Kidz Bop - so cool!

My 5 year old daughter (K) has one goal in life is to become the next American Idol. She loves to listen to music and sing and sing and sing oh yeah and then she sings some more. When I was asked to review the newest Kidz Bop CD's I jumped at the chance.

We were sent Kidz Bop 14 and the newest Kidz Bop Christmas CD. It's been raining non stop here so I put in the CD and we literally spent hours dancing and singing. I'll admit the only other Kidz Bop CD I have is last year's Christmas CD and we loved it. I had no idea Kidz Bop had 14 previous CDs.

Kidz Bop 14 is filled with songs that you would hear on a current top 40's station. The lyrics are all clean and mostly sung by kids; which my daughter LOVED. She was so excited to hear other kids singing. There was only one song on the CD I didn't care for but I don't really like the original either. K was over the moon when her favorite Taylor Swift song "Tear Drops on my Guitar" came on. She has asked to play this CD over and over again and you know what, I have. I like being able to listen to music that I would listen to on the radio without the fear of an explicit lyric or two.

Next we put in "The Coolest Kidz Bop Christmas Ever"! Again a huge hit in our house. I asked K why she liked it so much and she said because it's kids singing just like me. I like how it's a twist on the old classics which unfortunately sometimes get boring for the little ones. Even my 2 year old has been dancing and singing to the Coolest Christmas Ever.

When I finally turned off the music K asked "Do you think Santa will bring me Kidz Bop 15?" I went out to their website and guess what - there is a Kidz Bop 15 and I love almost every song on the CD. Oh wait... this is supposed to be a kids CD.

You know what else I found??? Kidz Bop 80's Gold! You mean my daughter and I can sing such classics as Footloose, Girls Just want to Have Fun and Mickey! This is going to be fun!

I think Santa might have to find Kidz Bop 15 and 80's Gold for me... I mean K.
THANK YOU Mom Fuse and Kidz Bop!

Lorain's Touch - Soy Candles

One of the things I look forward to as it starts to get cold is lighting candles. I love the look, the feel and the scents. Of course I jumped at the chance to review a handmade candle from Lorain's Touch. I really like the idea of handmade candles and the knowledge that I am buying from someone not some big cooperation.

I received a Orange Blossom soy candle that can in a great silver tin. Great packaging!

I have been known to drop a jar candle or two only to watch it break. I am particular about my candle scents and I loved the one I was sent - Orange Blossom! To me it smells like and Orange and cream Popsicle. You know the ones with the vanilla ice cream inside. YUMMY.

I had the perfect spot for the candle!

I burned the candle for 2 hours the first night. The scent was very minimal and one thing I noticed right away, when you blow out the candle no smoke at all. I really like that. Another thing I liked was that as the candle burns the wax disappears very cleanly. There are no black edges, no remnants on the side. It's a very clean, pretty look.

Handmade, light scent, GREAT prices! Check out
Lorain's Touch!

I'm here to help

I try my best to be a good listener, a good friend and give great advice. So here you go a little unsolicited advice for the week.

• Do NOT and I repeat do not under any circumstances go to Wal-Mart on a Saturday in December. I don't care how cheap their prices are. I don't care that you haven't been grocery shopping in two weeks. DO NOT go near a Wal-Mart unless you want to navigate your way through 20 carts in each aisle, listen to rude people complaining about not being able to find something. Hello people what do you think the Internet is for... get a blog!
• Remind me to read the bullet above next week when I need to get the fixings for Christmas dinner.
• Before you order Christmas cards count how many people you have to send them to and don't forget to ask Hubby how many he needs for work. Paying shipping twice is not fun.
• When you go to the post office on Dec 15 at 8:20am to be in line when the post office opens at 8:30am be sure to make sure you have your wallet with you and it's not sitting at home next to computer where you left it when you ordered more cards. (see above)
• When you decide to host Christmas Eve and Christmas remember how small your house is and that you only have 13 chairs in the whole house and there is NO WAY you can fit 20 people at your dining room table. What the heck am I going to do???
• When trying to preoccupy a 5 year old with face paint remember that the red face paint is a little harder to wash off then the rest. So you might not want to paint a Rudolph nose on a Sunday night when the kiddo has school in the morning.

I sure hope my advice helps you because it's been a long weekend round here.

Visit Design Mom on Friday Dec 12

One of my favorite bloggers Design Mom is hosting a A Twelve Days of Christmas Celebration on Friday December 12th with 12 YES TWELVE giveaways! Be sure to stop by on Friday.

Nix - All Star socks

I'll admit it, I am not too fond of shopping for little boys clothes. I envy the selection in the little girls department. Row after row of everything and anything and then tucked away in the corner a few racks of blue, brown and maybe green. I am beginning to learn that shopping online for my little man is a must. He needs color, he needs style, he needs socks.

When I got my sample of Nix All Star socks in the mail I was so excited. Yes excited about socks. I had gone to their website when I first heard about the company and I saw all the colors and selection and the cute sporty styles and couldn't wait to put some on B's tasty toddler toes.

I opened the package and right away I was surprised. How cute are these!

I was a little bit worried about the size 2-7 with B being almost a 7; but look at the size compared to my most recent one size fits all at Target
The first thing you notice when you pick up these socks is how soft they are. I mean really, really soft. The bottom foot part of the sock has more padding then the rest. Just perfect!

My favorite thing about these socks... in two days of wearing them not once did they fall off. Not one time. B didn't even try to take them off! WOW. These are definitely on my must purchase list.

I only wish they had them in girls sizes so I could get some for K too. If you have a little girl you must check out the adorable girly colors. AND if you go to Nix right now it says FREE SHIPPING to U.S. and Canada!

Buy something, win something, find something new

How cool is this? Someone bought something from one of the sites I posted just because they read about it on my site. Love it! I am having so much fun sharing some of my favorite things with y'all.

Now its time to share some more blogs with you. This week I have a theme. Well kind of sort of maybe. Here are a few of my favorite shopping/contest/giveaway/new stuff blogs.

And to one of my dear friends - yep more shopping site for you. Tell your hubby not to get too mad at me when the credit card bill comes in.

Bloggy Giveaways - Every day a new giveaway. Every day another chance to win. Even if you don't win almost every post includes some type of discount for the company sponsoring the giveaway.

Goody Blog - contests, crafts and cool stuff!

Cool Mom Picks - a new contest everyday and links to some of the cutest stuff on the web. Geared towards those with younger kids but every now at then you find a gem like Lesser Evil Christmas Coal. I know what Unc is getting this year.

It's December and I don't own a coat

Today's post is going to be a little bit of this and a little bit of that. Ready? Ahhh look a list!

• The more I blog the more I think about blogging and the more I want to blog. I started this thinking about doing reviews because I don't like talking about myself. Then a funny thing happened. I was driving home from my Mom's house in the car with no radio playing the alphabet game with no kids in the car and I thought I should post about this. I wake up in the middle of the night thinking about things to post. I think I am going to blog more.
• It took me over an hour to find a Q while playing the alphabet game. I have never been so happy to find a Quiznos.
• I drove out of my way to drive past a store that I knew started with a Z so I could finish the game before I got home. It was 9:30pm and I had been away from my family for 5 days but I HAD to find that Z.
• I have a blog list now. I know shocking right? My favorite thing to buy in the Target dollar section is lists. The ones with the magnet on the back with lots of lines. Even better if it has boxes to check off. I love to check things off. I feel like I actually did something.
• Yes the title is true. Sometime after we got back from the snow last year I washed my jacket. Some how it ended up in the dryer. I am not naming names but I bet you can figure it out. I had to throw it away. I didn't buy another one right away because Spring was right around the corner. Now here it is December and I still don't own a jacket. I don't think I need one quiet yet. It has only rained once. The low during the day is in the 60's. We don't head for the snow until the end of the month. I wonder how long I can wait? If anyone know where I can find a nice jacket, that is waterproof, with a hood but NO FAKE FUR... that would be great.
• B (the 2 year old) is very upset about Christmas. We had to move the train table to make room for the tree. He has asked very nicely if we could "peas make Christmas go away" because "Christmas is messy Momma".
• At Thanksgiving dinner K asked if we could go around the table and tell everyone what we are thankful for without skipping a beat B said, "ummmmm Thomas" B loves his trains.

Look a contest - Lil' Peanut Patch

Be sure to check out the 12 Days of Christmas at The Patch. I love this site and not just because I have won two of the past contests. I thought I better share the prizes this time.