Sproutkin

I recently saw a promo for Sproutkin, a children's book delivery service, and decided to try it out.
We got the preschool subscription -- the cost per month is $25 which I wouldn't normally do as we live a block from our local library, but the code I had gave me a month to try for free.  And free is good!
What I love about Sproutkin is how excited my 4 year old is to see a box of books arrive on the front porch for her.  We love to read around here, and this has made us read even more.
The book selections are based on a theme, and you get 10 books in a box, and they are so great.  We have received a couple that we already have, but that's not a bummer to my daughter -- she's excited that they sent us books we already love and for the most part ones we have never read.

You don't get to keep the books as a part of your monthly subscription fee -- if you want to keep any, you can, and you'll just be charged a price that is 10% off the list price for the book.

The thing I love the MOST about Sproutkin is that you don't have to wait to send back a box of books to get another -- you can go online into your account and just say "send me another box."
We have 4 boxes of Sproutkin books sitting at our house right now!
And sending them back is so so easy -- you just slap the pre-paid postage sticker on it that they include in the box and drop it off at the post office.
So simple.

So while I won't be paying $25 a month to continue, I wish I could justify the cost as it has been a wonderful service -- if you don't live near a library or work full-time and don't have the time to visit a library or bookstore to search out great kids' books I highly recommend Sproutkin!

Citrus Lane Review

If you're on Facebook, you have probably seen the sponsored post that Citrus Lane has had up there for a while -- Citrus Lane is a subscription service where you pay a monthly fee ($25) and get a surprise box of goodies for your kids.
The only reason I decided to try it was that there was a code for half off, and I decided for $12.50 it would be fun for my 5 month old to get something in the mail, since his older sister is usually the one who gets all the mail.

I liked that you can choose the age and gender for your child, so the box comes targeted just right for their age.
We just got our June 2013 box and inside was an iPlay sunhat, an adorable and colorful Boon rubber duck, a full-sized foot cream for me, a tiny sample of diaper cream, a tiny sample of baby lotion, and one pack of squeezable baby food.

The sunhat is 6-18 month size, so it'll be perfect for use this summer and beyond.

The duck is absolutely adorable -- it's probably not something I would have paid the money to get, but I love it, and my little guy is already enjoying chewing on it.

The foot cream is also something I wouldn't have bought myself, but I'll use it.

And the samples don't really come into play in my decision of whether to continue as they are just that -- samples you could get anywhere or from any other company.

So would I recommend Citrus Lane?  For the half price of $12.50, yes.  It was fun to get the surprise box in the mail, and I enjoyed the anticipation of wondering what we would get.  And the sun hat and rubber duck are worth that cost to me, and I consider the foot cream a bonus.
For the regular price of $25?  Absolutely not.  It's not worth that much money to get stuff I may not need/ want.  I'd rather use the $25 to do a fun little shopping spree of fun stuff for my baby that I know I like.

Clothes for Sale

There will be many, many more posted tonight once my kiddos are in bed:)
This is just to give you an idea of what's coming: cute girls' clothes!

*Please leave a comment with the number of the item you want, the word SOLD, as well as your PayPal e-mail address, as that is the only way I can accept payment*

Shipping costs will be based on how much you buy -- if it's just one item I can get into a little padded envelope, it'll be $2.  If you buy more than that, it'll depend on what size flat rate box I can get it into, and I will contact you with the final total, so you can send me payment before I ship.
Have fun looking and come back tonight and tomorrow to see all the other items I will list!

 #1 Baby Gap jeans 3-6 months (these have snaps in the legs for easy diaper changes)  -- $5

 #2 Zyndo dress 12 months (buttons up in the back and has a tie in the back) -- $5

#3 Tea Collection kimono-style jacket 6-12 months -- $5

Ogo Bild Hub

My daughter and I spent a fun afternoon at a science museum today, and we popped into the gift shop on our way out.  While I browsed, my daughter played with the display toy out on a table -- she worked on it the entire time, so I decided we should get a set.
We love building toys around here.  She loves building things and builds with something every day, and I love the creativity and spatial skills it develops...skills I think I'm sorely lacking:)
I highly recommend this toy -- the three of us had so much fun playing with these after dinner tonight.  My daughter is three, and a couple of the plastic pieces were a little hard for her to attach to each other (maybe why the box says 6+), but she can attach the plastic pieces into the rubber ball and take them back out all by herself...and is so proud when she does so:)

Song for a Fifth Child

Love this poem -- it sums up so well my feelings..and explains why my house is always a mess. Though some of that "clutter" is intentional and is very much a part of my daughter's learning. We almost always have some creation out on the floor -- a Lincoln Log zoo or a block village or a magnetic tile Chocolate Island.
Because if I worked hard on something, I wouldn't want someone to come by and just clean it up:)


Song for a Fifth Child
 by Ruth Hulburt Hamilton
 Mother, oh Mother, come shake out your cloth,
 Empty the dustpan, poison the moth,
 Hang out the washing and butter the bread, Sew on a button and make up a bed.
Where is the mother whose house is so shocking?
She’s up in the nursery, blissfully rocking.

 Oh, I’ve grown shiftless as Little Boy Blue
(Lullaby, rockaby, lullaby loo).
Dishes are waiting and bills are past due
(Pat-a-cake, darling, and peek, peekaboo).
The shopping’s not done and there’s nothing for stew
And out in the yard there’s a hullabaloo
But I’m playing Kanga and this is my Roo.

Look! Aren’t her eyes the most wonderful hue?
(Lullaby, rockaby, lullaby loo).
 The cleaning and scrubbing will wait till tomorrow,
For children grow up, as I’ve learned to my sorrow.
So quiet down, cobwebs. Dust go to sleep.
I’m rocking my baby and babies don’t keep.

Everybody Cooks Rice

We are an interracial family, and my 3.5 year old daughter has many friends of many different ethnic backgrounds, and yet she had never commented on skin color differences until recently -- once she did, I wanted to run with it and explore the topic of diversity with her in many different ways, so she learns it is something to celebrate and not a taboo topic in any way.

A couple of friends suggested the excellent book Everybody Cooks Rice.  My daughter loves it.

It tells the story of a very diverse neighborhood where everyone has come from a different country and makes different kinds of food, and yet everybody cooks rice!

We have read the book often, at my daughter's request, and we expanded the learning by having her pick a recipe from the back of the book to make.  Each recipe mentioned in the story is listed in the back.

She chose "Great Grandmother's risi e bisi" and we made it for lunch one day.  She wasn't overly impressed, and neither was I, but it was still a fun experiment!

She also recently asked if she could eat her lunch with chopsticks like the 3.5 year old girl ("Just like me!") in the book does -- she amazed me with her instinctual chopstick skills.  She is much better at eating with chopsticks than I am!

I highly recommend this book as a way to learn and celebrate differences while also recognizing our similarities, and also as a fun way to introduce some cooking activities into your home, or as an addition to that already established tradition as it was over here.