My very first review for the company is of a new game called Grandma’s Trunk. This is designed for kids in Kindergarten and up, and it is actually 5 games rolled into 1 (hooray for toys that can do more than one thing!). From the website, here are the 5 games that can be played with this set:

1. What Comes Next? Take turns placing the letter cards in the trunk in alphabetical order.

2. Memory Time Take turns repeating the sequence of cards already in the trunk, then adding one of your own and challenging other players to remember them all, in order.

3. Grandma’s Riddles Deal the cards, then read a riddle and race to see who has the letter card that answers it!

4. Letter Sequence Memory Deal the cards and take turns putting them in the trunk in alphabetical order, repeating the items already in the trunk and challenging other players to remember them all, in alphabetical order.

5. Grandma’s Adventures Place the letter cards in the trunk and take turns pulling them out to create a cooperative story: “Once upon a time there was a grandma. She saw an iguana.”

While most of these games are too advanced for Darah at this point, we are already playing with the set by looking at the letter cards and practicing the sounds each one makes (she LOVES practicing letter sounds at school, so it’s great to continue those lessons at home!). Since there are so many different things to do with this set, I can tell that it will be played with for several more years, which makes it an excellent value.

I’m very pleased with all the different things you can do with Grandma’s Trunk, and with the overall quality of the game. I’d say that at $14.99, this is a bargain price for a game that will really help develop reading, memory and story telling skills.

Win it!: One lucky Stuff Parents Need reader will win a copy of Grandma’s Trunk! Score!


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Disclosure: I received complimentary products from Educational Insights for review purposes. All thoughts and opinions expressed here are strictly my own. 

I’ve also come to realize that our friendship needs back in those “glory” days were also simpler. And maybe that’s part of the reason why we become so frustrated when our search for friends as adults doesn’t go as smoothly…we forget that we aren’t really looking for friendships born out of sheer convenience, anymore. That’s just one of MANY things I learned while reading a great book, MWF Seeking BFF.

This read by Rachel Bertsche chronicles a year-long experiment the author did to really put herself out there and find some friends after moving to a new city to marry her boyfriend, leaving her best gal pals behind SEVERAL states away. She set out to go on 52 different “girl dates”, and she tried just about everything under the sun to meet new people and see what it takes to form meaningful connections with others as an adult.

So as my belly grows, my skin is stretching. And itching. LIKE CRAZY!!! I need relief, and if there’s a chance that a product might help with stretch marks, well that’s a bonus. I actually had been using a stretch cream product that I used the last time, and it did seem to work, but it had a critical flaw: it is SO greasy! Seriously, I have to not put any clothes on after applying this stuff for a minimum of 10 minutes…way too long!

For the past month, though, I’ve been using a product from Noodle & Boo (remember the review I did earlier for their fantastic super soft lotion?). It’s called Perfecting Creme. I’m just going to be up front about the negative of this product: it ain’t cheap! A 3.5 oz tube will set you back $42.00.

Now let me tell you why I think it’s worth it.

First and foremost, it isn’t greasy! Yay! But that doesn’t mean that it isn’t an AWESOME moisturizer. My belly feels so soft! It also helps tremendously with itching. And when you itch like crazy, you will do anything to get relief. This perfecting creme most definitely provides that relief.

Second, this pregnancy stretch marks cream contains a peptide compound that helps prevent and reduce stretch marks while naturally promoting the synthesis of collagen (that’s elasticity for your skin!). So far, I don’t have any stretch marks. I can’t promise that this product will keep them from appearing, but I do feel confident that it will at least help reduce their severity if I do get them.

Third, this stuff smells SO SO SO good. It made with cocoa butter and avocado oil, but if you ask me, it smells like sweetened almonds. It honestly brightens my mood when I apply it, which is a happy little perk.

I’m so glad I got to try this product. It isn’t something I would have picked up for myself, but now that I have used it, I would highly recommend it to other expecting moms. It’s worth it, and so are you! Be sure to check out the rest of their line, which includes lots of great baby skin care products.

Win it!: One lucky Stuff Parents Need reader is going to win a tube of Noodle & Boo Perfecting Creme! Woo hoo!

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Be sure to enter all my other current giveaways, found on the sidebar of the page.

Disclosure: I received a complimentary product for review purposes. All thoughts and opinions expressed here are strictly my own. 

Porkbeinspired.com has become one of my very favorite online resources for recipes, too. I am blown away by the volume of tasty recipes you can find there, and I especially love that you can search by cut of meat. I think one of the reasons that I have avoided buying pork in the past is simply because I didn’t have any recipes on hand to use. And I didn’t have any recipes because I didn’t ever buy pork. See the viscous cycle? Also, meat is one of the pricier items on our grocery list, so I NEVER want to purchase a cut of meat that doesn’t have a clear intended purpose. There are so many different cuts that I’m unfamiliar with, so I just stick with what I know (ground turkey and chicken breasts…I swear that’s the only meat besides seafood that I bought before this challenge started).

My search for sirloin cutlet recipes turned up dozens and dozens of pages of options on Porkbeinspired.com alone! Trying other cuts of pork will yield similar results on the site, in terms of quantity. Now I have absolutely ZERO fear about buying a different cut of meat (pork in particular) when it is on sale. It will be no problem to find a delicious dish to make with it!

So this week we were to look into healthy comfort food options. I found a healthy version of Pork Piccata (served as a sandwich) and my family thoroughly enjoyed it. The recipe can be found below, but we made ours even healthier by avoiding the butter altogether and simply cooking the meat on the George Foreman Grill.

PORK PICCATA SANDWICHES

Directions:

Coat cutlets well with lemon pepper to taste. In a large nonstick skillet, heat butter to sizzling over medium-high heat. Cook cutlets quickly to brown both sides, turning once, about 4 minutes total. Place on buns; serve with lemon wedges.

That’s it! It pretty much couldn’t be any easier, and these tasted totally scrumptious. We made enough to have leftovers the next day, which meant that mom and dad got a free pass the next night at dinner, and all for 10 minutes worth of work the night before. Hooray!

So, again, my big takeaway from the Good and Good For You Challenge is not to shy away from pork any more. There are several cuts of meat that are just as lean as the chicken and turkey we currently eat, and the flavors can be quite exceptional. I feel as though we’ve just opened up a whole new world of culinary possibilities, and I’m so excited. Watch out, Pinterest. I’m coming for you, and I’m looking for pork dishes!

Don’t forget to check out the Love Me Tenderloin sweepstakes on the Pork Be Inspired Facebook page. They are giving away lots of great prizes!

Speaking of prizes, here’s your chance to win a great prize pack!

Win it!: One super lucky Stuff Parents Need reader is going to win all this fabulous stuff:

• (8) $5 off pork coupons (SWEET!!!!)
• water bottle
• reusable grocery bag
• meat thermometer
• pedometer
• recipe book

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I’ve been to the dress up section of a few big box toy stores, and I have to say, I wasn’t all that impressed with the selection. Everything is some take on a ball gown (nothing wrong with that, but how about some variety?!). And the prices are sky high for the pitiful quality, in my humble opinion.

It then occurred to me that I was looking in the wrong place. Since I wanted something a little bit different, perhaps like the selection I could find closer to Halloween, why not shop online at a Halloween store? They are open all year, after all!

I went to Wholesale Halloween Costumes online and found an absolutely adorable mermaid costume. Before you tell me that this is just another princess costume, let me remind you that its a fish, and that really is quite different! Darah is absolutely bonkers about Ariel, and while I have my reservations about going nuts with the Disney princess stuff, Ariel happens to be my favorite Disney character, and I actually really enjoy our frequent games of, “under the sea” (hiding under the covers). We also love to go all over the house looking for treasures to take to Scuttle. She gets a big kick out of what Scuttle names each object and declares its purpose to be. I try to not spend much of our time talking about Prince Eric or getting married, but instead, focus on having great adventures under water. Our adventures have even prompted me to do a little research on the history of mermaids. Pretty fascinating stuff, really!

The costume, in my opinion, is quite good for the price. Is it the highest quality costume that you could possibly imagine? No. The sequins do start to come off after the dress has been worn a while, but that’s something easy to fix. It’s also long, which is great if you have a tall kid, but a little tough if your child is a shorty like mine. Darah has learned how to master hiking up her fins, though, so she doesn’t seem to mind. She asks to wear the costume all the time; it is definitely her current favorite dress up outfit!

Disclosure: I received a complimentary product for review purposes from wholesalehalloweencostumes.com. All thoughts and opinions expressed here are strictly my own.

We wanted to get something like this after Darah got to play with a similar kit that her cousin received for Christmas. Those two spent so much time at the dining room table mixing different colors, and transferring water from one container to the next. I was really amazed by how much time Darah wanted to spend working on her experiments.

This set comes with several mixing containers of different sizes, a scale to determine weight, as well as several activity cards to give parents ideas for different experiments to try. Right now we are really enjoying guessing which containers might hold more or less water than the others. Darah is learning the basics of volume, and seeing that containers can be shaped differently, but still hold the same amount of water. She is fascinated by this idea!

The Primary Science Mix & Measure Kit is just one of a HUGE ARRAY of outstanding products from the company Learning Resources. I have this site bookmarked for the future, and I want to strongly recommend that you do the same. You can shop by age, category or subject which can really help you find what you are looking for, or it can help you discover things you didn’t even know existed! For example, I’m currently mulling over buying the Gator Grabber Tweezers. At school, Darah does several activities that require the use of small tongs to develop fine motor skills. I’d love to be able to continue those lessons at home!

Learning Resources also has a section for resources for special needs children, filled to the brim with fantastic activities! You can shop by skill, modality, and disorder/disability.

I am extremely impressed with the great products that Learning Resources has made available to parents and teachers. I think they have their finger on the pulse of what kids really need to help further their skills as they play, and they have made sure that learning can truly be a lot of fun. I will certainly be doing business with them again!

Win it!: One lucky Stuff Parents Need reader is going to win a Primary Science Mix & Measure Kit!

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Be sure to enter my other current giveaways, found on the sidebar of my page.

Disclosure: I received a complimentary product for review purposes. All thought and opinions expressed here are strictly my own.

Wintertime is a great time to get outdoors and enjoy the weather. If you have kids, there is nothing better than bundling up and heading out for some awesome snowy fun.

• Build a snowman or have a family snowball fight. Lie down and make beautiful snow angels. Making a snow fort is always tons of fun. Use sand buckets or any other containers to mold your fort just like you would a sand castle. Forts are great for hiding behind when others are trying to attack you with snowballs.
• Sleigh riding is always fun if you have sleds, or flying saucers. A family toboggan ride is always exciting – make sure you put a good driver in the front to steer!

If your winters are cold but you lack the snow, no problem. There are plenty of things to do even if the snow doesn’t fall where you live.

• Bundle up with the kids and go for a hike. Things may look slightly different in the cold weather. The kids may find some frosty areas or see frozen puddles that are lots of fun to stomp on or slide across.
• A great activity to do outside when it is cold is bubble blowing. Bubbles come out quite differently when blown in the icy cold air. Try it for yourself and see. Another great experiment to show your children is what happens to boiling hot water when you throw it into the ice-cold air. Surprisingly, it will instantly turn into ice. This will really excite your kids.
• Spend a day in the cold thinking of your furry outdoor friends. Make bird feeders out of old milk cartons, soda bottles, or come up with your own clever idea. Fill them with food and watch the birds show up for a nice winter treat. If you have any small evergreens or bushes around your house, string them with treats for the birds. You can string popcorn together, or cranberries. Then hang them around the bush or tree for the birds to snack on. Another great snack for the birds is peanut butter and crackers. Smash up some crackers and mix them with peanut butter so they all stick together. You can place the mixture in a produce net (like the kind that holds onions) and hang it for the birds to peck at.

If the weather is just too frigid to be outdoors, stay inside and build a play fort. Kids love forts, and you can help make it big enough for everyone to climb inside. Then you can read stories or play games together.

Winter is full of fun activities for everyone — even if the snow never shows up.

Christina Johnson who works remotely for Elliman Prudential in the New York City Apartments and Rentals market. She is using her journalism major to combine what she loves most, writing and her career. Her specialties include home decor design and DIY home improvement projects.

After looking around at The Ultimate Green Store, I am really blown away by the number of products they have, and just how many great gift options there are for different people who may be on your gift list throughout the year. They have everything from luxurious organic cotton jersey sheets to a solar powered ipad charger and everything you can imagine in between!

I, of course, couldn’t help but check out their baby section. When I saw that The Ultimate Green Store carried cloth diapers, I was absolutely delighted! They only carry a few lines, and I think they have chosen to carry one of the brands that is the absolute very best: BumGenius. BumGenius AIO is what I started out with when cloth diapering, and I called it the “gateway drug” of diapers, because it was an all-in-one with velcro closures…it was as close to a disposable as you could get, and every bit as absorbent.

I had the opportunity to review the BumGenius 4.0 in Blossom from The Ultimate Green Store. I decided to try out this diaper because I wanted to see what all the fuss was about, and also because I wanted to make absolutely sure that you, my fabulous readers, know that The Ultimate Green Store has all their BumGenius on sale right now! You can get the 3.0 pocket diapers for just $10.99! EEEEEE!!!!!! The BG 4.0 with velcro are on sale for $15.95 and the organic cotton 4.0 with snap closures is on sale for $20.95. You most definitely need to check out this sale if you are a BumGenius fan. If you’ve never tried this line, then I want to strongly encourage you to buy one at these great prices right now…you won’t regret it!

What makes the 4.0 different from the 3.0? Well, the 4.0 comes with both a small insert for a newborn or younger infant, as well as a larger insert to use as your baby grows. It has also been designed to be an even trimmer fit than the 3.0 version. It is designed to fit babies from 7-35 pounds, which is quite a range! I put the diaper on the smallest setting to get ready for our little one, and it certainly does look like a small, trim diaper! Prepping it was easy; just one wash needed. I’m extremely excited to have this diaper in my collection and I know it will be one of the diapers I frequently reach for, based on my previous experience with BumGenius.

It seems to me that The Ultimate Green Store has put a lot of thought into the brands and items that it carries. I love when a store has that extra layer of quality control, so that you can shop with confidence knowing that you are going to get something terrific. The bargain shopper in me is also so pleased to see that they have a warehouse clearance sale section up right now, with deals at up to 50% off. This is a great opportunity to re-stock your gift closet with things that people would be thrilled to receive! I’m loving this circuit board picture frame, which my self-professed geek husband would love to have on his desk at work!

Win it!: One lucky Stuff Parents Need reader will win a $20 gift certificate to The Ultimate Green Store! LUCKY!!!!

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Be sure to enter my other current giveaways, found on the sidebar of my page.

Disclosure: I received a complimentary product for review purposes. All thoughts and opinions expressed here are strictly my own.

Also, mineral makeup is good for your skin! What other makeup products can boast such a claim? The ingredients are found in nature and in my experience, don’t clog your pores the way other products do. If you forget to wash your face one night, no big deal. Gotta love that!

Today I’m featuring a line called Everyday Minerals, and I am SUPER impressed with the quality of this makeup! This line is organic, vegan and eco-friendly, and 100% full of quality makeup that lasts all day. The first product I received to review from the line was the soft bronzer. I was quite nervous when I saw it, because I have really pale skin, so I NEVER use bronzer because the end result is always an orange face. Well, I could not have been more pleasantly surprised by this product! It is designed for lighter skin and can be used all over to give a healthy (not orange) glow. I have used it in place of foundation a few times and was pleased with the end result! Want to hear what’s even more exciting? This product is just $9.00! SERIOUSLY!!!

The second product I reviewed was the mineral blush in pink ribbon. Once again, I’ll tell you that when I saw the product, I was a bit nervous. It has a good amount of shimmer in the product, and as a 31 year old, I tend to shy away from putting sparkly stuff on my face. But, as it turns out, this blush is absolutely adorable, and the shimmer is subtle and pretty, not over the top or garish. The shade is also very fresh and absolutely perfect for spring. A big container of this blush is $10.00. These prices are so awesome!!!

If you are curious about trying out mineral makeup, or if you already love mineral makeup but are looking for less pricey options, you will be very pleased to go with Everyday Minerals. Start by putting together 7 samples for yourself. You even get to select the price for these samples (paying as little as .01!), and 100% of what you give goes towards the Everyday Wilderness Preservation Plan. How cool is that?!  If you are ready to place a larger order, you can order products individually, or go with one of their custom kits, ordering 3 big size items for a 25% discount. And remember that the prices are already great!

You are sure to find products that meet your needs and your skin tone at Everyday Minerals. They offer 34 shades of foundation, 20 shades of light application powder, 21 shades of blush, and 84 shades of eyeshadow.

Win it!: One lucky Stuff Parents Need reader is going to snag a bronzer and a blush from Everyday Minerals! Get ready to glow!

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Be sure to enter my other current giveaways, found on the sidebar of my page.

Disclosure: I received complimentary products for review purposes. All thoughts and opinions expressed here are strictly my own.

Seriously. Just ask Tim.

Maybe that sounds sort of sweet and cool to you, but I hated it. It was certainly not what I wanted to smell like, but I had no choice.

Since I’m already aware that I had supply issues the last time, I’m taking a more proactive approach this time. Tim and I have discussed if the right strategy is to start taking that smelly herb from the start. I’m willing to do it, but oh my gosh, I really don’t want to.

But there is another option, and it is SO much better. I’m trading in my Fenugreek for cookies.

You heard me, COOKIES.

Introducing Milkin’ Cookies, a line of delicious baked treats created by two physicians (and moms!) to help women increase their milk supplies. You may be thinking, “Can I just buy some double-stuff Oreos and get the same results?” Afraid not, my friends. These cookies are a very special recipe, and they are stuffed with galactagogues. Those aren’t ingredients from outer space, by the way, they are ingredients found to naturally increase milk supply (for example, oatmeal, flax seed and wheat germ).

Milkin’ Cookies are made in small batches and are individually wrapped for your convenience. Most women find that they only need to eat one cookie each day to see noticeable results in supply levels. These cookies are made with NO preservatives, so they are best if eaten within 2 weeks, or they can also be frozen and simply thawed for 30 minutes before being ingested. You can purchase a 14 day sample pack ($20.99) , a 30 day supply ($44.99)  or get a 3 month subscription for $119.99.

Could you make something like this yourself? Perhaps, although I can’t point you to an exact recipe. You’d have to dig around online to find one that is getting universal praise (which is what these cookies are getting!). And then you’d have to go purchase all those slightly unusual ingredients. And then you’d have to make them. And then freeze them individually. And then hope that they taste ok. But with a newborn on your hands, you won’t be busy, so this should be no problem (said with much sarcasm).

Seriously, though, I think this is one of those things that is worth paying for, because the cookies have been tested by other moms and have produced great results. Also, I should tell you that they seriously yummy. They come in two flavors: cranberry almond oatmeal and my very favorite, oatmeal chocolate chip. Both Darah and Tim love eating them, too, and they are perfectly safe to be eaten by anyone. All the ingredients are good and good for you. They are also loaded with fiber, which makes them good to eat during pregnancy! I remember that my pain medication I was on right after having Darah caused constipation…a side effect NOBODY mentioned to me. Let’s just say that I did some crying in the bathroom a few days after getting home from the hospital. My plan this time is to eat a cookie. BEST PLAN EVER!

Win it!: One lucky Stuff Parents Need reader is going to win a 14 day supply of Milkin’ Cookies! Yum!!

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Be sure to enter my other current giveaways, found on the sidebar of my page.

Disclosure: I received complimentary products for review purposes. All thoughts and opinions expressed here are strictly my own.