One of the gifts I plan on getting Bill this Christmas is called PrismaPixels. For those who don’t know, Bill is an electrical engineer who loves to do logic puzzles. Anything that involves math and logic, he is there. PrismaPixels is nothing like you have seen before. Each puzzle has numbers along the top and along the side of it. These numbers will give you clues about which and how many boxes to color in. If you color all the boxes correctly, you will see a picture.

The rules for this kind of puzzle are fairly easy. First, those numbers I talked about before, represent the number of consecutively colored boxes of the same color in that row or column. The colored boxes and group of boxes occur in the same order as the numbers. There must be at least one blank box between two sections of the same colored boxes. There may or may not be one or more blank boxes between two sections of different color boxes.

Once you get the puzzle book, all these rules are listed. There is also a couple of pages of tips (and images), so you can learn how to do these puzzles. Now, by following the directions, I even figured out how to do these! These puzzles do require you to think, but are pretty fun to do.

365 Days of Baby Einstein is one of the books that is such a great deal that you cannot pass it up. This book teaches your children about art, language, poetry, math, and science. The illustrations and pictures in here are awesome and engage your child. There are read aloud rhymes, interactive questions, and poems that encourage your children and you to have a conversation about what is going on on that page. The pages of this book are paper, so you do have to be careful. There are things in this book that both Madison (my 4 year old) and Will (my 1 year old) can do and be entertained by. Each section of the book is color coded, so if you want to work on certain skill like language development, you can easily find it. They even have pages where you can learn how to say words like dog and cat in other languages (my husband has been looking for some golf bags translations in there but we have yet to find any. LOL)  This is a book that can easily be given as either a baby shower gift or a birthday present, and you won’t break the bank either.

Five Rubber Duckies is a book in my house that gets read often. It is just as popular with Will (my one year old) as with Madison (my 4 year old). Will enjoys the books for several reasons. First, he likes the duckies. The pages aren’t like normal book pages; they are half pages with ducks on top. The pages are thick cardboard, so even if he chews on them (and he has), they will not get wrecked. He also can’t rip them. Madison likes this book because we can work on her math skills. As you turn each page, there are two lines which rhyme. It is a story about duckies, and as you turn the page, we lose a ducky (have no fear — they don’t need foreclosure help, they are just busy doing other things).  It is a cute story and ends with 1 rubber ducky being left with a clean baby.  My kids completely adore this book and I highly recommend it!

If you are needing a loan without having to haggle or fight with loan officers, NameYouLoan.com is your place. They have what’s called an online mortgage auction. All you do is fill out an application online and lenders bid for your business! How easy can they make this? If you need a loan, it helps to investigate all your available options to get the best deal, and this is one of the easiest ways to do this.

Here’s more information on How NameYourLoan.com Works:

NameYourLoan.com Diversifies Current Lending Environment for Borrowers with New Approach to Online Mortgage Loans.

New online mortgage auction site, NameYourLoan.com, has revolutionized the way borrowers obtain mortgage loans online. As a unique and creative online community, borrowers can easily connect with the best mortgage lenders while lenders benefit from a wealth of real time mortgage leads and opportunities for business growth.
(PRWEB) – In today’s tough lending environment, littered with deceitful lenders and cunning tactics, it’s high time for a revolutionary tool that can empower borrowers yet still benefit lenders. NameYourLoan.com has answered the need with the launch of a new online mortgage auction site designed to give consumers access to an increasing mortgage lenders network to ultimately obtain great online mortgage loans.
“For centuries, auctions have been the most efficient and effective way to get the best deals in everything,” says Al Salahi, President and CEO of NameYourLoan.com. “Why not have auctions for all mortgage loan types?”
NameYourLoan.com is an online community where borrowers can easily connect with the best mortgage lenders. Lenders compete with one another in an online auction to win the borrower’s business. As numerous lenders submit loan offers, the site enables consumers to see “apples to apples”, compare mortgage interest rates and achieve the lowest rate mortgage online such as the best home equity loan rate or home refinance loan.
The site’s sophisticated computer system compiles and calculates all the information submitted by lenders (interest rates, points, fees, terms, etc.) and then ranks loan offers, based on their true worth relative to the borrower’s stated preferences (lowest rate, lowest fees or best combination of rates and fees). This simplified process gives borrowers a coherent presentation of information without having to do the math themselves.
Unlike other online mortgage comparison shopping services, only those lenders who come out at the top of the auction with the lowest interest rates and fees get a chance at the borrower’s business. Moreover, borrowers can invite their friend or relative lender to participate in the borrower’s auction quickly and without cost. Lenders who refuse to participate are most likely high priced and not the best mortgage lenders.
“Through advanced technology, we are starting to make haggling and deceptive lending tactics a thing of the past,” explains Salahi. “At the same time, we are transforming a generally stressful and complicated process into a very pleasant and easy experience for borrowers. Our multiple bid auction format, coupled with constant consumer feedback, will make it easy for us to weed out dishonest lenders—and hopefully put them out of business!”
Use of NameYourLoan.com is completely free for borrowers. Borrowers are under no obligation to accept any of the online mortgage loans offered in the auction. To protect against identity theft and fraud, site users are never asked for sensitive information, and lenders that receive multiple consumer complaints will be barred from future auctions.
For more information, visit NameYourLoan.com.
About NameYourLoan.com:
NameYourLoan.com is the world’s first online mortgage auction, designed to advance the lending process by helping honest and competitive lenders grow their business, and at the same time, make it possible for borrowers to instantaneously reach multiple lenders and receive competitive loan offers online, in an auction format. NameYourLoan.com uses a patent-pending concept powered by sophisticated proprietary software that has been developed by a number of technology heavyweights from the Fortune 500 arena.

I ordered the DVD Leap Frog - Math Circus for Madison last week. The DVD came today, and we have already watched it.

I like this video. It did not drive me nuts as some children’s programming can. It is a cartoon with an actual plot. This video teaches numeration, problem solving, and creative thinking skills. In other words, she is learning counting, addition, subtraction, and so much more. This video held her attention (which is somewhat amazing since nothing holds her 3 year old attention span!). This video is designed for children ages 3 - 6.