All the reasons I love the Ninja 3-in-1 Cooking System
Fall is by far my favorite season. It’s still hot enough here in the Pacific Northwest to wear skirts and sandals some days, but then it’s boots and sweaters the next, all under the gorgeous backdrop of changing leaves and fall colors. Just look at my happy harvester, collecting vegetables for the week. 
The one thing that isn’t awesome? Meal planning. With unpredictable weather and high temperatures nearly every afternoon, it makes it hard to plan what kind of meals to make that won’t leave the house sweltering at the end of the day.
When a friend suggested I try slow cooking instead of heating up the oven and making our house unbearably hot, I couldn’t believe how brilliant she was. It turns out I can still have the hearty meals I’ve been pinning, but without making us all miserable by simply using an appliance I typically reserve for winter meals.
Hello, Ninja 3-in-1 Cooking System! 
10 tips to keep your kids safe this Halloween
Did you know that Halloween night is one of the most dangerous nights of the year? In fact, kids are twice as likely to be hit by a car on Halloween over any other day of the year. With little kids in costume sharing the road with vehicles of all types and lights turned down low, it's really a recipe for disaster. 
While those are certainly sobering statistics, that doesn't mean you can't keep your kids as safe as possible this Halloween by planning ahead and helping teach your child basic safety rules before they head out hunting candy. 
Hello, phablet! Nokia Lumia 1520 16GB from AT&T
Remember my beloved Nokia Lumia 920 Windows phone? It met its untimely demise after the screen was crushed at Disneyland last April, which is after it was revived after it took a swim in the kids’ bath, and after it had been dropped a bazillion times while juggling kids. I was so distraught about ruining my phone that I simply couldn’t retire it and kept on using it even with the cracked screen and the odd thumping noise it made when it would get shaken. 
But, then the Nokia Lumia 1520 with Windows Phone 8.1 arrived and I happily ditched the 920 in a pile of paperwork until it could be recycled properly.
Friends, meet my upgrade, the Nokia Lumia 1520. Part phone, part tablet, the Nokia Lumia 1520 is best described as a phablet. With a huge 6” HD 1080p display, this is quite possibly the biggest phone I have ever seen, which I honestly wasn’t sure was for me before now.
Where we were: an Urgent Care rite of passage
Yesterday my daughter wakes up and comes into my room saying, "What should you do if you have a rock in your ear?" as if it was hypothetical. I was all "DO YOU HAVE A ROCK IN YOUR EAR?"
Mustela products are now available at Walgreens {enter to win}
I participated in an Influencer Activation Program on behalf of Influence Central for Mustela. I received a promotional item to facilitate my review.
When I was pregnant with my oldest, I found Mustela prenatal products at a specialty store in the Seattle area and fell in love. I ended up using the line through both pregnancies and still use many of the products to this day because I love the scent of their creams and lotions so much. 
It wasn’t until my daughter was a few months old that I heard about the Mustela Bébé line from her pediatrician. It was then that I embarked on a multi-store hunt to find Mustela products that ended with me ordering online out of frustration.
So, I was thrilled as I was shopping a few weeks ago and saw that my local Walgreens carried the line as well as some of the prenatal line. With baby’s arrival becoming more and more real, I’m starting to stock up on the essentials in preparation, and one of the essentials for me is Mustela – for me and for baby.
Mustela has been the skincare expert for babies and mothers-to-be for over 60 years and is the #1 Baby Care and Stretch Marks Brand in Europe. But, up until now it was somewhat difficult to find it in-store in the States. I’m very grateful that just in time for my shopping for baby, I can now pick up Mustela products when I pick up family prescriptions, our household items, and our health and beauty items.
5 simple ways to pretend it’s fall… wherever you live
Is it still shorts and flip flop season where you live? Trust me, I feel your pain! Even in the Pacific Northwest, which is known for its gorgeous and crisp falls, it is still feeling very summery despite a few sprinkles here and there. There’s no color in the trees, it’s definitely not sweater weather, and the last thing I want most days is a hot beverage.
But, you see, I adore fall. I long for autumn almost as soon as summer begins and visions of this kind of weather keep me happy even during the hottest days of the year. 
Seattle getaway: La Conner, Washington in the fall
I was talking to a Seattle resident a few weeks ago and I mentioned that I was taking a roadtrip to La Conner, WA to sightsee. She admitted that she…
New I SPY Adventure for the VTech InnoTab
I grew up reading I SPY books and challenging myself and friends to find not only all the items listed on each brightly colored and vivid mini-scene, but also finding hidden gems in each picture. So, of course I was thrilled when my kiddos also fell for the books. We enjoy reading the I SPY books together numerous times a day and I love that I can stump them by choosing objects I’m not sure they will recognize by name or objects that can inspire a learning opportunity.
But sometimes? I wish they were old enough to read to themselves because I SPY books would be a great way to pass time while we’re traveling without having to pass the book back and forth from the front seat to the backseat with each new page.
That’s where our beloved VTech InnoTab 3S comes in. With the new I SPY Adventure game, now the kids can play I SPY wherever we go. 
The Land of Nod Seattle celebrates their Grand Re-Opening Bash
Oh, how I love The Land of Nod. It's always the first store we turn to when we're shopping for kids of all ages because they have a great mix of eclectic, classic, and modern styles. We've shopped there for just about every birthday, major holiday, and room redo over the past 8 years, and we've become big fans of everything from their toys to their storage solutions and more.
But, a few weeks ago we were walking around U Village shopping center in Seattle on a mission to hit all our favorite stores and enjoy some sunshine and panic set in when the entire store looked dark and empty. We had hoped to do some shopping for my brand new baby nephew, with a few peeks over into the baby bedding for our baby on the way, so the idea of the store being closed was incredibly sad to us.
We were all relieved to find that the store wasn't closing, it was simply being remodeled, and would be back even better than ever. In fact, a few weeks later we got the word that the grand reopening was scheduled and it was going to be amazing. 
Big things are happening at Rave & Review
A few days ago we made our big announcement on Facebook and wanted to announce it here as well. 
That's right, in just a few short months we will be welcoming baby #3. Hello, party of 5. Goodbye, compact sedan.
This has felt like the fastest pregnancy ever so far, but I will likely be singing a very different tune come December. I imagine the last month is going to drag by with all the Christmas craziness and I'm exhausted beyond belief, so I'm just going to enjoy the fact that I still have a good amount of energy to expend each day.
So, everyone wants to know: are the kiddos excited for their little sister to arrive? I could tell you how they lovingly kiss my belly a few thousand times a day, or all the sweet things they say to me about all the things they can't wait to do with their baby, but I think these pictures say it all. 
These kids were clearly made to be big siblings.