Category Archives: New posts

Tinker Bell Flies In Our Back Yard! A @JakksToys Sky High Tink Review and #Giveaway

Gifts, New posts, Toys, ,

 

“Look mom! Look!” my daughter yelled out to me.

I follow her pointed finger up into the sky.  Nearly to the top of one of our tallest trees.

Then I see it..

Tinker Bell was flying in our yard!  There she was, as beautiful as I could have imagined and my daughter thought so too.  She didn’t think she’d ever see Tinker Bell fly in our very own back yard.  She only fly’s in the movies..until now!

So I’m guessing that you know that this ins’t the ‘real’ Tinker Bell but she sure does fly like the real, whimsical fairy.  No batteries required, just point her toward the sky, pull her short string and off she flies into the sky.  My daughter did this over and over and over.   Talk about a happy 6 year old girl.

 Sky High Tink toy

Can you spot Sky High Tink in the top left image?  Isn’t she cute?   My daughter has had so much fun playing with Sky High Tink.  It’s one of the toys I can turn to to occupy her when all else fails.  It never gets old.

So far I have not run into a single issue with flying Sky High Tinker Bell.  She’s landed on the concrete sidewalk, on rocks, and her string has been pulled very hard and not hard enough but always handles it fine.  She’s always flown well and landed safe and sound. In other words, she’s very sturdy.

Help Tinker Bell take off on her next adventure with the 4.5” Sky High Tink doll.  Little girls can insert Tinker Bell into the flower base, pull the string and watch as she soars up to 10 feet high into the sky just like a real fairy! Watch Tink in action in the new Sky High Tink doll video at jakks.com.   Ages 4+

The box states that she will fly up to 10 feet high but our Sky High Tink flew way higher than that.  We have a swing set in the backyard that is 8 feet high and she at least doubled the high of it.  She has some mad flying skills!

Jakks Toys has a great assortment of toys for boys and girls including one of my daughter’s favorites, a fairy dress up set.  As you can see she loves fairies and loves to play dress up with her friends.  With Tinker Bell’s Pixie Petal Dress she can dress up as her favorite fairy and fly all over the house and yard with Sky High Tink!

More about Jakks Toys:

Enter to win a Sky High Tink!

You can win your very own Sky High Tink! Just fill out the Rafflecopter form below.  The first two entries are mandatory. The other entries will earn extra points for you so your chances of winning are higher!

Entries accepted through 12:01am EST 8/31/12.


Read our official contest rules here.
This review was made possible by Mom Spark Media. Thoughts are my own. All prizing for MSM giveaways is handled by a third party unless otherwise noted. For this reason prize fulfillment can take up to 90 days after the winners information is received. 

I Could Use Some Chore Ideas For My 6-Year-Old Who’s Trying To Earn $30

Age 5-7, New posts, , ,
Build-a-Bear Workshop pink bear
This is the bear my daughter wants

I need some parenting advice, please!

I am trying to figure out what ‘extra’ chores my 6-year-old daughter can do to earn extra money for a trip to Build-a-Bear Workshop to make her first bear. Most of the chores I’ve given her today; she starts then says it’s too hard.  Well, there’s another thing. I’ll be honest… a couple of the things I’ve asked her to do, I asked her to stop doing because I knew I would to have to go back and do it all over again.

Here are a few things that I’ve tried to get her to do so far today to earn money and what happened:

  • Clean the baseboards
    • Her thoughts on this chore – she apparently couldn’t rub hard enough to get the dirt off
    • My thoughts – She could if she tried harder but I didn’t want to deal with it and I didn’t want to have to go back and clean all the baseboards again so I gave up on that chore.
  • Wash spiderwebs off of the outside of the windows
    • Her thoughts on this chore – Using the hose to squirt the windows was fun
    • My thoughts – I had to help her aim at the spider webs and darn, those things are hard to squirt off with water!  It took her about 5 minutes to complete this chore, with my help.
  • Clean the front door
    • Her thoughts on this chore – “no, thanks”
    • My thoughts – “You love spraying stuff. Why don’t you want to clean the door?”
  • Dust the window sills
    • Her thoughts on this chore – fun and easy and she expected more than $1 for dusting just 3 windows (in about 2 minutes).
    • My thoughts – “Really, you’re fussing because I offered you 25¢ to dust 3 windows? in less than 2 minutes?”

 

So now I’m at a loss as to what chores to have her to do earn extra money.

Her regular chores that will not help her earn money toward a bear are:

  • Help with her laundry
  • Set and clear the table at each meal
  • Help dust
  • Make her bed
  • Clean her room
  • Help keep the kitchen clean

Do you have any suggestions for chores I can have my 6-year-old do to earn money?  She wants to earn $30.

Here is my wish list that I would pay her (or my son) really good money to do:

I have windows that need to be cleaned, dusty baseboards that need to be wiped down, wall corners that need to be touch-up painted, and kitchen cabinets that need to be organized.

Why doesn’t she want to do any of these FUN chores?  Seriously? They involve paint, spraying, and organizing Tupperware.. all things she LOVES!

I found a printable Goal Chart that I plan on using to track how much money she’s earned but I still need a list of ‘extra’ chores that are reasonable for a 6-year-old to do in order to get her started on a path of earning money.

Any ideas?  Please share them below! I really, really appreciate it!

I was not compensated in any way by KidPointz or Build-a-Bear Workshop for writing this post. Nor was I requested to write this post by either company. I just happened to mention them. This is 100% me. 🙂

SAVE Big in San Antonio This Summer through SAVE – San Antonio Vacation Experience

New posts, Travel, , ,

This is a Sponsored post written by me on behalf of SAVE . All opinions are 100% mine.

Known as one of the nation’s most affordable vacation destinations, San Antonio is making visitors’ summer getaway even more value packed with SAVE – San Antonio Vacation Experience. With more than $600 in savings to theme parks, animal adventures, top shops and historic tours, plus great deals on hotels, summer is the time to SAVE in San Antonio.

arneson-river-theater.jpg

SAVE partners include top San Antonio hotels, resorts and attractions. Ranging from budget to luxury, SAVE has a price point for every price point and need. SAVE hotels line the River walk in the heart of downtown as well as the theme parks and airport. Make sure to check out SAVE Limited Time Offers for special limited time deals on hotels and attractions!

My family has been trying to plan a vacation to San Antonio and is so excited about SAVE – San Antonio Vacation Experience! We are going to use SAVE to plan our whole vacation, from hotel stay to all the area attractions.

Where to stay: Hyatt Regency San Antonio on the Riverwalk

Reason why: The only River Walk Hotel directly overlooking the historic Alamo

Now the hard part..what to do while we are there!  Here are some of the deals we found:

  • Alamo Sight Seeing Tour (Kids ages 3-11 $2.00 of and Adults $5.00)
  • McNay Art Museum (Children 11 and under are free)
  • South Heritage Center at Witte Museum ($1.00 off)
  • Sea World San Antonio ($10.00 off per ticket, up to 6 tickets)
  • Natural Bridge Caverns ($2.00 off an adult ticket and $1.00 off a Child’s Discovery Tour Ticket)

Alamo04.jpg

Ways to save on your next vacation to San Antonio:

Summer vacations can get very expensive very quickly, but with using SAVE we can stay within our budget and have fun doing all the adventures we enjoy!

 

 

 

Visit Sponsor's Site

SIGG Kid’s Water Bottle and Aluminum Lunch Box Giveaway! #BackToSchool with @SIGG_NA

Age 3-5, Age 5-7, Age 7-10, Ages 10-13, Contests, New posts, School, , , ,

 

SIGG water bottles
SIGG water bottles

I haven’t been very excited about shopping this back-to-school season. It was when my daughter, who’s entering first grade this year, told me that she wants a new backpack and my son mentioned that he needs a new USB stick that I finally got interested in the idea of back-to-school shopping. Is shopping for 3-ring binders, printer paper, and colored pencils really fun? Not so much.

Something that my kids use every day and need for school is a water bottle. Much more exciting to shop for than paper and pencils right?

We have dozens of water bottles between the four of us. Our SIGG water bottles are what we call our ‘special bottles’. We each have our ‘special bottles’ that we do not share. Both of my kids have a special SIGG water bottle that they’ve used for at least two years and my husband and I have several that we’ve used for that long. I use them for road trips and when I attend conferences. I even have a couple of personalized SIGG water bottles. My son uses his SIGG water bottles on camping trips, hikes and at school, my husband uses them for every day drinking (not that kind of drinking silly), and my daughter takes her SIGG to school with her in her lunch box.

SIGG’s new Rainbox collection offers kids a colorful way to enjoy water or their favorite juice while at school. The new collection features 12 vibrant hues inspired by the rainbow. Running the spectrum from neon yellow to cool coral to royal blue, you will undoubtedly find a shade that catches your child’s eye. The sleek, loop top style bottles are manufactured and quality checked in Switzerland and are BPA and phthalate free. Like all SIGG bottles, they are completely taste and odor neutral and are 100% recyclable at the end of their long lives. The nonporous interior lining in the bottles ensures that it remains taste and odor neutral so you can have juice on Monday, milk on Tuesday and water on Wednesday and there won’t be any residual taste. How great is that?

SIGG water bottles are sturdy. My son’s SIGGs have been dropped from trees and have rolled down the street plenty of times and boy will a SIGG bottle roll far and fast! My son has put SIGG water bottles to the test and they can withstand just about anything.

Who knows, maybe getting a new SIGG water bottle will become an annual back to school tradition? I can see it now..my son will have a line of SIGG water bottles on a bookshelf in his college dorm. That’s a few years from now but hey, they’ll last that long!

SIGG Aluminum Box Maxi Metallic Purple
SIGG Aluminum Box Metallic Purple

I also love SIGG’s metallic lunch/storage boxes. Available in colors fit for boys and girls, this lunch box is perfect for a snack or a sandwich. SIGG sleek boxes are available in fun bold colors and are perfect for containing your child’s lunch or snack items or for toting school or art supplies. Offered in hues of green, blue, fuchsia and silver, these boxes ward off moisture and mold with their aluminum composition and for that reason are also odor resistant. Light, durable with a slick appearance, this a multi-functional box your child will be excited to take to school. They also make for an easy canvas for children to decorate with stickers or puffy paint so they can customize their container.

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Win a SIGG ABC water bottle and aluminum lunch/storage box!

SIGG water bottle and lunch storage box giveawayOpen to U.S. residents ages 18+ only. No P.O. Boxes.

Entries accepted through 11:59pm EST August 22nd, 2012. Read our official contest rules here.

Follow the instructions in the Rafflecopter form below to enter.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

 

Alicia Hagan, Editor

I am being compensated via product from SIGG, for this review. All opinions are 100% my own and were not influenced in any way. I really do have and love SIGG water bottles!

KidPointz.com Helps Parents Use Technology as a Positive Parenting Tool

Education, New posts, , , , ,

As teachers and parents both will agree; clear rules, boundaries, and expectations go a long way towards creating positive lifelong habits and behaviors for children. My own experiences as a nanny, and now as a parent of 2 children—12 and 6—have shown me the power of positive parenting, redirecting negativity and celebrating success. By establishing a clear familial routine, setting realistic goals and expectations for each child, and incorporating fun and interesting activities into our customary interactions, we can provide the stability children inherently crave while enjoying our role as parents and positive role models.

Kid PointzFor many, our relationships with technology may interfere with our parenting attempts. Computers, gaming systems, TV, DVDs, and countless versions of these recreational and educational tools can entice us away from time with our loved ones, but technology, in proper proportion, does not need to be detrimental. Educational games and informational programming can enhance our parenting, as well as help us model critical skills for the consumption of information. One of the helpful Internet tools available to parents is KidPointz.com.

An extensive library of articles, videos, and free family activities are available to assist parents with a wide variety of behavior issues, such as temper tantrums, power struggles, nail biting, or frustration associated with learning disabilities. Additionally, KidPointz has proven reward systems and incentive programs to encourage positive behaviors and motivate kids to do homework or complete household chores. Print out behavior charts and fun activities for kids focus on positive consequences and reward our children’s successes.

proud of her work
It's important to praise kids for their work so they are proud.

But, in our hectic lives, the question remains: how can we effectively utilize online tools in our time-challenged lifestyle?
By establishing a clear familial routine, we suddenly find more time in our days, and the kids routine charts on KidPointz.com can help. These charts help children focus on what we expect them to accomplish throughout the day; ultimately they are more organized and develop good lifelong time management and organizational habits. For those looking for a tech-savvy version of routine charts, Kid Pointz Reward System for Kids iPhone app fits the bill by combining the interactive world of Smart phones with the positive reinforcement inherent in behavior charting.

Kid Pointz iPhone App
Click image to open iTunes' Kid Pointz App page

Another way that these online resources can help build positive familial dynamics is through an extensive list of activities. Never again will you be confronted by the “We’re bored” summer mantra without a solution. Printable handouts engage kids in learning in fun and interesting ways, or choose an age-appropriate science experiment such as this bottle music activity, journaling suggestion, or hands-on arts and crafts project. The thousands of ideas hold possibilities for every age and every interest.

Using technology to support positive parenting helps us to build lasting relationships with our children while enjoying the process.

How do you implement positive parenting into your every day life?  Please share your positive parenting tips with us in the comments below.

Connect with Kid Pointz:

Kid Pointz WebsiteKidPointz website

Kid Pointz on TwitterKid Pointz Twitter
Kid Pointz Facebook pageKid Pointz Facebook page

Alicia Hagan, Editor

Disclosure: I am participating in “The Search for the Next Kid Pointz Blogger” campaign.  All opinions and thoughts in this story are 100% mine and were not influenced in any way.  I am being compensated for the publication of this story.