If you are a busy mom like me, you tend to struggle come dinner time.  I know I do.  If you don’t plan ahead, you never seem to have the right ingredients and you end up ordering out (which costs so much more!).  The Month Of Meals e-book has some awesome advice to get yourself out of that rut.  This book will help you stay home every night and not spend over $200 in groceries on dinner. I love how the Month Of Meals book not only gives me dinner ideas for a month, but they also give you a shopping list.  If you stick to the list, you will walk out of the grocery store spending less.  Now, there are some things in the book that I know my family won’t eat.  Those are the nights I will substitute my own idea.  I love how this book teaches you to plan ahead.  They have print out lists for each week.  They also have a shopping list for all the other things you will need throughout the week.  The majority of the recipes are easy to make (which is right up my alley) and they require things that you should have in your house already.  I also love that some of the meals are able to be frozen, so you have some meals for later on too!  There are some great tips in here too (though I did know about the one that says don’t go to the grocery store hungry).  If you are looking for a great book to help you in the kitchen, then check out  A Month Of Meals.  There is an 8 week money back guarantee, so you have nothing to lose checking it out!  However, the book does pay for itself on your first grocery shopping trip!

I am all about saving the environment for my kids. However, I just wasn’t ready to jump on the eco-friendly shopping bags just yet.  I didn’t understand how many plastic bags I would save or how many less trip to the car would be made to carry in the groceries.

Ityse has changed me.  It has changed my life.  How, do you ask?  I will never go grocery shopping without these ever again.  Not only are these bags ecofriendly, they are also stylish.  I love that the bag the holds the bags looks just as stylish as any purse out there.  It isn’t obvious that you are saving the enviroment, and well, I like that.  This cute pouch houses 4 mesh bags and 1 black bag.

Did you know that the average family of four goes through around 1,000 bags grocery shopping over the year?  Isn’t that crazy?  Many cities are now either banning plastic bags or charging a 20 cent per bag tax.  In you live in one of the taxing cities, Ityse can easily save you $50 per year.  Best of all, these are made in the US.  Now, what was my turning point?  Look at this:

Now, this was a huge trip, so this was only half of it.  However, as you can see from the first picture, all five bags are full.  I was floored to see how much food was in those bags.  That is over half of my kitchen table.  Plus, everybody at the grocery store wanted to know where I got these bags.  They all loved them.  The girl bagging my groceries was even impressed.  She loved how the bags contoured around what she was putting in them.

I am glad to say that I am now doing my part to save the environment thanks to Ityse.

I recently came across a site called Oh! Toys that has some of the most unique toys on the US market.  The toys on this site stimulate creativity and development.  Also, these toys are a lot of fun, and you won’t find them at your local toy store.

Most of the toys on the Oh! Toys site are for kids between the ages of 3 and 10.  However, the Sina einSTEIN blocks can be used by all ages.  As you can see from the above pictures, we made it a family event!  The shapes of these blocks are truly nothing you have ever seen before.  You can made some of the most unique things with them:

Have you seen any blocks that allow you to make such interesting shapes? I know I haven’t.  Sina’s einStein Blocks have 36 pieces – 9 blocks in red, blue, yellow, and green.  I noticed that they also really made my 4 year old think.  This aren’t your normal traditional blocks.  You can’t build a tower like you normally would with them.  However, you can build so many new cool things.  These blocks are something she will definitely be able to use for a while.  Now, Will (my one year old) was able to help with the tower (a little), but his main goal was to knock down whatever Madison and Daddy were building.  They made it through the rath of a 1 year old and no harm was done to my walls or the blocks.

If you need a toy for that kid who has everything, this is definitely it.  It will make them think and allow them to create to their mind’s delight.

Don’t these look yummy?  I know my kids wanted to try and eat them before I explained they were soap!  Yes, these are soap!  I know that they look so good you want to eat them.  I could not believe how much they really do look like real food.  They are more than just pretty too.  They are functional.  You can and should use this as soap, because it is really good for your skin.  I love that these are hand made and made here in the US.  The prices are good for this unique gift too.

If you want to surprise your guests, you definitely need to put these yummy soaps out for them to use.  There are several more designs over at Anita’s Etsy Store.  Each soap looks better than the last, and they all look good enough to eat.   For a unique gift for your house or as a gift, Anita’s Sweet Treat Crafts definitely do not disappoint.

Can you believe that Halloween is less than a month away? I know I can’t. Madison wanted to be a fairy with wings or a princess. My mother in law has a princess costume that we can use, so she was easy. However, I had no idea what to make Will. He is in a weird size this year, and it is really hard to find costumes for him. However, I did find a some Halloween costumes at the Halloween Party Store that were super cute and that would fit him.

(Ignore the mess in the background and the pearl necklace he’s holding too).  I just ordered this for him and it came within a couple of days!  It is tad long but besides that it fits awesome.  I love that the toolbelt is attached to the costume, so you don’t have to worry about losing it.  You can also adjust the belt in back and make it tighter too!  This does come with a cute little red hat too, but there is no way I can keep that on a 16 month olds head!  I am impressed with the quality and service from the Halloween Party Store and highly recommend you use them for your Halloween costume needs!