sevenchicks

tag reading system

by photochick~ Punkin received Leapfrog's Tag Reading System from my brother for Christmas and he absolutely LOVES it. Not only does the nifty little gadget read the entire book, but it also has the option to read page by page or word by word so that it grows with the kids as they learn to read. You simply point to a little icon or a specific word to choose between the options.

As much as he LOVES being able to read a book by himself, an even greater hit are the comprehension, sequencing, main character, and other reading related games on almost over page of the book that he can play independently. AKA, in his room, on his bed, quietly, while mommy cooks dinner. This is the one aspect that really surprised me.

To top it off we were surprised one day when the little gizmo started saying, "Ask your parents to connect me to your computer because you won an award!" For my competition oriented child (no idea where he got that from) that is like saying, "Here is your crack, come again."

So we connected and sure enough the same message popped up on my computer. We clicked and a nifty little door hanger popped up ready for printing and complete with Punkin's name. Since then he's won various "awards" and gained access to online games through his reading and playing the reading games. He's pretty sure it's magic and I'm not far behind him.

 If you're looking for a gift for an upcoming birthday this is definately worth a look. Leapfrog offers traditional books like Chicka Chicka Boom Boom and Olivia and Disney books like Diego and Cars. So far we have a few of each, plus a set of phonics books geared to introduce letter sounds. I like that it's something we can add to over time and it will keep his interest for more than the first few weeks.

The Tag combo withThe Cat in the Hat runs $39.97 at Walmart (about $10 cheaper than the Leapfrog site) and individual books average $10 - $15. The phonics set (short vowels and long vowels sold in two different sets) are $19.97. Amazon often has sales and you can also find sets that cut the price as well.

The only caveat, an internet connection is required to download the audio for each book.

And no, I did not receive the Tag for free in exchange for a review, but dang I wish I had. I will be happy to review any books if someone from the Leapfrog family wants to send them my way! (yeah, I'm holding my breath.) It's just so hard to find toys that are worth spending your money so since I happened up one I thought I'd pass on the info. Happy reading!

(photos from Walmart.com)

for all the morons, myself included

by photochick~ We had a busy, busy (did I say BUSY?) Memorial weekend working on the baby's room. Saturday was the day in the process where it gets worse before it gets better. It seriously looked like a bomb went off around here. By Monday afternoon things started to come together. The extra bed was picked up, decorations were hung, clothes were folded and put up.

I sat in the rocker this afternoon all by myself and looked around at the only half complete room and still felt complete serenity. There's just something about a baby's newly created room with everything organized and in order that makes the world slow down for a few minutes.

Yesterday I spent some time brainstorming for the "little things" that I may have forgotten. Like a second tube of petroleum jelly for the diaper bag. Paint for a few projects. A couple more gowns since Punkin was apparently rough on his. The list goes on.

Somewhere in this process I remembered that I need to get a clock to go beside the rocker where I will likely spend lots of hours nursing this new baby. If you're a die-hard nursing fan, keep your stones. It's not that I want to time exactly how long the baby is allowed to nurse, but rather keeping up with what time I nursed last and how long he actually did nurse on each side, etc. You know, for when you inevitably have to call the pediatrician in those first few days because you're pretty sure you're starving the kid to death despite the fact that you are walking around looking like a watermelon field.

In that moment, the doctor forgets that you are sleep deprived and have generally lost all sense of time. They somehow think you should remember exactly on what hours and for how long the baby nursed in the past 24-48 hours. Ummm, yeah. That's not happening without some serious effort. With Punkin I spent more than my fair share of time counting up on my fingers (yes, I said on my fingers) hours from feeding to feeding. My mom kept laughing at me, but I really felt like I was incapable of counting to 3 without the assistance of my digits.

All that to say, I was poking around on the computer and thought I'd google to see if there is a "nursing clock" or some such thing that has a timer on it so you don't have to remember to write down the starting and ending time. No such luck.

Then I found THIS CLOCK at Ace Hardware that does have a timer. I figured it would work fine for what I needed, but forgot to stop today and pick one up.

Fast forward to tonight, I'm sitting here poking around the computer with a cash gift from my grandmother burning a hole in my pocket. I check out Target one more time and as if by providence come across this little magical jewel:

Itzbeen Baby Care Timer

It has several timers for keeping up with feedings, how long the baby has been awake/asleep, how long since the last medication was given and even a left and right breast indicator so you don't forget which side you nursed on last.

The reviews are mixed citing some issues with the display, but overall most people seem to like it.

One particular negative review is titled "Only a Moron Would Need It" and goes on to say, "If you are nursing a baby and you can't figure out which side you need to use next, then you have no right nursing. What a load of crap."

Well, I happen to fall into that moron category of Summa Cum Laude college graduates (twice, actually) who when sleep deprived can't remember if I ate or peed, much less which side I might have fed a baby on three hours earlier. Apparently I manged by writing it down last time since I nursed for nine months, but I'm a technology lover so this little device might just be perfect for me. That and I like to prove people wrong. I'm just hard headed like that.

So for all of my fellow morons out there, I think I'm going to have to try this one for myself. (I just wish it had a tiny hard drive that kept a record of all those times . . . maybe there's an iphone app for that too?)

lunchbox to die for

by photochick~ I'm pretty sure this is the cutest lunchbox I've ever seen. I think Punkin may be getting one for his birthday this year!

(photo from bluskyrocket.com)

Check them out HERE.

boost, baby

We went boost. Cell service that is.

You see, since we moved last fall our old cell service barely works at all. Here's where it did work: about 1 minute before I arrive at work, outside my classroom door if I stand on one foot and hop up and down while holding my breath (which makes it pretty difficult to actually talk by the way), followed by about 1 minute on my way home.

What does this mean? We've been paying a whole lot of money for a cell service that requires me to park on the side of the road at the local sheriff's substation to have a conversation that lasts more than exactly 1 minute. Ever.

Our old contract was set to run out in February. We were soooooo looking forward to getting a new service. Then came the news that there may be big, big budget cuts in store for our county's school district. Translation . . . I just may not have a job next year after all. That's a story for another day, but for today, that meant we really didn't want to sign a new contract for a better cell service in our area. Crap. Back to sitting at the substation. At least it's a safe place to sit and chat (there's that silver lining again.)

Then someone told my husband about Boost Mobile. You buy the phone and then pay a $50/month flat fee for unlimited talk, walkie talkie, texting, and web. No contract. Cancel any time. We were saved! The service is actually a Sprint/Nextel network so the only drawback was going back to the not so technology savvy actual phones available. I'm a WANNE BE (not actually at all because I'm too frugal) techno geek and the nice cell phone (via a mistake by the cell company) is really my only claim to fame. I never knew that such nice (translate: sleek and pretty and takes pretty darn good photos) phones existed.

I was unfoundedly excited for a short time when my mom wanted to buy me a Blackberry, only to find out that while such fruity patootie phones are available on the Sprint/Nextel network, they aren't actually available via Boost yet.

Despite my bit of dread, so far, we're pleasantly pleased with the service. It works, get this, AT MY HOUSE, and at ALL POINTS IN BETWEEN WORK AND MY HOUSE. Craziness. I know. We're living on the edge. And I never had web before (see previous comment about being frugal) so despite the fact that texting feels a little wierd and the screen is the lowest pixels I've seen in a long time, I can check sevenchicks from my phone!

Sold.

i should have read the reviews

by photochick~ Another one of Punkin's latest obsessions is Candyland. It was a Christmas gift and we have played it no less than 5 times per day, every day since he opened that magical box filled with sugarplums and candycanes.

The downside. Mom and dad aren't 3. We've played Candyland before. As much as I love my child there are some things that make you want to burn down just one room of your house, like the room where Candyland lives. Is that legal?

For a while playing Candyland even replaced reading a bedtime story in the nighttime routine (do you know how much I LOVE books???). We all sat around in jammies playing Candyland, where the two color cards that speed up the game just happend to keep coming up over and over again. Somehow. Magically.

Messing with my baby's love of reading books, well, let's just say that was the candy that broke the sugar curse.

So in our parentally mischevious minds, we had the idea to buy a new game so at least the misery would be spread among more than just the land 'o candy. So we did it. The fateful trip to Walmart where we bought Monopology Town. It looked inconspicuous enough sitting there in that slick box, and the gaming concept even included a car . . . who are the superparents now?

Until we get home. And play the game. The horrible, horrible, non-working drive you crazy for a solid hour until you want to throw yourself in front of the little car, GAME. Punkin was cranky. Daddy was cranky. Momma was cranky. This was not a good game. This was a game that made you want to poke your eyes out if you had to watch the little car get stuck ONE MORE TIME and keep you from FINISHING the game. Aghhhhh!

Apparently the customers at Amazon agree. Too bad I wasn't smart enough to read the reviews BEFORE I bought the game. I have to go. It's time to play Candyland.

my new addiction

by socialchick~ I heard on the radio the other day that they have come up with a new disorder called FAD. Facebook Addiction Disorder. There are actual people out there that can go one hour with out writing something on their Facebook or checking to see if they havecomments. If we have a FAD then I'm sure there are MAD Myspace Addictions Disorder. I can't say that I have either one of these.

What I do have is BBAD BlackBerry Addiction Disorder. Mr. Social bought both of us a blackberry last week and I guess you can say it was our Valentines gift. I went from a phone that was glued together with no texting to having the world at my hands. Let me just say that I LOVE IT! I have never been one on gadgets but I'm addicted to this little berry. Now I want all of my friends and family to get one so that I can message them all day.

I don't have to wonder if someone has posted a comment on a blog while I'm out of the house. It comes to my phone. I have it all and I'm so glad that we got them. Let me just add here that I haven't had a new phone for 4 years. I'm pretty rough on my phones but I'm learning how to treat this one like a baby or like a tiny little juicy berry. lol

So do you have something that you are addicted to?  Maybe you have FAD, MAD, or BBAD. How long have you been addicted. Lets just call our little session GA, gadgets anonymous. So Hi, I'm socialchick and I have been addicted to my BlackBerry for 2 weeks now.

Let me just say thanks to Mr. Panio Man at church for showing Mr. Social his BlackBerry. That was all she wrote. lol!

Here is my new baby!

guitar praise

by photochick~

While I'm on a retail kick, I ran across this online today at Family Christian Stores . . . Guitar Praise.

Not a huge leap, but in case you were wondering, it's like Guitar Hero, but with Christian music. The music features artists like Toby Mac, Skillet, Hawk Nelson, Newsboys and more. Not surprisingly, the reviews say that the graphics are not nearly as good as it's mainstream predecessor, but what a cool idea?

Why can't they just make a Christian music version for the real thing that everyone already owns??

(not that we even have one, but I know a lot of the other roosters are fans!)

Vtech V. Smile

by photochick~ So of course I've been thinking about what to get punkin for Christmas. I really don't have any great ideas. Then there's all the other people who are asking me what they should get for him. So I've been searching online.

I was looking through the Black Friday ads and found at Radio Shack the Vtech V. Smile Learning System. It's regular price for $49.99, but you get a free Vtech Smartbook and 3 cartridges for free . . . a $39.99 value.

At regular price of $59.97, Wal-Mart offers the newer VTech V.Smile V-Motion System (yes, that's the full name) that is more like a Wii with a wireless controler that is sensitive to your body's movements with the controller in hand.

Punkin begs all the time to play his dad's very old Xbox, but there aren't any appropriate games for the new or old Xbox for that matter. I think he would really like it, but I'm not sure how thrilled I am at the thought of him begging to play a video game all the time that I will only let him play for a short time each day.

Does anyone out there have one? What do you think? How hard is it to enforce time limits for playing (keeping in mind I have the quintessential James Dobson strong willed child)? Is it worth the trouble or one of those things I'd be better off to avoid all together?

black friday here i come!

by photochick~ I've always found that people have strong feelings about shopping the Friday after Thanksgiving. Either you love it or hate it. I fall somewhere in the middle. I'm not crazy about the huge crowds, and am not one to get out at 5 a.m., but I do love to leisurely shop for some deals after, let's say, 9 a.m.

Last year I worked the day after Thanksgiving doing photo shoots, but was very fortunate to have some great friends that picked up some great deals on my behalf. $30 worth of dvd's that have lasted me an entire year (and you have no idea how many dvd's I use), new printer, etc. Not really presents, but some great buys on things I needed to buy anyway.

On to the fun . . . so this year I AM NOT WORKING! It's really less about the shopping and more about the tradition. A tradition that kicks off the holiday season complete with Christmas music in the car and lunch out with my co-shoppers, which is usually the women in my family.

So, to get ready I've been checking out the Black Friday ads online. I think plannerchick was the one who turned me on to a website a few years ago that lists all black friday ads in one place. You can even register and click on an item to add it to your virtual shopping list. Pretty cool and so handy. With the purse strings a little tight this year after the move, the deals are really welcome so I can really use that list!

There's lots of sites out there, but I use www.blackfriday.info.

Happy Shopping!

more reasons to want an iphone

by photochick~ As if you need one more reason to lust after an iphone, but I saw an ad today for an AWESOME app that works with the iphone.

You know how irritating it is when you hear a song you love and want to own, but have no idea what it is?? Well, insert the shazam app. Simply hold up your iphone to the radio and let it listen to a few seconds of the song and . . . shazam . . . it tells you the song. (And I'm bettting links you to the song on itunes for purchase.)

Seriously. Have you ever?