At first, I thought it would be a good toy for the little ones, my godsons, but it’s geared towards older kids, ages 5 and up, so at least one of them could play with it even thought the little one did have fun with the figures that came with it. I was able to get the “Police Force Pursuit” set to try out and they loved it. It takes awhile to build the sets, as it would with any of these kinds of toys, but once everything is up, it’s a great toy. Albeit, my imagination isn’t what it used to be, but I had fun pretending to be a cop and “save the day” or have my godson “rescue me” from danger.

The pieces are small, so be sure to keep them away from babies or small children who might put them in their mouths, but they’re also quality pieces that I believe won’t break easily over time and use. We’ve only played with it a couple of times, but I can already see that there’s more to “building toys” than Lego, and I’m happy to know it.

Be sure to check out their Family Club for more fun ideas and get to know their “Mommy Bloggers”.

Disclaimer: All opinions expressed in this post are 100% mine and were not the result of any type of monetary or compensatory gain. I would like to thank Mega Bloks & Child’s Play Communications for providing a sample of their product for this review. For details, please consult my PR Policy. Thank you.

Her walking is slowly getting better and more stable. She just took 6-7 steps from the couch to her walker last night, thank you very much. Still preferring to crawl furiously fast wherever she goes though, however, she’s becoming more confident and I’m almost positive she’ll have it perfected by her birthday. I’ve been helping her along by hold one of her hands and having her walk around wherever she needs to go.

Nowadays, we’re trying to get her to give us kisses and so far she’s managed the oh-so-adorable, yet equally wet and disgusting open-mouthed baby kiss. We’ve been giving her cues, kissing her, and getting her to do it to us and sometimes it seems like she gets it, but then she’ll get bored of it. That’s usually how it starts though before she catches on and you can’t stop her from showing off. I do love kissing that baby so it’ll be nice when she can kiss back.

We’re also having debates as to what her first word really is or was. Sure she babbles and says what appears to be words, but whether they’re directed at the right thing or said at the right time is a different story, so I’m having a hard time calling something her first word. She’s been saying “Mama” for the longest time, some might argue that it was her first word, and for the most part when she says it she directs it towards me, but other times she says it regardless of where I am or when she sees food. She also says “Hi” and “Ba” which is Vietnamese for Dad, but then again, she only directs that to The Hubbi some of the time. I’d have to say the only word she seems stuck on is “Sha” which she calls her sister, who’s name is Alyssa. Whenever she sees her, she says “Sha” or even when she sees her picture or hears her voice, she knows its her. I’d have to say that girl really loves her big sister, but I’m hesitant to call that her first word since it’s technically not a real word. My sister thinks I’m getting too technical with this since even though BG1′s first word was my sister’s name, she said it more like “Eh-Ca” since her name is Erica.

I don’t know. This girl is hard to figure out sometimes. I’m still holding out for that one real word, although I’ll admit she does talk.

Passed Out

Her latest silly face.

Looking up.

Playing in the kitchen!

She's addicted to chocolate already!

Adorable dress, courtesy of her Auntie.

Standing around, chillin'!

The day Louisiana teenager Rory Deveaux arrives in London marks a memorable occasion. For Rory, it’s the start of a new life at a London boarding school. But for many, this will be remembered as the day a series of brutal murders broke out across the city, gruesome crimes mimicking the horrific Jack the Ripper events of more than a century ago.

Soon “Rippermania” takes hold of modern-day London, and the police are left with few leads and no witnesses. Except one. Rory spotted the man police believe to be the prime suspect. But she is the only one who saw him. Even her roommate, who was walking with her at the time, didn’t notice the mysterious man. So why can only Rory see him? And more urgently, why has Rory become his next target? In this edge-of-your-seat thriller, full of suspense, humor, and romance, Rory will learn the truth about the secret ghost police of London and discover her own shocking abilities.

I’ve never read anything by Maureen Johnson and since I heard so many great things about her, I had to pick up her latest novel and give it a read. It’s different from her usual types of books like “13 Little Blue Envelopes”, but I wanted to see how far her creative juices could travel. Overall, I was thoroughly pleased.

It was the whole mystery and murder premise that drew me in. Even though I didn’t know much about The Ripper, I thought it was a pretty cool story and wanted to see how Maureen would twist it. Obviously, there are ghosts involved, but the way she works them into the story and how her character Rory fits into all this plays out nicely. Maureen sure knows how to paint a realistic picture of life in London and I found Rory’s school life to be particularly entertaining and had me laughing at times, I loved it. Rory was also a highlight of the book as I loved her character and quirky background.

It wasn’t much of a thriller as I thought it was going to be, but since it’s not really a horror story, I guess I shouldn’t expect much. The villain is pretty wicked though. Their history, agenda, and methods is very different and intriguing, a plus to the creative mind of Maureen Johnson. The ending was intense and even the whole “Ripper” plot was well written and had me hooked from the start. I wouldn’t call this a page-turner or one you can’t put down, but it’s a great book and one you won’t want to miss!

* In My Mailbox is a weekly meme hosted by The Story Siren*

Penguin Teen’s Breathless Reads Tour featuring Marie Lu, Beth Revis, Andrea Cremer, & Jessica Spotswood will be at Doylestown Bookshop on Feb 19th!
Lauren DeStefano will be at Doylestown Bookshop on Feb 24th!

Thank you so much to Brodi Ashton, Jennifer Echols, HarperTeen and Penguin Teen!

We’ve been getting her to stand here and there for the past couple of months and she skillfully mastered standing just fine. We’d often see her just standing there staring at something or holding something. She’s also great at walking if someone’s holding her hands or while she’s holding onto something like the couch or table. But for the past few weeks she’s really been trying to take a few steps on her own, most of the time giving up before getting anywhere and plopping on her butt. Then, miraculously, she took it upon herself to surprise her dear, old mom and took THREE steps from her walker to the coffee table!!!!

How do you like them apples?!?!

I was shocked and couldn’t really believe what I just saw. I was also extremely disappointed that I didn’t have my camera on me to record this epic moment! Argh!

So, naturally, I grabbed the camera and proceeded to get her to repeat the thrilling moment, only to have her tease me and plop down on her butt more than anything else. Oh sure, she took a step here and there, after like 10 tries of getting it on camera, but this girl just does not want to show off on video. She did manage to do her 3-step trick for her Daddy later on that night, who didn’t get to see it the first time.

Hmm, you would think she’d be used to the camera by now since she sees it everyday, but I think she’s getting tired of it because lately when I bring it out, she looks away and doesn’t care for it. Sigh…

Anyways, she’s still a bit shaky and hesitant, but with any luck, she’ll be walking like a champ within the next week or two. Perfect timing since she’s now 11 months and will be able to run around on her birthday. So happy, excited, and proud of my baby. I knew walking was in the near future since her sister was walking before her 1st birthday too. I just can’t believe it’s all happening so fast! How can I want her to grow and learn new things, yet stay small and adorable forever?!? Aiya!

Well, there’s no turning back now!

GetGlue

If you watch TV as much as I do, you will absolutely love this social network. Not only can you “check-in” to shows you’re currently watching and “like” shows, you have the opportunity to collect cool stickers from your favorite shows, movies, books, and more. You can also chat with others with similar interests and get recommendations for other shows or movies that you might be interested in.

The best part, however, is the stickers. Once you collect 20 stickers, you can start having them sent to you in the mail! Real stickers for FREE, just for checking in or liking stuff. You can’t beat that! I love getting the stickers in the mail and thinking of neat ways to show them off. The only downside is, you have to wait a month each time before you can order more stickers, but hey, they’re free so you can’t complain.

There are a few tricks to the trade, like checking in at certain times of the day or the amount of times you check in to something before you can get a sticker. But, thankfully, there is a forum for that. GetGlueStickers.com is an excellent resource if you want to know when and how to collect certain stickers.

Overall, it’s a really great and innovative social network, one I can see growing bigger as it develops more. Right now they have apps for all kinds of smart phones and widgets that you can display on your blog or website. It also integrates with Twitter, Facebook, and Tumblr.

Easily the most up-and-coming, explosive new social network out there today. Traffic for this website has grown exponentially since its launch and those who are apart of it have experienced major boosts in traffic for their own endeavors as well.

Pinterest is simply a place to share ideas, inspiration, products, and basically anything on the web you find interesting. When you sign up, you’re given the ability to create boards, which are like virtual corkboards that you “pin” amusing and interesting links to.

Think of it as a social bookmark system you can share with your friends and followers. If you see a great product you love, you can pin it to a board for future reference or to share with other pinners. Love a website or blog post? Pin it! See a cool tutorial for something crafty? Pin it! I could go on and on.

Not only is it a great place to store your favorite links, you can discover some amazing stuff, too. I love looking at all the pins people post and can easily spend hours in awe at what people find and do. Trust me, once you try it, you’ll get addicted.

They even have a cool browser add-on so you can easily pin anything you see on the web. There’s also a way to add a “Pin It” button to your blog, which I highly suggest you do as I said, it does wonders for your blog traffic. In case you’re new to Pinterest and find it a bit daunting, there are some excellent tutorials out there, like this one from Pin Savvy Social.

Oh, and if you’re tempted to join and need an invite, just let me know in the comments or via email and I’ll send you an invite. You won’t regret it!

From the moment she sets foot at her new school in Ireland, Megan is inexplicably drawn to the darkly handsome Adam DeRis. But Megan soon discovers that her feelings for Adam are tied to a supernatural fate that was sealed long ago—and that the passion and power that unites them could be their ultimate destruction.

I have to admit right off the bat, this book reminded me of Twilight. The way Megan and Adam meet, how they fall for each other, how unreasonably attractive Adam is to everyone, especially Megan; definitely reminiscent of Twilight, albeit, without the epic appeal Twilight gave me.

I didn’t know what to expect going into this. The description doesn’t really give you much, which can be a good and/or bad thing, but either way, I like that Leigh didn’t keep us waiting too long before bits a pieces were revealed about the characters and plot. I hate authors who drag it on until the very end and then bombard us with all this information and end with a cliffhanger. Here Leigh plays the mystery card long enough to build momentum and intrigue, then reveals things in a smooth fashion which I enjoyed.

The relationship between Megan and Adam was very cute at first, like a typical high school crush thing. Probably the only thing I didn’t like about it was how quickly it grew into deep, everlasting, meant-to-be love that they kept assuring everyone, including themselves, it was. Don’t get me wrong, I loved those steamy and sweet moments between the pair, but found their love to be a bit unbelievable.

The whole “Marked” premise was a bit confusing to me. The book talks about genetics and basically a system that ensures the “Marked” gene gets passed along and those with special abilities are created. The whole process wasn’t really explained well for me, but it didn’t really deter me from enjoying the book. I enjoy any story that involves those with special “mutant” abilities so that part definitely drew me in.

I do love a book that has memorable and fun secondary characters. This is one of them. From Megan’s friends to the DeRis family, I loved each of them, especially Aine, Rian, and Caitlin. Very interesting characters that add fun and excitement to the story. Everything fit together very nicely, Leigh has done some excellent writing, and I’m very eager to see how it continues in the next book.

For a couple weeks now she’s been lunging back and forth on the bottom step, trying to gauge her readiness and ability to climb the steps, most of the time simply managing to get one leg up and then climbing back down. At the beginning of the week, she actually made it up two steps! Now, she’s climbing up all the steps like a champ. Sure, she’ll get tired after a few steps or climb so slow that The Hubbi, who stands diligently behind her, will simply pick her up and carry her upstairs, but it’s so cute seeing her accomplishing this milestone. She’s now a hop, skip, & a jump away from walking!

Her love of making a mess is still strong, but she’s learning that we disapprove of it, so when we yell,”No!” repeatedly as she’s about to grab some DVDs, she usually gets the picture and plops back down and crawls somewhere else. She’s also adorably waving “hi” and “bye” now, and we love getting her to do that along with clapping her hands and bowing. So cute! One of her favorite games lately is peekaboo, where she quickly hides her face and tries to surprise you, such a playful baby.

Another favorite activity of hers is talking on the phone. I know right?!? BG2 loves it when we call anyone on our phones and put it on speaker for her to hear and babble along to. Most of time she’ll just smile widely and give a yell here and there, but she’s so fascinated with our phones and will often take a peek to see what we’re doing on it. I can only imagine at what age she’ll start asking me for her own cell phone.

Curious look.

The little rascal!

Her hair is getting SO long!

Having fun at Grandma's house.

Still addicted to the pacifier.

Playing with her sister's golf club.

The girl loves her spoons?!?!

The most tragic love story in history . . .

Juliet Capulet didn’t take her own life. She was murdered by the person she trusted most, her new husband, Romeo Montague, a sacrifice made to ensure his own immortality. But what Romeo didn’t anticipate was that Juliet would be granted eternity, as well, and would become an agent for the Ambassadors of Light. For 700 years, she’s fought Romeo for the souls of true lovers, struggling to preserve romantic love and the lives of the innocent. Until the day she meets someone she’s forbidden to love, and Romeo, oh Romeo, will do everything in his power to destroy that love.

I really wanted to love this book, but I didn’t. I didn’t hate it, but I didn’t really like it very much.

This book reminded me so much of Abandon by Meg Cabot, the only difference being I didn’t want to bang my head on the table like I did with that book. It’s told from Juliet’s perspective and she tends to repeat her thoughts A LOT. She’s basically sent to inhabit various female bodies through time and help soul mates come and stay together only this time, things are a bit different and more challenging, which Stacey Jay is determined to beat into your head over and over. Yes, Romeo was the cause of your death and you hate him with a deathly passion, we get it! No need to repeat the same thoughts and lines over and over again to add fluff to the book. The theme of love and soul mates was ever-present and although I liked the secondary characters like Ben and Gemma, I found it difficult to believe in the love and emotions that were swirling around between all the characters. There was no real depth there and I found myself saying, “Really?! Just like that now?!” a lot.

I did, however, enjoy the nice twist of Romeo & Juliet’s story, especially how Stacey Jay incorporates exactly where Shakespeare got the idea for the story. You see a different side of both characters not typically seen in the original story or various retellings. Juliet’s character, despite the repetitiveness, was strong and determined and I especially enjoyed her interactions with Romeo, who was a fierce and mysterious character I had a love/hate relationship with. There’s this once scene in the beginning between Romeo & Juliet that I loved and really made me believe this could be a great book before I read the rest and wasn’t so impressed. But, that scene, when they meet again for the first time in their new bodies, was great and quite possibly the highlight of the whole book.

The book does have its merits and I’m sure some will find it worth reading, but personally I’m glad I didn’t give into temptation when I saw it that one time at the bookstore and instead won it in a giveaway because I don’t think it would’ve been worth the money. You’d be better off borrowing it from the library or a friend. I’m still on the fence about whether or not I’ll be reading the second book, curiosity might win me over, but it won’t be at the top of my list.

I’ve been trying my best to manage this and luckily it didn’t seem too bad because she only had a slight fever one night and she hasn’t been too cranky for the most part. Yes, she was clingy and whiney, as anyone would be, especially a baby, which is why I’ve been scarce online. I’d say the worse thing is that she’s not eating too well, often throwing up or not eating as much, but she’s still peeing and pooping normally and she’s still active, so I’m hoping she’s managing. She’s coughing a lot, of course, and the stuffy/runny nose has been rampant the last couple of days. The poor girl hates it when I try to get the mucus from her sore nose, but I keep saying to myself that she needs it to breathe and drink milk, so we’ve both just got to deal for a bit.

Thankfully, she’s still quite active, her new favorite activity being pulling all the DVDs from the shelves so that our living room looks like a bomb hit it. Nowadays we just leave it all there because she’ll just pull them down again anyways if we try to clean up. She also won’t let me out of her sight, or her grasp, and I can’t help but feel bad for the girl, so I give in and hold her all day. While it’s not good for my productivity, I do love cuddling with her.

Surprisingly, I’ve remained kind of sickness-free. Sometimes I think I’m sick, like I’ll sneeze a lot or have a runny nose, but that’s typical for me since I have year-round allergies that come and go. I haven’t felt weak or congested and I’ve been fortifying myself with a lot of Vitamin C, so despite being around all these sick people, I’m good (knock on wood). I mean, I gotta stay strong for the little one, she’s quite a handful, even when she’s not sick!

Such an angel when she sleeps

Always with something in her mouth!

Playing with Big Sister's ninja star

Gotta love that face! Rocking her Babylegs, too.

Making a mess, as usual.

Close-up as she's watching TV

Sitting patiently and adorably for the camera.