Kids and Style

Summer is in full effect, kids are outside playing in the hose, the air conditioner is running full blast, and the freezer is stocked up with ice cream. Summer is also the time of year that I start school shopping for my two kids. When my kids were toddlers buying clothes for them was not a big deal. Now that they are school aged they seem to have way too many opinions about what I should buy and what they want to wear. My son Riley is starting kindergarten this year and I kid you not, he has already told me that he wants a bunch of “cool shirts” when he starts up. Sounds easy enough, but what Riley considers cool is not so easy to come by. Granted he is still only 5 years old, this kid has some very specific ideas of style. I see influences from myself and his father in what he considers to be his style. Riley seems to be gearing towards a sort of casual punk rock type of look lately. I bought him a pair of skinny Levi’s a few weeks ago and now he tells me that he only wants skinny jeans from now on. So, skinny jeans it is. I just can’t bring myself to cramp this kids style! He also has taken a liking to smaller fitting t-shirts. Why a boy would like smaller shirts is beyond me, but he insists. I was shopping at JC Penney last week and ran across a great clearance sale on boys shirts. Luckily Riley was with me and helped me choose which ones were the “coolest”. He seems to be a strictly jeans and t-shirt type of kid. From time to time he will wear cargo shorts and wife beater type shirts. What really gets me is that he has become a sneaker king in a matter of months. When I started to talk about buying shoes for back to school he told me that he just HAD to have a pair of Vans shoes. And he was even a little more specific than that because he demanded that the Vans be checkered. I was able to find a pair at a decent price!

        I also have a 3 year old daughter and she is super fun to shop with. Her style is very simple and straightforward. On most days she just wears a simple dress with sandals. She also looks very good in long tops paired with leggings. I think that look is very suiting for her and it allows me to do a little more mixing and matching than with other outfits.

        Both kids are young, but they do have their own little sense of style and I like that! I think it says a lot about how they feel about themselves and their own sense of self. Not many children this age would even care about what they wear, but my two are always down to look fresh!

“I wrote this blog post while participating in the SocialMoms and jcpenney blogging program, for a gift card worth $50. For more information on how you can participate, click here.

My First Pinkberry Experience!

A couple weeks back I applied to host a special party at my local Pinkberry. I discovered the opportunity on one of my recent favorite websites: Crowdtap. (Check them out if you get the chance as I have earned a lot of Amazon codes and have also been chosen to host some really cool parties.) I was sent a nice little booklet that outlined the party concept and included a $25 gift card to Pinkberry. The concept of the party was to make a Pinkberry yogurt and topping combination that complimented our favorite summer outfits. Sounded easy enough until we couldn't make up our minds on which flavor to try. My group of friends happen to all be moms so we decided to take out little ones along as well. It is summer after all and the thought of not taking the kids for a cold treat is ridiculous. Prior to the party my friends and I sat down and decided that since it was hot that we would most likely opt for some fruity flavors. So we dressed in bright, fruity colors as did our children. We loaded them all up in a couple mini-vans and trekked up to Pinkberry in Rancho Cucamonga, California (super nice staff at this store!). We were not entirely sure where the Pinkberry was, but as we cruised near the building the kids spotted the store first and pointed excitedly. As we entered the store we were all impressed with the cool decor. One wall had Pinkberry to-go containers lining the wall and the tables and chairs were very pleasing to the eye. As we walked up to the counter we were kindly greeted by a couple of smiling young ladies who offered us samples. The kids chose watermelon to sample and instantly all of them decided that watermelon was going to be their choice. One kid decided on fresh strawberries as a topping and the other 3 followed along. My friends and I (who had all planned on fruity flavors) sampled the pomegranate and the salted caramel.

 All plans of fruity creations were thrown out the window when we sampled the salted caramel. I do believe that one friend did get a mix/combo/swirl with pomegranate. I have to say that the salted caramel was wonderful, but it only got better when the girl behind the counter added a small sprinkle of sea salt. I have never tasted such a delicious flavor combination. My friends and I were all in agreement that Pinkberry was "freakin' awesome"! Since the party last weekend I have been to Pinkberry two other times! It's like an addiction for me now and the perfect compliment to my low calorie diet. I became a fan from the minute I tasted that first creamy sample.

Review: Disney's Interactive DVD Games

My three year old daughter, who happens to go by the name of Boo, has always been interested in gaming. Usually we hand her a controller without batteries as we play games and she believes that she is playing along as well. Well, no more pretending for little Boo! I ran across these really cool Disney DVDs that come with a special little remote in the shape of a Mickey Mouse head. The first one we tried out was called Mickey's Numbers Round-Up. You can choose to just watch the special episodes of Mickey Mouse Clubhouse or you can access the bonus features where you can select to play the interactive version using the Mickey Mote. The Mickey Mote is very simple and easy to set up. Ours was up and running in less than a minute. To my delight Boo was thoroughly entertained and with little direction able to play along on her own without much assistance. Mickey and his pals encouraged Boo to help them solve simple problems by choosing the correct button the Mickey Mote. After an hour and a half of watching Boo completely engrossed in this game I knew we had found a winner. We have since purchased the Minnie's Masquerade DVD, and this one too has proven to be very enjoyable for Boo. This one even came with a little masquerade mask that Boo wore the entire time that she was playing. I am so happy to have found a sort of "video game" that my daughter can easily play and get some educational value out of.

(I was not paid or given a free product for this review, I simply like the product and wanted to let people know!)

First New Console of E3

Well, rumor had it that Nintendo was announcing a new console this year at E3 and that rumor proved to be true. Scheduled to be released sometime next year Wii U looks very promising. I own a Wii, but was never really impressed with it. In fact all my Wii does at this point is collect dust. BUT I find myself pretty excited about the Wii U. Seems like Nintendo is recognizing that they alienated hardcore gamers in the past and is doing something about that. Wii U looks to output 1080p over HDMI, and talk of M-rated third party games is already underway. What seems iffy to me is the controller. They seem to be fusing almost like an iPad type device with a controller. It has a 6.2 inch touch screen that can used in place of a television if needed. It looks clunky to me, but intriguing.  I am eager to see how this all plays out for Nintendo.

Falling in love with television again....oh how I love Verizon Fios!

About a year and a half ago I was faced with the ultimate tease when  a neighbor informed me that Verizon was planning to install Fios in our neighborhood. At that point in time I was trapped into subscribing to cable, phone, and internet through Time Warner. I say trapped because that was literally my only option as satellite dishes are not allowed in my apartment complex. Upon hearing the exciting news I instantly began hounding Verizon's sales line for an ETA as to when I would be able to subscribe to Fios. Unfortunately it wound up taking longer than I expected, but the day that they started tearing up my street to install the fiber optic lines was a very exciting day for me. But...it was not near as exciting as the day that a customer service representive knocked on my door offering me an AMAZING deal on all three services.

The rep was prepared to to work his magic and show me the ways that Fios would change my media habits. My eagerness made his job very easy that day as I quickly signed up...contract free! About a week later the service men came and installed phone, internet, and fiber optic television throughout my apartment. It took a couple hours since the service was brand new in my building, but boy was it worth the wait. As soon as they had cleaned up and given me a little lesson on how to use my remotes I was good to go.

The first thing I noticed was that the picture quality was stunning. I have heard other cable and satellite companies claim they had the best picture, but Verizon had it in the bag! Next I moved on to tinkering with my multi-room DVR. The ability to record programs in the living room and watch them in other rooms is fantastic! As I flipped through my on screen program guide I began to notice a ton of channels that I had never been able to recieve through Time Warner. Much to my delight I now had some of my favorite channels in HD (Vh1, MTV, Bravo, just to name a few).

Later on I really began to explore all the wonderful Fios features and to my surprise I was even able to update my facebook feed right from my television (I used this feature to let all my friends know that I now had the best television service EVER). What really got my attention was the widgets. I had never experienced this function with other cable services. I found the WeatherBug widget to be my favorite from the get go, and I still consult it daily to get a heads up on the weather.

My surprise did not stop there because I soon discovered my favorite feature of Verizon Fios...the media manager! Ahhhhhh! I had been streaming videos in the past through my Xbox 360, and to be honest it was not always so successful. But I quickly downloaded the media manager on my desktop pc and within minutes I was transferring my video files to stream without a hitch straight to my Verizon set top box. I still use the media manager on a daily basis.

So, you see why I would be so excited to finally have the best television service in my home. Pair all these wonderful features with the unarguably lightning fast internet and I am in heaven! Did I mention that I also have an app on my iPhone that allows me to use it as a remote? Because I do! And when one of the kids manages to make the regular remote vanish, I resort to my app instead of tearing the house apart in a desperate rush to lower the volume on Yo Gabba Gabba.

I wrote this blog post while participating in the SocialMoms and Verizon FiOS blogging program for a gift card. For more information on how you can participate, click here.

Motorstorm Apocalypse

I've fallen into that bugged eyed trap of various racing games in the past. I always have felt frustrated, but at the same time entertained by high speed racing games. The frustration seemed to have been my predominant feeling and that led me to avoid this type of game for quite some time now. It's not like I am bad at gaming, but the precision required  to beat the challenges in racing games was just not there for me. So, I was reluctant to start up Motorstorm: Apocalypse for this very reason. But...I did decide to give it a spin since my 5 year old was very interested after watching a gameplay trailer. Boy am I glad that I gave it a shot! This is another game that makes me feel like my eyes are going to pop out of my head from a combination of high speeds and flashy graphics, but it sort of feels good. There are a number of different types of vehicles to race and as progress in the story mode you will unlock even more. The real fun I am finding is in the online gameplay. I have been overwhelmed by multiplayer racing for some time now, but the sheer fun of M:A quickly helped me get over this. I am still working on beating the story mode so I can utilize all the cool vehicles this game has to offer. I will beat this game, I will beat this game!

The Harlem Globetrotters Giveaway!

Generations of fun, the Harlem Globetrotters are coming to town to hoop it up with their awe-inspiring and amped up “4 Times the Fun” North American tour.  Celebrating their unbelievable 85th season, games get underway for young and old alike at Citizens Business Bank Arena in Ontario Thursday, Feb. 24 (7:00pm), Honda Center in Anaheim Saturday, Feb. 26 (2:00pm/7:00pm), and STAPLES Center in Los Angeles Sunday, Feb. 27 (12:00pm).

Innovators and entertainers admired the world over, the team will introduce the first-ever 4-point shot that has everyone talking (35 feet from the net). http://www.better.tv/videos/m/35859726/harlem-globetrotters.htm As a celebration for all ages, the Globetrotter experience blends tradition with non-stop hilarity, “how do they do that” basketball skills, and a heavy dose of audience participation and inspiration. It’s a winning formula the Magicians of Basketball just never seem to lose.

Bring it on! Tickets starting as low as $16 are on sale now at respective box offices or www.Ticketmaster.com, or 1-800-745-3000. Information on group and scout tickets can be found at www.harlemglobetrotters.com. Every game includes a 30-minute post game autograph session, or consider purchasing the pregame “Magic Pass” to enjoy a special pre-game experience.

If you would like the chance to win a 4 pack of tickets, comment on this post and make sure you enter your email address. If you are feeling nice, you can also subscribe to my blog. The winner will be drawn on 2/16/2011 using random.org! Good luck!

Daytrippin'

I had an itchin' to get outdoors a couple weekends ago. My mom had been telling us about this awesome park that had a little zoo and a small train. So we finally got around to checking out Irvine Regional Park in Orange, CA. Amazing! Great place to get away for the day. It is close enough that we could get there in about 30 minutes, yet we felt so far away. It is like a little pocket of beauty that I never even knew existed. The park also scores points with me for being relatively affordable. Entrance/parking was only $5.00 per car, Riley rode the train for $4.00, and Morgan rode the ponies for $4.00. They also have a small zoo with animals that are native to California. They have bears, various birds, mountain lions, and even an ocelot. We had such a great time. I recommend this to anyone needing to get away for the day.
For more information and directions....