Every since Madison saw the Alice in Wonderland play in her Kiddie Kamp over the summer, she has fallen in love with the story.  Until recently, we only had the movie.  However, now we have the book, and it is one of her most favorite books now.  She loves how they emphasize words by making them bigger than the rest and have them go in different directions.  She laughs and asks what those works say.  It makes the book more fun.  Every other page has an illustration which allows your little one to make their own side stories.  The story is just retold and still has the favorite lines like “I’m late, I’m late for a very important date and the queen of hearts yelling “off with her head”.  Alice in Wonderland is a classic that everyone should have in their home.

Do you kids write and draw lots of stories? Would you love to make them into keepsake? If so, Tikatok.com is a website you will want to try out. With Tikatok, you are able to take your kids stories and drawings and make them into either hard cover or soft cover books! They even have title pages and dedication pages! You can keep them yourself or give them away as gifts! Registration on the site is free, and you don’t get charged until you order your book. You can even buy gift certificates for the author or artist in your life.

It is pretty easy to set up your book too.  Kids can definitely do it themselves.  As for the illustrations, you can either scan them and upload them yourself, or mail them in for them to to do.  If they don’t know what to make their book about, there are suggestions they can use.  You just put in what you like, and it will give you several different ways you can talk about that topic.  Your kids truly do have control of every aspect of their book.

If you’d like a unique original gift for someone, this is definitely it! Kids like nothing more than to express their creative side, and this allows them to do so and show everyone.

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.

I never buy myself anything, and I know that most moms are like me.  We buy everything for our families, and we take care of ourselves last.  The last winter coat that I got was when I was in high school (and I graduated in 1995).  I was definitely needing a new coat this year, and my Lands End Women’s Weatherly Jacket fit the bill.  The first thing I loved about the jacket was that it was not bulky.  I am a heavier person, and trust me when I say this, I don’t need any more bulk than I already have.  Now, even though the jacket is not bulky, it is still super warm (and this jacket was put to the test today when it was snowing out this afternoon).  The second thing I love is the fabric it is made from.  It is very comfortable; I could easily go to bed wearing this jacket.  I also have short arms, and I am able to adjust the jacket at the wrists.  For those who don’t have that issue, you have no idea what a pain it is to own clothing and coats that constantly covers your hands.  The pockets are fleece lined, and you also have side entry handwarmer pockets (and since I don’t like to carry a purse, these pockets come in super handy).  There also is an inside mp3 player pocket and some security pockets.  Lastly, there are a ton of colors to pick from.  I personally like blue, so that is what I got.

If you or a loved one needs a new coat this year, definitely make sure you check out Lands End.  You cannot go wrong with this brand!

The CareBears Dance ‘n Play Piano has been a huge hit in my house with both my kids. Madison (my four year old) doesn’t play with it too much anymore, but my 15 month old still enjoys it. The piano plays three different songs, and has different settings. It also lights up when you press the keys, and the Care Bears dance which makes my son laugh. It is a tad on the loud side, so you may want to  have your hearing checked if you think its quiet.   If you want a great introduction to music for your little one, this is a great toy for that.