As many of you know, we remodeled our basement this last summer, so we had some extra room in the house. We now have a huge play area for the kids. However, even though the basement itself is warm, the floor is freezing cold. We have been looking for sandals and/or slippers for Will that he wouldn’t easily be able to take off. We found the perfect match with the Polliwalks shoes. These shoes are not only cute, but extremely functional too. For the winter time, we got him the puppy dog shoes. They are super warm for him. I love that the bottoms are nonstick. We have hardwood floors upstairs which also get very cold in the winter. I can never put him in socks, because he either doesn’t leave the socks on or he slips and falls wherever he tries to go. With these shoes, he can’t easily get them off (though I can easily get them on), and he isn’t falling all over. He also is a huge puppy fan right now, so he loves them just because they are puppies.

Now, for the summer (or when we can’t find his puppy shoes), we got him the Fish Shoes. I love them. These shoes include the back straps that ensure that they stay on your little ones feet. It also makes it super easy to adjust for a custom fit for your kids’ feet. They are super easy to get on and my son has yet to try and take them off.  The fish lips change color when exposed to UV rays of the sun too!  How cool is that?  Right now, these are only in select Dillards stores and online at Zappos.com.  They will be available at all of their retailers in Jan/Feb.

Overall, I am impressed with the Polliwalks shoes that we got. They are made out of high quality material, and try as he might, my son has not figured out how to wreck them yet. They are cute and can definitely take a beating. These are shoes that will easily be passed down from kid to kid and still look great!  Now, since these are so great, I want to offer pair to one of my lucky readers!

1. Leave a comment on this post.  Check out the Polliwalks site and tell me which pair of Polliwalks shoes you would want.
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For 5 additional entries,

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This giveaway will end on December 14 at 8:00 pm CST is available to US residents only. Good luck!

I recently came across another item that falls along the lines of “why didn’t I think of that?”. The mom who came up with the Parking Pal, in my opinion, is a genius.  The Parking Pal is a circular magnet with a child size hand print in the center.  When you put it on your car/van/vehicle, you child puts they hand on their, and it keeps them safe while you load or unload your vehicle.  Being that I don’t have a driveway and we park on the street a lot with the minivan, I love that this keeps Madison safe.  I’ll be honest, when we first used it, I was completely surprised by something.  Madison knew what I wanted her to do without telling her.  She knew that I wanted her to stand there with her hand on the magnet while I was loading the car.  I love that this is intuitive enough that she just knew what was expected.  This has also been a hit with other moms.  They all wanted to know where I got this from, and all thought it was a great idea.  Now, the Parking Pal does come in several designs to pick from — everything from soccer balls, to fish, to flowers.  There is definitely something for your kids that you can get on there.  The Parking Pal will run you about $7.99.  However, $8 is well worth insuring my daughter’s safety.

I don’t often products that I fall in love with the first day I have them. However, it was love at first sight with this laptop cooling stand.  I spend a lot of time on my laptop, and anyone who has a laptop knows how hot they get on the bottom.  I actually have a burn mark from my laptop on my leg (and yes I am serious, I really do).  I have been trying to find something, anything that would help me out.  This cooling stand is exactly what I was looking for.  The size of the cooling stand is perfect.  It adds a small amount of height to your laptop and that’s it.  My favorite part is that the fan is run by the USB port on your laptop.  I saw many versions of these cooling stands that made you plug it in to get it to work.  Personally, I have a laptop, so I am not tethered to the wall.  Why would I want a device that makes me stuck in one spot?  The fan cools down the bottom of the laptop, and it almost feels like your legs have their own air conditioner.  If you are having laptop heating issues like I was, I highly recomment one of these cooling stands.

I am not ready to let Madison (my 4 year old) use a real fishing pole yet. Right now, I envision many hospital trips if she had one. However, we have several magnetic fishing pole sets, and they are awesome. Basically, she goes fishing in my living room almost on a daily basis. She spends several hours catching her fish and then throwing them out back on the floor. Will (my one year old) likes to get involved in the game too. He either plays with the fish or tries to pretend to be the fish and grab the end of the string. The ball pit we have is a boat so it ties in quite nicely.  I really need to get a picture of her sitting in that boat with her pole. It is super cute.

I highly recommend a magnetic pole until you are comfortable that your children won’t cause serious damage with a real one. I don’t think Madison is ready this summer either for a real one. However, she is completely happy with the magnetic fishing poles and we’ll keep her using those until she is ready.

How many of us remember that song from when we were kids? I know I do. That is why when I saw the Fisher-Price Musical Tea Set. I had to buy it for Madison. I can say I am happy to report that it is awesome. Granted, hearing the I’m a Little Teapot song gets a tad annoying after about hundred times in one day, it was still a great buy. First, I love it because it isn’t dainty. It can take a beating. There are no small parts that I have to worry about Will getting into. The set includes four cups, saucers and spoons, creamer, sugar bowl with lid, and everything fits on the tray for serving. The only part of this set that sings is the teapot. It makes a cute noise when you pretend to pour. If you press the top of the teapot, that is when the song starts. This is great addition to anyone’s toys.