We often travel to Wisconsin to visit my family. It is a 4 hour drive, so are always looking for ways to keep the kids busy and entertained.  Bill hates to stop, so it is a long four hours.  A great item to check out for car rides, bedtime, and really any time is the Giddio Audio Adventures.  We listened to the Billy Brown Goes Hiking CD on our drive home, and it was a life saver for us.  Will was super crabby, and the only thing that made him quit screaming was this CD.  It definitely holds your children’s attention.  It is geared towards kids aged 3 – 7 (though it worked on my 1 year old too!)  This is actually pretty cool.  Instead of a narrator reading a story, there is a full cast.  Everyone has their own voice.  I love that it makes my kids use their imagination.  I’m not the only one who likes this either — it has won several awards (Dr. Toy’s Best Products 2007, several iParenting media awards, and Creative Child magazine’s Seal of Excellence).  We ended up having to listen to it more than once, because they like it so much (run time is between 30 – 45 minutes depending on which CD you are listening to).

I love that you can even try this out.  If you go to their site, you can download Billy Brown And The Mystery Package for free!  You can also print off the CD covers and have your kids color them!  I highly recommend checking this out as a great alternative to TV!

I was able to get my parents one of the best Christmas presents ever (actually, she got it early, so I could review it for you)! My mom is not too technologically inclined. She doesn’t know how to work her DVR or turn on their computer. My parents all have dialup, so if I send them pictures, it takes way to long for them to download them. Since we only see them once a month, they miss out on a lot of things. For example, Madison somehow whacked herself in the face the other night with her pumpkin flashlight (and she was in her room suppose to be sleeping). She gave herself two cuts, black and blue marks, and a fat lip. I was able to take a picture, but had no way to show them until now.
Presto has made it super easy to send pictures to people without computers, who have seriously slow internet connections (that would be all of you with dial up), and people who are not technologically inclined. Set up for the printer took around five minutes. I was able to go online and set up the account while my sister was setting up the printer for my mom. Now, you are able to call in the information if you don’t have an internet connection too. To make the Presto Printer work, all you need is an analog phone line, paper, and a print cartridge. The Presto Service includes an @presto.com email address and unlimited incoming email, photos, and other content. You will not get spam either. The only people who can send things to print off have to be included on your friend list! (I wish regular email worked that way. Think how nice that would be!). You also are able to set up five times a day for it to check and see if you have any messages.

Over the last two weeks, I have sent several pictures over to my parents (especially the one I talked about above). It was nice that I could show them. Now, we just visited them this weekend, so I could see the quality of the pictures. I am impressed. My mom could tell that Madison had a fat lip. She could also see when Will got his hair cut. Instead of missing that milestone, she really got to be a part of it!

This is truly the perfect gift for someone who does not have high speed internet, doesn’t have a computer, or is not technologically inclined. If my mom can do, anyone can.

Do your kids play on the Internet? Do you worry about them deleting your files or renaming them? Do you worry that they will end up on some porn site or worse? If you answered yes, you need to get KidDesktop.  KidDesktop was designed for children between the ages of 3 and 7. It gives them a safe learning experience, and you don’t have to worry about them deleting or renaming any of your files.
KidDesktop has a customized start screen and activity bar. You are able to customize it with activities, games, and websites that your children enjoy (for us, we did Noggin and Playhouse Disney. Madison knows those sites like the back of her hand). They even have the option to download and view pictures. (I can see some adults using this feature too, since it is about 100 times easier than my photo program). They even have a feature that allows you to search YouTube. For us, that is the greatest feature. We like to look for things on YouTube, but I never know when we start a video what exactly we are opening. Another great feature is that you can set time limits too! If I would let her, I think Madison could play on the computer for eight hours straight! I also like that the help menu is spoken too. Madison can’t read yet, so this helps her figure it out for herself without having to get me.

If you have kids in your house between the ages of 3 and 7 and let them on the computer, you definitely need to get a copy of this in your house! The internet will never be 100% safe, but this definitely helps make it safer for your kids.

Who are the these cute dolls sitting on my couch?  These are the Groovy Girl Dolls.  They are a huge hit in my house, and they will be in yours too!  I personally like dolls that look like a little girl.  I don’t need my daughter to grow up any faster than she already is.  The Groovy Girls Dolls fits that bill and are super cute.  I love that my son (who is one) can also play with them.  There is nothing on them that he can rip off and stick in his mouth (for example, a lot of dolls and stuffed animals have eyes that I have to worry about).  These dolls are super soft, so if your kids whack each other with them, no worries.  They are also small enough to be easily put into a suitcase for a trip to Grandma’s house.  The Groovy Girl Dolls come in several different nationalities too, so your child will easily find one that she can relate too.  The Groovy Girl Pets are so soft that I wouldn’t mind sleeping with them.  I also think they are super cute too. My son loves to walk around hugging them.

As you can see from the picture above, each doll and pet comes with a tag on them.  Now, on the tag, there is a code you can use on the Groovy Girls website, so the fun doesn’t end with just the doll:

As an RSVP member, your child will:

* Receive access to exclusive online RSVP Parties and games
* Use the Creation Station to create hundreds of new outfits
* Get extra Groovy Girls Tunes to play – and download!
* Be able to earn Party Points – and receive digital rewards!

With an RSVP Doll, she’ll also get:

* Her Doll’s outfit added to her Closet, Creation Station and Dance Floor,
* Additional items added to her Creation Station per doll
* A song from her Doll added to her Mod Pod and Dance Floor,
* And, she can chat with her Doll on her Groovy Girls Laptop-what fun!

With an RSVP Pet, your child can also:

* Call her pet to her Mod Pod any time,
* Play with her pet and show off super-cool tricks,
* Mix and match a t-shirt from her pet in the Creation Station – and wear it wherever!

I love that everything related to these dolls is all about promoting age-appropriate values and attitudes. Moms, there is even a place on the site for you too! Madison has had a blast with these, and I know other girls will too (though my one year old boy loves them just as much). The ages for this are 4-9, and these will make any little girl happy come Christmas or her birthday.

Why do I love Dragon Naturally Speaking? Let me count the ways . . . .

Ok, so the video doesn’t tell you all ways I love Dragon Naturally Speaking. However, it does show you how easy it is to use the software. Literally, all you have to do is plug in a noise canceling headset to your computer and download the software. You place your cursor where you want to type and away you go. Now, you do have to train the software to your voice. I tend to talk fast, so it had to correct for that. Plus, if you find that it is typing same wrong word, you can train it on that specific word. This isn’t rocket science to figure out (which is good because I have a tendency to NOT read the books or pdf files that comes with software).

I was able to create that video while my kids were up and playing at my feet (and you can tell when they grabbed my leg, because the video starts wobbling. You can also hear them a little too.) However, I did want to show that you can still be involved in doing other things and be able to use Dragon NaturallySpeaking. This more than triples my typing speed when I am typing and dealing with my kids (Take the Dragon NaturallySpeaking typing test if you don’t know what your typing speed is). I am actually writing this blog post using the software too. Here is the official video on how this all works:

As I stated in my video, I am finding that I can get a lot more in the little snippets of time I have during the day plus I am able to get way more done at night. I love being able to go to bed before midnight. I love being able to answer emails and do blog posts when I have Will sitting on my lap drinking from his sippy and watching cartoons. I have five blogs, so being able to write more content in less time is a huge plus for me. Plus, anyone who knows me, knows I have no problems talking. I am able to do my freelance work and reports using this also. I will be recommending this to my boss. Beside blogging, I have used it to make my daily lists of what I have to do each day plus some grocery shopping lists too! I am not the only one who thinks it is great, check out this New York Times Review.

Dragon NaturallySpeaking is really for anyone who works on a computer. If you talk faster than you type, you need this. If you want to be more efficient in your work, you need this. If you just want a new toy to play with, you DEFINITELY need this. Time is money, and the time you save from using Dragon NaturallySpeaking makes it worth every penny.