Rave and Review

Huggies Little Movers Slip-On Diapers {Review & Giveaway}

2012-02-24T02:06:52-08:00

My little guy hates diaper changes. Actually, hate is not a strong enough word. My normally good-natured little guy turns into a completely different kid when you try and change him, and it’s not fun for any of us. Even me singing, telling him stories, or offering small toys to play with don’t diminish his desire to pull his classic move – the “arch and twist” – and wriggle off the changing pad. Huggies knows how hard changing active, squirmy babies can be and has created Huggies Little Movers Slip-On Diapers for this very reason. Their slogan is “catch, slip-on, and release!” and I wanted to give it a go with the little guy to see how well they work. To start with, I love...

MAM Personalized Pacifiers {Review & Discount Code}

2012-02-24T01:19:11-08:00

When listing off the things my son loves, there’s really no debating the order. His list of loves goes like this: 1) Me, hubby, and his big sister 2) His MAM pacifier 3) What he refers to as his “magic” blanket that he can’t sleep without As you can imagine, when I heard that MAM was coming out with a line of personalized pacifiers where you could add your own text to the center, there was really no question at all that we needed one. The only real question was how we were going to personalize it. Once we were on the site and ready to customize, there was a few moments of discussion and then we both agreed on the perfect personalization. We could...

P&G GIVE Health brandSAVER Gives Back {Prize Pack Giveaway}

2012-02-19T13:04:00-08:00

Know what I love even more than saving money? I love giving back to organizations that really make a difference. Just this past year I started dabbling in couponing and found myself really liking the fun of tracking down coupons and loving saving huge percentages off my total grocery bills. While some coupons I get are online or in boxes of products I buy, a big portion of the coupons I have used are right out of the P&G brandSAVER inserts so I always get excited when a new one is going to be released. March 4th is one of those days but this insert is even more exciting than usual because it will support two causes I love. Next week’s P&G GIVE Health brandSAVER...

The Secret World of Arrietty In Theaters Today!

2012-02-17T18:10:14-08:00

This past weekend we headed to Seattle for a much-needed family day. The first stop was to go see a pre-screening of The Secret World of Arrietty, the new movie based off of one of my favorite childhood stories, The Borrowers. If you aren’t familiar with the story, it’s about a family of “little people” who secretly live under the floor boards of an old garden home and only come out to “borrow” what they need to survive. If you read here frequently, you know how much I love things that are the wrong size, so tiny people living in the floorboards and repurposing everyday items into usable miniatures is just about as cool as it gets. I will admit I wasn’t super excited when...

Magic Cabin Encourages Imaginative Doll Play {Review & Giveaway}

2012-02-14T23:13:13-08:00

Open ended and imaginative play is paramount in our house. When shopping for toys we search out toys that inspire creativity and learning, and that search always leads us to Magic Cabin. I’ve talked before about my love affair with Magic Cabin’s wide assortment of toys that grow with your kids, and once again I’m raving about the fun that starts when a Magic Cabin box is opened. And, whose eyes wouldn’t light up if they saw a box full of gorgeous toys and treasures from the pages of the Magic Cabin catalog? This past year was all about dolls here at Rave Central – doll accessories, doll furniture, and more – and the Magic Cabin catalog was the source of much of our inspiration....

Lady and the Tramp Diamond Edition Blu-ray + DVD

2012-02-10T00:59:13-08:00

I have always loved Lady and the Tramp and I vividly remember watching the VHS over and over with my sister when we were young. I think we must have sung the “The Siamese Cat Song” {AKA “We Are Siamese”} every day from kindergarten to 5th grade and even to this day I can’t help but smile as I remember how much we adored the film. The one thing that wasn’t vivid was the quality of the tape from our youth that had seen its better days and hadn’t been treated as it should. Seeing the Lady and the Tramp this past week in all its restored glory on Blu-ray was definitely the way it was meant to be seen. Bright and vibrant in HD,...

The Builder Bag {Review & Giveaway}

2012-02-07T00:32:20-08:00

In terms of great educational toys, you really can’t go wrong with building toys. You just can’t beat the learning that happens when you let your little ones create whatever their heart desires with no rules but that of gravity and physics. I love watching my kids build and manipulate all the small pieces to see what a pile of blocks, bricks, or connectors can become. Unfortunately, the drawback of all this creativity is that building sets have so many small pieces to scatter across the floor, misplace, or clutter up the toy box. Luckily for me, there’s a genius new product called The Builder Bag that not only solves these problems, it also gives the kids a great place to play! Essentially a play...

Save Your Razor Blades with Razorpit {Review & Giveaway}

2012-02-03T01:21:07-08:00

I will admit it; I don’t shave my legs nearly as much as should. It’s not that I don’t like smooth, silky legs, it’s that I’m cheap. Seriously, have you seen how much razors cost these days? Much to my husband’s dismay, for years I have convinced myself that the fact that I have lighter and baby fine hair makes it okay for me to shave every few weeks. The problem with my putting off shaving my legs {besides, you know, hairy legs} is that when I do get around to doing it, all that baby fine leg hair gets clogged in my razor as I shave. Depending on how cheap my razor is {I’ve been known to buy ANY good deal}, this can sometimes...

Pouch Carrier Cover from Rain or Shine Kids {Review & Giveaway}

2012-01-30T11:39:00-08:00

While we’ve had a bit of a mild winter here in the Pacific Northwest so far, it looks like winter is going to hit us pretty hard in the next few weeks. Taking other years into account, this means that we are likely looking forward to months and months of ice, freezing temperatures, and snow in our future. While most of us have snow gear and down jackets we can slip on, the problem becomes what you can do to keep the littlest ones warm during freezing temperatures. The answer, of course, is Rain or Shine Kids, our favorite Seattle brand. We’ve raved about their Woobee blanket that kept our daughter from freezing in our trip across Spain and Morocco, we’ve adored their UPF Sun...

Dead Poets Society Comes to Blu-ray {Review & Giveaway}

2012-01-24T15:05:00-08:00

“Gather ye rosebuds while ye may,” a very simple sentiment, but something that you just can’t hear often enough. While the phrase “carpe diem” might be what Dead Poets Society is known for, and quite frankly, the only thing I remembered about the movie from when we watched it in High School, the latter phrase now resonates with me more. In High School, the movie was an assignment. Required viewing about a man whose untraditional teaching techniques make his students excited to learn. But, watching the movie 10 years later as a parent, the movie takes on a whole new meaning. Instead of a teacher who inspires students to learn, it’s now obvious that it’s about a teacher opening his students’ eyes, bringing out their...