Intelliglobe....It's Smarter Than I Am!

I've been meaning to post about this for ages and was thinking I'd wait til closer to Christmas, but with the school year getting into full swing for most people, I figured now is as good of time as any to share about an awesome product.

I'm working on a possible giveaway for this one too, so cross your fingers and let's hope it works out!

There's something really annoying to me about having toys that only hold a child's interest for a few days or couple of weeks at most.  I'm a big fan of toys that promote continued creativity like Lego's, blocks, pretend play, etc.  Last year at Christmas we bought our then 4 year old a "toy" that we thought seemed interesting albeit perhaps a bit too old for him.  I think I first noticed it in any one of the gaggle of toy magazines that start flooding our mailbox around the first of November.

Have I made you wonder what it is yet?  Well, wait no more my friends....here it is.

The Replogle Intelliglobe

Source: Buy One HERE

Don't just shrug now and say "That is ridiculous, they bought a 4 year old a globe?!?  Idiots!"  And if it's too late because you already said that, then let me explain.

See that pen looking thing at the base of the globe?  Well, when you touch it to any place on the globe it will tell gads of different information about that location.  Tid Bit has loved learning the names of different countries, oceans, and continents.  He has learned about natural resources, national anthems, and examples of local music in all different parts of the world.  There is a booklet that works the same way but teaches more specifically about individual continents and countries, common foods, animals common to different parts of the globe and more.  It is the one thing in our house that will keep Tid Bit occupied for ages, but better than that, he learns ALOT!  And he loves it. 

I wish I could tell you that I am a wealth of the same information, but I'm not.  Truth is I was horrible at the "find that country" speed game on the globe until I'd played SEVERAL times.  Our entire family has enjoyed looking and learning together, and as a result our 5 year old has a pretty good understanding of geography at this point.  Now, I'm not saying my kid is a genius, because he's not...I don't think....but he's a regular kid with a keen interest in different parts of the world.  When the Hubs went on a mission trip to Haiti, Tid Bit looked it up on the globe and learned as much as he could about it.  When the earthquake hit Japan....again, he wanted to learn more about that part of the world.  We have been amazed at the global curiosity that has been awakened in him from this "toy."

Here's how the product's website describes it: 
The Intellipen uses an infrared scanner to read microscopic symbols on the Intelliglobe.  Touch the wireless Intellipen to the globe to play games, explore, and discover amazing educational facts about the world.  The Intelliglobe is the most advanced globe featuring thousands of facts in 4 different languages: English, Spanish, French & German.  Information for the Intelliglobe can be updated through the Replogle Globes website. 

Anyhow...You know when I find something worth mentioning, that I'll pass it along, and this product is awesome for ALL AGES.  Don't think your child is too young at age 4, and don't think you're too old at 35, or 45, or 55.  It is an awesome product and one worth investing in for sure!

 PS.  I put a link above, but it looks like Amazon.com has the best price for the Replogle Intelliglobe at about $82.

Shopping with Kids...Adventures into Insanity.

Oh my words friends, I'm about to pull out my hair today!  (And after a horrible bangs cutting job the other day, I'm not sure I can afford to do my head anymore disservice.)

We're taking a family trip to Montana in a few weeks and I am super excited about it!  I love the Southeast that we call home, but there's something about sharp looking snowcapped mountains jutting out of the ground that just gets me every time.  My aunt has a house about 20 minutes outside of the west entrance of Glacier National Park and I'm getting absolutely giddy about this trip.  Nevermind the lap child on the plane from here to there, nevermind all the gear we'll be toting along with us...I'm just excited for the adventure! (And with 2 small kids, undoubtedly it's adventure we'll get!)

Here's a picture taken about 15 minutes from my aunt's house at Lake McDonald back in January.

Oh my words...seriously, unbelievable!

So today, I spent over an hour calling around town to try to find a decent pair of hiking shoes for Tid Bit and something more warm than sandals for Little Bit as well.  I don't want tennis shoes that I have to lace up, but I have to take something in addition to the Keen Newport H2 sandals that you already know I love.  I called about 4 different outdoor stores around here and finally found one pair of shoes in Tid Bit's size 13 toddler (and they were on sale...SCORE!)  And wouldn't you know, they're Keen brand too.  Don't know why I'm surprised.

Keen Kids Targhee

They are awesome, and he about drove me nuts running around the outdoor store like a wild gypsy child to show me how amazing they were.  Keen should seriously be offering a giveaway for me on this site as many kudos as I give them...maybe I'll look into it!  Seriously, now that I just thought of that, I'm gonna call Keen Footwear right this second to ask.  I'll let you know...cross your fingers!  They are awesome!

So then I was off to another store that told me over the phone they could order Little Bit a pair of Keen trail shoes in a tiny toddler size 5.  Oh my words, I'm not the person that buys hiking boots for a little bitty person to wear just for the looks of it (and generally I think they look hideous,) but these are AMAZINGLY cute and perfectly rugged enough for toddling along the Montana trails.  I can't wait to see how stinking cute these look on him.

Keen Kids Alamosa

But the part that made me want to pull out my hair was when I had to find a good pair of hiking shoes.  I have an old pair of Vasque boots that just aren't as comfy as they were 10 years ago, and I have a sturdy pair of Montrail shoes we got a few years back, but they've hurt my feet since we got them.  I wasn't about to go to Montana for 10 days and not have comfy footwear.  So I tried on about 8 different brands and a dozen or more shoes, and shock of all shocks, I ended up with the grown up version of Tid Bit's shoes.  So comfy and they'll keep my feet dry too!

Let me tell you though, I seriously broke a sweat trying on shoes and chasing 2 kids around an outdoor store.  I was pulling them out of clothing racks, and stuffing crackers and lollipops in their faces just so I could find what I needed.  It was a reminder of why I buy 6 colors of the same Old Navy tshirt and 3 pairs of the same Joe's jeans.  Shopping with kids is a pain in the tootsie!!  Fortunately I did find what I needed, but at the checkout I told the salesman that while it wasn't a painless process (for him or me,) I was pleased with the end result!  So thank you to Half Moon Outfitters and Appalachian Outfitters in Greenville, SC for tolerating the chaos I brought with me today...and still managing to sell me something awesome!

Happy Friday! 

Ps. I'm planning something really fun to celebrate Memorial Day and to honor our soldiers, so stay tuned for that coming up too!

I'm Pretty Keen on These...

These are quite possibly the best shoes known to kid-kind.  

They rank pretty highly in the man and woman-kind category as well, but in the realm of kids...I give them 2 seriously hearty thumbs up!  In fact, I'll even go ahead and raise my third thumb to these...ok ok, so I don't have a third thumb.  I was just going for extra emphasis.

Tid bit has had a pair every year since he turned one.  Little Bit is now wearing Tid Bit's first pair.  And, we've had them in several colors... because happily, they are available in tons of different colors.

What are these magic shoes you might ask?

Keen Newport H2's that's what!

I'm going to go ahead now and provide a big fat bummer of a disclaimer by saying that in no way shape or form am I being compensated for this smashing review.  Keen didn't send me a new pair for myself or my kids to test.  Noone called and asked what I thought about them.  Not a soul.  This is plain and simple my opinion about a product that I think is quite frankly fantastic.  So there...if you were wondering what's in it for me...here's your answer.

  Absolutely Nothing!

Bummer... but...moving along.  I might lose a load of readers with the following comment, but if you want me to really be me, the following statement allows me to remain true to myself. 

I am not a fan of Crocs. 

And moreover, I have never been a fan.  While I realize that they make some cute ballet flat style ones now, and Mary Janes....the plain old kind that the free world wears...the clunky looking slip on ones...yeah, I think they're ugly.   I don't even feel swayed by the rainbow of colors they come in either.  And, I think they are impractical for kids.  They don't stay on well on a jungle gym.  Dirt and mulch and rocks creep in from any one of the massive gaps around a kids foot....and oh yeah, I think they're ugly.  Wait...I already said that.  If Crocs would like to send me a pair to change my mind, I'll be happy to try them...but not this style please.  I still think they are ugly.

You may be asking why I'm hating on Crocs...and I'm really not a total hater. It probably all stems from the confession that I jumped on a bandwagon of ugly, yet comfortable shoes once upon a time... and I still look at them in my closet and 99.9% of the time I choose something else.  And you know what.... they are ugly...and thus, I really hardly ever wear them.  Yep.  On the right.  Those are the ones.  If you have them and love them...it's probably because you must significantly value comfort over even remote stylishness. Whoever tried to make them stylish was clearly one of you.  Either that or you legitimately wear them on a boat....and for that I salute you for dressing for the part.  Anyways, I digress.

All of this is really meant to say... when it comes to dressing my kids, there are times when one shoe can, in fact, cover pretty much all of our bases.  And the Keen Newport H2 fits that bill.  They are about as cute as a water shoe can possibly be.  They can be worn in the water...think hiking up a river, or playing in a creek.  I happen to be of the opinion that they are even better for kids than any other river sandal because they have a tough rubber toe cover to protect your baby's little piggies!  You can wash them in the washing machine...or probably even in the dishwasher if you really wanted.  They are rugged and tough.  Kids can run in them, go to the pool in them, hike in them, wear them to school, in the mud, in the sand.  Seriously, these are the 4-wheel-drive of kids shoes I am sure.  And...they are velcro, so they can put them on themselves....or you can do it quickly.

Really, if you're in the market for a good pair of shoes that will survive the toughness that your kids will dish out, these are the shoes for you.  You can find them all over the internet or in most good outdoor stores too.  Buy a previous season's color for an even better deal.  They run about $50, but I promise you they are well worth it.  After all, they are supporting the cutest little people you know.  It's like investing in a good bra...some things are just worth supporting well. (But that's another post for another day!)

As you can tell, I'm Keen on these shoes, and I'm pretty sure you will be too!

- Logan

Steam Mops....the good, the bad, the ugly.

I'm not naturally the most tidy person in the world.  In fact, well....you know what, let's just keep it at "I'm not naturally tidy."

But once in awhile, I get bit by the super cleaning bug and when I do, I better get on it because it may be some time before it happens again.

Case in point....the day I bought a steam mop.

I have what appears to be a Mexican-type tile on the floors in my kitchen and laundry room. See...

They're not quite as yellow looking as this picture shows, but you get the idea.  And I guess I should be partly thankful that it takes a whole lot of junk to actually make these floors feel really dirty....since they sort of always feel dirty because of the shading.  Ok, so if I'm honest, I am kinda glad it takes a lot...I don't mop every day.  Alright, alright...I maybe mop once a week.  It's quick vacuuming or dustbusting for me most days.

But once in awhile, I want these babies as clean as they can possibly get.  So I decided that what I needed was a steam mop.  Now thankfully for me, The Hubs is a research kind of guy.  And if he wasn't, then it's ok because I think that I inherited some bizarre product research gene from my dad (you remember from the Hanky Panky post, he won't watch a movie without Wall Street Journal approval.)  Anywhoo....I wasn't going to just go to Lowes and buy the first one I saw...which would have been the Shark steam mop because it's everywhere.

And I'm glad I didn't...because doesn't rate nearly as highly as several others.

So at the time I checked which was a few months back, the Eureka EnviroSteam 313A was the highest rated on Consumer Reports (which you have to be a member of fyi to access their ratings....obviously with the research gene I have, we are members.)  That's the one I ended up with...ran about $89 when I bought it probably 5 months ago, is about $65 now. Currently on Consumer Reports though there is one called the H2O Ultra that is rating higher (although I will say it's not getting great user reviews.)  One thing I will tell you that I LOVE about about this mop is that the pads you use are easily washable.  Also, instead of using their custom pads, you could clip any old thick dishrag on and use them to clean your floors.  It's the hot sanitizing steam that gets the floors clean.  And with this model, you only have to hold the mop in place for 3 seconds over any area to actually sanitize since the water reaches about 220 degrees.  Both this and the next one I'll tell you about (the Haan FS-20) actually get hot enough to sanitize.  If they don't get hot enough to sanitize, then there's really not any benefit to getting this over a regular mop besides not having to wring it out periodically. 

<----- The other highly rated mop is the Haan FS-20 which in some places actually rated higher than the Eureka that I have.  I didn't get that one because I was in the mood to clean my floors THAT day that I bought it and I couldn't find the Haan in a store easily, plus the Eureka got higher reviews on some sites as well.  On Amazon they are roughly the same price.  Both this one and the Eureka take about 3 minutes to heat up, but they each sanitize a section by keeping in place for just 3 seconds (this one heats to about 212 degrees)...it's a slow pace cleaning, but not nearly as slow as some that require you to hold in place for a full 15 seconds to sanitize.  The longer you have to hold it in place by the way, the wetter it'll leave your floors in the end.

I'm just gonna go ahead and tell you....if you have a Shark, you probably like it....but that's probably because you haven't compared it to what these other mac-daddy mops can do.  The shark only heats up to 110 degrees and just fyi, that's warm enough to mop, but can't begin to touch sanitizing.  Which also means that glob of unknown goop that's been stuck on your floor for ages...well, it's not coming up with the Shark.  At 220 degrees, the Envirosteam heated up dried-on paint enough to scrape off with my fingernail.  I couldn't hardly get it off with a knife before.

If you want to keep reading more, HERE is a link from Amazon to a customer review I found very helpful in addition to my other research.

In the end though, if you are in the market for a steam mop...I'd recommend the Haan FS-20 or the Eureka Envirosteam 313A.  And if there are men reading this thinking of grabbing one of these gems up for your wife for Mother's Day....you are awesome.  As long as you give her a gift certificate for a massage for Mother's Day as well.  Do NOT...I repeat...DO NOT only give your wife a mop for Mother's Day.  It just doesn't send the loving message I know you want to send.  There's really nothing like saying "enjoy your day now honey, but get back to cleaning the floors tomorrow!"  I'd recommend coupling this gift with something that lets her take a load off for a couple of hours as well!

Well friends, happy cleaning!  And if you think I'm completely wrong, or have comments to add to my research, then please by all means post away!

I guess I should tell you that the above is my opinion but it's based upon reading easily 10 different site reviews and loads of consumer comments.  And don't I wish that I'd been compensated for these reviews....but I wasn't.  So this is straight up, my opinion.  If anyone would like to pay me for that though, I'm open to it! LOL!

Bon Bons... I really couldn't live without them...

Have you ever had your husband ask you what you did all day?

You know...in a way that perhaps would put into question if you had in fact done anything all day long?  Because when he comes home, there are toys strewn all over the den, the paper plates from lunch are still on the table, there is half a pile of folded laundry on your bed and the rest in a pile on the floor, and your kids are filthy running around like little gypsies.  You know what I'm talking about right?  And so when the question is asked "WHAT have you done all day?!" you find yourself wanting to say "What do you think?! I sat around watching soaps and eating bon bons all day long...OBVIOUSLY!"


You know how it goes... you go about your day that starts in the kitchen with breakfast, but as you look for a clean fork you realize you have yet to empty the dishwasher, which as you unload it, you then find a bib that didn't wash as clean as you'd have liked in the dishwasher, so you head to the laundry room to give it some more stain treatment, but first you stop to feed your kids breakfast which was what you came down for anyways... and as you're feeding your kids breakfast you notice a piece of craft paper that you then proceed to put back in the craft cabinet, only to notice on your way that you left the bib on the counter, which you then pick up and proceed to the laundry room to stain treat, but then on the way you trip on a boot that should be outside in the garage, so you head out there to put it back, only to then notice a box full of stuff that needs to go to Goodwill, so you then put that in your car only to realize that the floor of your car looks like a veritable trail mix, so you then go to get the vacuum to clean it out, but then on your way you realize that the baby is now done with breakfast and so you clean him up, and then forget what you were doing until you see the bib you were cleaning.  You know what I'm talking about right?  And some days, the whole day is like this and by the end of it you're putting your kids to bed only to realize that the bib has yet to see any stain treatment.  And somewhere round about 5 o'clock your sweetie comes home and says "What on earth have you done all day?!"  And you have no idea really other than your children were fed and you were insanely busy.  So you say "Well honey, isn't it obvious that I spent the day eating bon bons."  (just fyi here...I don't really recommend saying this, it really makes you sound like a jerk.  Not that I'd know from experience or anything. )

BUT NOW ladies...now you can have your bon bons and wear them too!

Goody Goody Bon Bons that is!

 

I don't know about you, but when I'm home all day, I really see no reason to wear shoes.  Call me the antithesis of the women's lib movement if you want to, but whatever...so what if I'm barefoot and in the kitchen?!

But in the winter, my hard tile floors are brutal to the little piggies and I just can't take it.  Which is why I don't do a day without my Bon Bons!  (See that cute aqua pair above...with the giant pink roses....yeah, I have those.

 But I think next I might like these--->






                        Or these
                             <----




Really though, with so many fun choices how can a girl decide?!  I'm sure I just don't know myself!

So this is my footwear of choice at home.  Bon Bons all day long!  They cost about $35-40 a pair and really when you think of how often you wear them, it really makes loads of sense.  Now be aware, that if you wear them like I do to the mailbox outside, and to get a package from the UPS man, and to say hello to your neighbor in the street, and sometimes even to the grocery store (ok...so I don't actually wear them to the grocery store...I just wanted to give you a moment of horror) then they won't probably hold up as well as a pair of moc slippers from LL Bean....but these are WAY cuter!

It's like wrapping your foot in a really fun present.  A comfy, cute, and totally addictive package!

You should totally get some.  Then when your husband asks what you've been doing all day, you can honestly say "just wallowing around in bon bons!"

Happy Tuesday friends!

- Logan

Oh my goodness...I almost forgot to mention that they make them for babies too!  My friend Rebecca just posted a picture of some on her most adorable daughter the other day and that's what got this on my brain!  She had no idea of all the options out there for everyone.  It's such a good thing I'm here to enlighten!  Check out these little snacks to the left....makes you just want to nibble a baby foot for sure!

** I would like to add a note here (the day after I originally wrote this) that I in no way want you to read this like I have some sort of difficult husband who questions how I spend my time...I don't!  He is amazing and really has never walked in the door demanding to know why our house is a mess, so I hope you didn't read this that way! My intent was really to say that there truly are days when I have no idea how things are the way they are when I know I've been running around like a crazy person and sometimes you really do wish you could sit around and eat bon bons!)