MAM Review

Miss Z has begun that lovely phase already of sticking anything and everything in her mouth and she is constantly covered in drool. Good times. Among her top favorites to shove in her mouth? My boob, daddy's hand, burp cloths and now her new Cooler Teether from MAM. 

I was curious to see if she would be interested but despite her initial look of fear she now loves the thing. I am not sure if she is officially teething yet but she is certainly on her way. The Cooler Teether has a unique shape filled with water that offers 3 different textured surfaces to naw away on!

It's a good look for her right? 

MAM was nice enough to send Zoey a variety of different teethers that I am sure will be getting plenty of use soon! The Twister is designed to be both a teething ring and a toy in one. It includes 4 different textured surface including one water-filled cooling ring and it also is a rattle. Ahh more things to make noise!

MAM also has a variety of different pacifier too. Despite me breastfeeding we are also using pacifiers, personally I am not a fan of being a human pacifier so it works for us. The MAM pacifiers are BPA-Free, Phthalate-Free, Lead-Free, PVC-Free and CPSIA compliant- or in other words they are A-Okay for the babe! MAM pacifier nipples are designed to conform with your baby's individual mouth making them always in the right position. We didn't introduce the MAM pacifiers to Zoey until recently so she is kind of in a take it or leave it mood with them but of course each baby is different so yours may love them. 

You can find more MAM products on their website HERE, on Facebook HERE and on Twitter HERE.

Disclaimer: MAM and Team Mom sent me these products free of charge to facilitate my review. Once again this review is 100% my (and Z's) opinion.

ChChCh Changes & Champion

 There have been some changes in this house lately. Well besides the new (yes she is still NEW) baby and Maddie starting school I have started exercising. Gah! 

I hate it and love it. I hate sweating but I love the energy I have for the rest of the day. I hate that my bum jiggles when I jog but I love that if I continue jogging it won't jiggle anymore (fingers crossed for that one!). I love that I have OLD jeans that are fitting but I hate sweating (have I mentioned that?).

I was already walking Maddie to school every morning so I decided to take the long way home. I am starting at 2 miles. I walk most of it but do run some of it. Baby steps right? Within a week I had ordered new sneakers and traded in our stroller for an all terrain jogging stroller.

I have started exercise plans before but never really stuck to them. I am hoping this one sticks and I think it will, mostly because I HAVE to walk Maddie to school every day! haha

What perfect timing too for Champion to contact me. Did you know they have a new line of eco friendly sweats? Awesome right? Champion says they are 'super soft and future friendly!' I have to agree! I received the Full Zip Hoodie in Samba pink and the Open Hem Sweatpants in Oxford Grey to review.

Well the weather has finally cooled down enough for me to actually try out the new sweats. I have to agree that they are both super soft. The pink color for the sweatshirt is incredibly bright which I DO like. The new line by Champion is made with up to 5% recycled fibers- every little bit helps right? One thing to note though if you do order from Champions new eco line I would suggest ordering up a size in the sweatshirts, they seem to run a bit small.

You can find the Champion website HERE and find them on Twitter HERE. 

 

A big thank you to Champion for dressing me nicely for my morning workouts! Thanks!

 

Disclaimer: Champion sent me products free of charge to facilitate my review. All opinions are 100% mine.

New and IMPROVED

I was recently contacted by Team Mom to review Moon Dough. At first glance I was going to say absolutely not. Last Christmas we bought Maddie Moon Dough and it was in the trash the next day. It was messy. REALLY messy. Basically it was super crumbly and managed to get everywhere. 

THEN I noticed that Team Mom wanted me to review the new and IMPROVED Moon Dough. Well, that is a different story!

 Moon Dough has a new formula featuring a better consistency for molding and I can attest to the fact that it is not nearly as crumbly! The bonus of Moon Dough? It never dries out. It really doesn't. Maddie made waffles out of Moon Dough that are sitting on my desk right now from about a week ago and it is exactly the same moldable consistency it was when she originally made them. Moon Dough is also odor-free, definitely a good thing when your dear child is shoving fake waffles in your face at 7am.

The new Moon Dough play sets include new Push n' Pop molds that offer great details. See, waffles! Maddie and I had a chance to play with the Moon Dough Push N' Pop Breakfast set (suggested retail price $9.99) and I definitely agree the new molds are super easy to use and leave your creations looking fantastic. The set we used included 3 Push n Pop tools, a twisty mold and 2 colors of Moon Dough with a themed mat. With the set we were able to create lots of breakfast noms like waffles, pancakes and toast! There was even a teeny tiny mold to make little pats of butter and strawberries!

Maddie was a bit troubled that the kit only included red and yellow dough but with a little bit of mommy power I was able to make a pretty nice orange. Moon Dough does take a bit more work to incorporate the colors than regular clay does though.

You can find Moon Dough available at Toys R Us, Target, Walmart, Kmart, Amazon.com, A.C. Moore, Michaels and eToys. There is also another Push n' Pop set available that lets you mold sea creatures!

Mmmm doughy!

 I completely concur that the new formula is a winner!

Disclaimer: Thank you to Team Mom and Moon Dough for providing Maddie and I Moon Dough Push N Pop Breakfast free of charge. This review is my honest opinion on the new Moon Dough formula.

Mega Bloks Dora's Garden Gazebo Review & Giveaway!- CLOSED

This giveaway is now CLOSED
Congratulations to our winner....

 #1 per Random.org
AshHadAns!

Thanks to Team Mom and the wonderful people at Mega Bloks today I get to show you the adorable new Mega Bloks Dora's Garden Gazebo buildable playset. Mega Bloks has developed a new line of Dora The Explorer sets that are just adorable! So bright and colorful and definitely kiddo friendly. They are geared toward little girls aged 3 and up but at almost 5 Maddie has been playing with the new set for the past week and incorporated a variety of her other toys and blocks with the set. Ahh little imaginations!

The Garden Gazebo playset only contains 19 pieces but it is meant to build on to other playsets like the Flower Garden.  The set includes 2 interchangeable skirts for Dora to wear- and if you have a little girl you know the number one thing my daughter did was change her skirt a bazillion times. Why is that such a fun thing? 

Dora also has her own gardening accessories like a little watering can, sunflower, patio umbrella and baby blue bird. Maddie has enjoyed staging different scenes and watering the sunflower just like she is in her real garden outside.

The Mega Bloks Dora's Garden Gazebo set (retail value $14.99) is available at Kmart, Toys R Us (US, Canada and online), Walmart (US, Canada and online), select Target locations and Amazon.com. Other Mega Bloks Dora sets start at $9.99.

 

Mega Bloks Family Club

MEGA Brands also has a great Mega Bloks Family Club geared to bring you information on upcoming products, a free e-mail newsletter with great building ideas and toys for children ages 1 and up, printable coupons, offers, contests, sweepstakes and other promotions on Mega Bloks products!
familyclub.megabloks.com

Members receive: 
-A printable coupon for $5 off any $30 or more Mega Bloks purchase
- Other exclusive offers, contests, sweepstakes and promotions on Mega Bloks toys
- Information on NEW Mega Bloks toys for kids ages 1 to 6
- An educational and informative blog by a leading panel of mom bloggers with articles on the benefits of construction toys, product reviews, pictures and more
- A free e-mail newsletter with great new building ideas, toys for kids ages 1 and up and other helpful information

Giveaway!!
Now you have a chance to win the adorable Dora's Garden Gazebo buildable playset!

Mandatory: Visit the Mega Bloks website and tell me which great playset your child would love!
 
Additional Entries:
 - Become a follower of Funny Days With Mommy and Maddie via Google Friends Connect or let me know you are already a follower 

 - Join the Mega Bloks Family Club 

 - Tweet about this giveaway! You can tweet once a day, but remember to leave me a link to your tweet! 
{Enter to win a Mega Bloks Dora Garden Gazebo playset with @NavyLady6894 at Funny Days With Mommy & Maddie! http://tinyurl.com/42hfek2} 

This giveaway is open only to residents of the US and Canada. This giveaway ends on Sunday May 1st. Please remember to leave an e-mail address so that I may contact you if you are the lucky winner!

Disclaimer: Thanks again to Team Mom and Mega Bloks for inviting me to review such an adorable new product. I was not paid for my review but I was provided the Dora playset free of charge to review. This review is completely based on the opinion of myself and Maddie.

Buddy Fruits! Review & Giveaway!! CLOSED

This giveaway is now 

CLOSED

Maddie is opinionated.

I think that's a pretty common description for every 4 year old though and not just mine. Food tends to be a bit of a battle at times in our house. According to Maddie she likes what she likes and that's what she likes. Most of the time her quirks aren't a big deal. Some days she wants to eat a pint of grape tomatoes for lunch. Whatever, it could be worse. Then we go grocery shopping and the barrage of I WANT starts. Ugh. I know I am not the only mom that hates that. Yes Maddie I know you want those fruits snacks filled with sugar and ingredients I can't pronounce but it's not going to happen. Cue the whining. Blah. Well let me tell you I heard birds singing and babies cooing when Maddie threw Buddy Fruits in the grocery cart last week. 

What does your child not randomly throw things into your shopping cart? Lucky you. 

Of course it was time to turn the package over and see what Buddy Fruits really were. OMG. Fruit. That's right 100% fruit. Nothing else. Who knew such things existed. Buddy Fruits come in two forms either Pure Fruit Bites or Pure Blended Fruit To Go. Let me tell you I am in love. During that before mentioned shopping trip I allowed Maddie to pick out one of the blended fruits to enjoy while I shopped in peace. She opted for the Apple & Banana one and I am pleased to report the ingredients are: Apple, banana, concentrated apple juice and lemon juice. I kid you not that is all there is but they are super cool to my 4 year old because they come in awesome squeezy pouches (ahem no mess, no spoon) and they have cute pictures of happy fruit on the front. Win.

The Facts:

- Buddy Fruits come in two different forms The Pure Fruit Bites (fruit snacks) and Pure Blended Fruit To Go (apple sauce)

- The Blended Fruit flavors include: Apple & Multifruit, Apple & Cinnamon, Apple & Strawberry, Apple & Banana and Mango Passion & Banana

- The Pure Fruit Bite flavors include: Orange, Raspberry, Pomegranate & Acai and Apple

- 1 package of Buddy Fruits equals 1 serving of fruit

- Buddy Fruits are 100% fruit!!!! 

No preservatives

No colorings

No genetic modifications

No dairy or gluten

Nothing artificial

As a mom I can say I truly love Buddy Fruits. They are great on the go snacks especially because both forms of Buddy Fruits come in resealable packages. The Pure Fruit Bites are even in BPA Free packaging. I will admit they are a bit pricey (my store has them for 89 cents a piece) but I suggest looking out for sales and even if you only purchase a few just to keep in your My Child Is Driving Me Insane I Need Something To Make It Stop Stash they are totally worth it! Hubby has even enjoyed taking Buddy Fruits to work for a quick on the go snack. Maddie likes that the Pure Fruit Bites even have cute little facts like that the Raspberry bites are made using 16 raspberries and 7 slices of apple. It may not make up for the lack of character shapes but she thinks it's pretty cool!

For the complete listing of where Buddy Fruits are available for purchase look HERE. I was able to also find them at my local military Commissary.

GIVEAWAY

Alright are you sold on Buddy Fruits? Are you ready to try some? Well Buddy Fruits was nice enough to offer one of you lovely readers a display pack of a Buddy Fruits!  
Thank you Buddy Fruits!

Mandatory To Enter:

Visit Buddy Fruits and tell me either something you love about them or what flavor you want to try!

Extra Entries:

-Follow Funny Days With Mommy and Maddie

-Tweet about this giveaway and leave me a link (allowed once a day)

PLEASE remember to leave your e-mail address so that I can contact you if you are the lucky winner!!
Other important stuff:
This giveaway is only open to US residents.
This giveaway will close on Saturday April 2nd.

Disclosure: I was so impressed and in love with the first package of Buddy Fruits I bought that I immediately e-mailed the company and asked if they would be interested in a review and giveaway. They said yes! The display package of Buddy Fruits pictured above was sent to me by Buddy Fruits to facilitate this review. We love Buddy Fruits though and that is that.

Raisels! A Review AND Giveaway! -CLOSED

CLOSED

The Raisels giveaway is now closed.

As a mom I am always trying to be conscious of what Maddie is eating. There are too many headlines declaring childhood obesity an epidemic and frankly that is just scary. I think we have done pretty good so far and I am happy to say Maddie loves her fruit and veggies and definitely eats lots of them.

The troubles come when we go grocery shopping- or in other words the land of everything we do not have in the house! She gets to go wild in the granola bar section and pick out her choices (at least to some degree) and of course there is a great variety of all natural, no sugar added apple sauces that she can choose from too. Our main area of disagreement lies in gummy fruit snacks. I say no, she says yes. It's a battle.

When Team Mom approached me recently about a new product- Raisels!- I was curious. All natural-flavored, real fruit golden raisins dusted with a light sweet and sour sugar flavor. Obviously not sugar free but still not bad. Raisels come in 4 fun kid friendly flavors: Sour Apple, Sour Orange, Sour Lemon and Sour Peach (Sour Watermelon is on the way soon too!). You can purchase Raisels in a 6-pack of 1.25oz portion-controlled boxes.

The best news? Raisels have NO sodium, NO high fructose corn syrups and NO artificial sweeteners! That is a win in my book! Made with natural golden raisins this sweet and sour treat is rich in antioxidants, fat free, cholesterol free and have 100% of the US RDA for Vitamin C.

Of course that extra dusting of sugar may be a bit concerning to some parents but I feel okay about it. Raisins naturally contain 21 grams of sugar per 35 gram serving and the extra light dusting of sugar added to make Raisels (about 10% of the total weight) only bumps up the sugar content by 2 grams. Not bad. Especially not bad compared to candy, cookies, gummies or even soda!

I can certainly get behind Raisels! Okay now you want to know How Do They Taste? Great! Frankly I am not a huge fan of raisins to begin with but the sour peach flavor is super yummy. Raisels turns a normally 'eh' snack into something that makes you feel like maybe you are cheating a bit with candy!

You can find Raisels at: Walgreens, Target, Dollar General, Food Maxx, Price Chopper, Raley's, Stater Brothers, Tops, Wegmans, Weiss, Amazon, Wakefern & PriceRight.

To Win!

Do you want a chance to check out Raisels? Well now you can! Big THANKS to Team Mom again because now I get to offer you a chance to win a Raisels prize pack including a variety of flavors!

How to Win?

Mandatory: Tell me what your families favorite healthy, go to snack is!

Extra Entries 

(be sure to leave a comment for each extra entry!!)

- Become a friend of Funny Days With Mommy and Maddie via Google Friends Connect or tell me you already are!

-Visit Raisels on Facebook and become a fan! 

-Become a Twitter follower of Raisels!

-Visit Raisels and tell me something you like about them!

This giveaway will close on  Sunday March 6th!! Please be sure to leave your e-mail address so that I can contact you if you win!

**This giveaway is open to US residents only**

Disclosure: Team Mom and Raisels provided me with a variety of Raisels to facilitate this review. All opinions are 100% mine. Nutritional information on Raisels was provided to me via Team Mom.

Product Review- Mega Bloks Domino Build Game

Thanks to Team Mom we had a chance to review one of Mega Bloks new games- Mega Bloks Dominos Build Game

The premise of the game is to play a round of dominos and during the game be awarded Mega Bloks to build your chosen animal every time you are able to lay down a domino tile. The game is aimed to help teach children about colors, numbers, matching and motor skills.  

The Good:

For younger children this game can be a great intro to the game of dominos and great opportunity to teach matching skills with both colors and animals. The Mega Bloks Dominos would be a fantastic first game for a child and offers great opportunities for learning the value of taking turns during games.

The Bad:

Well.... the game states it is meant for age ranges 3 to 6 and I can say without a doubt the 3 should be the maximum. If you are lucky your 4 year old may be entertained for one round of dominos but the skills range is definitely more for the older 2 to 3 year range. Besides the lack of interest for older children my only other complaint is the domino tiles are cardboard- kids and cardboard really don't mix well.

I am sure Maddie and I will play a few more round of dominos this week and then once she is old enough I am sure Maddie will have lots of fun teaching Zoey how to play!

The Mega Bloks Domino Build Game (retail price $10.99) is available at Amazon.com, Fred Myers, Toys R Us Canada (Quebec only) and Wal-Mart Canada.

MEGA Brands also has a great Mega Bloks Family Club geared to bring you information on upcoming products, a free e-mail newsletter with great building ideas and toys for children ages 1 and up, printable coupons, offers, contests, sweepstakes and other promotions on Mega Bloks products!**

Mega Bloks is also on a blogger mom search! Mega Brands is looking for five Mega Bloks Moms to contribute to the Mega Bloks Family Club! If selected as one of the five mom you will receive compensation along with free Mega Brands products! To apply to be a Mega Bloks Mom visit http://familyclub.megabloks.com

Disclaimer: Thank you to Team Mom for providing us with Mega Bloks Domino Build Game to test out. I was not paid for this review but I was given the game free of charge. All opinions are true to how I personally feel.

Cardstore.com Review

I was recently contacted by Cardstore.com to review their holiday products and of course I jumped at the chance. Since my Christmas cards have already been addressed and are waiting for a trip to the post office this week I opted to check out a few Cardstore.com holiday Thank You cards. 

I have to admit I had a rather difficult time deciding which cards to order! Cardstore.com offers plenty of options! I instantly fell in love with the Holiday Branch Thank You cards though. I love the simple colors and design. If you haven't found your perfect holiday cards yet the Cardstore.com offers matching sets so you can order holiday cards, thank you cards and even invitations that all match perfectly!

I decided to order a few thank you cards just for Maddie to write her thank you notes on too. How cute are these?! As soon as I saw the Tree Hug Thanks card I knew that they were a must for Maddie! The Cardstore.com offers plenty of other photo card options too.

Designing my holiday thank you cards were super simple. Uploading and resizing my personal photos was quick and easy. I was also offered a variety of different text styles and positions for the inner card where I could write my own personal note. The cards are printed on a sturdy and thick cardstock and are prefolded- score!

If you haven't decided on your holiday cards yet stop by Cardstore.com and take a peek! 

You can also get 20% off your first order with the coupon code: CSHOLIDAY20

This offer is good through December 31st.

A big thank you to the cardstore.com for letting me sample a few of their adorable cards!

X-Acto Corner Punch Review

 

 

 I recently recieved this awesome Bzz Kit as part of the Elmer's Crafters' Campaign and wanted to share my current love affair with the X-Acto Corner Punch. It's silly I know but I really do love it! I have wanted a corner punch for a while now but never seem to remember that when I am at the craft store {the story of my life} so I was thrilled to find one in my Bzz Kit. 

Of course I needed to find something to use it on right away and what better use than with our Tot School activities! hehe 

I posted yesterday all about our apple themed activities and I think the letter tiles are really one of Maddie favorites. I love the look the X-Acto Corner Punch added to our word strips this week. Dare I say professional?!

Of course Maddie only cares that her tiles fit on the word strips!

The X-Acto Corner Punch is great! I had no problems punching through the thick cardstock I used. The punch left clean lines without any jagged edges. I am already working on a cute Happy Birthday banner to send to my sister for her birthday that of course I needed to use the punch on too! 

You can find this new line of X-Acto and Elmer's Craft Bond products at your local Walmart. The X-Acto products range from $2 to $20 while the Elmer's Craft Bond products range from $2 to $9.

I received product samples from BzzAgent for my 100% honest review of these products.