My Best Gift, with Bonus Tantrum

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My mom was a pretty outstanding gift giver, whether it was an antique briefcase she found in the closet with my grandpa's initials, or the adorable stuffed animal/poster combos she picked out for my friends' birthday parties.  I remember for Hanukkah we wrapped up the 8 days of lights with a big gift.  One year I got a bike, my sister got a video player to go with her video camera, and my brother got a big stuffed raccoon.  We seriously thought he got the short end of the stick.  Of course we said nothing, because he absolutely loved it, had been coveting the guy to go with his smaller animals.

I like to think I inherited her gift giving skills, at least for the first 40 or so years of my life.  I'm pretty much burned out now...I gave gift cards to my kids last year for pete's sake.  I know that people just love gift cards, and my kids loved them of course, as they were for the Lego store, but I want to make be little more personal.   I've really scored in the past, though, and was reminded the other day by my mom of the best gift I ever bought for someone.  It was for my mom, and I had great fun reminding her of the story again. 

I was a kid, maybe 8 or so, and the family was shopping for each others Hanukkah gifts.  I took off with my dad, knowing exactly what I wanted to get for my mom with my saved up twenty bucks.  We looked and looked, but I could not find one in the right price range.  My dad is not an impatient guy, so we must have planned a meeting time as he started insisting we had to go, we'd come back later.  The item I was looking for was an electric nail file, and manicure set.  See my mom had, after umpteen years, had finally stopped biting her nails.  They were growing out nicely and I thought it would be the perfect gift.  I finally spotted it, and we were out of time.  My dad wanted to come back another time, the nerve.  I can't honestly remember why he wanted to leave, but I threw a tantrum right there in the store.  We had to buy this for mommy, she deserved it.  Crying and whining, I must have been quite a site.  I got my way, though, and snatched up that snazzy kit for $19.99. 

My mom used that thing for years.  It was a different shape than most, and worked amazingly well.  She seriously was never able to duplicate it when it finally died.  The tantrum was totally worth it in my opinion, and my mom was not just being nice, she used it all the time and still has great nails. 
Learn more about the coolest new app that revolutionizes the whole shopping, gifting, and gift card-organizing experience and Download the SWAGG app to your iPhone or Droid. I was selected for this sponsorship by Clever Girls Collective, which endorses Blog With Integrity.

Attack of the Holiday Photo

I've been a Shutterfly fan for quite awhile, and have used them a couple times to order holiday cards.  All those photo sites are pretty cool, but it's nice that this one is local with a huge selection of holiday cards, especially our favorite, the holiday photo cards, like that this simple, but still colorful one on the left.  Very non-demoninational, goes with any photos you could possibly want, only drawback...my husband would probably not like that yellow, I love it. 

My husband's just a bit fanatical about his Christmas photo cards.  Long before I met him, he would send out oodles of Christmas cards to his friends across the earth, each with a photo of himself in some exotic place.  I was very proud of myself one year when I sent 15 to friends, I felt like such an adult.  Growing up we never sent out cards, and I remember a conversation with my dad a number of years ago when he told me "one day I just decided to stop sending cards, and I've never looked back."   Some years when the stacks of cards waiting to be signed and address looms before us during a busy holiday season, I sure can understand that sentiment.

My first husband had no desire to send cards, it did not fit in with his Jewish traditions.  That may be one of the reasons I was so excited to send my own cards.  Post-divorce, I was living alone for the very first time in my life, in my own apartment, watching my TV shows.   Excuse me, lost myself for a second in that fantasy. 

Anyway, my current (does that sound odd?) husband had to give up his exotic locale photos once we added kids and dogs to the mix.  He never liked my idea of using only the kids in the photo, and he loved the challenge of a) picking a creative idea (we've done soccer jerseys - big surprise, pacifiers, lying on the ground in a circle, funny glasses, etc.) b) getting kids and dogs in place (and not crying, in the case of babies and toddlers) c) setting the timer and leaping over to join us and finally d) waiting to get the film developed while you hoped one came out okay.  You have not lived until you've counted down the seconds waiting for the camera to snap, hoping the dog would not wander off of the baby look away.  The age of digital photos, photoshopping and now multiple photos per card has eliminated much of that excitement.  The cards with multiple photos are also a lovely new addition, since you can pick the best picture of yourself and still please your family with silly photos of them.

Now the excitement revolves around picking through the hundreds for options.  In the past I was a bit obsessed to find a funny, "holiday" (as opposed to Christmas), not religious card.  I am always tempted by the Hanukkah cards, my way to make up for the years of years of Christmas overload during my Jewish upbringing.  Maybe it's because I have boys, but I love this one...got the modern touch, with toys.  Our photos would of course include colorful jerseys and butts.  I can totally relate to the friends who've completely given up on ever getting cards out before Christmas, so go with New Year’s cards or on one case, Valentine's, which was great.  My husband will have none of that, these cards will wish you a happy holiday, Merry Christmas or Seasons Greetings, whether sent out on Dec. 15th or Jan. 15th.  Just to add to the struggle, yes, we've also started a letter, but it is pretty funny, promise.

We often just choose the simple one photo one, because, frankly, it's cheaper and we just have to find that one family photo.  Plus how cute is that reindeer?  It's also got just enough room to scribble our signature, the minimal in personal touches, important when you have 150 to fill out.  So imagine this little number,

 

with this photo?

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This post is part of a series sponsored by Shutterfly. I was selected for this sponsorship by the Clever Girls Collective, which endorses Blog With Integrity, as I do.

Mastermind

As I mentioned there were a ton of sponsors and giveaways at BlogHer, and while I sent a box of stuff home, only a handful really prompted me to give them a shout-out on my review blog.

One of those was one of my favorite games as a child. It's Mastermind, and the original has hardly changed. The colors have changed slightly, the case is blue and I think it used to be black, but this simple, logic game is still the one I loved. The company just had a small table at the conference, and the great thing was they sent me the game rather than having me haul it home. I also got a new version for little kids, which is absolutely adorable. It's animals placed in a certain order, which makes it a bit easier than remembering colors and location.

There seem to be a whole slew of editions now, the aforementioned classic plus advanced and ultimate, which I'd love to play with my husband or dad.  Of course there are Disney and Spongebob versions, but I like the animal the best.

The only drawback to this game is my kids keep making mistakes when they put the little pegs it, makes it hard for me to win.

From the Blogher 10 Sponsor page 

Pressman Toy Corp.

MASTERMIND, the classic game of strategy from Pressman Toy Corporation, has had players making and breaking codes for generations. It’s the codemaker vs. the codebreaker! Solve your opponent's code in fewer turns than it takes your opponent to solve your code. With 2,401 combinations possible, it’s a mind-bending challenge every time the game is played. New versions for kids include Animal MASTERMIND Towers and SpongeBob MASTERMIND Towers. Learn more at http://www.mastermindboardgame.com/.

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Disclosure:  I was sent a complimentary Mastermind Classic game and Animal MASTERMIND® Towers with no other compensation.  I was under no obligation to post a review and all above opinions are my own.

Hexbug City

"Daddy, what's your favorite toy?  Mine are the hex bugs"
                                                                    Keegan, Age 7

"I like those other toys, but these are clearly much more fun for everyone"
                                                                   Nieve, Age 8

"They look like cockroaches, mommy does not want one."
                                                              Most of the moms

Want a toy you might have to chase around the house, looks like a cross between a bug and an electronic circuit and your kids will absolutely love?  Let me introduce, the HEXBUG Nano.  Actually, they come in all shapes (the Nano is the newest) and my first introduction to them was as a giveaway from my company.  We're even selling them on our company website so you know they're going to appeal to the nerd in all of us. 

Watch them in action and tell me you're not impressed - my apologies for the sideways video

Last week I threw a hexbug party for a bunch of families from our school.  I stayed up late the night before putting the maze of interconnected pieces together, the buggy habitat, to prevent a repeat of the ZhuZhu pet habitrail nightmare.  I put a couple sets together on the coffee table, and the next day my sons managed to cover the floor with an elaborate maze in like 5 minutes.  It snaps together easily and is easy to take apart. 

These bugs are amazing, they'll flip over, zoom around and push each other off the bridge in the Hexbug Nano Bridge batte, which is really cool. There were girls and boys at this party, kids from 4-8 and lots of parents.  Everyone thought they were pretty cool, even if a few moms found them creepy.  My son really did claim it was his favorite toy, although he may have been swept up in the moment.

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Disclosure: I was given 30 Hexbug Nanos and an extensive habitat and other kits to throw a party for kids.  I received no other compensation for this post.  All opinions are my own.

Thank You Party Sponsors

I had the absolute pleasure of going to a Silicon Valley Moms blog holiday party, not the least of why it may be my only chance to really dress up this season (that awkward sentence was my gift to you this holiday blogging season). Hooray I'm back working at my old company, but they got rid of evening parties eons ago, so no chance there. This party was sponsored by Chevy, who gifted us with lovely Tiffany GM key chains.

Photo by Carla Duharte-Razua of babyjidesigns

Coffee mate gave us travel mugs and creamer, but more importantly gave me the kick in the butt I needed to donate some suits I never wear. They collected 95 pounds of clothes to send to Dress For Success, whose "mission is to promote the economic independence of disadvantaged women by providing professional attire, a network of support and the career development tools to help women thrive in work and in life." You should go send a Cup of Confidence and COFFEE-MATE® will donate fifty cents to Dress for Success for every cup (or note) sent.

Photo by Carla Duharte-Razua of babyjidesigns

I actually won two fabulous items. One was a Nintendo Wii and Wii Fit Plus. Awesome awesome prize, yes and I got it by getting the highest points flapping like a chicken (Bird's-Eye Bulls-Eye to be exact). Tee hee. I got a Wii fit a while ago, and when I heard about the Wii Fit Plus I ran out to add it to our minimal Wii game collection. It was only $20 and it's got loads more games for 2 people. My kids can't seem to fathom games that are not competitive, so they only want to to the 2-person run, which is technically not a race but don't bother telling that to my kids. This Chicken flapping game is so silly my 5 and 7 year old boys refuse to do it, so I of course had to try for myself, and let them laugh at me. All that practice paid off and I got the high score. I've been encouraging my parents to get a Wii Fit, since my mom really needs to improve her balance and I thought this would be perfect. They have helped us out so much this year and I was glad to give them this gift, I just need my kids to get grandma to actually try it.

I also got three of Olive Smart Sack reusable bags, and won six more and I have to say these are so much better than all the other reusable grocery bags I have. They are compact, designed to fit in your cup holder so you don't forget to bring them in. I've been keeping them in my purse and they are so soft and so strong I love using them for everything. I swear I'm not just saying that because one of the owners of the company got me a glass of wine while his wife told me about the bags. I have a weirdness about certain materials, and these are really nice to the touch and come in pretty colors.

I left with goodies for the kids too. So often all the fun kids things are for babies or little girls plus my boys mostly wear soccer gear or jeans and t-shirts. They loved these soft blue grass hats from Zooni though, and sure looked adorable with the glasses from Teeny Tiny Optics. The baby blanket from Lucky Jade was soft and so different than most, can't decide if we should keep it or give it to an actual baby.

He likes the hat, just not having his picture taken.

There were so many great companies there. I got tickets to Wicked, which I've been wanting to see. I read the book a while ago, and keep hearing great things about this show. Tiny Prints! gave us a beautiful assortment of thank you and holiday cards and if we can get our act together and take a family photo we may order our Christmas cards, or more likely New Years, cards through them.

There were so many other sponsors, and you can see them here as well as get coupon codes for your holiday shopping. I will post more about all the great electronics and lotions and creams as I try them out.

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Disclosure: I was not compensated monetarily for this post, nor was I obligated to post in any way. I did receive the products mentioned above for free.

Pixorial Online Video Service Review

A couple weeks ago I was offered a chance to try out a new online video service thanks again to Silicon Valley Moms blog. In the interest of full disclosure, Pixorial gave me a $50 credit so I would be able to upload content to play with, and a Pro membership (value $24.50). One of the most unique features of this new site is the ability to digitize any form of video. While so far I've only uploaded videos from my Canon digital camera and Flip, I know we've got our wedding video on cassette, and I can bet my dad's even got some old movies on reel to reel. We also have a continual problem with various tapes and DVDs that come with a couple different video cameras we own. The idea is to ensure all the movies are safe and can be seen, in the founder's words:

"Pixorial was created to make it easy for you view, safeguard, and share your most cherished memories with the ones you love.

The site was fairly straightforward to use. As I said I haven't sent in any video, but you can find a review of someone who has here. I chose the upload feature and have uploaded about 8 videos of various lengths. It take a while, and because of the unique digital conversion, you can only upload one at a time, but I'm hoping eventually you can do more than one. I did create a really long movie using the Flip video software and piecing together a bunch of videos, and I could not upload that, so I'll be asking them about whether it's the format or the length. They are very responsive to questions, wonderful customer service, I just haven't gotten around to asking.

Once you have your videos in your media section, you can edit your footage. This way you can pick certain "scenes" or sections of your video. In my case I grabbed just a few seconds of some Guitar Hero playing, split up two different songs from Donovan's graduation, and grabbed about 30 seconds worth of Keegan's entire first grade concert. It's very simple editing, easy to fast forward to the parts you want - doing it directly, or using these cool (virtual of course) magnets to pull the ends of your scenes. I know they are working on an upgrade to the user interface, as right now it's a bit confusing. View to create the scenes, and Edit to produce a show from those scenes. Or go directly to the Produce tab. Here are some screen shots to illustrate, hoewver there are very easy to follow tutorials on the site itself.

After you've created your scenes you can then Produce a Show using the scenes or adding the master, which would be the whole video. There are then options for transitions and titles. I think there could be a lot more too this, and I'm sure they are working on this aspect. On another online video service I've been able to add more color, text right on the video, fun effects (which are in process) and other features. It was quite fast, though, once I got the hang of it.

The third step is share, which might be a DVD or a whole set of them for a volume discount. You can create covers for your DVD as well. I'll be creating one of these for my mother-in-law, since her computer is usually a little too slow for video links. Those all cost something, but you can share on facebook, email a link or embed as I've done below for free, or download a Hi Res version for $1.99. The emailed links takes you to the video, with an option to copy the link or the code for embedding. You can even create a mosaic of a picture of your choosing with thumbprints of the videos, which sounds like a fun idea.

I also posted this on facebook, which took about 10 minutes to appear in my email and was really easy to throw right on my wall. The link worked really well.

There is a free membership offer right now, so you can head on over to sign up. I'll report back once I've located and sent in my "analog" videos. You can even send in a memory card and they will upload all the videos on there, so I may do that as well.

Super Why Camp Activities

As part of our SuperWhy event a few weeks ago we took home a package of activities, just a subset of what PBS brings to their great looking summer camps. There were a few worksheets for each day, corresponding to the superhero Super Why characters. I have to admit, the stars must be aligned, the bribes offered and the energy exhausted to get my boys to actually sit down with crayons. They love the idea of coloring and cutting and gluing, just would rather be outside playing soccer. So it took me a while to get this going, and we ended up doing the first activity in one day, the rest another (instead of one per day).

On the first day you ask a series of questions on day 1 then again on day 5, to see what they learned. Great idea, no tricks, just imparting a love of learning with familiar stories, super powers and solvable problems. For the activities the kids transform themselves into the characters, so they get the powers and do the work. I loved the idea, kids not so thrilled.

As you can see, here is Keegan who has transformed into Alpha Pig. Keegan was enthusiastic, bordering on whiny, wanting to do the worksheets, but they were way to easy for him. Donovan didn't want to be anyone but Super Why, so Keegan got this mask, with the payback of having to pose for a photo. I got a video of Donovan doing the activities for this day, but they were a bit easy, identifying letters and reading simple words. He also already knew the story of the three little pigs.

My kids have lost any remnants of their feminine sides, so Wonder Red and Princess Presto were a no-go on the masks, but Donovan had fun with the work sheets. It really brought a smile to his face when he could fill in the letters and identify the right words. Notice most letters are still backwards. He's not even in kindergarten so I'm happy I don't have to correct these yet.

Finally, the Super Why mask. Too bad mom was incompetent and unprepared when it came to actually figuring out how to get it to stay. In the second photo the mask is taped onto his nose.

Backwards as his letters might be, Donovan is very confident when he writes. In the last activity, they finished the sentences/story lines and drew a picture of the word they chose. Drawing he struggles a bit more, but gee, if someone told me to draw a wolf I would have panicked. His only question was whether it had to look like the picture. Of course not, so I present you with stick-figure big bad wolf.

And pink pigs, of course. Pink pigs are his favorite animal, although he's got emotional troubles with the color pink, what with bro and dad expressing their hate of that color at every opportunity. Phooey, pink is pretty.

Thanks again PBS. I am really impressed with their shows, activities, outreach programs and desire to get parents more involved. I would much rather sit down and read of color and write with the kids. I'm not against TV and computers, but I'd rather have them do that on their own. You can find these activities here and tons of activities on this page

Super Why from PBS

I got to attend another fun and enlightening event with the Silicon Valley Moms. PBS hosted a discussion about kids and learning and their Super Why program at the Stanford Park Hotel, with delicious food and wine (in fact I was inspired to make their sliders for a dinner party).

If you want to see the thoughts on PBS, educational TV, all things PBS, check out the tweets under #pbsparents. Here's one of mine:

Words don't have power until we read them. We can change the story by changing the words. #pbsparents6:59 PM Jun 16th from twhirl

They talked about the development of Super Why and all the research and work that goes into each episode. It is a really cute concept, solving a problem, super heroes, fairy tales and reading. My kids used to watch it, now they'd prefer the online games. The PBS website is actually a bit nicer than others for kids, since the online games are customized for each show. The characters are Alpha Pig, Wonder Red, Princess Presto, Super Why. Even though my son is obsessed with stuffed piggies and pig books, his favorite is Super Why/Whyatt.

What they really wanted to know was how to get parents more involved, how much information they want. Personally I rarely watch TV with the kids, although they don't watch much anymore, it's been replace by the Wii and computer time. Every bit of research shows that reading, and talking to your kids, and reading to your kids, is absolutely critical in doing well in school, in life, to put it in a very simplistic way. I do love how PBS and Super Why focuses on that. My son who's been reading for a while is clearly to old, although he'll watch if it's on. But my 5YO, who is learning to read, very excited when he learns new words, gets completely engaged and likes the web games as well.

A huge shout-out to PBS for giving us wonderful programs for us as children as well as our children. They spoke about a Super WHY reading camps outreach program, which looks wonderful. They also gave us activities to take home, as well as a backpack, book which we read tonight (Jack and the Beanstalk), the Three Little Pigs DVD and one other musical DVD. I've started the activities with Donovan so will be blogging all about that at the end of the week.