BossyPants by Tina Fey - Is funny!

What I Can Tell You: I love Tina! I love comedy! I love reading! I love laughing while reading. For me, this book wasn't as funny as I had hoped.

While I appreciated the memior I was surprised when I didn't feel it was candid enough. Maybe that was a conscious effort. There was a trauma as a child that she explains but doesn't elaborate one. Fine! I don't think she needs to give us the details, they are hers but I felt that she was approached to write a book and agreed but didn't really want to. There is humor, jokes, her interpretation on motherhood,womanhood, woman in the work place, and so on but I don't feel I learned anymore about her than what we already know. 

I did love her chapters on photoshots and photoshop. Hysterical!

She is smart and funny, a good writer but as far as memiors go, this just didn't do it for me.  Still a Tina fan and have read way more good reviews for this book, people love it which is why I call myself the Amateur reviewer. What the heck do I know?

Alphabe-Thursday - B

Wow, I can't believe it is Thursday already. This week flew by. Here is my submission for almighty B.

My daughter 2 days ago, before allergies have taken over her eyes. At the moment, she does not look like this. Her eyes are swollen and the whites of her eyes are red!

This years Easter Baskets. I couldn't get my daughter to sit still for a second and this was before the sugar rush!

Ruby Tuesday - Veggie Rainbow

Want to get kids and adults to eat their veggies while surrounded by Easter goodies? Create a veggie rainbow.

One of the moms last week in Goddess' class decided on a veggie rainbow for our Easter bash. There was so many sweets she decided to balance it with a healthy platter. Since she couldn't think of a blue veggie, she went with Blue Chips! Such a cute idea, I just had to snap a picture.

Head over to Mary's Ruby Tuesday for some more red photos or to play along.

Mellow Yellow Monday - Gifts of Love

Another thoughtful gift of love from My Beautiful Daughter! It's just a pine cone and a button, but I love that she thinks of us so often.

The Canary List by Sigmund Brouwer

What I Can Tell You:  

From the beginning pages, I felt this was going to be a great book. The thought of a teacher spending every year drinking to forget the death of his own daughter is horrible. Then to have a girl (his student) show up, while his mourning is in full affect disturbing. Why is she here? She is running from something evil. An evil, she knows is trying to get her. Being a good teacher and gets "Nana" his next door neighbor to take care of her so they help her and he can sober up. When they try to bring her home, their is a barricade on her street because there has been a fire. Crockett takes her home and she stays at his neighbors. The next morning she is knocking trying to get in because he has to "hide her".  

He is taken in for questioning and it is assumed that he has taken advantage of a young girl. Suddenly there are complaints from other students on his record and Nana is missing. The story follows the same path as some Dan Brown's DeVinci Code and Angels and Demons where Vatican conspiracy theories take over and the story of "the people" gets lost.  

If you loved Angels and Demons and stories about good vs evil, you will love this book!

HexBug Nano Makes An Appearance at Our Easter Egg Hunt - HOUSE PARTY!

We have had one of the most fun Spring vacations ever. This is my third Easter Egg Hunt in 4 years and I love throwing them. Having my kids friends and their moms come over for some Easter activities and treats makes my heart sing so when Mom Select was looking for Host Bloggers for the Easter Hex Bugs, I jumped at the chance.

We started the party with an Easter egg hunt that included the 11 Hex Bugs.

The Goddess Look Mom, I got a Hex Egg!

The kids loved the egg hunt and headed indoors to sort through the eggs. Whomever had the most Hex Bug Eggs won a prize but they were only allowed to keep 1 so there was some swapping as each kid picked his favorite.

They were dying to open their eggs but I wanted to prolong their agony because that is the kind of host I am so I made them play a game for more prizes (as if this was hard on them. Ask kids if they want more prizes and they will always say YES).

We played some rounds of freeze dance. If they moved when the music stop they were removed from the group. Whoever was standing won a prize.

Can you tell who the winners were almost every time?

We had the adults sit and the kids move to the side so we could play a couple rounds of Caterpillar Crawl. The kids in groups of two, got down on their bellies and had to push the egg with their nose to the finish line. Whomever made it there first, got a prize (thank you Dollar Store).

Our two most competitive boys were at it again!

Most of my house parties I only do one or two activities but this time because of the amount of people who showed up (everyone!) we stayed very structured. Thank goodness Mom Select gave me a ton of activities to choose from. Dizzy Bunny had the kids spinning and hoping then putting their Hex Bugs on a Hex Bug Spiral Starter Set while a mom timed them to see whose Hex Bug made it to the bottom first. This was a hit. The kids love the Starter kit and so did the moms because of the size. "Nice and compact"! They also colored cute little baskets to take their Hex Bugs home in. The moms loved this too!

What I learned: A play date with one or two kids plus mine can be a free for all more than that and structured activities is the way to go.

The day ended with no too much clean up needed and no Tylenol. SCORE!!!

All the Moms love the Hex Bugs and most were at my first party! They have all purchased Hex Bugs since the party for their kids and other children. I love being able to introduce my friends to the latest, greatest products for kids. After a so much activity, today was spent resting up for Easter tomorrow. Thank goodness the gray, cold day made me feel less guilty for not taking the kids anywhere.

There is still time to get out and get a Easter Hex bug for your child's basket. Enjoy!!!

The Night Night Book - Perfect Before Bed Time Book

As a parent one of my favorite times of the day is night time. I love the calmness that surrounds the close of the day. The kids are bath, in PJs that make them look so much smaller than they did during the day and everyone is calmer, quieter and ready to buckle down for the night.

Book Lover Parents long for their children to have the same kind of love. We will read rounds and rounds of the same book, drop everything to read or listen to them and "only one" quickly turns into two or three before bed. 

I can never have enough books for my kids so when the opportunity to review The Night Night Book came up, I jumped at the opportunity. 

What I Can Tell You:

Both of my children loved this book. My Handsome read it to all of us first. Than I read it to Goddess four times. On the fifth time I asked her to read it to me and she did a good job thanks to each page consisting of one or two sentences and most had some of her sight words on in. This will be a great first time reading confidence builder for Kindergartners. After the first two pages, they already know that Night, Night will be coming up and they can work on the rest.  If my kids were babies I would read this to them every night. Also, the size is perfect and as a board book the pages will not get ruined with little, wet baby hands. 

Handsome (7): I just like it!

Goddess (6): I love the pictures and when they say "night, night".

Gogo Crazy Bones Make My Kids and Friends SOOOO Happy - Home Party

We had the BEST day yesterday. We spent Wednesday preparing and getting excited about our Spring Break-Break Up The Week Party. Our schools had too many snow days so the kids only have a three day spring break. Three days off means, a quick week and what better way to schedule play dates with all our friends than to invite them all over for a sponsored bash!

We had 15 kids and 10 moms over for the most organized party I have ever thrown. I had an agenda, itinerary and was literally waiting at the end for people to just show up.

When I tell you Gogo took care of me for this party...I mean really took care of me. I had 13 books sticker books to hand out and I think each kid walked away with 13 Gogos each!

The kids came in. I gave them 15 minutes to get acquainted and run around. The moms and the babies took turns holding each others kids and everyone was smiling and happy. I sat back and watched so happy to know that all my friends are now friends.


I asked the kids to sit on the floor and started handing out books. Once they opened them.

Here I am telling the kids about the books and the Gogos. I love that my son is the only one paying attention.

Then I proceed to tell them about the Gogos inside and asked if any of them had ever heard of them. Before this campaign, my kids and I  had never heard of them. Two little boys ages 6 and 7 both have two of them at home.  We spent some time talking about the stickers and the books. Each Gogo comes with a sticker which you can put on that particular Gogo in the book. The moms were all impressed and asked if they could find these in the stores now. I told them us and more would be coming out throughout the year.

Next I asked if anyone wanted more Gogos, everyone raised their hands. We played 3 rounds of Freeze Dance and whomever had the craziest freeze won a prize (thank you Gogo!). Next we talked about collecting and trading. There was one trade.

Next we played another 3 rounds of Freeze Dance were I gave out even more Gogos. The boys won each time with one of them even kicking himself in the shoulder in his freeze dance.

Next we played a basket game where I set up a huge empty container for the kids to toss their Gogos in. Whomever got the most in won another package of Gogos!

My kids Gogo Crazy Bones!

The kids were beyond excited and love that they can carry their Gogos in their pockets. They loved the fact that there are so many different Gogos and I overheard four talking about starting a collection. The moms love that they are small.

News Break to My Friends: In May pick up the Silver Tin with painting Gogos.

If one picture can sum up how crazy we are for Gogo Crazy Bones, this would be the one!

Sniper Reloaded Movie Review

What I Can Tell You: I have never seen Sniper from 1993 starring Tom Berenger but my husband had. He originally thought this was that movie until we sat down to watch and he wondered were Billy Zane was. Billy doesn't show up until almost 40 minutes in.

Ok, so here is what I know. Berenger played a Marine sniper Thomas Beckett. In this movie Chad Michael Collins plays Brandon Beckett, the son of Thomas Beckett who is following in his fathers foot steps although there was some obvious "daddy anger issues" and he is not yet a sniper. (added note: Check out Chad Michael's blog for an interesting diary of the making of this movie.)

Brandon's troop was ambushed while on a peacekeeping mission by a sniper and he is left as the only survivor. While they prepare for their next mission of finding the sniper assassin. Billy Zane's Character, Richard Miller, who was trained by Thomas Beckett back in the day, returns to aid Brandon on learning how to be a sniper. Brandon is not interested until Richard suddenly appears in Congo much to Brandon's chagrin.

I am not at all familiar with Chad Michael Collins but his face looked very familiar. Maybe that is because he looks like Berenger. I would have liked to see more gunfire and a sex scene that lasted over 3 minutes however for a straight to DVD movie, this wasn't half bad. The best parts of the movie featured Billy Zane who was great in his matter of fact, straight up delivery! If there is another, please bring back Billy!

ABC Wednesday - N for Niece

It's a couple of years old but this is one of my favorite pictures of my daughter and my niece. They are the oldest and youngest in the family and I love how comfortable they are in this picture.

Goddess had on her Harley jacket and spent the afternoon riding a Harley scooter on the deck. I stepped out to get a few pictures when she started doing stunts which landed her on her "cutest butt in the world" behind! She's fine folks. Just needed a band-aid on her finger which showed no scratch to me but to her eyes, there was a complete need for coverage.

Midweek Blues

Saw a bunch of pencils with all their color and faces this week, and just smiled. Hopefully they make you smile too!

There Is No Year by Blake Butler

What I Can Tell You:

This was the craziest book ever and I mean that in the nicest way. It was a total, creepy, odd, trippy, journey into the kind of psychological, scary imagery I love in my horror movies. It was like reading a nightmare come to life. There is nothing like this out there.

The complexity of Blake's writing is why I call myself the Amateur Book Reviewer. It would take a semester of sitting with Blake to understand the nuances and details of this story.

The story centers around a family. Mom, Dad and a Son who is recovering from a life threatening illness. When they enter the house there is another family who looks just like they do. They set them outside on the porch and move in. The Chapter have great titles like Room of Hair, The Copy Mother In Particular, Disease Relics, Job (which consists of one paragraph) and more. It is extremely hard to review this book. I would need to read it two more times to fully grasp it, which I don't see it happening for a while due to the volume of pages 401.
 
Example
Chapter, Night: The mother grew, filled up with nothing - cells in cells on cells, a house.
 
You can get two distinct stories based on your perception. We could be watching a family living a horror in a house that is literally eating them up alive, mind, body and soul or we can see a family dealing with the devastating cards life had handed them and how they lose themselves in life.

I love everything about this book, the size, the pages, the blurry photos.

If you are looking for something different, this IS the book for you.

Ruby Tuesday - Gifts of Love

A precious gift from Goddess! I love kids and their innocence. She always gives very special, thoughtful trinkets of love

Blue Monday - Cake Pops

This weekend we had Goddess' birthday party at McDonalds where we invited her whole class with only 8 kids showing up. It was totally fine because she was just happy to enjoy time with her friends even it was only 1!

My beautiful niece and her friend have started their own baking service and drove down some of the most yummy cupcakes and cake balls ever. She asked what Goddess liked, I told her rainbows and she created custom one of a kind delectables.

When she finally goes on Etsy, I will let you guys know!

Momma Moments Monday

My Momma Moment was when I watched my son and daughter celebrate her birthday this year. In the past few years my son was very jealous of her gifts because his birthday is after hers and he didn't want to understand that this day was hers and his would be coming up. He wanted to open her gifts and got mad if we told him they were hers. This year was so different. He wanted her to close her eyes so he could bring her gifts into the room. He sat and watched her calmly making statements like, "you wanted those", "I bet you like that gift", and "ohh that looks fun."

When it was all done he cleaned up the wrapping paper and asked her what her favorite gift was. It was nice to see him accepting and maturing!

Shadow Shot Sunday - The Plant!

The weather was beautiful today so my favorite plant (received this the moment I was wheeled from ER after c-section from Handsome) made its way outdoors for some much needed sun!

Goddess and I thought it looked like a spider.

Self Portrait Sunday - April 16, 2011

Stop by and say hello, link up so I can come say hello to you. I love seeing your smiling face!

RoseArt Color Blanks Have Changed My Craft Challeged Son!

RoseArt is a favorite in my house. Goddess loves doing crafts as she is highly creative, thinking outside the box to create art using all kinds of media. Handsome on the other hand is never interested in sitting down to craft. He has trouble drawing and writing and has been in therapy for low muscle tone in his hands since he is two. Which is why I am so happy to review to write this review.

When products come in for review it is easy to choose which child to use for the review because Goddess loves everything and Handsome is very particular. So on most unisex products Goddess is the easy choice. The RoseArt Color Blanks review was hard because BOTH wanted to review it. Two kids, one product...how could I do it? Goddess was taking a bath and Handsome asked again so I figured why not, he is going to start it and stop two seconds in. He is never into arts and crafts and Goddess can finish it when she comes out of the bath.

Well, I was wrong. Handsome loves Color Blanks and spent over 20 minutes creating "Pete" and eventually "Bill" as he is now affectionately called.

His concentration was 100%! He was in the zone and I was thrilled to see him concentrating on something other than a video game.

The Color Blanks come in 1, 2 and 4 packs and are great gifts for every occasion.

Create your own fun family with Color Blanks by Rose Art!
The packs included Color Blank markers and stickers. You can draw faces, clothes, accessories or shoes on your figurines, then add the finishing touches with the included stickers.

For extra originality, use the included glue dots to add your own fun stuff such as buttons, sequins, glitter, a hat or a prop – the possibilities are endless! Make, Play and Display your artistic friends and create your own world of Color Blanks!

Ideal for children ages 6 and up! We love these and plan on giving one to everyone whose birthday we are invited to.

Can't you just see the pride on his face?

Disclosure: I received a complimentary Rose Art Color Blank Kit for my honest opinion.

Alphabe-Thursday - ABCD

This week Alphabe-Thursday is hosting whatever letter you choose.

Because it is Goddess' 6th Birthday today, I am hosting the following letters A, B, C, D

A- Adorable!


B- Beautiful!


C- Crazy!


D- Daring!

Dinosaur Train Hatches Into Easter Baskets This Year

Almost two weeks ago, I wrote about Dinosaur Train and these cool eggs called Hatchers.

We received one for the kids to try out from The Jim Henson Company and Uncle Milton. Simply add one of the Hatchers to water and children can watch their favorite Dinosaur Train characters hatch from their shell and grow up to 4X their size.

What I Can Tell You: We love it. The kids ran to look at it at least 50 times the first night. The next morning when it started to make it's debut, the kids were shouting for each other to come look at it. It took a little less than 24 hours but when the dinosaur finally popped all the way out, the kids were ecstatic.  What a great addition to this year's Easter basket.  They both are asking for their own.

I missed the first picture of him making his first crack. It was during the morning rush! But...here he is in my humungo Fleetwood Mac glass.

They were freaking out, you would think a real animal was coming out of that egg! He did grow and now he is drying out so we can see him go back to his normal size. Very cool!

Goddess was very interested in what the shell is made of.

Disclosure: We received a complimentary Hatcher for our honest opinion.

Sherry & Narcotics by Nina-Marie Gardner

What I Can Tell You: 

I received an advanced reading copy of this book and finished this book this morning! Watching Mary, the main character was heartbreaking. Watching her make mistake after mistake in life and love was hard to read. It was like watching a train wreck, you want to look away but can't. Mary is an editor who likes to party sometimes to excess. She spends 3 weeks corresponding with Jake by email/txt when she runs out to meet him getting an apartment nearby, waiting on his every email/txt/phone call and falling deeper and deeper into despair as this ridiculous unhealthy relationship plays out. 

You, the reader see she is heading for disaster. Her obsessive, masochistic personality is the most devasting part of the book. I wish I could grab her by her shoulders and shake her into realization, but even if you could she would fall!

Nina-Marie's writing is devastatingly real which is scary. When you are so far in, you can't see how wrong things are. Outsiders see it 100% and can talk until they are blue in the face but you will continue on the road of disaster until the relationships swan song when you realize how ridiculous you were. The signs to the exit were flashing in bright, white, lights and you never saw them! 

Great read!  Very edgy!

ABC Wednesday "M"

Macaroni and Cheese

Monkey

Mine

Tuesday Takes

A super quick of Handsome this morning as he watches his favorite show Wipe Out on the computer.

Mellow Yellow Monday - Gone With The Wind

These figurines remind me of when I was a child and my grandmothers and mother had china closets full of figurines! Although I see the beauty in them, I now see them as dust collectors.

IN ZANESVILLE by Jo Ann Beard

What I Can Tell You:

What a great read. I was transported back to my childhood. Of sleep overs at my friends in the camper on her families property. Of Dusty Springfield and American Bandstand! Of first crushes and fears. Of dysfunctional families and too much time to think.  Of babysitting and snow cones. Ahhh...I miss those day.

Jo Ann is a wonderful storyteller creating interesting characters out of the most basic personalities. The kids who are invisible to most because they tend to fly under the radar.  The girls are 14 and full of life and thoughts way beyond what the rest of the world give them credit for. Jo Ann writing seems almost autobiographical, with quiet realism.

Cloaked by Alex Flinn

 

What I Can Tell You: Johnny, was thrust into a shoe repair job when his father left leaving him and his mother to take on the family business alone. Princess Victoria tricks him into fixing her shoe so she can send him on a mission to find her brother. Victoria's "Bruzzer" was turned into a frog by a witch and she needs Johnny's help to find him. She gives him more money than he has ever seen and promises him more and marriage if he can find her brother.  She also gives him a magical cloak that can transport him anywhere he wishes and ear buds that allow him to hear other animals as long as they were once human. Sounds interesting right?!

This was a great read by the author of Beastly which has been made into a movie starring Vanessa Hudgens. It was a modern day Grimm fairy tale, full of surprises and fantasy! I am really interested in reading more Alex Flinn books and I can't wait to pass this onto my teenage nieces who I know will love it even more than me.

Kids are Koo Koo for Totally Koo Koo

 

We got to review one of the Koo Koo Bird collectibles.

What I Can Tell You:
These would be perfect for Easter Baskets!
The kids were excited to open the package. The bird is very cute and soft, very fluffy. We love his colors and his silly face. The kids shared him, taking him into their respective rooms. He is small enough to go to school with them and has.  While I personally thought, why would they be interested in this guy, he doesn't do anything, they were! So, the proof is in the pudding.

Goddess' birthday is coming up this week and we sat down to ask her what she wanted. She asked for more birds and the Koo Koo carrying case.

Silk Milk 10 Day Challenge

As a Buzzagent I recently participated in a Silk for Milk 10 Day Challenge where you swap your regular milk for one of the Silk Milks.

I am a big milk drinker so I knew this would be a difficult switch for me but we coupons for free milk, why wouldn't I try?!

The first type we got were Silk Very Vanilla and Silk Chocolate because everything tastes better with chocolate!

I had a friend over Miss Steph, Holla! Oh, yeah...milk..and decided to test it with her.

Pouring the two types, we decided to go with the non-chocolate one so that we could have the better one, the chocolate last. This way if we hated it, we could wash it down with the almighty chocolate.

Boy were we surprised when the Very Vanilla tasted amazing.

Steph: Wow! This tastes great!
Me: This is really good!
Steph: I bet this would be good in a smoothie
Me: I want to try it in coffee!

Then we picked up the Chocolate.

Steph: Ummm...
Me: I
Steph: Like
Me: The
Steph: Vanilla
Me: Better!

Then we cracked up because that is the way we roll.

What I Can Tell You:
The challenge was easier than I thought. It The Very Vanilla is by far our favorite. Even Goddess asks for it daily. It tastes great in cereal, coffee and straight up.

Although we didn't like the chocolate, regular or we loved the Almond and coconut milk a lot.

The Folks at Silk would like you to think about the many ways to incorporate Silk into your families diet.

Silk® Vanilla in a cup of Joe adds a sweet richness without any of the cholesterol you’d get with dairy creamers or milk.

Hot. Chocolate. Heaven. Warm up a glass of Silk Pure Almond® Dark Chocolate and enjoy an indulgent treat. Bonus? It’s got fewer calories than hot chocolate made with typical dairy milk.

Looking for a meal for the whole family? Take your favorite quiche recipe and instead of cheese and dairy milk, load it up with lots of veggies and Unsweetened Silk (soy or almond) for an extra boost of nutrition.

Magic Bran Muffins. Silk Pure Almond® adds a lot of flavor to all that fiber. These good-for-you muffins come out with the same great texture as muffins made with milk.

Do you like Pina Colada? Try this high-calcium version. Mix Silk Pure Coconut™ coconutmilk, pineapple juice and rum, then pour it over ice.

Soylicious Smoothie. Meet your new favorite breakfast. Chocolate Silk Soymilk (Vanilla works, too), berries, banana and ice. Blend and enjoy.

Sit down for family brinner. Breakfast for dinner = Brinner! Try a little Silk Unsweetened Soymilk in scrambled eggs.

Gulliver's Travels Starring Jack Black DVD Review

What I Can Tell You:
I have been dying to see this movie. Jack Black is hysterical and I love movies I can watch with my kids. My screener copy arrived last night and since we were having a snow day today we watched it this morning.

We loved it! My daughter especially loved when Jack found himself in a giant little girl's dollhouse.

This movie is fun for the whole family. Great special effects. I was constantly saying, "how did they do that?" I should have been a computer animator because I get so excited about it. Now, that would have been a job I loved.

The cast was great! I am a big Jason Segel fan, and loved seeing him in this role.