Trio Building Blocks from Fisher Price

Little Man LOVES my blog because he has been the beneficiary of my efforts to review and share info about many new products. I am happy to try out new products and share my opinions about them, because as a mom on a tight budget, we don't have money to waste on products that are sub par and I know most of you feel the same way. So if I can give someone a heads up BEFORE they go spend their hard earned cash, I'm glad to do it!

So last week we received a box from Fisher Price and my Little Man was running in circles around the box while I opened it, waiting to see what was inside. Here's what we found:

I should have taken a better picture of the box. They are TRIO Building Sets, by Fisher-Price. I was really surprised at how much he enjoyed them, I thought he would get bored of them very quickly. It turns out he loves them! I love them because they are a LOT easier to pick up than some other little, tiny square building blocks that I find in every single room in my house. Since you can actually see TRIO components, you don't step on them in bare feet and then hop around doing the pain dance. I KNOW you know what I'm talking about!

Another bonus? The TRIO Building components CANNOT clog up my vacuum. They're too big! YAY! But I think the best bonus was that my son really uses and enjoys them. He was able to be creative and use his hands to build things, which he loves doing. I loved the fact that for a week straight he stayed busy and wasn't driving me crazy with his excess energy. Here are a few of the things he built:

He even used that monster/robot thing one night at dinner to hold his cup by pointing the finger things up and placing cups in them. He was so proud of himself! Fisher-Price says the sets are for ages 3-9, but my 10 year old jumped in at one point to build something too and I noticed they have all kinds of sets that allow kids to build castles, critters, airplanes, etc. Also, the set came with a booklet that shows how to build certain items, like the boat Little Man made.

I can say without pause that TRIO Building Sets are definitely worth having. Anything that gets my kids out from in front of the TV and gets them to use their imagination is a good thing and TRIO has done a good job of giving Little Man a chance to be creative and develop his mind.

Wanna check TRIO Building Sets out? Fisher Price has a coupon good for $5 off your first purchase. Just click the link to get your coupon! The offer expires on October 1st, so don't wait too long.

$5 off TRIO Building Set

Now the good news gets even better...Because they're good like that, Fisher-Price and Mom Select are giving away a TRIO Bulding Set to one of my readers! Leave a comment to win your own set and watch your kid build amazing things! Contest is open to US and Canada and ends September 20th at 12 midnight PST.

If you want extra entries you can:

• Twitter the contest
• Blog about my giveaway
• Post a Facebook Comment with a link to the giveaway

Thanks to MomSelect and Fisher Price for letting us try out TRIO. This TRIO set has found a happy home and will be used often!

Sun Detergent Review

A few weeks ago I received a free bottle of Sun Detergent to try. I have to be honest and admit this is not a brand I usually purchase, mostly because it is on the lower end of the price scale and being the detergent snob that I am, I had preconcieved notions about how well it might clean my clothes.

So I decided to take the plunge and use it on one of my worst loads of kids dirty, stinky clothes and really put it to the test. The first thinbg I noticed is that it is clear. No color. Maybe it's a mental thing, but that one thing alone made me feel better about using the detergent. Less additives.

There is a slight fragrance, but it is very light. Again, while I don't mind some things smelling nice and flowery after being washed, I don't need my boys getting funny looks cause they smell all perfumey! Plus my Little Man has sensitive skin and sometimes the additives in detergents irritate his skin. So again...very little scent was a good thing in my book.

I threw the load in with the measured amount of Sun detergent and let the washer and the saop do their thang. the load came out clean and fresh, except for a stain on one shirt that I neglected to pre-treat. The sweat? Gone. The dirt? Gone. The smell? Gone.

Since I had pre-treated everything else but the shirt, I decided to do a test load without pre-treating the stains. I tried the detergent on some of my husband's work clothes that tend to come home with grease spots and food from lunch, as well as HUGE sweat stains from working out in the sun all day. After running a load through a pre-soak, a heavy duty wash and an extra rinse, some of the food stains came our, but most of the grease spots remained. So I know when I use Sun Detergent that pre-treating the stains is necessary for the detergent to do it's job. But I have to pre-treat with other detergents too, so I am not suggesting this is a weakness directed only at Sun, it happens to be an issue I have with lots of detergents.

So, for the price, I am definitely going to be looking at Sun Detergent as an alternative to some of the more pricey stuff I have been using. It does a good job with basic laundry needs and I love the fact that it is free af some of the additives that other detergents contain. I am happy to report that I am no longer a detergent snob.

A big thanks to MomSelect and Sun Detergent for giving me the opportunity to test this product and for offering coupons for me to share with my readers. I usually hold contests to determine winners, but decided this time i would reward my loyalist readers with a free bottle of Sun Detergent, courtesy of SUn and MomSelect.

These Bloggers have been with me almost from the beginning of my blog and I think they deserve a reward for sticking around!

Stefany at Pikes Pickles
Miss Hope at Hope from the Edge
Stacy at Johnson Team Mom
Kristi at Kunz Family
Sports Mama at You Don't Have to Like Me

Thanks Ladies!!! You have added so much to my blogging experience! Enjoy the Sun Detergent!

World of Color Water Show Coming to Disney's California Adventure

We've only been to Disneyland once so far. I KNOW! We are so behind! We missed so much because we didn't know how much there was to see, so we are really looking forward to going back someday soon. We didn't even venture into California Adventure last time, we just ran out of energy!

There are so many new things coming to Disney's California Adventure! In the spring of 2010 they will unveil a new water show called World of Color, featuring a “cast of fountains” that shoot from 30 feet to as high as 200 feet in the sky. The show will be viewed on the world’s largest projected water screen — a wall of water 380 feet wide by 50 feet high for a projection surface of 19,000 square feet. That is huge! My boys are fascinated by fountains and I can imagine they will be thrilled to see this show. Apparently the fountains will do some really incredible things, like form a conga line. Find out more about it here!

There are all kinds of other plans going down at Disney's California Adventure in the near future besides the water show. You can click here, which I did, to see what kind of adventures are being planned for the coming years. I continue to be amazed at the creativity involved in bringing the ideas to life. Disney really is a magical place.

California Adventure sounds just as fun as Disneyland was and now that we know how to plan our time there the next time around, I think we will get a lot more seen and done our second time around! I can't wait to go back and spend a couple of days at the part of Disney we missed the first time. Guess I'd better quit blogging and start working so I can pay for the trip!

Win Free Fruit! Another Fruit2Day Giveaway!!

Here's a follow-up to my last review for Fruit2Day. Since our initial taste test, my family has continued to enjoy Fruit2Day as part of their weekly snacks throughout the day.

My son tends to struggle with his weight, at 9, and while I don't want to make a big deal of it, I am concerned. So I am very happy that he loves Fruit2Day and will choose it as a healthy snack over something with less nutrition. I'm planning on sending these to school with him as part of his lunch! The bottles will fit perfectly into his lunch box.

My husband has found them to be particularly important as part of his diet as he has recently found himself back out in the heat with a temporary job that demands a lot of him physically. (Honestly, I don't know how he does it and I am very grateful that he is willing to do whatever it takes to bring in money to pay our bills.)

Big Man likes the Strawberry Orange and Cherry Grape flavors. He takes them ice cold to work and says they go a long way in helping him cool off and re-energize himself about 10 am and again at about 1 pm when the temps here are hitting 113 degrees. Plus he doesn't find them heavy or filling to the point that he feels sluggish after drinking/eating them.

I like them as part of Big Man's lunch because they are easy to pack and don't require a lot of extra work on my part, although that sounds really selfish when I say it, seeing as how he is willing to work so hard in the heat all day. I love the ad with the machete comment. Have you TRIED to open a mango?! Freak!

I personally had struggled with the texture the first time I tried Fruit2Day. I love the taste of the Strawberry Orange flavor, but was having issues with the chunks of fruit mixed with the juice. I know...it seems stupid, but I'm good like that...having stupid issues, I mean.

Well, I took the time to figure out how to overcome my texture issue with Fruit2Day and
found that if I throw the fruit/juice in a blender with some ice, I get a nice smoothie that gives me a great boost at about 3 pm when my energy levels really take a dive.

I'm so glad we had the opportunity to try Fruit2Day. This is a product that we have been able to incorporate into our daily lives that really has aided us with changing our eating and snacking habits.

Wanna know where to find them in your neighborhood? Click here!

The good people at Fruit2Day want to give some of my lucky readers the chance to try Fruit2Day for themselves and are offering 2 more coupons for free samples of the product! Leave me a comment telling me which flavor you want to try! Contest will end on August 1st, 2009 at 12 midnight.