Joshua Hakken — an American accused of kidnapping his two young sons in Florida and fleeing with them to Cuba — is returned to the U.S. with his family.

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I was on the prowl for something to keep my five-year-old occupied while I met some deadlines. One of the things we left Target with was the Go Create kit for making high bounce balls.

It looked a little gimmicky and I didn’t expect it to make quality power balls, but I was pleasantly surprised.

You get several packets of what look like colored sand—magenta, pink, orange, red, blue, white, yellow, and green. You also get two molds, which are probably the least impressive part of the package because they seem as if they could break pretty easily (ours didn’t).

One’s a regular sphere shape. The other has sides on it, so it resembles an octagon. I thought that was odd for a ball, but it still bounces like normal.

You’ll need two cups, one empty and one with enough water in it to cover the molds up to where the funnel starts at the top. Snip the tips off the packets of crystals and let your child pour them into the funnels (dry) in a pattern. The pattern will shift, of course, as the crystals settle to fill the space, but they’ll be able to have a general idea of how it will look.

Once the molds are filled to the bottom of the funnel, you put them in a cup, hold them in place, and then pour water in until it touches the bottom of the funnel.

The molds need to sit in the water for about five minutes, then you can take them out and let them dry out for about 10 minutes before removing the balls inside.

The balls aren’t ready to be tossed around just yet at that point, but instead they need to dry more (they’re sticky and a little difficult to get out of the molds). After drying overnight, they’re generally ready to be bounced.

I actually helped with the first few balls because I thought the kit was pretty fun, too. The package says it’s for ages six and up, and that seems about right. My daughter will be six in the fall and she was able to do everything on her own except snap the molds together and take them apart, once I pulled myself away from it and got back to work.

For about $10, this kit was worth it. It’s fun and the box says you can make 18 balls. We’ve only gotten about halfway there, but there’s still plenty of product left. They really do bounce almost as well as regular high-bounce balls.

Photo credit: Target

Do your kids seem to accumulate a lot of stuff next to their beds? The last time I went to pick up my son’s room, he had three books, a flashlight, a teddy bear, a water bottle, a box of tissues, a sketchbook, and two markers in his bed.

After that, I started looking for ways to keep this clutter under control. (My son’s room is kind of small, so he doesn’t have a separate nightstand to put his things on.)

Amazon has a pocket bedside storage caddy that I really like for only $9.97. It slips under the mattress and provides a place to store all your bedside necessities.

I actually think I might have to snag one for myself, since I can never find the remote to my Wii when I want to watch Supernatural on Netflix! It also seems like it would be nice to stash my eyeglasses in, since my dresser is currently on the other side of the bedroom.

The caddy gets relatively positive reviews, although most of the buyers caution not to stuff it too full since the extra weight will make it slip to the floor. A few people mentioned adding Velcro strips to it to make it a little more sturdy, which seems like a good idea to me.

What do you think? Would you buy something like this to keep bedroom clutter under control?

Photo credit: Amazon

The FDA approved a drug specifically designed to relieve nausea and vomiting during pregnancy roughly 30 years after it was discontinued.

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When I had a few deadlines to meet and didn’t want to use the television as a babysitter (that happens too often!), I picked up a couple of things at Target to keep my daughter occupied.

I was surprised to find that this Go Create Paint Your Own Bobbleheads set was only about $5 and came with the paint, a paintbrush, and two bobbleheads. We didn’t see the dog and cat set pictured above, but instead got a set with a monkey and a frog. Both are adorable.

The bobbleheads are ceramic and seem a little more fragile than I’d like, plus they were powdery and I worried about the paint’s ability to adhere to the surface, but my daughter was able to paint them without any issues.

I can’t complain much about the quality, anyway, since the whole kit was five bucks and it kept her busy for about an hour. Each of them is still in one piece, too.

The paints were small, but there was enough to cover both bobbleheads, so it wasn’t an issue. What was an issue was how hard it was to get a few of the colors open. I thought they’d splatter everywhere.

The paintbrush worked for the project, but then when I tried to clean it, it came apart in my hands. I was able to put it back together and she could technically use it again, but I think it’ll end up getting thrown out pretty soon rather than saved for other crafts. Just about any other set of paintbrushes would be better quality than the one that comes in this kit.

For the price, I was happy with the kit. If I’d had to pay more, I would’ve felt a little ripped off. My daughter loved them and I can see her leaving them on her dresser for quite a while.

Photo credit: Target

Aside from the occasional round of Just Dance on the Wii, I’m not really a fan of video games. My husband and my son, however, live for gaming.

I cringe to think how much money we’ve spent to accumulate our impressive collection of gear. We’ve sold a lot of it in the past year, but we still have enough that my son’s friends from school are in awe whenever they come over to play.

One thing that’s really annoying about gaming gear is that you need to be careful how you store it. With new video games costing almost $60 and popular used titles costing $30 to $40, you don’t want a scratched disk that can’t be played.

We’ve also had trouble in the past with headsets getting stepped on and sticky soda ruining the buttons of the controllers. I’ve given countless lectures about being more careful, but I think the problem is that our current storage method is less than ideal.

We don’t have one of these yet, but I’m thinking the Gamekeeper storage tower featured in this post might be a great birthday present for either my husband or my son. The metal storage rack is deigned to keep gaming gear organized, accessible, and protected.

It can accommodate quite a few games, as well as up to three separate consoles. I also like that it has a pull out drawer and leveling feet with lockable casters.

The Gamekeeper Wire 4 Tier Tower for Gaming Gear sells for $49.99 on the Toys R Us website. Unfortunately, it’s not sold in Toys R Us retail store locations.

If you have a family full of gamers, how do you keep your gear under control?

Photo credit: Toys R Us

Twenty children are among the dozens killed in a deadly tornado that tore through Moore, Oklahoma on Monday.

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Move over, Eucerin. There’s a new cream in town and it’s not greasy. It’s not heavy, nor does it feel like an oily mess that’s going to rub off on everything from your hair to your pillow case. It’s made with colloidal oatmeal, shea butter, and eucalyptus oil.

I got a generous sample of First Aid Beauty Ultra Repair Cream from Sephora after a sales rep recommended it for my eczema, which was flaring up again thanks to stress, caffeine, and my inability to find a suitable daytime moisturizer with SPF. Fun times.

Anyway, the eczema hasn’t cleared up over the course of a week, so I can’t say the cream’s a complete miracle worker, but it’s close. It does soothe my skin. I can feel my face drinking it in and it’s such a relief after washing my makeup off or rinsing my face in the mornings.

The bright red splotches with huge flakes have calmed down into a lighter pink rash with less noticeable flakes. I think it’s making progress, but it’s not as powerful as a prescription cream would be (but it doesn’t have the scary warning label that Elidel, for example, did, either).

Additional perks to this non-greasy cream outside of helping get eczema under control:

• No parabens, GMOs, sulfates, synthetic fragrances or dyes, pthlalates, or triclosan
• Very light, neutral scent that reminds me of Cetaphil
• The colloidal oatmeal is good for eczema
• It can be used on the face or body
• It can be used on keratosis pilaris, atopic dermatitis, allergic eczema, and irritant eczema
• The price isn’t too off-putting, though Eucerin may be less expensive. It’s $12 for two ounces or $28 for six ounces.

If other over-the-counter skin treatments aren’t cutting it for you or your child, or they just feel too greasy and uncomfortable, this one may be a good one to try.

Photo credit: Sephora

Changing out the knobs on a dresser, end table, or storage cabinet is a great way to give a boring piece of furniture a new look. Even thrift store furniture looks snappy with a fresh coat of paint and some pretty knobs.

And, since I’m clueless around power tools, this is about as far as my DIY skills go!

If you’re looking for knobs that are a little more unique than what you’d find at your local hardware store, check out the DaRosa Creations Etsy shop. This shop specializes in decorative knobs designed to suit a variety of tastes.

There are wooden, metal, glass, resin, stone, and clay knobs. I am wishing for the black metal knobs featured in this post to make over the dresser in my bedroom, but there are also several cute designs for children’s rooms. For example, there are knobs made with Lego Duplo bricks that would be perfect for a toddler’s room.

DaRosa Creations has been selling on Etsy since May 2009. The shop has had over 4,500 sales, so this is definitely a seller with an established track record. The seller is based in Canada, however, so you should take that into account when placing your order.

Items will ship within one to three business days after your order, but will take a little longer to arrive if you’re in the United States.

What do you think of this Etsy shop? Would you consider ordering handcrafted knobs to spruce up a special piece of furniture?

Photo credit: DaRosa Creations