#Morph Party

Morph is basically the love child between Playdoh and silly putty. Its pliable, flexible, but holds firm. What is cool is that this is a modeling clay that holds its shapy without cracking or crumbling, but it also never dries out. It floats, it bounces. Its basically one step away from Flubber. The kids really enjoyed it. Its a hard to get it started and warm it up, but once its warm its great. Big fans. #tryazon #morphmixer

#SavedbySterno

Had a great #Tryazon party to try out the newest Sterno chafer and it made home entertaining awesome and so much easier! We never had to reheat the salmon and it stayed warm all night. I even put it into the chafer in the baking tins and it warmed it perfectly without ever overcooking. That's a huge win for parties! Love love love it for home entertaining and now I feel confident hosting a brunch or birthday or engagement party without being stuck in the kitchen.

Fostering EQ and IQ

As parents we are so concerned with our kids development. We focus on counting and words and abc's, but don't take enough time developing healthy emotional response and manners. EQtainment helps to foster this part of child development through games, stuffed animals, and interactive coloring books. We got a chance to try these with our little and found that the benefits are amazing. the stuffed monkey used to practice calming and breathing techniques is great for younger children as is the interactive storybook. For older children the car discussion box is awesome! I definitely recommend parents checking it out!

Ahava Clineral

I received a sample product for review through Beauty Stat and was able to try the product for two weeks. First the good-- The ingredients are natural, gentle, and clinically proven effective. The cleanser is non-drying which is vital and did do a good job toning down skin discoloration and dry patches. My skin was noticeably smoother after the two week trial. I did not, however, care for the smell-- it had an almost sour fragrance which would have been better served if there were natural scent enhancers or no scent at all. It doesn't lather, which was a bit disconcerting at first. Finally, your face will go through an adjustment period. I found I broke out more for the first few days, but once my skin calmed I was very happy with the overall results. You can purchase Clineral from Ahava for sensitive skin here: http://www.ahava.com/skinpro-gentle-cleansing-gel

Ozobot

We were given a sample product to try through tryazon and absolutely fell in love with the product. The Ozobot is small but packed with personality. Using basic coding and drawing skills our toddler and nephews were able to make the ozobot go fast, slow, turn corners, and much more. The little bot was able to detect color and changed its light depending on what it read in the coding, our youngest was fascinated and loved to move the bot between the different pre-drawn activities included in the starter pack. It would be a great way to introduce basic language skills to kids in this age group. We talked about colors and speeds with a great visual display. Its rated for 3 years and up because of a choking hazard, however, with close supervision, it would be okay for a 2+ child. My nephew is a bit older and took to drawing maps for the ozobot to follow with color programming for where to turn or what to do. we got a lot of complaints when it was time to put the little guy away. I think this is an awesome hands on toy for kids ages 2.5-14 with it being especially beneficial as a learning tool for ages 8-12. It may be a bit too basic for kids over fourteen, however. It is a great tool for introducing STEM concepts and leading to more complicated programming and or engineering. My husband is an electrical engineer, and he was fairly impressed by a bot that can bring these concepts to young children. His only caveat was that he didn't like the layout of the circuit board which can clearly be seen through the top of the bot. He said it wasn't an efficient use of design space. I would argue it was laid out for aesthetics.

The kit includes everything you would need to get started, but it is so much more fun when you can get two ozobots in on the action together. The starter kit comes with markers, stickers, activity cards, and even fun costumes to personalize the ozobot and get the creative along with the technical juices flowing. I think this is a great toy to get kids creatively thinking and problem solving and away from the television and video games. For those interested in purchasing an Ozobot here is a smoking deal:http://get.ozobot.com/tryazon/

If You Were Me and Lived in...the Middle Ages... by Carole P. Roman Review

If You Were Me and Lived in...the Middle Ages... by Carole P. Roman is a gorgeous book to read along with your child for an extra educational quality time. The illustrations are playful, yet educational and drawn in such a way that I believe they would appeal to children and adults alike. My daughter particularly liked the pictures showing mothers and daughters and pointed them out saying they were her and I.  I also like the fact that each new page can be read as a stand alone for little ones with short attention spans. This makes this book especially helpful for bedtime reading. I feel that my toddler will definitely grow into this book and that it is a great way to introduce history to little ones.

I loved that the book comes with a glossary of terms which may be new most readers unfamiliar with the middle ages.

This would appeal to a variety of ages and reading comprehension levels. I did receive this book compliments of the author for review purposes but my thoughts and opinions found in this review are true to my personal experience with the book. 

 You can can purchase the book through this link:
https://www.amazon.com/You-Were-Lived-Middle-Ages/dp/1533673241/ref=sr_1_fkmr0_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1470171535&sr=1-2-fkmr0&keywords=if+your+were+me+and+lived+in+the+middle+ages

Water Shoes

https://www.amazon.com/CIOR-Sneaker-Running-Swimming-Camouflage/dp/B01HGMKDJ2?m=ATVPDKIKX0DER If you buy these shoes imagining they are tennis shoes you might be disappointed, but if you use them as designed as water shoes they are fantastic! My daughter loves these to run through the sprinklers play in the mud and go in the lake. Because they are intended for water wear they clean up very easily without losing their shape or fit. My daughter is pretty rough and tumble so she needs shoes that can keep up with her shenanigans. She loves to get muddy and I love that these rinse clean and dry quickly. They seem to have good grip and we haven't had any trouble with her slipping nor have we had any issues with the insoles popping out. They've gone through four water play days and 4 hand washings by Mama and Aven is still tickled pink with these and they feel as good as new. They are very flexible which makes them perfect for walking in a rocky lake or stream, but the support is not there if these are to be used as hiking shoes. The fit is thankfully true to size with a bit of stretch meaning they will fit her longer. I'd recommend a half size up so they fit even longer. I did receive these at a slight discount for review purposes buy the thoughts and opinions expressed in this review are true to our personal experience with the product.