Pack of Six 8 Oz Food Pouches #Review #SportsPouch

     I miss my van.  My van was awesome.  We've had so many adventures in that van... now the motor is gone and I don't know if I'll be getting it back.  Broofy wants me to have his van, but I've told him that I would only have it for a month tops before we all die in some horrific accident.  He'd be all alone, regretting the decision to make me drive it.  I can't drive it... it's like driving on ice, it terrifies me.  I don't think he believes me when I tell him that van will kill us.  I want MY van back.  My van that handles like a dream, has built-in car seats and a DVD player.  My family van...  the one with a working glove box, factory stereo, and stickers on the windows that scare me half to death every time to look over my shoulder to change lanes.  The van with a cigarette outlet, dashboard that tells me which door the kids left ajar, and grey interior with custom denim flooring.  We did everything in it, we lived in it.  I miss my van.

     I miss being able to go places whenever the mood struck.  We went soooo many places last summer.  We went to playground, beaches, parks, tracks, trails, events, and stores.  We went wherever the roads took us.  We had so much fun.  We ate new foods, explored new places, and tried new things.  One of our favorite things was also one that was pretty practical for our on-the-go lifestyle.

     They're these pretty nifty food pouches that really help with taking food with you.  They were pretty essential if we didn't want to pay out the nose for fast food or have sandwiches every day.  There's no worry about who got more than the other, containers tipping over in the car, or the kids not quite shutting the container properly.  We used it to eat mashed potatoes in the van, dress our salads at the beach... we could even fill it with hot soup, provided the soup didn't have large chunks.  They were perfect for yogurt, baked beans, syrup drink mix, you name it.

     These ones by Basics Best are 8 oz. each, which is on the bigger end of things.  It holds enough food to fill babies and toddlers up and to hold over big kids and adults.  It's perfect for my family.  For Boogie and Baby Bee, I can fill a pouch with mashed potatoes, baked beans, oatmeal, or cheesy alphabet noodles.  They can feed themselves, even traditionally messy foods, without making a mess in my van.  It's a great way to know exactly what's in your baby's food and make sure they are eating well or avoiding allergens.

     For the big kids and myself, I can bring along bread, a can of ham patties, and fill a pouch with mayo.  Or maybe bring chips and fill one with nacho cheese and one with chili... whatever will go with what we're having that day.  Or I could just hold us over with whatever the little kids are having, maybe add some bread sticks and chopped veggies to it to make it more filling for all of us.  No knives or other dishes needed, nothing to clean up until you get home!

      To fill the pouches, you open the bottom zip lock area when the cap is on securely.  Then use a funnel, spoon, or pour spout to fill it (leaving enough room to compensate for when it's closed), then zip very carefully and very firmly.  Turn upright over a sink or bowl to be sure it's locked well, then wipe clean and that's it!  You can bring them in a plastic food storage container, in a lunch bag, small cooler or such.

     There's a few cool features worth mentioning.  One is that it has an area on the pouch for you to write what food is in it and when it was made.  Or if you know you're only going to use it that one day, you could write who's it is.

     Another pretty cool feature is that the box comes with a nice recipe on the side.  It's the little things, you know?  This recipe is for Pumpkin Puree.  Yum!  It also has a link to other awesome recipes for you to try and where you can also find ideas for adult food to put in it.  Yes, please!

     These pouches come in several designs, are BPA and PVC free, Phthalate and Lead free, Dishwasher and Freezer safe, and reusable!  Do you have a really busy week coming up?  Maybe a week that you're dreading because you have lots of appointments or a trip to take and you don't know how you'll manage it all?  Make ahead and freeze!  Cold breakfasts like smoothies, chai pudding, applesauce, etc.  Or even warm breakfasts... the night before, thaw them out.  The morning of, just place them in a bowl of very hot water to warm them up while you get dressed.  Breakfast can be had in the car with no need of rushing the kids or cleaning up the table!

     I can honestly see a neverending list of uses for these and they are all helpful to a busy mom like me.  To learn more, check out Basics Best on Amazon, Facebook, Twitter, or on their website at BasicsBest.com.

Except for the product(s) given to me for the purpose of reviewing, I received no compensation for this post. All opinions are 100% my own.

My First Sweet Tooth Silicone Baby Teethers #Review #KidznetEnterprisesMyfirstsweettooth

     Each year for Christmas, I tend to get duplicate gifts, mostly because all the girls want the same kind of things.  This year on their lists were fruit infuser water bottles, art supplies, selfie sticks, and teething necklaces... yeah, teething necklaces.  They all wanted one to chew on.  A few wanted them for concentration purposes, a few for the fashion, and Boog wanted one because he likes necklaces.

     The Big One got more than one.  It wasn't fair, I guess... but her necklaces didn't have a whole string of beads or matching bracelets like the others, so it was almost even.  One of hers was one of these My First Sweet Tooth teethers.  They came in three colors, orange, strawberry, and blueberry.  The Big One got blueberry.

     These adorable little necklaces are designed to look like an Oreo-style cookie made from BPA-free food grade silicone.  It's even got a cream filling.  That's pretty cool because most teethers are one solid color.

     They come on different colored strings that seem to be nylon.  The strings can be taken out if you want the baby to play with it.  I don't think it would be very easy to put it back in if you could at all... but you should never give the baby the teether if the string is still in it.

     The grooves on the outside of the teether cookie help the baby to sooth their sore gums.  It can be used at normal temperature or refrigerated for extra soothing.

     These are great for teething and I recommend them to any parent of a teething baby.  To learn more check out Kidznet Enterprises on Amazon.

Except for the product(s) given to me for the purpose of reviewing, I received no compensation for this post. All opinions are 100% my own.

12 Piece Dinosaur Toy Set #Review

     Boog is getting to be a very good artist.  A few weeks ago, he was just starting to draw things.  He started with faces, then moved onto spiders, foxes, and dinosaurs.  Now he's tracing super complicated pictures and you can tell what they are!  It's insane.  He's my little prodigy.

     I think  it's awesome that one of his first drawings was a dinosaur.  It had bumps all down it's back and everything.  It was pretty detailed for a two year old who just started drawing.  It made me think, I've definitely got to get the movie The Good Dinosaur.  I think he'd love it.

      I think he'll also definitely love these toy dinosaurs from Kids Imaginative, it's a 12 piece dinosaur toy set.  What's cool about these is that they differ so much.  No two dinosaurs were the same kind or the same coloring.

     The set ranged from two legged carnivores to two legged herbivores, four legged carnivores, to four legged herbivores, in varying heights and postures.

     They aren't perfect, you can see the glue in some of them where the two halves were put together.  But the details are great.  Just look at the veiny areas and the wrinkles and such.

  I just love their little faces.  On some of them, the eyes pop, like this guy.  Then on some, maybe not so much.  So they do differ and they aren't flaw free, like this guy's tongue.  But they are perfect for kids.

     Look at the skin creases!  I can't wait til Boogie sees these.  Maybe it will be enough to get Gummy Bear out of his head.

     I most definitely recommend these dinosaurs to anyone with small kids who could benefit from having them.  To learn more, check out Kids Imaginative on Amazon.
Except for the product(s) given to me for the purpose of reviewing, I received no compensation for this post. All opinions are 100% my own.

Online Babysitting Course #Review #CherokeeChildcare

     The Big One has been wanting for a while now to earn money babysitting.  She's 11 and she's been allowed to watch the baby for up to 10 or 15 minutes by herself while I run down to the bus or get the mail.  I know that she's responsible and dependable, but she has no proper training.  Of course she is probably too young to earn money through anyone unless she is babysitting young kids while the parents try to get things done in the home at the time.  But even so, she won;t even earn money doing that without structured lessons first.

      So for Christmas, she's going to be receiving an online babysitting course on Udemy.com.  The course goes through resume building, price setting, nutrition, activities, discipline, first aid, and more.  It uses a variety of video lectures and downloadable text.

     The first lesson is about building a resume and learning how to set a base charge and when you should raise or lower your price.  For instance, whether you are required to provide food, drive longer distances than usual, or the age of the children.  Some of the things that could be helpful on a resume are definitely things that The Big One will be involved in soon, such as first aid certification and formal training in babysitting.

     Next is a downloadable first aid guide, it shows what to do in case of choking, lacerations, first aid, etc.  After that, it takes you through creating positive relationships with children as well as the use of reverse psychology and when to use it.  To be honest, a lot of these reverse psychology ideas seemed hurtful to me and I would never use them.  Things such as "You probably can't do it anyway, I bet you can't." might motivate some, but it would make me feel bad about myself if someone said it to me... things like that.  SO be sure if you use reverse psychology that you know the person can take it well.

     Next you go through fun activities for keeping kids busy and the dos and don'ts of discipline.  A few of these ideas I found also to be ones I wouldn't consider, like the Drill Sargent act.  Mostly I think I wouldn't because I don't think I'd be thrilled to walk in and see someone using that routine with my children.  But obviously different parents will accept different things.  I wouldn't want someone letting my kids walk all over them either.  It's a give and take, I guess.  As you can see from the image above, this part of the course had some visual technical difficulties.

     The next sections talk about nutrition and multiple children.  It tells which foods will be healthiest and give longer lasting energy and hunger control as well as tips on feeding multiple kids. There's also suggestions for fun group activities with instructions on how to do them.

     The last part gives some extra information, such as tips and tricks of the trade.  Here are my general thoughts on the course:

• The information is good, there's lots of valuable information in it.
• Some of the information I did find either irrelevant to the course (like the part about folic acid during pregnancy) or things I wouldn't use (the parts in the reverse psychology bit).
• The downloadable texts are nice.
• Some of the text had issues just like some of the video.  Things like the game instructions being hard to separate, they run together.
• The video is also nice, it's great that you get breaks form the reading and that the reading provides breaks from the videos.
• Some of it was a touch hard to listen to as the words were stumbled on a bit.

     Overall, I think the course isn't a bad one.  It's only about $40, which isn't much when you consider that it looks great on a resume.  The Big One will be really happy to have this under her belt and I'm glad she will have it as well.  Did you ever babysit when you were a kid?

     To learn more, checkout the online babysitting course on Udemy.

Except for the product(s) given to me for the purpose of reviewing, I received no compensation for this post. All opinions are 100% my own.

Black Baby Girls Tutu from SBParts #Review #BabyTutu

          One of my favorite things to do as a parent is to take my kids on Photo Shoots.  I've had so much fun over the years doing shoots for birthdays, start of school, start of Summer, and other times of the year just for fun.  Some of my favorite props have been planters, headbands, and tutus.  We had quite a bit of fun after I made a set of tutus for the older three.  I bought tights and cut leggings from them and we used leotards we'd been given.

     The pictures came out great and the girls loved dressing up all fancy.  I have a photo of each of my girls in a tutu, it's kind of a little tradition I had.  So tutus kind o hold a little place in my heart now.  That's why when I got this Black Girls Tutu from SBParts, I was pretty excited about it.  It's a simple black tutu, but the way that it's made gives it a really cute shape I think.  Check it out:

     Doesn't it look dainty?  It's meant to be for babies 0-12 months.  I thought it looked a touch big for that age.  Baby Bee is five.  She's about the size of a 3 1/2 - 4 year old and this fit her well.  I would suggest this tutu for ages 2-4.  The length is also I think a bit long for a 1 year old.  It could likely fit my 11 year old, who wears a size 9 though, so it's flexible.

     The tutu has a pretty satin-like waist band with an elastic band inside.  It also has three separate layers of tulle.   There's a lot of pretty scrunching on the waist, but it tapers out to being pretty smooth at the bottom.   There is no real design at the bottom, it's straight across the whole thing.

     When Baby Bee stands up, the tutu tends to fall flat across the front of her legs and stick out more in the back.  I LOVE that look, I think it's so sweet.  It reminds me a bit of Audrey Hepburn, the way it's shaped.  All she needs is the big sunglasses.
     Overall, I like this tutu, I think it's a pretty cute little prop/costume piece.  What do you think?
     To learn more, check out SBParts on Amazon.

Except for the product(s) given to me for the purpose of reviewing, I received no compensation for this post. All opinions are 100% my own.