I've been debating for years about what I wanted to do with our skinny side yard. We need to leave it unobstructed because it's the main pathway to our backyard, but I hated that it would turn into a wet and muddy mess every time it rains. Doing stones of some sort that you could walk over, wheel barrow over, and also keep the side yard from getting swampy made a whole lot of sense, but I didn't know exactly what I wanted to do. That was until I visited Swansons Nursery in Seattle and started talking to their team about what made sense for a marshy yard. 
We decided we needed to dig the side yard down, add a weed barrier, and then add sand and fill dirt along with some stepping stones. After that was complete, we could add some ground cover plants that would help with drainage and keep the side yard from turning into a mud pit.
Inspiration really struck when I started filling up Swansons` boxes with plants and ground covers and realized that the box I was loading them in was the perfect stepping stone size.
More specifically, they were perfect hopscotch size. If we made our own hopscotch stones and laid them in our skinny side yard, we could actually utilize the space better to make it a play space as well as a pathway. With a smaller, urban yard I'm always looking for ways of maximizing space, and making it dual purpose is always a win. 
games
ROCK a mini Jambox from AT&T this Spring
Unlike most households that keep the TV on during family time, our family bonds over music. And, our dance parties have been pretty epic these past few months thanks to this little bad boy.
AT&T sent us the MINI JAMBOX from Jawbone for Valentine's Day and since then it has gotten a ton of use all throughout our house, and even on the road with us. At a mere 6.61in x 1.65in x 5.43in and just over 9oz, the aluminum body Mini Jambox is small enough to fit in your pocket, purse or briefcase, but powerful enough that it can create full and beautiful sound wherever you go.
With spring break vacations happening for many of you this week, I bet you'd love to have one of these little speakers to make anywhere a dance party, right?
CamelBak Eddy bottles are perfect for back to school
I know some people swear by them, but I hate sippy cups. Really, really hate them. I’ve never had one that didn’t leak, had a million parts, or that didn’t take up my entire cupboard with plastic parts, accessories and odd-shaped cups. So, instead of investing a ton of money on a very short-lived item, I asked my friends for an alternative to the sippy cup.
Their answer was the CamelBak Eddy bottle that has a neat bite-valve mouthpiece and straw. One quick look around our Stroller Strides class or a day at the park with friends and CamelBak was the clear preference of moms and kids.
That next week, I went and loaded up on some CamelBak Eddy bottles and immediately fell in love. I had worried that at age 18 months my daughter would be too young to use a cup with a straw, but because the bite valve needs to be engaged in order to drink, she didn’t inhale water like she did with other cups. If it had been a problem, the rumor is that you can simply remove the straw and they can use it more like a traditional sippy cup, but we’ve never done this.
The CamelBak Eddy quickly became our go-to bottle for days out at the park or on the town, vacations, dinner time beverages, and for playtime here at home. On our recent Chicago trip and two day train trip home, these bottles pretty much saved our sanity. No worrying about where we would find drinks while out and about, and no stressing over open cups, missing pieces, or whose drink is whose because we all had our own Eddy bottle at the ready.
VTech InnoTab 3S available for presale now
Remember our review of the InnoTab 2S? My kids are crazy into their MePad {Daddy has an iPad, so my two year old decided the VTech InnoTab 2S was a “MePad”} and it was a lifesaver on our recent two day train trip home from Chicago as well as our Idaho vacation. So, of course … Read more
VTech InnoTab 2S Wi-Fi Tablet prevents “Summer Brain Drain”
Do you remember as a kid you would go back to school each fall feeling like you were in shape from staying active all summer only to find your legs and abs burning after one gym class because you were now using muscles you had neglected during the past few month? Well, that is exactly what happens to your brain, too, and in a phenomenon commonly referred to as Summer Brain Drain.
What is Summer Brain Drain, you ask? According to research from the Center for Summer Learning at Johns Hopkins University, students typically lose one to two months of reading and math skills during the summer break because they are not regularly exercising their brains.
So, how do you combat Summer Brain Drain? You find fun ways to infuse learning into everyday activities to keep kids’ brains sharp even during the three long months of no formal schooling.
But, how can you do that when most of the summer is spent on the go and you don’t want to spend your days cooped up inside reading or in front of screens? You get a portable learning device that can grow with your child, offers age-appropriate content in a broad library of subjects and that keeps them learning no matter where they are.
Something like the awesome InnoTab 2S, the latest learning app tablet from V-Tech that is perfect for on the go as well as at home. We got to review the VTech InnoTab 2S for the past few weeks and we absolutely love how much fun it is for various ages and how it keeps the kids begging to keep learning.
Celtic Challenge from Find It Games
Ultimate Holiday Gift Guide – Day 12 I can’t resist a challenge. Tell me a game is a challenge and I will be intrigued. Put it in the name, however, and the temptation is just too much. When I heard that the local Find It Games had the ultimate challenge for me in the form … Read more
BPONG Inflatable Table
Get Out and PLAY Event – Day 22 I never went through a “wild” stage, didn’t have crazy friends, and have always been incredibly responsible, even at a very young age. Because of this, I have never played any sort of “drinking game”, and had never even heard of Beer Pong until just recently. But, … Read more
Twister Hoopla for Family Game Night!
Ultimate Holiday Gift Guide: Day 43 A little over a month ago I caught an Ellen DeGeneres show and was laughing as her audience members played a game that involved contestants holding various colored rings with different parts of their bodies. Much like the beloved Twister floor game of my youth, the game required contestants … Read more
Perplexus Puzzle Game
Ultimate Holiday Gift Guide: Day 28 In our house, mazes and puzzles are a very big deal and we love the challenge of racing each other or the clock to figure them out. But, as much as we love doing mazes and puzzles on paper, they are so much more exciting when they are in … Read more