The Tree of Life has many meanings to many people. There are stories about trees that produce peaches every 3,000 years that give you immortality if you eat it and trees that connect the underworld. There are also more realistic things concerning trees including global warming and the destruction of forests. We often forget that trees benefit the environment, and provide us food and medicines. “What better symbol of our world, of life itself, than a tree – to remind us and inspire us to do all we can to protect our environment,” says Paula Brooks, owner and designer at Alef Bet. “Many of us do small acts to improve things each day, from carpooling to using cloth totes at the market. I wanted to create something that is fashionable and is a reminder about taking care of our planet.”  These Tree Of Life pendants are not only pretty but also lets you where your heart on your sleeve errrr neck.

Something that my daughter likes is anything that can be customized. Shains is one of items that she really likes. Shains is recycled fashion accessories. There is a little something for everyone; there are keychains, ponytail holders, necklaces, pins, bracelets, and dog collars. Madison easily made herself a bracelet and a ponytail holder. There are 50 letter and symbols that can be used, so you can easily make any message you want. Madison enjoyed being able to spell her name and then put a ton of symbols like a ice cream cones and a strawberry next to her name. She really enjoyed being able to be as creative as she wanted to be. She also loved being able to do this all by herself. She didn’t need us to make the bracelet at all!

Shains stands for “state how action is a necessary solution”. They realized right away that wasn’t going to be catchy enough, so they shortened it to Shains. Shains are made of 100% recyclable scrap materials. I personally think it is brilliant that the owner of this company took something that others were throwing away and came up with a great product for kids! I also love that 10% of the net profits are also donated to environmental organizations.

If you have a fashionable environmentally conscious kid who has everything, Shains is the way to go!

A book you must have in your home is Frankie: The Walk ‘N Roll Dog. This story will make you laugh, it will make you cry, and it’ll make you hug your pets and kids and tell them that you love them.  It also was just awarded National Best Book 2008 Award by USA Book News in the Children’s Picture Book Non-fiction softcover category, so I am not the only one who thinks it is great!

This story is about a little dachshund.  We learn about how she met her family and what their family life was like.  We also learn about a terrible injury she endured (a ruptured disk in her back) and how she lost the ability to walk.  She had surgery with only a 30% chance of every walking again.  She outfitted with her wheels that you see on the cover of the book.  Now, I am not going to give away how the story ends, so you’ll have to get the book to see if Frankie walks again.

The owner of this dog actually wrote the book, and it is a true story.  She is from Wisconsin (which is where I am from), so I personally identify with where this story takes place.  The illustrations in this book are awesome too.  The story is written at a level, so that all children can enjoy it and walk away with some good life lessons such as always look for positive solutions to overcoming and enduring challenges, don’t feel sorry for yourself, and having compassion for the physically challenged.  These are three great lessons that our children (and even adults) should learn and live by.  This book also opens a line of communication between you and your children too.  I know that Madison, my 4 year old, had a ton of questions for us after we read this.

This is a book that I really think everyone should take a look at and read.  We can all benefit from the life lessons in here.

As a proud new owner of a Wii, I have to admit I like it so far.  Like all gaming systems out there, it only comes with one controller and one numchuck.  Therefore, your first purchase afterwards is going to be for some more gear.  You get one sports game with the system too.  It has tennis, bowling, and boxing just to name a few of the games.  The bad thing is that it really only lets you play 3 rounds (which is a good thing for boxing because after three rounds, your arms feel as if they are going to fall off).  As a system that makes you get off your butt, I give it 2 thumbs up.  The games so far have made us all get up and have some fun!  If you are looking for super good graffics or shoot them up games, you aren’t going to get that from the Wii.  However, if you are looking for a great gaming system to get your kids off their butts, this is the one you want!

Back in April, I wrote a review on the That Baby CD and DVD.  They both are still a huge hit in my house.  The part I love most about the songs that are on there is that they aren’t kid songs.  You won’t find yourself climbing the walls with some sing songy tunes.  These are covers written by some of the best artists of our time:  Fleetwood Mac, Paul Simon, Joni Mitchell, Natalie Merchant, The Beatles, and The Pretenders.  You will find yourself singing along with a lot of these songs.  This CD is played every time Will goes to bed (naptime or nighttime).  That is how great I think this is!

Now, they are sure you are going to love this DVD and CD.  If you don’t, they have a money back guarantee.  They also offer free replacement of scratched or damaged discs too.  (This is worth its weight in gold!).  For those of us who want to be enviromentally friendly, they are made in the US with recyclable materials.  If you do purchase them, free shipping and handling in the US (you all know how much I adore free shipping!)  Also, if you need it quickly for a baby shower or birthday that you forgot about, call them.  They will figure something out to get it to you in time!  How awesome is that customer service?

Now, I have kept in touch with the awesome company who makes these unique baby gifts, and the owner agreed to give away a copy of the That Baby DVD and CD away to one of my lucky readers!!!  This contest will be open to all my readers.  To quote the owner:  “Kids around the world need to rock, so we’re open to all of them!”  I am going to run it until the end of the month (July 31st) till 8 PM CST.  So what do you need to do to enter?

Each one of these give you one entry:

1. Leave a comment on this post. I want to know which song you think you’ll like the best.  You are able to actually listen snippets of each song right on That Baby DVD’s site (I’ve linked the page, so you can easily find it), so that should help you make your decision.  One comment only please and let me know everything you did for your entries in that comment.  If you do not leave which song in your comment, your entry will not count.
2. Stumble this post. If you don’t know what Stumble Upon is, please read Lori’s post at Blogging Cents. She explains it extremely well.
3. Vote for this post on other social media sites. One extra entry for each social media site you vote for this on.
3. Subscribe to this blog using either my email or RSS feed.

For 5 additional entries, blog about this on your blog or add it to any forums you belong too. Please give me the URL, so I can verify.

Good luck to all!

UPDATE:  The winner has been chosen for this giveaway.  However, if you use the coupon code LISASENTME, you can get 20% off your own copies!