlogHer are teaming up in a sweepstakes of their own, from February 23rd through March 20th, 2011. You can win a $100 Visa gift card! First, Visit the Official site and then leave a comment here telling me which So Delicious Dairy Free coconut based product you’d be most likely to try. Some quick rules: No duplicate comments. You may receive (2) total entries by selecting from the following entry methods:

a) Leave a comment in response to the sweepstakes prompt on this post
b) Tweet about this promotion and leave the URL to that tweet in a comment on this post
c) Blog about this promotion and leave the URL to that post in a comment on this post
d) For those with no Twitter or blog, read the official rules to learn about an alternate form of entry.

This giveaway is open to US Residents age 18 or older. Winners will be selected via random draw, and will be notified by e-mail. You have 72 hours to get back to me, otherwise a new winner will be selected. The Official Rules are available here: Visit the Official Rules and Visit the Exclusive Offers section for more chances to win. Good luck!

THIS GIVEAWAY WAS FOR THE NOVEMBER 2010 SHOW AND IS NOW CLOSED

Where are my Yo Gabba Gabba mamas and daddies out there? The Yo Gabba Gabba! Live! There’s A Party In My City! tour is coming to Colorado on November 7th, 2010 at the 1stBank Center in Broomfield – and the show is sold out! Fear not, Brobee lovers. Who’s got two thumbs and a Family 4-Pack of tickets for you to see the show for free? THIS GUY! I’ll draw a winner on Halloween, so you still have lots of time to get entries in. Just leave a comment on this post.

Fresh off a triumphant sold-out tour debut, a headlining performance at The White House, a critically-acclaimed, chart-topping album, and an appearance at Coachella that garnered rave reviews from spectators and media alike, DJ Lance Rock and the cast of YO GABBA GABBA! are heading back on the road with YO GABBA GABBA! LIVE!: THERE’S A PARTY IN MY CITY! to play to enthusiastic fans on a 60-city tour across North America. Today’s hottest live show for families will make stops at top theaters, arenas and amphitheaters throughout North America, starting August 27 in Bethel, NY and ending in Dallas, TX on December 12.

I can’t WAIT to see the live show. Haven’t seen them? Check out the Yo Gabba Gabba Official YouTube Channel.

THIS GIVEAWAY WAS FOR THE NOVEMBER 2010 SHOW AND IS NOW CLOSED

This is sponsored content from
BlogHer and LG Text Ed

As a mom of many little ones, I sometimes feel like my life revolves around crayons, lunchboxes, and Yo Gabba Gabba. The past few years have been a whirlwind for us, as we’ve watched our two young sets of twins grow from babies and toddlers to big kids on bikes. For years, it’s been all about the little ones, and I haven’t really thought much about teenagers. Even my own teenager seemed young to me, coloring with her sisters and brother. Then we moved across town, almost directly across the street from one of the largest high schools in Colorado, and now I see teenagers all day long – walking past my house, hanging out in the park, tearing through the streets in my neighborhood, desperate to pack as much fun and freedom as possible into a 25-minute lunch break. And it seems like every one of them has a cell phone in their hand at all times. Last summer, my daughter had a bunch of girlfriends spend the night, and they spent the entire evening sitting on the sofa together, not talking to one another, but texting other people – and sometimes even texting each other, while sitting in the same room!

Now that my daughter is at the age where she’s eager to take driver’s ed and get her learner’s permit, I find myself noticing more than ever just how many people are texting while they drive. Not just teenagers, either – I see grown men and women swerving all over the road, completely focused on their phones. And this is in spite of a fairly recent Colorado law which makes it illegal to text while driving – and, which actually bans drivers under age 18 from even using a cell phone while behind the wheel.

It seems sort of ridiculous that we need laws in place to tell us that texting while driving is a bad idea. This should be common sense, right? A recent survey showed that most people believe texting and driving is as dangerous as driving drunk…so why do people still do it? That same survey found that nearly a quarter of the respondents admitted to reading email or texting while driving. Last year, the Virginia Tech Transportation Institute found that drivers who text are 23.2 times more likely to be involved in a collision.

How can we wake people up to the dangers of texting and driving? Do we need stricter laws? Let us know in the comments – each comment benefits DoSomething.org with a $0.50 donation.

First of all, you should check out the Moon Dough website. They have a commercial that loads right on the main page, showcasing this amazing, magical molding dough that never dries out. Don’t those kids look like they’re having a blast? I took a video of my own, so you can see what it’s like for the reals. This stuff is awesome – and actually, kind of weird – but it’s soooooo messy. I was trying to figure out something to compare it to, so I could describe to you what it’s like. It’s sort of food-like, in a way. It’s super duper light, like styrofoam. And have you ever pulled out the leftover mashed potatoes the day after Thanksgiving, and they’re all cold from the fridge? And you get a big spoonful and it sort of makes a sound as it separates from the spoon and plops onto your plate? That’s the consistency. And it’s crumbly, like the instant scrambled eggs you get in jail at a cheap buffet. It’s bizarre stuff, but it’s fun to play with. All my kids loved feeling it in their hands. Here you can see my husband explaining to all the kids (plus the neighbor kids) how to use the farm set. Essentially, you feed it some of this weird Moon Dough stuff, turn a crank, and out pops a farm animal. How weird is that?

My kids had a lot of fun with this stuff. It’s one of those things, though, that is designed (in my opinion) for families with just one or two kids. It’s super hard for a group of kids to share a toy like this as you could probably figure out from my video! I suspect that even 2 kids would struggle with it, because while one kid gets to do the AWESOME FUN THING, which is extruding little animals with a crank, and the other kid has to sit there and do the somewhat boring thing, which is molding Moon Dough into fences and hay bales. Turning funky molding compound into farm animals seems to be a one man job, y’know? But still – my kids liked it. Here are a few pictures to show just how much fun they had!

Lexi, the spokesmodel, showing off our product: MOON DOUGH.

Daddy reads the instructions:

Looks like scrambled eggs, huh? Not for long, though – my kids had all those colors mixed up together in no time.

Look at those fabulous fences!

Pablo really enjoyed the feel of Moon Dough – I can see it being a fabulous sensory tool for kids on the spectrum.

Lexi the spokesmodel again, showing off our collection of farm animals and hay bales!

Yeah, it’s hard to get them all to smile for a picture.

Our whole group, having fun with the Moon Dough:

Moon Dough comes in a very sturdy box. I’m hoping I can shove everything back into it, but so far, I can’t get the plastic grass to snap back off of the barn. If I can make that happen tomorrow and store this away on a shelf in its original box, I’ll be extra impressed with Moon Dough. If I end up throwing the whole thing in a Target bag and having to throw away that nice sturdy box, I’m going to be extra annoyed with Moon Dough. I’ll let you know how that part turns out.

So. To summarize? I would not have bought this for my kids in a million years, only because I’m one of those, “Oh, HELL no!” moms who doesn’t embrace crumbly, messy toys. I was a little disappointed that it was soooo crumbly and messy – this stuff got EVERYWHERE. I wonder what my neighbor thought when I sent her children home with blue hands. I don’t know that I’d recommend this, although the whole set is pretty cheap – under $20, for sure. You can buy individual containers of the Moon Dough – perhaps invest in one of those, if you want to see what it’s like, before buying a whole playset.

Disclaimer: Team Mom provided this Moon Dough playset to my family for review. I was not compensated in any way for this review, beyond receiving this product.

When I opened up this CD, I threw it in the player and my husband and I took a quick listen of each song. I asked him what he thought of it, because, as you may or may not know, he’s a DJ, and usually has thoughtful perspective to offer. At first, he mentioned that these types of compilations are hard to categorize when he’s looking for music. Do you file it under classical? Under classic rock? And where would you play it? What sort of gig calls for classical versions of classic rock songs? Eventually, though, we both started to dig it. We started thinking it would be good background music for a funky dinner party. Also, I think my kids will like it a lot. We listen to a lot of eclectic music in the car, and this will be a good addition to our vehicle’s musical library. My 2nd grader, in particular, is obsessed with the violin at the moment, because her good friend Grace is a child prodigy who knocked the socks off of everyone in music class during last week’s Talent Day. Maybe one day Grace will release a CD of classical music covers of Taylor Swift songs? Only time will tell.

If you like classical music or classic rock, this might be a CD you’ll like. Here’s the track list:

1. Smells Like Teen Spirit
2. November Rain
3. The 5th
4. Walk This Way
5. Toccata
6. Vivaldi vs Vertigo
7. Master of Puppets
8. 80s Anthem
9. Live and Let Die
10. Asturias
11. Kashmir

Here, check out this video – he’s cute, too:

You can pick up Rock Symphonies at Best Buy, on iTunes, or at Amazon. I’m not going to put up a link, because Amazon canceled my affiliate account because I live in Colorado and Amazon killed its affiliate program here, thanks to a change in our sales tax law. Booo, Amazon, and booooo, Colorado. But hey, everyone just buys stuff on iTunes now anyway, right? Hey, maybe you want this CD, but you don’t want to pay for it. I can help you with that! I have an autographed copy to give away. Just leave a comment here, and I’ll pick one at random. No hoops to jump through, just leave a comment.

Disclaimer: Music Moms provided me with this CD for review. Other than receiving the CD, I was not compensated for this review.

Pop On Pals is a whole new world of “Popabilities” from Spin Master. With endless mix n’ match fun, little ones can be anything they want to be. A fireman can become a musician, a princess becomes a baker, a puppy becomes a ballerina – Pop On Pals encourage imaginative play and help develop fine motor skills. Pop On Pals (ages 2-4) is a world of fun pals, pets, vehicles and playsets. Pals are perfectly sized for small hands to play with and the signature “pop” sound adds to the fun!

Other Pop On Pals packs and playsets include:

Pop On Pals Pet Pack

Pop On Pals Pal Pack

Pop On Pals Ring Deluxe Ring Pack

Pop On Pals 2 n’ 1 Vehicle Set

Pop On Pals is available at Toys “R” Us, Target, Kmart, Sears, and more!

Okay, here’s where I get to tell you what a MEAN MOM I am. My kids saw me take this toy out of the packing box and they went NUTS over it. We just returned from a family vacation which included LOTS of roller coaster riding, and they were pretty stoked to see the wee little roller coaster. They were completely ready to rip it out of the package, until I told them that, alas, they were TOO OLD for this toy. Tomorrow, my kids start school – I’ll have a pair of 2nd graders and a pair of Kindergarteners. They’re pretty much BEYOND the 2 – 4 age group for this toy. They were NOT PLEASED by this news.

However, we do have a darling little baby cousin who was the perfect age for Pop On Pals! Meet my newest little toy reviewer!

Her birthday was last weekend, so the timing could not have been more perfect. She got a cool new toy, and I got to see firsthand what happens when you hand it over to a rambunctious toddler. (She’s checking out her new Barbie purse in this picture, but only because I didn’t manage to pull out my camera during the twenty minutes she spent spinning that ferris wheel!)

Here are my thoughts about Pop On Pals. It’s a very cute toy. It makes a lot of noise that will grow weary after awhile for tired mamas, but that’s the way it goes when you have little ones. This particular playset comes with ONE figure, even though there are lots and lots of spots to place a Pop On Pal. You can purchase additional “pals” separately, but I really feel like it should come with AT LEAST a couple in each set! You should check out the Pop On Pals website – with your kids, probably – it’s fun and interactive, and you can see exactly how each playset works. It’s pretty neat.

The Pop On Pals Amusement Park Playset retails for $34.99. I received it via Team Mom for review purposes, and was not compensated for this review.

I recently learned about a fun little contest – 8th Continent Soymilk is asking kids to draw and submit their own sun-inspired artwork, to go along with their newly unveiled carton design. Kids ages 5 and up can submit their artwork to the 8th Continent website, or even use the drawing tool right on the website. (Fun! My kids LOVE stuff like this.) One hundred winners will each receive $1,000 in art supplies for their school art programs, and the winning designs could be featured on 8th Continent soymilk cartons this fall.

More details about the contest, from their press release:

Children five years and older can submit their own sun-inspired artwork at www.8thcontinent.com

Entries can also be created online through an interactive drawing tool at www.8thcontinent.com

Contest participants can submit one artwork entry per day through 11:59 pm EST on June 12, 2010

All design submissions will be featured on www.8thcontinent.com in an online gallery where the public can vote for their favorite work of art

The number of public votes in the online gallery will determine 50 contest winners and a panel of judges selected by Stremicks Heritage Food will determine an additional 50 winners

The 100 winners will each be recognized with $1,000 in art supplies for their school art programs – for a grand total of $100,000!

Winning designs may also be featured on 8th Continent soymilk cartons beginning this fall!

Here’s some stuff you probably didn’t know: 8th Continent soymilk is made from soybeans grown in here in the U.S. (My oldest daughter has lots of extended family out in central Illinois, growing vast amounts of soybeans – wonder if any of them make their way to 8th Continent?) 8th Continent soymilk is an excellent source of calcium, and is the only American Heart Association-certified soymilk containing less than 3 grams of fat. It’s available in four different varieties: complete, regular, light, and fat free – and it’s lactose free, vegan, and Kosher.

And, it tastes good! Know how I know? 8th Continent was kind enough to hook me up with a prize pack, which contained a coupon for me to try it myself, along with yummy cereal and darling melamine bowls (my kids are fighting over them right now – two bowls don’t go very far in a family of seven!) In addition to the breakfast items, the prize pack also contained some art supplies so my kids could enter their sun drawings in the contest. And, because they’re cool, they’re giving me a second prize pack to award to one LaLaGirl reader. Could be you! Yes, could be. In order to win, just leave a comment on this very entry. You can get a bonus entry by LIKING me on Facebook. But you already do like me, right? Right? One winner will be drawn on Monday, May 24, 2010.

Hey, you might as well check out 8th Continent Soy Milk on Facebook, while you’re at it!

Here is the track listing from Songs from the Heart:

1. Fields of Gold
2. Amazing Grace
3. Níl Sé’n Lá
4. My Lagan Love
5. When You Believe
6. The New Ground – Isle of Hope, Isle of Tears
7. The Coast of Galiçia
8. Non C’è Più
9. The Moon’s A Harsh Mistress
10. You’ll Be In My Heart
11. Goodnight My Angel
12. Galway Bay
13. The Lost Rose Fantasia
14. O, America!

Check out these ladies – aren’t they just magical?

They’re about to embark on nationwide tour beginning February 9th, but I noticed they don’t have any dates scheduled for Colorado. Booooo! That’s okay, Celtic Woman promoters. I won’t hold it against you this time.

Check out Celtic Woman – they’re everywhere. You can find them on Facebook, Twitter on their own website at Celtic Woman.com, and you can view their videos on YouTube.

My son and husband were lucky enough to sample a 400-piece K’Nex building set, courtesy of K’Nex and Team Mom We aren’t new to K’Nex. When Pablo was paired up with his full-time aide, Barb, she introduced him to the magic of K’Nex. Kids with autism often like to sit and work on something obsessively and with meticulous concentration, and K’Nex is perfect for this. They’re designed to work with the typical building sets you probably already have (the ones that rhyme with Eggo) but they are a thousand times better than those other building sets – you can make the most amazing things, and the design that allows the the itty bitty pieces to fit together is just…genius.

Here’s my boy checking out the big tub of K’Nex.

Um…just so you know, 400 pieces of K’Nex is not a lot. Many of the pieces are miniscule – smaller than a raisin – so don’t expect to buy this tub and have it appear anywhere near FULL when you open it. Have you ever opened a bag of potato chips and realized the bag was only about a third full? Well, the K’Nex tub is about one tenth full when you buy it. But if you’re anything like me, you’ll realize that you need a whole bunch more of these, and you’ll run right out to your nearest retailer to stock up. I think the K’Nex people are counting on that – fill up that tub, consumer! Or, use the extra room as a garage for your spiffy K’Nex truck.

Really, nothing makes my engineer husband happier than sitting down with the boy and building stuff. They sat like this for HOURS. Hours, I tell you. They made a few things shown in the big instruction booklet, but had even more fun making their own creations.

Huge thanks to K’Nex and Team Mom for letting us try these out. You can find this same product at Target, Walmart, and Toys ‘R Us for around $20.99.