Disclosure: I was sent these books in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own. Yesterday I did a mega review of picture books!! There is one there for everyone, so be sure to check it out. Today I am going to share new board books, pop-ups, lift flaps and more!! These are some fun books, so be sure to check them all out. We will start with a simple board book for Halloween. It is Peep and Egg: I'm Not Trick-or-Treating by Laura Gehl and pictures by Joyce Wan.
Disclosure: I was sent these book in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own. It can be hard to pick the right picture book for your child. There are so many choices out there with so many different themes, messages and more! Today I am going to share a variety of new picture books with you and I am sure there will be something for each child in this group!!
Disclosure: Oriental Trading sent me these items in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own. Have you discovered Oriental Trading's Fun365? It is a site that has different craft projects and articles. There are choices of Party Ideas, Craft Ideas, Wedding Ideas, and Classroom Ideas. I was inspired by ideas from the Craft Ideas and Party Ideas. I had so much fun exploring the many ideas there. I let Hazel look and help me pick what we would try. In the Party Ideas section there is a Rainbow Party and one of the crafts is a DIY Rainbow Coin Purse. Instead of doing the coin purse we used DIY Totes. (See current available totes here.)I asked Hazel to paint a rainbow on one for me. She wanted to use the Pearlized Acrylic Paint (available paint). Then she wanted to do a heart rainbow, but hers turned out more like a circle. She also did a square but wanted to use the pink on it. I did a heart one for her as well as a star and an H.
Disclosure: Oriental Trading sent me these candies in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own (and my family's). Can you believe it is October already? October is always a bit of a crazy month. Hazel HATES the scary part of Halloween and does not do well in stores that sell Halloween decorations and costumes (which is just about every store). Fall is in the year so there is always some fun getting outside and enjoying God's beautiful fall colors. And there is getting ready for the trick-or-treaters. Our neighborhood tends to get many trick-or-treaters which is a bit funny considering it doesn't have a whole lot of kids in it. One year I remember giving out some of Hazel's treats after we went through six or seven bags of candy. Now we turn out the light when we run out. Needing so much candy however makes me look for good deals on it. Oriental Trading has great prices and quite a variety of candy!! I already bought some candy for trick-or-treats when I saw it at a decent price. I also got some Halloween toys for allergy free treats earlier this year from Oriental Trading. Oriental Trading makes it a one stop shopping for all Halloween treats!!
Disclosure: Oriental Trading sent me these products in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own. With the dark and spooky aspects of Halloween it is the perfect time to check out glow products. Kids love things that glow-in-the-dark or light up. And it is great for them to have something when they are out in the dark trick-or-treating. Oriental Trading has some great glow products for reasonable prices!! This summer we reviewed Premium Glow Necklaces for some of our family nighttime fun. All of the kids and many of the adults loved having them at our events. Plus we loved putting them on the kids and knowing where they were playing in the dark.
Disclosure: I was sent these products in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.
Wow, I cannot believe it is already Thursday!! This week is flying by. We have spent it getting ready for school and having Hazel's first (and now second) day of school. Guess what? She LOVES her new school!! I am so relieved and happy for her. All week I have been thinking about writing this post but my attention has been drawn in too many directions to write these great products the proper review, so I am going to do it now. I will start with these great Halloween Tract from Let the Children Come.
Disclosure: Oriental Trading sent me these products in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own. Can you believe fall is already coming? Schools are back in session and the weather is already turning here. I know Halloween always sneaks up on us once school starts. I am always thankful to Oriental Trading for getting our minds focused on what costume Hazel wants. This year she has been into her American Girl dolls and in particular in the Beforever dolls. She loves Maryellen's poodle skirt. She saved her money and bought the doll outfit and crinoline. She does not have Maryellen, but dressed one of her favorite dolls, Chrysanthemum, in it.
Disclosure: Oriental Trading sent me these products in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.
Can you believe August is almost over and schools are starting up? Where did the summer go? To kick into the fall season, we are sharing some pumpkin themed crafts and products. And just in case you want to really skip ahead be sure to check out our Christmas card post yesterday! I know crafters will understand the need to start those crafts early!! We decided to focus our posts around pumpkins since they work for fall as well as Halloween and Thanksgiving. We have had a lot of fun with pumpkin crafts and with pumpkins. Last year I shared a tutorial to make a fabric pumpkin. I used this pumpkin in several of my pictures. We will start with our DIY Door Pumpkin.
Disclosure:Parragon Books sent me a copy of this book free of charge. All opinions in my review are
my own and I did not receive any other compensation. As always I am
providing links to the book for your
convenience.
Today I am sharing with you three Halloween coloring books for kids. As I have mentioned Hazel is easily scared so anything doing with Halloween cannot be scary in our house. These three books fit the bill.
Disclosure: I was sent these items to review free of charge from Oriental Trading. All opinions in this post are my own. I did not receive any other compensation for this review.
Disclosure: I was sent these items to review
free of charge from Oriental Trading. All opinions in this post are my own. I did not receive
any other compensation for this review.
It is October and this is Hazel's least favorite month. Many of the Halloween decorations and costumes scare her. In fact there are only a few stores she will go into with me this time of year. Yes, just seeing the Halloween displays can give her nightmares. But she does love to dress-up and loves to trick-or-treat in our neighborhood, so I always try to find a friendly way to celebrate Halloween. Last year we did a Christian Halloween party. This year Hazel discovered Snoopy and the Peanuts gang so thanks to Oriental Trading we are hosting a Peanuts themed Halloween party.
Thank you to everyone who shared last week!! It was another great week of sharing! Remember the features are just a sampling of the things shared so if you did not get a chance to check them all out, go back and be inspired! This week's features' themes are Pumpkins, Thanksgiving & Diwali, and Educational & Fun. Also a side note I host another link party on Saturday night for crafts for any age person called Crafty Weekends. If you are sharing a craft (especially a non-child craft) this is the best place to do it with some fun features from the previous week!! Our third party will be tomorrow night. Stop by to share your crafts, patterns, reviews of craft books, etc.
Thank you to everyone who shared last week!! There were so many great ideas shared once again! Remember the features are just a sampling of the things shared so if you did not get a chance to check them all out, go back and be inspired! This week's features' themes are Halloween (to make sure you are ready), Autumn, and Parenting/Educational. Also a side note that last week I started another link party on Saturday night for crafts for any age person called Crafty Weekends. If you are sharing a craft (especially a non-child craft) this is the best place to do it with some fun features from the previous week!! Our third party will be tomorrow night. Stop by to share your crafts, patterns, reviews of craft books, etc. And don't forget to share all things pumpkins (crafts, recipes, lessons, etc.) at my Pumpkin Link Party!
Thank you to everyone who shared last week!! Once again I was blown away by the great ideas shared!! Remember the features are just a sampling of the things shared so if you did not get a chance to check them all out, go back and be inspired! This week's features' themes are Pumpkins, Day of the Dead and Costumes and Scavenger Hunts and Fairy Races. Also a side note that last week I started another link party on Saturday night for crafts for any age person called Crafty Weekends. Our second party will be tomorrow night. Stop by to share your crafts, patterns, reviews of craft books, etc. And don't forget to share all things pumpkins (crafts, recipes, lessons, etc.) at my Pumpkin Link Party!
Do you know anyone with food allergies? Hazel has several friends with severe nut allergies and a friend with so many allergies that it is impossible for anyone besides his parents to feed him. Yes, his mother brings food to play dates, parties, and everywhere. When Hazel was a baby I met a now good friend and her son has severe nut allergies. Her biggest complaint about Halloween is that it is hard on her son to go trick-or-treating and then not be able to eat any of it. When they still lived in our neighborhood I would always make him a goody bag of toys and non-food items, just so he could have a treat he could enjoy. This year I saw on Facebook about the Teal Pumpkin Project.
This notice contains affiliate links: Be sure to check out Little Passports' Blog for a fun and Easy 4-step Halloween Craft.
Disclosure:Tuttle Publishing
gave me a copy of this book and this kit free of charge for this review and are offering a kit to a lucky reader. All opinions in my review
are
my own and I did not receive any other compensation. They also sent me a copy to giveaway! As in all my
reviews I am providing links for your ease, but receive no compensation.
Today I thought I would share two Japanese style things with you from Tuttle Publishing. With Halloween approaching Tuttle asked me to review and giveaway a copy of Origami Toy Monsters. This book and kit by Andrew Dewar and illustrated by Konstantin Vints has all the pieces you need to make some fun monsters. And they are not just any monsters but monsters that shake, rattle and move a bit. Some Hazel found a bit scary so we did not make those. Although the kit and book have origami in the title, it is not origami. The pieces are precut and punch out easily and some glue and toothpicks are needed for assembling (neither of which would be used in origami).
Disclosure:Parragon Books sent me a copy of this book free of charge. All opinions in my review are
my own and I did not receive any other compensation. As always I am
providing links to the book for your
convenience.
We get to share with you Pumpkins, Pumpkins Everywhere by Smiriti Prasadam-Halls and illustrated by Lorena Alvarez. This is a simple book with fun and non-scary pictures about kids going to a pumpkin parade in their costumes. Hazel LOVES this book. I think she is a bit old for it, but she really loves it. The words are simple and she can read it to herself easily. The pictures are fun and colorful and friendly.
Disclosure: I was sent these items to review
free of charge from Oriental Trading.
All opinions in this post are my own. I did not receive
any other compensation for this review. I am including links to the
products for your convenience but do not receive anything if you buy
from them.
Now I have not been shy about my feelings about Halloween. I really hate the gore and how far people take it. Hazel is easily frightened and I can no longer take her into some stores because of the Halloween products. I have tried and regret it due to the bad dreams she has. When I was offered to do a post using Halloween products from Oriental Trading, I hesitated, but then remembered all their great Sunday School supplies. Hazel and I planned a Christian Halloween Party. Many of the parents at her school do not celebrate the holiday or take their kids to a church event on Halloween. Needless to say many feel like I do about the holiday. We started by sending out an Evite. We asked the guests to dress as their favorite Biblical character. Hazel wanted to be Queen Esther. I let her pick out the color of the Nativity Child Costume she wanted and she picked the Pink Nativity Child Costume. We made a handknit belt to wear with it and added beads to the ends. (Hazel ended up being the only one to wear a costume, but she did not care. She was really excited to be Queen Esther.)
Disclosure:Candlewick Press
gave me an advance copy of this book free of charge to review. All opinions in my review
are
my own and I did not receive any other compensation. As in all my
reviews I am providing links for your ease, but receive no compensation.
Have you discovered The Princess in Black yet? I wrote about our discovery of this amazing series back in July. Hazel chose The Princess in Black as her prize for finishing the Barnes and Noble Summer Reading Program. It had been a tough choice, but she was really glad with the outcome!! This became one of her favorite books ever. Then we discovered that a new Princess in Black book was coming out October 13th and from Candlewick Press--one of our favorite publishers. I asked for a review copy and they sent it right away. Can I tell you how excited Hazel was to have the second book in the series months early? Oh, my, she has been telling everyone about it. Anyway, today we are sharing The Princess in Black and The Perfect Princess Party by Shannon Hale and Dean Hale and illustrated by LeUyen Pham.
Disclosure:PBS Kids
gave me a copies of these DVDs free of charge. All opinions in my review
are
my own and I did not receive any other compensation. As in all my
reviews I am providing links for your ease, but receive no compensation.
Are you ready for Halloween? We are not. Nor are we excited for it. I really do not like the holiday and all the Halloween items seemed to be out extra early this year and they seem extremely gruesome. Has anyone else felt this way? Hazel has had bad dreams since seeing some of those bigger than life size lawn decorations at a store. I have realized it is better to not take her to most stores at this point or to avoid the ones with so many Halloween decorations. Hazel has not decided what she even wants to be yet, but she knows she has to choose from costumes she has or the Princess in Black. This year we are focusing on calmer and not so frightening parts of Halloween. PBS Kids has helped by sending us three DVDs to review from some of Hazel's favorite shows.
