If I were designing the perfect childhood toy, it would have two major components. First, it would inspire imaginations to encourage make believe and storytelling. Second, it would be open-ended so it could be played with in numerous ways, which means it would be played with often and be a beloved toy for years.
Take the Painting Teepee from Pacific Play Tents for example. This clearly isn’t just a high quality teepee, it’s a childhood haven. As you can see, it's the kiddos fort. 
I know play time for children is vital as it helps them learn about the world around them in ways I can’t teach them in a book, so I always make play time a priority. From unstructured playtime to working together to create a talent show, a fairy garden, or a circus, we fill our days with as much play as we possibly can. 
So, I was a little taken aback the other day when I told my kids I wanted them to wear play clothes if they were going to be out digging in our backyard and they both looked at me like I was crazy. “Do you mean dress up clothes?” my daughter asked. Clearly, they aren’t of my generation where we had two categories of clothing: play clothes and fancy. 
To my kids, everything is play clothes, even if they really shouldn’t be. We’re talking fancy holiday dresses year-round at the beach and white button-up shirts and dresses while gardening. After looking through their closets it became really clear that they could both use some new “play clothes” for summer that would allow them to swing on monkey bars, skip rope, and do all the other things kids should be doing all day without worrying about restrictive clothing getting in the way.
My kids really aren't big on candy, which makes me really happy. Sure, they get the occasional treat at school or during holidays, but I never load up on holiday candy because it just takes up space in my pantry after the kids forget all about it. Since I already know what happens when they get bags and baskets of treats, I'm always thinking of creative things I can give them in their Easter baskets, and I always think Corolle first.
If anyone thought that having a real live baby of our own would diminish the kids' love of all things Corolle, they were wrong. Baby dolls are a very big deal around here and show no signs of going anywhere anytime soon, so I love the idea of getting them each a little surprise in their Easter baskets that can add to all the doll play and make it even more fun. 
If you know my son, you know how important each and every car he owns is. Ask him to get rid of one and he will act like you asked him which arm he wants to keep. It’s like he told me when he was little, “I want too many cars.” And, apparently he is still building his collection in his goal to amass “too many”. 
So, it will come as no surprise that he is smitten with a company called Toy State that makes all sorts of cars, trucks, vehicles, and gear he covets. He’s loved their toys since he was just a tiny tot {seriously, check out this post to see my cute little baby loving on his cars in 2013}.
I participated in an Influencer Activation on behalf of Influence Central for Carters. I received a complimentary gift card to facilitate my review and thank me for my participation #SpringIntoCarters
Spring is finally here in the Pacific Northwest and that means we're purging our bulky sweaters and looking for bright colors and warmer weather wear. But, while I can wear most of my clothes from last spring {hooray for not being pregnant anymore!}, the kids have grown so much that shopping is a necessity, which I'm not going to complain about now that I've got a new little one to shop for as well. 
Naturally, I turned to the company that I've relied on to outfit my kids since they were born: Carter's Babies and Kids. I absolutely love shopping at my local Carter's store because every season it is restocked with an awesome mix of adorable, cute, hip, practical, and truly fun pieces for newborn on up to kids size 12.
Our family is huge into biking and the kids spend all spring, summer, and fall pedaling all over the neighborhood and beyond. But, with a new reviewer that is going to be too young to join in all the biking fun, I wasn't sure what her and I were going to do while the big kids played. Sure, I could push her in the stroller alongside them, but that's a pretty sad consolation to biking with the big kids.
Introducing the smarTrike® Boutique Touch Steering® 4-in-1 trike that can get her out biking even before she can reach the pedals. Besides starting a love of biking earlier than ever, it also has all sorts of little details that make toddlers and parents happy. It might be so cool that even the big kids love it. 
Being 4-in-1 allows us to start baby girl on the smarTrike at 10 months and then as she grows we can configure it to fit our needs. Just check out all the ways you can use the smarTrike to grow with your child, or make it useful for families with multiple young kids. 
For the past few years, I’ve been researching bed solutions for my growing family and have come to one conclusion: people put a whole lot more thought into the crib that they will buy their little one to sleep in for a matter of months than they do the bed they will grow up in.
It’s true. There are numerous companies devoted to helping you design a baby nursery and pick your baby’s bed, but there is very little help once you are ready to graduate your child to a big kid bed. I guess you’re just supposed to go to a traditional furniture store and pick one of the 5 boring beds they stock and call it good. Well, there’s one company that thinks that kids beds should be cooler than that. Way cooler.
Meet the British commerce site Cuckooland.com, the coolest way to make your child’s room the stuff dreams are made of. Delivering all the wow factor I have been searching for in kids furniture, their line of children's bedroom furniture will have grownups as well as the kids wanting to daydream in a treehouse bunk bed or make believe the day away with a playhouse bed for sleeping and playing in. 
Part bed, part art, and part play space, these extraordinary children's beds make it possible to create a gorgeous place for sleep and for play that is only limited by your imagination.
Around here we take our doll play very seriously. My kids learn with their dolls, we host special doll play dates, and we look for any opportunity to include them in our mother/daughter bonding time. This also means I’m picky about what doll treasures end up in our collection and would gladly pay more for high-quality, detailed accessories and miniatures that will really expand our doll play. 
All of this and more is why I adore The Queen's Treasures. Sick of all the pink plastic junk I was finding in retail stores, I ended up doing an exhaustive search online to see if I could find 18" doll items that would last through all the kids and make playtime even more fun. I found The Queen’s Treasures in one of those searches and ever since we received our first piece of their doll furniture, I’ve been a huge fan. 
If you haven’t already fell in love with The Queen's Treasurers, I would highly recommend taking some time to check out their site to see their amazing collection of furniture, clothing, gear, and accessories all miniaturized for 18in dolls. While I love their doll clothing and miniature accessories, it’s their high quality doll furniture that I first fell for. With tiny cupboards, table and chair sets, kitchen, tea sets, bedroom furniture and a huge selection of 18in doll storage trunks, wardrobes and armoires and more that can take doll play to the next level.
Every year we look forward to January 1st for one reason. It’s like the Super Bowl for doll fans as American Girl debuts their Girl of the Year in store as well as on their website for purchase. And, this year was no exception as they introduced a beautiful new doll that every young girl is excited about.
Readers, meet Grace Thomas, the new Girl of the Year for 2015. 
With dark brown hair with light brown highlights, bright blue eyes, and freckled cheeks, Grace has a certain spark about her. 
Remember a few weeks ago when I was reminding you to run out and purchase batteries for all the new treasures your children were going to find under the tree this holiday season? Well friends, I'm here to tell you I failed. Yes, I stocked up on batteries. I even got more batteries than I knew I needed.
But, you know what I forgot? The fact that other people would also be buying for my kids and they were going to come home from Christmas with friends and family with new toys that took batteries in sizes we almost never carry. Can you say "planning fail"?
Luckily these gatherings were a few days before Christmas and we had time to run to stores to pick up the odd sized battery pack or two, but I still felt really bad telling the kids that they couldn't play with their new toys. If this had been Christmas morning or even the days following when we had gathering after gathering, it could have ended much, much worse! 