Review: Oliver the Ornament Audio Book Series

The very first thing we noticed about this fun new Christmas series were the vibrant and unique pictures.

My experience with audio books has mostly been of the grownup variety (no pictures), so I was surprised and pleased with how much fun it was to hold my little 20-month-old grandson on my lap while I told him parts of the story.

Honestly, he was too little to sit still while I read all the words, but he was interested in the pictures and will definitely grow into this story until he can read it himself.

The text was definitely more engaging for a 3-year-old.

As much as I love holding an actual paper book in my hands and sharing it with the kids, I know that they are growing up in a world where technology is more normal for them than paper. These holiday electronic books would be a fun addition to your current family traditions.

To order a set of your own, click here.

***For my honest review, I was given audio copies of the first 4 books.***

Review: SmitCo Air Dry Modeling Clay

I was surprised at the size of the box when it showed up on my doorstep. The picture online didn't do it justice. Wait, let me show you.

Baby Doll had absolutely no idea what was even in the box...

...and she was NOT disappointed!! After she pulled out the first few packets of clay, she just kept on pulling them out.

There were so many colors and they were all different. They even put in a little package of zippered bags so she had somewhere to put each one after she opened them. 

It wasn’t long before Curly joined her at the kitchen table. He was fascinated with this lightweight clay. He even figured out that it could bounce!!

Then they began to create...

After a couple of hours of concentrated play, both Baby Doll and Curly (and me!) highly recommend this SmitCo modeling clay.

***We received this clay for our honest review.***

Review: BLACK FRIDAY GIVEAWAY!! - Manscaped: The Shears 2.0

Hey everyone! Remember that I promised you a giveaway? We have had several opportunities to review some great new Christmas products and one of our favorites is Manscaped's four-piece luxury nail kit affectionately called The Shears 2.0.

Nail clippers are always difficult to find at my house, so it was easy to find someone willing to help me with this review. I must confess that even though these are marketed to men, I was excited to try them. Over the years, I have had many nail kits and I have never found one with a decent pair of scissors, but these are terrific!

I asked Curly to be my hand model and after a pic or two, he was way more interested in getting his fingernails all cleaned up than he was with helping me with the review. How many 12-year-old boys do you know that like clipping their nails??

After using the scissors on a couple of nails, we pulled out the actual clippers. They were a little confusing at first; they do not open at all like traditional clippers, but after we figured it out, it was easy. The clippers do a great job on fingernails, but I'm not sure how they would handle toenails. They are not marketed that way, so we didn't try it. The blades are smaller, more like traditional fingernail clippers.

I didn't even have to ask Curly to pull out the nail file. He was anxious to clean up everything and he used the pointed tip to strip the last of the dirt from under the edges of his nails. He didn't have any use for the tweezers, but we did talk about what he might be able to do with them (good teaching moment...) and then he carefully placed them all back in the sweet little container before calmly taking them up to his room.

"Wait!" I called after him. "Those were supposed to be a Christmas gift!" He stopped halfway up the stairs. 

"Oh." Then a minute later. "Do you want them back?"

I could hear the disappointment in his voice and I thought about all the times I tried to get my older boys to take care of their nails. "No..." I tried to keep the smile out of my voice. "I guess you can have them."

SCORE!! Another win for the parents!

And now, you can score one of these great little kits for yourself. All you have to do is comment on this post with the name of who you would like to give them to and one lucky winner will be selected by Friday, November 27th at midnight. Please make sure your comment leads back to an email address so I can find you.

Remember, if your name is not chosen, you can still get one of these for 20% off when you click here.

Good luck, everyone! I can't wait to see who wins.

***Giveaway Closed***

Another Great Holiday Gift

It almost makes me feel like I am writing commercials in between my vacation posts... but when they asked me about this one, I just couldn't resist. 

You probably all remember my sweet little grandson, Twizzler, who moved with his parents to far away New Jersey this past summer. He had health problems for the first few months of his life and even after his surgeries, he was pretty far behind developmentally. I sure wish I would have had one of these for him!

No, not that cute little girl (although I might send a personal hint to his mama😄), but the pink device beneath her that is helping her learn to crawl. Thankfully, Twizzler has finally learned to crawl with the help of physical therapy, but I am excited to have one of these Crawling Toys for our new little granddaughter and then for the little guy we have coming in February. (Did I remember to tell you Bossy is having a boy? We have been so busy traveling...) 

Crawligator is recommended by many physical therapists as a fun way to help kids learn to crawl. It helps build gross motor skills during tummy time, and it even won a JPMA Innovation Award last year! You can order it now in time for Christmas and receive free shipping.

Check back next week for a complete review.

Another Great Gift Idea

 I think I am going to do pretty much all of my Christmas shopping online this year. Utah has so many COVID-19 cases, even when I tell people I have already had it they still look at me like I am the enemy. By the way, I love the way retailers are spreading out their Black Friday sales to make it safer for all of us to shop.

A few days ago, I had a new company reach out to me for a review opportunity. Have you ever heard of MANSCAPED? They do personal care items for men and I am super excited to try out their Shears 2.0 Luxury Nail Care Set! I don't want to share too much yet, since I haven't seen it, but it costs $19.99 (of course I can offer you a 20% discount!) and it includes all of these items:

- Slant Tip Tweezers
- Rounded-Tip Scissors
- Fingernail Clippers
- Medium Grit Nail File

I'm so excited to give this one a try! Check back in a couple of weeks for my unbiased review.