Coffee Mug giveaway

One of my new "favorite things" is my specialty coffee mug by GoPromos.com. I can't think of a better wayt to start my day than with a hot cup of coffee, served with smiles from my family...

(picture here)

...especially since they're in picture form. Nobody can speak while I'm drinking. Ahhhh....


Want your own cool mug?

Then enter below and I'll pick a winner via our fancy method of Name in A Hat on Monday, August 15. Each item you do counts as a separate entry. Please do a different comment for each one!

Ways to enter:

~ comment! Easy as pie.

~ Visit GoPromos.com and tell me what you'd like the most.

~ Follow me on Twitter or this blog.

~ Tweet, post, Facebook, or spread the word about this giveaway on any other social media site and link back. (no limit! Have fun spreading the word, but please leave a comment for each entry!)


Good luck!

Star of the Sea book review

Yet another fabulous book by Janet Halfmann! "Star of the Sea" is less of a storybook and more of an educational book about the amazing lives of sea stars. You probably knew that they can regrow a lost limb, but did you also know they could extend their stomachs FROM THEIR BODIES so that they can digest other sea creatures without cracking the shells? I do, now. My kids and I have read this book several times and now know a WHOLE LOT about this particular animal. Ms. Halfmann's words are easy for my 5 year old to digest but interesting enough to keep my 9 year old's attention and even garnered several comments from my pre-teen (from across the room, naturally. He didn't want to be caught being interested in a picture book!).

As a homeschooling family, every book we read can become an educational opportunity. Star of the Sea has definitely fit that bill!

Mess: The Manual of Accidents and Mistakes - a Review

I received a really cool book to review a while ago. Titled, "Mess: The Manual of Accidents and Mistakes" it's a challenge to the owner to break out of your comfort zone and create MESSES.

I love this concept! One page suggests the idea of dropping blobs of ink on a page and creating a character around it. Another directs you to take a hammer and chalk and pound it into the page until pulverized, just to see the result. Basically, this book is about destroying the pages, simply to realize that art knows no boundaries and creativity exists in everything.

I had thought to have this be a book for Justin whose special situation includes an extreme aversion to any project that isn't clearly outlined. He likes rules and directions with a known outcome and this book was and is the anti-christ of all art projects. He managed to eek out a few pages, but it was honestly painful for the entire family and I needed to give this book a review!!

Evan had been watching the whole process with Justin and The Mess Book. As my frustration with Justin grew, Evan's curiosity became more evident. "Can I do that book if Justin isn't going to?"

I slapped my head when I realized that I had, yet again, forgotten which child I should have targeted!! My little boy who is always making messes but has strayed from spontaneous art would LOVE this book.

And so, we began to Mess it Up:Using WASHABLE markers on the cover was an interesting lesson. From now on, if you hold our Mess book, you will, in fact, become MESSY...

Coffee grounds...
Leftover spaghetti!
Painting without looking...


I totally endorse Mess: The Manual of Accidents and Mistakes for anyone looking to remember how to be spontaneous and enjoy the process of art without focusing so much on the outcome.

Fur and Feathers - a review

We are personal fans of the author, Janet Halfmann. She writes stories that are sweet and educational without feeling like knowledge is being stuffed down a kid's throat. Her book, Fur and Feathers, does just that, once again.
Little Sophia has a wonderful dream in which she discovers what type of body coverings different animals have. She finds creative methods of recreating their natural fur/feathers/scales in a seemingly bottomless sewing kit. The beautiful illustrations by Laurie Allen Klein capture a feeling of sweet innocence that reinforces a lesson about the creatures of our world.

Once again, I am happy to read one of Ms. Halfmann's books to my kids and I truly recommend checking this story out!

Legoland Discovery Center - Star Wars Weekend!

If your kids like Lego Star Wars, and you live in the Chicagoland area, then head over to the Legoland Discovery Center site to purchase your tickets to this weekend's Lego Star Wars Weekend! At the media preview last night, my family and I had a blast checking out the Chicago skyline destruction that the droids brought upon us. It was SO COOL. As in, way too cool for a little boy who is a Lego Star Wars freak...I believe that part of the Wrigley Building is on the street, surrounded by droids...
Life sized R2 and Darth Vader alongside life sized Evan.
Tons of actors!
A clone checking out my boys' race cars...
Corinne appears to have issues with Obama's proposal for extended school days...

Seriously, buy your tickets ASAP because they're selling out!

Mr. Popper's Penguins

My family recently went to see an early screening of Mr. Popper's Penguins starring Jim Carey. Initially, I had thought it would be a silly children's movie and only attended because I knew they wanted to watch it. I had seen the previews and they presented the movie in a ridiculous light, focusing on penguin poop and one-liners. While the movie DID contain plenty of poopy one-liner jokes, it was actually quite good! I enjoyed the storyline and only became annoyed once or twice by the over-the-top humor that Jim Carey tends to bring to a movie. You'll find that the moral to the story is love, love, love; what's better than love?

All in all, I honestly recommend Mr. Popper's Penguins as a movie to go and check out. Your children will love it and you will definitely find it entertaining and sweet.

Did we like the 2011 Chevy Tahoe Hybrid?

Let us ponder that question...Let's see: its gas mileage to the Indy 500 and back was phenomenal...


There was adequate space in the middle row for 3 full-sized adults...
... but it still had the 3rd row for extra people (aka: little sisters who maybe shouldn't be sitting quite so closely to their older brothers...)

... it had On-Star AND a traditional navigational system so that when I got turned around in Chicago (AGAIN! You'd think I hadn't lived in this area my whole life...), I was able to call and speak to a live person for 15 minutes while we figured out our way around the heavy construction detours...
...and the 3rd row of seats easily popped right out so that we could fit far too many coolers, grills and suitcases.

Yes. We liked the Tahoe. I cried a tear on the day my review ended...