Review: New Crayola Products (And A Giveaway!)

While my favorite Crayola product is still the Crayola box of 64 crayons, I have to admit that they have some neat new products available.  My kids were recently given the opportunity to test out some of the new products and had a blast with the 3 we were sent thanks to Crayola and My Blog Spark!

The first thing we opened was the Crayola Beginnings Color Me A Song.  This is an art board, that comes with 8 triangular crayons that store neatly in a drawer on the side.  Kids place a piece of paper on the board, push a few buttons that look like musical instruments, and color.  The faster they color, the faster the music plays.  When they slow down, the tempo slows along with them.  Lydia (32 months) had a blast playing with it and quickly caught on to the different tempos.  She liked pushing the buttons and hearing the different instruments play music almost as much as she enjoyed coloring to the music. 

Next, Colin decided to try out the Crayola Glow Station.  I confess I wasn't really sure what this was, and was a bit skeptical.  You need a really small screwdriver to remove the screws to add the battery to the light pen and I was a bit frustrated when we couldn't find one small enough.  Thankfully, Bo came home and found a tiny screwdriver and Colin was set.  There is a large drawing page, which glows when the special light pen is passed over the page.  This is actually very cool.  You can hang the page on the wall, or kids can play with it on a table or the floor. The Crayola Glow Station came with stencils, so they can draw different shapes, as well as different shading samples (like animal fur.) After a few minutes, the picture fades and they can draw again.  All the kids (ages 2, 7 & 9) had fun playing with the light in a semi-dark room.   After 30 minutes, my skepticism was gone and I decided this was a pretty cool toy!  My only concern was where to store the stencils and templates (they're in a bag right now, that hangs on a hook in our laundry / craft supply room.)

Finally, Nate tried out the Crayola Color Explosion Glow Dome. Again, this took a bit of time for set up, but Nate persevered. Kids color on a clear piece of plastic that sits in the middle of the dome, as well as the dome itself. Special markers are included with the Crayola Color Explosion Glow Dome. 2 templates are included that kids can place under the clear plastic to draw on, or kids can draw their own designs. Once the designs are drawn, lights go out and buttons are pushed!  The black light in the dome makes the colors glow and the dome rotates to make the pictures appear animated.  It was neat, and both boys had fun drawing designs.

Nate did a video review to show you all the details!



Now that you've gotten through all that, I can tell you that I have a Crayola Color Explosion Glow Dome to give away to one of my readers!! This would make a fun gift for any child between the ages of 5 and 10. 


To enter the giveaway, leave a comment below telling me your favorite Crayola product!  Be sure to leave your email address if it's not connected to your profile so I can contact you if you're the winner!


Winner will be drawn first thing Monday morning, December 7, 2009!  I always use random.org to choose the winning comment.  Good Luck!

Disclosure:  I received the Crayola products listed above from Crayola and My Blog Spark to facilitate my honest and complete review.  They also provided the product to give away. No additional compensation was provided.

What a Week!

Actually, it was Monday that was crazy and the rest of the week I've been busy playing catch-up. I had planned to spend Monday at home, schooling and cleaning, but you know plans are often set aside for life.

Nate has been coughing for too long, and when he was still coughing when he woke on Monday, I made an appointment for his pediatrician.  They decided to treat it as asthma, and sent me off with prescriptions for steroids and albuterol vials for our nebulizer. That took a good chunk of the morning.

Then, an early afternoon meeting with the speech pathologist left me nowhere closer to setting appointments for Nate than I was in September. I understand there is a protocol, and I understand that bureaucracy requires time, but I am frustrated that it's been 3 months and he's still not receiving services.  Throw on top of me a chunk of motherly guilt that I let him cough as long as I did, and he's still not receiving services for his speech. (oh, and he had a tooth pulled on Friday.  It hasn't been his week either.)

A couple non-bloggable things happened Monday which succeeded in making me feel even more stressed, vulnerable and worried.

In the early evening, I was resting with Lydia when the boys came home from football and Colin let me know that his front tooth broke again. (We had it repaired for the 2nd time a couple weeks ago . . . )

Just when I thought that at least the day was over, my sister called and needed me to take her to the ER. That was actually an interesting couple of hours as I people-watched while reading my Kindle and felt grateful that this visit wasn't going to cost me anything!  (Thankfully, she's fine.  A necessary trip, but she's okay now.)  And, then a late night visit to a 24 hour pharmacy.  Why can't the ER fill prescriptions?

I taught on Tuesday, but it was Excel Level One which is one of my favorite classes and one I don't need to prep for since I've taught it so many times now.  Wednesday was Family Lunch Day at the boys' enrichment program, so the day was full of driving back and forth and back and forth.  Today was back to normal and I realized that Nate has completed 3 quarters of his math for the year and I will need to figure out something else for him to do in early spring.  (That's not a bad thing, but I hadn't realized that he was that far ahead. The curriculum they're following online is difficult to follow and I don't understand why they have them start and stop and start modules again.  To my mind, it's much easier to stick with a topic until it's been completed. I suppose that could be an entire post!)

Tomorrow both boys have an early morning dentist appointment -- Nate needs a spacer and Colin needs his tooth repaired. After that, it'll be schooling and laundry!

I'm tired, but was able to take a good nap this afternoon, which felt wonderful. Everything just seems easier after a good, long nap!  This post may sound a bit whiny, but looking back I'm actually pleased with the outcome of the week.  Nothing terrible happened, just a lot at once!  We're capable of meeting the challenges placed before us, it just made for a crazy week this week!

Free Holiday Music!

I love Christmas music!  When the day after Thanksgiving rolls around, I fill our CD player with Christmas music and hit play as often as possible.  I also fill up my iPod with Christmas music playlists.

I love that Amazon is offering free holiday music every day in December!  Each day a new song is available for download.   Amazon always has lots of choices for free music downloads, but I appreciate the chance to add more holiday music to my collection for free.

Amazon also has 100 albums for download for only $5.  No matter what kind of music you like, there are albums for you!

What are your favorite holiday / Christmas songs?  I have always loved Silent Night and Good King Wenceslas.  My boys love Jingle Bells and the Chipmunks Christmas song.

Thanksgiving Recap

Thanksgiving has always been a simple affair in our house since we moved to Arizona.  The first year we lived here, we drove to Rocky Point, Mexico, camped on the beach and ate a wonderful seafood meal at a local restaurant.  It was my absolute favorite Thanksgiving ever.

Yesterday, we enjoyed Thanksgiving at home.  Bo brined, and then grilled a 13 lb turkey for our feast. He also roasted the fresh beets we purchased from Whole Foods last week.  While the texture is definitely different than canned beets, I have to say that the flavor is the same.  We won't be having them again, but I will say that the red beet definitely has a stronger flavor than the yellow beet.  It's a flavor that nobody in the house appreciates.

I made mashed potatoes following Bethany's recipe.  They were very rich, and tasted great.  I left the skins on, but will return to peeling the potatoes as most of us didn't like the texture with the peels.

I cooked up the Whole Foods organic cranberry stuffing and those who like stuffing enjoyed it and said the flavor was good.  It was a little wet for their taste, so in the future, I would cut the water a little bit.  It was ridiculously easy to make -- bring water & butter to a boil ( I used about 1/2 the butter suggested), add stuffing mix, remove from heat, stir and let sit for 5 minutes.

I made gravy from the drippings -- that nobody ate but me. 

I baked fresh rolls, which were soft and good -- but I think they would have been softer if I hand-mixed them instead of using the mixer.  I will make them again (for a crowd next time - the recipe I chose made almost 3 dozen) but without the mixer to see if they are softer.   Colin, who usually loves bread, refused to even try them.

I baked a pumpkin pie -- using Whole Foods pumpkin and that was delicious.  I made a crust I found in my Betty Crocker iPhone app that used flour, oil and water and did not require any rolling.  I pressed the dough into the pan before pouring in the filling.  It was an okay crust -- definitely faster than my traditional crust -- and worked with the pumpkin pie filling.  My traditional crust is much flakier, but I was surprised to note that this crust did have some flake.  My kids love pumpkin pie and this pie was inhaled last night.  Good thing I have more pumpkin and evaporated milk in the cupboard!

I made chocolate bourbon pecan pie -- using my traditional shortening, flour & water crust.  (I figured the only way to truly compare was to have both available)  The pie was delicious!

My sister joined us and we had a nice dinner.  Looking back, I realize that mashed potatoes and pumpkin pie are the only things that everyone enjoys.  Maybe next year we'll try a totally different kind of meal and make foods that everyone likes?  A meal of Thanksgiving of our favorite foods and dump tradition? I'm liking the idea -- come back next year to see if I follow through!

Tell Me Thursday - Visit

My Wordless Wednesday photo yesterday was of my 3 children, along with my Aunt Tess and her youngest daughter, Emma!  They were in town so that my Uncle could compete in the IronMan (which he completed -- and had a pretty good time considering it was his first effort and he had never competed in a triathlon before!)

My aunt and cousin stayed with us, and my boys were gracious enough to give up their rooms and bunk with their sister during their stay.  It was wonderful having them here as it's been far too long since I've seen them last (12 years!)  They live on the other side of the country, though, and travel with families is always difficult.

As much as we love living in Arizona, it is hard to live so far away from family.

If you played Wordless Wednesday, don't forget to tell your story with Tell Me Thursday!

Wordless Wednesday - Visit

I like playing Wordless Wednesday, but I always tell the story behind my pictures on Tell Me Thursday!

To Do Lists

Do you make to-do lists?  I know I accomplish more when I write to-do lists, but sometimes the thought of writing down everything I need (or want) to accomplish is so overwhelming that I skip the list and blunder on through.

I am on a list-making kick at the moment, though, and have broken my list out into different categories in the hope I wouldn't feel as overwhelmed. There are those things that have to happen no matter what in our home -- like laundry, and grocery shopping.  Then there are those things that have to happen for work -- like preparing for a new class, or reviewing the books for upcoming classes.  

That list with the things I should do, or want to do is the list I really need to pay attention to the most.  I will make sure I go to the grocery store and prepare for new classes, but I tend to let the "finish media kit", or "write query for that great article idea" linger too long on the list -- and sometimes they never get done.  I realize that ignoring those types of items won't help me move forward at all, and I have mentioned many times how I'm not content with staying still.


Writing this post has let me procrastinate on my current list . . . which I really need to get back to working on!