Things We Love #5

We LOVE Crayola Paint Brush Pens!

Let’s just be honest. I don’t like messes. Why? Well… they’re messy! And guess who usually has to clean them up? ME!!! So letting the kids paint indoors is not something I like to do, but it’s been so hot outside this summer that painting OUTSIDE is impossible. Luckily, Crayola has rescued my kids from a paint-free summer.

These brushes are FANTASTIC! They are just like painting with watercolors but without the mess! And with four mess-prone little ones, that makes me really happy! They don’t drip. There’s no cup of brown rinse water to knock over. And there’s practically nothing to clean up! Just put the caps on, hang up the masterpieces, fold up the tablecloth if you used one, and DONE!

Reagan

Jonathan

I’m pretty sure we got these pens from Gammy and Granny Kat a couple of Christmases ago, and they are still hanging in there! If you don’t have any for your little ones, you might want to consider adding them to your art supply!

By the way, Crayola did not pay me to write this lovely review of their paint pens. They did not provide me with the paint pens. I don’t get anything if you buy their paint pens, except the satisfaction of knowing I influenced someone else’s purchasing decision. And that’s only if you tell me.

Happy painting!

Things We Love #4

We love BOOKS!!!!!

Okay, it is a well-established fact that I love to read, that I love lists, and that I especially love lists of books! But you know what? JonZReaTom loves books too! The kids can't read yet, but they LOVE to be read to, and they have some favorites as well. I won't even begin to list ALL the books I've read to them, but I will list their favorites here (with a link in the sidebar so you can check back often!) Some of the books will be baby books, others more recent favorites.

Anything by Sandra Boynton--Barnyard Dance, Pajama Time, Doggies, etc

Anything by Karen Katz--even NOW my kids love these books, and we come home with at least one nearly every time we leave the library! They especially like the Counting Kisses books where every page is a new number of kisses to wake baby up or put baby to sleep. These are really precious books!

Anything by Leslie Patricelli--Yes, YES, No, NO; Yucky, Yummy; Blankie--lots of books about opposites, all with the same endearing main character, Thomas is especially fond of these books

Dinotrux by Chris Gall--currently Jonathan's all-time favorite

Pinkalicious by Victoria and Elizabeth Kann--Reagan's fav, not such fans of the Purple version, haven't yet read the Gold version

Anna Dewdney's Llama, Llama books

Any of the Max and Ruby books by Rosemary Wells

The Little Engine that Could by Watty Piper--a particular favorite of Zachary's because it's about a train. He loves trains!

Things We Love #3: Christmas Edition

Okay, here’s the last of the Christmas posts…I think.

The kids were REALLY into Christmas this year! It was a lot of fun! They were able to help out more with decorating AND be trusted with decorations. We were actually able to hang ornaments on ALL of the tree instead of just the top half and keep the stockings hung up without worrying they’d pull the hangers down onto their heads. (Granted, they did break a few of the ornaments. Oh, well. Reindeer don’t really need 4 legs, do they? I mean, they fly!)

So here’s a special “Things We Love” post for one of our favorite things about Christmas!

TV Specials!!!!

I LOVE TV CHRISTMAS SPECIALS! And the kids loved a few this year too. They still weren’t huge fans of Charlie Brown (Sigh, maybe next year), but Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer was a hit for the second year in a row (not much is cuter than 3 year olds reenacting this show! “That’s a mighty humble Bumble!”) as was How the Grinch Stole Christmas (cartoon, not Jim Carrey), but the biggest hit of the season was a newcomer:

Meet Lanny and Wayne of Disney’s Prep and Landing. If you missed this show this year, you really missed out! It tells the story of Wayne, a longtime member of an elite force of elves whose job it is to prep each home and roof before Santa’s arrival. They make sure that no creatures are stirring and that all presents will fit under the tree, etc. Wayne is a veteran and ready to move up to bigger and better things, but becomes disgruntled when he’s passed over for a promotion that goes to his partner, whom he himself had trained. Due to his consequent bad attitude, the next mission is almost ruined. New rookie partner Lanny must help Wayne remember why their job is so important, so that together the two elves can save the mission. It was great! For more info, check it out HERE.

Obviously there were lots of other things we loved about this Christmas, but most of them have already shown up in other posts. No need to repeat them here!

Things We Love #2

Laurie Berkner!!!

I know, I know, she’s not for everyone.  I have some very good friends who don’t like her a bit, although their son does!

At OUR house, however, we are BIG FANS!

If you don’t know who Laurie Berkner is, let me enlighten you!  She is the head of the Laurie Berkner Band, a group that appears regularly for music numbers on NickJr (formerly Noggin), especially on the show Jack’s Big Music Show.

Her songs are often silly (“Pig On Her Head”) and mostly fast-paced (“My Energy”), but they also have really nice lessons (“I’m Not Perfect”).  I love that her songs encourage my kids (okay, me too!) to get up and dance!  A few months ago, a one-hour show dedicated to Laurie and her music aired on NickJr.  I recorded it and the kids and I watch it often! 

Here’s a clip of the kids watching and dancing!  (It’s a little long…you don’t have to watch it all!)

Check out the Laurie Berkner Band!  She’s sure to have you dancing too!

Note: I have not been paid by Laurie or anyone associated with her for this endorsement!  I just really think she’s great!

Things We Love #1

This is the first in a series of posts that will share some of the things we love here at our house.

The first one is The Swivel Sweeper! I think this was originally one of those fabulous infomercial products that has now made the leap to retail stores. Mine came from Target, and I have also seen it at Bed, Bath, and Beyond.

My Aunt Nancy was the first to love the Sweeper, and she insisted my mom get one too. So Mom did, and she loves it too! And when I tried it out at her house, I knew I HAD TO HAVE ONE! Happily, my parents gave me one for my birthday which coincided with that same Memphis trip! That was back in March ,and I still love my Sweeper!

In case you don’t already know, the Swivel Sweeper is basically a vacuuming broom.

Why I love the Sweeper:

(By the way, I’m not getting paid or anything to write this. The Sweeper folk don’t even know who I am!)

1. It’s perfect if you have small children who REALLY want to help you clean. My kids always wanted to sweep the kitchen floor, but all they really did with a broom was spread the crumbs around, and the vacuum is too heavy for them. The Sweeper is light enough that they can use it and actually clean!

2. It works on hard floors AND carpet, so it’s so easy to clean the kitchen floor after a meal or the living room carpet after some little darling upturns a bowl of Cheerios.

3. The base is really thin so it runs easily under low furniture where my regular vacuum won’t go.

4. The battery lasts a pretty long time and is rechargeable (charger included).

5. The collected dirt comes out through a trap door on the bottom of the sweeper, but the release for the door is on top so you never have to touch the dirt!

Now don’t get me wrong! It’s not perfect. It certainly won’t replace a regular vacuum! It won’t pick up large chunks of dirt, like fat Cheetos, and it doesn’t like really shaggy carpet like what we have in our playroom. Eventually, you (or someone you love) will need to flip it over and clean the brushes. It picks up a lot of hair which gets tangled in the brushes and impedes their movement. Jim has done this once since we got it back in March. Also, if it ever accidentally gets flipped upside down while it’s running, it will shoot crumbs out all over the place.

That being said, if you have small children (and no dog to eat all the crumbs off your floor!) you will LOVE the Swivel Sweeper!