THIS GIVEAWAY WAS FOR THE NOVEMBER 2010 SHOW AND IS NOW CLOSED

Where are my Yo Gabba Gabba mamas and daddies out there? The Yo Gabba Gabba! Live! There’s A Party In My City! tour is coming to Colorado on November 7th, 2010 at the 1stBank Center in Broomfield – and the show is sold out! Fear not, Brobee lovers. Who’s got two thumbs and a Family 4-Pack of tickets for you to see the show for free? THIS GUY! I’ll draw a winner on Halloween, so you still have lots of time to get entries in. Just leave a comment on this post.

Fresh off a triumphant sold-out tour debut, a headlining performance at The White House, a critically-acclaimed, chart-topping album, and an appearance at Coachella that garnered rave reviews from spectators and media alike, DJ Lance Rock and the cast of YO GABBA GABBA! are heading back on the road with YO GABBA GABBA! LIVE!: THERE’S A PARTY IN MY CITY! to play to enthusiastic fans on a 60-city tour across North America. Today’s hottest live show for families will make stops at top theaters, arenas and amphitheaters throughout North America, starting August 27 in Bethel, NY and ending in Dallas, TX on December 12.

I can’t WAIT to see the live show. Haven’t seen them? Check out the Yo Gabba Gabba Official YouTube Channel.

THIS GIVEAWAY WAS FOR THE NOVEMBER 2010 SHOW AND IS NOW CLOSED

First of all, you should check out the Moon Dough website. They have a commercial that loads right on the main page, showcasing this amazing, magical molding dough that never dries out. Don’t those kids look like they’re having a blast? I took a video of my own, so you can see what it’s like for the reals. This stuff is awesome – and actually, kind of weird – but it’s soooooo messy. I was trying to figure out something to compare it to, so I could describe to you what it’s like. It’s sort of food-like, in a way. It’s super duper light, like styrofoam. And have you ever pulled out the leftover mashed potatoes the day after Thanksgiving, and they’re all cold from the fridge? And you get a big spoonful and it sort of makes a sound as it separates from the spoon and plops onto your plate? That’s the consistency. And it’s crumbly, like the instant scrambled eggs you get in jail at a cheap buffet. It’s bizarre stuff, but it’s fun to play with. All my kids loved feeling it in their hands. Here you can see my husband explaining to all the kids (plus the neighbor kids) how to use the farm set. Essentially, you feed it some of this weird Moon Dough stuff, turn a crank, and out pops a farm animal. How weird is that?

My kids had a lot of fun with this stuff. It’s one of those things, though, that is designed (in my opinion) for families with just one or two kids. It’s super hard for a group of kids to share a toy like this as you could probably figure out from my video! I suspect that even 2 kids would struggle with it, because while one kid gets to do the AWESOME FUN THING, which is extruding little animals with a crank, and the other kid has to sit there and do the somewhat boring thing, which is molding Moon Dough into fences and hay bales. Turning funky molding compound into farm animals seems to be a one man job, y’know? But still – my kids liked it. Here are a few pictures to show just how much fun they had!

Lexi, the spokesmodel, showing off our product: MOON DOUGH.

Daddy reads the instructions:

Looks like scrambled eggs, huh? Not for long, though – my kids had all those colors mixed up together in no time.

Look at those fabulous fences!

Pablo really enjoyed the feel of Moon Dough – I can see it being a fabulous sensory tool for kids on the spectrum.

Lexi the spokesmodel again, showing off our collection of farm animals and hay bales!

Yeah, it’s hard to get them all to smile for a picture.

Our whole group, having fun with the Moon Dough:

Moon Dough comes in a very sturdy box. I’m hoping I can shove everything back into it, but so far, I can’t get the plastic grass to snap back off of the barn. If I can make that happen tomorrow and store this away on a shelf in its original box, I’ll be extra impressed with Moon Dough. If I end up throwing the whole thing in a Target bag and having to throw away that nice sturdy box, I’m going to be extra annoyed with Moon Dough. I’ll let you know how that part turns out.

So. To summarize? I would not have bought this for my kids in a million years, only because I’m one of those, “Oh, HELL no!” moms who doesn’t embrace crumbly, messy toys. I was a little disappointed that it was soooo crumbly and messy – this stuff got EVERYWHERE. I wonder what my neighbor thought when I sent her children home with blue hands. I don’t know that I’d recommend this, although the whole set is pretty cheap – under $20, for sure. You can buy individual containers of the Moon Dough – perhaps invest in one of those, if you want to see what it’s like, before buying a whole playset.

Disclaimer: Team Mom provided this Moon Dough playset to my family for review. I was not compensated in any way for this review, beyond receiving this product.

Pop On Pals is a whole new world of “Popabilities” from Spin Master. With endless mix n’ match fun, little ones can be anything they want to be. A fireman can become a musician, a princess becomes a baker, a puppy becomes a ballerina – Pop On Pals encourage imaginative play and help develop fine motor skills. Pop On Pals (ages 2-4) is a world of fun pals, pets, vehicles and playsets. Pals are perfectly sized for small hands to play with and the signature “pop” sound adds to the fun!

Other Pop On Pals packs and playsets include:

Pop On Pals Pet Pack

Pop On Pals Pal Pack

Pop On Pals Ring Deluxe Ring Pack

Pop On Pals 2 n’ 1 Vehicle Set

Pop On Pals is available at Toys “R” Us, Target, Kmart, Sears, and more!

Okay, here’s where I get to tell you what a MEAN MOM I am. My kids saw me take this toy out of the packing box and they went NUTS over it. We just returned from a family vacation which included LOTS of roller coaster riding, and they were pretty stoked to see the wee little roller coaster. They were completely ready to rip it out of the package, until I told them that, alas, they were TOO OLD for this toy. Tomorrow, my kids start school – I’ll have a pair of 2nd graders and a pair of Kindergarteners. They’re pretty much BEYOND the 2 – 4 age group for this toy. They were NOT PLEASED by this news.

However, we do have a darling little baby cousin who was the perfect age for Pop On Pals! Meet my newest little toy reviewer!

Her birthday was last weekend, so the timing could not have been more perfect. She got a cool new toy, and I got to see firsthand what happens when you hand it over to a rambunctious toddler. (She’s checking out her new Barbie purse in this picture, but only because I didn’t manage to pull out my camera during the twenty minutes she spent spinning that ferris wheel!)

Here are my thoughts about Pop On Pals. It’s a very cute toy. It makes a lot of noise that will grow weary after awhile for tired mamas, but that’s the way it goes when you have little ones. This particular playset comes with ONE figure, even though there are lots and lots of spots to place a Pop On Pal. You can purchase additional “pals” separately, but I really feel like it should come with AT LEAST a couple in each set! You should check out the Pop On Pals website – with your kids, probably – it’s fun and interactive, and you can see exactly how each playset works. It’s pretty neat.

The Pop On Pals Amusement Park Playset retails for $34.99. I received it via Team Mom for review purposes, and was not compensated for this review.

I recently learned about a fun little contest – 8th Continent Soymilk is asking kids to draw and submit their own sun-inspired artwork, to go along with their newly unveiled carton design. Kids ages 5 and up can submit their artwork to the 8th Continent website, or even use the drawing tool right on the website. (Fun! My kids LOVE stuff like this.) One hundred winners will each receive $1,000 in art supplies for their school art programs, and the winning designs could be featured on 8th Continent soymilk cartons this fall.

More details about the contest, from their press release:

Children five years and older can submit their own sun-inspired artwork at www.8thcontinent.com

Entries can also be created online through an interactive drawing tool at www.8thcontinent.com

Contest participants can submit one artwork entry per day through 11:59 pm EST on June 12, 2010

All design submissions will be featured on www.8thcontinent.com in an online gallery where the public can vote for their favorite work of art

The number of public votes in the online gallery will determine 50 contest winners and a panel of judges selected by Stremicks Heritage Food will determine an additional 50 winners

The 100 winners will each be recognized with $1,000 in art supplies for their school art programs – for a grand total of $100,000!

Winning designs may also be featured on 8th Continent soymilk cartons beginning this fall!

Here’s some stuff you probably didn’t know: 8th Continent soymilk is made from soybeans grown in here in the U.S. (My oldest daughter has lots of extended family out in central Illinois, growing vast amounts of soybeans – wonder if any of them make their way to 8th Continent?) 8th Continent soymilk is an excellent source of calcium, and is the only American Heart Association-certified soymilk containing less than 3 grams of fat. It’s available in four different varieties: complete, regular, light, and fat free – and it’s lactose free, vegan, and Kosher.

And, it tastes good! Know how I know? 8th Continent was kind enough to hook me up with a prize pack, which contained a coupon for me to try it myself, along with yummy cereal and darling melamine bowls (my kids are fighting over them right now – two bowls don’t go very far in a family of seven!) In addition to the breakfast items, the prize pack also contained some art supplies so my kids could enter their sun drawings in the contest. And, because they’re cool, they’re giving me a second prize pack to award to one LaLaGirl reader. Could be you! Yes, could be. In order to win, just leave a comment on this very entry. You can get a bonus entry by LIKING me on Facebook. But you already do like me, right? Right? One winner will be drawn on Monday, May 24, 2010.

Hey, you might as well check out 8th Continent Soy Milk on Facebook, while you’re at it!

My son and husband were lucky enough to sample a 400-piece K’Nex building set, courtesy of K’Nex and Team Mom We aren’t new to K’Nex. When Pablo was paired up with his full-time aide, Barb, she introduced him to the magic of K’Nex. Kids with autism often like to sit and work on something obsessively and with meticulous concentration, and K’Nex is perfect for this. They’re designed to work with the typical building sets you probably already have (the ones that rhyme with Eggo) but they are a thousand times better than those other building sets – you can make the most amazing things, and the design that allows the the itty bitty pieces to fit together is just…genius.

Here’s my boy checking out the big tub of K’Nex.

Um…just so you know, 400 pieces of K’Nex is not a lot. Many of the pieces are miniscule – smaller than a raisin – so don’t expect to buy this tub and have it appear anywhere near FULL when you open it. Have you ever opened a bag of potato chips and realized the bag was only about a third full? Well, the K’Nex tub is about one tenth full when you buy it. But if you’re anything like me, you’ll realize that you need a whole bunch more of these, and you’ll run right out to your nearest retailer to stock up. I think the K’Nex people are counting on that – fill up that tub, consumer! Or, use the extra room as a garage for your spiffy K’Nex truck.

Really, nothing makes my engineer husband happier than sitting down with the boy and building stuff. They sat like this for HOURS. Hours, I tell you. They made a few things shown in the big instruction booklet, but had even more fun making their own creations.

Huge thanks to K’Nex and Team Mom for letting us try these out. You can find this same product at Target, Walmart, and Toys ‘R Us for around $20.99.

Baby Happy Baby Sad is a book that even my littlest not-yet-reading readers can read. It goes through the basic emotions of baby – happy and sad – and really, what more is there in life when you’re a toddler? In Higher! Higher!, a little girl swings until her feet seem to touch the sky – one of the greatest and most satisfying experiences for any kid.

Check out these great titles by Leslie Patricelli – she’s authored lots of kids’ books and they’re all full of her great illustrations!

It was only because of this, that I realized Lucky Charms is not really as bad as I thought it was, sugar-wise. It has 11 grams of sugar per serving. Still higher than the 10 grams or less that I usually shoot for, but certainly not as bad as, say, RAISIN BRAN. I know I’m probably being lame about the whole sugar thing. It’s not like they aren’t eating yogurt, which has a crapton of sugar in it. What’s my problem, anyway? I guess I just like bossing my children around with my arbitrary, “haha! Mommy says this has too much sugar!” rules.

I probably should focus my attention a bit more on the amount of calcium and Vitamin D my kids are getting. I was told recently that the American Academy of Pediatrics recently doubled the vitamin D recommendation for children. Probably not as big a deal in Colorado, what with our 300+ annual days of sunshine, but there ya go. I just learned that General Mills Big G kid cereals are calcium and vitamin D fortified – this list includes Kix, Lucky Charms, Trix, Cinnamon Toast Crunch, and others. They also have at least 8 grams of whole grain per serving.

You can learn more at growupstrong.com.

However, I’m changing my tune just a bit. I had reason to hit up Kid-to-Kid recently for the first time in over a year. They’ve changed ownership, completely remodeled the store, and it looks FANTASTIC. It’s clean, well organized, and every item I saw was in tip-top shape. No toys strewn throughout the aisles. No stained clothing. Just aisles and aisles of neatly organized items, beautiful new signage, new laminate wood-looking floors throughout the store, and friendly, helpful associates actually WORKING in the store, ready to help me find anything I needed. I glanced through their book selection and probably 85% of the books are good quality children’s literature, too. I bought three classics for $1.99 each. VERY reasonably priced, in my opinion. In fact, they have a little book club you can join where children can get a free book each month.

I’ll be hitting up Kid-to-Kid again, for sure. This has been by far my best experience over the past 12+ years. The whole atmosphere of the store has changed for the better. You know how often those resale shops have a real thrift-store feel to them? They have that funky smell, y’know? Kid-to-Kid used to be that way, but not since their remodel. They’ve shed their aura of poverty, and it’s almost like walking into a Gymboree store. Definitely the more upscale of the resale shops I’ve visited.

Check them out if you’re in the Denver/Aurora area. They’re located at Mississippi and Chambers, in the strip mall where Michael’s is. Thumbs up from here!

For more information on the Aurora location, visit their website here: Aurora Kid-to-Kid

Kid-to-Kid
15035 E. Mississippi
Aurora, Colorado 80012
Phone 303.752.2757
Email aurora@kidtokid.com

Hours:
10AM – 7PM Mon-Fri
10AM – 6PM Sat
11AM – 4PM Sun

Recently, our family received this totally cool looking doll in the mail:

She’s ZOE LINDEN, one of the darling dolls available in the Karito Kids line. Each of these dolls hails from a different part of the world, and comes packaged with her own trendy little outfit and hardcover story book all about her life. This particular doll is from New York City (New York City! I just have to shout it out like in the old Pace Picante Sauce ads. I can’t help it.) Her book is all about saving her mom’s house from foreclosure. No, really.

After you buy one of these dolls, you can log onto their website, KaritoKids.com, and set up an account for your child. Then, you can register your doll and enter a special code to earn World Change Coins. These can be converted into donations to help kids around the world. So, there you go. You’re not spending a small fortune on a doll, you’re giving money to charity.

My own kids were very excited to meet our new buddy Zoe, as you can see here:

Once we cracked her open, they were much more enthusiastic. My oldest daughter decided that Zoe sort of looked like her. Well, dressed like her, anyway. She gave thumbs up to the fingerless gloves and Converse AllStar knockoffs, although she did say if it were HER doll, she’d draw little stars on the shoes to make them look more like the real thing:

  

If only we could change the colors in her outfit from bright and cheerful to dark purple and black, she’d be downright emo. I personally like this doll because she looks so much like my little Nikki. She’s got nearly the same blonde hairstyle, curly with bangs. If we rubbed Spaghetti-Oh’s into the doll’s hair and let it get really tangly, she’d look JUST like Nikki. She does have a super cute face – check out the freckles and eyelashes:

Now this is where the difficulty comes into play. One doll. Four children. Even our little boy loves dolls like this, particularly those that look REAL. We’re trying really hard to be fair with the sharing and turn-taking, but it’s not easy, man. Here are my little Karito Lovers:

Besides wanting to kiss it and love it, Pablo really loves to gently and lovingly stroke the doll’s face, pointing out her eyes, nose, mouth, ears, lips, etc. to us. It’s actually quite precious and touching to see.

A few things about Karito Kids dolls. They’re what I would tactfully call AN INVESTMENT. If you have a kid who is really rough on their toys, this may not be a good choice for you. The dolls are well made, but again, I’m not the type of parent who can plunk down a Benjamin for a DOLL and think nothing of it. But hey – I’m not representative of all parents! You might not be up to your armpits in small children like me. Back in the day when Kayley was an only child, her dad and I both worked, and Christmastime at our house was INSANE. I totally would have bought this doll for her back in that life. She is such a mellow kid, though – the clothes would be completely intact years later, I guarantee you. Here in THIS life, though, we’ve already lost the shoes for poor Zoe. Also, within about 5 minutes of removing this doll from the box, a button or something came off of her outfit. I didn’t see it, I just heard about it from my husband, so I thought I’d mention it. I wouldn’t say it’s a choking hazard, because this doll is rated for children age 6 and up. But – for a doll of this quality, I would expect the buttons to stay on the clothes, y’know?

Bottom line: This is a cool doll. My kids adore it. It might be a perfect fit for your kids and your household. I hope what I’ve written here helps you make that decision. Would you like to win your very own Karito Kids doll? I’m giving one away, valued at $99.00. Woohoo! Just leave a comment here for a chance to win. I’ll randomly draw one winner on September 30th. Be sure to check out the contest rules linked in the menu bar at the top of the page. Good luck to ya!

(Psst…like winning stuff? I’m still giving away kids’ music all month long! Enter those giveaways too!)

My very first ‘Kid was a birthday present I received when I was actually far too old to be carrying around dolls, but they were so ridiculously popular, everyone had them! In this picture, you can see me lovingly cradling my ‘Kid. I’m not sure why I look so pissed off, but it probably had something to do with that haircut.

I wore braces then, and I took my Cabbage Patch Kid with me to the orthodontist one day and asked if they could put braces on my ‘Kid. They said they’d see what they could do. Later on that day, I stopped by the orthodontist office on my way home from school, and I was thrilled to see my Cabbage Patch Kid sitting on the receptionist’s counter, with shiny braces on! They somehow stuck four little metal brackets and a wire right into my CPK’s mouth, even though she really didn’t have teeth. It was darling, and all my friends thought it was the coolest thing ever.

Later that summer, we went on vacation, and here’s where the story takes a scary turn! ::cue dramatic music:: On our way back home, my mom’s car caught on fire out in the Utah desert. We managed to scramble out of it in the nick of time, and I vividly remember standing with my cousin out in the middle of the interstate on the blistering hot pavement, burning our bare feet, and watching my mom’s car completely engulfed in flames. We both lost our Cabbage Patch Kids that day! (And, all our luggage, my mom’s purse, and our yearbooks. Who takes their Cabbage Patch Kids and their yearbooks on vacation? 7th graders, that’s who.)

When we got back home, I immediately guilt-tripped my mother into buying me a new Cabbage Patch Kid. And within days, my grandparents stopped by with a new Cabbage Patch Kid for me as well, so now I owned TWO! I was so cool. And my orthodontist put braces on one of them for me, to replace the one that I lost in the fire. I had both those Cabbage Patch Kids sitting on a shelf until after I was MARRIED, people. I’m not sure what happened to them once I moved out of my ex-husband’s house. I’m sure they ended up at a thrift store, which seriously bums me out.

I just went through my old photo albums, and this is the only picture I found where you can see my Cabbage Patch Kids. It’s sort of a Where’s Waldo? thing, though. They’re just background scenery, barely noticeable. But you’re noticing my feathered bangs, aren’t ya? I knew it. See them up there on the shelf above me? Yep. There they are. The one in the pink has braces.

Well. I’m sure you’ve noticed that nostalgia is the hottest commodity these days. Everyone wants to relive their 80s youth, it would seem, and the makers of Cabbage Patch Kids are jumping on that bandwagon as well. You can now buy a 25th Anniversary replica one-of-a-kind 80s Cabbage Patch Kid, made from the same sculpts/molds and materials as the original 1983 dolls.

They still come with their own adoption certificate, and hiney tattoo of Xavier Roberts’ signature. Here are my own kids, checking out our family’s newest adoptee, and hearing me tell the story of my old Cabbage Patch Kids:

These were truly the first toys that turned parents into monsters, trying to score them as Christmas presents – way before Tickle Me Elmo ever hit the scene! If you want to relive your youth, snag one of these for your own children! You can find out more about them on the Cabbage Patch Kids 25th Anniversary site.

This review was made possible by Team Mom!