The next big thing in toys: Animoodles launches on Kickstarter today

When was the last time you saw a stuffed animal and thought, “wow, that’s innovative?” Probably never, because what could you possibly do with a stuffed animal that’s new and exciting? It turns out, there is plenty. Animoodles is the new children’s toy that shakes up everything you thought was true about stuffed animals. A team … Read more

Mix and match fun with custom Modarri cars {& discount code}

Sponsored postWe discovered Modarri cars last year, and we quickly became obsessed. Basically, they are everything my son loves.
Fixing things: check
Racing: check
Designing stuff: check
Things with wheels: check Modarri cars playSo, what are Modarri cars? They are build-it-yourself custom cars that you can mix and match and customize to your heart’s content.

Each car even comes complete with a special hex tool so you can break down each car into its multiple parts: a chassis, hood and windshield, seat pan, seat, fenders and frame, and wheels with front and rear suspension. And, each of those parts can be used with other Modarri car models so you can build and rebuild as often as you like to create whatever car strikes your fancy. Modarri custom racing fun

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Our love of GoldieBlox begins!

Sponsored postAnyone who knows my kids knows all about their deep desire to understand how things work. They are rarely content with a simple explanation of the facts and instead require an in-depth analysis of everything that perplexes them. It is likely this knowledge that led many close friends and family members to reach out via phone calls, my inbox, and various messaging systems with a suggestion of a brand they knew my kiddos would flip for: GoldieBlox Building with GoldieBloxOne click to the GoldieBlox homepage and I was instantly smitten. This wasn’t just a toy my kids would love, this was a toy that I would have designed for them if only I knew how. It includes all of their absolute favorite things: building things, imaginative play, and figuring out how things work in a really fun way that the whole family can get involved in.

For those of you who have been emailing over the past year begging me to get the GoldieBlox toys for my kids, I say thank you. You will be very happy to know it was literally love upon first #unbloxing and even though they have only been playing with their own GoldieBlox toys for the past few weeks, they are just as enthralled with them as you probably guessed.

If you want to see how excited we are about GoldieBlox, you should go ahead and watch this video:

For those of you who haven’t heard about GoldieBlox or seen their adorable Super Bowl commercial, you are probably wondering what makes this building toy different, and the short answer is: a lot.

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Build a fort as big as your imagination with Fort Magic

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You may remember how much I adore Fort Magic fort building kits that make it easy to create amazing forts for the kiddos without an engineering degree, but now that the kids are older, I love it even more. Since our last post we’ve made huge forts in our living room, our family room, and even took the Fort Magic kit with us while on vacation so the kids could build an outdoor hideout for cousins only, complete with added satellite dish. 574491_416422895116389_1145160500_n

Haven’t heard of Fort Magic before? The Fort Magic fort building kit contains everything you need to create your own fort as big as your imagination. The 382 piece kit contains all different shapes and sizes of rods, connectors and accessories that allow you to build a fort – anywhere, anytime.

Fort Magic contents

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How to host your own upcycling party {Singer VIVO Repair & Create machine}

Upcycling party with Singer
You know those times when everything in your closet just seems so boring? Whether you haven’t been shopping since you were in high school or your body has changed and you’re still wearing your old clothing, chances are you have a stack of clothes in your closet taking up space that you really don’t want to be wearing anymore. 

I know I did, as did my friends, so we decided to get together to make a negative into a very big positive. Instead of going shopping together and blowing a few hundred dollars between us while we updated our wardrobes, we did something a whole lot more fun and cost effective – we upcycled our clothing. 

For those not familiar with the term “upcycle”, the basic idea is that you use what you already have and are not using to create something new and fabulous that you would have otherwise had to buy. Think of it as the greener way to recycle.   

So, to start my party off, I had all of the guests create two bags full of stuff beforehand – stuff they like but want to make amazing in one bag and stuff they really don’t want any more but can still be used for parts in the second.

Welcome to Upcycling partyImmediately upon walking into the party, they were greeted with two felt bins – one to dump their discards into for everyone to use as material, and one for the clothing they would like to upcycle. Once everyone had arrived, we went through the contents of the first bin together so everyone could see what materials they had to work with.

The saying “one man’s trash is another man’s treasure” comes to mind as digging through the discard bin quickly turned into a clothing swap where everyone grabbed a few new-to-them items. Hey, it's green and resourceful. 

But, our purpose wasn't just to swap clothing, we were here to make our clothing awesome, which is why we had this little baby by our side:

Singer Vivo

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One of a kind keepsake and handwriting jewelry from Lauren Nicole Gifts

You know those adorable things your kiddos write or draw that make you think, “I wish I could preserve this forever”?  For me, that is every time my daughter writes a letter “E” as it has three extra adorable squiggles.  My dad tells me it’s because she’s so emphatic, and I can’t help but agree.  … Read more

Eitech/Teifoc Building Sets

I’ve always loved building things, starting with basic blocks as a child, then moving on to models of buildings, planes and cars.  After that came remote control cars, then as I grew older I started working on real cars, electronics, and construction projects.  It’s pretty amazing to see such a straight connection through all these … Read more

MAM Personalized Pacifiers {Review & Discount Code}

When listing off the things my son loves, there’s really no debating the order.  His list of loves goes like this: 1)    Me, hubby, and his big sister 2)    His MAM pacifier 3)    What he refers to as his “magic” blanket that he can’t sleep without As you can imagine, when I heard that MAM … Read more

The Builder Bag

In terms of great educational toys, you really can’t go wrong with building toys. You just can’t beat the learning that happens when you let your little ones create whatever their heart desires with no rules but that of gravity and physics.  I love watching my kids build and manipulate all the small pieces to … Read more