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!

Want a product that both you and child will love that is educational? Goosie Cards is just that. These are first and only flash cards that you can fully customize! They have sets already predone that you can choose from, or you can upload your own personal photos to make flashcards according to the needs of your children. I made several flashcards for Will (on top of doing a set they already have predone — they have over 150 free full color professional photos to help you design your cards too.). It is really simple to do also. You upload your pictures, label the cards how you want them to read, and then check out. That is it. I had my cards in less than a week (actually, I think it was within about 3 days!) For Will, we did some cards to help him recognize me, daddy, and Madison. It was super cute, because he immediately took Madison’s card and started kissing it. It was also very cool to see that he recognized the other items on the other cards (like the goldfish crackers). I am hoping these will help him talk or at least let us know what he wants. You can create 10, 20 or 26 custom cards and the prices range from $28 to $46. You can also buy someone a gift certificate for here also. Best of all, these are made in the US.

Goosie Cards are also being used by parents, teachers and medical professionals in the autism and special needs community. They can help children with autism to learn a variety of skills to communicate effectively in the following areas: social, emotional, sequential, memory and communication skills. There is a discount program to provide some relief in price, while providing one of the most advanced, communication learning systems on the market.

I love these cards and would highly recommend them to anyone. They are tough (Will tried to wreck them already and has not been successful yet). They also wipe clean very easily. Best of all, my kids like them.

Another site that has great Christmas cards is Paper Shouts. They have Traditional, Vintage and Modern designs, so there is something here for everyone. You can get cards where you can put your kids photos on them (my favorite) or just the traditional cards without that. The paper is quality card stock and is printed on 100% recycled, high-quality, uncoated paper! What I love the most is that you can but your custom order in and have your cards back in less than a week! For a busy mom, that is exactly what I need!  Now, I know you all would love to get some of these, so I have arranged to giveaway a $50 gift certificate to Paper Shouts!  Now, if you can’t wait and want to order some of these cards now, I have arranged for 10% off all your orders.  You just need to use promo code:  lreviews.

1. Leave a comment on this post. I want to know which holiday card you like the best at Paper Shouts.
2. Twitter about this contest. Please leave me your username so I can verify.
3. 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.
4. Add this post to other social media sites like Digg, Kirtsy, Blogging Zoom, Reddit, Propeller, Etc. (1 entry for each social network).

For 5 additional entries,

1. Blog about this on your blog. Please give me the URL, so I can verify.
2. Add this to any forums you belong too. Please give me the URL, so I can verify.
3. Subscribe to this blog using either my email or RSS feed
4. Add my badge to your sidebar:

<a href="http://lisareviews.com"><img src="http://i282.photobucket.com/albums/kk258/blm03_photos/125ad-1.png" border="0" alt="Lisa Reviews" /></a>

This giveaway will end on November 30 at 8:00 pm CST to make sure you have enough time to order and is available to US residents only. Good luck!

With the economy the way it is, one of the many things parents have had to cut from their children’s lives is music training.  With all the shows on TV now like American Idol, Nashville Star, and America’s Got Talent, you can understand why kids want to improve their voice.  Your kids may not even be reaching that high — they may just want to get a part in the choir or play.  Private lessons have always been pretty costly, and depending on where you live, may or may not even be available.

Ariella Vaccarino has changed all of that.  Ariella is an opera singer and an experienced teacher based out of Los Angeles.  She is also the creator of Voice Lessons To Go.  Voice Lessons To Go is a 4 volume CD box set.  You can buy them as either a set or singly.  Volume 1 is called Vocalize and Breath.  It shows you singing warmups and breathing excercises.  Volume 2 is Do Re Mi Ear and Pitch Training.  It filled with vocal excercises.  It will improve your sense of pitch by concentrating on scales and chords.  Volume 3 is Pure Vowels.  It is compiled of vocalizes seperated by ah, ey, ee, oh, oo, and i.  Volume 4 is Stamina.  This is a group of vocal exercises to challenge and strengthen your abilities.  She also offers on her site the ability to submit your voice and receive a vocal assessment.  For $9.99, you can submit one minute.  If you spend $39.99, you are able to send 3 songs!  She will give you her full assessment and recommend song choices and exercises.  She’ll also get back to you within one week with that!

With the range of products and pricing, there is definitely something for everyone.  This makes a great stocking stuffer or Christmas gift for the aspiring singer in your life.  Since I think this is such a great product, I had a set of these sent to me to give away to one of my lucky winners!  The winner of this giveaway will receive all four CDs!  Here’s what you need to do:

1. Leave a comment on this post. I want to know why you want this or why you like the site.
2. Twitter about this contest. Please leave me your username so I can verify.
3. 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.
4. Add this post to other social media sites like Digg, Kirtsy, Blogging Zoom, Reddit, Propeller, Etc. (1 entry for each social network).

For 5 additional entries,

1. Blog about this on your blog. Please give me the URL, so I can verify.
2. Add this to any forums you belong too. Please give me the URL, so I can verify.
3. Subscribe to this blog using either my email or RSS feed
4. Add my badge to your sidebar:

</p> <div><a href="http://lisareviews.com"><img src="http://i282.photobucket.com/albums/kk258/blm03_photos/125ad-1.png" alt="Lisa Reviews" border="0"></a></div> <p>

This giveaway will end on November 25st at 8:00 pm and is available to US residents only. Good luck!

Brighter Minds Media has now introduced Bob The Builder Can Do Zoo. It has already been awarded three awards — that’s how good it is!  I let my greatest kid tester in my house try it out — that would be Madison who is 4.  Since we have gotten the game in the mail (thanks Family Review Network!), Madison goes around singing “Bob the Builder . . . We can do it  . . . Bob the Builder . . .  Yes we can”.  That has been my house for a week now.  However, I don’t actually mind all the much, because we really like this game.  As soon as I found out the Diner Dash (my favorite computer game ever) was behind this, I knew we had a winner.

Bob The Builder Can Do Zoo has 3 modes of play – Story, Free Play, and Sticker Book.  There is also 6 animal habitats to build,  7 unique learning activities, and hundreds of stickers to collect for building achievements.  There are three levels, so it is quite easy to pick the level that is best for your kids.  You are able to play in both English and Spanish.  There are also many skills taught through this game – problem solving, critical thinking, object classification, planning and time sequencing, pattern, size, and spatial recognition, and shape and color identification.

Why is this game a winner in my house?  That is actually pretty easy.  First, this game works on our desktop that is 8 years old.  Most games won’t work on there, and we actually consider that Madison’s computer.  When a game works on there, we all cheer for joy.  The second thing that I loved was that she was actually learning something while playing.  There are a lot of games out there that are just mindless, and I would much rather have her playing games like this.  Next, the price is right.  It should retail around $19.95 which is very cheap and affordable for a computer game.  Lastly, Madison can play this herself.  I didn’t have to help her at all.  She is only four, but that say a lot about this game.  It is truly simple and age appropriate.  Nothing is more frustrating than to get a game for her, and I have to play it because it is too hard to do and/or navigate.

If you are looking for a great Christmas or birthday present, I highly recommend Bob The Builder Can Do Zoo.  It was a big hit in my house and will be in yours too!