Praises of a Wife and Mommy

When it comes to taking family road trips , this time of year - the festive season - is the most popular time for packing up the car and driving halfway across the country to spend time with your nearest and dearest. Of course, part of celebrating the holidays is traveling to be with your family and friends, something which you most probably enjoyed doing pre-kids. (Adult road trips can be a lot of fun, can’t they?) Photo source: Flickr However, now that you’re a parent, you most probably dread family road trips. The never-ending toilet breaks because everyone needs to go to the bathroom at different times, the constant moans of ‘are we there yet?’, and the arguments caused by boredom can make family road trips incredibly stressful. The problem with getting stressed out while traveling is that it can make your journey less safe. Did you know that one of the main causes of car accidents is a lack of concentration? So it’s important that on car journeys, the driver is not di...

Oriental Trading Summer Party!!!   The kids are home on summer break and you might have heard the phrase, "mom, I'm bored!"   As parents we probably hear it often but Oriental Trading has so many fun items to help entertain the kids or even throw a fun summer bash for them! First, I'm sure they would love some glow in the dark sunglasses to add some fun in the evening when maybe they are out by the bonfire or catching fireflies.   Plus Oriental Trading has so many fun outdoor games to choose from.   I found this really affordable LaCrosse set as well as a giant snakes and ladder game.   I think all little kids will find it fascinating to take an indoor game and bring it outside!   Last but not least they have jumbo dice so you can play any dice game outside like Yahtzee or doubles!  There is so many more items that Oriental Trading has to offer including more glow in the dark items, other summer games fo...

Time to get your marbles on the track and have a ball!   Thanks MindWare Toys for sending me the marble run to review.  All opinions expressed are 100% mine and I was not paid for this review.  As soon as the box arrived my kids were thrilled.  The agony my kids endured when I said we could not set it up until we got back from our weekend get away.    My husband is a good dad and spent an hour setting up the marble run.  The kids faces were filled will awe as they watched intently as the marbles went on the course.  The suggested age for this educational toy is 4+ but I still allowed my 2 year old to play with his sister with constant supervision, but in typical 2 year old fashion the marble run took a small beating from my son and I found myself trying to re-hook the pieces back together.  The next time we set it up will be when my son is napping so my daughter can have more time of exploring and learnin...

I allowed my daughter some fun games on the computer or tablet before but now it's time to start thinking about more educational games and fun ways to learn using the technology we have.  Thank you Lakeshore for providing me with a copy of the Bubble Pop Math game to conduct my review.  I was not paid for this review and all opinions are 100% mine. Game Description ages 6+: Students race to solve skill-building math problems in 4 different categories by popping bubbles that show the correct answers—before they splash into the pond! To play the excitement-filled game, kids choose a category & subskill from the menu…then pop the correct bubbles to build addition, subtraction, money & time skills! Kids earn points to progress through 8 levels of play, and with each level they unlock, the challenge increases—along with the fun! Best of all, the game lets you create & save a profile for every student in your class, so kids can stop & start whenever they ...